Dataset Preview
The full dataset viewer is not available (click to read why). Only showing a preview of the rows.
The dataset generation failed
Error code: DatasetGenerationError
Exception: ArrowInvalid
Message: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 78
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 145, in _generate_tables
dataset = json.load(f)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/json/__init__.py", line 293, in load
return loads(fp.read(),
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/json/__init__.py", line 346, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/json/decoder.py", line 340, in decode
raise JSONDecodeError("Extra data", s, end)
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Extra data: line 2 column 1 (char 8236)
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1995, in _prepare_split_single
for _, table in generator:
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 148, in _generate_tables
raise e
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 122, in _generate_tables
pa_table = paj.read_json(
File "pyarrow/_json.pyx", line 308, in pyarrow._json.read_json
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 154, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 91, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 78
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1529, in compute_config_parquet_and_info_response
parquet_operations = convert_to_parquet(builder)
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1154, in convert_to_parquet
builder.download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1027, in download_and_prepare
self._download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1122, in _download_and_prepare
self._prepare_split(split_generator, **prepare_split_kwargs)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1882, in _prepare_split
for job_id, done, content in self._prepare_split_single(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 2038, in _prepare_split_single
raise DatasetGenerationError("An error occurred while generating the dataset") from e
datasets.exceptions.DatasetGenerationError: An error occurred while generating the datasetNeed help to make the dataset viewer work? Make sure to review how to configure the dataset viewer, and open a discussion for direct support.
pred_label
string | pred_label_prob
float64 | wiki_prob
float64 | text
string | source
string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.527597
| 0.527597
|
UPADEK STOCHA 2014 FILM
The ultimate paradox was that neoliberalism, meant to ensure individual freedom above all, led eventually to a situation that necessitated large-scale government intervention. What ensues when soaring temperatures, rising sea levels, drought, and mass migrations disrupt the global governmental and economic regimes? Open Preview See a Problem? I’m not convinced that excessive caution is the main reason why recommendations for solving global warming are being ignored. The author was very critical of overly cautious modern scientific epistemology, which doesn’t factor cost benefit analyses and risk into its policy recommendations. Jun 13, Lauren rated it really liked it Shelves: Historians have labeled this system the carbon-combustion complex:
As if to confirm my point, the only two demos I ever went on were about student tuition fees and the Iraq war. All that said, why 4 stars? Or should we take her word ex cathedra? Imagine a graph that spans 4, years, from A. Experience justified the first part of the philosophy we have recounted how twentieth-century scientists anticipated the consequences of climate change , but the second part—that this knowledge would translate into power—proved less accurate. I’m not convinced that excessive caution is the main reason why recommendations for solving global warming are being ignored. The precautionary principle would also have blocked the development of nuclear technology.
I found it most interesting of all on philosophy of science rather than on essentially familiar environmental material. Instead of the average world temperature rising at 0.
The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future by Naomi Oreskes
This is of course wish fulfillment of the most unrealistic kind. Oct 01, Cwiegard rated it really liked it. It’s one of those things, though, where there’s an essential and entirely understandable hope in just trying. Bye bye love, bye bye happiness Western thought from Classical Liberalism and Neoliberalism conservatism in the US, Friedman and Hayekwhich viewed individual rights and economic freedom as ideals, contributed to the problem.
We want to use our resume as proof that we are right. Some of us still think global warming is a hoax. Call it a “per-page” rating if you like. This is Orwellian—or more bluntly, Stalinist.
The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future
But history cannot tell us anything about the future with certainly. Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway have condensed years of research into a tiny book——all the better to penetrate the noosphere of a world demanding easily-digested reading options. If you are looking for an overview of what climate change or climate science is, look elsewhere.
DESDEMONA AMHARIC FILM
Early in the twenty-first century, many more people could see the storm, but still nothing was done. Countries like the Netherlands and Bangladesh disappeared under the sea. They are upxdek louder. Western scientists built an intellectual culture socha on the premise that it was worse to fool oneself into believing in something that did not exist than not to believe in something that did.
Maybe, but maybe not. Personally, Upadsk think there’s a lot more pure economic self-interest read: Margaret Atwood they’re n A great concept–fictionally posing as historians in the year looking back at the s and the non-response to climate change. The better part of the book is a well-referenced, unexaggerated chronicle of the history of climate change denial and its’ effects on the environment and human life on Earth with a focus on the 20th century.
We know the causes of climate change. Decommissioning can take decades, and it can cost more than the original construction.
Kamil stoch sochi upadek serial
It is based on actual published scientific data but is Pre-read thoughts: Dramatizing climate change in ways traditional nonfiction cannot, this inventive, at times humorous work 0214 the importance of scientists and the work they do and reveals the self-serving interests of the so called “carbon industrial complex” that have turned the practice of sound science into political fodder.
The conceit is that this is a report, by a faceless scholar inabout the accelerated collapse of Earth’s climate and the rolling disasters it precipitates in the late 21st century. If you are looking for a sic-fi novel, look elsewhere.
From throughbillion tons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere. I received it as a gift and from the title and blurb, assumed it was a little piece of Cli-Fi disaster porn. It goes along with William Patrick Ophuls and Thomas Homer-Dixon on my electronic shelf about the challenge of global climate change. A key attribute of the period was that power did not reside in the hands of those who understood the climate system, but rather in political, economic, and social institutions that had a strong interest in maintaining the upxdek of fossil fuels.
The precautionary principle would also have blocked the development of nuclear technology. This upadrk outlines much of what science can predict with confidence.
They believed that once the public was informed, they would rationally do what needed to be done. Historical analysis also shows that Western civilization had the technological know-how and capability to effect an orderly transition to renewable energy, yet the available technologies were not implemented in time.
DOSTUCHATSYA DO NEBES FILM SMOTRET ONLINE
It is based on actual published scientific data but is presented in a speculative form, because the scientist authors felt it might have more impact on the general public’s thinking if presented this way. This book had an interesting premise: If a new technology is not perceived to be percent safe by a consensus of scientists, forget about it until its safety can be proven beyond all doubt.
Orwell of course decried such lies; Stalin and his cohort used the airbrush on history and reality with abandon. Just so you know, I am a PhD marine scientist and I have been studying and teaching environmental science, including climate change, for over 20 years.
Open Preview See a Problem? As Elizabeth Kolbert says in one of the back cover blurbs, this book “should be required reading for anyone who works – or hope to – in Washington. It is written as fiction with the premise of a historian looking back, obviously in utter disbelief, at how stcha decided to ignore all the warning signs of anthropogenic climate change. The year isand a senior scholar stoccha the Second People’s Republic of China presents a gripping and deeply disturbing account upwdek how the children of the Enlightenment, the political and economic elites of the so-called advanced industrial societies, entered into a Penumbral period in the early decades of the twenty-first century, a time when sound science and rational The year isand a senior scholar of the Second People’s Republic of China presents a gripping and deeply disturbing account of how fklm children of the Enlightenment, the political fiilm economic elites of the so-called advanced industrial societies, entered into a Penumbral period in the early decades of the twenty-first century, a time when sound science and rational discourse about global change were prohibited and clear warnings of climate catastrophe were ignored.
Half of Florida under water, get real, that’s just nonsense. Based on sound scholarship yet unafraid to tilt at sacred cows in both science and policy, this book provides a welcome moment of clarity amid the cacophony of climate change literature.
This included claims about changes in the climate. Want to Read saving…. And it gets better.
DASHAVATAR MOVIE ENGLISH SUBTITLES
ETERNALISM SHORT FILM
REGARDER LE FILM SUPERCONDRIAQUE EN ENTIER GRATUITEMENT
LUIS TRENKER FILM MATTERHORN
SANNING ELLER KONSEKVENS ANNIKA THOR FILM
AL AMAKEN DRAMA NILESAT
AKU TERIMA NIKAHNYA FULL MOVIE WATCH ONLINE FREE
TOKAN FULL MOVIE ONLINE 2013
NAVYA EPISODE 140 HOTSTAR
GRAND DIGI CINEMA BANEASA
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line5
|
__label__cc
| 0.728721
| 0.271279
|
80 Couches
The Sofasphere
Red Couch, Blue Couch
Atheist On The Couch
Football, Football, Fútbol
A Philosophy
Punto Tombo
Bus Lagged Bolivia
Lake Titicaca and Copacabana
Salar de Uyuni: The Bolivian Salt Flats
The Death Road
Daily Beacon Column, Part 1
Notes from a Day in Prague
The “Ice” Part
Quirky Iceland
Agra and the Taj Mahal
Beware of the Kancho
Camping, Sake, and Naked Irishmen
In Narita
Kickin’ (Soccer) Balls
One Week in Nagasaki
Iquitos and the Jungle Beyond
Slow Boat on the Amazon
The Strange Places I’ve Called Home
Part 1, Milwaukee
Part 2, South Florida
Part 3, Knoxville
Part 4, Nagasaki
Part 5, Seoul
Part 6, Paju
Lessons from Nowhere
Oruro, Bolivia
Of Borders and Bananas
Part 1, A Pale Blue Dot.
Part 2, Going Global
Part 3, The Trifecta (Plus One) of Peace
Atheist Me
Coming to the Conclusion
The Evidence (or Lack Thereof)
Working to Live
Working to Live, or Living to Work?
Working to Live: Creeping Black Friday Edition
Working to Live: Walter Mitty Edition
Day 1 of our road trip around Puerto Madryn.
So far, Christine and I have had a momentum problem. Every time things seem to be going well, a random bit of bad luck comes along and knocks us on our asses. Case in point: we were due to leave Buenos Aires on Monday night (already a day later than we would have liked) when the bus drivers for our bus line, and only our bus line, decided it was a good night to go on strike.
Of course, the agents at the bus company wouldn´t tell us there was a strike straight away. First, we were told it was running late. Then, we were told there was a “conflict” with the drivers, and to please go wait for 30 minutes, or maybe 2 hours. And finally, that no buses would be running that night, and no, we will not give you your money back. Muchas gracias.
Thankfully, the strike ended the next day, and after 20 hours on a bus, we had officially arrived in Patagonia, in the small city of Puerto Madryn on the east coast of Argentina. We were more than ready for our luck to change, and we could feel the winds changing around us. However, we would run into one more small hurdle in the form of an equally small man, Gaston, the hostel owner of Hi Patagonia.
At first, Gaston was seemingly impressive in his knowledge of the local area, and genuinely seemed like he wanted to help us have a great time, and do so in a way that wouldn’t break the bank. We agreed to rent a car along with a young German couple, decided on an itinerary, and agreed to meet up bright and early the following morning.
The plan was to pick up the car, head down to Punta Tombo, the largest penguin colony in the world, then head back toward Puerto Madryn, with a brief stopover in Playa Union to see the small, black and white dolphins that populate the nearby sea. Finally, we would camp in Peninsula Valdes, and spend the next day whale watching, and trying to spot the plethora of other wildlife scattered throughout the park.
Gaston, who, I must reiterate, came up with this plan in the first place, had a quick and decisive change of heart when we went to pick up the car around 7 o’clock. The decision came after Christine mentioned that she preferred automatic to manual transmission, and this comment transformed in his mind to, “I can’t drive this car.” He declared in very dramatic fashion, “You are not comfortable to drive, I will not let you rent my car.” The four of us sat there, stunned. Continuing his drama queen ways, he then picked the car keys off the table, flung them onto his desk and once again declared, “You cannot drive my car.”
We were at a loss. We still needed a car to get to these close-but-not-close-enough locales, but the rental car agencies would not yet open for several hours to come. Plus, we were furious. He was demanding an International Driver’s License, which only Christine had (and was unnecessary for driving in Argentina). Christine felt guilty about her off-handed comment leading to his change in mood, but she really couldn’t be blamed. Knowing how to drive a manual is required for getting a license in Denmark, but that fact would not persuade the little man standing before us. Gaston was simply being unreasonable.
While it was a setback at the time, we managed to get a rental car and on the road by 11 o’clock. We decided to try to see the dolphins first, and this would be our last bit of bad luck for two days; the tour (which Gaston told us was at 3) left at noon, about an hour before we arrived. At this point, we had had enough. We had a mediocre and expensive lunch in one of the few restaurants that was open, then headed down to the beach, and collectively let out a cathartic scream into the crashing ocean waves. We laughed, vowed to see some god damned penguins, and climbed back up the beach, pausing only briefly to take inappropriate photos with dolphin statues, before getting back in the car and heading to Punta Tombo.
Patagonia!
The rest of the drive was longer than expected (yet again another thing that Gaston was wrong about), but absolutely spectacular. The Patagonian landscape is desolate, with only the occasional small tree punctuating the yellow-orange dirt and random patches of grass. Wildlife was rare and cars were rarer still.
The road to Punta Tombo eventually became a dirt one, and stayed that way for over 20 kilometers. We didn´t arrive at the reserve until after 5 in the evening. All the tour groups had long gone, and it was just us, a family of five, a small group of nuns, and half-a-million penguins. Half-a-million is no exaggeration, and we didn´t have to wait long to see our first black and white bird nesting in a small hole under a low bush. And then we saw another, and another, and dozens more.
Me and my penguin friend.
Penguins were everywhere, without so much as a fence between us. We shared a path—one only vaguely marked by white stones set 1-2 meters apart—with our little waddling friends, often pausing to let them pass. They were comfortable with our presence, too. One of the older penguins (they can live in the wild for 30-plus years) nested just on the other side of the boundary, and seemed to pose for us as we stopped to take photos. He (or possibly she) waited there within arms-reach, craned his (her?) neck in an adorable way that only already disgustingly cute animals like penguins can, and let us snap off a series of photos.
The sun soon began to set over the cold, windy, Patagonian landscape, and the thought of driving back on the dirt road after dark motivated us to move a bit sooner than we would have liked. With the sun setting over our shoulder, we took one last look over the yellow hills, waddling penguins, and blue ocean beyond, and it was impossible to call this day a bust. In fact, it was incredible.
We didn’t get to see the dolphins, and we would have preferred to have not had to deal with Gaston’s mood swings and bad advice, but traveling is about the adventure, and we certainly had one today.
2 comments for “Punto Tombo”
Really liked what you had to say in your post, Punto Tombo – 80 Couches80 Couches, thanks for the good read!
— Chloe
http://www.terrazoa.com
Zachary A. Marx
Thanks for the compliment! This was one of our favorite spots on our trip.
Find it Between the Cushions
80 Couches on Facebook!
Dating in Korea
Argentina Atheism Beer Bolivia Brewers Carl Sagan Chile Climate Change Couchsurfing Denmark Dogs English Village European Union Evolution Finland Football Germany Global Citizen Globalization Global Warming Hiking Human Rights Iceland India Japan Knoxville Korea Liverpool Milwaukee Moving On Munich North Korea Paju Peru Politics Religion Science Seoul Soccer Strange Places Technology Tennessee Travel traveling U.S.A.
80 Couches Mailing List!
Copyright © 2020 80 Couches. All Rights Reserved. The Magazine Basic Theme by bavotasan.com.
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line9
|
__label__wiki
| 0.890937
| 0.890937
|
DP World establishes trade corridor between Jebel Ali and Syria
Published: 3 January 2019 - 8:20 a.m.
By: Logistics Middle East Staff
DP World has established a 2,500 km transport corridor from Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, to the Naseeb-Jaber border crossing between Jordan and Syria, according to a statement.
The terminal operator says the new corridor will see close collaboration between customs authorities and logistics providers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to create a more efficient flow of goods to the war-torn country.
The announcement comes after the border crossing was reopened in October 2018 after being closed in 2015 during the height of the Syrian Civil War.
The closing of the border had a profound effect on trade in the Middle East, particularly Lebanon, which relies on Syria for overland connections.
DP World says the first convoy of three Dubai-registered trucks made the journey in six days, a significant reduction from the 24 days it took on average to complete the journey prior to the border being reopened.
“The Naseeb border is the lifeline of the Jordanian economy as 70 per cent of its imports and exports pass through Syria under normal circumstances,” DP World said.
“The closing of the border in 2015 dealt a severe blow to the Jordanian economy, with the loss to Jordan’s logistics and transport sector alone estimated at around half a billion US dollars,” it added.
“Jordanian businesses also prefer the land route since exporting goods through the Naseeb crossing is three times cheaper than exporting through the Gulf of Aqaba,” the port operator said in a statement. “Connecting Lebanon to this focused and purposeful supply chain route was highly significant because its trade with the GCC region had suffered due to the regional upheavals in recent years”.
Emirates Islamic offers ATM withdrawals without the card
An accident at the worksite; now what?
Mixed service tyres built for on- and off-road performance
2020 - building on a year of action to empower women in the maritime community
Rivertrace exhaust scrubber washwater monitor granted DNV GL statement of compliance
Spinlock to introduce "performance-boosting" range at boot Düsseldorf
Etihad Cargo's IATA CEIV certification opens membership to Cool Chain Association and Pharma.Aero
DEWA and BSI prepare to launch world’s first risk management standard for energy and utilities sector
Masdar campus installs the first 'solar concentrator' in UAE
Sanad Powertech bags Shams Power Company maintenance contract
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line11
|
__label__wiki
| 0.530935
| 0.530935
|
ABOUT ABA
<p>Fillable Form</p>
Tournament Trail
JOIN ABA
JOIN-ABA Test
<p>Fillable Forms</p>
NEWPLAYERS' HANDBOOK
WHAT IS DUPLICATE BRIDGE?
WHAT IS TOURNAMENT BRIDGE?
MECHANICS OF DUPLICATE BRIDGE
INDIVIDUAL BOOKKEEPING
DUPLICATE SCORING
FULFILLING A DOUBLED OR REDOUBLED CONTRACT
LEARN HOW TO SCORE
IMP DIFFERENCE VICTORY POINTS
THE CONVENTION CARD
YOU AND THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
RULES AND GUIDELINES FOR DUPLICATE BRIDGE
WHAT IS THE AMERICAN BRIDGE ASSOCIATION
LOCAL CLUB
THE INDEPENDENT CLUB
The SECTION
WHAT IS ABA MEMBERSHIP?
PLAYER CLASSIFICATION
FIELD CLASSIFICATION MASTER POINT HOLDING
NEW PLAYER FIELD -0-24 MASTER POINTS
MASTER POINT AWARDS
Schedule of Sanction Fees
A GLOSSARY OF BRIDGE TERMS
RECOMMENDED BRIDGE BOOKS FOR NEW PLAYERS
2008-09 National Officers and Executive Board
Newplayer's Handbook
Mini Bridge
Online Bridge Links
NEW PLAYERS' HANDBOOK
This Handbook is an expression of the concern that the American Bridge Association has for our new players. Our intent is to provide information about duplicate bridge that will make you feel more competent at the bridge table and provide some essential information about the operational aspects of the ABA. This Handbook is dedicated to Mrs. Sara Pearson, past Western Section Vice President, for allowing us to use the materials developed for the Western Section Handbook as basis for this manual. The ABA is a national organization of predominately Afro-American bridge players. To paraphrase Sara: "while we are not a social club, we are a very close group and act like a large extended family. . We welcome you to the ABA family, and hope you enjoy many hours at the table playing duplicate bridge." Gloria Christler Executive Secretary 1988-2001
Duplicate bridge is the form of contract bridge that is played in all major national and international tournaments and is sometimes called Tournament Bridge. It is the form of bridge played in most clubs - country clubs, social clubs and in some people's homes. The game is called "Duplicate" because each hand is played at least twice (but not by the same players) under conditions that are exactly alike, same cards in each hand, same dealer, and same vulnerability. Only the bidding and play, and consequently the score, might vary each time a particular hand is played. The results from each time the board is played are compared with those of the players who held the same cards under the conditions set by each board. If a partnership sits East-West, the results will be compared with other East-West in the field. The same is true for the North-South partnerships. The number of points scored during the play of a given hand is not as important as the number of pairs that are outscored. At duplicate it is possible to score well with a minus score since others may lose more points on a board. Eight players are enough to have a duplicate game at home. (An experienced duplicate player may help you conduct a game. Don't hesitate to ask.) You may wish to purchase your own set of duplicate boards and other equipment from any bridge supply company.
Tournament Bridge for the most part is duplicate bridge. Each hand, instead of being played only once, as would be the case in rubber bridge, is bid and played by two or more different pairs but always under conditions that exactly duplicate the playing conditions; dealer, vulnerability, and exact card-holding in each hand are precisely the same. Only the resulting score might vary due to differences in the play, bidding or both.
