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__label__cc | 0.749961 | 0.250039 | Festus Keyamo to APC supporters ‘don’t taunt those who lost’
February 27, 2019 Olumide Alake 0 Comment APC, Festus Keyamo, INEC, PDP, Pres. Muhammadu Buhari
– Festus Keyamo has urged APC supporters to avoid taunting those that lost as they celebrate the re-election of Pres. Muhammadu Buhari
The Director of Strategic Communications of Pres. Buhari 2019 Presidential Campaign, Festus Keyamo SAN, has reached out to the supporters of the All Progressive Congress APC as they celebrate their victory in the 2019 Presidential Poll.
Festus Keyamo in his statement called on the supporters of the APC not to taunt supporters of other political parties who lost in the election.
He disclosed that those who were in other parties other than the APC are not enemies but are patriots with different ideas.
Festus Keyamo in his statement on Twitter wrote, “As we celebrate, I urge that we don’t do so wildly as to put us or others in harm’s way. I also urge all our supporters to be magnanimous in victory and not to taunt those who lost. Those who fought us with ideas are not our enemies. They are just patriots with different ideas.”
Learn Also: Governor Nyesom Wike Plans To Drag The GOC 6 Division To The ICC
Pres. Muhammadu Buhari of the APC was declared the winner of the 2019 Presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC this morning.
The APC Presidential candidate won with over four million votes to defeat the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Alh. Atiku Abubakar, who happens to be his closest contender.
Following the victory of Pres. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians have taken to various media online and offline to react to the news.
The opposition party, the PDP has also reacted as it refused to accept the election result, it disclosed that it would seek redress in the court of law.
However, Pres. Muhammadu Buhari in his acceptance speech appreciated Nigerians for giving him their mandate for a second term in office.
← Governor Nyesom Wike Plans To Drag The GOC 6 Division To The ICC
NANS congratulate Pres. Buhari tells Atiku and others to accept defeat →
Tribunal: Buhari Will Lose If PDP Lawyers Sit in Supreme Court Judges’ Stead – APC Chieftain
September 16, 2019 Mojeed Oladipupo 2
Buhari Lauds ‘Resolute’ Oshiomole at 67
April 5, 2019 Mojeed Oladipupo 0
Osun Election : Tribunal declares Adeleke Winner
March 22, 2019 Olumide Alake 0 | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8035 |
__label__wiki | 0.569558 | 0.569558 | Tus Nua | Depaulcharity
Depaul Housing Association
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Depaul helps people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
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Tus Nua is co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020
“I am constantly inspired by the strength of the women living in Tus Nua to move forward and deal with the many barriers they face. Every day they work so hard to make large strides towards a positive independent future”
Tus Nua Apartments is the first service of its kind in Ireland supporting women leaving prison. The service is funded by the Probation Service and works in close partnership with the Dóchas prison and the Probation Service in delivering safe secure accommodation for women with complex needs and a support programme aimed at preventing recidivism.
“At Tus Nua they believe everybody deserves a second chance, they are down to earth and treat everybody with equality and the utmost respect”
Tus Nua was established by Depaul as a result of research and visits to prisons in Dublin by the Guild of St. Philip Neri, and a St. Vincent de Paul conference, who recognised an acute need for programmes to assist women released from prison in their transition to independent living in the community.
It is well known that without effective transitional support for people leaving prison there is a high re-offending rate, especially those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless upon release and this is what the Depaul team work with the women in Tus Nua to prevent.
The service aims to prevent the risk of re-offending by supporting women to recognise their short-term and long-term needs upon leaving prison. The support offered also includes learning life skills and identifying opportunities, to assist the women living in Tus Nua to manage independently. It is also vital that the women are encouraged to take a positive role in their community.
“The women who live in Tus Nua inspire me, I see incredible resilience, even after facing stigmatisation, loneliness and fear I see the women persevere through the difficult times”
Tus Nua accommodates 15 women in single rooms for up to 6 months. Each room is furnished and contains a kitchenette. All residents have access to communal spaces and the garden.
Each woman is appointed a keyworker. Together they identify a support plan for their stay which covers life skills, budgeting, alcohol harm reduction, detox access, and physical and mental health support.
The professionally trained staff also assist in accessing more suitable long-term accommodation for each of the residents. Tus Nua aims to provide time and space during which women can address the problems which led to their housing crisis and prison sentence.
‘I came from a very bad place in my life, I’ve been through homelessness and addiction. I thought there was no hope after leaving prison. I had a bumpy road but I suppose you have to go through the ups and downs in Tus Nua to get where you want to get’
The mission of Tus Nua is to provide women, upon leaving Dóchas, with safe housing and a positive environment.
Copyright © 2018 Depaul. ROI Registered Office: Holy Cross College, Clonliffe Road, Dublin 3 D03 P2E7. ROI Charity Reg. 20048938 (CHY14753). NI Registered Office: 449 Antrim Road, Belfast, BT15 3BJ. NI Charity Reg. No. 102995 (XR87991) • Privacy Policy
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__label__wiki | 0.615011 | 0.615011 | Abortion - a discussion
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When and when not have an abortion
What relevance does the theology of personhood have for Abortion Christian ethics?
I shall attempt to address how the theology of personhood bears on Christian ethics in very early life by tracing the development of strands of theological and ethical thought before attempting to weave them together into a rope of rational aimed at informing the decision-making process that ethically driven Christian women and men may have to face at some point in their lives. Central to this will be an attempt to establish the pivotal role that the personhood of developing foetuses play in the ethics and personhood theology. I have also questioned what right society has to have an opinion over this uniquely female of functions – the conception and nurture of their embryos and then foetuses. Is there a point at which a women’s embryos and foetuses are not her embryos or foetuses - but independent people with human rights and legal protection? If so, when does this happen and under which theological tradition? I will consider these questions from biblical, historical, physiological, theological and Christian ethical perspectives. These then will be the various strands of our rope of rational and the basis for suggestions for a future way forward.
The chronology of Theology and Ethics of personhood
There is no mention of abortion per say in the Bible. However, the Sixth Commandment says ‘Thou shall not kill’ (Exodus 20:13). In the New International Version and Septuagint translations this appears more emotively as ‘Thou shall not murder’. This central commandment is applied to miscarried foetuses in (Exodus 21:22-25). These seeds of early personhood theology appear as the sanctions incurred when a pregnant woman is injured resulting in a premature birth of her baby. The fact that the Israelites evaluated the physical completeness of the foetus shows that they had started to consider a gradation of 'human beingness’. This is demonstrating early Monist thinking whereby the soul is an emergent property which grows in completeness as the foetus develops. The sanctions for damaging the foetus are commensurate with the degree of damage of to its human personhood. If the foetus is fully formed this is considered murder. The Septuagint Bible is clear. “But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life.” In other words, the perfectly formed foetus is being treated as a person therefore to kill a foetus is a capital offense. The theology of personhood had been born and was starting to tolerate not only on Christian Ethics but the law of the land.
So, are we asking the right questions? When is a ‘foetus perfectly formed?’ There are references to the status and degrees of awareness of the foetus in Biblical literature. Most quoted include Luke 1:15; Jeremiah 1:4–5; Deuteronomy 24:16; Genesis 25:21–23; Matthew 1:18; and Psalm 139:13–16.
Hays dismisses Luke 1:5 as pure Christology.
“To extrapolate from this text (Luke 1:15) - whose theological import is entirely Christological – a general doctrine of the full personhood of the unborn is a ridiculous and tendinous exegesis (Hays 1997:448)”
Hays is also equally dismissive of other texts. Only Psalm 139 does he grudgingly accept worthy of consideration within the context of pre-birth personhood (Hays 1997: 447) However, he generally laments the lack of precision and particularly the lack of passages on abortion “This gives us very little material for the construction of a normative judgement (ibid:448)” - and therefore the Wesleyan Quadrilateral has to be discarded as a usable tool for theological analysis.
Sadly, much of the literature on the subject is full of ‘intuitionism’, largely of course, because it is not possible to the get the foetus’s side of the argument! This means that while there have been enormous medical advances in our ability to see, measure, even operate on foetuses, communications remain either reactive or ‘intuitive’ – especially at the critical early stages of pregnancy when the personhood debate really begins. Consequently, some of the historical literature and its intuitionism, can be as valuable in suggesting when personhood starts to establish within the human foetus as that produced today.
From early Greek times thinkers such as Aristotle focused around the point at which the soul enters the foetus; he thought around 40 days for males or 80 days for females! The soul, he considered, was an animating principle. Aristotle described vegetative, animal and finally the human souls the latter of which he referred to as the ‘rational soul’. When this has entered the embryo or foetus of the unborn, he describes it as the process as quickening - or for later thinkers ensoulment.. This leads us to consideration of degrees of manifestation of personhood within Christian theology – which in turn impacted on ethics.
“.........but when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation. (Aristotle:350 BC)”
Whether in Dualist or Monist thought the effect on Christian Ethics was similar – the critical point was when the Soul entered into, or was manifested in, the developing embryo or foetus and to what degree. The Stoics called this vital force the pneuma, holding that it enters the body much later - when the new-born takes its first breath. The result was that both these schools saw no ethic conflict in early abortion.
However, Hippocrates (BC460 – BC370) had moved personhood to the point of conception. Original versions of Hippocratic oath states that the doctor will “never do harm” and “not cause an abortion”. Although no original documents Scribonius Largus refers to it in 43AD. This recorded Hippocrates abhorrence of any form of abortion. (Markel 2004:2026–2029) This of course creates real ethical conflict for graduating Christian medical students taking the Hippocratic oath. Medical schools using the oath today have to either remove or modify the text in order to accommodate the performance abortions. However, some Christian doctors still adhere to the original Hippocratic instruction to ‘do no harm’ and will not perform abortions on ethical grounds.
The Early Christian Church inherited these mixed views in relation to both personhood and abortion. Theologians such as Tertullian (155 – 240 AD) and Marsilio Ficino, still propounded the Monists view that the soul developed in parallel with the physical development of the body. This again could be supported by the Exodus 21:22-25 ruling to the Israelites. It was St Augustine who held that there was a 40 day delay in ensoulment of the foetus and therefore the creation of its personhood. However, he always regarded abortion at any point to be sinful perhaps partly as a result of considering the role of sex to be an act of procreation rather than pleasure. Later Thomas Aquinas was to agree with St Augustine in considering abortion both abhorrent and sinful.
At this stage it is worth recording the Jewish Talmud view that although life is precious the foetus does not have the same level of personhood as its mother. This allows abortions to be performed if the woman life is endangered. However, once a greater part of the foetus has emerged then its life is sacrosanct even to save the woman's, because you cannot choose between the mother’s life and that of her new born child’s as both are regarded of being of equal value at that point.
The Catholic church aligns strictly with the Didache of the 1st or 2nd century (Didache 2.2) "You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the new born to perish". Article 2258 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church records:
“Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.” (Vatican Archive 2019)
Cardinal Noonan puts this theology beautifully within the ethical perspective
“‘ … it is wrong to kill humans, however poor, weak, defenceless, and lacking in opportunity to develop their potential they may be. It is therefore morally wrong to kill infants. Similarly, it is morally wrong to kill embryos.’ (Noonan 1968:134)”
Catholics believe both the embryo and the foetus to be sacred siting Genesis 1:27. If man is made in the ‘image of God’ (Imago Dei) what right have we to destroy the thing that God has made – without committing either murder or infanticide.
forbidden by the Sixth Commandment. Although theologically completely safe, this ruling has and continues to create many virtually insuperable ethical problems which have resulted in loyal, ethically driven Catholics seeking theologically illegal or dangerous abortions. This ruling is also diametrically opposed to the feminist pro-abortion agenda.
At this stage we must consider womens’ moral and ethical right to decide what they do with their bodies. Given the minimal Biblical guidance regarding abortion we are thrown back to the theology of personhood for ethical guidance. Most theologians agree that an embryo is not yet a person and so is not heir to the rights and security of personhood. However, as they develop into foetuses, and particularly as they become perfectly formed foetuses, the less vulnerable they are – both theologically and ethically. However right up until birth most groups prioritize the pregnant women and her wishes over the survival of their foetuses. The feminist theologian Mary Anne Warren, while accepting that womens’ rights over the foetus, says that they cease at birth. Never the less she riles against any strictures over the fate of the foetus regardless of whether its personhood is established. “The belief that moral strictures against killing should apply equally to all genetically human entities, and only to genetically human entities is such an error. (Warren 1973: para 54)”. This in effect makes 100% personhood, only achievable after birth. However, it would seem that a majority of populations are ethically troubled by late term abortions - regardless of their religious persuasion. As a result, the legal limit for routine UK abortions is set at 24 weeks. In exceptional circumstances abortions can take place after 24 weeks “if there's a risk to the life of the pregnant women or there are problems with the baby's development. (NHS:2019).” In short, secular ethics of personhood are still weighted in favour of the mother.
I would suggest that the issues of foetal ownership, gender equality, the women’s health and life chances have to be balanced in relation to the existence or non-existence of personhood. Warren suggests that personhood exists in beings with ‘Consciousness (of objects and events external and/or internal to the being), and the capacity to feel pain.’ She also requires that they be capable of ‘Self-motivated activity (activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control (Warren 1973: para 30).’ Contemporary medical science indicates that by the end of third month of pregnancy the foetus has both a brain and a body able to satisfy these criteria. The prenatal section of the NHS website says “Just 12 weeks after your last period, the foetus is fully formed. All the organs, muscles, limbs and bones are in place, and the sex organs are well developed. (NHS:2018)” This statement, although from a secular source, is of great importance to both Christian Theology and Ethics as it states that the foetus is fully formed after three months. If recall that Septuagint Exodus 21:23 ruling ‘But if it be perfectly formed ……’. We can see how contemporary foetal observations link with Biblical reference to personhood. The words ‘perfectly formed’ provide us a medical / biblical interface suggesting a point in time when ensoulment occurs - when life and therefore personhood is manifested in the developing foetus. Potentially this establishes foetal theological and ethic rights – putting them on an equivalent footing with the mothers from this point onwards.
Science, Theology of Personhood, Christian Ethics and the future
I have argued that scientific advance has important contributions to make to the theology of personhood and Christian ethics. Up until the magic of ultrasound scanning it was impossible to view and witness both the completeness and the movement of live foetuses at every stage of their development. Once current medical observation linked with the Biblical and Theological criteria suggesting the personhood on the grounds above, we are no longer hampered by the absence of specific Biblical guidance precluding the normative analysis. It could be that in this instance the Wesleyan Quadrilateral needs to turn into a Pentagon where scientific observation is used to augment scriptural guidance.
Neil Messer has a useful definition of an embryo. It is something which “ …..is not aware of itself, cannot suffer, cannot have relationships with others and cannot have interests desires or plans (Messer 2012:36)”. An embryo is collection of cells which, although having the potential to be an ensouled, is not yet a ‘person habitable’ organism capable of expressing the ‘Imago Dei’. (Genesis 1-17) It lacks a brain. An embryo or an early stage foetus surely cannot have either personality or personhood. However, once they develop into the foetus, quickening or ensoulment can take place. At 12 weeks they do have a functioning brain and can even suck their thumbs. Therefore, I would suggest that, given current scientific knowledge, it would be rational for both Christian theology of personhood and Christian ethics to allow women total rights and ownership of their embryos but not over their foetuses once quickening or ensoulment have been observed to have taken place.
Perhaps the establishment of a Christians’ ethical traffic light analogy would be useful here. If a woman approaches the crucial and potentially life changing crossroads of an unwanted pregnancy the lights would be green up to a given period – perhaps eight weeks. Therefore, the ‘morning after pill’ and other early terminations would seem totally ethical, right and within the ownership of the women. This must impact on the application of the Theology of Personhood especially that of the Catholic Church. Current observations would suggest that the traffic lights would go amber during the third month as an embryo becomes a foetus and more perfectly formed. However, where there is doubt, pregnant women do have a moral and ethical duty to protect their supremely vulnerable unborn person whenever possible. This said as Warren suggests “mere ownership does not give me the right to kill innocent people who I may find on my property….” (Warren1973: para 3) This threshold will surely change both with scientific advance and from pregnancy to pregnancy. Perhaps in the future there will even be a routine ensoulment test to remove all doubts as to the status of the foetus. By the twelfth week we know the foetus has a brain and can initiate activity (such as sucking its thumb) and almost certainly feels pain. Again, this threshold will change but from this point onwards the Christians’ ethical lights would be red. Whether abortions after this red light were a theologically or ethically restricted would not be up to the mother. I would suggest that a soul would be inhabiting the foetus she was nurturing - with all the theological and ethical consequences of personhood flowing from this.
I can conclude that once the Theology of Personhood is combined with current obstetric diagnostic tools, Christian Ethics would permit pregnant women complete ownership ethical control over their embryos and during the very early stages of it becoming a foetus. This would allow women to abort their pregnancy as a result of rape or “… becoming pregnant through ignorance, carelessness or contraceptive failure (Singer 2005:148).” The Theology of personhood applied in this way would refute the Catholic position and all the desperately difficult ethical consequences which can flow from a blanket ban on abortions. After this time modern science has revealed a personhood appearing in the foetus which now has to be acknowledged and included both in the Theology of Personhood and Christian Ethical thinking.
Aristotle.350 BC “The Experienced Midwife.” BBC London http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/history_1.shtml
(accessed 04/03/19)
Aristotle: (350 BC) Politics 7:16 Translated by Benjamin Jowett available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.7.seven.html (accessed 20/02/19)
Brind'Amour, Katherine (2007) Quickening. Embryo Project Encyclopaedia, Arizona State University http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/1717 . (accessed 01/03/19)
Didache (1st Century) 2.2: quoted 2258 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Vatican available at http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm (accessed 20/02/19)
Markel, Howard (13 May 2004). "I Swear by Apollo" On Taking the Hippocratic Oath". New England Journal of Medicine. 350 (20): 2026–2029 (assessed 27/02/19)
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp048092
Messer,Neil (2012) Christian Ethics Croydon: CPI Group Ltd
National Health Service (2018) Methods of Abortion. National Health Service. London https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abortion/what-happens/ (accessed 26/02/19)
National Health Service (2018) You and your baby at 12 weeks pregnant .National Health Service .London https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/12-weeks-pregnant/ (accessed 03/03/19)
Noonan John, (1968) Abortion and the Catholic Church: A Summary History, Natural Law Forum 13
Singer, Peter (2005). Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press. New York & Cambridge, U.K.:
Warren, Mary Anne (1973) "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion The Monist, Vol. 57, No. 4, 1973. Part II reprinted, with postscript, in The Problem of Abortion, Joel Feinberg, ed., Belmont: Wadsworth
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__label__cc | 0.544935 | 0.455065 | VMware Cloud on AWS Expands Now Also Available at U.S. East Coast
Author: Koen Stegeman
VMware Cloud on AWS is expanding availability from the U.S. West (Oregon) region to also include the AWS U.S. East Coast (Northern Virginia). The newly deployed infrastructure at U.S. East Coast includes additional VMware capabilities and support for more AWS Cloud services. This would make it easier for customers to move, run, and protect mission-critical applications at scale.
“The momentum for VMware Cloud on AWS is growing rapidly, and VMware and AWS are delivering major new capabilities after only three months of availability while enhancing our strategic relationship with new integrations across our platforms,” said Mark Lohmeyer, vice president and general manager, Cloud Platform Business Unit, VMware. “Customers of VMware Cloud on AWS will be able to migrate application portfolios to the cloud even more rapidly with Hybrid Cloud Extension and AWS Direct Connect, while maintaining the optimal levels of performance, scale, and availability required for mission-critical apps.”
VMware Cloud on AWS customers has the ability to choose where to run their workloads based on their business needs. With VMware vSphere vMotion, new L2 stretched networking features, and AWS Direct Connect, customers will be able to migrate applications from their on-premises VMWare cluster into VMware on AWS “without any disruptions to the application, and without having to make any changes to the network configuration.”
Users would also be able to use AWS Direct Connect for “high-speed” and private network connectivity, supporting faster cold and live application migration with vMotion.
Add-on SaaS Offering
VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension, an add-on SaaS offering for VMware Cloud on AWS, would provide large-scale migration between on-premises environments running vSphere 5.0+ and VMware Cloud on AWS with no re-platforming, re-testing, or change in tooling. Hybrid Cloud Extension will provide built-in “high performance” Layer 2 extensions so customers will be able to keep the same networks, IP, and routing policies in place while moving workloads. This would eliminate the need for extensive application dependency mapping when migrating applications to VMware Cloud on AWS. It also includes “high performance” Layer 2 extensions, data synchronization, traffic analysis, WAN optimizations, and built-in IPsec VPN connectivity that would enable “secured, efficient, and effective cloud migration with no impact to application uptime.”
Application Availability and Business Continuity for Mission-Critical Workloads
VMware Site Recovery, a new service for VMware Cloud on AWS customers, delivers protection between customer data centers and VMware Cloud on AWS, or between environments running in separate AWS Availability Zones (AZs). With VMware Site Recovery, customers would be enabled to lower capital expenditures by eliminating the need for a secondary disaster recovery site, streamline operations with automated orchestration, enable failover and failback with familiar management tools, and increase disaster readiness with non-disruptive, on-demand testing available anytime.
Software-Defined Data Centers (SDDC)
VMware and AWS are expanding the scale, network connectivity, and security capabilities of VMware Cloud on AWS to further support the most resource-intensive applications such as Oracle, Oracle RAC, Microsoft SQL Server, Apache Spark and Hadoop.
VMware Cloud on AWS supports 32 host clusters and multiple software-defined data centers (SDDC) per organization today and would support 10 clusters per SDDC soon. This will enable a single customer to support environments as large as tens of thousands of VMs. Customer SDDC environments run on a high-performance, dedicated, and highly secure next-generation AWS hardware infrastructure.
For application teams, VMware is adding support for Wavefront by VMware, a VMware cloud service that would allow customers to visualize, alert upon, and troubleshoot applications running on VMware Cloud on AWS. Wavefront by VMware provides an open API platform supporting more than 80 integrations to collect time-series data from application metrics collectors such as for Java, Ruby, Python, and Go, to service metrics collectors for MySQL, Pivotal, Kubernetes, AWS, and more.
Availability VMware Cloud on AWS
VMware is now offering one-year and three-year subscription options for VMware Cloud on AWS, in addition to the existing hourly on-demand pricing. These new subscription options would help customers lower their TCO. In addition, VMware’s Hybrid Loyalty Program provides discounts on the core service subscriptions to customers with on-premises vSphere, VMware NSX, and/or VMware vSAN licenses, which could further reduce the TCO. The pricing model, combined with the VMware Hybrid Loyalty Program discounts, would provide customers with a path to lower total cost of ownership compared to traditional data center deployments.
VMware Site Recovery is available today as a separate add-on and is priced per protected VM with hourly metering. VMware vMotion, L2 network stretch, AWS Direct Connect, multi-cluster support, VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension support and AWS Direct Connect private connectivity to VMware Cloud on AWS are expected to be available in VMware’s Q4 FY2018 which ends on February 3, 2018. All other capabilities are available today.
Mark Lohmeyer
Software-Defined Data Centers
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Skilled in journalism, online publishing as well as content marketing, Koen Stegeman is the Editor-in-Chief of HostingJournalist.com with a demonstrated history of working in the international newspaper, magazine and digital media industries.
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__label__wiki | 0.844983 | 0.844983 | Mike Veale resigns following allegations of serious misconduct
We learned yesterday that Mike Veale, chief constable of the Cleveland Police, resigned on Friday after less than a year in the post.
The Telegraph reports that he is facing an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), following allegations by two female officers that he had engaged in “inappropriate behaviour” toward them.
Readers may remember Veale from his days as chief constable of the Wiltshire Police, notable for the shambolic Project Conifer, in which the late Sir Edward Heath and others were investigated based on allegations of Satanic sexual abuse by a woman whose memories had emerged under hypnosis. At the time, Veale distinguished himself by telling a Daily Mail reporter that the claims against Heath were “120% genuine”.
In November 2016 we wrote about the concerns expressed by Dr Richard Hoskins (then known as Rachel Hoskins), a leading criminologist and specialist in ritual sacrifice who called some of the evidence being examined by Wiltshire Police “fantastical”, and a “catalogue of fabrication”.
At that time, The Guardian wrote,
(Dr Hoskins) wrote: “I have exposed a catalogue of fabrication at the heart of two major inquiries. Worse still, Operation Conifer ploughs ahead. People remain accused of things that simply never happened. Wiltshire Police insist that not all their evidence is based on claims of ritual abuse. We will see. But those cases that are based on this pernicious fallacy must be closed immediately.” …
Hoskins said she was taking the unusual step of disclosing her findings because she was concerned the police do not want to hear what she has said and will not pass her report on to senior MPs on the home affairs select committee, or the accused.