MECHANICS OF BRIDGE
The mechanics of duplicate bridge are simple and may be learned as you learn the game itself. The hands are shuffled and dealt, or prepared from hand records, the first time they are to be played. Hands will not be redealt but will be moved as they are from table to table for play by other contestants. The completed hands are put into a numbered duplicate board. This is a tray with four pockets, one for each player's hand (See Figure 1). The board has a printed arrow pointing to a position designated as North. The dealer and vulnerability is shown as well. The word "Dealer" is printed above the pocket of the player so designated. If a side is vulnerable, the abbreviation "VUL" will be shown above the pockets, which hold the cards of the partnership. The pockets will also usually be lined with red. However some duplicate boards may not have red pockets so players must be alert for the written designation. Being vulnerable means that premiums for games and slams will be greater and penalties for undertricks at any contract will be increased. Figure 1. A Duplicate Board The tables being used for a duplicate will have markers placed on them by the Director of the game to show the table numbers and the designated compass directions, North, South, East, and West. I All tables will have the same compass orientation. This is to ensure the proper movement of the players and boards as the game progresses. The player sitting North at each table is responsible for the orientation of the boards and must ensure that the North position on the boards matches the direction designated as North by the table marker. The Director assigns an initial position to the contestants (individual, pair or team) at the start of a session. Unless otherwise directed, the members of each pair or team may select seats, among those assigned to them, by mutual agreement. Having once selected a compass direction (example NORTH or EAST), a player may not change it except on instruction from or with permission of the Director.
Eight players are enough to have a duplicate game at home. (An experienced duplicate player may help you conduct a game. Don't hesitate to ask.) You may wish to purchase your own set of duplicate boards and other equipment from any bridge supply company.
INDIVIDUAL BOOKIKEEPING
At duplicate bridge other players must play the same hand after you, therefore to prevent mixing up the cards individual bookkeeping is required. Each defender, declarer and dummy when playing to a trick puts his card on the table immediately in front of himself. When all four cards have been played, each player turns his own card over face down and places it along the edge of the table starting on his left. The individual cards are placed so that the narrow edge is parallel to the edge of the table of the side winning the trick (See Figure 2). After the hand has been played out each player will have his thirteen cards face down in front of him along the edge of the table. After both sides have verified the results each player will count his cards to be sure of thirteen and return them face down in his designated pocket of the board played. If you aren't careful in returning your cards you could foul the board, spoiling the results on later rounds, and earning yourself a penalty. Figure 2. Quitted Tricks
The most common form of duplicate bridge scoring is matchpoint. At duplicate scoring honors do not count and since every deal is scored separately there is no carryover of results from previous hands. Trick scoring remains the same, 20 points per trick for minor suits (clubs and diamonds); 30 points per trick for major suits, (hearts and spades); 40 points for the first trick at no trump and 30 points for each subsequent trick at this denomination. In addition to trick scores a bonus or 300 points is given for bidding and making a non-vulnerable game, 500 points for vulnerable game and 50 points for any part score bid and made regardless of vulnerability. Slam bonuses and penalties remain the same as reflected in the following chart. Doubled and redoubled premiums are also shown.
Table 1 lists the total score for each possible contract. Each board is scored separately. In addition to the trick score, there is a bonus for successfully fulfilling a contract.
Non-Vulnerable
For making a Grand Slam 1000 1500
Smal Slam 500 750
Any Game 300 500
Any Part Score 50 50
Not Vulnerable
Doubled Redoubled Doubled Reddoubled
Contracted Tricks score is score is score is score is
doubled quadrupled doubled quadrupled
Overtricks each 100 200 200 400
Bonus 50 100 50 100
If by chance you fall short of your contract you will be penalized as follows:
A pick-up slip is made for each round. It records the results of the boards played that round. (The weekly club games usually have Traveling Score Slips which stay with the board, folded and concealed in the North pocket) .It is the responsibility of the North player to enter the accurate score on the pick-up slip or the traveler. The East-West pair has the responsibility for checking the accuracy of traveling score slips as well as pick-up slips. Check the score before you initial it. If the score is correct after you initial the slip, mark an "x" on the back, and return it to the North player. He places it face down under the edge of the table marker. A caddy will come to get it. If the score on a pick-up slip is incorrect ask North to make out a new slip. Don't accept strikeovers. Destroy the incorrect slip. The Director should be called for correction to traveling score slips.
LEARN THE METHODS OF SCORING
Pair games are match-pointed. The Director or scorer match points the boards. On each board a pair gets one match point for every pair they beat and 1/2 match point for every pair they tie. In team games, four to six players to a side (only four play at a time) the scoring is more complex. For Open-Team-of-Four matches that are scored board-a-match, a team wins, ties, or loses the board. For Swiss, Knock-out (K/O), and Round Robin (R/R), teams an International Match point (IMP) Scale is required to score the game.
(See Table 2.) Table 2. - International Match-Point Scale
IMP'S
0 to 10 0 320 to 360 8 1300 to 1490 16
20 to 40 1 370 to 420 9 1500 to 1740 17
50 to 80 2 430 to 490 10 1750 to 1990 18
90 to 120 3 500 to 590 11 2000 to 2240 19
130 to 160 4 600 to 740 12 2250 to 2490 20
220 to 260 6 900 to 1090 14 3000 to 3490 22
270 to 310 7 1100 to 1290 15 3500 to 3990 23
4000 or more 24
Teams calculate the difference between their scores at both tables, and use the IMP scale to get their IMP score. For example
At your North-South table (N-S) 620
At your East-West table (E-W) -170
The difference + 450 = +10 IMPs
The score for the opponents will be just the opposite (minus 10 IMPs). Write your plus IMPs in one column and your minus IMPs in another column on the right of your scorecard. Add up each column separately and find the algebraic difference. That's your net score!
If IMPs are to be converted to Victory Points, the Director will inform you of the Victory Point Conversion Scale, since they vary with the number of boards played per round. Here you calculate the IMPs per round and convert them to Victory Points. Add up your Victory Points for each round and that is your score! (See example in Table 3).
Table 3. - 14-Point Victory Point Conversion Scale
IMP DIFFERENCE
1-3 8 6
10-12 11 3
19 or more 14 0
IMP DIFFERENCE VICTORY POINTS Winner Loser 0 7 7 1-3 8 -6 4-6 9-5 10-12 11-3 13-15 12- 2 16-18 13- 1 19 or more 14-0
The outside of your private score is used as a Convention Card (See Figure 3). Your opponents are entitled to know your conventions and special treatments. In other words, they are entitled to know whenever a bid may have an unusual meaning. And, of course, you are entitled to the same information concerning their conventions and treatments. Some conventions (like takeout doubles and Blackwood) are so universal that they are considered standard. Others are so extreme that they are not permitted in organizational pair games. However, a great many conventions are allowed. You occasionally will play against a pair who seems to have a "Book" written on their cards. Don't let this intimidate you. Your opponents are trying to be scrupulously fair, listing all their conventions to make sure you are not misled.
Every game or competition needs an umpire. Duplicate bridge has the Tournament Director (TD) who is the technical manager of your tournament and it's his job to maintain discipline and to insure the orderly progress of the game. The Director is bound by the laws of duplicate bridge and by supplementary regulations announced by the sponsoring organization. Call the Director for all infractions. Don't try to solve them yourself. He will rectify any errors or irregularities brought to his attention. Don't feel intimidated if someone calls the Director. The Director administers and interprets laws. He does this over and over again and has most of them committed to memory. If you don't understand what the director is telling you, ask to see it in the book of laws and. Read it for yourself. For a better knowledge of the laws, purchase the ACBL, Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge (Revised! 1987).
Players new to duplicate often misunderstand or are unaware of the somewhat different rules that govern the tournament game. Even experienced players sometimes forget these differences. Whenever a law has been violated or there is a reason to believe that it has, or any irregularity has occurred, the Director must be called. Newcomers should not be upset when a Director is called because failure to summon the Director may result in a forfeit of the rights of any player at that particular table and impact the overall scoring of the game.
Call for the Director in a moderate tone of voice. It is not necessary to yell loudly or display any aggressiveness. Always address the Director by his title and not by name or in any other way by which you may know him. If you disagree with the ruling, simply tell the Director that you wish to appeal the ruling and he will provide you with an appeal application for submission to a committee for review and adjudication.
Figure 3. The Convention Card
You may appeal any of the Director's rulings through the Appeals Committee. You must make your protest in writing and submit it within 30 minutes after the conclusion of the session. Give all pertinent information. In fact, let the Director know that you plan to appeal so that he may alert the Appeals Committee. All persons directly involved must attend the Appeals Committee meeting. (Laws 92 & 93)
In Pair games, check your matchpoints after the Recap Sheet has been posted. If there is an error in your score you may apply for correction. Obtain a Score Correction Form from any Director or the Scoring Room. Fill in all pertinent information and return it to the Chief Director or Chief Scorer. Do this immediately! There is an established length of time (protest period) allowed for applications for score correction to be considered (The extent of this period is usually posted on the Recap Sheet.) (Law 79C)
The Director gives instructions as to the proper movement of the players and boards from table to table. The session ends when all the rounds scheduled have been played and all scores have been properly collected and entered.
Director can assess Penalties for: (Law 90)
1. Tardiness
2. Slow play
3. Loud discussion
4. Comparing scores
5. Touching another's cards
6. Misplacing cards in board
7. Failure to comply promptly with Director's instructions
8. Errors in procedure Director's
Power to Suspend (Law 91)
1. In performing his/her duty to maintain order and discipline, the director is specifically empowered to suspend a player for the current session or any part thereof.
2. The director is specifically empowered to disqualify a player, pair or team for cause, subject to approval by the Tournament Committee or sponsoring organization.
Maintain a courteous attitude toward partner and opponents. Avoid remarks that will interfere with the enjoyment of the game.
Do not bid or play with special emphasis, speed or reluctance.
Do not allow partner's hesitation, remark or mannerism to influence your call or play.
Review the auction only for your own information, not for your partner's.
Do not use any bid or play that may have a special meaning to your partnership unless it is noted on your convention card and will be alerted by your partner to the opponents.
Do not detach a card from your hand before it is your turn to play. Avoid any indication of approval or disapproval of partner's or opponents' bid or play.
Do not make a claim or concession of tricks if there is any doubt about the outcome of the deal.
When dummy, do not exchange hands with your partner before the opening lead or ask him/her to let you see his/her hand. Also, do not look at your opponents' hands while your partner is playing a contract. (Laws 42 & 43)
It is considered unethical to stare at your partner, or your opponent, or to watch them closely for the purpose of determining the position in the hand from which a card is extracted.
Avoid discussing the bidding, play or results of a board so that it may be overheard. This is illegal.
Avoid the touching or handling of cards belonging to another person. After the board has been played and you wish to see another's hand, ask if you may see the hand. That person will hold the cards so that you may see them. Only one hand should be out of the board at a time.
Use only the prescribed language for bids and calls. (A rap on the table does not constitute a legal pass).
Alcoholic beverages Any use of liquor must comply with local laws. The serving of drinks at tables is not specifically prohibited, but if any player at the table objects, such objection must be sustained by the director. Open display of a pocket flask, wine bottle or liquor bottle at the table during the game is not permitted.
The Alert Procedure The partner of a bidder who makes a conventional call or who uses an unusual treatment must bring this to the attention of the opponents by saying, "Alert" before his right-hand opponent makes his call. At this point, right hand opponent has two options: 1) he can make his call without finding out what the unusual call meant, or 2) he can ask the alerter for an explanation.
Checking (Verification) Check the opponents' pair or team number and the board numbers before you begin to play. Check the positions of the players and boards before bidding. There is a stiff penalty for bidding or playing out-of-turn. Check to see which way the card is turned after the trick has been quitted (all 4 persons play to the trick). Count your cards face down before and after play.
Kibitzer 01. Kibitzing (Law 76). A kibitzer is an onlooker at bridge and kibitzing is the act of watching a game from the sidelines. In serious play there are unwritten, as well as written, rules concerning the deportment of the spectator. A kibitzer should not look at the cards of more than one player, except by permission. A kibitzer must not display any reaction to the bidding or play while a hand is in progress. A kibitzer must refrain from mannerisms or remarks of any kind (including conversation with a player) .A kibitzer must not in any way disturb a player. A kibitzer may not call attention to an irregularity or mistake, nor speak on any question of fact or law except by request of the Director. Kibitzers are always welcome, however, kibitzer may be removed at a player's request without cause. The director can remove any kibitzer for cause. All bridge players should condition themselves to kibitzers.
Opponents. Be polite and courteous. Your opponents have the right to know the conventions and treatments used by your partnership. You may question the opponents before the auction begins and only when it's your turn to make a call during the auction. You may also question the bidding after the auction is over and your partner has made his opening lead. You must question only the partner of the player who has made the call.
Partner. The most important person at the tournament is your partner. Negative comments about what your partner does should be made to him in private at the end of the session. If there is a misunderstanding that needs correction take your partner aside. Don't discuss it at the table.
Profanity. Profanity is a serious matter and may be the basis for immediate ejection from the game by an official as well as further action by the organization.
Public Accusation by a Player Any public accusation of unethical conduct against a player by a member of the organization constitutes improper conduct and may subject the offender to disciplinary action.
Skip Bid Warning Whenever you bid at a level higher than necessary to make a sufficient bid, you are doing something unexpected. It is suggested that before you make a jump bid you say, "I'm about to make a skip bid. Please wait."
Slow Play Bridge is a timed event. Many players do not realize that slow play not only is a discourtesy to the opponents of the moment, but also to all the other tables taking part since it can slow down the entire game. Directors have the right to penalize players who are repeatedly guilty of slow play. The director also has the right to monitor slow players by positioning himself/herself near the table to protect the movement of the boards and to see that the round is finished as quickly as possible.
General. If much of the above information is confusing to you, just remember that you will learn through experience. If you realize that you are in organized competition, not just a social pastime, you will better understand and enjoy the game. If you are in doubt, just use the golden rule!
WHAT IS THE AMERICAN BRIDGE ASSOCIATION?
The national body of the ABA is divided into eight sections covering designated states. They are: (1) Eastern; (2) Great Lakes; (3) Mid-Atlantic; (4) Mid-Western; (5) Southern; (6) Southwestern; (7) Northwestern: and (8)Western.
The sections are divided into units and clubs. Units are composed of local clubs. If there are two clubs within a 35-mile radius, they may elect to form a unit. However, if there are three or more clubs within the 35-mile radius, they must form a unit. For example, in the Western Section there are two units, each having seven clubs and five independent clubs.
Local Clubs holds weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly duplicate games and sponsors tournaments. The Club is the building block for the structure of the ABA. It is the nucleus of the local group. Membership in the ABA is obtained through Clubs. Any individual desiring to affiliate may submit his/her membership through an ABA Club if (s)he resides in the area of its jurisdiction (a 35-mile radius). It is the Club's responsibility to inform individuals of dues obligations. Forward lists of members each year with membership dues and charter fees to the National Secretary, via the Unit Secretary, who prepares the form PSA 404 and submits the same to the ABA National Office and the Section Secretary. The local club(s) promotes the programs of the unit and of the national body. The local club(s) hold business meetings periodically. Some clubs suspend activities during the periods of National and Sectional Tournaments.
The UNIT is a regional group. It insures that the Section and the national laws and regulations are carried out and adhered to by clubs within its jurisdiction. It promotes Sectional and National programs. A unit may host,the endorsement of its membership, may sponsor regional events, as well as sponsor through its clubs a reasonable number of local and regional contests, a minimum of one per club per year. Programs, fees and playing sites are announced in sufficient time to assure maximum attendance. The unit requires that the Director-in-Charge file accurate game results together with required fees, promptly according to the ABA, Handbook. The unit meets quarterly.
The INDEPENDENT CLUB (where only one club exists) has the same rights and privileges as Units.
The SECTION oversees the business of Units and Independent Clubs within its jurisdiction. The Section Vice-President is the chairperson of the section Committee and is a member of the Executive Board of the ABA. All applications for clubs and unit charters are subject to review by the section Vice-President. The section Vice-President must approve any sanctioned game in the section. The section provides for necessary meetings, conventions, tournaments and membership activity. It is a clearinghouse for tournament schedules within the section to avoid conflicts. It insures the collection, processing, and maintenance of sanctions, fees, schedules and other such data as may be stipulated. It insures implementation and communication of procedures, policies and all decisions affecting the interests of clubs, units and individuals within its jurisdiction. Each year, the Western Section conducts two tournaments (Spring and Fall) at which time the Bi-Annual Open Meetings are held. The section Vice-President is elected at the Spring Sectional every other year (odd year).
The national officers are the President, Vice-President, National Secretary and Treasurer. The general officers are the eight Section Vice-Presidents. The national and general officers are the Executive Board of the ABA. This board meets at both tournaments. Call meetings are held at other times and places. Much business is conducted through the mail. The election of national officers is held every other year. The election is usually held in the "odd" year with the term of office beginning January 1st of the "even" year.
The Section Vice-Presidents are elected every other year by the respective section. Not all sections hold elections in the same year. The effect is to "stagger" the seating of new board members.
WHAT IS ABA MEMBERSHIP
Membership in the American Bridge Association, Inc., (ABA) is open to all persons of good character and repute. You may apply for membership through an affiliated club if residing in an area where there is ABA activity. All others must apply for membership through the respective Section Vice-President or National Secretary as a member-at-large. Each person accepted for membership is assigned a player number. The masterpoint holdings are recorded and the person pays dues.
All members may vote on all matters as may be provided by the By-laws, compete in tournaments, and join any open club. Transfer from one club to another is permissible. A person whose membership has lapsed may be reinstated at the discretion of the ABA. Free membership is available for New Players who complete at least an eight-week course in bridge from an accredited instructor. The unit/club new player's coordinators should contact the their Section Vice President or the National Secretary at the ABA National Office for more information. Dues are payable the first day of January each year and continue in force until the last day of December in the same year.
Any new member joining the ABA for the first time will receive credit for the last three months of the previous calendar year. National dues are paid directly to the National Secretary using membership form PSA 404. Sectional dues and a copy of the form PSA 404 are sent to the Section Vice-President or his/her designee. Dues paid are not returnable or transferable. The NATIONAL BODY is the nationwide organization. It encourages and develops the game of duplicate contract bridge and unites all bridge players into one group using identical laws and procedures for bridge games. It sponsors, supervises and conducts yearly two tournaments, the Spring and Summer nationals. The Annual meeting of the ABA is held at the Summer National. The ABA also holds meetings of the membership at the Spring National.
There are ten categories of player classifications authorized by the ABA regulations. These categories are the direct result of master points earned in ABA sanction tournaments. To receive credit for master points, a player must be a financial member of the ABA during the same year the master points are earned.
Table 4.- Player Classifications
TOTAL MASTER POINT CLASS HOLDING (RANGE) RECOGNITION
(NP)
Master (M) 25-99 Certificate
Life Master (LM) 100-299 Gold Pin
Senior Life Master (SLM) 300-599 Certificate
Ruby Life Master (R) 600-1199 Ruby Pin Certificate
Diamond Life Master (D) 1200-2499 Diamond Pin Certificate
Silver Diamond (SD) 2500-4999 Certificate
Gold Diamond (GD) 5000-9999 Certificate
Platinum (PD) 10000-19999 Award Certificate
Grand Master (GM) 20000 and up Medallion Certificate
You may not play in a field below your classification. Penalties apply! However, you may play in a higher field. There are four (4) categories of "Field Classification" authorized for Championship events. Each field classification is determined by the master point holdings of the majority of the players in the field. Every game (pair, team, individual, etc.) must be classified into one or more of the following, depending on the number of fields in the event.
Stratified Events
In most instances pair games in the ABA are Stratified. This means that players in different field classification play together in the same event. Even though they play against players in different fields, their scores on each board are only match pointed (compared) against players in their own field or National Secretary.
A game can have either two or three Stratas. For example, the game may contain Strata A, Strata B, and Strata C together. The lowest strata must have at least five (5) pairs (2½ tables) in order to pay overall awards. Limitations of each stratum should be established prior to the game. If the game consists of less than the minimum 5 pairs required in the lowest strata, the level of the strata must be increased to the next highest legal strata that includes at least 5 pairs, (for example, a 0-24 game should be increased to a 0-99 game or a 100-300 game.) or you may choose to eliminate the lowest strata. In limited masterpoint games such as 0-24, 0-99 and 100-300, the strata must be eliminated if the strata contains less than 5 pairs. There must be approximately the same number of pairs that sit N/S and E/W in each Stratum, so that the section awards will be equal. This event is like a Flighted Pairs except the flights (now called stratas) are intermixed and play against each other as in an open game. When the scoring is completed, there are multiple rankings and any pair in a lower Strata has the potential to win the greater awards of an upper strata if they legitimately rank there. A strataified game is advantageous to all stratas:
Strata "A" players get ranked on the number of tables in the entire field resulting in additional masterpoints;
Strata players have the advantage of possibly winning points in the higher strata, based on a greater number of tables which yields more masterpoints;
Strata “C†players are ranked against other Strata “C†pairs, giving them the experience of playing against more skilled players without diminishing their chances of winning.
Also Strata "C" players have the advantage of possibly winning points in the two higher stratas, which yields more masterpoints.
How it works: Here is an example. You want your game to have three Stratas, with C players having 0-299 masterpoints (mps), Strata players having 300-1199 mps and Strata A players having 1200 mps to infinity. Entries sold to Strata C players are marked C to identify that Strata with less than 300 mps. Entries sold to Strata players are marked to indicate that no person has less than 300 mps but not more than 1199 mps. Entries sold to Strata A players are marked with an A to indicate more than 1199 mps. A pair must enter the strata for which the partner with the higher number of masterpoints is eligible. Pairs from each strata are distributed throughout the section(s) as evenly as possible. When the game is over, the entire game (field) is ranked as one. After ranking, the Strata A players with more than 1199 mps are eliminated. The Strata A and Strata C field are now ranked together. After this ranking, players who have more than 299 mps are eliminated, Strata C is now ranked separately. A pair ranking (placing) in Strata A, Strata B and Strata C, will receive the highest masterpoint award. Thus, a Strata “C†pair could win points from the Strata A field or Strata B field, and a Strata C pair could points from the Strata A field. The Strata A pairs can win points only in their own field, but even this is a gain because their masterpoint awards are based on the number of tables in the entire game. Remember, players can always qualify to win points in a higher masterpoint category, but they cannot win points from a lower category.
FIELD CLASSIFICATION
There are five (4) categories of "Field Classification" authorized for Sectional, Regional, Early Bird, Midnight and Side Games:
FIELD IV +2000 and UP
STRATA 5000 UP
STRATA 2000-4999
FIELD III 1200-1999
FIELD II 300-1199
STRATA 600-1199
STRATA 300-499
FIELD I 0-299
FIELD 0 100-299
STRATA 25-99
STRATA 0-24
NEW PLAYER FIELD 0-24 MASTER POINTS;
At any level of pair competition, a separate field may be set- up for New Players providing there are at least nine tables registered in the main event and there are at least three (3) tables of new players (0-24) registered. Otherwise, New players will be combined with the lowest classified field. Whenever at least five pairs of New Players are combined with another field and one places in the overall. ONLY the highest scoring New Player pair will be awarded 10% of the first place overall master point award.
MASTERPOINT AWARDS
National games offer the highest number of master points to the winners. There are master points for the top scorers in each section, providing the score is not in the overall. Sectional games offer the second highest number of master points. There are points for top section scorers too!
"A" games outrank "B" games and "C" games are lowest on the master point scale of sanctioned events. Those who wish to amass master points in a hurry, NEED TO attend national and sectional events. Your chances for winning master points are greater since these high master-point award events are well attended. When deciding in which events to play, plan to play in those where most master point award is highest.
Table 5.- Basic Master Point Award Schedule 1st Place, One Session
PAIR EVENT
FIELD IV
FIELD III
FIELD II
Sectional 12.48 9.36 8.11 6.86. 5.62
Grade A 8.64 6.48 5.62 4.75 3.89
Grade C 4.80 3.60 3.12 2.64 2.16
The table bonuses are not included. As the number of tables increase, the master point award increases. In addition to master points, winners shall receive trophies, scrip, or free play slips).
As you and your partner gain confidence you will want to participate in bigger events with increased competition, so here are the types of tournaments that ABA units and clubs sponsor starting with games that give the fewest points and ending with those that give the highest number of points:
City Games Sponsored By Individual Clubs
Grade C's Sponsored By Individual Clubs and Units
Grade A's Sponsored By Individual Clubs and Units
Sectional Tournaments Sponsored By Units
Spring and Summer Nations Sponsored By ABA
City Games Sponsored by individual clubs Grade C's Sponsored by individual clubs and units Grade B's Sponsored by individual clubs and units Grade A's Sponsored by units Sectional Tournaments Sponsored by Sections Spring and Summer Nationals Sponsored by the ABA
Any of the above tournaments can consist of anyone or a mixture of the following events:
Individual Players Change Partners for Each Round
Open Pairs Any two people can play together
Mixed Pairs One man and one woman will be partners
Non-Mixed Pairs* Two men as partners or two women
Open Team of Four Any four to six people may comprise a team
Non-Mixed Teams* Two mixed pairs will be a team
Men’s Pairs** Four to six men or four to six women
Women’s Pairs** Two men
Men’s Team Two women
Women’s Teams Four to six men
Swiss Teams*** Four to six people playing short matches
Modified Round Robin Four to six people (teams are flighted according to the average point holding of the top four masterpoint holders on the team)
Full Round Robin Same as Modified Round Robin except that it may be played within a 90-day period
*In Non-Mixed Events pairs or team members must be comprised of only men or women. However these events will have both men and women contestants.
**These events will have only women or men participants.
***A Speedball Swiss allows for five boards to be played in 25 minutes against each opponent. Usually held after the main event of the day.
One-session team events must consist of four Players. All others may consist of 4, 5, or 6 members. Grade "C" games are one session. They are usually held on the regularly scheduled club days or sometimes for special events other than: at the club game: Clubs may have a total of 12 Grade "C"s, one per month, during the year. Units may have a maximum of four (one each quarter) only with a business meeting. Grade "B" games are sponsored individually by clubs or in conjunction with other clubs (a weekend of "B" games) Grade "A" games are sponsored by units, or independent clubs where there are no units.
Table 6. National Events Traditionally Scheduled
Calendar of Special Games - Nationwide Events
Annual Membership Game
March - First Wednesday
Nationwide Headquarters (Daytime)
March/April*
Spring National
June - Second Friday
Nationwide Benefit Game
Late July or Early August Summer National
Nationwide Scholarship Game
Last Friday & Saturday Nationwide Scholarship Game (Daytime)
October - Independent Club/Unit-Selects the Date
United Negro College Fund Game
December - Second Friday
per Open Pairs
Other Special Games to Be Scheduled During the Year
ABA Headquarters Fund Game
Bridge Education/Membership/House Acquisition Games
Club/Unit Benefit/Scholarship Games
The ABA Spring tournament begins the Monday after Easter Sunday and continues through Saturday of the same week.
Table 7. Sanction Fees Schedule of Sanction Fees
City Swiss Team (minimum fee $3.00) 10%
Grade C Regional (minimum fee $5.00) 15%
Grade B Regional (except Swiss & Round Robin) 15%
Grade B Regional Swiss & Round Robin 20%
Grade A Regional (except Swiss & Round Robin)
Grade A Regional Swiss & Round Robin 20%
Sectional (except Swiss & Round Robin) 20%
Sectional Swiss, Round Robin and KO Teams 25%
National Event 25%
Annual Membership Game 10%
Benefit Games (except Nationwide Games, Scholarship and Headquarters) 40%
Scholarship & Headquarters Games 50%
Nationwide Benefit, Scholarship and Super Open Pair Games 60%
Special Club Benefit 20%
There are standing committees as there are in any organization. The most important committee in the ABA is called the National Tournament Authority (NTA), which is responsible for all facets of the national tournaments. The next important committee is the National Tournament Committee (NTC) which is responsible for the national tournament schedules, maintaining the master point award schedule, and introducing new rules and games for play.
Another important committee is the Appeals and Ethics Committee, formerly referred to as the Card Committee. This committee is responsible for order and decorum at the national tournaments. Referred to the committee are disputes, which arise in play that cannot be settled by reference to the rules alone. An Appeals and Ethics Committee is formed at all levels of competition (local, unit, section).
In order to support our non-profit status, the ABA conducts special tournament games. These games are called "Benefit", "Scholarship" and "Special Promotion". Proceeds from these games go into special funds in the ABA Charitable and Education Foundation. Through the Foundation yearly contributions are made to various charitable organizations such as the: United Negro College Fund; NAACP; Sickle Cell Foundation; Martin Luther King Center, and Black universities. Additionally, twenty-four (24) scholarships are awarded to worthy students who have successfully completed their first year of college or a business school. Applicants are recommended by the Section Scholarship Chairperson to the National Scholarship Chairperson for selection. For additional information contact the local unit/club coordinator or the Section Vice-President.
Also established is a Merit Award Program for outstanding service at the local, section or national levels. Application must be endorsed by the Section Vice-President.
There is a Life Membership Award for individuals making significant contributions at all levels. An additional criterion is 20 years financial member. Application must be endorsed by Section Vice-President.
Publications included:
The ABA Bulletin
The ABA Flash (published only at nationals)
Section Newsletters (published by the Section Vice President or his/her designee)
Update (published by the National Secretary on an as needed basis to communicate information to clubs/units/sections)
There are on-going classes and programs for New Players and other levels of bridge. Contact the club/unit president for information.
Hopefully, this booklet has given you some insight into duplicate bridge and the ABA. Additional information can be obtained from the club/unit officials, Section Vice-President, or the national officers. The line of communication for obtaining information or resolving problems is:
(1) Your Club
(2) Your Unit
(3) Your Section Vice-President
(4) Your National Officers
(5) Your National Body
The Official ABA Handbook contains additional information on tournaments, etc., and may be purchased from the National Office. Your Section Constitution and By-laws and Roster are distributed separately.
Bridge on the Internet
There are several free and some subscription-based servers available for playing bridge on the Internet. OKbridge is the oldest of the still-running Internet Bridge services; players of all standards, from beginners to world champions may be found playing there. OKbridge is a subscription based club, so it offers premium services such as customer support and ethics reviews. SWAN Games is a more recent competitor. Bridge Base Online is the most populated online bridge club in the world, as it is free to play regular games. The above online clubs offer various features such as options to earn ACBL masterpoints, play in online tournaments, compile lists of friends, purchase software to improve Bridge skills, and earn money playing Bridge. On Bridge Base Online there is also a Vugraph feature where important international events are shown for anyone interested to watch.
ADVANCER The partner of an overcaller.
ALERT A method of drawing the opponent's attention to the fact that a particular bid has a conventional or unusual meaning.
ARTIFICIAL A bid designed to show a specific holding rather BID than a playable suit.
ANNOUNCEMENT An explanatory statement made by the partner of the player who has just made a call that is based on a partnership understanding. The purpose of the announcement is similar to the Alert. It is made following calls whose meanings are not unusual, but which different partnerships treat differently.
APPEAL In a tournament, to appeal is to request that a committee review the ruling made by a director.
AVERAGE Half of the matchpoints available on a board or for a contest.
BAD HAND Hands with little honor strength.
BALANCE OF The concept of calculating which side holds most
STRENGTH of the high card points.
BALANCING Reopening the bidding in the "pass out" seat after the opponents stop at a low contract.
BID A call by which a player proposes a contract that his side will win at least as many odd tricks (one to seven) as his bid specifies, provided the hand isplayed at the denomination specified.
BLACKWOOD A convention which uses 4NT to ask the partner how many aces are held and SNT to indicate that all of the aces are held, while asking for the number of kings.
BOARD 1) A devise that keeps each player’s cards separate for duplicate bridge
BOTTOM In tournament play, the lowest matchpoint score on a particular hand.
BOARD-A-MATCH A team event with matchpoint scoring.
CADDY An assistant at a bridge tournament, responsible for putting out the boards, etc., at the tournament. Picks up the score slips at the completion of each round.
CALL Any bid, double, re-double, or pass.
CONVENTION Any call or play, which conveys a meaning to a partner that the opponents cannot be, expected to recognize. A call or play that does not carry the standard meaning that the opponents would anticipate.
DIRECTOR A person designated to supervise a duplicate bridge contest and to apply the Laws.
DOUBLE DUMMY Play of the hand that could be improved upon, as though declarer was looking at all four hands. It can also be used to refer to perfect play by the defenders or declarer.
DUCK To play a small card, and surrender a trick, which could be won, with the object of preserving an entry or a tenace position. To protect a card for use as a threat card in subsequent play.
DUMMY (1) The declarer's partner after he has placed his cards face up on the table, which is done immediately after the opening lead is made by the opponent on the declarer's left. (2) The cards held by the declarer's partner.
EARLY BIRD A one-session game held early in the morning, about 9AM, before the main event of the day.
ETHICS Fair play. Breaches of ethics are generally are unfair practices that fall just short of deliberate cheating.
FIELD All the contestants in a specific event.
FORCING A series of bids by a partnership that requires the bidding to continue. Some sequences are considered forcing by virtue of the strength of the previous bidding.
FOULED BOARD A board into which a card or cards have been interchanged or hands have been inserted into incorrect pockets.
FREE BID A bid made by a player whose partner’s bid has been overcalled by the right hand opponent (RHO)
GRAND SLAM The bidding for and turning of all thirteen tricks by declarer.
HAND A particular deal of 52 cards (4 hands). The thirteen cards held by one player. The term is also used to indicate the order in bidding and play, as in "second hand" or "fourth" hand. I
HANDICAP A duplicate game in which extra match points are added to the earned match points of lower-ranking players. The lower the ranking, the more match points added. No handicap matchpoints are added to Diamond level player's score.
HIGH CARD The points in a given hand from Aces, Kings,
POINTS (HCP) Queens, and Jacks.
HOLDING The hand held by a player.
HOLD UP Not wining a trick when first offered for a tactical reason (see Duck) .
HONOR One of the five top cards in a suit of a bridge hand: an ace, king, queen, jack or ten.
INDIVIDUAL A method of duplicate competition in which each MOVEMENT contestant plays with many different partners.
JUMP SHIFT A new suit response at a level one higher than necessary, generally to show a very good hand.
KIBITZER A person who watches the game from the sidelines. Rules apply for kibitzers. (See Law 76)
KNOCK-OUT A team-of-four event in which the winner of head to head meetings advances to the next round and the loser is eliminated.
LAWS Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge, as promulgated in the western hemisphere by the ACBL, prepared under the auspices of the National Laws Commission of the ACBL with input from the Laws Commission of the World Bridge Association. The ABA is governed by these Laws.
LEAD The first card played to a trick. LHO Left Hand Opponent MAJOR SUIT Hearts or Spades
MASTER POINT The unit used to measure bridge achievement in tournament and club play.
MATCH PLAY A team-of-four contest in which two teams compete against each other playing several boards.
MINOR SUIT Clubs and Diamonds
MISFIT A term used to describe a situation where the hands of a partnership are unbalanced and the suits in one hand are opposite shortness in the other and vice MONSTER A bridge hand of great trick-taking potential whether through high cards or distribution.
OPENER The player who makes the first bid in an auction. OPENING LEAD The play to the first trick after the auction is over and the dummy has not been spread.
OVERCALL Any bid by the player on the left of the opening bidder. It's nearly always based on a long suit or multi-suited hand.
OVER-RUFF To trump higher than the right hand opponent after a plain suit lead.
PART SCORE At duplicate vulnerable or not, the total score for all overtricks won plus the bonus for successfully fulfilling a contract under game.
PART SCORE In duplicate, vulnerable or not, the 50 points given for fulfilling
BONUS a part score contract.
PENALTY An obligation or restriction imposed upon a side for violation of the Laws.
PENALTY A card that has been pre-maturely exposed by a defender and
CARD must be left face-up on the table until legally played or permitted to be picked up. (See Law 50)
PICK-UP SLIPS A form devised for the recording of the results on the play of the boards on one round. Information contained on the slip includes identifying numbers of the pairs, the board number, which pair was declarer, the final contract, and by whom.
POINTED SUITS Spades and diamonds, so called because of their pointed tops.
POST MORTEM The discussion of bridge hands after the conclusion of the play at any time thereafter.
PRIVATE An undisclosed understanding between the
CONVENTION partnership. This is strictly illegal!
PROTEST The time in which appeals for corrections to the PERIOD score will be accepted and changes may be made, whether the error is made by the scorer or by a PSYCHIC CALL Any bid made primarily to misrepresent your hand, in order to create the illusion of strength, or to conceal a weakness.
QUICK TRICKS A high card holding that in usual circumstances will win a trick by virtue of the rank of the cards in either offensive, or defensive play. The accepted table of quick tricks: AK of the same suit 2 Quick Tricks, AQ of the same suit, 1-1/2 Quick Tricks A, or KQ of same suit 1 Quick Trick, Kx 1/2 Quick Trick
QUITTED All four players have played to the trick and have TRICK turned their cards face down.
RESPONDER The partner of the opener.
REVERSE An unforced rebid at the level of two or more in a higher ranking suit than that bid originally.
REVOKE Failure to follow suit during play when holding a card of the suit required or failure to lead a suit required by law when holding a card in the specified suit.
RHO Right Hand Opponent
ROUNDED SUITS Hearts and clubs, so called because of their rounded tops.
RUFF To trump the lead of a plain suit.
SACRIFICE A bid made knowing that it cannot be fulfilled on (SAVE) the premise that the penalty to be paid will be less than the adverse score were the opponents permitted to play the hand.
SAFETY PLAY The play of a suit, in such a manner as to protect against an abnormal or bad break in the suit, or to otherwise protect your hand.
SEEDING The assignment of certain tables to particularly strong contestants to assure there will be no preponderance of strong pairs in direct competition within anyone section.
SET The defeat of a contract.
SHOOTING The art of playing deliberately for an abnormal result
SMALL SLAM The bidding for and winning of 12 tricks by the declarer.
SPEEDBALL A partial round robin movement SWISS T/4
(ZIP Swiss) wherein 25 minutes are alloted to complete 5 boards against each opponent. There are 5 rounds. (See Swiss T/4).
SQUEEZE A play which forces an opponent to discard a winner, or a card that protects a winner.
STIFF Singleton, generally used in reference to a major honor: ace (A), king (K), Queen (Q) without guards.
STOPPER A card which may reasonably be expected to stop the run of a suit.
STRAIN Either of the five denominations. No trump, spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs
SWISS T/4 A partial round robin movement when insufficient time is available for a complete round robin. After the first round, winning teams or pairs are pitted against each other, and losers face each other as in a double elimination event, except that all teams continue to play throughout the event. For each succeeding round, new pairings are made on the basis of the records of the matched teams, or pair, but not two teams or pairs may playa second match against each other.
TEAM Two pairs playing in different directions at different tables, against the same opponents, but for a common score.
TENACE Two cards of an interrupted sequence in the same suit. AQ, KJ, Q10, and J9 are examples. When the highest card in your suit is the highest card not yet played you have a major tenace. When a card or cards higher than yours have yet to be played you have a minor tenace.
TOP The maximum match point score on a hand in duplicate.
TRAVELING The score sheet accompanying a duplicate bridge SCORE SLIP board
UNDERRUFF To trump with a card lower in value than that which another player has already played to the same trick.
VULNERABLE A condition of play in which the premiums and penalties are increased.
How to Play Winning Bridge
By David Bird.
A teaching course and guide to all things bridge, this hard-cover volume includes a history of the game and its champions, a beginner tutorial, sample games, rules and reference sections. It also features tips for intermediate and higher-level players.
Goren's New Bridge Complete
By Charles Goren.
The original "bible" for the Standard American 5-card-major system, this classic was updated in 1985 and remains a solid reference for beginners and advancing players.
Club andDiamond Series-Opening the Bidding Bridge Basics 3: Popular Conventions
By Audrey Grant. "Bidding in the 21st Century" series, which includes updates of instructional books used in American Contract Bridge League teaching programs. The Club Series manual teaches bidding; the Diamond Series teaches play of the hand. Other titles by Audrey Grant are here.
Introduction to Declarer's Play Introduction to Defender's Play
By Eddie Kantar. These popular books feature easy-to-understand "how-to's" on all the basics, from one of the game's best teachers and most readable authors. Both volumes include some advanced material.
Bridge for Dummies
By Eddie Kantar.