Yesterday, Hoskins commented on Twitter,
Links to Robert Green
Almost a year after Hoskins expressed concerns about Operation Conifer, in October 2017, the Sunday Times reported that Veale had sought advice from conspiracy theorist and Hollie Greig hoax promoter Robert Green.
At the time, the blog BarthsNotes revealed,
Mr Veale was thanking Mr Green “for an email in which he expressed his glee at the Mail on Sunday‘s front-page splash about how Operation Conifer’s findings were to be passed on to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Green’s email and Veale’s reply were published on a Hollie Greig conspiracy website”.
Green confirmed in an email to BarthsNotes that he and Veale had been in “regular contact”, and that he had been feeding Veale material about Heath gleaned from the infamous “RAINS list” compiled by Dr Joan Coleman.
On 10 October 2017, the Telegraph reported that Veale was facing calls for an inquiry over why he’d shown an early version of the Operation Conifer report to Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen:
Mike Veale, who is overseeing the £1.5 million investigation into allegations Heath was a paedophile, is accused of handing the report to Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire.
Some details said to be contained in the report were subsequently leaked to newspapers.
Bridgen, who had previously offered his support to Veale, calling him a “courageous and honest” police officer, described the contents of the report as “credible and disturbing”.
However, James Gray, Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, who had previously referred to Operation Conifer as an “idiotic waste of public money”, called for an explanation of the leak to Bridgen. For his part, Veale did not deny that Bridgen had seen the draft report, but said it had been shown to “a number of trusted stakeholders”.
The final report of Operation Conifer drew the conclusion that, had Heath been alive, he could have faced interview under caution regarding seven allegations.
Veale said at the time, “The report does not draw any conclusions as to the likely guilt or innocence of Sir Edward Heath. I am satisfied there are compelling and obvious reasons to investigate allegations made against Sir Edward Heath”. In the final report, no references can be found to ritual abuse, Satanic or otherwise.
Wiltshire Police faced heavy criticism for its handling of the case, under Veale’s stewardship.
The mysterious death of a mobile phone
Fast-forward a year, and in September 2018 we find Veale facing the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which stated he “has a case to answer for alleged misconduct for providing and maintaining an inaccurate account of how damage to his work mobile phone was caused”.
While Veale initially claimed that the phone had been damaged when he’d dropped it in a golf club car park and then accidentally run over it, he later admitted to IOPC investigators that he had damaged the phone when he’d swung a club at his golf bag in frustration at a bad shot.
According to the IOPC report,
On 23 November 2017, the IOPC received an anonymous typed letter dated 25 October 2017. This letter alleged that Chief Constable Veale and a Conservative MP had collaborated in leaking information about Operation Conifer, an investigation into alleged child abuse by Sir Edward Heath, in an attempt to boost public opinion of Chief Constable Veale.
The letter alleged that Chief Constable Veale had spoken directly to one journalist on a number of occasions, and had told the MP that “he was going to cover his tracks by destroying his phone so records of contact between him and [name redacted] could not be traced.”
As BarthsNotes pointed out, it seems likely that the journalist in question was Simon Walters of the Mail on Sunday, who ran the first story in which Veale was quoted as saying that the allegations against Heath were “120 per cent” convincing. The MP, as mentioned above, was likely to have been Andrew Bridgen.
The IOPC report states that Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills, who was Veale’s immediate subordinate, recalled his boss’s original version of how the phone was damaged:
…[S]ome time on the morning of 23 September 2017, the force media team made [DCC Mills] aware that there had been a significant leak of information from the Operation Conifer report. He stated that he tried to reach Chief Constable Veale via phone from around lunchtime that day, and throughout the afternoon into the early evening, but he did not answer. He stated that this was out of character for Chief Constable Veale, as he usually came straight back to him. He stated that it was “clearly challenging” not to be able to speak to Chief Constable Veale, as he wanted to discuss the scale, extent and consequences of the leak.
He stated that on the morning of 24 September 2017, he saw that Chief Constable Veale had sent an email from an iPad to the Chief Officer group at 6.05pm on 23 September 2017, explaining that his phone had been “ran over by an unsuspecting vehicle”.
The “significant leak of information” turns out to have been the Sunday Times article which revealed that Veale had been receiving advice regarding the Heath investigation from Robert Green.
Following its investigation, the IOPC concluded that the damage to Veale’s phone had been accidental, but that he had lied about the cause of damage to his phone as he had been embarrassed about losing his temper.
In the wake of Veale’s resignation from the Cleveland Police, we’ve begun to hear rumblings on Twitter that he was forced out due to his “courageous stance” during Operation Conifer.
Cue the inevitable cries of “stitch-up!”
22/01/2019 in Assorted knobheads. Tags: Jonathan Wedger, Mike Veale, Operation Conifer, RAINS, Robert Green, satanic panic
Mike Veale’s smashed phone: What does it mean?
Operation Conifer and the ‘Michelle Remembers’ connection
Hoaxtead mobsters jump aboard Project Conifer bandwagon
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Operation Conifer and the ‘Michelle Remembers’ connection →
72 thoughts on “Mike Veale resigns following allegations of serious misconduct”
Cue various conspiracy promoters (no names although Andy Decline comes to mind) that Mike Veale was investigating the ” 788 – 790 Finchley Road, Pandoras Box ” and the Freemasons set him up.
What was “the biggest cover-up in political history” re Mr Wedger?
Obviously it’s one that we don’t even know about.
Nepha felt better says:
This is all very entertaining to those of us who enjoy your witty belittling of idiots like Wedger and Green but it’s also frightening to think that Veale was in a position of authority.
Thanks for this detailed update, EC. Excellent work as usual. I can’t figure out whether Veale is evil or just monumentally stupid, though seeing as he was so ready to believe everything that the known SRA hoaxer Robert Green told him – in an investigation into, er, SRA – I’m erring towards the latter. Either way, it’s a depressing picture of our police service if Veale, Wedger and Savage are the kind of people who get promoted to positions of authority. (By the way, does anyone recall the name of that other “ex-detective” who did interviews promoting the Hampstead hoax back in 2015? He was based in Spain, if memory serves.)
Can someone tell Wedgie that the past participle of speak is spoken, not spoke? Thank you
“Andy Decline” 🤭
Ooh, there’s dissension in the ranks, it seems 🤭
Yes dear, course you have. Bless
‘I am facing possible imprisonment’ 🤭
https://angelascaches.org/the-book-of-esther-for-those-with-ears-to-hear
Angela’s been “speaking the truth”? I must have missed that. Does anyone have a link?
The only things she says that are true are those that have been told to her in strict confidence.
Ray Savage? Wadnt he another over 100% confident one, 110%?
Stan Butler says:
I assume Mike Veale resigning means he keeps his fat pension.
It’s brilliant isn’t it?. Sometimes I even amaze myself.
(editor: it’s from Michael of the Mouse Family. GOS drunk again?.Go home)
I wonder if we should believe these allegations “120%”?.
I doubt evil but I think he may be one of those very “Christian” officers with a tendency to believe in claims of SRA.
Call me spooky or even an old witch but I said on another forum that Mike Veale ( he is innocent of course as allegations are just that: not proved) seemed an odd Chief Constable as he was incredibly neat and groomed and “boasted” of how he worked out at a gym. He seemed very pleased with his appearance.
I thought “you have a sort of aura and a tendency to believe these rather weird and exaggerated claims about someone like Ted Heath but you are in a position where you could easily be accused yourself”. No-one is untouchable.
And thus it came to pass..
Flags, dragons?. What’s Zara on about?
“ALSO many will be instantly TRIGGERED by the mention of the JEWS as the people she wanted saved”.
Announcement : Medic and smelling salts please to Aisle 6..an elderly pensioner by the name of John Paterson has fainted.
Well, there HAVE been instances of child abuse by wealthy people (like Jimmy Savile, though it didn’t come out till after he was dead). I would have thought it was unprofessional to discuss an ongoing investigation though. Aren’t the police supposed to keep such matters confidential?
Interesting piece with some backstory in Teeside News, identifying those who supported Veale’s appointment who were sceptical and unhappy.
According to their reporter Mike Brown;
“Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said Mr Veale’s resignation “was all but inevitable”.
“This is why I refused to get involved in the appointment process only a small number of months ago,” he added.
“To appoint someone under investigation and under such a dark cloud nationally was more than a mistake – it was reckless and incompetent. I said this at the time but was shouted down by the Police Commissioner.
“The Chief Constable merry-go-round must come to an end and our Police Commissioner must resign.”
Mr Houchen said Mr Coppinger is “incapable of carrying out the role that he holds”.
“I have today written to the Home Secretary to request an urgent meeting to discuss whether the force as we know it should continue in its current form,” he added.
Mr Coppinger told Teesside Live he won’t be resigning.”
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/how-teesside-reacted-chief-constable-15712153
The comment section may get interesting
Perusal of these stories may be of interest 🙂
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/all-about/barry-coppinger
This piece caught my eye
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/tees-mayor-new-cleveland-police-14217382
Of course Veale is facing allegations and has not been convicted of any crime, however I fully support the Mayor Ben Houchen and Simon Clarke MP in voicing concerns regarding Veale.
Perhaps some helpful person might like to forward them a link to the Hoaxtead blog pages illuminating the friendly communications between Veale and Robert Green?
Bigears says:
Oh noes,keep it down about dragons,it risks awakening the orange one who must be obeyed.She`s only just bored herself to sleep,give us a break.
Could she be thinking of a white truce flag? That’s just me surmising but I’m probably wrong.
She doesn’t half pick them. The Book of Esther is a historical account of political machinations in the Persian court. There is a good message in it of not feeding others to a crocodile in the hope it will eat you last, but God is not mentioned at all in the non-Apocryphal versions or the original Hebrew. So does this mean the Oldcastle Horror has been practicing her necromancy with a CATHOLIC BIBLE!!! 👿👿👿
The idea is that if a person is publicly named as an abuser, this will encourage other victims to come forwards. Sometimes this has worked, but unfortunately it has also encouraged fantasists and crooks to concoct ludicrous stories for personal gain.
Paul Gambaccini is actually trying to get a law through Parliament, that prevents people being named. I agree with him actually, and as you say, it does encourage fantasists, who don`t need any encouragement at all. Bill Maloney loves that kind of thing doesn`t he. You only have to look at what he did to Andrew Ash who had already admitted on Panorama that he made it all up. Maloney was positively reveling in what Ben Fellows was telling him, also the former MP from Birmingham, that story was all over Sky News. and now there`s Otherwise Known as Nick who has a trial coming up in March I think, that should be very interesting indeed. I`m just wondering if Mike Veal will join forces with John Wedger and have mugs and tee shirts made with his face on it.
I hope he didn’t bang his head……..again
Noooo, she’s referring to the flag of His Royal Blandness, King John of the Wanoa dynasty.
*Wanker
Bloody spellchecker
Well, they’re a right pair of mugs, so that would be apt.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear, Angela. You must really like prison food!
He does have a web site, blog, thingy, whatever.
https://cosmicrf.wixsite.com/crfdn
I’m not sure why though, maybe as a service for those who need something less exciting than watching paint dry.
Devine’s not happy about the above comments. Look like this one could run and run 😆
The full post:
Yes Paul Gambaccini was treated very badly in what amounted to a fishing expedition.
In cases where the Police discover credible evidence of abuse in an institutional setting, they should make contact with possible victims in an appropriate way, rather than creating a media circus.
Either she likes prison food or she really thinks she will in the clutches of the person she claims is the head Satanist. Maybe this is one of her fantasies: Angie Power Disney in “Fifty Shades of Grey Hair”. It certainly won’t be like that Angie – It’ll be boring, and you’ll wonder why you threw years of your life away on such a daft obsession.
Is that meant to be seductive – has she been sending him unsolicited bikini shots too?
She actually has, yes! 😂
It’s that bloody cat again.
Yes, I think it’s one thing to take a slightly mocking stance, but I agree. I find it very disturbing that some of those in positions of high responsibility can be of this calibre.
Heath’s godson Lincoln Seligman said: “Either the man is a fool or he’s a knave. It’s also possible that he started off this inquiry as a fool but became a knave during the course of it.’’
I think if such a link exists Tinribs that it could only be found somewhere on the WayWayWayWay-BackMachine
That 1834 ‘United Tribes’ flag has come to fill the role of the Ghost Shirt in these mook’s Ghost Dance belief system.
Indeed EC, i find it quite frightening really that people in positions of power can and have fallen for stories we usually find being spouted by random online fruitloops.
“Deliberately faking poor grammar and spelling to gain credibility with ordinary people”.
Apparently that’s a bad thing when other people do it.
Why on earth does Angie think that Zara supposedly “faking poor grammar and spelling” would somehow gain her credibility with “ordinary people”?
We could build quite a nice selection of mugs if we so wished to.
Perhaps Angie has no fear of prison as she is a qualified Super Soldier that has the skills to break out of even the most secure SuperMax style prison.
LOL, I guess we were both typing our comments at the same time there SC. Must get the I.T guys here at GCHQ to set up some alert for when two operatives are commenting on the same subject matter at the same time.
A bar-room lawyer pontificates says:
I’ve been browsing Facebook’s terms & services and they are far more strict than I thought. What stands out is that all the members of Hoax Mob (c) breach those terms almost daily yet we all know how incredibly difficult it is getting offending material removed even though there are some successes.
What stands out even more is that Facebook clearly breaches their own terms by not sticking to them. Take the example below which is sort of cleverly worded but in fact a bit too clever. It infers it will remove defamatory material but attempts a get-out clause by saying material may not be defamatory in certain locations. But Facebook can be accessed worldwide and in every country no matter what controls are put in place. Basically Facebook’s claims are disingenuous and that’s one thing Judges hate and usually rule against. When you enter into an agreement (which is what using Facebook is) you agree to honour the spirit of that agreement as well and although tricky wording is often used in contracts it can also make an agreement null & void (of course it takes great legal minds and a top QC to arrive at that position)
The Syrian boy who was bullied in an on-line video is attempting to sue Facebook and Tommy Robinson but because they are appealing for money I’m not sure that will eventuate. I would suggest his lawyer should sue Robinson first which would be easily won and then take on Facebook. Facebook will be like Google who are rapacious and will toss $Millions to defeat a claim just as they do in Australia where defamation law has established that entities like Google are publishers but they will still put plaintiffs through the mill until the bitter end even though they will inevitably lose. But the law will catch up with that but it will take time.
The problem is that politicians are so behind the times with all this, apart from some notable exceptions who generally are not the ones in power. A government is always more powerful than a corporation such as in France which is still battling with Facebook & Google over protections for French citizens throughout the world while FB etc make incredible demands of total freedom. They aren’t winning but these things drag on for years.
I think the fly in the ointment for FB etc is the real problem of how they police their own terms which is by using ‘monitors’ in countries like the Philippines, India and so on (virtually no western countries bar token monitors in Ireland etc). While it’s great numerous Asian people can make a living (?) some have pointed out the difference in cultures makes it difficult for those monitors to judge standards. Even the Philippines being almost a 90% Catholic country affects the way they think and they may find a post far more offensive than an Indian monitor given the loosely worded (apparently) rules they are given when they have 5 seconds to scan a post.
I reckon it will all come crashing down at some stage but these Net entities are so rich it won’t matter to stock holders.
I might add (I’ve gotten away with so much while the Cat is out shopping) that the famous case of Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick established in 2002 settled that an action could be taken out in the plaintiff’s country of residence ( Australia in this case) which set a precedent and of course precedents can be cited in countries that build on English law.
But it’s incredibly complex, takes a fortune and of course, Joseph Gutnick, the winner in the case is a mega – millionaire. But Angela Daisy Power – you need to lawyer up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_%26_Co_Inc_v_Gutnick
A Shurely Shome Mishtake Moment:
“Norma Stephenson, who chairs the Police and Crime Panel involved in appointing Mr Veale, said: “There was nothing to indicate Mike’s tenure would end like this when he was interviewed.
“It’s clear evidence that the new department [Directorate of Standards and Ethics] is working well.”
marktrellis says:
Maybe she also thinks he is drop dead gorgeous and it tickles her to be next to him like this. Sooo inverted, and in plain sight, eh, people?. People are mysteries, really.
You know, chronic head injury could explain a great deal.
So it’s true – China really is taking over 🤭
They don’t exactly shout about that form either. Defamation isn’t even a reporting category that comes up when you report a post. I assume you had to search for that via one of their many help pages and that you only found said help page via a Google search (they don’t even have links to most of them on their own site).
I bet you were in your cups when you wrote that.
Here’s a video of Veale posted in October 2016:
At 7.50 in he tells two deliberate lies as described in this Daily Mail article by Guy Adams:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4979330/False-claims-police-chief-obsessed-Ted-Heath.html
i.e.:
“The video, which remains online, began with Veale saying he wanted to ‘set the record straight’ about Heath and ‘ensure that the current facts are entirely and unequivocally clear about this case’.
In particular, the £150,000-a-year police chief wanted to address two highly important matters.
‘Fact!’ he said. ‘As part of Operation Conifer we have not spoken to the witness known as Nick.’
‘Fact!’ he continued. ‘Recent media coverage… referred to satanic ritual sexual abuse. Let me be clear: this part of the investigation is only one small element of the overall inquiry and does not relate to Sir Edward Heath.’
The 51-year-old Chief Constable of Wiltshire was, in other words, using a formal PR statement to declare that two major aspects of embarrassing recent newspaper reports about Operation Conifer were entirely false.”
Wrong video, I don’t know where that one came from?
Pingback: Operation Conifer and the ‘Michelle Remembers’ connection | HOAXTEAD RESEARCH
It’s because you’ve been posting the playlist link, not the link to a specific video.
Oh that’s bizarre…
The vide is on youtube, it’s called “Open letter from Chief Constable Mike Veale – Operation Conifer” and it was posted by Wiltshire Police on 2 Dec. 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/user/WiltsPolice/videos
Thank you Tinribs. Sorry for making a mess of the comments.
Did they ever find anyone responsible for Pratersons ‘assault’?
The last I heard, he was saying that the police had dismissed the case and he was unhappy about it.
ouchies…
They don’t tend to do that often…
Crikey I haven’t seen him speak before. Not someone I’d like to run into in a dark alley.
As for the one you mistakenly linked to- what an odd affair that is. That guy is well spoken and seems intelligent but it’s all about, as far as I can figure, something to do with 5G street lights and local residents with children whose noses have been bleeding.
The local council deny the claims and the mad driving it has just been restrained in court from harassing council members.
the problem with the chap commentating is that he assumes the viewer knows all about their claims when it’s very difficult to track down what it’s all about.
Pingback: #ibelievenick a clear line in the sand. – Flo Destroyer
Norma Stephenson is an interesting person.
She is someone who has been quite open about her history of suffering from a gambling addiction the 1970s.
I have admiration for anyone who has suffered from being in the grip of an addiction and who has been able to turn their life around.
With regards to Norma Stephenson this of course raises the issue of whether she at some point received support from a counsellor, therapist, mentor, GA sponsor or some other person who cultivated in her a belief in SRA. Just wondering what could have happened to put the idea in her mind that Mike Veale was a trustworthy person.
The below article states that Stephenson got “support” for her gambling addiction but does not go into details.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/councillor-calls-more-help-gamblers-14962268
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17340230.i-lost-a-months-rent-in-one-go-councillor-speaks-out-about-gambling-addiction/
Stephenson says that she worked part time in a mental health unit when she was addicted to slot machine gambling.
It may be that she received “support” from colleagues in the MHU and that one or more of the colleges was, or went on to be, SRA believers.
Personally I think it is a real shame that someone who has done a lot of good work to raise the issue of gambling addiction, something I believe is a very serious issue in need of addressing nationally, had had her credibility damaged by her association with Veale.
I have met some really wonderful, caring, decent doctors and other professionals who believed in SRA because they had been hoodwinked by the usual suspects, many of whom appear very credible and properly qualified to those unfamiliar with the satanic panic, | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8061 |
__label__wiki | 0.893273 | 0.893273 | Prince William Feared Getting Caught On Olympic Kiss Cam With Kate Middleton
2012 Olympic GamesKate Middleton
By Sandra McIntyre On Aug 4, 2012
It’s really obvious that Prince William completely dotes on wife, Kate Middleton, but it’s not something that he really likes to have put fully on display. The couple has attended various events at the Summer Olympic Games, taking place in London, but they’ve tried to keep as low a profile as possible. William dreads the thought of them stealing any attention away from the athletes that have spent years training for the opportunity to compete there. People Magazine has more of William’s thoughts,
“I was absolutely dreading they were going to come and show myself and my wife and that would have been very embarrassing,” William says of a kiss cam at the Olympic Velodrome, where the royals watched Scottish cyclist Sir Chris Hoy win gold and set a new world record in the men’s team sprint. “That was absolutely fantastic, the world records being beaten and the atmosphere in there was electric,” William said in an interview, alongside Prince Harry, to the BBC, of the golden moment.
Both of the Princes were asked about their grandmother’s grand entrance into the Opening Ceremonies of the games,
“Both of us were slightly surprised with our grandmother’s secret hobby of parachuting,” Harry said of the moment when the Queen appeared to jump out of a helicopter above the Olympic Stadium with Bond, Daniel Craig. “We were kept completely in the dark about it, that’s how big the secret was,” William said, adding, “She did such a good performance that she’s been asked to star in the next Bond film. I’m thrilled for her.”
Do you think that it’s a nice gesture on the part of William to not want to take attention off the true stars of these games? Were you glad to catch a glimpse of Wills and Kate on the Kiss Cam? How about those honeymoon photos? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
Sandra McIntyre
I am an avid soap fan and have been for many years. Some of my favorite soaps were Another World, Texas, and Santa Barbara. I love to spend time with my children and grandchildren. In my spare time, I enjoy reading as well as writing fan fiction. General Hospital’s Sam and Jason are one of my favorite couples of all time.
Kate Middleton and Prince William Skip Christmas with Queen
Kate Middleton Pregnant With Baby Number Three: Prince George And Princess Charlotte…
Pippa Middleton Using Sister Kate Middleton’s Connections To Get On Cast Of Dancing…
Kate Middleton and Prince William Request Privacy from Media | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8063 |
__label__wiki | 0.956185 | 0.956185 | Edition: India
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__label__wiki | 0.840109 | 0.840109 | ‘Tax chief told me to drop sensitive case, said he was secure after acting against Oppn leader’
This is the key allegation in an unprecedented complaint against the nation’s top tax administrator by Alka Tyagi, who was Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Unit 2) in Mumbai when she sent her complaint to Finance Minister Sitharaman on June 21.
Written by Khushboo Narayan , Ritu Sarin | Mumbai, New Delhi | Updated: October 5, 2019 6:23:27 pm
Chairman of Central Board of Taxes Pramod Chandra Mody. (File)
Chairman of the Central Board of Taxes Pramod Chandra Mody gave a “shocking” directive to bury a “sensitive case” and claimed that he had “secured” his position at the top because of a “successful search” action against an Opposition leader.
This is the key allegation in an unprecedented complaint against the nation’s top tax administrator by Alka Tyagi, who was Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Unit 2) in Mumbai when she sent her complaint to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on June 21, less than a month after the new government was sworn in.
Tyagi’s nine-page complaint, reviewed by The Indian Express, alleges “tremendous pressure” from Mody. An almost identical complaint has been sent by her to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Central Vigilance Commission and the Cabinet Secretary, sources confirmed.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier this month, a break-in was reported by Tyagi in her office and she had submitted a written complaint about this to her senior, Principal Chief Commissioner S K Gupta.
Tyagi, an IRS officer of the 1984 batch, has alleged that an old vigilance case against her, which Mody had himself later disposed of and in which she was given an all-clear, was recalled by Mody and is being used as a “weapon of blackmail” to stall her posting.
Two months after this complaint, the government extended Mody’s tenure for a year.
And on Thursday, Tyagi herself, due for a posting as Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, was moved out to the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur as Principal Director General of Income Tax (training).
Tyagi’s complaint alleges a string of irregularities that include how the CBDT chairman “repeatedly” asked Tyagi to drop “proceedings” in a “sensitive case’’ involving “serious allegations.”
In her complaint, Tyagi alleged Mody has “admitted” to her that “a successful search supervised by him in the case of an opposition leader, firmly secured him in his position as chairman (CBDT) and (that).he could take unfettered action against some officers too”.