An entertaining, detailed introduction to the basics of bidding and play. 1997 Bridge Book of the Year.
Bridge Basics - Five-Card Majors
By Ron Klinger.
Two volumes with succinct lessons that teach the basics of the standard bidding system used by most players in North America.
The Fun Way to Serious Bridge
By Harry Lampert.
Now in its 20th printing, this is a sound introduction to the basics, with lots of illustrations and a pleasant writing style. The tips here are valuable for learners and for party-bridge players who want to make the transition to duplicate bridge.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge
By Anthony Medley.
A comprehensive lesson book for learners, with good explanations of the logic behind bridge bidding. Each chapter has many quiz hands.
ABC's of Bridge
By William Root.
Clear descriptions of the basics from this late, award-winning teacher.
Learn Bridge in Five Days Bridge for Bright Beginners
By Terence Reese.
Bidding summaries and fundamentals of offensive and defensive bidding and play.
An Introduction to the Science of Bidding: Bridge with Brian
By Brian Richardson.
A beginner's text that will appeal to those who eventually want to play duplicate bridge. In addition to the basics, the author teaches weak two-bids, Jacoby transfers and other popular conventions.
Bridge in 3 Weeks
By Alan Truscott.
A comprehensive, 21-day course for absolute beginners. The basics are presented in an short, easy steps, with a handy index for quick reference.
Bridge for Beginners & Beyond
By Karen Walker.
The 16th edition of a self-teaching textbook for learners and advancing players who want to tune up their skills. Lessons begin with the bare basics and progress to more advanced topics, including tips on how to add popular conventions to your system. Order direct from the author through this link
ABA REFERENCES
The Official ABA Handbook
The Constitution & By-Laws of the ABA ABA WEBSITE
The ABA Website
The ABA Website – ababridge.org is the official website of the American Bridge Association. The site contains information about the history of the ABA, links to section web pages, tournament schedules and results, and links to other bridge resources and organizations.
The Southern Section Website linked to the ABA website, contains the schedule of bridge tournaments and events scheduled in the section. The link also contains a directory of clubs in the Southern Section. Each club in the section is invited to submit information to post on their club’s page on the section’s website.
The format Handbook was developed from the Western Section Handbook published by Sara Pearson. Mrs. Emelie Boone and Col. Robert Friend. provided special assistance in the development of the original handbook. This Handbook was edited and revised by Gloria Christler, past Executive Secretary, Southern Section Vice President (2008-) All Sections, Clubs and Units are welcome to copy and edit the Manual to meet their needs. Gloria Christler
National President National Vice President
Leola C, Rucker Janice VanBuren
1129 Clear Springs Road 1010 Thoreau Ct. Unit 102
Virginia Beach, VA 23464 St. Louis, MO 63146
National Secretary Treasurer
Anita Troy George W. Saunders
7612 Fruit Dove Street P.O. Box 40582
North Las Vegas, NV 89084 Memphis, TN 38174
Section Vice Presidents
Eastern Mid-Atlantic Southern
Mr. George Hudson Jewel Chapman Gloria Christler
17210 133rd Ave. #13G 6906 Sourwood Lane 5090 Erin Rd., SW
Jamaica, NY 11434 Ft. Washington, MD 20744 Atlanta, GA 30331
grchrist@bellsouth.net
Northwest Great Lakes Midwest
Karen Tillis Barbara Hutson Betty Markey
2226 70th Ave. West #2 20290 St. Mary’s 3446 Lesley
Tacoma, WA 98766 Detroit, MI 48235 Indianapolis, IN 46218
Southwest Western
Dr. Mary Ann Broussard Dr. Charles W Townsel
3805 Gertin Street 115 East Pslm Lane #C
Houston, TX 77004 (602) 254-2267
ABA National Office
2828 Lakewood Avenue
ABA Foundation
Teacher Certification Application
Beginners Curriculum
Nationwide Results
Nationwide Games
Spring National 2020
Summer National 2020
National Tournament Flashes
BBO Tournament Results
BridgeBaseOnline
Bridge Terminology
ABA Masterpoint Listing
Overall Masterpoint Races
Sectional Friend Races
Level Change Report
Are You Here Report
Life/Merit
Mentor Mentee
ABA/ACBL Youth
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line18
|
__label__cc
| 0.574753
| 0.425247
|
March and Rallies News
Come along to the Aberdeen St Andrews Day March and Rally on Sat 28th November and show that refugees are welcome in the North East
November 7, 2015 Aberdeenshire UNISON Comments Off on Come along to the Aberdeen St Andrews Day March and Rally on Sat 28th November and show that refugees are welcome in the North East
We are encouraging all our members to join us at the St Andrew’s Day March and Rally, on Saturday 28th November to give a clear message that refugees are welcome in the North East of Scotland but racism and fascism are not.
Gather at 11am in St Nicholas Churchyard, Unions Street and march off at 11.30 for a Rally in the Castlegate at 12 noon.
Kate Ramsden, Branch Chair, who will be chairing the Rally as President of the Aberdeen Trades Union Council said, “The theme of this year’s event is that refugees are welcome here.
“This important message reflects the theme of the STUC March and Rally which will take place in Glasgow at the same time.
“When local people saw the terrible plight of the refugees in Calais and across Europe they rallied to provide support.
“Aberdeenshire council has called on the UK Government to extend offers of asylum to many more refugees fleeing war and oppression in Syria and has pledged to take refugees into our communities.
“Yet as this uncaring Tory government dithers, still thousands of desperate people are fleeing war, oppression, and hunger, and risking their lives on a hazardous journey. Many, including children, have lost their lives en route. But for accident of birth they could be our children. They deserve our compassion, but more importantly our support.”
11am Assemble at St Nicholas Churchyard. Look out for the branch banner and join us to march behind it.
11.30am March down Union Street
12noon Rally at the Castlegate
There will be speakers from trade unions, community and faith organisations and political parties at the rally.
Anti-racism.EventsRefugeesSt Andrew's Day
Previous Post:Branch goes to the "heart of government" and lobbies parliament to say no to the "unfair, undemocratic and unnecessary" trade union bill
Next Post:Branch welcomes protections for staff numbers and no privatisation and calls for better recognition for staff
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line19
|
__label__cc
| 0.578326
| 0.421674
|
Accoun
The movement for equality before the law. We demand ACCOUNTABILITY worldwide of government-related crime and abuse of power
The deceit of a people
On the 13 June 1952, a Swedish signal intelligence equipped DC-3 was shot down over the Baltic Sea. The plane was found on the seafloor in 2003. It was salvaged and is now shown on the Swedish Air Force Museum.
The story of the DC-3 is a flagrant example of how a government propagates a belief that is not true, or at least not the whole truth. By letting a museum distort the history, this is taken one step further: Lies become institutionalized.
At the museum, the overall impression a visitor gets is that an innocent Swedish plane was shot down by the Soviet Union. The Swedish innocence is one of the lies. Only at a single place in the museum, the illegal nature of the flights of these DC-3s is hinted. On a sign you can read that in the early 1950s, there were continuous violations of the Soviet airspace by British and American reconnaissance aircraft and also by Swedish. The museum does not tell you that a Swedish crewmenber had seen the islands Saaremaa and Hiiumaa from “the wrong side” on an earlier flight with the same or a similar plane or that the Swedish military many years later forced the burning of a crewmember diary. That information can be found in Cecilia Steen-Johnsson’s book with the long title Ett folkbedrägeri: DC-3:an och svensk säkerhetspolitik: Sverige och NATO 1952-92.
Instead, the museum sells another book about the DC-3 in their shop, which tells the story much more the way the Swedish authorities want it to be told. Interestingly, that book by Christer Lokind claims that: “No authority and no archive is withholding material related to the DC-3 affair. Sometimes, however, one has to note that certain material that should be in the archives just cannot be found.” In those words, he actually reveals what has happened. Facts have been erased. At one place in the museum, I could also find that they admit this.
Another lie is probably the number of people on board, when the DC-3 was shot down.
The official story is that there were eight men in the crew, shown on the photo above. However, Anders Jallai (who was the project leader when the DC-3 was found), has compiled much information supporting that there were actually nine people in the crew that day. For more information, see his web page about the DC-3 (in Swedish).
Cecilia Steen-Johnsson’s book explains how the DC-3 affair is part of a broader picture, which is much worse than most Swedes understand. She writes about the enourmous hidden influence of NATO in Sweden:
Within NATO, one thinks about the recruitments that may be necessary for the future, which journalists can be connected, which the future’s influential industry leaders can be. The talent hunt goes on in the secret, one must not lose the grip on Sweden when useful people retire or die. An internal organization of reliable Swedes, which in a crisis can act for the Western alliance in desirable way, must be continually renewed.
This is incompatible with democracy.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on 2016-04-06 by Webmaster.
Dissent in South Korea
South Korea is drawing international concern for how its government is dealing with dissent. The government has been accused of distorting history and of propaganda. Now, the South Korean Navy files suit for losses against locals that opposed naval base in Jeju. On the Facebook page No Naval Base on Jeju, the following can be read:
Don’t make us Gangjeong villagers feel pain any more. The government has already built base, military residence and road. And now it is even to take away our livelihood.
The base is reported to have caused a deeply divided community and some fear that the base could draw South Korea into conflict.
Timeless cartoon by Dr Jack
"Humor is so appealing because it always contains some brutal truth" - Ndumiso Ngcobo, SA author
If you are on Facebook, please see the Accoun group on https://www.facebook.com/groups/567824516706437/
“Spain’s most dangerous terrorist” was allegedly working for Danish intelligence services
Tribunal judges divided on MI5 secret approvals for serious crime
Tim Bakken’s new book
Jeffrey Epstein coverup
Framing Julian Assange
Webmaster on Time to open the secret files
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line21
|
__label__wiki
| 0.646098
| 0.646098
|
Black Cat Bone
Just behave yourselves!
Board index There's always a bit of moaning. Yakety Yak
Last great Diana Ross album
Do talk back
GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
Postby GoogaMooga » 08 Mar 2019, 14:32
1982. Silk Electric. Warhol cover art. A bit of a stylistic hodge podge and I am not sure how many hits it spawned, but each of the 10 songs is distinct, well performed, with clever and beefy production by La Ross herself. It's often a good sign when an artist keeps it down to ten songs, no filler. I have not heard this album since the mid-80s, but it's all coming back to me now, on this CD listen. How many albums can you say that about? The personnel on this self-produced album is quite staggering, like Luther Vandross, Cissy Houston, Patti Austin, etc. - and that's just the backing vocals. Even a completely out of character rocker strangely works here. It's an album of constant surprises, and songs you'll remember. Critics say the album is overproduced, with too much echo, well, I happen to think that's part of its charm. It's easily the wackiest album of her career.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
Diamond Dog
"Self Quoter" Extraordinaire.
Location: High On Poachers Hill
Re: Last great Diana Ross album
Postby Diamond Dog » 09 Mar 2019, 08:31
Never heard it.
Never likely to either.
Español castillo mágico.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
This is where they walked, swam, Hunted, danced and sang, Take a picture here,Take a souvenir
borofan
Location: Lost in translation
Postby borofan » 09 Mar 2019, 17:51
Thread title infers that there is such a thing as a great Diana Ross album. Can't see that is true. Made some great singles, but a whole album? Nah.
We're usually skipping around the function room in our long-johns by now...
John aka Josh
Location: By the banks of the mighty Bourne
Postby John aka Josh » 09 Mar 2019, 20:48
borofan wrote: Thread title infers that there is such a thing as a great Diana Ross album. Can't see that is true. Made some great singles, but a whole album? Nah.
Possibly the Chic album would qualify. Don't much care for Friend to Friend, but there's a lot of Chic magic dust sprinkled over this offering.
Yes, "Diana" from 1980 is a perfect album, every track a winner. If that is how we define "great", there aren't many names who can muster more. If by "great" we mean eminently listenable throughout, I'd say she had a very good 1970s run. Certainly compared with some of the stuff I have heard in the 80s cup. It seems that BCB will cut post-punk a lot of slack while at the same time set impossibly high standards for more commercial pop and soul.
Return to “Yakety Yak”
There's always a bit of moaning.
Yakety Yak
BCB Desert Island Discs & BCB Interviews
Beyond the 130: BCB cult acts
BCB 100
Nextdoorland
Screenadelica
Film Vault
The Official BCB Cup
General commentary and discussion
2018 BCB Cup
2005 BCB Cup - The First BCB Cup.
Other Competitions and Cups
Classic Threads & Treasury of Mirth
Jolly Ups
Mix Club
Births, Marriages & Deaths
OK Computer?
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line31
|
__label__wiki
| 0.573773
| 0.573773
|
HomeNewsroomWithin a period of six months, Arab Wings successfully embraced four brand new jets to its fleet
Within a period of six months, Arab Wings successfully embraced four brand new jets to its fleet
In line with its well planned path dedicated to best serve the wide base of clients, Arab Wings has completed its expansion achievement in 2009 marking a significant presence in the field of private jets.
Within the period of six months the total of 4 new jets has been added to the fleet to include; the Citation Sovereign, and the Challengers 604 & 605 & the Learjet 60, all of which joined the existing Arab Wings fleet of ten luxury models operating out of Amman, Cairo, and Sharjah.
As new members in Bombardier's Challengers series; the world's best selling family of large business jets, two fully loaded limited editions joined the fleet to serve a diversified clientele base with long and direct trips from the Middle East to Europe. With different passenger capacities, the Challenger 604 accommodates up to 10 passengers while the Challenger 605 has 12 seats. The service of pampering is prevalent with exceptional service amenities, including well equipped galley and in-flight entertainment system. The brand new Lear Jet 60 is also a good option for passengers to find a luxurious and comfortable environment for work and relaxation while en route. The Lear jet 60 reaches up to 7 passengers, and is based between Riyadh and Amman.
The other luxurious midsized jet; Citation Sovereign, received from Cessna Aircraft Company; the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation airplanes, is also capable of accommodating nine passengers on long range trips through smooth and quiet flights. It needs less runway space than many smaller jets and can reach cruising altitude in just over 20 minutes, making this aircraft a great option for long and direct trips from the Middle East to most European destinations.
Understanding our clients and their needs, while continuously assessing their emerging requirements represents Arab Wings' driving forces.
Mr. Ahmad Abu Ghazaleh, the Executive President of Arab Wings, said,
"Our current achieved statuesque will be maintained with new and higher benchmarks in the near future. We will raise the bar to achieve higher standards and to maintain the innovative angle by all means. Our market is advancing progressively and we will ensure the competitive edge through new services and unique offerings in Jordan and the Middle East."
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line35
|
__label__wiki
| 0.903111
| 0.903111
|
Soldier Deaths Draw Focus to U.S. in Pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/asia/04pstan.html?th&emc=th
By JANE PERLEZ
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The deaths of three American soldiers in a Taliban suicide attack on Wednesday lifted the veil on United States military assistance to Pakistan that the authorities here would like to keep quiet and the Americans, as the donors, chafe at not receiving credit for.
The soldiers were among at least 60 to 100 members of a Special Operations team that trains Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps in counterinsurgency techniques, including intelligence gathering and development assistance. The American service members are from the Special Operations Command of Adm. Eric T. Olson.
At least 12 other American service members have been killed in Pakistan since Sept. 11, 2001, in hotel bombings and a plane crash, according to the United States Central Command, but these were the first killed as part of the Special Operations training, which has been under way for 18 months.
That training has been acknowledged only gingerly by both the Americans and the Pakistanis, but has deliberately been kept low-key so as not to trespass onto Pakistani sensitivities about sovereignty, and not to further inflame high anti-American sentiment.
Even though the United States calls Pakistan an ally, the country, unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, has not allowed American combat forces to operate here, a point that is stressed by the Pentagon and the Pakistani Army, the most powerful institution in Pakistan.
Instead, the Central Intelligence Agency operates what has become the main American weapon in Pakistan, the drones armed with missiles that have struck with increasing intensity against militants with the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the lawless tribal areas.
The American soldiers were probably made targets as a result of the drone strikes, said Syed Rifaat Hussain, professor of international relations at Islamabad University. “The attack seems a payback for the mounting frequency of the drone attacks,” Professor Hussain said.
If the American soldiers were the targets, the attack raised the question of whether the Taliban had received intelligence or cooperation from within the Frontier Corps.
The three soldiers were killed, and two other service members wounded, in the region of Lower Dir, which is close to the tribal areas. According to police officials in the region, the armored vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a suicide bomber driving a car. Earlier reports from Pakistani security officials said the soldiers had been killed by a roadside explosive device.
To disguise themselves in a way that is common for Western men in Pakistan, the American soldiers were dressed in traditional Pakistani garb of baggy trousers and long tunic, known as shalwar kameez, according to a Frontier Corps officer. They also wore local caps that helped cover their hair, he said.
Their armored vehicle was equipped with electronic jammers sufficient to block remotely controlled devices and mines, the officer said. Vehicles driven by the Frontier Corps were placed in front and behind the Americans as protection, he said.
Still, the Taliban bomber was able to penetrate their cordon. In all 131 people were wounded, most of them girls who were students at a high school adjacent to the site of the suicide attack, the Lower Dir police said.
The soldiers were en route to the opening of a girls school that had been rebuilt with American money, the United States Embassy said in a statement. The school was destroyed by the Taliban last year as they swept through Lower Dir and the nearby Swat Valley, where a battle raged for months between the Pakistani Army and the Taliban.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban called reporters hours after the attack against the Americans and claimed that his group was responsible.
The Pakistani Army currently occupies Swat, and in an effort to strengthen the civilian institutions there and in Dir, some of the American service members on the Special Operations team have been quietly working on development projects, an American official said.
The presence of the American military members in an area known to be threaded with Taliban militants would also raise questions, said Khalid Aziz, a former chief secretary of the North-West Frontier Province, which includes Swat and Dir.
Mr. Aziz said it was odd that American soldiers would go to such a volatile area where Taliban militants were known to be prevalent even though the Pakistani security forces insisted that they had been flushed out.
The usual practice for development work in Dir and Swat called for Pakistani aid workers or paramilitary soldiers to visit the sites, he said.
The Americans’ involvement in training Frontier Corps recruits in development assistance was little known until Wednesday’s attack.
“People are going to be very suspicious,” said Mr. Aziz, who is now involved in American assistance projects elsewhere. “There is going to be big blowback in the media.”
An American development official said that encouraging the Frontier Corps to become expert in humanitarian aid was an important part of the trainers’ counterinsurgency curriculum.
Last summer, for example, the American military trainers helped distribute food and water in camps for the more than one million people displaced from the Swat Valley by the fighting, the official said. But that American assistance, too, was kept quiet.
The 500,000-strong Pakistani Army led by Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the standard-bearer of Pakistan’s strong sense of nationalism, is resistant to the appearance of overt military assistance, least of all from the unpopular Americans, that would make the army look less than self-reliant on the battlefield.
Over the last several years, as the Qaeda-backed insurgents increased their hold on Pakistan’s tribal areas and used their base to attack American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the United States military asked for permission for combat soldiers to operate in the tribal zone, according to American officials. Pakistan rebuffed the requests, they said.
Whether American soldiers are based in Pakistan is often raised by Pakistani politicians, students and average Pakistanis, many of them suspicious of American motives.
The question of the presence of American soldiers in Pakistan is also prompted by the fact that the American military provides important equipment to the Pakistani Army, including F-16 fighter jets, Cobra attack helicopters and howitzers.
Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for the United States Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said 12 other service members had been killed in Pakistan since Sept. 11, 2001. The three soldiers who died Wednesday had been assigned to a Special Operations command in Pakistan. But he said they were not commandos from the elite Delta Force or Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets. The United States has about 200 military service members in Pakistan, Captain Hanzlik said.
The three names of the soldiers killed were not released Wednesday because United States military officials were still notifying the next of kin.
Reporting was contributed by Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan; Pir Zubair Shah from Islamabad; and Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
Justice Dept. Reveals More Missing E-Mail Files
Death penalty opponents see executions on the wane...
The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged
CREW Files Lawsuit, Alleges the VA Underreported N...
Dubious in Dubai
Imprisoned for 'dangerousness' in Cuba
Defender of Waterboarding Hears From Critics
War Politics: Numb and Number
See and discuss BONHOEFFER DVD/Conscientious objec...
Pentagon Discloses Hundreds of Reports of Possibly...
Four Prisoners Freed From Guantánamo: Three in Alb...
Charges Filed in Katrina Inquiry
Progressvie Working Group: Help Needed in Surge f...
Vermont Senate Wants Entergy Reactor Shut in 2012
Rachel Corrie's family bring civil suit over human...
Join us at the Forum on Progressive Legislation/EP...
Before Justices, First Amendment and Aid to Terror...
Kucinich Challenges Gates on Civilians Killed in A...
Iraqi student's education goes far beyond Goucher
Distant Wars, Constant Ghosts
Destroying C.I.A. Tapes Wasn't Opposed, Memos Say
DC to NYC NPT Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abo...
Terrorism Law, the New McCarthyism
How Wars Are Made
The Binyam Mohamed case and the threat of dictator...
Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians t...
Deep secrets: Former cold war agent gagged by the ...
Mission: Impossible - Dubai
Whirlpool Bites Hands Of American Taxpayers That F...
Report Faults 2 Authors of Bush Terror Memos
"The Most Dangerous Man in America" a must see doc...
Robert Fisk: Not one of the nations spoken to has ...
No military strategy will work in Afghanistan/Winn...
Hopkins studensts say no to Yoo/Does Dick Cheney W...
Senator John Mellencamp? Grassroots Movement Swell...
Bold move is needed to abolish nuclear weapons: St...
Obama's Nuclear Option
Peaceful Palestinian resistance is paying off
Judges Free Inmate on Recommendation of Special In...
America's Global Weapons Monopoly
What's Wrong With Us?
Indigenous Peoples Fight for Rights, Buoyed by New...
Marines in Afghan Assault Grapple With Civilian De...
Joya Condemns 'Ridiculous' Military Strategy/Dolla...
Healthcare Not Warfare vigil/In California, Exhibi...
American spy chiefs alarmed by Binyam Mohamed ruli...
Biological Threats: A Matter Of Balance
An Officer Shoots, a 73-Year-Old Dies, and Schisms...
Obama's Secret Prisons in Afghanistan Endanger Us ...
Preserving the Golden Rule as a Piece of Anti-Nucl...
The Lobbying-Media Complex
Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe...
The Cleveland Model
Fifty Years After Greensboro, Whatever Happened to...
Then and Now: Rule of Law, Mukasey, and Obama's DO...
Today in The Liberal Media
Take Nuclear Provisions Out of Clean Energy Jobs A...
Right to Free Speech Collides With Fight Against T...
Single Mother Is Spared Court-Martial
Vermont's Radioactive Nightmare
The Obama disarmament paradox: Greg Mello
Wars Sending US into Ruin
Secret papers could contradict Iraq evidence: Chil...
Feds admit wrongly tracking Wis. abortion groups
Burmese-American Awaits Verdict in Myanmar Case
Jack Straw agrees to check records of secret calls...
Tritium Hot Zone Expands Around Vermont Nuclear Pl...
Murder Capital of the World
Japanese Split on Exposing Secret Pacts With U.S.
Landmark Case Could Restore Felon Voting Rights
The Terror-Industrial Complex: Hedges
The Iraqi Oil Conundrum
A Four-Letter Word
Nelson Mandela's Captive Audience: A Smile to Reme...
California Students Defy Attack on Higher Educatio...
The Dechoukaj This Time
The target is now IRAN: Seumas Milne
"What will become of 137 families?" Duluth CW Mich...
What Americans Really Have to Fear
Whaler, activist ship collide again off Antarctica...
Legal Experts Slam "Targeted Killings" of US Citiz...
NSA Deal: Kill Google?/Google to enlist NSA to hel...
Google Asks Spy Agency for Help With Inquiry Into ...
On the Claimed 'War Exception' to the Constitution...
Protest Obama's wars/Weak State Department Oversig...
From 'Oprah' to Building a Sisterhood in Congo
Decency and Strength
The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Democracy
Fifty year anniversary of the lunch counter sit-in...
Blair Called a Liar in Iraq Inquiry
No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line38
|
__label__cc
| 0.63712
| 0.36288
|
Apologies for yesterday's lack of a post, Gentle Reader. Things have been beyond hectic lately, and I don't always manage to carve out enough time to produce something worthwhile for Liberty's Torch. I hope today's grab-bag will suffice.
Just now I'm deep in the first draft of Freedom's Fury, the concluding volume to the Spooner Federation trilogy that opened with Which Art In Hope and continued in Freedom's Scion. It's a challenging novel to write for several reasons, not the least of which is that my plot-braid requires that I coordinate developments widely separated in both space and time, but which must converge in a fashion that lends power to the novel's overarching theme. The need to keep all those dishes cooking at the right speed is costing me quite a bit of hard thought.
In the course of this adventure, I've found myself diverted into appealing side trails more than once. A couple of those side trails have pulled me in against my will. That's one of the hazards of letting your characters define your stories, rather than the other way around. But if you insist on writing about larger-than-life figures, you have to let them have their say.
This is a warning of sorts to those who are anxious to read Freedom's Fury. You're going to encounter developments and ideas you'll find surprising coming from me. You might not like some of them; indeed, I can practically guarantee that you won't. But fiction has its own demands. They create a space that's quite a distance from that of the "real world," however unreal it might sometimes seem, into which I hurl these obnoxious op-eds.
Among the more difficult things I occasionally commit to doing is reviewing others' fiction. It's not difficult for technical reasons; a good book review -- a good review, not a review of a good book -- must follow a fairly rigid formula, regardless of the book, its genre, its subject matter, or the reviewer's opinion of it. It's difficult because of Sturgeon's Law:
90% of Everything is Crud.
That's as absolute a law as any statement outside the laws of physics. Indeed, it approaches tautology, for reasons about which a whole encyclopedia could be written. But let's stick to the subject of fiction.
Given Sturgeon's Law, a randomly selected work of fiction has a 90% probability of being crud: unsatisfying; unmemorable; disposable. It might still have been worth its purchase price; after all, we all need some disposable entertainment in our lives. But it's likely that you won't remember the experience of reading it at all vividly, and you're not likely to recommend it to others, at least not enthusiastically.
That's where my difficulty lies: I have a very hard time giving a crud book an appropriate review. As it happens, when I commit to writing a review of a book, it seems I thereby elevate the probability of it being crud, even though any sane physicist will tell you that time travel is theoretically impossible.
I know, I know: it should be my worst problem. (It isn't.) All the same, it makes me sad to have to tell an author that his creation, of which he's surely proud, is crud. As if more were necessary, there's a major irony looming behind most crud fiction: the overwhelming majority of crud books are crud because they violate one of the two iron laws of fiction, most memorably enunciated by the late John Brunner:
1. The Raw Material Of Fiction Is People.
2. The Essence Of Story Is Change.
The book I'm struggling to review at the moment violates the first of those laws, by implication: it fails to make the reader care about any of its Marquee characters. Atop that, it's so crusted with a multitude of details, major and minor, that the reader must absorb and retain to understand what's going on that it takes a great deal of effort to read it, thus compounding the damage.
But I promised the author I'd review it...and he asked me to let him know when the review has been posted.
I really have to learn not to make that particular promise any more.
What's this? Another segment about a book? Well, yes. But this time, it's nonfiction: Dr. Helen Smith's Men On Strike.
There are several noteworthy things about this offering from Dr. Smith, an accomplished psychologist with a lively and enduring interest in men's-rights issues and relations between the sexes generally. First, it's coherent and informative despite being rather discursive. Second, Dr. Smith casts a wide net: she employs the insights of many persons, among them several bloggers who've also written on the subject. Third, it's not at all jargonish; rather, it's written in a colloquial and easily approachable style. (It could have used more editing than it got, but then, I say that about nearly everything.) Fourth, it lays out paths to follow for those who take the subject as seriously as Dr. Smith does, though in a couple of cases pursuing those paths would engender -- sorry, Gentle Reader -- significant resistance and resentment from the women in one's life. And fifth and perhaps most remarkable, the word Instapundit appears nowhere on its pages.
All that having been said, Men On Strike is a worthwhile survey of what might be the most important psychosocial trend in contemporary America: the consequences of the meta-feminization of our society, its inter-gender relations, its legal corpus, its educational institutions, and its entertainment infrastructure. It nicely complements several other books on the same and peripheral subjects; America Alone by Mark Steyn and Taken Into Custody by Stephen Baskerville come to mind at once.
Unqualifiedly recommended.
It's an easy segue from Men On Strike to the reactions to my recent screed about being fit to live with. Even though the malady that formed the subject of that piece is gender-independent, most of the email I've received about it was from women. (Surprised?) The overwhelming majority of those emails expressed two things all but exclusively:
You're a male chauvinist pig, Porretto;
We're just getting some justice for all the centuries you brutes held us down.
I shan't dispute the first assertion. I am adamant that women are the lesser sex; that men are the creators and maintainers of the skeleton and sinews of Western Civilization, without whom women's lives would be Hell on Earth; that men have an obligation to protect and provide for their wives, and that mothers have an obligation to protect and nurture their children; that women's gender-specific strengths pertain to a far smaller range of undertakings than the feminist activists claim; and that attempts to dismiss any of the above will inevitably bring about mass misery, social dissolution, and overall chaos. Put any label on those statements you might care to apply to them, ladies. That's easy enough. Convincing me that any of them is false will be much harder.
It's the second claim that's worth a close examination. As usual, it misuses a critical term in an attempt to put a patina of righteousness on a desire to act very, very wrongly.
I doubt the Gentle Readers of Liberty's Torch will need more of a hint than that. However, being a generous sort, I'll throw in another pointer, which everyone capable of speaking the English language has surely heard more than once -- and to prove that I'm capable of being just as subtle as my oh-so-subtle detractors, I'll put it in teeny-tiny type:
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Those who disagree should feel free to soak their heads in hot paraffin.
Posted by Francis W. Porretto Labels: fiction, war between the sexes
Guy S said...
"Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do." from the "Deteriorata". Sorry, couldn't resist.
On a more serious note. I grew up in the same general time frame as you did, Fran. And yes, not only were things (at least to the eyes of a child, back then) simpler, more black and white. But the gender rolls seemed to be much more defined. That they were "the way they always were" seemed to provide no small measure of comfort/stability to all parties.
The above being said, I have no problem with anyone (of any race, creed*, color, or gender) being able to pursue any career/job their little hearts desire. Provided they can meet, and or exceed, the criteria/qualifications (intellectual/physical/emotional) said choice demands or requires.
This may mean they are going to have to "give up" (at least for the duration of said job) other perhaps more traditional roles. (Housewife, or mother, for example.) But life is full of choices, of paths not traveled.
Where this whole (at least the face shown to the public) women's lib/feminist agenda really jumped off the track, was when, after being "allowed" to venture into career paths traditionally held exclusively by males, the requirement "goal posts" were lowered to allow for their being able to "meet" the requirements!
You saw this on the Police and Fire Department side of the street, for those of you in the civilian world. And we saw it across the board, in the military. (Indeed, it still goes on there to this day.)
Over and above the emotional (and whiny sound) response of : "It's not fair that they should be given this (these) advantages!" There is a far more important aspect of it being intellectually and morally wrong. It is a lie to have the playing field "leveled" in such a manner as to give the false impression that both sexes (to use just the gender issue) are truly equal in all aspects. Physiology dictates otherwise.
I could say more, but you get the idea.
And yes, I am in complete agreement with you.
*the one exception to the "creed"....why Islam, of course!
pdwalker said...
The need to keep all those dishes cooking at the right speed is costing me quite a bit of hard thought.
If it was easy, it wouldn't be as much fun now, would it?
Julian O'Dea said...
Cites your piece and is interesting. A woman writes about her inferiority:
http://davidcollard.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/a-guest-post-from-a-frank-woman/
Xealot said...
I admit I lost sight of these principles and am having to rediscover how to make use of them. Still, don't be sad to tell an author his work stinks like yesterday's meat.
The fact of the matter is, a review and feedback is helpful -- especially if it is negative. We learn more from our failures than our successes, more often than not, but one has to first know that something is a failure. That is difficult for a writer without a qualified second opinion.
I appreciate your looking at my short story earlier - and your feedback in my case, though decidedly negative, was also incredibly helpful.
The Great Disaffection
Too Good Not To Steal Dept.
Isolation, Anonymity, And Acceptance: A Sunday Rum...
Judgments and Natures: A Non-Political Discourse
Pearls of expression – XXXVI.
Quickies: The Audacity Of...Greed?
Quickies: The Establishment Has To Get Its Digs In...
A Quick Reminder
Quotidian Brilliance Dept.
The Cruz Filibuster: Aftermath
Flamboyance And Endurance
Localism, Centralism, And Otherism
Quickies: A Change In Style, Not Substance
Sex! The Sequel: On Making The Best Of Things...In...
Ultra Vires: Quandaries For Catholics And Conserva...
Work And Motivation
There Is No Defense Part 2: Silencers
There Is No Defense
Worth A Thousand Words Or So
Decapitated.
Blinding Flash Of The Obvious Dept: On Being Fit T...
Pendula And Armistices
Cartoon Of The Year!
The Obama Pelosi War aka (WW III)
The Canal Horse In The White House
On Not Forgetting...Ever
Chortles!
Where The Power Is Part 2: The Scam
Where the Power Is
Pearls of expression – XXXV.
Pearls of expression – XXXIV.
Pearls of expression – XXXIII.
Pre-post-modernist Bismarkian clarity.
The true "progressive" agenda.
Diversities
Warfare Through a False Flag Frameup
Three And A Quick Toddle
Runaway train and no Denzel.
Orwell Was Right Dept.
Words Fail Me Dept. (UPDATED)
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line40
|
__label__wiki
| 0.89539
| 0.89539
|
Poem: A PROBABILITY MODEL FOR RARE EVENTS
A PROBABILITY MODEL
FOR RARE EVENTS/
ATTEMPTED CANNIBALISM
the dry flake
of deadness chafed
from your nipple,
your cells on my tongue
the sweat
pearling your armpit
saliva from
your tongue
other moistures
particles of
skin pared from
your cuticles
digesting
you inside me
bruise you,
indent patterns,
to draw blood
Artwork: Treated by Pris Campbell
‘STINK no.2’ (UK – July 1984)
‘TEMPUS FUGIT no.8’ (Belgium – December 1988)
Autobiography: 'THE CONFESSIONS OF IKE TURNER'
IKE TURNER:
‘WHAT’S LOVE GOT
TO DO WITH IT…?’
Book Review of:
‘TAKIN’ BACK MY NAME:
THE CONFESSIONS OF IKE TURNER’
by IKE TURNER (with NIGEL CAWTHORNE)
(Virgin Books, 1999 - £16.99 - ISBN 1-85227-850-1)
Izear Luster ‘Ike’ Turner Jr,
5 November 1931 – 12 December 2007
Music industry rumours that Ike Turner was about to cover Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up” are probably apocryphal. Largely because I just started them. Stories of him hanging out around the ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ (1993) movie-set signing autographs and grabbing some peripheral celebrity – even from a totally one-sided biopic that vilifies him, are more grounded in reality.
This book-review was originally slated to be an interview. Ike Turner was due to fly into the UK for a tie-in book-promo schedule, complete with my own eagerly anticipated face-to-face. After all, this was the man who cut what respected authorities consider to be the first ever Rock ‘n’ Roll record – “Rocket 88” in March 1951. Little Richard cheerfully admits stealing the piano intro for “Good Golly Miss Molly” from “Rocket 88” – ‘the exact same, ain’t nothing been changed’. Ike then went on to fire Jimi Hendrix for messing up the band’s sound-balance with his effect-pedals, he cut chart R&B hits which crossed-over to white audiences, co-produced the quintessential 1960’s black-Pop ‘River Deep Mountain High’ (1966) album with Phil Spector... then got himself demonised as serial adulterer, drug addict and wife-beater in Tina’s Feminist Survival-through-Strength bible ‘I, Tina’ (1986).
Now ‘I want the record to be put straight’ protests Ike, ‘the real story has never been told…’ So there’s much potential here, but he starts out the Book-promotion tour with a Breakfast-TV slot where the talking heads begin poking Research-Dept questions at him about smacking Bitches. Predictably he throws a wobbler. Blows all further media assignations – self included, and hops the next plane home. Similar scenes kill the launch of his most recent solo album (‘Without Love… I Have Nothing’, C-Ya Records, 1997), when his notoriously short fuse similarly aborts promotion. Which is tough.
I had my questions ready – ‘was creating this book a personally difficult project, re-living painful memories?’ ‘In Brian Gibson’s slanted 1993 movie what did Larry Fishburne and Angela Bassett’s version of the Ike & Tina story get right, and what did they get wrong?’ ‘In the book you talk of the separation between black and white music in 1950’s America. Yet weren’t there valuable connections too? Elvis was just one of many white kids tuning into black radio stations. He lived in a one-room shack. Carl Perkins came from the only white family in a share-cropping town. Even the Everly Brothers learned guitar from a black blues man. In what way was their white-trash poverty different from yours?’ And, more daring ‘did they treat you as a celebrity when you were in prison?’
The questions stay unanswered, or find partial resolution in his book. For Ike Turner deserves, at the very least, recognition for his ground-breaking musical achievements. His Kings of Rhythm were touring and recording successfully long before late-comer Annie Mae Bullock appears. He had other protégés too, the Ikettes – for example, who scored a respectable run of delicious chart hits under his auspices, while Betty (“Shoop Shoop”) Everett and Fontella (“Rescue Me”) Bass both sang with Turner bands too. And even earlier than that – between 1951 and 1959, he A&R’d black or ‘Race’ artists from the same Memphis Sun studios that Sam Philips prospected white talent, playing as often-uncredited sideman for the likes of BB King, Johnny Ace, Elmore James, Otis Rush, and Buddy Guy.
In fact, it was on his way to the Memphis Recording Service when a tyre blow-out provided on-route writing time, which resulted in “Rocket 88”. It debuted on Dewey Phillips ‘Red Hot & Blue’ radio-show on W-HBQ, and – leased to Chess records as a big 78rpm single, it charted. By 12 June 1951 it was no.1 on the R&B and the jukebox charts. Three years later Dewey would break another local artist’s debut hit, Elvis’ “That’s Alright Mama”! So there’s some legitimate bragging to do, but you sense there’s insecurity and the genuine need for emotional and ego-reassurance too.
Ike was born on 5 November 1931, literally on the wrong side of the tracks, on the black side of strictly segregated Clarksdale, Mississippi, deep in the Delta cotton belt. He was raised by his Mother, Beatrice Cushenberry, his early life shaped by strong and respected female figures. And sociologically – in a Southland where they still chained blacks to pick-ups and dragged them to death, a five-year-old Ike was traumatically witness to a Redneck lynch-mob smashing into his home, hauling his father away for an unprovoked beating – ‘he had holes in his stomach where he’d been kicked’. The white hospital turned him away, and he subsequently died from the long-term effects of the wounds. Later, thinking he’d murdered his stepfather, young Ike ran away to big-city racially segregated Memphis, where he lived out of trashcans while sleeping in alleys. This is not to excuse his later misogynist violence. But perhaps it goes some way to explaining it.
Always sexually precocious, it was a Miss Boozie Owens who provided Ike’s initiation into rota-rooting before he’d even hit first grade. ‘Sex’ he explains, ‘that’s the dog in a man,’ and he was always voraciously drawn to what he terms ‘the cat’. He was not yet twelve years old when middle-aged Miss Reeny became his third sexual partner! In such an erotically-charged atmosphere he was soon sharing girlfriends with pal Ernest, who’s Daddy played ragtime piano and was a ‘real whoring man’. When Ike heard Pinetop Perkins play boogie-woogie on his way home from school, ‘it put a burn in my mind,’ and the connection was obvious. Musicians attract sex.
Ike would go on to have numerous wives – eight or nine he says. Ghost-writer Nigel Cawthorne puts the figure closer to ten, maybe twelve. But he was never, they both agree, legally married to Tina. Meanwhile, Momma B had ambitions for her small-town fatherless black boy, with an eye to every hustle, and already, while still at school he’d graduated to DJ-ing at W-ROX. The school band called itself the Dukes of Swing, so Ike went one better, his own band became the Kings of Rhythm, and he was soon playing twelve-hour sets backing-up legendary Blues star Robert Nighthawk at local roadside joints. Playing West Memphis clubs a young Elvis came around to watch, and learn. Then, while writing, playing sessions and producing, Ike contributed piano to BB King’s first hit “Three O’ Clock Blues”, talent-scouted and produced Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland’s debut studio-sessions, and worked on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Moanin’ At Midnight” – all for one-off no-royalty fees!