Tyagi alleged that in the last week of April/early May 2019, Mody informed her that the proceedings initiated against the “sensitive assesses had to be dropped” and this work should be completed before the end of May 2019. The complaint reads: “This direction was shocking but it was conveyed repeatedly, despite the difficulty I expressed to him.”
According to the complaint, Mody gave instructions that “there should be no record maintained of the fact that he was in any manner, involved in this sensitive case (which Mody asked to close) even for consultations and that it should be ensured that nothing in this file should ever show his linkage, in any manner to this case”. Tyagi has also said that the chairman put “tremendous pressure” on her “to close this file at any cost”.
She has detailed how “initial notices” in the case were filed and prior to that, “it was a herculean task to convince him (the Chairman) that once such information was received, the initiation of the action was mandatory, failing which the careers of the dealing officers would be jeopardised, probably resulting in vigilance proceedings being initiated against them. Even after this, Mr P C Mody directed that the draft of the notices would be approved by him. Here again, he failed to accord approval till the very end, despite being aware that he was jeopardising our careers”.
(Cartoon by E P Unny)
Among the assessment cases being handled by Tyagi’s office are the Deepak Kochhar-ICICI Bank case, notices sent to members of Mukesh Ambani’s family under the Black Money Act, the Jet Airways case, besides several important search cases.
In her letter to the Finance Minister, Tyagi said she had “never dreamt” of revealing such details but did so because of the “manipulative and unscrupulous” nature of the functioning of the CBDT chairman.
Tyagi has also accused Mody of “getting complaints manufactured against officers who do not succumb to his demands.”
Once, Tyagi alleged, Mody called her for a meeting at around 8.45/9 pm in his office in North Block. She has written in her complaint that she ignored the request.
“As a lady officer in the department for 34 years,” she wrote to the Finance Minister by way of explanation, “and having experienced the mala fide intentions of such odd hour one-to-one meetings, which are possible to be held at other times too.”
Tyagi has spent 11 years of her career outside the Income Tax Department – as western zone director of the Narcotics Control Bureau and Chairman and Managing Director of the state-owned Hindustan Diamond Co.
Her complaint details a pending vigilance inquiry pertaining to banking transactions linked to her family. She stated that her husband, V Raman Kumar, is a non-resident businessman and a former IRS official. In 2012, Kumar sold his Nasdaq-listed firm, Mmodal.
The vigilance matter began with a 2016 enquiry by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into “some large transactions” in banks accounts of her family members wherein she was a signatory.
According to Tyagi’s complaint, after a detailed verification, the ED did not find any forex violations and referred the case to the tax department for further enquiry. Subsequently, the then CBDT member ( investigation) conducted an “exhaustive” enquiry and found that all credits and debits handled by her were “accounted for” and that “the entire taxable income arising from these transactions had been offered for tax” by her family members. The complaint notes that since Tyagi is a government officer, the case was referred to the CBI which found no violation by her.
Subsequently, the CBI referred the case to the cadre controlling authority of CBDT to see if there was any procedural violation by Tyagi in disclosing these transactions. However, that report too did not find any deficiencies and her vigilance file was put up for closure in 2018.
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__label__wiki | 0.585837 | 0.585837 | credit: amandafroelich.com
The concept of the unity of Brahman was further examined and developed by Upanishadic seers. Brahman was both transcendental and immanent. Brahman was both physical and spiritual. Brahman was both phenomenal ( capable of being discerned through senses) and noumenal ( capable of being only intuited and not perceived by the senses). Brahman was therefore a conglomerate of the physical world and the non-physical or spiritual reality.
The Upanishads however make a distinction between the two, calling the physical as the lower aspect of Brahman and the spiritual the higher aspect. While the physical could be discerned through the senses, the noumenal was beyond descriptions or characteristics and the only attempt at defining it had produced the aphorism Neti, Neti or ”not this not that”.
Thus in the Maitri Upanishad it is stated:
” There are assuredly two forms of Brahman: Time and the Timeless. that which is prior to the Sun is the Timeless, without parts. But that which begins with the Sun is Time, which has parts.”
The two forms of Brahman envisaged were the formed and the unformed, the mortal and the immortal, the stationary and the moving, the actual and the Real.
The logic of Upanishadic Monism however encountered a serious problem in explaining the diversity of the manifold universe. How was this abundant diversity to be reconciled with the unshakable and uncompromising faith in an absolute unity, which was the fundamental characteristic of Brahman? Furthermore the idea of two aspects of Brahman also inclined towards a Dualism.
Thus as a corrective evolved the doctrine of Illusion or Maya, which then became a permanent feature of all Hindu thinking to the present times. The so called lower aspect of Brahman, the physical universe was declared to be a mirage, an illusion because the Upanishads had always held that ” there is only one Brahman, without a second.” The thought was then developed that Reality was indeed One and the diversity was an appearance arising from the ‘ignorance’ of the perceiver. Thus it is finally pronounced in the Maitri Upanishad:
”There are, assuredly, two aspects of Brahman; the formed and the formless. Now that which is the formed is unreal; that which is the formless is Real.”
Again in the Svetashvatar Upanishad the first word on the Maya doctrine is pronounced:
” This whole world, the illusion-maker projects….and in it by illusion the other is confined,
Now one should know that Nature is illusion and the Mighty Lord is the illusion-maker”
We then find that Brahman on the one hand, in its lower aspect becomes an illusion and in its higher aspect as unknowable ( Neti, Neti) The path to an appreciation of the concept of Brahman through realism had thus arrived at a frustrating impasse for seekers. those who had wished to immerse themselves in contemplating Brahman were left dissatisfied and confused in advancing any further on their metaphysical quest.
How the Upanishadic sages overcame this outcome and how the concept of Atman came to the rescue, putting the train back on the track, we shall study in the next post. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8073 |
__label__cc | 0.749719 | 0.250281 | Archives for posts with tag: occult
Lunar Node KETU
Credit: artoflegendindia.com
Ketu is the lower severed half of the demon who sought immortality ( see previous post on Rahu). In astrological terms he is the southern Lunar Node, or the descending Node. While he is sometimes portrayed with a serpent’s head generally in keeping with myth and legend he is shown as headless with a serpent or fish-dragon body. The portrayal in ancient European texts also depicts the northern Node as having a serpent’s head. If uninfluenced by other planets he displays the qualities of Mars for the horoscope.
Like Rahu it too is inherently a malefic, yet it is paradoxically a significator of liberation, which can have multiple implications. It can signify liberation, through death, the liberation of ‘Moksha’, the enlightened stage reaches by the soul force, after which it does not need to reincarnate. Thus it is the antithesis of Rahu, which impelled the soul force to incarnate and materialize. It signifies the return of the soul force into the spiritual world. Thus it is an indicator of spiritual development and the desire for spiritual evolution. Likewise it is also the significator of the occult, magic and witchcraft, the non material realms of reality. Ketu is also the repository of ones Karma – a force for transformation which gets magnified during eclipses – then Ketu impels the transformation of the ego, creating awareness of the conscious Self within. While in India most traditionalists dread the eclipse as a harbinger of evil, the more erudite look upon it as an opportunity and astrologers and Pundits devise special occult ritual prayers for the spiritual evolution of their clients to be performed during an eclipse. Certain Brahmanical orders trace their lineage to Ketu.
Credit: rudraksha-ratna.com
If Rahu is the factor for separation ( see previous post), Ketu represents obstruction and impediments. At the psychological level he may induce manic depression, pessimism, addictions and violence. Sudden death from accidents are also attributed to Ketu effects. Other effects include sexual perversion. Yet when beneficial for a chart it enhances the spiritual and mystical potential of the subject to the extent of conferring extra-sensory perception ( ESP) and even supernatural abilities. It confers special powers of spiritual healing through Tantrik practices.However the manner in which it is likely to create spiritual awareness and detachment is through material adversity, sorrow, pain and loss. Ketu governs magicians, astrologers and the medical profession.
Ketu is also associated with being bitten by snakes, reptiles and dogs, in life threatening circumstances. In my first post on Stellar India I referred to the popular practice to have ear lobes of infants of both sexed pierced ( and adorned with ear rings) to ward off such Ketu effects. The piercing replicates the snake bite and therefore fulfills the astrological prophecy in advance, like a prophylactic. Prayers and incantations to Ketu are believed to cure those who have become poisoned by snake bites or otherwise. A favourable Ketu indicates luxury, wisdom and intuition. there are several temples in India dedicated to Ketu.
Ketu is exalted in Sagittarius and Scorpio and debilitated in Gemini and Taurus. It is friendly to Mercury, Venus, Saturn and Rahu, neutral to Jupiter and inimical to the Sun, Moon and Mars. Its gemstone is the Cat’s Eye and metal, Mica. His steed is the vulture.
Tags Astrology, Ketu, legend, Lunar Node, occult, spirituality
Categories astrology and legend, astrology and spirituality, deification of planets, Jyotish, Ketu, metaphysics, Southern Lunar node, spirituality | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8074 |
__label__cc | 0.746563 | 0.253437 | Top Reasons Why Enterprise Apps Fail and How To Avoid It
By Jassica Dean
Jassica Dean
Universal Stream Solution LLC
Why are enterprise apps failing? That’s a question many would like to know the answer to, but before we get there, we need to take a look at what enterprise apps are. Mobile apps, in general, are blanketing more and more ground on the tech market, with a huge portion of the success found by smart gadgets being attributed to these little pieces of software, we are looking at a global transition from enterprise marketing towards apps. That is by no means wrong, and in fact is the correct decision for any thriving organization that wants to see the business grow.
It has been established for quite some time now that mobile apps are becoming the new standard in marketing and also one of the most efficient ways to reach a large number of potential customers across several generations. The problem lies not with the concept, but with the execution of the entire project. In this article, we will explore the top mistakes and methodology errors that lead up to enterprise apps failing to meet their goals, in hopes of seeing more competent solutions for this kind of business extension.
Not adapting to the mobile flow
There’s a huge difference between a mobile app and a website, and enterprises which are accustomed to the latter tend to implement the same kind of user experience into their new mobile apps. As you might have guessed by now, that’s a recipe for disaster. The philosophy behind mobile apps can be quite extensive, but it can also be very simple if you view it this way: Users want their mobile apps to be fast. This means opening the app and being immediately provided with a solution for what they want to achieve. The situational login screen is accepted in the mix. A lot of enterprise apps do not adopt this method of presenting content to their users and end up dragging them through a lot of screens and data that are pointless to them. This slows down the fast-paced, easy to use concept behind apps and lead enterprise apps to utter failure.
The API vulnerability
API access is something frequently encountered in the app world, but when you’re talking business this might be a problem. Enterprise mobile app developers must constantly fins solutions that facilitate API access and permission distribution without putting security at risk. This task is pretty complicated and a bad execution can lead up to, you guessed it, utter failure.
Rotten from the start
As a business that has no priors in the app world, most enterprises recruit developers or developer teams to make the app for them. This has a very high chance to end badly due to the inexperience of the hiring party, and the choosing of an unfit developer squad. In an employer- developer relationship, the latter must constantly communicate and adapt the app according to the former’s input. This must be the case for the entire app development process. Some enterprises end up with developers that don’t keep them in the loop, therefore the end product is something that does not only reflect the company’s view but at times isn’t even useful to the organization.
Not keeping up with app progress
Making an app can be considered the easy part. The difficult one is what comes next when you have to track the progress of said app and ensure that user feedback is implemented in the form of competent updates. Updates must be constant and reflect the wishes of your user base in a healthy manner. A lot of enterprise apps are abandoned as soon as users exit them for the first time. This leaves businesses with a hole in their budget and an app no one uses. Adapting to user behavior is crucial for an app’s success, and since a lot of enterprise apps neglect this element, they end up in (wait for it) utter failure.
Task incorporation and the feeling of incomplete
Depending on how big a business is, the number of tasks and applications that it offers may differ. On an enterprise level, you can expect a large number of business applications to be provided. Enterprise App development is very expensive and usually takes a lot of time to finish. It’s safe to say that if you’re planning on getting an enterprise app going, you are looking at months of development and thousands of dollars (potentially hundreds of thousands) in costs. That’s not something many would be happy about, especially if the end product feels incomplete, since incorporating all of the applications found at an enterprise level into one single app is a hard endeavor. The final app might be considered lacking although you know just how many resources were thrown into the project.
That being said, it is obvious that coming up with a great enterprise app is no easy task and developers embarking on this journey have their work cut out for them. The differences between a successful app and one that fails are many as showcased, so if you’re looking to get started on your own enterprise app, you now have a guideline for what to avoid.
Jassica is an Editor of at AppStory and USS LLC For the last seven years, she has been contributing for several leading online publications, including AppStory - Sharing app story platform, Dataflow, Dzone, B2C etc. At the workplace, she is admired for her team management skill. She leads a team of 20-something creative writers and designers.
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Are You Ready for Complex Event Processing? | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8080 |
__label__cc | 0.670116 | 0.329884 | Posts Tagged ‘John Kennedy Oswald’
Jani Lane,47,Former Lead Singer For Warrant,Found Dead In A Nice, But Low Budget California Motel… Near Empty Bottle Of Vodka And Prescription Drugs Found At The Scene
Jani Lane,the 47-year-old lead singer of 1980s glam rock hair band Warrant,was found dead Thursday evening in Woodland Hills.Lane’s body was found at the Comfort Inn at the 20100 block of Ventura Boulevard,in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California.(HuffPo) (JaniLane.net,the official site for Jani Lane fans) A police spokesman had no immediate information on […]
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__label__cc | 0.711006 | 0.288994 | jerseycityfyi
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Welcome to Jersey City FYI
MAYOR STEVEN FULOP JOINS HARTZ MOUNTAIN & PANEPINTO PROPERTIES TO CELEBRATE THE GRAND OPENING OF 3 JOURNAL SQUARE APARTMENTS IN JERSEY CITY
Principals from development partners Hartz Mountain Industries and Panepinto Properties recently joined Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop (center) and other municipal, county and state dignitaries for the official grand opening of 3 Journal Square. The new 13-story rental building located just steps from the Journal Square Transportation Center debuted with an impressive 160 of the 240 apartments already leased.
New 13-Story Residential Building Officially Opens with 160 of the 240 Units Already Leased in The Historic Journal Square Neighborhood
With the cut of a ceremonial ribbon, 3 Journal Square Apartments officially opened today in Jersey City, a milestone moment touted by City officials and business leaders as the latest sign of the remarkable renaissance underway in the historic Journal Square neighborhood.
The new 13-story building located just steps from the Journal Square Transportation Center opens with an impressive 160 of the 240 apartments already leased since pre-leasing started in late March, according to joint-venture partners Hartz Mountain Industries and Panepinto Properties, two prominent development companies that have helped shape the Jersey City landscape with signature residential and commercial projects. More than 40% of the building is occupied, with additional move-ins scheduled. Immediate occupancy is available.
The Grand Opening ceremony also marked the completion of 3 Journal Square’s onsite leasing center and magnificent lobby, as well as a full floor of social and recreational amenities unrivaled in the local marketplace.
“Thank you to Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, Panepinto Properties and Hartz Mountain Industries for being big believers in Jersey City early in the process,” remarked Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. “Today, you see massive change and what we’re most proud of is what’s happening in Journal Square. Four years ago, we started to talk about ways to incentivize development away from the waterfront. It was really our primary objective to bridge the gap between communities. When you look forward just a few years from now, Journal Square will once again become the center of Jersey City. This is another step in that direction.”
Designed by Hoboken, N.J.-based Marchetto Higgins Stieve, the LEED Silver-designed building’s grey and black exterior was created to add a stylish and modern landmark to the Journal Square streetscape.
“With 3 Journal Square, we’ve introduced a new luxury residential option to a neighborhood that is rich in history and culture, and clearly on the move,” said Gus Milano, President and COO of Hartz Mountain Industries. “There’s an atmosphere here that appeals to a cross section of people, and we’ve enhanced that with a building that promotes a modern living experience.”
“We are very excited about this project and its ability to serve residents looking for quality and value,” added Joseph A. Panepinto, President and CEO of Panepinto Properties. “Journal Square, which has been the historic heart of Jersey City, is experiencing explosive growth. Strategically and easily accessible by rail, highway and bus transportation, from points north and southwest of the city, and only minutes from New York City, make this property attractive to New York and New Jersey commuters alike.”
3 Journal Square features a collection of studio, one, two- and three-bedroom residences spread throughout 12 floors plus a Penthouse level, with Grand Opening prices starting in the $1,900s for a limited time. The apartments boast open layouts ranging from 496 to 1,260 square-feet of space with expansive closets. Found throughout the floor plans are designer finishes, including chestnut wood vinyl flooring, kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel Energy Star appliances, quartz bathroom countertops and full washer/dryer. Select apartments offer magnificent New York City views.
Enhancing 3 Journal Square residents’ lives is a full suite of indoor and outdoor amenities that clearly sets the building apart. Residents have access to a 24-hour concierge and maintenance, a state-of-the-art health and fitness center, yoga studio with virtual fitness classes, resident lounge with fireplace and billiards, party room, and a wired conference room. For outdoor socializing, there is a rooftop for renters to enjoy lounge areas, a communal table, a fire pit and panoramic skyline views: while an outdoor playground will entertain kids and a dog run will appeal to the building’s canines.
Among the modern décor at 3 Journal Square, local artists from Jersey City as well as Hoboken and Brooklyn adorn the public amenity spaces and resident corridors with a contemporary art collection. These 37 works of art consist of large-scale paintings and archival digital pigment prints curated by Stefania Panepinto of Panepinto Fine Art to enhance the residents experience by “living with art” by local artists.
Located at 2935 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, 3 Journal Square is ideally located next to shops, dining and the PATH with service to Manhattan. Its energy-infused lifestyle offering adds another spark to Jersey City’s resurgent urban epicenter, which is attracting modern lifestyle offerings that embrace the fabric of the neighborhood while drawing new residents to the emerging residential destination.
For more information on 3 Journal Square and to schedule an appointment to tour the building’s fully-furnished studio and one-bedroom model apartments, please call 201-617-5818 or visit www.threejournalsquare.com. The leasing office is open Monday from 10am to 6pm, Tuesday thru Thursday from 10am to 8pm, Friday from10am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. The building is located at 2935 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ and offers complimentary free parking for leasing tours.
Posted in: General, Real Estate, Uncategorized | Tagged: 3 journal square, hartz mountain industries, Jersey City, journal square PATH, mayor steven fulop, real estate
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__label__cc | 0.547688 | 0.452312 | Embryo Adoption: This Is Really a Thing That Is Happening
Erin Gloria Ryan
Filed to:personhood
Who knew that "Every Sperm is Sacred" would be an anthem of the now-inevitable nadir of the abortion debate? Case in point: Evangelical couples doing their part to save babies by adopting... other couples' frozen embryos. And then unfreezing the embryos, implanting them in evangelical wombs, giving birth to them, and parading their miracle popsicle babies around as examples of how they'd been fully human this whole time.
If you follow the logic of the personhood movement, adopting frozen embryos not only makes sense, it's a moral imperative. Because life begins at conception and couples who are using In Vitro Fertilization to conceive often create extra embryos that they freeze for possible future use, by the power of Greyskull, there are therefore hundreds of thousands of actual babies frozen in warehouses across the country. Babies that need adopting. From the Huffington Post,
During a decade-long stretch of federal funding to promote embryo adoption, evangelical organizations received most of the $21 million doled out. That funding was cut in July, but leaders at those organizations say the word is spreading about embryo adoption.
"These families are happy, and they tend to write blogs and Facebook," said Reg Finger, a doctor affiliated with the National Embryo Donation Center, which relied on federal grants.
I can only hope that similar word is spreading about the more than 400,000 already-born children with eyes and arms and smiles and memories and feelings who are currently in foster care!
Another weird thing that happened during the George W. Bush administration (which, in retrospect, feels like a thing America can't believe it did one time it was drunk, uh, for 8 years) — a summit at the White House for children who had been born as a result of embryo adoption. President Bush called them "snowflakes" and chastised an America that views extra fertilized embryos as "spare parts."
Despite the fact that funding to the program was cut due to a lack of interest, Reg Finger believes that embryo adoption's time has come. Early Christians were super into helping the poor and downtrodden, and so it only makes sense that in the 21st century, megachurchgoers would focus on helping the embryos. Christians caring about actual poor people? So first century.
[HuffPo]
Image by Jim Cooke, source photo via Vlue/Shutterstock | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8086 |
__label__cc | 0.636028 | 0.363972 | JODY WHITESIDES
All posts tagged with: Grammys
February 25, 2019 In Random Explorations Tagged as Grammys hostless oscars By Jody Whitesides
Hostless Oscars Hostless Grammys
The Hostless Oscars
A paradigm shift happened in award shows last night, the hostless Oscars. Normally, I’m not fully interested in watching the Oscars. I find them stodgy and usually boring. Often it’s a lot easier to watch the highlights of the interesting things that happen. As per Anne Hathaway, the worst Oscars ever happened last year – and I didn’t watch.
Last night I watched the Oscars as I wanted to experience the idea of an awards show that didn’t have a host. What I got was an efficient show that felt like it had a decent flow. What a refreshing change of pace. Not having to watch a carnival barker doing a song and dance in-between each award was fantastic.
The awesome side effect is that each award became about the award itself and not about the lame ass stuff the host does trying to keep people interested in the show. I was more riveted, I was more interested to know about the people nominated and the winner of the award itself. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be about?
The other great side effect of the Oscars last night was an earlier finish that didn’t feel forced or exhausting. There were a few moments where I was disappointed in producers cutting people short in their acceptance speech. Though, let’s be honest here, when people start thanking tons of people who very few people are privy to know – it’s boring and rambling at it’s very worst.
After the show I sent out a tweet stating that was a perfect showing as to how to run an awards show and that the Grammys should take note and do the same thing next year.
Hostless Grammys
The Grammys would do well to note that the Oscars going sans host was a win. I know that lots of media outlets thought Alicia Keys did a spectacular job hosting the Grammys. Personally, I didn’t agree. I felt that lots of her comments and constant statements were forced and not genuine. That’s coming from a musician that is a fan of Alicia.
It was as if the Grammys were trying way to hard to oversteer the boat. I had female friends texting me during the Grammys mentioning the same thing – that the Grammys were trying too hard to push some agenda that felt forced and fake.
The bigger news of this years Grammys were the artists that turned down performing on the Grammys. The biggest of them all, Ariana Grande, even called the Grammys out after the producer sent out a fake statement as to why she wouldn’t be performing. Mashups of various artists who probably wouldn’t otherwise work together were on the chopping block. As they should be. That’s part of the whole feeling forced vibe.
Personally, the Grammys would be well served to limit performances to the 5 songs nominated for Record of the Year. Get rid of Album of the Year – the new industry isn’t about selling Albums, it’s about streaming, time to fuckin embrace that shit. This way, we, the consumers (and yes, I consider myself an ardent music consumer despite also making music on a professional level), won’t get terribly bored by lackluster performances by artists that are too weak to deny the Grammys making them look like grind organ monkeys.
Sprinkle those performances throughout the awards show, like the Oscars did. That way there isn’t a constant barrage of some pointless host trying to make points that fall of deaf ears. Nor would there be performances that make no sense.
Cracks in the wall of the old method of awards presentation at the Grammys blew wide open. The Oscars cemented the foundation of how to move forward. As a member of the academy, I’m hopeful that we can make a change that show the Grammys could become more relevant going forward. Where people can see more of the actual awards, as a vast majority of the Grammys are done prior to telecast – in an effort to have more “song and dance” that many find more boring than the awards we don’t get to see.
Will the Grammys make the change? We can only hope they’ll take note of how well the hostess Oscars came across.
June 3, 2013 In Fit To Print Tagged as digital downloads Grammys liner notes By Jody Whitesides
Adding Liner Notes
Moving forward with the digital age a vital part of the recording process got lost along the way. The part was the whole thing with who did what. Sadly it’s likely the easiest thing to add and it got left behind. There is now a strong push by NARAS a.k.a. Grammys to bring this into the future. Yes, adding liner notes is getting a nice lift to go digital.
I took some time yesterday to go through all my music and lyric pages to update them with some simple liner note information. Thus now you can learn who wrote what, who played what, who mixed what, and who mastered what on all my released recordings.
Beyond the simple liner notes I added a couple of extra bits of information for fun. The extra bits are also to answer some of the questions I’ve been asked about particular songs.
As the actual standard for liner note information gets finalized, I’ll likely add additional bits of information to keep it current. Right now there is no standard, thus it’s what I currently imagine it to be.