It was during a band residency in East St Louis that he ‘became real, real whorish’, with corrupt cop harassment, knife-fights, shoot-outs, and a roadie who got castrated and bled to death. But it was here that Ike met drummer Eugene Washington’s girl Alline Bullock, and her sister ‘Little Annie Mae’, who was destined to become ‘Tina Turner’. ‘Tina’ got pregnant by the tenor saxist Raymond Hill, and Ike wrote “A Fool In Love”. He originally intended it for vocalist Art Lassiter who ‘sounded like the Ink Spots,’ but when Art ran out owing Ike $80, Tina stepped in. Ike claims to have never been a natural performer, ‘I built my career on standing in the background’ he protests. ‘I am an organiser. I ain’t no goddamn artist.’ Even “Rocket 88” – a celebration of a convertible Oldsmobile coupè, had been credited to ‘Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats’. But ‘I wasn’t going to have people running off with my shit again…!’ And, learning from that name-theft, he deliberately issued “A Fool In Love” under his own name – allowing space for alternate ‘Tina’s as required, and patented it so that if Hill ran off with ‘Little Annie’ he could find himself another Tina, ‘and keep on going’. No such problem arose.
“A Fool In Love”, issued on Sue records, was an instant hit, reaching no.2 on the R&B chart and no.27 on the Pop chart in August 1960. He then set about remoulding ‘Tina’ to become the raw visual focus of the band, modelling her style on movie jungle-girl Nyoka, and the Ikettes on the short-skirt majorettes who’d excited his prurient interest in Clarksdale parades. Inevitably, Ike and Tina became an item. For songwriting purposes, ‘Tina was my Little Richard’ – and for sex, Tina made ‘my dick as hard as Chinese arithmetic.’ How could they fail?
Soon there were more R&B hits, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” (no.14 for Sue, 1961) and “Poor Fool” (no.38 for Sue, 1962) for Tina, and “I’m Blue” (no.19 for Atco, 1962) and “Peach
es ‘n’ Cream” for the Ikettes (no.36 for Modern, 1965), but no significant cross-over sales into the white demographic until Ike bribed DJ’s on K-FWB and K-RLA, white stations boasting twice the watt-output of their nearest black rival stations. They also got to play Jack Good’s ‘Shindig’ TV show where, due to the swaggering thrust of Tina and the Ikettes choreography, they were advised never to ‘bump to the front… it was considered vulgar.’ Nevertheless, their increasingly sexualised burlesque provoked network protests, and there was no return booking.
The primitive up-front theatrics of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue ‘invented’ strobe and fire-extinguisher ‘dry ice’, while their screaming was wilder and the Ikettes dynamic boogaloos more uninhibited than any other outfit on the touring circuit. Even Tina’s subsequent solo career was based around what he termed ‘the wedding’ stage-routine he designed to gain sympathetic acceptance from female audiences. But oddly it was ‘England that woke America up to the Blues.’ The Turner Revue toured with the Rolling Stones – at the Stones invitation, playing the Albert Hall and even the infamous Altamont festival with them. With ‘people like Janis (Joplin), the Rolling Stones, Clapton, and other groups, things changed. You had a younger generation that was not hooked on race.’
The association with Phil Spector propelled the cavernous reverberating “River Deep Mountain High” into the European chart, but it was their throw-away cover of John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary” that finally gave the Turners their breakthrough American hit (no.4 for Liberty in 1971). A track that even mistakenly includes Ike’s voice prompting Tina, which was meant to be erased! But with success, fame – and occasional infamy, came coke. Initially it was a ‘false energy’ performance aid, something to help him stay awake and enable extended creative sessions at his own custom-built high-tech ‘Bolic’ studios. Then cocaine became an essential part of touring, hidden in the back of speakers, in wah-wah pedals, and even in the false heels of his platform shoes. The studio, which was ‘like something out of a James Bond movie,’ had its own ‘orgy quarters’, and ‘sometimes I would be sitting mixing at the board and two girls would be under the console sucking my dick.’
Not surprisingly, his relationship with Tina was in trouble. ‘She was attractive, but not really sensuous in bed… to be honest, I felt that having sex with her was almost a duty.’ Were there beatings? Yes. But it was cocaine, and Ike’s sexually voracious promiscuity that Tina couldn’t take. For years EMI’s Ronald Bell toured Europe holding Tina’s gown as she came offstage but – Cawthorne adds, ‘despite the recent repeated allegations that Ike beat Tina, Bell says, he never saw a mark on her.’ And the final physical spat – in a limo on their way to dates in Dallas, was – according to Ike, deliberately provoked by her to supply the pretext for a split on the eve of signing a five-year record deal. Whatever the motives, the rift proved to be a major tipping point, and ‘my life ain’t been right since then.’
His career had concentrated on assembling the Revue around Tina, not around himself, ‘so I wasted my whole life building something, and then it got taken away from me.’ Without its visual focus the Revue was ‘a car with no motor.’ Ike was stranded in a mess of sixties sexual liberation, left in the slipstream as Tina became an icon for seventies Feminism. As he relates here, ‘while I was hitting rock-bottom, Tina was becoming a star.’ He was reduced to stealing silverware from hotels, while there were legal threats and counter-threats, but he insists that ‘the movie confrontation at her comeback concert where I’m supposed to have threatened her with a gun – that never happened. I never went there.’
Throughout these years Ike Turner was living in a coke-blur, he developed a nasal coke-hole he could ‘put a pen through.’ ‘I don’t give a damn who you are’ he protests, ‘cocaine is stronger than you.’ It took a two-year two-month incarceration in California Men’s Colony in St Luis Obispo – as convict No.E48678, to get him off dependency, ‘the greatest thing that ever happened to me.’
Nowadays – of course, there are no real stories. Only news management, spin and media manipulation. And sure, the cheap Bitch-Smacking jibes come easy. But one thing’s for sure, Ike Turner was no Mike Tyson. He’s more spinned-against that spun. And he has a real story to tell. ‘Takin’ Back My Name’ is that story, ‘the real truth from the horse’s mouth.’ As the title says, it’s both an exercise in redressing the balance, and in damage limitation. It shares its dedication to his mother’s memory, with one to Tina. Perhaps it’s a generous act of conciliation or, more cynically, a marketing strategy. For the dust-jacket is split equally between them both. Ike, and Tina. At first, it was always Annie, or ‘Little Annie’. Until – after their separation, he calls her Tina. He was still musing about the possibilities of a one-off reunion tour, while pointing out ‘she says she don’t like the image I portrayed on her. But what is she doing now? When you look at it, she’s doing the same damn thing.’ And she is. She is.
Much Expanded from a version published in:
‘ROCK ‘N’ REEL no.34 Spring 2000’ (UK - June 2000)
Posted by Andrew Darlington at 19:33 1 comment:
'BUCK ROGERS: IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH CENTURY
BUCK ROGERS:
IN THE TWENTY-FIFTH CENTURY…
As far as comic-strip retronauts go, ‘Buck Rogers’ was
there at the first lift-off, and he continues as one of the
great pantheon of twentieth-century heroes, still
making waves in the twenty-first century,
and – just possibly, the twenty-fifth too…
‘BUCK ROGERS: SCIENCE-FICTION’S
MOST EXCITING ADVENTURER!’
Consider this. It was a frame from a ‘Buck Rogers’ newspaper-strip that gave ‘ET’ the idea of ‘phoning home!’ Then, when ‘Star Wars’ was re-released for cinema-screenings in 1977, George Lucas specifically selected Chuck Jones’ 1953 Loony Tunes spoof ‘Duck Dodgers In The Twenty-Fourth-&-A-Half Century’ to precede the main feature. In these two ways, both Lucas, and Steven Spielberg were slyly acknowledging their debt to the same legendary 1930’s action hero. A bonus link is perhaps provided by the amazing Mel Blanc, who not only voiced ‘Duck Dodgers’, but also voices Twiki, the irritating robot in the 1980’s TV-series ‘Buck Rogers In The 25th Century’.
Buck Rogers was the world’s first SF picture-strip, but – unlike his great rival Flash Gordon who was created specifically to be a Sunday newspaper serial, Buck was derived from a genuine science fiction source. It was a story published in Hugo Gernsback’s ‘Amazing Stories’ magazine as early as 1928 that provided his inspiration. Buck was the first. Buck preceded Flash, and indeed provided the template for his exploits. Buck crossed the ‘final frontier’ thirty-five years before Captain Kirk began ‘boldly going’. It was Buck who first took all those geekish SF cult ideas of spaceships, alien worlds, radar-controlled robots, futuristic domed cities, sky-cycles and ionizing disintegrator rays, and spread them to every American home through the viral infiltration of the newspaper funny-pages. His name was immediately adopted as a shorthand for SF itself, sucked into the vocabulary as an all-purpose adjective for weirdness. To comic-book historian Mike Benton, Buck and Flash would, ‘for good or bad, indelibly define and associate science fiction in the public’s mind with the world of the cartoons and comics,’ adding that it’s also tempting to see them as ‘the sole progenitors of all the science fiction comics to come.’
Way back then, at the very birth of the genre, it was assumed that an unsophisticated readership would be insufficiently familiar with the concept of future-time, so a present-day everyman had to be introduced into the story to function as the reader’s proxy-eyeballs. HG Wells set the precedent with his time-traveller journeying through the centuries so that a man of his own late-Victorian time could arrive at the year 802,701AD and look at its strangeness through contemporary eyes. He could ask questions on the reader’s behalf, about what had happened to the world he knew, how this future-time had become so different. Wells would repeat the plot-device with ‘The Sleeper Awakes’ (1910), an idea several degrees closer to the contribution made by Buck Rogers. But it was not necessarily a new idea even when Wells used it.
Washington Irving’s 1819 tale ‘Rip Van Winkle’ precedes it, the man who falls asleep in the cave to wake up decades later to find the world he knew unrecognisably changed. As a vehicle for satire, social commentary, and humour, it is a theme rich with possibilities. As a science fiction gimmick, it is one open to endless reinvention and reinterpretation. In the original text-version of the Buck Rogers story USAF airplane lieutenant Anthony Rogers is surveying the lower levels of an abandoned Pittsburgh mineshaft when he’s overcome by a ‘peculiar gas which defied chemical analysis’ – like Rip Van Winkle, he falls asleep in a ‘cave’, until a shift in the strata admits fresh air, and he awakes – five centuries later into a war-devastated gadget-filled future.
In the 1939 Buster Crabbe movie-serial Buck wakes after his five-hundred year sleep to find that the Zuggs from Saturn have invaded Earth. In the Gil Gerard TV-series Buck would be reinvented as a 1987 NAASA deep-space-probe astronaut cryogenically-frozen when his ship loses control, only to be thawed-out and reawakened into yet another future. The minutia are not particularly important. They can be revisioned as required. What matters is the essential presence of a contemporary figure, a male action hero, cast into another time…
‘BUCK IS A ONE-MAN ARMY OF GREASED LIGHTNING’
(cover-blurb of ‘FAMOUS FUNNIES FEATURING
BUCK ROGERS no.209’ December 1953)
Philip Francis Nowlan started out as a bored financial writer for the ‘Philadelphia Retail Ledger’. But he’d picked up some newsstand copies of the garish new Hugo Gernsback pulp magazine, and responded to an editorial appeal for material from new and original writers. His story – ‘Armageddon 2419’, with illustrations by Frank R Paul, duly appeared in the issue of ‘Amazing Stories’ dated August 1928, the same issue that coincidentally included the first instalment of EE ‘Doc’ Smith’s wide-screen ‘Skylark Of Space’ serial. Nowlan saw his story as text-fiction, he never envisaged that his future would lie in the realms of comic-strips. But a copy of the magazine happened to come to the attention of the head of the syndicated National Newspaper Service, a businessman called John Flint Dille in Chicago.
Just as ‘Sun’ label-boss Sam Phillips had the vague precognition that he could make a million-dollars by finding a white man who could sing like a negro – some time before he encountered Elvis Presley, Dille had prior intimations that some kind of futuristic fantasy-strip might prove popular with his readership. A step or several beyond Winsor McCay’s popular ‘Little Nemo’ strip. Reading Nowlan’s fanciful tale – and its sequel ‘The Airlords Of Han’ (1929), he knew he’d discovered his ‘Elvis’. He recognised in the story’s strong simplicity a potential for a vigorous afterlife. Negotiations followed – Dille only insisted on name-switching Nowlan’s ‘Tony Rogers’ to the more cowboy-themed ‘Buck Rogers’. Once agreed he recruited staff-artist Dick Calkins whose credentials were that he’d used his Army Air Corps World War I flying experience to originate a modest aviation strip called ‘Sky Roads’. Working from Nowlan’s script-adaptation, while drawing on the visual hints provided by Frank R Paul’s vivid spot-art, the first panels of ‘Buck Rogers In The Year 2429AD’ appeared in 7 January 1929 – bizarrely, the same day that the ‘Tarzan’ strip was launched.
As far as comic-strip retronauts go, Buck was there at the genre’s first lift-off. To Ray Bradbury, ‘the first Buck Rogers comic strip I saw in 1929 changed my life forever, because he was going into the future and I wanted to go there… when Buck Rogers came along, it was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen – I went absolutely crazy. I lived hysterically waiting for that hour when Buck Rogers came into the house.’ Dick Calkins art could be naïve – even crude in its execution, and never as lavish as Alex Raymond’s would be for ‘Flash Gordon’. It could be wooden, cluttered and two-dimensional, but it was quirky, full of character and action too. What his cranky snub-nosed rocketships lacked in sophistication they compensated for in vibrant energy, with their conning-tower blisters and submarine-fins blasting through planet-strewn space.
Plot-pacing came at light-speed, even though EC’s Will Gaines dismissed it derisively as ‘Cowboys-and-Indians-in-spaceships’. Within the frames of that single launch instalment Buck discovers he has awakened into a new war in which hordes of ‘half-breed Red Mongol’ invaders have devastated and overrun America. As SF veteran Frederik Pohl points out ‘‘Han’ was not some planet far off in space. It was simply Japan. At least, it was the super-scientific and enlarged Japan the authors expected in the twenty-fifth century, by which time they supposed it would have conquered the world.’ Buck joins patriotic guerrillas hiding out in the forests. And meets Wilma Deering – ‘a pal, not a sweetheart’, and in a cycle of exploits involving rocket-backpacks, hostile Automatons, antigravity belts, and disintegrator zap-guns they eventually triumph over the Asiatics.
Anticipating the Wall Street Crash by nine months, the escapist action doubtlessly benefited from the worsening economic straits of the Depression Years, by providing escapism. Eventually the strip was reaching a massive readership, syndicated through nearly 400-newspapers. The daily strip was complemented by a Sunday spin-off strip drawn by Russ Keaton, then by Rick Yager, and then by kiddy-time radio serials, leading the duo into further adventures on other worlds, Saturn, Venus, on the Martian ‘Island Of Doom’, or on Vulcan where Buck and Buddy Deering (Wilma’s brother) face Mekkanos made of Impervium. Dr Huer appears as Buck’s ‘Zarkov’, a scientist who devises useful gadgets, such as the ‘electro-hypno mentalphone’ for scanning the minds of villains to learn their dastardly plans. And there are new evil arch-enemies such as the villainous Killer Kane and his sidekick Ardala Valmar.
In the same year that Martians were raining atomic bombs on Earth cities – six years before Hiroshima, the Buck Rogers saga was adapted into a 1939 Universal movie-serial, with back-to-brunette Buster Crabbe – direct from playing both ‘Tarzan’, and ‘Flash Gordon’, in the title role. Buck travels to Saturn to face the Zuggs – and their ally Killer Kane, on their home world, while avoiding the usual hazards of crashing spaceships, ray-guns, ‘Radio-controlled Television-eyed Robots’, and mind-control devices. Although laughably crude by current standards, it was visually extravagant by comparison with the TV series that ran through the early fifties, subject to the restrictions imposed on small-screen productions at the time – shot live on a cramped interior set.
The first TV episode pits Buck against a couple of ‘Tigermen’ from Mercury who arrive on Earth intent on stealing the planet’s water. Meanwhile, once the highly lucrative ‘Buck Rogers’ industry acquired its enthusiastic following – branching out into everything from ‘The Buck Rogers Pop-Up Book: A Dangerous Mission’, to replica toy rayguns, it appears that Philip Nowlan was largely content to drop his more literary aspirations, and remain exclusively active within the comics field. Perhaps that was not always true. It seems he’d begun what was intended to be a new text-series for ‘Astounding SF’ in 1940, the year he died. But Buck Rogers outlived him, in the hands of new creative combinations.
‘BUCK ROGERS: AWAKENING…’
Buck Rogers was a cultural continuity for many decades. But there were spikes. Murphy Anderson, who illustrated the daily strip through 1958, recalls to Mike Benton that with the launch of Sputnik, and the real-world inauguration of the space-age, ‘Buck Rogers suddenly became hot again. The syndicate salesman sold the strip to every paper he called on during a trip back from Texas.’ Then, some time later, the spectacular supernova that was the ‘Star Wars’ cinema blockbuster seriously rebooted the bankable stock of SF, in its new Sci-Fi guise. It re-Generated the moribund ‘Star Trek’ franchise, and when network TV business-suits began casting around for further tie-in projects, surely Buck Rogers must have seemed too obvious to miss. After all, the three linked ‘Star Wars’ trilogies were George Lucas’ conscious attempt at recreating all the details of the adolescent thrills he’d experienced watching Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon movie-serials as a kid. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are the heroes of his own six-part movie-serial, compensating with bigger budgets and advanced CGI-effects for the intervening escalation of expectation.
To emphasise this cross-media link, a 71-year-old Buster Crabbe was induced out of retirement to make a guest appearance – as ‘Brigadier Gordon’, in the first episode-proper of ‘Buck Rogers In The 25th Century’, the TV series that producer Glen A Larson powered into the early months of the 1980’s. Some comic-book purists may disapprove, for Gil Gerard plays a fun tongue-in-cheek Buck Rogers wearing his blaster in a rakishly low-slung Han Solo holster-style, but there are as many continuities are there are dislocations. The series did not take itself too seriously, setting its controls firmly at slick escapist entertainment, redesigning futuristic femme Wilma Deering into a feisty sex-weapon in the ratings war, poured into skinny-fit jumpsuits one size too small. But then again, despite the limitations of Dick Calkins’ artwork, and the prevailing moral climate of the time, the abbreviated costumes worn by Alura ‘Princess of Mars’ had proved pretty wild for 1934!
Tough, bright and resourceful girl-companions, and intergalactic cyber-princesses in skimpy attire, have always been part of the strip-format. There may well have been a TV-episode called ‘Planet Of The Slave Girls’, but back in the thirties Buck had already faced Grallo of Mars slave-running the Great Giants Of Venus to sell to the Tigermen. Now, instead of invading Mongols this Buck Rogers finds himself caught up in an interplanetary conflict – his ship ‘Ranger 3’ is retrieved by the Draconians, who are nevertheless led by a new incarnation of his old adversary Princess Ardala, with Kane as her human adviser. Doctor Huer was also retained, at least for the duration of the first season, even though he found himself teamed with the unfortunate cute-bot Twiki, perhaps intended as a sop for those who’d enjoyed the equally irritating contribution made by droids C3PO and R2D2 to George Lucas’ saga.
In new escapades with seductive episode-titles such as ‘Unchained Woman’, ‘Planet Of The Amazon Women’ and ‘Flight Of The War Witch’ Buck faces new threats in the form of the Vorvon – a galactic soul-stealer, the Omni Guard – three treacherous women who become omnipotent when they link hands, and then he pilots his ship The Searcher through a black hole into a counter-universe in which he’s coerced into an alliance with Ardala against an even more deadly dictator called Zarina. The feature-length pilot-episode was even cut loose for audiences for full cinema-release, and – to Frederik Pohl, ‘what is most wrong with ‘Buck Rogers’ as a movie is that it wasn’t made to be one. It was made to be a TV series. Stringing together bits and pieces into a theatre film was a good money idea – it is supposed to have grossed over $25-million, on an investment most of which was already written off against production costs for the television series – but it is a shabby film. The special effects designed to look good on a twenty-one-inch screen look tacky in a movie theatre’ (‘Science Fiction Studies In Film’, Ace, 1981). Yet when the ITV series was scheduled in direct opposition to the BBC’s ‘Doctor Who’, it briefly notched up higher viewing figures.