For future recordings my liner notes will get much more detailed. Detailed to the point of geekdom. Which means I will include things like what guitar I used. What kind of strings, pickups, etc. Same with vocal mics, DAW, drums, bass, synths, etc. Essentially I may include the whole darn shebang into the liner notes. Plus I’ll add thank you’s and other acknowledgements. Much like you would see on printed materials that used to accompany Vinyl and CDs. Of course they’ll likely get split between liner notes that are specific to a song, and those that are general to the release. Details, details, details. All to satisfy the ubër fan and of course myself. I love to read about the who, the what, the where and the when of recordings.
Head on over to the music pages and delve a little further if you dare!
– Jody
Kickoff 2020
Billie Eilish Didn’t Know Who Van Halen Is
Little Step Back Big Leap Forward
Try It One More Time
Creative Time Cut
© 2020 Too Much Music
There's more to life than just traffic jams | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8092 |
__label__cc | 0.718025 | 0.281975 | Or someone like him
February 1, 2016 February 2, 2016 ~ joncarrollprose
I am waiting for the cable guy.
I spit into a tube and mailed it off. It’s an odd feeling. I have given samples of every kind of fluid that my body excretes; what’s one more frisson of discomfort in a surpassingly strange world? Still, it feels like a peculiar moment in the evolving history of everything.
Maybe you’ve done this already. The tube of spit goes to the 23 and Me headquarters in Mountain View. Trained humans test it and tell you the results, including your genetic heritage and any dread diseases you may be carrying. I didn’t care about the diseases; few of them kick in after 70, and I do not believe that I will be participating in the creation of any more children.
It could have been relevant to my grandchildren, but, as it turns out, it wasn’t. No difficult talks with my daughter along the lines “you know that cough that seems to be getting worse? Maybe you should have her checked for William-James Syndrome.”
But I was curious about my heritage. My mother was adopted, so there’s a whole side to my family I know nothing about.
My father was very Irish so that side of the family is accounted for.
But what about the other 50 per cent? I was hoping for Cherokee blood.
The results came back. I am 99.9 per cent Northern European. I am the whitest person you know. I plan to speak on behalf of the white race from now on. Our first demand: Better sunscreen.
You can subscribe now! In answer to overwhelming public demand, I have put a little widget up to your right — if you’re viewing this on a computer ; or down there all the way at the bottom there — if you’re viewing it on your phone. Use said widget, and I land in your mailbox automatically. Wow.
So please subscribe. Tell everyone in your friendship circle to subscribe. Get 500 people, and you’ll receive a free airline ticket to anywhere Southwest flies. Get 1000, and I’ll come with you, to Phoenix or wherever. I can stay with your Mom in Billy’s room.
The cable guy is still not here. The “window” was supposed to be 12-2, but that window has been shut and the blinds drawn and the residents asleep long e’er now. It’s OK, I’ll watch this again.
Fearless photojournalist lies in mud, seeks corrupt birds
My personal hero this week is Kathy Kiely, a respected political reporter who became the Washington news director of Bloomberg News. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire ex-mayor of New York, is, unsurprisingly, the owner of Bloomberg News.
Last week, Bloomberg kinda sorta said that he might run as a third party candidate in the 2016 presidential election. Kiely thought that was news and reported on it. Bloomberg News, which had been reluctant to write about its owner from the beginning, spiked the story. She couldn’t cover it.
So she quit. If she couldn’t do her job the right way, she wouldn’t do it at all. She said: “The organization does have to come to terms as to how to cover its owner as a newsmaker.”
Yes it does. The billionaire pushback on facts must be stopped somehow. It should start with the media asking itself about all the free publicity it’s given to Donald Trump, a person who sucks up fact-free publicity like a vacuum cleaner. The media has fed the beast; without television, Donald Trump is just another short-fingered vulgarian.
So hooray for Kathy Kiely. May her next boss be a billionaire who is not kinda sorta running for president.
Many thumbs have been sucked recently about the relationship between football and our apparent national tendency to make war while lecturing other nations about peace. Maybe we are trained to be centurions at birth.
Maybe we don’t even care about the head trauma thing. That’s the way it seems. There are parents out there who would let their kids play football but would not let them walk to school.
I do want to slow the pontificating down a little bit. Here’s the thing: A whole lot of the popularity of football, particularly professional football, is related to gambling. Not team spirit, not regional pride, not even breathtaking catches or spectacular runs.
An exciting last-second score is only relevant if it messes with the spread. That guy you see weeping at the end of the bar? He’s not unhappy because the home team lost; he’s unhappy because Matt Hasselbeck threw a touchdown pass in the final seconds that blew up his Tampa Bay wager. And he’s lost $1200 and he’s thinking of going double-or-nothing on the Monday night tussle.
That’s America’s game, baby.
I am a “preferred” customer, which means “a consumer too lazy to shop around for another cable plan.” So they answer quickly and they are very sorry. So sorry. I am sorry too. We are bonding over how sorry we are. The cable guy is on his way. He was temporarily delayed by the rising waters, the civil unrest, the tainted burrito, the man on the ledge, the comet over Pittsburgh.
This is probably not the cable guy
So let us finally decide: Who is the eviler, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz? Cruz wants to take over the government and turn it into a theocratic fascist state, sort of like Iran only with more cowboys. He’s also a yawning maw of ambition prepared to bomb a convenient Arab nation just to control the news cycle.
Trump just wants to be president. He likes the prime White House real estate, the press following him everywhere, the photo ops with colorful despots and famous pandas. He doesn’t want to bomb anyone; he just wants to look dynamic while threatening to bomb someone.
So clearly, Cruz must be destroyed. He must be buried in offal and carried off to Greenland. His flaming funeral pyre must be floated out to sea off Galveston. His name shall be anathema to all the peoples of the world.
On the other hand, Trump has as lot better chance of beating Hillary or whomever. Anyway, it’s Iowa. Those people are cray-cray.
Oh my. There has come as tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. Is it he? Has he come to put me out of my non-HBO misery? Hold on. I shall soon have news of my deliverance.
Nope. Neighbor, extra lemons, reminder about alternate side of the street parking. I despair.
Photography by Tracy Johnston
Widget wrangling by Michelle Mizera
Posted in Family Stuff, Humor, Politics
< Previous The writing on the wall
Next > Getting to the Point
26 thoughts on “Or someone like him”
Nancy Friedman says:
In re saliva analysis, I suddenly remembered “Taking the Jar for a Ride in the Car.” And lo, it lives! http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/carroll/article/JON-CARROLL-3325205.php
Kerry Gough says:
I was hoping the results would show that you are a bit Cherokee. Then we might be related. However, I learned long ago, to great disappointment, that my 32% Cherokee blood does not qualify me for any fiscal benefit. On the other hand the physical benefits are helpful. Always tan, do not sunburn, and love nature.
Dianne Boate says:
My father had an expression when he really liked something,”That’s the Old Pepper!” Very appropriate for your new post. I always felt that you are one of the few people in print telling the truth. I always regarded your column as “dessert” and deliberately read everything else first, saving you for last.
My own mother never met her father. “The family sent him away,” was the line. Grandmother then married Garber Dahle, of the Garberville founding family. Often wonder if people seen here and there might be some of my relatives.
Garry Bryan says:
When life gives you lemons, throw them at Life, they sting. . .
Barbara Allcox says:
Jon Carroll–uncensored. So glad to get your delicious writings again.
Judy Rascoe says:
Your mother was adorable. “Cute as a button” as many people, including your father, must have said.
Paul Belserene says:
this is the best colu– blog post e.vur.
Geoff Geiger says:
I recently saw a show about people’s heritage that was moderated by Louis Gates and came out several years ago. The episode included a genetic test of the writer Stephen King, who also came out 99.9 percent white. So you are at least tied for the “whitest guy on the planet.” I have missed your column in the Chron, but am enjoying reading you on your new venue. I especially like the way you combine words and images in this piece. Plus it’s nice to have the hot link to words such as “anathema”. I look forward to other such opportunities to painlessly expand my vocabulary. The punchy prose style also suits this medium very nicely, and your very particular humor works well in any format. Thanks for keepin’ on!
Evan Hodgens says:
I am as white as you are. But not more white. Could anyone be more than 99.9% white? It may not be possible.
Jack Mingo says:
Not even Ivory Soap. And also it floats.
joncarrollprose says:
As do I.
Oz Childs says:
Evan, Oz and Jon. White to the core. But I think for people like me whose ancestors have been in the USA since before there was a USA, it is always a little surprising there was no Native-American blood. One major reason why there were so few Native Americans in New England in 1800 was that they had intermarried with other poor people, most of whom were White.
As for football, I think you’d need to have some statistics to prove that betting was all that important. Most of just like seeing big games on TV. More so if a team we support is in it. But I know I’m rooting for Carolina because of Cam Newton, and I’m rooting for Cam because he was such an amazing player in college. Even if he is a jerk, and has no business playing the race card because, after all, he was heavily supported by people of all races when he was in college. I suppose as an old fart I should root for Manning and his team, but I’m not.
ruth barkan says:
I just had the opposite experience. I was adopted, always knew my mother was Jewish. That was all I knew other than the fact she had wanted to keep me, so I spent the first 3 1/2 months of my life in a foster home. I finally decided to get tested, just so I could know something. The results came back, and I immediately assumed that there was a mixup–I am 12%, (great grandparent), African. Then I looked at the rest, yup, 44% European Jewish. Funniest part was that on the day we buried my adoptive mother–September 1, 1979, my aunt took me aside to let me know there was some deep, dark secret that my mother had come close to telling her, but had always pulled back at the last minute. The day I got my results–September 1, 2015. 36 years later, to the day, I find the answer!
I am thrilled to finally know this about myself, to finally be able to own my own history, at least partly. And, it answers so many many questions about my life.
Why, thank you so much.
hrheingold says:
On a visit to my cousins in New York last year, one of them took me into another room and very solemnly told me that they had recently had their DNA checked. I was bracing for news about an incurable genetic disease, but she told me that someone had reached out because the results were in a database — a person who had been conceived through artificial insemination had informed my (female) cousins that he was related. There are only three males of anywhere the right age in that branch of the family. One of my male cousins is way too straight-laced, so we ruled him out. And I did live in Long Island the year the related person was conceived and that was where he was born. I told my cousin that I am pretty sure that if I had contributed to a sperm bank, even that long ago, I would remember it. Which leaves the other cousin, who we have not been in touch with. It was a weird family moment, though.
but if the other cousin has an alibi…say, how good id your memory?
tracyhere says:
OH NO! Now I have to read your links. I finally checked them out and discovered they are full of
fun and suprises. I particularly like the Irish, Cherokee, Galveston and Vacuum Cleaner links, none of which were predictable.
Listen to that woman. She’s really smart.
Purefog says:
Cruz is the eviller, hands-down. Although I am not on the “Cruz is an evil genius” bandwagon, he is sufficiently smart to be more worrisome than Trump would be. I think your plan for him is a good one (that is, at least, unless the NSA is reading these comments). I’ll just leave this here: https://media.giphy.com/media/l2JI9hJjzH1VjJxS0/giphy.gif
Alltherage says:
Bravo! Rolling in the aisles once again.
Susan Sandler says:
I would love to subscribe but what does the widget look like? Susan Sandler
On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:10 AM, Jon Carroll Prose wrote:
> joncarrollprose posted: “I am waiting for the cable guy. > —————————— I spit into a tube and mailed it off. It’s > an odd feeling. I have given samples of every kind of fluid that my body > excretes; what’s one more frisson of discomfort in a surpassingly strange > w” >
The widget is at the top left of the page; easy to find. Are you using a phone? Then it’s all the way at the bottom.
Jeff Sherwood says:
Love your brain….
modspeed says:
“Waiting for the cable guy… or someone like him:” a takeoff on Firesign Theater’s “Waiting for the electrician?” If so, surprised no one else picked up on the reference. I raised our kids on Firesign Theater and they are permanently warped.
Yes indeed, and many people may have gotten it. One never knows.
Sandra Schlechter says:
Love love love the blog, JC!!!
THANK YOU for tapping away at the ol’ typewriting device.
High Desert Gothic I: Artifacts
My own private howl
Nancy Fox on What happened?
Barbara Cressman on What happened?
Ken on My own private howl
Katherine Rose on What happened?
madeline moore on What happened?
Family Stuff
Strange Unclassified Things | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8108 |
__label__cc | 0.648001 | 0.351999 | Judith Hannah Weiss
Notes from a Former Ghost in The Rumpus (April 2018)
“I started keeping a journal ten minutes ago. It’s 800,000 words long and it’s on 2,043 scraps of paper, 7 shopping bags, 4 paper plates, 1 paper cup, 3 placemats, 12 receipts, and 2 popsicle sticks.”
Confetti in Fewer Than 500 (January 2020)
“My brain broke on a Tuesday.”
Helen Keller at Christmas in Midcentury Modern (December 2017)
“Helen wrote, ‘The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.'”
How to Make Your Eggs Behave in Midcentury Modern (June 2018)
“I worked two jobs and took college courses when I could get through tear gas and mace.”
Dissecting an Ad for Urns in Midcentury Modern (October 2017)
“Faults ‘accumulate stress’ over time. Scientists are studying ‘fault structure’ and damage future quakes could do. People can fracture and rupture, too, and rarely deal well with faults.”
Not Ready for My Close-Up Due to Post-Its on My Neck in Midcentury Modern (February 2018)
“Today seems like a good day to answer questions no one asks. So here they are, a few (imagined) questions and a few answers, too.”
Unreality Show(s) in Midcentury Modern (March 2018)
“When I was young, we didn’t have real people. I mean we didn’t have real people who became brands like Oprah and Martha. We didn’t have Dr. Phil or Judge Judy or Dr. Oz. We had Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker, who never existed, and did not have reality shows.”
Female Relic Intersecting Life and Time in Midcentury Modern (December 2017)
“I’m an antique. I started working at Time in 1972. I was a token Jew, a token hippie, and a token female ‘professional’ among troops of typists and preppy male executives.”
Leaving Time in the University of Virginia’s Hospital Drive (Finalist in “Leaving” Contest) (Fall 2018)
“I’m not an expert on brain injury. I am a person who has one.”
Losing My Mind and Getting a New One in Literal Latté (Winner of a Literal Latté Essay Award)
“Every day, we scour a few million sources to shrink subjects of staggering genius into crisp, condensed bits by subtracting the genius stuff.”
Losing a Person in Challenge Into Change: 2015 Writing Contest (2015)
“I wake to a world of wings. A twig, a bud, a branch, a song. This
world is theirs, this endless sky, this fledgling learning how to fly.”
Additional Honors
A Fragrance – Winner in Creative Nonfiction’s Tiny Truths Contest (2019)
Brain Drain – Finalist in the 45th New Millennium Writing Awards (2018)
Away With Words – Finalist in New Rivers Press’ Many Voices Project Competition (2018)
Losing My Mind and Getting a New One – Finalist in the Cutthroat Journal‘s Barry Lopez Nonfiction Contest (2018)
Losing My Mind and Getting a New One – Honorable Mention in the 44th New Millennium Writing Awards (2017)
Copyright 2017 Judith Hannah Weiss | All rights reserved | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8112 |
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__label__cc | 0.636974 | 0.363026 | « Some People Call it "Strong Willed" or "Stubborn" : What do YOU call it? | Main | Literary Grannies Speak: Quotes from the Women Who Lived & Wrote Before Us »
Our Literary Grannies from A to Z: G is for Gail Hamilton
Are you ready to meet a literary Granny who not only wrote circles around most of the writers in her day, but she also wrote circles around an overly pious clergyman who was chopping women down with words? She did what she could to show him the writing royalty was queen not king.
Gail Hamilton (1833 – 1896) was born with a different name: Mary Abigail Dodge
She actually chose her pen name based on the farm town where she was born, Hamilton, Massachusetts. She was sent to boarding school away from Hamilton but was recognized for her intelligence and “moved up” to Ipswich Female Seminary. She started adulthood as a teacher right after she graduated.
She taught at the seminary for four years after graduation but she tired of the long, dull, underpaying hours of school teacher. She supplemented her salary with writing essays and short stories and began to attract attention as a writer. She chose to become a writing-governess employed by abolitionist publisher Dr. Gamaliel Bailey in the heart of Washington, DC. As usual, she used her intelligence to leverage her situation to the greatest good. She published articles and poetry to abolitionist and political magazines as well as standard periodicals like “Atlantic Monthly” and “Country Living and Country Thinking.”
Her viewpoint was forever feminine. As she grew in her success, she evolved her subjects from practical tips and doing the ever popular for the day sermonizing on every day topics to self reliance and respect all the while utilizing her sharp wit and quick mind to her literary advantage. She had another connection with another Literary Granny, Lucy Larcom after returning to Massachusetts to help her family through a difficult time. Together, Lucy and Gail edited the magazine Our Young Folks. (There is a link to Lucy Larcom’s profile from 2012 below).
Gail spent most of her life trying to improve the status of women through her writing. It surprised me to find that she while she wasn’t completely against suffrage, she felt there were other ways for women to rise to the increased station in life all women deserved. She, at times, believed in more than equality between men and women in other ways. This reminds me a bit of the debate over Zora Neale Hurston (Literary Granny from last year) not believing de-segregation was necessary. As a writer from the Harlem Renaissance, the assumption was she would champion the cause for equal education for all. She felt, however, that integrating schools was an insult to her African American teachers.
We must consider not just the facts as we see them, but the facts as each woman sees them. Think of the ways we can change our thoughts if we value different opinions from our own.
Finally, a quote from Gail Hamilton: "The nursery has no business to be the mother's chrysalis," she wrote. "God never intended her to wind herself up into a cocoon. If he had, he would have made her a caterpillar."
Tomorrow’s Literary Granny: Hannah Adams, the first woman professional writer in the United States.
Read last year’s entry about Lucy Larcom here.
Read last year’s entry about Zora Neale Hurston here.
This post is a part of my series Our Literary Grannies from A t0 Z which was inspired by the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Find out more about the Challenge by either clicking here. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8115 |
__label__cc | 0.655955 | 0.344045 | Women in God's Army :
Women in God's Army : gender and equality in the early Salvation Army /
The early Salvation Army professed its commitment to sexual equality in ministry and leadership. In fact, its founding constitution proclaimed women had the right to preach and hold any office in the organization. But did they? Women in God's Army is the first study of its kind devoted to the c...
Eason, Andrew Mark, 1966-
Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion.
Waterloo, Ont. : Published for the Canadian Corp. for Studies in Religion/Corporation canadienne des Sciences religieuses by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003.
Etudes sur les femmes et la religion ; v. 7.
Women in the Salvation Army > Great Britain.
Sexism in religion > Great Britain. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8118 |
__label__wiki | 0.840541 | 0.840541 | Samantha Marie Ware On Life On Her ‘Paradise Planet’ as Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon Tour
March 29th, 2013 | By Jesse North
The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming! The national tour of the Broadway smash The Book of Mormon begins performances at the Boston Opera House on April 9 and runs through April 28. But before this hilarious musical from the creators of South Park arrives, take some time to get to know the talented cast. Samantha Marie Ware plays “Ugandan princess” Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon national tour. The actress says that like her character, she grew up wanting to travel to a place that would make her dreams come true, which happened to be in a Broadway show. Watch her talk about pulling the Mormons out of their cardboard box, playing the free spirit and living on her own “paradise planet.” | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8124 |
__label__cc | 0.696414 | 0.303586 | (I plan to do a “Currently…” post every other Tuesday. You should join me! Find the origins of the idea HERE.)
Watching my daughter compete with her swim team. It’s been such an amazing experience for her, and she’s improved SO MUCH in two months. Her times are dropping and her strokes are looking better and better, and I’m just really, really proud of her. I swam in high school, and it’s awesome to see her enjoying (and beginning to excel at!) a sport I love.
I just finished Escaping Perfect by Emma Harrison. While I enjoyed the setting and found the secondary characters to be super likable, I don’t think the “Gone Girl meets the TV show Nashville” comparison is at all fitting. Also, that ending, man… 🤔 In other news, my girlie and I are reading Rules for Stealing Stars by Corey Ann Haydu, and whoa. Equally beautiful and heartbreaking and magical. It’s also initiating a lot of interesting conversation. We’re loving it so far!
Parenthood. Still obsessed. Also, my husband and I recently started watching United States of Tara, about a woman struggling with her family and her dissociative identity disorder. Toni Collette is so good!
Invisibilia, an NPR podcast about “the invisible forces that control human behavior – ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions.” The topics are fascinating, and they’re discussed in a very accessible and entertaining way. Recommend!
Thinking About
Camp NaNoWri Mo. I’m participating, and I’m chipping away at my 15K word goal. Currently sitting pretty at 8,471 words, and I just passed 60K on my WiP — whoop! Now I need to figure out how to wrap the story up (why are endings always so hard?!)
Remember the annoyingly vague “top-secret” news I mentioned two weeks ago? Well, I can finally share about one of the things I’ve been anticipating… The Uppermans are an officially approved foster family, and we recently received our first placement. I can’t share details or photos of the child, and we’re not yet sure how long the placement will last, but I can say that we’re very happy. Also, very tired. 🙂 Here’s my cat resting on a Boppy pillow, in case you’re wondering how she’s adjusting… Wishing
You’ll sign up to receive my monthly newsletter, chock full of current favorites (reads, shows, movies, recipes, products, quotes, etc), plus occasional updates on my own book-ish pursuits. It’ll be all kinds of fun — promise!
Making Me Happy
All of the well wishes we’ve gotten regarding our decision to become foster parents. I’m overwhelmed by the kind words of family and friends from afar, as well as the support and excitement and help we’ve received from our local friends. Makes my heart full. ❤
Did you post a “Currently…” this week?
Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be sure to visit!
July 5, 2016 July 4, 2016 10 Comments
This vanilla scone recipe. The town where I grew up has an awesome fair every fall, and they sell the yummiest scones. I miss them! I’ve tried to reproduce them before, raspberry jam and all, with little success. The scones I made Sunday morning, however, were incredible! So flaky and buttery and delicious. Big thanks to Jessica Erin of Stuck on Sweet! Reading
I recently finished Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston, which I loved. It’ll definitely have a place among my 2016 favorites — big recommend! Now, I’m reading Dana Elmendorf’s debut South of Sunshine, a f/f contemporary YA, and so far I’m enjoying it very much.
Catch up on all of my June book recommendations HERE.
Parenthood. It’s so good! I just started season 3 and man, if I didn’t have a family to feed and a house to maintain and a manuscript to write, I’d sit on the couch and watch episode after episode after episode.
John Corey Whaley’s Noggin, the story of Travis Coates, head transplant survivor. Cool concept, right? I’m loving Travis’s voice, which is insightful and really funny, and I can’t wait to see how the novel pans out.
Camp NaNoWri Mo. I’m participating, and I’ve set a 15K word goal. If I meet it, I’ll be very, very close to finishing the manuscript I’m fondly referring to as Camp WiP (because it takes place at a camp — duh). Also, I’ve got the ~best~ cabin, and I’m having all sorts of fun cheering my cabin mates on.
This is going to be annoyingly vague, but the things I’m anticipating are currently top-secret (but exciting!). The good news? I’m very much looking forward to sharing in the near future. 😘
You’ll check out the recently revealed Swanky 17 covers! They’re all so gorgeous — my fellow Swanks are winning the cover lottery all over the place! Find the YA covers HERE and the MG covers HERE.
It’s officially summer! The longest school year in history has finally come to a close (I have a 4th grader!) and now we’re spending our days (and a lot of our nights) at the neighborhood pool. Also, look who got a haircut…
Also making me happy? Watching yesterday’s Independence Day in D.C. with my family. We had a fantastic time and walked a lot of miles.
June 21, 2016 June 21, 2016 11 Comments
Everything about the photo below: dark chocolate espresso beans and iced chai lattes and pink roses and blush peonies, all of which I splurged on after my very first school visit. My daughter’s teacher invited me to speak with the 3rd graders about writing and publishing and while I totally wanted to do it, I was SO nervous. I mean, I know a lot of the kids and I’ve learned a thing or two about writing over the years, but an actual school visit? Luckily, it went really well. The kids were great listeners and participators, and they asked some really thoughtful questions. I’m super thankful, and already eager to do it again! Reading
I’ve been doing lots of reading lately. I recently finished Wonder by R.J Palacio (holy crap — amazing) and The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (predictably mesmerizing). Also, how fun is the #FlipThatBook tag on Instagram?!
I’m currently reading The Last Boy & Girl in the World by one of my favorite authors, Siobhan Vivian, and it’s fantastic. It’s a romance with a compelling hook (its setting is a town that’s about to be sunk by a dammed river), and it’s full of interesting girl friendships and swoon and surprises. I’m loving it! Watching
Parenthood. I’m only, like, nine episodes in, but yeah. It’s fantastic. I love Peter Krause (Six Feet Under — best show ever) and of course I adore Lauren Graham. The writing is perfection and dialogue is amazingly authentic and the relationships all feel so genuine and complicated and lovely. Thanks, Riley Edgewood, for insisting I watch this one; you were right — I love it!