Renewed together for new generations in the 1980’s, the two space-heroes Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon had already defined what the SF strip could be, and refined the visual language it would use. Democratised through repetition, followed by countless imitators, it was they who had provided the models for a process of replication that virtually created the cultural artefact we recognise as the comic-book, even as the genre invented itself through the 1930’s. Junk culture, of course. The kind of trash-fiction that parents derided as an early example of dumbing-down. ‘Why can’t you read a proper book…?’ they implore – too late, for the battle was already lost. The addiction had already taken hold. And it would only become more voracious.
The underlying creep of ideas implied that the future would be different from the present. Just as the past was different from today. With the added impetus provided by technology. As the century gathered momentum, so did the technological uptake. As never before, the idea of the future as a different place took hold. Of course, it wouldn’t exactly resemble Buck Rogers – but who could say with any degree of certainty? It just might. Naturally, parents couldn’t be expected to understand its lure – they won’t be there. It’s the kids who read the strip who were destined to inhabit those future decades, it was their tomorrows. Each tantalising frame was a message from the world they’d eventually live in.
STORY BY STORY…
PICTURE-STRIP:
Daily strip 7 January 1929. Script: Philip Francis Nowlan. Art: Dick Calkins (he lived 1895-1962) Sundays 1930. Script: Philip Francis Nowlan: Art Russ Keaton (then Rick Yager 1932-1958, Murphy Anderson (he illustrated ‘Star Pirate’ for ‘Planet Comics’ 1944-1947, then the daily ‘Buck Rogers’ 1947-1949, before moving on the DC Comics. He returned to Buck in 1958), Gene Tuska 1959-1967. After Nowlan’s death John F Dille and others wrote scripts) 1967 - series ends, but continues intermittently as reprints
COMICBOOKS:
‘FAMOUS FUNNIES FEATURING BUCK ROGERS’ (John S Dille, Co/ Eastern Color Printing). 10-cent anthology-format editions reprinting newspaper strips, featuring ‘Buck Rogers’ from issue no.3 (dated October 1934) with art by Dick Calkins (from 1932), Frank Frazetta (from 1953) etc alongside other strips such as ‘Joe Palooka’. ‘Buck Rogers’ newspaper strips were also reprinted in the ‘Big Little Books’
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (Eastern Color Printing Company/ Famous Funnies) Winter 1940-September 1943 (six issues) After a successful six-year run in ‘Famous Funnies’, Buck was awarded his own comic book in 1940. Issues no.1-5 reprint Sunday pages by Rick Yager. Issue no.6 reprints daily strips by Dick Calkins as well as an original 2-page story. The stories roughly parallel the Buck Rogers reprints in ‘Famous Funnies no.3-79
‘BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY’ (Toby Press) January 1951-May 1951, 10-cent issues misleadingly numbered from no.100, reprints the ‘Modar Of Saturn’ daily newspaper strips drawn by Murphy Anderson. Robert Barton – a writer of radio adventure serials, scripts the story. It also features original stories – in no.101 Buck travels back to the twentieth-century to prevent an Austrian communist revolution
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (Gold Key) October 1964. Buck fights ‘The Space Slavers’ in this one-off original full-length comic-book story
‘THE COLLECTED WORKS OF BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY’ hardback edition edited by Robert C Dille
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (Gold Key) July 1979-May 1982, based on the characters and concepts in the 1979-1981 movie/TV-series ‘Buck Rogers In The 25th Century’. The movie – which was a theatrical release of the pilot for the television series, was adapted in nos 2-4 (the cover on no.2 announces ‘Blast Off With BUCK, In Part One Of The Movie Adaptation!0. Writers include Paul S Newman and BS Watson. Artists include Frank Bolle (nos 2-4), Al McWilliams (nos 5-11), and Mike Roy
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (TSR Inc) 1991, three issue revival created by Flint Dille – grandson of original syndicator John Flint Dille, a return to the distinct ‘Buck Rogers look’ with Wilma, Killer Kane and ‘space slut’ Ardala, but updated ‘in a plausible future’. Each issue tied into a game-module and Buck Rogers role-playing SF computer game
UK PUBLICATIONS:
First UK ‘Buck Rogers’ serialisation was in ‘EVERYBODY’S’ magazine
‘BUSTER’ (23 December 1961-8 September 1962) Buck Rogers serial with art by Murphy Anderson ‘LOOK-IN’ (1981-1982) picture-strip linked to TV series, with art by John Burns (there’s also a tie-in ‘Buck Rogers In The 25th Century Annual 1981’)
TEXT-TALES:
‘AMAZING STORIES’ (August 1928) original text publication of ‘Armageddon 2419’. Reprinted in the ‘Amazing Stories’ 1961 35th Anniversary Issue
‘ARMAGEDDON 2419’ by Philip Francis Nowlan (US, 1962) paperback combination of his original ‘Anthony Rogers’ story plus its sequel ‘The Airlords Of Han’
‘BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY’ by Addison E Steele (Sphere Books, 1979) Based on TV-series
‘BUCK ROGERS 2: THAT MAN ON BETA’ by Addison E Steele (Sphere Books, 1979)
‘BUCK ROGERS’ HOUR’ (from 7 November 1932)
MOVIE SERIAL:
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (1939, Universal) Twelve-part serial Director: Ford Beebe & Saul A Goodkind. Script: Norman S Hall & Ray Trampe. Starring Buster Crabbe (as Buck Rogers), Constance Moore (as Wilma), C Montague Shaw, Jack Moran, Henry Brandon. In the UK Grampian ITV screened the serial in 1967, and BBC re-screened it in 1982 (in opposition to some ITV regions scheduling of the Gil Gerard series!)
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (1979, Universal) 89-minutes. Executive producer: Glen A Larson. Producer: Richard Caffey. Director: Daniel Haller. Script: Glen A Larson & Leslie Stevens. Art Director: Paul Peters. Editor: John J Dumas. Special Effects: Bud Ewing. Music: Stu Philips. An edited version of the TV pilot, the cast is the same as below, Gil Gerard, Pamela Hensley, Erin Gray, Henry Silva, Tim O’Connor. Joseph Wiseman, Felix Silla and Mel Blanc
TV SERIES:
‘BUCK ROGERS’ (1950) ABC-TV 25-minute black-&-white episodes. Producer & Director: Babette Henry. Writer: Gene Wyckoff. With Ken Dibbs, Lou Prentis, Harry Kingston, Harry Sothern, etc
‘BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY’ (A Glen A Larson Production) Exec Producers: Glen A Larson, and John Mantley (Season 2). 34 sixty-minute colour episodes, plus pilot (‘Awakening’ 120-mins). US premiere: 20 September 1979. UK premiere: 30 August 1980 through to mid-1981. With Gil Gerard (as Captain Buck Rogers), Erin Gray (as Colonel Wilma Deering), Tim O’Connor (in Season 1 only, as Dr Huer), Thom Christopher (Hawk), Wilfred Hyde-White (Dr Goodfellow), Jay Garner (Adm Asimov), Pamela Hensley (Princess Ardala), Michael Ansara (Kane), Eric Server (Dr Theopolis, computer in Season 1), with Felix Silla as Twiki, Mel Blanc as voice of Twiki, and Jeff David as Voice Of Crichton. Guest stars include Buster Crabbe, Roddy McDowall, Frank Gorshin, Ray Walston & Cesar Romero. In the UK episodes were rerun on BBC2 in 1989 and again in 1994.
COMPUTER GAME:
‘BUCK ROGERS: COUNTDOWN TO DOOMSDAY’ (Strategic Simulations, 1990) role-playing game
with acknowledgements to ‘THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION COMICS’ by Mike Benton (Taylor Publishing Company, 1992)
Posted by Andrew Darlington at 11:49 6 comments:
Labels: Junk Culture
Music: HELEN SHAPIRO
HELEN SHAPIRO:
TOPS WITH HELEN!
‘Gonna be my own adviser,
‘cos my mind’s my own’
not only a Helen Shapiro hit single in 1961
– but a feminist teenage manifesto too
‘Gonna have my fun’ asserts Helen Shapiro, ‘so if I feel like running wild, please don’t treat me like a child.’ Hardly startling to hear that now. In 1961, “Don’t Treat Me Like A Child” was a revelation. The earth moved. New forbidden freedoms beckon. This is the advance tremor of the whole Sixties Youthquake to come.
On black-and-white TV, Helen wears the regulation flared skirt, her dark hair piled into the regulation bouffant beehive. But if she occasionally appears stiff and a little formal onscreen, when she sings ‘it’s often said that youngsters should be seen and not be heard, but I want you to realize, that’s quite absurd, don’t wanna be so meek and mild’, her poise only serves to underline her conviction. Articulate and well-reasoned, her argument for self-determination precedes Cliff Richard’s more generationally anthemic declaration “The Young Ones” by six months, yet there’s also something of the Who’s “My Generation” in there too, and every subsequent appeal to declarations of youth independence, clear down to the Spice Girls ‘Girl Power’ sloganeering. But did anyone phrase it better than ‘gonna be my own adviser, ‘cause my mind’s my own, then I will be much the wiser, my own point of view has got to be known’? I doubt it.
I was thirteen. I was at school too. I watched her performing her hit on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’. Never alluringly sexy in the way that Ronnie Spector, PP Arnold or Marianne Faithful were, Helen was more the sensible level-headed girl you could take home to meet your Mother. But there’s subtle gender-subversion in each groove of that 45prm single.
Helen Kate Shapiro was born 28 September 1946, the granddaughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants, in Bethnal Green, part of London’s East End. Brother Ronnie fed in a strong Jazz bias, cousin Susan (Singer) also sang, and Marc Feld – the later Marc Bolan, was a school-friend who ‘lived down the road’ and fooled around on guitar. She did talent shows, and by age thirteen Helen was a pupil at Clapton Girls School, while her father raised the 25-shilling fee necessary for her to moonlight as a protégé at the Baker Street ‘School Of Modern Pop Singing’, the Fame Academy of its day. Alma Cogan was a previous beneficiary of its renowned voice coach Maurice Burman, who also functioned as Helen’s manager, until his death, when his wife Jean assumed the role.
It was here that a talent-scouting John Schroeder overheard her timbre-rich singing, mid-lesson during a visit. He was so impressed he arranged some trial recordings for her. EMI’s label manager Norrie Paramor had guided its Columbia subsidiary to dominance by first taking a chance on recording Cliff Richard & The Drifters. Schroeder was assistant to Paramor – who at first refused to believe that the rich bluesy voice he heard doing “Birth Of The Blues” on the demo belonged to a fourteen-year-old. Again, Paramor took a chance, and signed her up to Columbia’s A&R department.
“Please Don’t Treat Me Like A Child” was the direct result. Calculatedly, and perhaps even cynically written by two male twenty-six year-olds – Schroeder himself with lyricist Mike Hawker, it was in every sense a Feminist generational anthem. Although artfully slanted to Helen’s exact requirements – ‘just because I’m in my teens, and I still go to school,’ if they were the ventriloquists, Helen interprets the song with precocious self-confidence, clarity of phrasing, and a degree of mature soulfulness that leaves no doubt of her authenticity. Initially a ‘sleeper’, it only took an exposure slot on ABC-TV’s ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ to focus attention. It enters the chart at no.38, 23 March 1961, climbed to no.28 the following week… and by 11 May it was peaking at no.3. Overnight she was leading a double-life, a national celebrity, and the schoolgirl with the grown-up voice, a star on TV, while still sitting behind a school-desk.
Pop loves duality – for every Elvis a Cliff, for every Beatles a Stones, for every Oasis a Blur, and there was an attempt to build Susan Maughan into a rival-Helen Shapiro. Susan was bright and bubbly, although her biggest, and only significant hit – “Bobby’s Girl”, a no.3 in October 1962, was not only a straight cover of Marcie Blane’s American hit, but was thematically woeful. Where Helen snaps down ‘don’t think that I dream childish dreams, I’m nobody’s fool’ – for Susan ‘when people ask of me, what would you like to be, now that you’re not a kid anymore-ore’ the most important thing to me-ee, she answers right away, is to be the simpering thankful grateful arm-candy for hunky Bobby. Hardly a suitably aspirational ambition for a role model!
Susan continued as a presence, and features opposite Joe Brown in the movie ‘What A Crazy World’ (1963), she even scored a minor chart entry with a pointed “Hand A Handkerchief To Helen” – no.41 in February 1963, but it was Helen Shapiro who easily carried off the ‘New Musical Express’ Poll Award as ‘Top UK Female Singer’ both in 1961 and 1962. Cousin Susan Singer also generates press with her own 1962 single “Gee, It’s Great To Be Young” c/w “Hello First Love” (Oriole), but Helen remains unique.
Before Helen, there had been Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark who – as Helen later told ‘Mojo’ magazine, ‘were great, but they were more showbiz.’ Helen was different. She was one of us. With her presence firmly established, her next two singles each sell progressively better than the one before. “You Don’t Know”, a wistfully dark heartbreak ballad of unrequited love, again written by Schroeder and Hawker, and produced by Norrie Paramour at the Abbey Road Studios with a nine-piece Martin Slavin band-arrangement, was no.1 for three weeks from 10 August 1961. By topping the charts with a quarter-million sales of her second single – at just fourteen years and 316 days old, she not only became the youngest girl, but the youngest British artist to score a no.1. But not the youngest person. American Frankie Lymon had been a year younger when he did that in 1956 with “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”.
While the decade around her was already shifting into new configurations, three days after “You Don’t Know” peaked – in a move apparently unconnected to the record’s success, the East Germans began building the Berlin Wall.
The same writer-producer team was responsible for the up-beat third single – “Walkin’ Back To Happiness”, with Helen’s throaty black-velvet tones winning out over squeakily-chirping female back-up singers. ‘I didn’t like it then’ she told journalist Norman Jopling (‘Record Mirror’ 24 December 1966), ‘and I still don’t’, but it was a second no.1, again holding the top slot for three weeks, from 19 October 1961, with UK sales of half-a-million – the same week that birth control pills became available through the NHS. Soon she was back on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ (30 December) too, alongside ‘America’s King Of Twist’ Chubby Checker, Billy Fury, with Cliff Richard & the Shadows.
Two more hits followed in 1962, taking her total UK sales to well over a million. By her fifteenth birthday she’d made over a dozen radio and TV appearances, topped the bill on ‘Sunday Night At The London Palladium’, and featured in a Rank Films ‘Look At Life’ docu-film featurette, as well as starring in the film ‘It’s Trad Dad’ (March 1962). She left school at the end of the Christmas term 1961 to commence film-work. The first movie to be directed by a young Richard Lester, for horror-studio Amicus Productions, it remains a curious period piece. It has a flimsy plot involving disapproving adults attempting to ban the local coffee-bar jukebox, and devious council officials conniving to frustrate a support-concert for the ‘kids’, all of which is simply an excuse to string together disparate hits by John Leyton and jazzers Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball and Chris Barber with token American artists designed to add US-appeal – Del Shannon, Gene Vincent and Gary US Bonds joining Twist-King Chubby Checker for a series of cameos (the film was retitled ‘Ring-A-Ding Rhythm’ for the USA). The nominal stars who agitate protests with radio DJ David Jacobs, ‘Helen and Craig’, are the thinly-disguised Shapiro and clean-cut Craig Douglas who had a string of inoffensive cover versions of American hits. Yet the film was successful, making impressive profits for Max Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky, its notorious exploitational producers.
The film’s premiere coincided with another significant first, the release of Helen’s debut album, ‘Tops With Me’, which seems to consist of a poorly thought-out hodge-podge of whatever songs happen to be lying around at the time, Connie Francis’ “Lipstick On Your Collar”, Brenda Lee’s “Sweet Nothin’s” and Neil Sedaka’s “Little Devil”. Yet it, too, sells impressively, reaches no.2, spawns two spin-off EPs, and remained on the album chart for half a year. Helen would go one to record more – and better, albums. But none would sell so well.
Subsequent singles, “Tell Me What He Said”, a gossipy teen-beat American song written by Jeff Barry, with Helen quizzing friends about the actions of her ex-guy, and the touchingly slow “Little Miss Lonely” hit no.2 and no.8 respectively. The ‘Daily Mail Book Of Golden Discs’ says that ‘for a young singer she has dynamic drive and an inherent rhythmic sense with confidence, assurance and personality quite outstanding for her age.’ While her mentor – Norrie Paramor was satirically attacked by David Frost in a lengthy ‘That Was The Week That Was’ sketch for putting his own ‘ordinary’ compositions on ‘B’-sides by Helen – as well as Shane Fenton, and for writing Helen’s first non-Top Ten single ‘A’-side in late 1962 (“Let’s Talk About Love”).
If it was a mini-golden age of British Pop, it was also cosily insular and self-contained. With Norrie Paramor at the helm, the distinctive green Columbia label now had the triumvirate of Top Male singer in Cliff Richard, Top Group in the Shadows, and Top Female singer in Helen Shapiro. But although there were sales across Europe, and in English-speaking markets such as South Africa and Australia, none of the three names meant a light on the sprawling American music scene. The domestic record industry, with distribution controlled by a cartel of companies, also functioned in perfect symbiosis with a monolithic media. A Pop record featured on BBC’s ‘Juke Box Jury’ or ITV’s ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ got national viewer exposure, because they were the only two channels to watch. While, unless you could tune in to ‘Radio Luxembourg’s’ crackly evening reception, the BBC ‘Light Programme’ was the only radio place to hear Pop music, and then only rarely, on Brian Matthew’s ‘Saturday Club’ or on a request programme. While the music press and the fan magazines overflowing the newsagent counter colluded in promoting photogenic teen-stars. There was even a 1962 Annual-style ‘Helen Shapiro’s Own Book For Girls’.
The thumbnail narrative is that, after her span of hits, Helen was swept aside when this cosy consensus was blown apart by the Beatles-led Beat-Boom that first transfigured UK Pop in 1963, then went global in 1964. And although it’s true that Helen never fitted comfortably into the mini-skirt moppet Swingin’ Sixties pantheon of Cilla, Lulu, Sandie and Dusty, that interpretation is only partially true. The myth is irresistible because, at the beginning at 1963, she headlined a nationwide tour on which the nascent Beatles were the main support act, but that was already six months after her fifth and final top ten hit. Her hit-making days were already in decline when she began the tour at the Gaumont Cinema in Bradford on Saturday 2 February. On a six-act bill headed by Helen, the Beatles were openers. Their four-song set included “Please Please Me” – already on its way into the Top 3, as she was doing her current single “Queen For Tonight”, which barely scraped the Top 40.
Travelling in unceasingly cold weather Helen was forced to miss dates in Taunton and York due to flu. While the Beatles crowd into her dressing room to watch their latest ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ appearance because – as headliner, hers is the only dressing room equipped with a TV! Ever-alert to the possibility of promoting their own song-writing, John & Paul offer her “Misery” from the debut album they were still in the process of recording. She – or her management on her behalf, turned the song down, only for it to be snapped up by Kenny Lynch, who was also on the bill. It became his next single, and the Beatles first cover. By the final date – in Hanley on Sunday 3 March fan-hysteria had elevated the Beatles up the bill to closing the first half.
Few artists could have coped with the impact of that tour, least of all a teenage girl suddenly faced with the headline ‘Is Helen Shapiro A Has-Been At Sixteen’. For her Pop career never fully recovered. And how strange is that? To go from being taxi’d to school to avoid fans mobbing the playground gates. From having press photographers scale school drainpipes in attempts to obtain sneak through-the-window shots of her at her classroom desk. To being chaperoned on tours due to her under-age status. To missing out on normal teenage dating because every-day boys were in awe of her stardom. Then – just as abruptly, to be ruthlessly elbowed aside by rapidly-shifting trends. Faced with the same bewildering career switch-around, Frankie Lymon, who’d preceded Helen to the no.1 slot, died a junkie in his twenties. Yet for Helen there were no Britney-style dramatics or highly-publicised breakdowns.
There’s a video of Britney Spears lip-synching to a rigidly-disciplined highly-choreographed hit dance-routine. In the closing seconds she flashes the briefest of brittle smiles at the camera, less a smile of pleasure or satisfaction, and more a grimace of sheer relief that she’s got through the arduous shoot without messing up. To me, it betrays the human vulnerable pressures such young stars are subject to. It’s to her credit that Helen rode those seismic changes with dignity and grace. And went on to other things.