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It’s very clear why this debut won the William C. Morris Award last year — it’s smart and funny and awesomely voice-y. Protagonist Simon is immediately likable, and the audiobook narrator is extraordinary. Recommend!
Our recent vacation to Smith Mountain Lake, which is gorgeous. We shared a condo with friends (our next door neighbors from our time in Monterey) and had so much fun swimming, kayaking, inner tubing, sunning, and eating. I’m already ready to go back!
Copyedits! Kissing Max Holden has finally reached this important step (YAY!), and I’m weirdly excited to see all the ways I’ve misused commas and semicolons and em dashes. 🙂
My girlie played Somewhere Over the Rainbow on her guitar during her school’s Talent Showcase and it was pretty much the most adorable thing ever. I’m so proud of her courage and her dedication. She did so well!
May 24, 2016 May 24, 2016 28 Comments
I met Morgan Matson! She’s been one of my favorite authors for a long time now (Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is among my top five favorite contemporary YAs) and in person, she’s an absolute delight. Listening to her talk about writing and characters and travel-as-research and the inception of her novels’ ideas… I’m feeling so inspired. Plus, she could not have been more personable and genuine. I picked up her latest release, The Unexpected Everything, and had a copy of Amy & Roger signed for a future giveaway. Keep an eye out!
I finished reading Summer Skin by Kristy Eagar and it was freaking amazing. Look for it on The Book Depository if you want to order — well worth your money, I think! I also read my very first Swanky 17 ARC: You Don’t Know My Name by Kristen Orlando, a spy story with dashes romance and family angst — really fantastic. Now, I’m reading Renne Ahdieh’s The Rose & the Dagger, sequel to The Wrath & the Dawn, one of my very favorite novels of last year. Guys, how gorgeous is this book? Watching
Still obsessing over Game of Thrones and Outlander, but that’s pretty much it. I have very little patience when it comes to TV. That said, once I turn in this round of Kissing Max Holden edits, I’m going to give Parenthood a shot. Thoughts?
I finished listening to Judy Blume’s In the Unlikely Event and I enjoyed it so much. The cast is huge, but the character who’s given the most focus is a fifteen-year-old named Miri, and she’s adorable. Now, I’m waiting for Me Before You by JoJo Moyes to become available because the movie trailer! 😍
Knocking out what’s left of my second round of Kissing Max Holden edits. This round has been easier than the first, but isn’t it funny how when it comes to revising, a tiny change at the beginning of the story ends up snowballing into adjustments made throughout the entire manuscript? Still, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love revising, and I’m thrilled to work on KMH during the early morning and late into the night if that means I’m making the story stronger.
Our summer travels… We’re meeting friends at a lake house in a few weeks, and at the end of August we’ll be spending five days with my husband’s parents in Washington, then five days with my parents in Arizona. My daughter is super excited about quality time with her grandparents!
Today’s our thirteenth wedding anniversary! My husband’s out of town (of course — he’s only been present for half of our anniversaries) but we celebrated on Saturday night with dinner at The Melting Pot, which was delicious. And… he got me (us) a new mattress! We’ve had the same crappy mattress for the duration of our marriage and I’ve been (not-so-subtly) hinting that we need a new one for a few years now. And he surprised me with a really nice one. It’s like sleeping on a cloud… 🙂
April 12, 2016 April 12, 2016 29 Comments
Mount Vernon! We made our third trip the other day (we’re trying to visit during each of the four seasons), and it was beautiful as usual. George Washington’s home is one of our favorite D.C. spots. If you’re ever in the area, definitely give yourself a day to check it out.
I recently finished Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Kiss, my most anticipated release of the year, and it was just… perfection. It made me feel a million feelings and the end was just so satisfying. Plus, it’s a NYT Bestseller! Check out my more detailed review in March’s Reading Wrap-Up. Now I’m reading Emery Lord’s latest release, When We Collided, and it’s lovely so far.
Nothing much, honestly. The older I get, the less patience I have for TV and I just haven’t had time for movies lately. That said, despite my ranting at the end of the last season of Game of Thrones (*sob*), I am looking forward to April 24th and the first episode of Season 6.
I just finished All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, and it was fantastic. Powerful and important and, unfortunately, timely. I’m so impressed with how layered the characters are, and how complex Rashad and Quinn’s relationships with family and friends turn out to be. Plus, the audiobook narrators are exceptional. Big recommend.
My WiP. It’s coming along, word-count-wise, but oof… it’s a mess. I keep reminding myself that I can’t fix words that aren’t written, but I’ve never dealt with a first draft this shitty. Hopefully by the time I’m done drafting I’ll have figured out what this story’s actually about. I did come across this line, though, written months and months ago — She smells like fields of lavender. She tastes like strawberries. She kisses like a freaking champ. — and I kind of like it. I’m hoping that, eventually, I’ll kind of like the rest of the book.
So, so excited about the Gilmore Girls revival — especially now that Entertainment Weekly has released photos from the set. Can’t wait to be reunited with Lorelai, Rory, Luke, Sookie, and the rest of the gang!
That you’ll check out the following Goodreads lists: YA Novels of 2017, YA Debuts 2017, 2017 Debut YA/MG Novels, and Books Published by Swoon Reads. Kissing Max Holden has found its way onto all of them, which is so exciting! Maybe you’d like to vote for my debut, or add it as “To Read”.
Longtime friends who flew across the country to visit, and were willing to participate in a 10 mile trek through D.C., during which dozens of tourist attractions were viewed. We’re having an awesome time with Kari and Patrick!
The #AuthorLifeMonth photo challenge, hosted by Dahlia Adler. I’m still going strong, and so are tons of other writers. Check out the hashtag on Instagram to see how everyone’s responding to the prompts. A few of my favorites so far…
If you remember back to my last Currently… post, I mentioned I was reading The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore. Well, I finished, and I loved it — it’s definitely a new favorite. Please, please, please pick it up! I also recently finished These Vicious Masks by fellow Swoon Reads authors Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas, and it was SO much fun. Protagonist Evelyn is the best sort of snarky, and the “Jane Austen meets X-Men” pitch is spot-on. Recommend! Now, I’m reading The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry and it is aMaZiNg so far. Guys, I’m so lucky — I’m picking up the BEST books this year!
Kendra Akins on YouTube. She posts videos on health and beauty and lifestyle. I love her makeup-focused videos most. I’ve learned tons about the big name brands, as well as lesser-known natural products. Check her out if you’re into beauty and/or healthful eating — she’s super savvy.
I recently listened to Colleen Hoover’s November 9, which was everything I was hoping it’d be: romantic, but also angsty and overwrought — a total guilty-pleasure listen. If you can overlook some slight but irritating misogyny, you’ll likely be entertained. And I just finished Keith Donahue’s The Boy Who Drew Monsters, a creepy adult horror. Different from my usual fare, but I liked it!
Wrapping up the Kissing Max Holden revision I’ve been working on since Christmastime. I’ve completed all of the big-picture changes, and now I’m in the midst of a read-through, doing all the fun fine-tuning stuff. Yay!
My birthday… It’s Saturday! I’m going to (try to) sleep late, and then my husband and daughter are going to make me crepes for breakfast — yum! Be on the lookout for a Thirty Before 35 update later this week. Spoiler alert: I haven’t finished all of my goals, but I’m not about to let them go. 👍
For sandals and summer and sunshine. Simple as that…
These two, as usual. My girlie has had lots of time off school lately (snow days and end-of-quarter days and holidays), and while I do value my quiet work time, I really love having her home. ❤
The recent restock I did of my Bath & Body Works cache. I’ve been a fan of their body creams and shower gels and candles since I worked there a million years ago, which is also when I discovered my signature scent: Moonlight Path. (A Thousand Wishes is a new favorite.) You can stock up, too, because Signature Scents are currently buy three, get two free. Such a bargain!
The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore which is like Romeo and Juliet if the Capulets and Montagues were traveling circus-esque performers. The writing is lovely and the story is so imaginative. I’m really enjoying it so far.
Season 2 of The 100, finally! I’m woefully behind on TV viewing, but I’m definitely wrapped up in this second season of a show I never would’ve imagined liking. Movie-wise, my husband and I recently saw The Revenant, which was excellent. Super graphic and visceral and intense. I can totally see why Leonardo DiCaprio is getting so many accolades during this award season.
Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family, a non-fiction book that’s both compelling and accessible. It centers around a set of identical twin brothers, Jonas and Wyatt, and Wyatt’s slow (often rocky) transition into his true self, a girl named Nicole. I’ve learned so much about gender and gender identity thanks to this book, and I’m so impressed with Nicole and her strength. I highly recommend giving it a read.
The #AuthorLifeMonth photo challenge, hosted by Dahlia Adler. It’s all about books and writing and inspiration, and I’m having a blast with it. Check out the hashtag on Instagram for pictures from days 1 and 2, then join us!
My birthday… It’s in a few weeks and I’ll be 35 and I’m feeling pretty chill about it, actually. Here’s to another year of wisdom and experience, I guess. 😉
For another month of excellent reading. January was full of stand-out books, all of which I reviewed in my monthly Wrap-Up post. If you’re looking for recommendations, I’ve got four YAs and an adult fantasy (The Night Circus — love, love, love!) for you to consider. Hopefully February will bring just as many amazing stories.
Remember my last Currently… post, in which I wished for snow? Well, we got it! A legit blizzard hammered the east coast; it started snowing last Friday at lunchtime and didn’t stop until late Saturday night. We had feet of snow — there’s still tons of it lining the roads. My daughter and her friends have had so much fun playing in it (she was out of school for seven days, plus the weekend in-between) and we didn’t lose power, so well done, winter. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8128 |
__label__cc | 0.530047 | 0.469953 | :vote for free knowledge ::: sign d #petition
kihuPotru ACTA, anonymous, art, FREEDOM, Internet, participation, petition, PIPA, Piracy, protect, sign, signature, SOPA, support, video, voice acta, alarm, change, creative, fix, freedom, government, icense, Internet, online, petition, pip, piracy, raise, sign, signatre, signature, sopa, support, system, voice 1 Comment
:Ok, shortly after d handball match Macedonia : Slovenia where we #win 28:27 and take d 5th place on d European Championship, I’ll not speak about d open door for d Olympic Games because this is not d topic that I write for anyway few sentences are just OK and d victory too. 😉
:What a want to mention is d second part, edition of collecting signatures against d evils that want to stop d freedom of Internet, sharing etc. If u want to read more I already wrote on my blog in few post’s about everything that concerns Us about this still vital topic/ #problem [:So I do! #protest #support freedom of Internet! & :72 hours left; warnINg!]
:Here is the ((( LINK ))) where it’s important to give ur signature because this is d only petition that is possible to help U raise our voice and stop d process.
:ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small “club” of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc).
Negotiated instead of being democratically debated, ACTA bypasses parliaments and international organizations to dictate a repressive logic dictated by the entertainment industries.
[ACTA] – ‘The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement‘ is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement.
ACTA would establish a new international legal framework that would create its “own governing body outside existing international institutions” such as – the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.
An open letter signed by many organizations, including Consumers International, EDRi (27 European civil rights and privacy NGOs), the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ASIC (French trade association for web 2.0 companies), and the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI), states that “the current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of European citizens, most notably the freedom of expression and communication privacy.”
I already sign this petition in d first circle but is really up to Us if we want to stop this virtual terror. they act like they invent this magical tool for connecting. let’s show them that this connection is like it is because of all of Us and that we are not goin’ to stop and spread d word all over d world. as one comment in youtube says:
“the governments should be afraid of their people, not vice versa. without us, these f*ing pigs would have no power, so it is up to us to show em who’s boss.”
!Let’s fix d system NOT change IT! .. till next reading _see ya! | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8134 |
__label__wiki | 0.762283 | 0.762283 | קופימיזם ישראל Ctrl+c Ctrl+v
כנסיית קופימיזם ישראל
קופימיזם החוקה
YouTube טוויטר פייסבוק פיד RSS
→ More privacy fears as Facebook buys facial-recognition startup for undisclosed sum | Mail Online
copy, share, seed ←
Kopimism, Sweden's Pirate Religion, Begins to Plunder America 'Kopimism' gives internet piracy a place to worship By Jason Koebler April 20, 2012 RSS Feed Print The symbol of Kopimism, a religion dedicated to information sharing. The symbol of Kopimism, a religion dedicated to information sharing. A Swedish religion whose dogma centers on the belief that people should be free to copy and distribute all information—regardless of any copyright or trademarks—has made its way to the United States. Followers of so-called "Kopimism" believe copying, sharing, and improving on knowledge, music, and other types of information is only human—the Romans remixed Greek mythology, after all, they say. In January, Kopimism—a play on the words "copy me"—was formally recognized by a Swedish government agency, raising its profile worldwide. [Rapidshare: Megaupload's Pirates are Unwelcome] "Culture is something that makes people feel much better and makes people appreciate their world in a different way. Knowledge is also something we should copy regardless of the law," says Isak Gerson, the 20-year-old founder of Kopimism. "It makes us better when we share knowledge and culture with each other." More than 3,500 people "like" Kopimism on Facebook, and thousands more practice its sacred ritual of file sharing. According to its manifesto, private, closed-source software code and anti-piracy software are "comparable to slavery." Kopimist "Ops," or spiritual leaders, are encouraged to give counsel to people who want to pirate files, are banned from recording and should encrypt all virtual religious service meetings "because of society's vicious legislative and litigious persecution of Kopimists." Official in-person meetings must happen in places free of anti-Kopimist monitoring and in spaces with the Kopimist symbol—a pyramid with the letter K inside. To be initiated new parishioners must share the Kopimist symbol and say the sacred words "copied and seeded." The gospel of the church has begun to spread, with Kopimist branches in 18 countries. An American branch of the religion was recently registered with Illinois and is in the process of gaining federal recognition, according to Christopher Carmean, a 25-year-old student at the University of Chicago and head of the U.S. branch. "Data is what we are made of, data is what defines our life, and data is how we express ourselves," says Carmean. "Forms of copying, remixing, and sharing enhance the quality of life for all who have access to them. Attempts to hinder sharing are antithetical to our data-driven existence." [ISPs Close to Implementing System to Punish Piracy] About 450 people have registered with his church, and about 30 of them are actively practicing the religion, whose symbols include Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V—the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste. It's no surprise the religion was born in Sweden—it has some of the laxest copyright laws in the world. The Swedish Pirate Party has two seats in the European Parliament, and The Pirate Bay, a Swedish website that's one of the world's largest portals to illegal files, has avoided being shut down for years. Gerson is happy to allow people who want to open their own branches of Kopimism to copy its symbols and religious documents. "There's been a couple people that asked me [to start congregations], but I tell them they shouldn't ask. You don't need permission," he says. "It's a project, and I want projects to be copied, so I'm happy when people copy without asking." Most Kopimists say they realized they were practicing the religion before they found it. "There are many people who are like me, who always held the Kopimist ideals, but hadn't yet heard of the official church," says Lauren Pespisa, a web developer in Cambridge, Mass., who gave a speech about the religion in March to a group of anti-copyright activists called the Massachusetts Pirate Party. "I think some people are like me and have embraced it officially and publicly, but some people believe in it and don't really want to mix religion and politics."
23 באוג
פורסם ע"י mazanga
'Kopimism' gives internet piracy a place to worship
By Jason Koebler
April 20, 2012 RSS Feed Print
The symbol of Kopimism, a religion dedicated to information sharing.
A Swedish religion whose dogma centers on the belief that people should be free to copy and distribute all information—regardless of any copyright or trademarks—has made its way to the United States.
Followers of so-called "Kopimism" believe copying, sharing, and improving on knowledge, music, and other types of information is only human—the Romans remixed Greek mythology, after all, they say. In January, Kopimism—a play on the words "copy me"—was formally recognized by a Swedish government agency, raising its profile worldwide.
[Rapidshare: Megaupload's Pirates are Unwelcome]
"Culture is something that makes people feel much better and makes people appreciate their world in a different way. Knowledge is also something we should copy regardless of the law," says Isak Gerson, the 20-year-old founder of Kopimism. "It makes us better when we share knowledge and culture with each other."
More than 3,500 people "like" Kopimism on Facebook, and thousands more practice its sacred ritual of file sharing. According to its manifesto, private, closed-source software code and anti-piracy software are "comparable to slavery." Kopimist "Ops," or spiritual leaders, are encouraged to give counsel to people who want to pirate files, are banned from recording and should encrypt all virtual religious service meetings "because of society's vicious legislative and litigious persecution of Kopimists."
Official in-person meetings must happen in places free of anti-Kopimist monitoring and in spaces with the Kopimist symbol—a pyramid with the letter K inside. To be initiated new parishioners must share the Kopimist symbol and say the sacred words "copied and seeded."
The gospel of the church has begun to spread, with Kopimist branches in 18 countries.
An American branch of the religion was recently registered with Illinois and is in the process of gaining federal recognition, according to Christopher Carmean, a 25-year-old student at the University of Chicago and head of the U.S. branch.
"Data is what we are made of, data is what defines our life, and data is how we express ourselves," says Carmean. "Forms of copying, remixing, and sharing enhance the quality of life for all who have access to them. Attempts to hinder sharing are antithetical to our data-driven existence."
[ISPs Close to Implementing System to Punish Piracy]
About 450 people have registered with his church, and about 30 of them are actively practicing the religion, whose symbols include Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V—the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste.
It's no surprise the religion was born in Sweden—it has some of the laxest copyright laws in the world. The Swedish Pirate Party has two seats in the European Parliament, and The Pirate Bay, a Swedish website that's one of the world's largest portals to illegal files, has avoided being shut down for years.
Gerson is happy to allow people who want to open their own branches of Kopimism to copy its symbols and religious documents.
"There's been a couple people that asked me [to start congregations], but I tell them they shouldn't ask. You don't need permission," he says. "It's a project, and I want projects to be copied, so I'm happy when people copy without asking."
Most Kopimists say they realized they were practicing the religion before they found it.
"There are many people who are like me, who always held the Kopimist ideals, but hadn't yet heard of the official church," says Lauren Pespisa, a web developer in Cambridge, Mass., who gave a speech about the religion in March to a group of anti-copyright activists called the Massachusetts Pirate Party. "I think some people are like me and have embraced it officially and publicly, but some people believe in it and don't really want to mix religion and politics."
israel-kopimia.jpeg
אודות mazanga
Mazanga Von Badman @mazanga Terra Incognita קופימיזם ישראל Ctrl ה Ctrl ב Kopimisim . "Everybody has something to hide, except for me and my monkey" http://mazanga.blogspot.com/ http://kopimism-il.blogspot.com/ https://kopimism.wordpress.com/
הצג את כל הפוסטים מאת mazanga «
פורסמה ב-אוגוסט 23, 2012, ב-Uncategorized ותויגה ב-Church of Kopimism, ctrl c, ctrl v, digital piracy, Internet, kopimi, Kopimism, religion, Sweden, קופומיזם, קופימי, קופימיזם. סמן בסימניה את קישור ישיר. השארת תגובה.
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kopimi_il's videos on Dailymotion(function(){var d = document, L = d.getElementsByTagName('a'); l = L[L.length - 1], i = d.createElement('iframe');i.src = 'http://www.dailymotion.com/badge/user/kopimi_il?type=carousel'; i.frameBorder = 0; i.scrolling = 'no'; i.width = '300px'; i.height = '376';l.parentNode.replaceChild(i, l);})();
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kopimistsamfundet.org | duckduckgo.co.il localized settings for Israel[...] and tagged duckduckgo, for, Israel, kopimism-il.blogspot.com, localized, settings. Bookmark th
The Church of Kopimism | Google announces privacy changes; users can’t opt out[...] and tagged announces, can’t, changes, Google, opt, out, privacy, users. Bookmark the permalink
The Church of Kopimism | Anonymous – YOU Can Be A Part Of #OpGlobalBlackout[...] legion, LOIC, low, Nations, OpGlobalBlackout, orbit, PIPA, SOPA, Twitter, United, We. Bookmark
The Church of Kopimism | The swedish paradise should be a global paradise[...] swedish government, קופומיזם, קופימיזם, שיתוף קבצים. Bookmark the permalink. [...]
The Church of Kopimism | The Wikipedia blackout is over — and you have spoken.[...] and tagged anti-SOPA, black out, Free Knowledge, PIPA, Wikipedia, קופומיזם. Bookmark the perma
The Church of Kopimism[...] anti-SOPA, black out, Free Knowledge, PIPA, STOP SOPA, video, Wikipedia, Youtube. Bookmark the
The Church of Kopimism | דת חדשה בשבדיה: שיתוף קבצים[...] לא חוקיות, קופומיזם, קופימיזם, שיתוף קבצים. Bookmark the permalink. [...]
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Anonymous – YOU Can Be A Part Of #OpGlobalBlackout (1)
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Google announces privacy changes; users can’t opt out (1)
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anti-internet anti-SOPA antikopimists black out Church of Kopimism Copy and seed Copy is holy copy is right ctrl c ctrl v explained Facebook Free Knowledge global paradise Internet Isak Gerson Israel kopimi Kopimism Kopimism. בית כנסת kopimism israel Kopimists law states paradise PIPA piracy prayers and meditations religion religious community religious group religious practices SOPA spiritual leader STOP SOPA swedish government video Wikipedia Youtube הורדות לא חוקיות ישראל קופומיזם קופימיזם קופימיזם ישראל שיתוף שיתוף קבצים
kopimism.org.il
Israel, Kopimisim, Kopimi
יצירה של אתר חינמי או בלוג ב־WordPress.com. ערכת עיצוב: Mystique של digitalnature | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8136 |
__label__wiki | 0.985483 | 0.985483 | Police search Yale for alleged gunman after 911 call
Posted 2:59 pm, November 25, 2013, by CNN Wires, Updated at 02:57PM, November 25, 2013
(CNN) — SWAT teams were searching Yale University buildings Monday after someone anonymously told a 911 dispatcher that his roommate was coming to the southern Connecticut university to shoot people, police in New Haven said.
No gunfire and no injuries were reported as of Monday afternoon. Most of Yale’s schools were out for Thanksgiving recess, but some students and staff remained, and the school sent e-mails and texts asking them to remain in locked rooms or offices.
Some people subsequently reported seeing a person with a rifle or a shotgun on or near campus, though police were trying to determine whether the sightings were of investigating police officers, New Haven police Officer David Hartman said Monday afternoon.
The call virtually shut down Yale’s Old Campus, where police were focusing their search, letting no one in or out of the area, Hartman said.
The shelter-in-place order was slowing officers’ room-to-room searches of dorms and other buildings, because the people inside often weren’t immediately opening doors for the police, not trusting that the police had come to check, Hartman said.
Many of the doors, he said, didn’t have didn’t have peepholes, so officers were taking their time persuading the occupants.
“If Yale were in full session right now, this certainly would be a tougher job for law enforcement,” Hartman said.
Police said someone called 911 from a pay phone around 9:30 a.m. and matter-of-factly said his roommate “was on his way to Yale university to shoot people,” Hartman said.
Investigators didn’t know who the caller was or who the supposed roommate is, he said. He wouldn’t comment on whether the call might be a hoax.
“We aren’t taking anything forchanceand we’ll continue to investigate each report,” he said.
It could be hours before police give an all-clear for the campus, Hartman said at a 2 p.m. news conference.
Students were allowed to stay on campus during Thanksgiving week, but most had left by Monday, school spokesman Tom Conroy said.
The university issued its first alert at 10:17 a.m. Less than an hour later, the university said there was a “confirmed report of a person with a gun on/near Old Campus” — apparently referring to the witness reports that Hartman mentioned
“Teams from Yale Police, New Haven and the State Police are on the scene and are actively searching for any gunman,” the university said later on its website.