Having early shown a bias for ‘quality’ material, she moved her career solidly in other directions. She continued to appear in cabaret, to issue records for Pye, Magnet, Arista and DJM, while working and recording with jazzer Humphrey Lyttleton (between1984 and 2001). She remained very much in demand as an actress and singer. Then, in Autumn 2002 she did what was announced as her ‘Farewell Tour’, teaming up with ‘Special Guest’ Craig Douglas – her movie co-star from ‘It’s Trad Dad’, to perform her roster of Pop hits for the last time. On Sunday 3 November she played the intimate stage of the Leeds ‘City Varieties’ doing the ‘whoop-bah-oh-yeah-yeah’ of “Walkin’ Back To Happiness”, “Tell Me What He Said” and the smoky-slow drama of “You Don’t Know”. It’s a lifetime since she first hit with “Don’t Treat Me A Child”, but when she sings ‘gonna be my own adviser, ‘cos my mind’s my own’ tonight, you still catch something of the advance tremor of that Sixties Youthquake.
HELEN’S HITS
23 March 1961 – “Don’t Treat Me Like a Child” c/w “When I’m With You” (Columbia DB 4589) no.3 on charts for twenty weeks. ‘B’-side writer credits to Burman-Schroeder-Hawker
29 June 1961 – “You Don’t Know” c/w “Marvellous Lie” (Columbia DB 4670) no.1, on charts 23-weeks. ‘B’-side written by Norrie Paramor with Bunny Lewis
28 September 1961 – “Walkin’ Back To Happiness” c/w “Kiss ‘n’ Run” (Columbia DB 4715) no.1, on charts for 19-weeks. Spends a single week on the US Hot Hundred, at no.100. Vocal backing by the Mike Sammes Singers. ‘B’-side by Paramor/ Lewis December
1961 – ‘HELEN’ EP (Columbia SEG 8128) with Martin Slavin and his Orchestra, interpretation of standards, ‘Goody Goody’ which receives airplay, with ‘Tiptoe Through The Tulips’, ‘After You’ve Gone’ and ‘The Birth Of The Blues’ which she’d sung as part of her original audition demo
December 1961 – ‘HELEN’S HIT PARADE’ EP (Columbia SEG 8136) collects ‘Don’t Treat Me Like A Child’, ‘You Don’t Know’, ‘Walkin’ Back To Happiness’ and ‘When I’m With You’
15 February 1962 – “Tell Me What He Said” c/w “I Apologise” (Columbia DB 4782) no.2, on charts 15-weeks. ‘A’-side written by Jeff Barry
10 March 1962 – ‘TOPS WITH ME’ (Columbia 33SX 1397) LP, reaches no.2, on LP chart for 25-weeks. Sleeve-notes by ‘NME’s Maurice Kinn. With side one: ‘Little Devil’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ (the Shirelles version on the chart the week ‘Don’t Treat Me Like Child’ debuts), ‘Because They’re Young’, ‘The Day The Rains Came’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ (the Elvis version on the chart the week ‘Don’t Treat Me Like Child’ debuts), ‘Teenager In Love’, and side two: ‘Lipstick On Your Collar’, ‘Beyond The Sea’, ‘Sweet Nothins’’, ‘You Mean Ev’rything To Me’, ‘I Love You’, ‘You Got What It Takes’. First four tracks issued as EP ‘Tops With Me’ (SEG 8229), and second four as EP ‘Tops With Me no.2’ (SEG8243, 1963)
3 May 1962 – “Let’s Talk About Love” c/w “Sometime Yesterday” (Columbia DB 4824) no.23, on charts seven weeks. ‘Let’s Talk About Love’ featured in her film ‘It’s Trad Dad’ alongside ‘Ring-A-Ding’, a duet with co-star Craig Douglas
12 July 1962 – “Little Miss Lonely” c/w “I Don’t Care” (Columbia DB 4869) no.8, on charts 11 weeks. Return to Schroeder/ Hawker material
18 October 1962 – “Keep Away From Other Girls” c/w “Cry My Heart Out” (Columbia DB 4908) no.40, on charts six weeks. ‘A’-side is a Bacharach/ Hilliard song covered from the US Babs Tino version. Helen sings ‘B’-side (by Newell-Paramor) in cameo appearance in the Billy Fury film ‘Play It Cool’
7 February 1963 – “Queen For Tonight” c/w “Daddy Couldn’t Get Me One Of Those” (Columbia DB 4966) no.33, on charts five weeks
April 1963 – ‘HELEN’S SIXTEEN’ LP (Columbia 33SX 1494), title refers to both her age, and the number of LP tracks. With Martin Slavin And His Orchestra. Side one: ‘Tearaway Johnny’, ‘Without Your Love’, ‘Walking In My Dreams’, ‘Who Is She’, ‘I Want To Be Happy’, ‘Time And Time Again’, ‘Aren’t You The Lucky One’, ‘Every One But The Right One’. Side two: ‘It’s Alright With Me’, ‘Lookin’ For My Heart’, ‘Basin Street Blues’, ‘You Must Be Reading My Mind’, ‘Till I Hear The Truth From You’, ‘Sensational’, ‘Easy Come Easy Go’, ‘I Believe In Love’
25 April 1963 – “Woe Is Me” c/w “I Walked Right In” (Columbia DB 7026) no.35, on charts six weeks. Recorded in Nashville
January 1963 – “Not Responsible” c/w “No Trespassing” (Columbia DB 7072) no chart position. Also recorded in Nashville
23 October 1963 – “Look Who It Is” c/w “I Walked Right In” (Columbia DB 7130) no.47, on charts 3 weeks. Introduced by DJ Keith Fordyce, Helen lip-synchs the song on ‘Ready Steady Go’, singing one verse apiece to Beatles John, Ringo and George, each of them shown from behind, turning as Helen reaches them
October 1963 – ‘HELEN IN NASHVILLE’ LP (Columbia 33SX 1561) with Grady Martin and the Jordanaires. Side one: ‘Not Responsible’, ‘I Cried Myself To Sleep Last Night’, ‘Young Stranger’, ‘Here Today Gone Tomorrow’, ‘It’s My Party’ (Helen cuts the original version of this song, intended for single release until the Lesley Gore version appears), ‘No Trespassing’. Side two: ‘I’m Tickled Pink’, ‘I Walked Right In’, ‘Sweeter Than Sweet’, ‘You’d Think He Didn’t Know Me’, ‘When You Hurt Me, I Cried’, ‘Woe Is Me’
23 January 1964 – “Fever” c/w “Ole Father Time” (Columbia DB 7190) no.38, on charts for four weeks. Revival of Peggy Lee hit
1964 – “Look Over Your Shoulder” c/w “You Won’t Come Home” (Columbia DB 7266)
1964 – “Shop Around” c/w “He Knows How To Love Me” (Columbia DB 7340) cover of Smokey Robinson’s Miracles hit
1964 – “I Wish I’d Never Loved You” c/w “I Was Only Kidding” (Columbia DB 7395)
1965 – “Tomorrow Is Another Day” c/w “It’s So Funny I Could Cry” (Columbia DB 7517)
December 1966 – “In My Calendar” c/w “Empty House” (Columbia DB 8073), ‘Record Mirror’ says ‘best in a long-while, this, with Helen on a minute-kick, controlled number, very strong on lyrics, melodic and professional’
March 1967 – “Make Me Belong To You” c/w “The Way Of The World” (Columbia DB 8148) ‘Record Mirror’ says ‘wondrously big-voiced and swinging performance which really does deserve to do well.’ ‘NME’ agrees with ‘what does this lass have to do to get a hit?’ ‘B’-side is self-penned bossa-nova
March 1969 – “Today Has Been Cancelled” c/w “Face The Music” (Pye 7N17714), rejoining John Schroeder at new label, ‘NME’ says ‘poor old Helen Shapiro always seems to be on a hiding to nothing! A happy-go-lucky rhythmic ballad with a sparkling Latin beat… a bright blues-chaser’
February 1970 – “Take Down A Note, Miss Smith” c/w “Couldn’t You See” (Pye 7N17893) ‘NME’ says ‘Helen keeps trying, bless her heart… a lively finger-popper with a brassy backing and a hint of a Latin flavour. Plus a sing-along la-la chorus. Come on you dee-jays, give her a break!’
September 1974 – ‘THE VERY BEST OF HELEN SHAPIRO’ LP (EMI SCX 6565) ‘NME’s Pete Erskine praises ‘an album that, by rights, should be prescribed, with natural orange juice and penicillin on the National Health… she howls like a waste-disposal unit on ‘Let’s Talk About Love’ and hums like a top on ‘Basin Street Blues’ One of many hits compilations
August 1977 – “Can’t Break The Habit” c/w “For All The Wrong Reasons” (Arista 131), a Russ Ballard song, ‘NME’ says ‘remember how deep her voice was? Well, it’s even deeper now’
March 1978 – “Every Little Bit Hurts” c/w “Touchin’ Wood” (Arista 178) ‘NME’ snipes ‘undistinguished version of the Brenda Holloway chestnut from 1963s favourite schoolgirl when the beehive barnet was all the go’
September 1991 – ‘HUMPH & HELEN: I CAN’T GET STARTED’ LP (Calligraph CLG CD 025), billed as Helen Shapiro & Humphrey Lyttelton, following an earlier collaboration of ‘Echoes Of The Duke’, with ‘After You’ve Gone’, ‘The Music Goes Round And Round’ and ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’
July 1998 – ‘SWING, SWING TOGETHER… AGAIN’ LP (Calligraph CLG CD034), another collaboration with Humphrey Lyttelton, ‘Observer’ critic Dave Gelly commends ‘fifteen tracks cover everything from gospel to the Ink Spots’ and urges ‘listen out particularly for a gorgeous version of Duke Ellington’s ballad ‘All Too Soon’’ as Helen’s ‘singing blossoms in the environment of a good swing band’
Labels: Cult Albums
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line41
|
__label__wiki
| 0.823485
| 0.823485
|
The Pegasus File
Home Breaking News Revealed: Microsoft Contractors Are Listening to Skype Calls
Revealed: Microsoft Contractors Are Listening to Skype Calls
chiptatum11
Documents, screenshots, and audio obtained by Motherboard show that humans listen to Skype calls made using the app’s translation function.
By Joseph Cox
Contractors working for Microsoft are listening to personal conversations of Skype users conducted through the app’s translation service, according to a cache of internal documents, screenshots, and audio recordings obtained by Motherboard. Although Skype’s website says that the company may analyze audio of phone calls that a user wants to translate in order to improve the chat platform’s services, it does not say some of this analysis will be done by humans.
The Skype audio obtained by Motherboard includes conversations from people talking intimately to loved ones, some chatting about personal issues such as their weight loss, and others seemingly discussing relationship problems. Other files obtained by Motherboard show that Microsoft contractors are also listening to voice commands that users speak to Cortana, the company’s voice assistant.
Apple and Google recently suspended their use of human transcribers for their respective Siri and Google Assistant services after a backlash over similar media reporting on the companies’ practices.
“The fact that I can even share some of this with you shows how lax things are in terms of protecting user data,” a Microsoft contractor who provided the cache of files to Motherboard said. Motherboard granted the source anonymity to speak more candidly about internal Microsoft practices, and because the person is under a non-disclosure agreement with the company.
The snippets of audio obtained by Motherboard are typically short, lasting between five and ten seconds. The source said other passages can be longer, however.
In 2015 Skype launched its Translator service, which lets users get near real-time audio translations during phone and video calls. Before the feature’s launch, WIRED published an article titled “How Skype Used AI to Build its Amazing New Language Translator.”
The product does use artificial intelligence and the translations are impressive in Motherboard’s own tests. But like many other AI or machine learning projects, it turns out that some of the work is facilitated by humans laboring away, completing the very same tasks the AI is supposed to in order to improve the algorithms themselves.
Some of the audio obtained by Motherboard is specified as coming from the Translator feature of Skype’s Android app, according to accompanying screenshots of the contractor’s screen. An FAQ for Skype Translator says that when people use the service, “Skype collects and uses your conversation to help improve Microsoft products and services. To help the translation and speech recognition technology learn and grow, sentences and automatic transcripts are analyzed and any corrections are entered into our system, to build more performant services.” Another section adds, “To help the technology learn and grow, we verify the automatic translations and feed any corrections back into the system, to build more performant services.”
That section does not say that humans may listen to audio captured by the Translator feature of Skype’s various apps. Microsoft’s Privacy Policy does not make this clear either.
“Some stuff I’ve heard could clearly be described as phone sex.”
“People use Skype to call their lovers, interview for jobs, or connect with their families abroad. Companies should be 100% transparent about the ways people’s conversations are recorded and how these recordings are being used,” Frederike Kaltheuner, data exploitation program lead at activist group Privacy International, said in an online chat.
“And if a sample of your voice is going to human review (for whatever reason) the system should ask them whether you are ok with that, or at least give you the option to opt out,” she added.
Pat Walshe, an activist from Privacy Matters, said in an online chat “The marketing blurb for [Skype Translator] refers to the use of AI not humans listening in. This whole area needs a regulatory review.”
After reviewing the Skype Translator FAQ, he added, “I’ve looked at it and don’t believe it amounts to transparent and fair processing.”
“Companies should be 100% transparent about the ways people’s conversations are recorded and how these recordings are being used.”
A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard in an emailed statement, “Microsoft collects voice data to provide and improve voice-enabled services like search, voice commands, dictation or translation services. We strive to be transparent about our collection and use of voice data to ensure customers can make informed choices about when and how their voice data is used. Microsoft gets customers’ permission before collecting and using their voice data.”
“We also put in place several procedures designed to prioritize users’ privacy before sharing this data with our vendors, including de-identifying data, requiring non-disclosure agreements with vendors and their employees, and requiring that vendors meet the high privacy standards set out in European law. We continue to review the way we handle voice data to ensure we make options as clear as possible to customers and provide strong privacy protections,” the statement added.
Microsoft said both its Skype Translator FAQ and documentation on Cortana are clear in that the company uses voice data to improve their services. Again, they do not say a human may listen to that voice data, however.
When a contractor is presented by Microsoft with a piece of audio to transcribe, they are also given a series of approximate translations generated by Skype’s translation system, according to the screenshots and other documents. The contractor then needs to select the most accurate translation or provide their own, and the audio is treated as confidential Microsoft information, the screenshots show.
“Some stuff I’ve heard could clearly be described as phone sex. I’ve heard people entering full addresses in Cortana commands, or asking Cortana to provide search returns on pornography queries. While I don’t know exactly what one could do with this information, it seems odd to me that it isn’t being handled in a more controlled environment,” the contractor said.
Microsoft said audio data is only available to contractors through a secure online portal, and that the company takes steps to remove identifying information such as user or device identification numbers.
Despite the sensitivity of the information, it is at least in part work-at-home contractors who are listening to and handling the Skype and Cortana audio. Motherboard found online job listings from Microsoft contractors that say employees can work from home.
The contractor said, “I generally feel like that while we do not have access to user identifiable information, that if Microsoft users were aware that random people sitting at home in their pajamas who could be joking online with friends about the stuff they just heard that they wouldn’t like that.”
skype hacker
Previous articleTHE MULE
Next articleU.S. Army Pays $350,000 for Hackware…Claims they never used it…HAHA
Timeline of US-Iran relations…Southbound and Down
FEMA – The Dark Underbelly of America. Chapter I
U.S. Army Pays $350,000 for Hackware…Claims they never used it…HAHA
Confessions of a Black Ops Commander
The Operators – Who Are They – How Are They...
Political27
False Flag3
Expat Living3
ChipTatum.com is wnd and operated by Chip Tatum. All rights reserved
Contact us: chip@chiptatum.com
© Chip Tatum
No Favors for Cutting in Line!
Coup d’état in Ecuador
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line56
|
__label__cc
| 0.653372
| 0.346628
|
Oaks Analysis & Derby Updates
POSTED May 4, 2011 By Derek Simon
To me, one of the key components to making a profit playing the ponies is determining which ones not to play. And that is precisely why I’m shunning Joyful Victory in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks like a loose-fitting shirt on the “Jersey Shore.”
Now, Joyful Victory is the 5-2 morning line favorite and has crushed the opposition in both of her starts — the Grade 3 Honeybee and Grade 2 Fantasy — this year, so some of you may be wondering what it is I have against her. Well, it is simply this: I don’t think the Larry Jones-trained filly is as good as she looks on paper.
To begin with, she was pulling in the early stages of her last race (the aforementioned Fantasy), which is OK in a four-horse field over a speed-favoring strip like Oaklawn Park, but definitely not OK against 12 rivals at Churchill Downs on the first Friday in May.
What’s more, her recent late speed rations (LSRs) have all been relatively weak. Again, lacking a closing punch at Oaklawn is no big deal — typically, the race is over by the 1/8-pole — but it’s a completely different story at the home of the Twin Spires.
Lastly, I’m just not convinced that the 111 Brisnet speed figure that Joyful Victory earned in the Honeybee is legit. That number is so much bigger than anything the daughter of Tapit had garnered previously, yet the final time and fractions of that race are nearly identical to those recorded in the Fantasy, which earned a 93 fig. Note too that Holy Heavens was beaten by a nearly identical margin in both races — and she also earned a career-best Brisnet speed figure in the Honeybee.
So, who do I like in the Oaks? Well, there are several others that one can make a case for — and I will probably spread a bit given that I’ve tossed the likely race favorite — but if I were forced to settle on just a single entrant, I would cast my lot with Daisy Devine.
Not only does “Daisy” rate highly on my Win Factor (computerized fair odds) line, but she appears to be improving as well. I also like the fact that trainer Andrew McKeever is repeating the same training pattern that led to the daughter of Kafwain’s success in the Fair Grounds Oaks, a track that, from a pace standpoint, is somewhat similar to Churchill Downs.
The Derby Dish on Derby Kitten
As seems to be the case every year, my best-laid plans have gone awry. Last year, on the eve of releasing my 2010 Kentucky Derby Guide, a last-minute change became necessary when pre-Derby favorite — and Guide cover boy — Eskendereya scratched just days prior to the big race.
This year, I thought I covered all my bases by including commentary and analysis on several horses that were well below the graded earnings cutoff point (to be eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby, a horse’s graded earnings must rank in the top 20 among interested participants).
Alas, the late withdrawal of Toby’s Corner foiled my plans. So, without further ado, here are my pro’s and con’s for Derby Kitten, the latest Kentucky Derby hopeful:
Pros: He’s got an awesome late kick, as evidenced by the zero LSR he earned in winning the Grade 3 Coolmore Lexington last time (the same race that Charismatic used as a Kentucky Derby springboard).
Cons: Like so many others in this field — Animal Kingdom, Brilliant Speed, Twinspired, et al. — Derby Kitten has yet to prove his mettle on dirt. Worse, his only try on the brown (in an off-the-turf affair at Belmont Park on Oct. 2) resulted in a 27 ½-length whooping.
Most Recent Pace Figures
ESR: +3 (very soft)
LSR: 0 (excellent)
The other potential wrench in the works every Derby spring is the weather. And although present forecasts seem to indicate that the Churchill Downs dirt will be dry on the first Saturday in May, I took a look at Derbies past to see if I could find any useful wagering tidbits for Derby present.
What I discovered surprised me.
Contrary, perhaps, to popular opinion, wet or drying-out tracks distinctly favor frontrunners — at least historically. Take a look:
Notice that the rate of wire-to-wire winners jumps from 26.8 percent on a fast track to 31.3 percent on a wet track, or 43.5 percent on tracks not listed as “fast” or “good” (or “dusty,” a condition that doesn’t exist anymore).
Other Derby Doings
Be sure to tune into a special edition of the “SimonSays Racing Podcast” on THURSDAY, MAY 5 (live at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern). In addition to offering my usual analysis of all the main Derby contenders, I will also talk to a young handicapper and Facebook friend that has presented me with a challenge.
betonline
online wagering
Score with Simon
TwinSpires Blog
Can't wait for this weekend. I think the Oaks might be a better race than the Derby!
Jim Rhodes said...
These updates are nice and informative. I should read the prev posts I guess. Bye!
|
cc/2020-05/en_middle_0090.json.gz/line74
|
End of preview.
No dataset card yet
- Downloads last month
- 5