By Amanda Watts and Jason Hanna
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Police identify man killed by St. Louis officer near south city gas station | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8138 |
__label__wiki | 0.804139 | 0.804139 | Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University
Counter-memory: Replaying Political Violence in Thai Digital Cinema
Malinee Khumsupa & Sudarat Musikawong
Central to the Thai term for memory khwamsongcham = ความทรงจำ is song, which literally translates as form or medium. The word khwamsongcham in itself forges an embodiment of the past (albeit always interpreted), and signals the capacity for the transformation of memory through various forms and mediums, including social practices and material culture. One commits to embodied remembering because there is a fear of forgetting. Thailand has experienced 12 successful military coups since its transition from absolute monarchy in 1932. The advent of military rule this time elicits a déjà-vu experience that has unfortunately not triggered resistance within the Bangkok bourgeois public sphere, where we see a strengthening of grand narratives saturated in national security and the maintenance of social order. The “feel and smell” of military authoritarianism has produced a familiarity such that military coup d’états can be celebrated in 2006 and tolerated in 2014 as acceptable by a bourgeois minority— or has it? While mainstream media coverage may imply that Thais accept military rule and the status quo, independent cinema, we argue, functions as a counterpublic, offering opposition through political ambiguity. 1
Culture of Counter-publics in Thai Film
In the authoritarian context of contemporary Thailand, the public sphere of the press, online social networks, and web 2.0 has shrunk. Micro counter-publics and subversive social movements have, however, increased. The moral order has become conflated with national security, and offenses of thought and expression seen to threaten this order have become punishable with court charges, fines, the revoking of passports, exile, and jail sentences. Heightened state censorship, rather than stifling dissent, gave rise to a newly politicized and independent Thai cinema enabled by new technologies of production and curatorship, and new circuits of distribution via social media.
As Michael Warner suggests, “when alternative publics are cast as social movements—they acquire agency in relation to the state. They enter the temporality of politics and adapt themselves to the performatives of rational critical discourse. For many counterpublics, to do so is to cede the original hope of transforming, not just policy, but the space of public life itself.” 2 The refusal of intellectuals and filmmakers in Thailand to limit their dissent to the private sphere, has seen the emergence of micro-alternative art spaces (cafes, galleries) and open access online participation on YouTube and web 2.0. These new micro-counter publics operate through ambiguous satire and double entendre to resist arrest.
The first state censorship of film in Thailand (then Siam), was the Cinema Act of 1930. The past decade has seen new censorship laws and the expansion of lèse majesté laws through amendments to Section 112 of the Criminal Law Code (1956, 2007) the Computer Crimes Act (2007), and the Internal Security Act (2008). The same decade has seen the production and public screening of over twenty independent films in major domestic or international film festivals. In Thailand, indie cinema has relied on such urban venues as cafés, book-stores, galleries, consulates, and universities. According to film critic Kong Rithdee, the Thai Film Foundation 3 has “played a particularly important role in creating a public space for short and independent filmmakers in Thailand…democratiz[ing] film/digital film” through workshops, programming and festivals. 4 In this context, indie cinema has opened up an arena for the replay and remembrance of political violence.
As a counter-public, independent films have paid close attention to memory/history and to slow cinema aesthetics. The films discussed below bear all these hallmarks. Our criteria for selection includes each film’s conversation with recurring political violence in Thailand, its public screening on more than one occasion, and/or its recirculation in open source left-of-center online news media like prachatai.
An Experimental Documentary Remembers: Terrorist (2011)
Thunska Pansittivorakul’s film Terrorist (ผู้”ก่อการร้าย)has had contrasting platforms that replay various scenes of national political violence alongside intimate familial memories. The film in its entirety has been difficult to find, neither distributed via DVD/VCD markets, nor available in full length on open source platforms like YouTube. The trailer overtly shocks us with male masturbation scenes juxtaposed with scenes of recent political violence on the streets of Bangkok 2010. The viewing experience is a visceral embodiment of simultaneous sexual and bodily violence and gratification. To avoid nudity, the excerpt from the online news source prachatai only shows scenes of political violence.
The juxtaposition of the oral histories about how Thunska’s mother joined the Communist Party of Thailand with photos of Thunska as a child with his mother, and the photographs of the 6 October 1976 massacre make this segment of the film particularly remarkable. Photographs evidence even our most personal memories. Photographs can also offer infallible testimony of the cruelty and shock factor of the October 1976 massacre. In documenting that atrocity by reproducing scenes of violence, photographs can also dehumanize both those killed and “the civilian nationalists and state officers” who took part in the violence. 5
Boundary (2013)
Commercially released in major theaters in Thailand and Vimeo with an 18+ rating, Boundary (2013) follows the life of a young man who was drafted to participate in the suppression of the South, the 2008 Preah Vihear gun skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia, and was later sent to suppress the Red Shirts in May 2010. 6 The film’s original title Fatum Paendin Soong “Sky is low, Dirt is high” provoked controversy by appearing to challenge social inequality and social stratification in Thailand. 7 In Thai boundaries are known as “khet daen.” According to director Nontawat Numbenchapol, “[t]he first meaning of the border is that which divides poor rural people from the exploitative middle-class in Bangkok. The second boundary divides people of Cambodia apart from Thailand with border… I remembered standing on Preah Vihear mountain at the border and feeling that at that place, the sky and ground were connected and existed together. It was a metaphor for the hope that Thailand would one day reconcile.” 8 In essence, the film embodies present pasts and vice versa through the nation’s construction of territory and boundary.
The director’s cut showed footage of the King’s 83rd birthday celebration at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Bangkok, replacing the massacre of Red Shirts at this same site only months previously, with royal tribute, jubilation and celebration. This juxtaposition invited reflection on the multiple meanings of place, posing the question how celebration can replace the stain of a massacre? It was this ambiguity that led the Thai Censorship Board to request the deletion of this scene, and the director complied.
Since the introduction of Article 112 in 2007, state officials have become intently focused on monitoring any speech regarding the monarchy, targeting lèse majesté offenders as dangerous people that are a threat to government.
Similarly, the Thai-Cambodian boundary, constructed from a complicated past, embodied national memory of an enemy through domestic political issues. As the work of Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Charnvit Kasetsiri and Pou Suthirak suggests the Thai- Cambodian boundary is constituted by history, memory, politics and economic relations. 9 Boundary is used here not in its literal sense but rather to signify a movement between extreme nationalism, the making of enemies or friends, determined by the temperature of domestic political issues.
A Brief History of Memory (2010)
A Brief History of Memory was produced by Chulayarnnon Siriphol and screened multiple times, including at the Bangkok International Short Film Festival, the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, and the Southeast Asian Cinemas Conference. Siriphol chose to put forward a comparatively sensitive political issue: the loss of life through today’s political violence. The film is without doubt a counter-public memory. Rather than focus on the violence of 2010 (events already in the public eye), the film focused on earlier, lesser-known acts of violence from early 2009 in the Nang Lerng community.
The final scene crosscuts to a memorial rally for the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) demonstrators killed in 2010. Interviewed in 2016, Siriphol explained that “I believe that memories constitute the whole of our nation’s brief history. We need to get to know each other during these times to recall these victims.” 10 Nameless victims are seldom officially remembered in the public sphere. A Brief History of Memory attempts to embody the loss of life through tribute and memorialization.
In Apichatpong Weerasethekul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), the viewer, like the chief protagonist, is surrounded by darkness. In the final death scene, Uncle Boonmee slowly climbs into a dark cave and looks upward slowly while his family joins him in his final moments, interspersed with photographs of young soldiers. The confluence between the staged still photographs of young soldiers, and Uncle Boonmee’s last breath monologue suggests that when pasts are revealed by individuals, such persons are made to disappear.
An alternative, intertextual reading would suggest that Uncle Boonmee’s dying scene forces the nation to reflect on the Cold War in the Northeast provinces through allusions to the photographs of the young men in military fatigues featured in Apichatpong’s installation project Primitive’s. These photographs were shot in Nabua, Khon Kaen, Chaiyapum, and Loei invoking the famous 1965 first battle between the Communist Party of Thailand and state authorities 11 Rather than end with the Cold War era references of Uncle Boonmee’s death, the final scenes show living characters watching a television news broadcast of the 2009 political violence. Apichatpong thus suggests a simultaneity of past, present, and future. The past is embedded in the present with a foreboding possibility of future violence yet to come.
Ambiguous Counter-publics
In the last ten years, censorship and political violence in Thailand has become increasingly expansive in enforcement and ambiguous in interpretation. The work of Craig Reynolds (2000), Thongchai Winichakul (1999), and Malinee Khumsupa (1998) demonstrates through analysis of the Democracy Monument, that meanings are not self-evident, but are rooted in the meanings imbued by reinterpretation. 12 Rosalind Morris (1998) and Alan Klima (2002) have argued that hyper-circulation of images of victims of the Black May 1992 violence operate in capitalist modes of value and alienation. 13
The convergence of real time and space with social lives online through such platforms as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, and LINE are the new conditions of subversive counter-publics, as much as they are of the virulent nationalist anxiety that has dominated the nation’s public sphere. Through social media, these films’ reach is at once individual and mass, repetitive and instantaneous, and beyond the constraints of real-time and space. The micro-spaces of such virtual arena as YouTube and Vimeo and such small scale venues as bookstores, film clubs or art exhibitions, send messages via personal mobile or computers everywhere and anywhere. Taking a cue from social theorists like Manuel Castels, we can regard this as a new social movement of cyber era cultural practices that is simultaneously individual (private) and public in our global society. 14 This global cultural networked cinema, we suggest, contributes to a Habermasian sense of critical discourse. 15
The demands on memory embodied by the films discussed here, challenge the logic of the market through politicized mourning practices. In the film Terrorist, individual painful memories counter traumatic national memory. In A Brief History of Memory, a mother lost her son, but commits him to be memorialized in a counter-memory against state violence. Similarly, Boundary tells the story of ordinary youth drafted into the military, offering a counter-memory against mainstream nationalism. Finally, in Uncle Boonmee Recalls his Past Lives, an ordinary individual who happened to serve in the state’s fight against communism serves as a counter-memory against a conventional nationalist memory, which may never include him in Thailand’s history. By drawing parallels with painful individual memories, these films allow viewers to make connections between the state violence of today and the political violence of the past, while their slow motion and repeat treatment of personal memories and/or histories of political violence, underscores the persistence of state violence in Thailand.
Malinee Khumsupa
(Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University)
Sudarat Musikawong
(Department of Sociology, Siena University)
Issue 20, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, September 2016
Thomas Fuller/ Mike Clarke/Agence France-Presse (Photo of Monk Posing with Tank), ‘Thai Junta Imposes Curbs on News Media ‘, New York Times, September 22 2006 p. Front page. Bbc, ‘Why Is Thailand under Military Rule?’, (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-25149484, 2014a). Bbc, ‘In Pictures: Protests against Thailand Coup’, (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27553025, 2014b). ↩
Michael Warner, ‘Publics and Counterpublics’, Public Culture, 14/1 (January 2002), pp. 49-90., 52, 89. ↩
The Thai Film Foundation is a non-profit founded by “film activists” in 1994 to “promote film culture in Thailand”. See http://www.thaifilm.com/aboutUs_en.asp (accessed 16 June 2016) ↩
Kong Rithdee phone interview, 20 Feb. 2016. ↩
[1] See Rosalind Morris, ‘Surviving Pleasure at the Periphery: Chiangmai and the Photographies of Political Trauma in Thailand, 1976-1992’, Public Culture, (1998), pp. 341-70., 362, 367 and Alan Klima, The Funeral Casino: Meidation, Massacre, and Exchange with the Dead in Thailand (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002)., 82-83 ↩
For more on Preah Vihear, and the militarization of the Thai-Cambodia border, see Charnvit Kasetsiri et. al.,“Preah Vihear: A Guide to the Thai-Cambodian Conflicts and Its Solutions”(White Lotus:Bangkok) Thailand, 2012. ↩
For the song see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KYRypaqKNk [accessed 20 Aug. 2016] ↩
Nontawat Numbenchapol television interview, [accessed March 13, 2016 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtZwFbgKSYg] ↩
Kasetsiri et al., Preah Vihear: A Guide to the Thai-Cambodian Conflict and Its Solutions , pp. 1-50. ↩
Chulayarnnon Siriphol, interviewed by Malinee Khumsupa, Chiang Mai, 10 March 2016. ↩
http://www.kickthemachine.com/page80/page22/page13/page62/index.htmlhttp://isaanrecord.com/2015/08/13/northeasterners-mark-50th-anniversary-of-the-communist-armed-struggle/ ↩
Craig Reynolds, Icons of Identity as Sites of Protest: Burma and Thailand Compared, Academia Sinica Prosea Research Paper No. 30 (March 2000). Thongchai Winichakul (1999), “Thai Democracy in Public Memory: Monuments and Their Narratives,” Keynote, 7th Annual International Conference on Thai Studies, Amsterdam, 4-8 July 1999. Malinee Khumsupha (1998) “Political Implications of Democracy Monument in Thai Society, MA Thesis, Faculty of Political Science Thammasat University. ↩
Rosalind Morris, ‘Surviving Pleasure at the Periphery: Chiangmai and the Photographies of Political Trauma in Thailand, 1976-1992’, Public Culture (1998), pp. 341-70; Alan Klima The Funeral Casino: Meditation, Massacre, and Exchange with the Dead in Thailand (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002). ↩
Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture (Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2000). ↩
Jurgen Habermas, ‘Further Reflections on the Public Sphere’, in Craig Calhoun (ed.), Habermas and the Public Sphere (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1996). Jurgen Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. Thomas Burger (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989 orig. 1962). ↩
Kenangan-Perlawanan: Memainkan Ulang Kekerasan Politik dalam Sinema Digital Thailand
タイ北部都市で記憶と歴史を彫り、鋳造する
NEW | THE BLOOMING YEARS
Download a compilation of all the English KRSEA articles from Issue 13 (March 2013), to Issue 20 (September 2016). This period marked a turning point for KRSEA with the re-launch of the website in March 2013 and the new online archive of earlier issues.
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Copyright © 2019 | Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia | All Rights Reserved | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8142 |
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__label__wiki | 0.849942 | 0.849942 | Valentine crash
© Licensed to London News Pictures. 14/02/2019. St Pauls Cray, A man is being hunted by police after he fled the scene of an RTC, police were called at 8.55am to reports of a car in collision with a house on Main Road, St Pauls Cray, Orpington.
Local witnesses are saying the male suspect was driving his girlfriends car after an argument with her, he was also believed to have been under the influence of alcohol. A structural engineer has inspected the property which now has a hole in the wall next to the front door, the front fence has also been distroyed. Photo credit: Grant Falvey/LNP
LNP_Valentine_crash_GFA001.JPG
© 2018 Under licence to London News Pictures Ltd. +44 208 088 1155 press@londonnewspictures.co.uk
car valentine orpington crime police | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8153 |
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Athens, GA Public
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__label__cc | 0.623908 | 0.376092 | Features· Pearls
Pearls are some of the most coveted stones in the world…and for very good reasons. However, not all pearls are created equal.
How are Pearls Formed?
There are several factors that weigh into how pearls are formed. One of the biggest being that—depending on the type of pearl—it either formed naturally or was cultivated by man.
Over the next few minutes, you’ll learn about several of those factors and how they affect the overall quality and authenticity of a pearl.
Specifically, I’ll be answering four main questions that a lot of pearl lovers instinctively consider once they begin their research into these precious gems:
How does a pearl form?
How long does it take for a pearl to form?
What are the differences between natural, cultured, and imitation pearls?
The goal of this article is to communicate an educated perspective of what pearls are and the modern creation of natural, cultured, and artificial pearls.
Question 1: What is a Pearl?
In simplest terms, a pearl is gemstone that is formed under the shell of a saltwater or freshwater species from the mollusk family.
While nearly all mollusks are able to produce pearls, the pearls used in the global jewelry industry come from mollusks whose shell is lined with a substance called nacre. The most common mollusks that produce pearls are oysters, clams, and mussels.
The beauty of pearls is that they form while the animal is alive. Though, as you’ll soon learn, the birth of a pearl is not an overnight process.
Question 2: How does a Pearl form?
The formation of a pearl is a phenomenon that many seek to understand in greater detail.
A pearl is the byproduct of a mollusk’s effort to protect itself from a foreign object (an irritant) that has entered its shell.
The foreign object is “attacked” by the mollusk through the secretion of a strong, smooth, opaline substance called nacre. The mollusk continues to secrete nacre for as long as the object is present in its body. Hence, over time, these layers of nacre deposit form into a pearl and gains in both size and luster.
Nacre is referred to as the mother of pearl and naturally coats the inner lining of most mollusks’ mantle, including clams, oysters, and mussels.
The Irritant
The irritant that enters the body of the mollusk serves as the nucleus of the pearl that is formed.
That irritant can either occur naturally or be placed by man. The difference between natural and man-made irritants is significant to the type of pearl that is produced.
Natural irritants include things such as sand, bacteria, and pieces of mantle (the outer wall of the inner part of the mollusk’s shell). When a natural irritant is at the core of a pearl, the pearl produced is natural.
An unnatural or man-made irritant is one that is placed inside a clam, oyster, or mussel. An unnatural irritant is generally a sample of mantle tissue taken from another mollusk of the same species. When an unnatural irritant is at the core of a pearl, the pearl produced is cultured.
Question 3: How long does it take for a Pearl to form?
The time it takes for a pearl to form depends largely on the type of pearl that is being made.
The creation process for natural and cultured pearls can take anywhere from six months to 20 years!
Fun Fact: The first pearl was discovered some 530 million years ago!
The specie of mollusk and the environment in which it lives are two factors that contribute to how long it takes for a pearl to form:
Saltwater Pearls versus Freshwater Pearls
Saltwater pearls are produced by mollusks living in a saltwater environment, specifically the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The period of maturity for saltwater pearls can be as short as three years to as long as 20 years.
The average amount of time it takes for a saltwater pearl to form is five years. Also, the bulk of saltwater pearls are produced by saltwater oysters.
Freshwater pearls are mainly cultured pearls that are produced by mollusks living in man-made reservoirs, lakes, mollusk farms, and other water habitations. The bulk of these pearls are produced in China. The period of maturity for freshwater pearls can be as short as six months to as long as six years.
The average amount of time it takes for a freshwater pearl to form is 24 months. Also, the maority of freshwater pearls are produced by freshwater mussels.
Question 4: What is the differences between natural, cultured, and imitation pearls?
As you learned earlier, pearl creation is driven by several distinct factors. Based on those factors, you’ll be able to tell if you’re dealing with a natural, cultured, or imitation pearl.
Natural Pearls
The most beloved of all pearl types is the natural pearl—however, it is also the rarest and, when one is obtainable, the most expensive.
The natural pearl is one whose formation was completely caused and controlled by the naturally-occurring processes of nature. In other words, there was no human intervention at all.
Today, getting ahold of a natural pearl is not an easy (or affordable) task, as these pearls are reserved for fine jewelry producers, connoisseurs, and collectors.
Cultured pearls undertake the same growth journey as natural pearls. But there are two distinct differences between a natural pearl and one that is cultured:
Cultured pearls are primarily produced by mollusks who live in controlled environments (e.g., mollusk farms; man-made reservoirs)
Cultured pearls are the result of irritants that were intentionally introduced to the mollusk
Human intervention during the growth of a cultured pearl means that the entire process can be closely monitored and pearls can be produced according to strict standards and other industry expectations.
The largest and most beautiful cultured pearls are those that have been cultured for at least two to three years.
Today, cultured pearls account for more than 95% of pearls sold in the retail market.
Imitation Pearls
As the name suggests, imitation pearls are fake pearls. These pearls are also called artificial pearls, simulated pearls, man-made pearls, wax pearls, and alternative pearls.
Imitation pearls are created entirely by man and are most commonly produced using plastic, ceramic, glass, crystal, mollusk shell, or some combination of these as the nucleus, or center, of the pearl.
The faux luster and imitated value of the pearl is produced by coating the product with a chemical solution. Nevertheless, improved technologies and production standards have paved the way for imitation pearls to boast similar luster and value as their cultured and natural cousins.
Though fake pearls are far from the real thing, their reputation is surprisingly strong—mainly because real pearls are not affordable for the everyday pearl lover. As a result, simulated pearls help produce a sense of affordable luxury and charm for the wearer. Today, the epicenter of the imitation pearl industry is Majorca, Spain.
Again, no two pearls are created equal.
Natural and cultured pearls vary drastically in everything from size and color, to luster, shape, and type. However, every aspect of a pearl is unique to it, making its value unique as well.
How to Clean Pearl Jewelry
How to Wear the Right Pearl Necklace with the Right Neckline
Which Pearls are the Best?
10 Fun Facts About Pearls
Choosing a Pearl
« Which Pearls are the Best?
How to Wear the Right Pearl Necklace with the Right Neckline » | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8165 |
__label__wiki | 0.572874 | 0.572874 | The Leadenhall Building
British Land | Oxford Properties
PRINCIPAL CONTRACTOR: Laing O’Rourke
ARCHITECT: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
STEELWORK CONTRACTOR: Severfield
PRE-CAST CONCRETE SUPPLIER: Explore Manufacturing
This 52-storey steel tower demonstrates off-site manufacture and architectural engineering to a degree rarely (if ever) seen in a commercial office building. Its primary structural system is fully external and unclad. Engineering and construction are celebrated throughout the building through the use of clear, integrated systems and legible, refined details. Structural innovations improved construction efficiency, with a solid pre-cast floor system eliminating wet concrete and external lift cores developed as volumetric prefabrications with integrated services. Sideways sway during construction was compensated by making retrospective adjustments to the primary bracing.
This tower demonstrates the best ideas in off-site manufacture and architectural engineering. Its primary structural system is fully exposed to view and legible as a series of clear construction components with a distinctive tapered diamond-grid structure. This, in combination with the tapering form on the skyline has earned it the nick-name “cheese grater”.
To counteract the tendency for the asymmetric building to lean to the north by up to 200mm on completion, adjustments were made during construction that would make it lean back the other way. The final tower is reassuringly vertical.
Use of pre-fabrication improved site safety, reduced air pollution and reduced waste.
The building is a pure expression of the structural system and provides inspiration for the public at ground level and on the London skyline. The architects now occupy one of the office floors. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8167 |
__label__cc | 0.728236 | 0.271764 | PCOM Library / Hot Topics in Research / Internal Medicine / Critical Care / Hot Topics: EEG Analysis Detects Hidden Consciousness
Hot Topics: EEG Analysis Detects Hidden Consciousness
Jackie Werner July 3, 2019 Critical Care, Hot Topics in Research
Detection of Brain Activation in Unresponsive Patients with Acute Brain Injury
Claassen J, Doyle K, Matory A, et al. Detection of brain activation in unresponsive patients with acute brain injury. New Engl Journal of Medicine. 2019;380(26):2497-2505. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1812757.
Brain activation in response to spoken motor commands can be detected by electroencephalography (EEG) in clinically unresponsive patients. The prevalence and prognostic importance of a dissociation between commanded motor behavior and brain activation in the first few days after brain injury are not well understood.
We studied a prospective, consecutive series of patients in a single intensive care unit who had acute brain injury from a variety of causes and who were unresponsive to spoken commands, including some patients with the ability to localize painful stimuli or to fixate on or track visual stimuli. Machine learning was applied to EEG recordings to detect brain activation in response to commands that patients move their hands. The functional outcome at 12 months was determined with the Glasgow Outcome Scale–Extended (GOS-E; levels range from 1 to 8, with higher levels indicating better outcomes).
A total of 16 of 104 unresponsive patients (15%) had brain activation detected by EEG at a median of 4 days after injury. The condition in 8 of these 16 patients (50%) and in 23 of 88 patients (26%) without brain activation improved such that they were able to follow commands before discharge. At 12 months, 7 of 16 patients (44%) with brain activation and 12 of 84 patients (14%) without brain activation had a GOS-E level of 4 or higher, denoting the ability to function independently for 8 hours (odds ratio, 4.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.2 to 17.1).
A dissociation between the absence of behavioral responses to motor commands and the evidence of brain activation in response to these commands in EEG recordings was found in 15% of patients in a consecutive series of patients with acute brain injury.
Hot Topics: Exercise in Older Adults Boosts Memory
Hot Topics: Primary Care Guidelines for Transgender Patients | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8172 |
__label__wiki | 0.797505 | 0.797505 | Home » Gangsta
No handicap to heroism: how anime portrays disability
In anime, disability is often either something to be overcome, or something which makes a character stronger. It extends the character’s bodily limits along with the [...]
The high life: drug use in anime
Like all art, anime is a reflection of the society that bore it, a means to echo its beliefs, traditions and behaviours. But in isolation, art alone is not enough to decode [...]
Gangsta manga prequel due for English release
December 7, 2016 // 4 Comments
Gangsta. author Kohske is back with a prequel to her hit neo-noir manga, one which explores the dark and often violent pasts of the characters we came to know in the [...]
Genocidal Organ film announces opening date
November 1, 2016 // 1 Comment
At the Tokyo International Film Festival, it was announced that the long-delayed Project Itoh movie Genocidal Organ has a new release date. It will now open in Japan on [...]
News: Persona 5 game’s prologue anime special previews A-1 Pictures animation in trailer
Aniplex have released a preview of the Persona 5 tie-in anime special Persona 5 the Animation -The Day Breakers-, revealing the TV one-shot’s main staff. The show [...]
Blue Exorcist anime unveils teaser video for Kyoto Impure King Arc
The official website for the Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujo O-hen (Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Impure King Arc) anime series had its grand opening today (July 4th), unveiling a [...]
Update: Mob Psycho 100 3rd promo previews extended clip of MOB CHOIR opening, Setsuo Ito’s lead performance
The official website for studio BONES’ anime of ONE’s Mob Psycho 100 released a commercial video for the series, featuring Takahiro Sakurai narrating as [...]
Project Itoh’s Genocidal Organ film slated for winter release
There were signs of movement earlier this year for the Project Itoh anime film Genocidal Organ when a new promo video was released back in March, but now there’s been [...]
News: Mob Psycho 100 anime announces premiere and theme songs
Warner Bros. Japan and Space Dandy studio BONES have released a new visual for this summer’s ONE anime adaptation, Mob Psycho 100. With its debut set for July 11th, [...]
Behind the Voice Actors Anime Awards announce 2015 winners
The site and community Behind the Voice Actors (BTVA) has dedicated itself to recognising the hard graft and artistic talent that professional voice actors put into their [...] | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8175 |
__label__cc | 0.645321 | 0.354679 | Benefits for donors
President's Appeal
History of the twins
CoCo Club and raffle
Reconstructing the legend that was, and will be, LMS 10000
Reconstructing the legend that was, and will be, LMS 10000Reconstructing the legend that was, and will be, LMS 10000Reconstructing the legend that was, and will be, LMS 10000
Stan Fletcher's Presidents Appeal
Stan Fletcher is President of this charity
Back in 1947 he was a commissioning engineer with English Electric for the London Midland & Scottish Railway’s new D16/1 design diesel loco 10000 and its twin 10001. They were Britain’s first successful main line diesel locomotives. Stan became involved when the loco was only a frame in the workshop in Derby. He accompanied the Twins during their trial runs on the Midland and West Coast main lines, including their first Royal Scot run on 1st June 1949.
Aged ninety-nine and turning 100 in March 2020, Stan is eager to see progress with the project to re-create 10000. Here, is his appeal to all Britain’s railway enthusiasts.
“ I look forward to the next stage of progress toward re-creating 10000. To achieve this we need parts from classes that are still in service are likely to be withdrawn soon. It is essential that we have the resources to obtain parts as they become available.
We also need sufficient money to purchase parts, restore and construct others and to certify the design. Would you please help me to raise these funds in my 100th year.
In October 2018 I was interviewed on video for the project’s benefit, sharing my memories of 10000 and my time with English Electric. You can find those recordings on our gallery page. "
update - january 2020
After a year of fundraising we have sent out a press release describe the urgent need for more donations to this Appeal:
We currently have a unique and one-off opportunity to obtain parts and spares to complete our ‘shopping list’ of major items for the construction of 10000.
This includes traction motors and a large quantity of bogie spares from Holland, cooler groups and electrical equipment including alternators. These items are available to us but only if we move quickly - its now or never.
That’s the good news. The issue is that all of this equipment needs to be moved in a short space of time, during which we are already financially committed to moving two power units, lifting, stripping and moving the bogies and chassis, getting our new sleeper coach ready for volunteer use and covering the ongoing costs for our new Centenary Works building. Combined, an additional £30,000 will be needed.
To take up these fantastic opportunities, we need to raise funds to lift and transport these large and heavy items within the limited time they are available to us. Some of the items have been offered as donations if we are able to fund the transport, and all are in dry stored or running condition.
Please help the LMS10000 Project in any way you can to allow us to take advantage of these once in a lifetime opportunities.
Donations can be made by single payment or monthly instalments.
All regular monthly donors are entitled to membership at no extra costs. You choose the rate you want to donate monthly. The average amount given is £10 a month. The more you donate the more benefits you accrue.
One off donations by cheque made out to the Ivatt Diesel Re-creation Society, 46 Biddick Village Centre, Washington, NE38 7NP, Direct banking to 30-94-77 50405860 or by Paypal via the website www.LMS10000.co.uk/donate
What do you get for your donation?
There are lots of benefits available to donors, from discounted tickets to a driver experience package. The more you donate, the bigger the benefits. Click on the button to find out more.
Responding to Stan's appeal
Set up a Standing Order
Click this link to download the Standing Order form along with Gift Aid form.
Make a lump sum payment
Your donation can be made to the Ivatt Diesel re-creation Society's account 30-94-77 50405860
Or send a cheque to IDRS, 46 Biddick Village Centre, Washington, NE38 7NP
5 videos have been released, covering interviewsFollow this link to listen to Stan talk about his experiences.
Donate once via Paypal
Click the box below to 'pay a friend' using the email ivattdiesel@gmail.com
Watch the 1949 BBC video
Stan is the younger of two engineers boarding 10000 at Euston on the 1st of June 1949 for the twins' inaugrual Royal Scot.
Copyright © 2019 Ivatt Diesel Recreation Society - All Rights Reserved. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8183 |
__label__wiki | 0.66398 | 0.66398 | Languages and Fields of Study
Keyword Search of middleeast
Study Abroad and Internships
Department Awards
Info Sessions and Campus Visits
Advising Appointments
First Year @ U-M
PhD Program Funding
PhD Program Requirements
MA in Arabic Studies Admissions
PhD Program Areas of Study
MA in Arabic Studies Program Requirements
MES Alumni Profiles
Iranian Studies
Summer Language Institute
Armenian Studies
Hebrew and Judaic Studies
Mesopotamian Studies
The University of Michigan offers a program in Iranian Studies that is exceptional for its breadth and depth. In tandem with three years of language instruction, the curriculum provides a tiered approach that first introduces students to major areas of study—Persian literature from the 11th to the 21st century, Iranian mythology and epic, religious and devotional writing, the visual arts, history and politics, and contemporary poetry, prose, and cinema—followed by upper-level courses that focus on specific texts, authors, and topics in the field. The latter courses expose students to critical ways of reading, research, and analysis, while allowing them to apply their language skills to read historical and literary texts in the original Persian. Students who opt for a concentration in Iranian Studies will graduate having achieved a robust and comprehensive foundation in the language, history, and culture of the broader Iranian world. For more information about Persian and Iranian studies at U-M, click here.
Iranian studies courses can be found in the LSA Course Guide under the subject "MIDEAST," while Persian language courses are listed in the LSA Course Guide under the subject "PERSIAN." Please note that Iranian studies course offerings vary by semester. Please contact the department at middle.east.studies@umich.edu with any questions.
4111 South Thayer Building
202 South Thayer Street
middle.east.studies@umich.edu | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8185 |
__label__cc | 0.69245 | 0.30755 | Castle Ward Newsletter September 2019
Posted on 12th September 2019 (17th September 2019) by kateretout
News from Councillors Lucy Bywater & Ben Foley (Green Party councillors for Castle ward), September 2019
Homelesssness
I met with JustUS Homeless support and advocacy charity. We’re planning on doing their Homelessness Law training coming up to better understand the Council’s legal responsibility and how we can help local homelessness families in trouble. The registration fees from Castle Jumble Trail stalls are also being donated. See their website: https://bedfordhomeless.org.uk/organisations/justus/
We also met with the Kings Arms Project (celebrating their 30 th year this year) who, amongst many other things, run the night shelter in Clarendon Street as well as transition ‘move on’ housing and pathways to employment & training. They’d love local businesses to accept more homeless people as volunteers to help them gain confidence and skills. https://www.kingsarmsproject.org/ They also flagged up the community sponsorship of refugee families. Have a look at https://resetuk.org/
Continuing the austerity theme, we visited the Food Bank depot. They provide emergency food packages to about 600 people each month, two thirds being adults. So far this year, that includes 825 people from Castle ward. They have enough volunteers at the moment (about 100 regulars) and are grateful for food donations at supermarket exits, but funding is always an issue for their overheads. A new fundraising appeal starts very soon.
Midland Road Action Group
We had a really positive meeting with agencies who all share the goals of improving Midland Road Area for residents and businesses, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, improving safety and wellbeing, strengthening community and helping local people feel pride in their area. This was not a talking shop but about concrete proposals which we support. More news soon. Ben and I also started the first of regular walks of the area with the Environment team looking particularly at litter, fly tipping and vandalism. Proactive work by the team, with other departments, is showing improvements on this score.
Bedford BID (‘Love Bedford’)
We met with Sam and Christina at Bedford Bid, funded by 600 businesses, to talk about the town centre, challenges for business (such as thefts and begging) and the refurbishment of the Harpur Centre. The vote on renewing the BID comes up in October.
Companions Bread Community Interest Company
I met with Nigel and Sue from Companions Bread café, to hear about their excellent work with ex-offenders who gain vital skills and support to rebuild their lives. Their ethos is based on ‘honest bread’ (real sour dough, nothing artificial) and ‘honest lives’. They have a fundraiser on September 20th with Rebecca deWinter, and raffle prizes are welcome! https://companionsrealbread.uk/
Green Business Network meeting, with BCCF
We met with Jane Varley of the Green Business Network alongside Bedfordshire Climate Change Forum to talk about the funding challenges to the network which helps businesses (currently about in terms of carbon reduction, sustainability and risk management due to the climate crisis. They currently run monthly seminars for businesses. We’ve arranged for the GBN to meet with us and the Council to see how we can support and expand the network into next year. http://www.gbnbedfordshire.org.uk/
Russell Park walkabout
I went on a walk with a Cranfield University soil scientist and a local wildlife expert to map possible areas in Russell Park area which could be used for sewing wildflower mixes, talking also about engaging locals about biodiversity, invertebrates and how ‘tidy’ is not always healthy for wildlife or for us. Hope to have more news on that soon.
Local Crime
In August Ben and I joined the Joint Action Group at Lime Street police station, discussing local crime and related issues with BPHA, town centre security and Bedford Homeless Partnership. We’re still gathering info on drug dealing in behalf of residents (anonymously) which we are sharing with community policing team on a regular basis. OR we recommend, rather than a potentially frustrating time on hold (calling 101) that people report ALL non-emergency crime online: https://www.bedfordshire.police.uk/report/Report Police are stressing the need to report.
Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association (BPHA)
We had a useful walk at the beginning of the month of BPHA properties close to the town centre, hearing from Angela and Kim about the issues and challenges, residents’ safety and wellbeing and the crucial issue of engagement with BPHA residents. At the end of the month we were invited to BPHA’s Manton Height offices to look at planned proposals for a big refurb of Ashburnham Court
(opposite the station), and how residents are being consulted on the improvements.
Town Centre Plan consultation
We need a town centre genuinely fit for the future, in terms of affordable housing, better public transport, air quality, low carbon, sustainable local businesses (but less retail, for which there is less demand) and which enables and encourages walking and cycling for the able bodied. Ben went along to the consultation session at The Higgins. Make sure you have your say by 27th September. https://forms.bedford.gov.uk/TCS/
Greyfriars Police Station redevelopment
We commented on the plans for the police station redevelopment. While we welcome more town centre housing, especially not just one-bed flats, we have reservations about the outdoor space, proposed retail at the rear and the parking spaces.
Paving repairs in Castle
We’ve reported specific details on a lot of unsafe paving across Castle ward which is a hazard especially to the elderly or disabled. Several spots have already been repaired, at least temporarily, such as Alexandra Road, for example, where vehicles on the pavement had caused slabs to break and tip causing injuries reported by two residents. Rothsay Road north section has also been scheduled for work now.
Network Rail and Ashburnham Road footpath
Ben was concerned on seeing Network Rail work on the pavement near the station car park which was effectively pushing pedestrians right onto the busy road. He complained and quickly got signage improved.
We hold monthly councillor advice surgeries on the first Saturday of each month. Next one is Saturday October 7th the foyer downstairs at Bedford Central Library, 11am-1pm. (If you’d like to suggest another suitable venue within Castle ward which we could perhaps alternate with our library venue, please get in touch). You can email us on lucy.bywater@bedford.gov.uk & ben.foley@bedford.gov.uk You can also find general information on the local Green Party website: https://lutonandbeds.greenparty.org.uk/
You can also report some routine local problems that need fixing via the Borough website: https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/website-information/Pay-Report-Request/
Castle Ward includes most of the town centre and adjoining areas - it stretches from the railway to York Street (inclusive) and from Bromham Road/Goldington Road south to Rope Walk and St John's roundabout.
Castle Ward Newsletter August 2019New Venue for Castle Councillor Surgeries
One thought on “Castle Ward Newsletter September 2019”
Gary Stratford says:
Keep Up the good work – we appreciate it | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8187 |
__label__cc | 0.522344 | 0.477656 | Songs by Duran Duran
Sampled Songs
Featured in Video Game
Downloadable Track in Video Game
Number-One Hits in Belgium
Number-One Hits in Ireland
Number-One Hits in the Netherlands
Number-One Hits in the United Kingdom
Number-One Hits in the United States
Duran Duran:The Reflex Lyrics
This song is by Duran Duran and appears…
on the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983)
on the compilation album Greatest (1998)
on the compilation Now That's What I Call Music! Decades: The Deluxe Edition (2003)
This song has been covered by Less Than Jake under the title "The Reflex".
This song has been sampled by "Weird Al" Yankovic in the song "Hooked on Polkas".
This song is featured in the video games Dance Dance Revolution Extreme and Saints Row 2.
This song is available as a downloadable track for the video game Rock Band 4.
Watch video at YouTubeoDnNF5cHCdo|209|252
You've gone too far this time
But I'm dancing on the Valentine
I tell you somebody's fooling around
With my chances on the danger line
I'll cross that bridge when I find it
Another day to make my stand, oh whoa
High time is no time for deciding
If I should find a helping hand, oh whoa
Oh, why don't you use it?
Try not to bruise it
Buy time, don't lose it
The reflex is an only child
He's waiting by the park
The reflex is in charge of finding
Treasure in the dark
And watching over lucky clover
Isn't that bizarre?
Every little thing the reflex does
Leaves you answered with a question mark
I'm on a ride and I wanna get off
But they won't slow down the roundabout
I sold the Renoir and the TV set
Don't wanna be around when this gets out
So why don't you use it?
Why-y-y-y-y why why why-y-y (yeah)
Why-y-y-y-y don't you use it?
He's waiting in the park
Leaves an answer with a question mark
Leaves me answered with a question mark
Ah, the reflex, what a game
He's hiding all the cards
Simon Le Bon / Nick Rhodes
/ Nile Rodgers
/ Andy Taylor / John Taylor / Roger Taylor
iTunes: buy The Reflex
Amazon: buy The Reflex
Hype Machine: search for… Duran Duran • The Reflex
Last.fm: search for… Duran Duran • Seven and the Ragged Tiger • The Reflex
Pandora: search for… Duran Duran • The Reflex
Spotify: search for… Duran Duran • Seven and the Ragged Tiger • The Reflex
YouTube: The Reflex
AllMusic: The Reflex
MusicBrainz: The Reflex
Retrieved from "https://lyrics.fandom.com/wiki/Duran_Duran:The_Reflex?oldid=32299751" | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8189 |
__label__wiki | 0.702676 | 0.702676 | Fiftieth volume of Pokémon Adventures to be released
Special limited edition available
Reported on Bulbanews by Zesty Cactus
[url=//m.bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Fiftieth_volume_of_Pok%C3%A9mon_Adventures_to_be_released] Fiftieth volume of Pokémon Adventures to be released[/url]
<a href="//m.bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Fiftieth_volume_of_Pok%C3%A9mon_Adventures_to_be_released"> Fiftieth volume of Pokémon Adventures to be released</a>
The cast of the Black & White chapter, featured in the volume
On March 25, 2014, the fiftieth volume of the Pokémon Adventures manga series is due to be released in Japan. The series, known as ポケットモンスターSPECIAL Pocket Monsters SPECIAL in Japanese, is created by 日下秀憲 Hidenori Kusaka and 山本サトシ Satoshi Yamamoto. It began publication in 1997 and is one of the longest-running Pokémon manga to be created.
The fiftieth volume will be available in two different versions - a regular edition (ISBN 9784091417084) and a special limited edition (ISBN 9784091591852). The special limited edition will be bundled with a 64-page collection of colour illustrations. As cover artwork for neither version has been revealed yet, it is unknown if there will be any cover artwork differences.
On the same date, Shogakukan will also be releasing a graphic novel collection of the manga Pokémon - The Legend of the Dragon King (ISBN 409141737X) in Japan. This manga, created by 石井敬士 Takashi Ishii, is the first new manga series featuring characters from Generation VI. It features the adventures of a Pokémon Trainer, Akira, and his Charizard.
Also due for release in March are the English translations of Pokémon Adventures volume 45 (ISBN 1421561786), released by VIZ Media as volume three of their "Pokémon Adventures: Black & White" series; and Pokémon Adventures volume 21 (ISBN 1421535556), the latest volume of the Ruby & Sapphire chapter to be released by VIZ Media. Both volumes are scheduled for North American release on March 4, 2014.
Pokémon Adventures volume 21 cover
Retrieved from "https://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/w/index.php?title=Fiftieth_volume_of_Pokémon_Adventures_to_be_released&oldid=50935" | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8190 |
__label__wiki | 0.565603 | 0.565603 | Black Panther (2016-2018) #172
Klaw and his allies have brought Wakanda to the brink of destruction. To seal the deal, Klaw has summoned a powerful Marvel foe not seen in years. But Black Panther isn't done fighting yet. He still has a secret weapon: his ex-wife.
Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates Vol. 2 Collection
Rise of the Black Panther (2018)
Collects Rise Of The Black Panther #1-6. The secret origin of T’Challa, the Black Panther! Wakanda has always kept itself isolated from Western society, but that’s about to change. Young T’Challa knows he’s destined to become king, but when his father is murdered by outsiders, he finds himself taking up a mantle he may not be ready for. Experience the troubled reign of King T’Chaka! D
Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold band together to take on a dangerous wave of street-level threats in this new ongoing series by co-writers Ta-Nehisi Coates (New York Times best-selling author of Between the World and Me and Marvel's Black Panther) and Yona Harvey (Black Panther: World of Wakanda) and legendary artist Butch Guice! The death of a Harlem activist kicks off
Black Panther (2018-)
Collects Black Panther (2018) #1-6. A bold new direction for the Black Panther! For years, T'Challa has protected Wakanda from all invaders. Now, he will discover that his kingdom is much bigger than he ever dreamed. Across the vast Multiverse lies an empire founded in T'Challa's name. Readers caught a glimpse of it in MARVEL LEGACY #1. Now learn the truth behind the Intergalactic Empire of Wak | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8191 |
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Oklahoma Gazette
Special Issues » Pet Gazette
Pet Gazette: Home to roost
Local rescue Milo’s Barn provides a safe space for miniature horses and other farm animals.
by Jo Light
Jo Light
Animals who now live at Milo’s Barn include llamas, pigs, goats and Milo the miniature horse.
Milo’s Barn is a wooded hideaway that feels far removed from the urban sprawl, tucked away near a creek on acres of untouched land in northeastern Oklahoma City.
Any visitor to the property is immediately greeted with bright eyes, wagging tails or sniffing noses because this local nonprofit houses an estimated 68 rescued animals, including miniature horses, pigs, goats, llamas, dogs, chickens and more.
Laurie Anderson has been running the rescue for about five years. She built a house and animal facilities on her parents’ land. She and her two children, Cooper and Emersen, share their home with several dogs, a kitten and one happy pig named Georgie.
One of her recent puppies, a Doberman named Henry, is even a bit of a local celebrity. He was featured in an Aug. 12 KOCO Channel 5 news segment after his rescue and recovery from a gunshot wound. He had to relearn to walk and now is a bouncy and playful pup.
Anderson is passionate about animal welfare and left a career as a restaurateur to build the rescue.
“It just kind of took off,” Anderson said. “I get to do what I love, and I feel super lucky.”
Milo’s Barn officially became a nonprofit organization this summer, and Anderson runs things almost entirely on her own. Donations help her care for animals like Henry, who she said needed roughly $1,000 worth of veterinary care.
“Most of my animals come off of kill lots,” Anderson said, “anywhere from Louisiana [and] Texas to Oklahoma.”
“Kill lot” in this context is the place where farms or petting zoos sell their unwanted or senior animals. There, they have a final chance to be sold to a loving home before being sent to slaughter. Rescues like Milo’s Barn often try to purchase these animals — or, as rescuers say, pay their bail to grant them freedom.
As part of her outreach, Anderson sometimes visits local schools with one of her smaller animals, and she said now kids in OKC know her as the “horse lady” or the “pig lady.”
“What I do is I go around to elementary schools and I teach kids about compassion and commitment with animals,” Anderson said. “You know, that you can’t throw them away, that they’re living and loving.”
Anderson interacts gently with her rescues, all of which have clever names and distinct personalities. For instance, whenever Anderson leaves the house, Birdie the goat comes over and trails quietly at her heels wherever she goes. In one pen, miniature horse Bea 2 is recovering from equine distemper (or “strangles”) and therefore is quarantined, but she has Red the hen for company. Chickens, ducks and turkeys roam freely. There’s a constant farmyard din of cheerful clucks and gobbles.
A llama, three alpacas and one miniature llama occupy a shaded area while a larger corral holds horses of different sizes, several curious goats, pigs that will happily sit for treats, relaxed donkeys and a gentle cow named Clarabelle. They cluster around the fence as Anderson approaches, eager to greet her.
Stella, a towering 20-year-old draft horse from an Amish farm in North Dakota, is one of the newest additions at the rescue. Upon arriving, the large mare stepped on Anderson’s foot and fractured a few of her bones, but she expressed nothing but love for “the sweetest animal” she has. She’s a couple hundred pounds underweight, so Anderson is working on getting her fully recovered.
Milo the miniature horse also hangs out with this menagerie. He was Anderson’s earliest rescue, and now he’s the star of her first children’s book, too. Milo’s Barn follows a fictionalized account of Anderson’s daughter finding and saving Milo from an unhappy life. The book is the first in a series of five.
Anderson has several events scheduled, including book signings 10 a.m. Saturday at Woodsman Trading Company, 9705 N. May Ave.; 10 a.m. Sept. 15 at Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave.; and 10 a.m. Sept. 22 at Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway. Milo will also be in attendance.
Anderson hopes to open up 30 more acres for the animals and eventually build a wood barn to house them. She will continue to take in animals and educate children about caring for them. She said she’s happy to have volunteers help around the rescue because something always needs building or fixing. The animals, she said, wouldn’t mind either.
“They love attention,” Anderson said, as turkeys, chickens, dogs and Birdie the goat followed her across the yard.
Visit milosbarnokc.com.
Pet Gazette Milo's Barn Oklahoma City pigs goats llamas dogs chickens miniature horses Laurie Anderson
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__label__wiki | 0.991651 | 0.991651 | Taronga Wildlife Hospital Tour
‘No food, no shelter’: Dire future for wildlife survivors
by Sonia Kohlbacher
THE sheer magnitude of plant and animal species potentially wiped off the face of Australia by unrivalled bushfires is unknown.
But when the fires that have torn through a combined area almost as big as England eventually ease, scientists fear a brutal outcome.
Most of the animals that escaped the unprecedented crisis will eventually perish.
"Even the animals that haven't immediately been killed from the fires and the smoke, most of those that are displaced will eventually die," Professor Martine Maron said.
Veterinarians at Taronga Zoo's Wildlife Hospital are working hard to help rehabilitate animals that have been dispersed or affected bushfires. Pictures: Toby Zerna
Predators like foxes and cats will thrive, buoyed by easy pickings and room to move.
Prof Maron, from the University of Queensland's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said surviving wildlife will either starve or be eaten.
"For a lot of our fauna, it will mean there are no food resources, no shelter, for a long time in some cases, while these areas recover," she said.
"The problem is there aren't a lot of unburnt refuges through these areas, and of course, where there are unburnt areas of habitat, there are already other animals there using it.
The fires have claimed at least one billion animals, according to University of Sydney environmental sciences professor Chris Dickman.
That figure only takes in birds, reptiles and mammals, excluding bats, frogs, insects and other invertebrates.
It is being described as conservative, as government officials and non- government experts rush to map the real toll.
Some of Australia's leading conservation groups fear a catastrophic impact on endemic plants and fauna including koalas, the glossy black cockatoo, regent honeyeater and long-footed potoroo.
"This is not an exhaustive list, it is literally the tip of the iceberg," Australian Conservation Foundation's James Trezise said.
"The reality is going to be quite brutal."
Ecosystems that rely on many parts working together could collapse.
"We've got almost 2000 threatened species and ecosystems in Australia … let alone the other species that aren't listed as threatened, that meet that threatened criteria after these events," Mr Trezise said.
"So what we're going to see is new threatened species emerge out of this as well."
There were just 38 eastern bristlebirds left before the fires, and Birdlife Australia's head of conservation, Samantha Vine, is clinging to a tiny piece of good news.
"We know that some of the habitat in Queensland's been impacted, but I've just heard today that it sounds like a lot of their stronghold in New South Wales was spared," she said.
While the governments, scientists and communities come to grips with the immediate aftermath of the fires, an unknown flow-on affect will lurk.
"It's really important that the science gets out there so that it is understood by everybody just how widespread the impact of these sorts of events are," Professor Maron said.
"The good sign is, I think that message really is getting through, and people are pushing hard for a positive response, to try to help things to recover from this immediate event, and to put things in place to prevent the worst."
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What You Should Know About DHEA
Dear Dr. Dean:
I wonder if you could comment on this, which I found on the Internet:
“For those taking DHEA, if you're not having regular PSA tests, you're committing suicide. Dead serious. If you have any prostate cancer cells in your body, as one in six older men do, the DHEA, which is a precursor for testosterone, will cause the cancer cells to grow and multiply.”
Paul, Gardnerville, NV
Thanks. This is an important question, which I will deal with here at some length. Misinformation, such as you have found is all over the Internet — and is unfortunately the prevailing belief shared by many in “mainstream medicine.”
Fig 1. Decline of DHEA-S with age.3
(click on thumbnail for full sized image)
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is the most abundant steroid hormone in the body. It is also one of the most significant age-related biomarkers, which predictably declines with age in even the healthiest of people (Figure 1). Abnormally low levels of DHEA have been reported to be related to a number of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, coronary artery disease, obesity, and Alzheimer’s. Conversely, supplemental DHEA has been reported in study after study to have immunoregulatory, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, anti-obesity and anti-stress activity, and to be involved in the prevention of atherosclerosis, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.1-2
Nevertheless, a controversy which plagues many physicians, their patients, and consumers who are considering whether to add DHEA to their supplement regimens involves whether men with prostate disease — either benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) or prostate cancer—should take DHEA? This question stems from the much-speculated possibility that DHEA could aggravate both conditions, based on the belief that DHEA is converted in the body into testosterone, and that testosterone and/or its metabolite, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), causes or worsens BPH and prostate cancer. Let’s examine each of these issues separately and review some of the laboratory and clinical studies that are relevant to these questions.
Prostate Size (and Incidence of BPH) Increases with Age
Fig 2. Incidence of BPH in men with age.4
BPH is a common affliction of men over 50. The incidence of BPH progressively increases with age (Figure 2).4 Symptoms that indicate the presence of BPH include (1) hesitation of urination, (2) a reduction in urinary force, (3) dribbling at the end of urination, and (4) nocturia (getting up one or more times during the night to urinate). In severe cases, it can cause complete urinary obstruction! These symptoms are due to compression of the urethra as it passes from the bladder through the prostate gland. Large-scale autopsy studies confirm that prostate size increases significantly with age, in parallel with the severity of symptoms.5
Is Prostatic Hypertrophy or Prostate Cancer Caused by too Much or too Little Testosterone?
Fig 3. Changes in total testosterone levels in men with age.6
Conventional medical dogma holds that both prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer are due to androgenic hormones—especially testosterone. Consequently, standard medical therapy for these conditions includes blocking testosterone and dihydrotestosterone formation by drugs, avoiding testosterone replacement, or even orchiectomy in advanced cases of prostate cancer (surgical removal of the testicles).
I have never been convinced that testosterone was necessarily the “bad guy.” Testosterone, like DHEA, drops progressively with age in men (Figure 3).6 Consequently, it did not seem logical that diseases which increase in incidence with age were caused by a hormone that progressively decreases with age. Dr. William Campbell Douglass, a pioneer in alternative medicine, agreed with me that: “… testosterone has been proven to be protective against cancer [and] it has been suggested that testosterone is contraindicated in men with cancer of the prostate. In view of the hormone’s protective effect in other cancers, I doubt the validity of this supposition.”7
A small crack in the time-honored dogma that testosterone was the cause of prostate hypertrophy and prostate cancer was published in 1994.8 Dr. Herman M. Behre and colleagues studied nearly 200 hypogonadal men divided into four groups: control; 250 mg testosterone enanthate intramuscular injections every 2–3 weeks; 80–120 mg per day of oral testosterone undecanoate; or a scrotal patch providing 10–15 mg per day of testosterone. After six months’ treatment, the researchers reported that, “No epidemiological data indicate an increased incidence of prostate cancer in testosterone-treated hypogonadal patients compared to normal men. In addition, the present clinical study is the first report showing that testosterone treatment of hypogonadal men even with preparations leading to supraphysiological testosterone serum levels increases prostate volume and PSA levels only to a range comparable to that in age-matched normal men.” They concluded that a testosterone-induced increase in prostate volume should not preclude hypogonadal men from necessary testosterone substitution therapy.
The crack was widened in 1997 with a shocking report in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a Harvard-trained urologist, and his colleagues.9 They reported on a surprisingly high incidence of prostate cancer in men (diagnosed by biopsy) who had normal PSA, normal rectal exams, but low testosterone (which should have been protective, if current concepts were correct). Since then, Dr. Morgentaler has published a steady stream of articles in high quality medical journals, to dispel what he terms a modern myth.10
By 2007, Dr. Morgentaler confidently proclaimed that, “the long-standing fear of stimulating prostate cancer with testosterone is without a scientific basis.” He documented that, “approximately 15% of hypogonadal men with a PSA 4.0 ng/ml or less have biopsy-detectable cancer, and that the risk of cancer increases for men with more severe reductions in testosterone. Low levels of testosterone are also associated with high-grade prostate cancer, higher stage at presentation, and worse prognosis.11[Emphases added]
In a paper in 2009, Dr. Morgentaler reiterated that, “T therapy may not be nearly as risky as once assumed.” In support of this statement, he reviewed more than 20 English language longitudinal studies that investigated the relationship between serum testosterone and the risk of developing prostate cancer. He reviewed a global collaboration of data from 18 of these studies, which comprised approximately 95% of the existent data on this topic. The studies involved 3,886 men with prostate cancer and 6,438 men without cancer as age-matched controls. The results were definitive — “no relationship was seen between prostate cancer risk and serum concentrations of testosterone, free testosterone, DHT, or other androgenic measures (including DHEA).”[Emphasis added]12
Is DHEA Converted into Testosterone in Men?
Fig 4. Conversion of DHEA into other steroid hormones.
Of course, the major reasons for the concern about DHEA supplements in men is (1) the (apparently erroneous) beliefs that testosterone causes BPH and prostate cancer; and (2) because DHEA is a precursor of testosterone (Figure 4), consuming DHEA supplements in a physiological dose may abnormally raise testosterone levels (and thus cause BPH or prostate cancer).
Fig 5. Effect of nightly oral dose of 50 mg DHEA on androgen levels (testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and androstenedione in men and women), compared with placebo. Note the significant increases in androgen levels in women and the lack of effect on these levels in men.13
While DHEA may raise testosterone levels in women, who very efficiently convert it to testosterone, this does not appear to be true for men. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, performed a study on 13 men and 17 women, ranging from 40–70 years of age. These subjects were given 50 mg of DHEA orally every night for six-months. The scientists reported that testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and androstenedione were doubledin women—bringing these levels into the physiological range for young women. In men, however, only androstenedione levels increased slightly, while testosterone and dihydrotestosterone levels were unchanged (Figure 5).13 Clearly, it appears that physiological doses of DHEA [i.e., doses that restore DHEA and DHEA-S (DHEA-Sulfate) levels to those of youthful men and women] do not significantly elevate testosterone in men.
Fig 6. Changes in DHEA, DHEA-S, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and androstenedione after 400 mg oral DHEA in a 72 year-old man. DHEA-S, mcg/dl. All others, ng/dl.14
On the other hand, when pharmacologic doses of DHEA are administered (i.e., doses that are far in excess of those required to restore levels to those of healthy young adults), testosterone and DHT levels do increase significantly. For example, in one elderly man, to whom 400 mg of DHEA was administered, significant and rapid rises were noted in DHEA, DHEA-S, testosterone and DHT (Figure 6).14
Does DHEA Promote Prostate Cancer Cell Growth?
To answer this question, scientists at the New York University Medical Center, Tuxedo, NY, studied the effect of DHEA on the proliferation of (1) three human prostate cancer cell lines, and (2) cell cultures of rat prostate carcinomas. They reported that DHEA inhibited growth of the human prostate cancer cell lines by approximately 10%, 25%, and 80% at concentrations of 1, 10, and 22.5 µg/ml, respectively. DHEA also inhibited growth of rat prostate carcinoma cultures (media with 50 nM testosterone [T]), by 11–40% at 1 µg/ml, 25–54% at10 ug/ml, and 55–77% at 22.5 µg/ml. The scientists concluded that: (1) DHEA inhibits growth of human and rat prostate cancer cells in a dose-related fashion; (2) DHEA acts as a chemopreventive agent by direct growth inhibition of prostate cancer cells; and (3) DHEA should be considered for further research for prostate cancer chemoprevention in humans.15
More recently, scientists in Turkey evaluated the effects of long-term administration of DHEA-S on 15 rats, compared to 15 age-matched controls. They administered 5 mg/kgof oral DHEA-S to each rat, 5 days/week, for 6 months (this is equivalent to a whopping pharmacological dose of 350–400 mg per day for 20–30 years for humans). At that high dose, the total testosterone was (not unexpectedly) twice that of the age-matched controls (paralleling the findings of Roberts, and colleagues, above), and DHEA-S levels were 35–38 times higher than the unsupplemented controls. Nevertheless, despite the prolonged administration of these massive doses of DHEA-S to the rats, the scientists found that long-term DHEA-S use did not cause adverse effects on the prostate and testis in rats; and by contrast, it protected the prostate from atrophy.16
What about Serum DHEA Levels in Patients with Prostate Cancer?
Physicians at the Department of Urology, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology at Humboldt University Medical School in Berlin, Germany, found that DHEA levels in patients with prostate cancer were significantly lower than healthy controls.17 The authors conceded that similar findings of low DHEA levels in prostate cancer patients had previously been reported by scientists in Hungary more than twenty years prior to their own findings.18
Dr. George W. Comstock, a professor of the Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, studied the relationship of DHEA and DHEA-S to cancer of the prostate. This retrospective study involved blood samples taken from 25,000 men from Washington County, Maryland in 1974. Between 1974 and 1987, 103 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed among the donors to the serum bank who were reported to the Washington County Cancer Registry. Compared to age-matched case controls, the researchers found that those with prostate cancer had levels of DHEA and DHEA-S that were 11% lower than those who did not have prostate cancer. The authors concluded that not only has DHEA been shown to have a protective effect against tumors in animals, but that it is “unlikely that [high] serum levels of DHEA or DHEA-S are important risk factors for prostate cancer.”19
In a recent review of the still-prevalent but counterintuitive view that high testosterone is risky for prostate cancer, and low testosterone is protective, Morgentaler discussed the more recent work of himself and others. He insisted that the prevailing concept never made much sense, and was contradicted by the inescapable fact that prostate cancer (especially high-grade prostate cancer) becomes increasingly prevalent with age, and age is associated with low testosterone. He added that if BPH were caused by high testosterone, then prostate cancer and BPH would primarily affect men in the teens and twenties, when testosterone is at lifetime highs. Morgentaler proposed that it was time to change the paradigm, and focus on the likelihood that low testosterone is associated with high-risk prostate cancer, and that low testosterone is not protective. He concluded that “After 7 decades of circumstantial evidence pointing us in the wrong direction, it is time to consider the once unthinkable: a testosterone therapy trial of sufficient size and duration to determine whether normalization of serum testosterone in older men may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, particularly high-risk prostate cancer.”20
From the above review, the following conclusions appear to be clear:
The incidence of prostate disease increases with age
Testosterone and DHEA levels decrease with age.
Physiologic replacement doses of DHEA do not raise testosterone levels in men to supraphysiologic levels.
DHEA inhibits growth of human and rat prostate cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner— i.e., the higher the concentration of DHEA, the greater the inhibition of growth!
Patients with prostate cancer have lower levels of DHEA and DHEA-S than age-matched controls, as confirmed by many independent studies.
DHEA and testosterone are not contraindicated, and, in fact, should be considered for the therapy of prostate disease.
Bottom line, I believe the benefits far outweigh any potential risks — and recommend that all of us who are growing older include DHEA in our supplement regimens to maintain healthy youthful levels of DHEA.
I hope this answers your question.
Ward Dean, M.D.
Kalimi M, Regelson W, eds. The Biologic Role of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1990.
Bellino FL, Daynes RA, Hornsby PJ, Lavrin DH, Nestler JE, eds. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and Aging. Vol 774. New York: NY Acad Sci; 1995.
Orentreich N, Brind JL, Rizer RL, Vogelman VH. Age changes and sex differences in serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate concentrations throughout adulthood. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1984 Sep;59(3):551-5.
Oesterling JE. The origin and development of benign prostatic hyperplasia: an age-dependent process. J Androl. 1991: 12(6):348-55.
Macfarlane MT. Prevalence, etiology and pathophysiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Recent Advances in the Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia. 1992, UCLA Extension.
Belanger A, Candas B, Dupont A, et al. Changes in serum concentrations of conjugated and unconjugated steroids in 40 to 80 year-old men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1994 Oct;79(4):1086-90.
Douglass WC. A neglected hormone—testosterone for men and women, Part I. Second Opinion. 1995;3:1-5.
Behre HM, Bohmeyer J, Nieschlag E. Prostate volume in testosterone-treated and untreated hypogonadal men in comparison to age-matched normal controls. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1994 Mar;40(3):341-9.
Morgentaler A, Bruning CO 3rd, DeWolf WC. Occult prostate cancer in men with low serum testosterone levels. JAMA. 1996 Dec 18;276(23):1904-6.
Morgentaler A. Testosterone and prostate cancer: an historical perspective on a modern myth. Eur Urol. 2006;50:935-9.
Morgentaler A. Commentary: Guideline for male testosterone therapy: A clinician’s perspective. J Clin Endocrinology & Metab. 2007;92(2):416-7.
Morgentaler, A. Rapidly Shifting Concepts Regarding Androgens and Prostate Cancer. ScientificWorldJournal. 2009 Jul 27;9:685-90.
Yen SSC, Morales,AJ, Khorram O. Replacement of DHEA in aging men and women. In: Bellino FL, Daynes RA, Hornsby PJ, Lavrin DH, Nestler JE, eds. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and Aging. Vol 774. New York: NY Acad Sci. 1995:128-42.
Roberts E, Fitten LJ. Serum steroid levels in two old men with Alzheimers disease (AD) before, during and after oral administration of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). In: Kalimi M., Regelson W, eds. The Biologic Role of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter;1990:43-63.
Voermans C, Condon MS, Bosland MC. Growth inhibition by dehydroepiandrosterone of human prostate cancer cell lines and primary epithelial cultures of rat prostate carcinomas (meeting abstract). Proc Annu Meet Am Assoc Cancer Res. 1996;37:A1933.
Sah C, Aridogan I, Izol V, et al. Effects of Long-Term Administration of the Antiaging Hormone Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate on Rat Prostates and Testes as Androgen-Dependent Organs. Korean J Urol. 2013 Mar;54(3):199-203.
Stahl F, Schnorr D, Pilz C, Dorner G. Dehydroepiandrosterone levels in patients with prostatic cancer, heart diseases and surgery under stress. Exp Clin Endocrinol. 1992;99:68-70.
Feher T, Koref O, Szendroi Z, Csellar M. Androgen metabolites in blood of patients with Prostatic Carcinoma. Int Urology and Nephrology. 1970; 2(2):163-9.
Comstock GW, Gordon GB, Hsing AW. The Relationship of Serum Dehydroepiandrosterone and its Sulfate to Subsequent Cancer of the Prostate. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1993;2(3):219-21.
Morgentaler A. Turning conventional wisdom upside-down: low serum testosterone and high-risk prostate cancer. Cancer. 2011 Sep 1;117(17):3885-8.
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__label__wiki | 0.972359 | 0.972359 | China’s popular Ming phones get Android makeover
Aug 30, 2010 — by Eric Brown — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 1 views
Motorola announced three Android versions of its popular “Ming” family of flip-phones, again aimed at the Chinese market. The new low- to mid-range Ming line-up includes the Android 2.1-based XT806 for China Telecom's CDMA-2000 network, the Android 1.6-based A1680 for China Unicom's WCDMA, and the MT810 for China Mobile's TD-SCDMA, running the Android-based OPhone.
According to Motorola, more than five million Ming devices have been sold in China. Along with similar Motorola phones such as the Razr and Rokr families, both available in the U.S., the Ming drove the boom in Linux handsets in the 2005-2008 period. That winning streak now appears to have subsided under the onslaught of the Linux-based Android.
Motorola launched its first Linux-based Ming phone — the popular A1200 (pictured) — in China in 2006, and followed up with models such as the A1600 in 2008. That same year Motorola announced it was switching from Linux to Android.
Yet the Ming dynasty now lives on with Android and OPhone, complete with some familiar PDA-oriented Ming features. These include a built-in stylus, as well as the company's SoftStylus Chinese handwriting support, now in its sixth generation.
The new phones offer a new version of the Ming design, including the signature transparent flip cover. Unlike the original Ming phones, however, the devices provide full finger touch support for their 3.1 or 3.2 inch displays. All five of the phones are equipped with five-megapixel cameras, says Motorola.
XT806 for China Telecom
The most powerful of the Android-based Ming models is the XT806, which runs Android 2.1 on an unstated processor capable of 720p HD video capture and playback using H.264 and other formats. The XT806 is equipped with both 512MB of RAM and 512MB of internal flash memory, with support for SD cards up to 32GB, says Motorola.
Ming XT806
The Ming XT806 offers a 3.2-inch 854 x 480 pixel touchscreen with 300 dpi resolution, says the company. The phone is designed for China Mobile, and offers dual-mode, dual-standby support for CDMA EVDO and GSM cellular networks, which is said to enable "seamless roaming around the world."
The XT806 offers Wi-Fi with WAPI security, plus Bluetooth and an FM radio receiver, says Motorola. A USB 2.0 port is said to be provided along with GPSOne, aGPS, and eCompass features. The phone's five-megapixel autofocus camera offers LED flash, says the company.
The 1380mAh battery supports 280 to 340 minutes of talk-time and 70 to 100 minutes on standby, says Motorola. The XT806 measures 4.3 x 2.2 x 0.7 inches (109.9 x 57 x 18.6mm) and weighs 5.68 ounces (161 grams), says the company.
In addition to providing Android 2.1, complete with Webkit browser, the XT806 supplies a Quicknotes application that supports the manipulation and integration of text, voice recording, videos, pictures, sketches, and screen snapshots, says Motorola. The company does not mention Android Market support, but instead says that the phone is supported with Motorola's SHOP4APPS site, which offers "over 800 specially selected applications."
A1680 for China Unicom
Aimed at China Unicom's WCDMA network, the Ming A1680 is equipped with a processor capable of displaying QVGA video at 15fps, says Motorola. The flip phone is equipped with 256MB RAM and 512MB flash, and offers an SD slot for up to 32GB memory cards, says the company.
Ming A1680
The A1680 offers a slightly smaller 3.1-inch touchscreen, with slightly lower 800 x 480 resolution, compared to the XT806. However, it is the only phone of the three that provides AMOLED display technology for richer colors and sharper contrast, says Motorola.
The phone's five-megapixel camera is said to offer digital zoom, although there's no mention of an LED flash feature. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS are provided, along with accelerometers and motion sensors, says the company. FM radio and a 3.5mm audio jack are also said to be available.
The 1130mAh battery is rated at 210 minutes talk-time, and 120 hours standby, says Motorola. The phone is said to be slightly smaller than the XT806 at 106.9 x 54.5 x 16.8mm, and weighs considerably less at 120 grams.
The A1680 is said to offer the older Android 1.6, as well as support for the 800-app SHOP4APPS site.
MT810 for China Mobile
The MT810 is being jointly launched with China Mobile, and uses the carrier's well-established OPhone OS 2.0 distribution, which is based on Android. An unnamed processor offers D1 (720 x 480) video capture and 720p HD video playback, says the company.
Like the A1680, the MT810 supplies 256MB RAM and 512MB flash, and offers an SD slot supporting up to 32GB of flash storage.
Ming MT810
The MT810 provides an interesting dual-touch display system. The 3.2-inch, 854 x 480 display offers a resistive touchscreen for stylus or finger input, while the transparent cover offers a second capacitive touchscreen with full finger touch functionality, says Motorola.
The phone supports China Mobile's GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and TD-SCDMA (2010-2025MHz) networks, as well as the CMMB mobile television format, but it lacks Wi-Fi support, says Motorola.
The MT810 also supplies Bluetooth 2.1, aGPS and GPS, and an FM radio receiver, says the company. The five-megapixel camera provides digital zoom, autofocus, and LED flash, says Motorola.
The phone is equipped with a 1140mAh battery with seven hours talk-time and eight days standby, says the company. Dimensions are slightly smaller (108.6 x 55.5 x 16.7mm) than the XT806, and the MT810 weighs just a gram less at 160 grams.
The OPhone 2.0 stack is equipped with "a suite of pre-loaded intelligent business applications," says Motorola. It is also said to offer access to China Mobile's Mobile Market with more than 7000 OPhone applications and tens of thousands of themes.
Mot claims big lead in China's Android market
The three new Ming flip-phones "bring Motorola's portfolio of Android devices in China to a market-leading eleven," says the company. Motorola also claims to have built more than half of the Android smartphones sold in China in the first half of 2010.
Stated Bin Shen, vice president and general manager, Asia Product Management, Motorola Mobility, "With Ming and Android we're bringing together two great Motorola success stories in China. Ming has been a hit in China because it was designed especially for the way Chinese people live, work, and play with their handsets. Android has been a hit globally and in China thanks to its power and ease of use."
The three new Ming phones will be available this quarter, says Motorola, which did not reveal pricing.
More information on the Ming XT806 may be found here. More on the Ming A1680 may be found here, and more on the Ming MT810 should be here.
Mot camera-phone runs widgets
Linux perceived as Symbian's top threat
What Mot's UIQ buy says about Linux
Linux multimedia phone launches in China
Motorola coaxes developers to Linux phone platform
Huawei serves up a curvy Gingerbread phone
Android rocks out on Fender phone
Linux's phone success surprises LinuxWorld attendees
Motorola and Sprint reveal two business-focused…
Motorola aims low with Android-based Charm
Google delays Android launch in China after hacking dispute
Motorola smartphone boasts widgets, hypervisor
Motorola Ming A1600 ships
SDK adds OCR to handhelds
Android phone has eight megapixel camera, xenon flash | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8208 |
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Tuesday, 4 Dec, 2018
Webwatch: Huawei launch storytelling App for deaf children and their parents
A new app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help deaf children and their parents learn to read together has launched in the UK.Chinese technology giant Huawei has created the StorySign app, which uses the firm's own AI and a smartphone's camera to recognise words on a page and translate…
Webwatch: 'Epidemic' of online child abuse up 700% in five years, Security Minister warns
An "epidemic" of online child abuse must be tackled with new data laws, Security Minister Ben Wallace has told MPs.He said there had been a 700% rise in child abuse being reported by tech companies in the last five years as he urged MPs to support new laws to speed…
Thursday, 15 Nov, 2018
Webwatch: Home Secretary welcomes prototype anti-grooming tool
Experts have devised an anti-grooming tool in a boost for Home Secretary Sajid Javid's drive to combat online child abuse.Engineers from some of the world's biggest tech firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Snap and Twitter, worked for two days at a "hackathon" in the US last week.Participants at the event,…
Wednesday, 14 Nov, 2018
Webwatch: Patient data concerns as Google absorbs Deepmind's health tech unit
Fresh concerns about patient data have been raised after Google announced plans to bring the health division of its DeepMind artificial intelligence company more closely under its control.The move means Google will manage the subsidiary's Streams app, which processes NHS patient data to alert doctors if someone is at risk…
Thursday, 8 Nov, 2018
Webwatch: Children's Commissioner calls for transparency on data gathered from children
A report from the Children's Commissioner for England has called on internet firms and toy companies to be more transparent in what data they are collecting from children.It says manufacturers of internet-connected toys and online services aimed at younger users should clearly state on packaging or elsewhere if their products…
Friday, 2 Nov, 2018
Webwatch: Young more likely to go online for mental health support, poll suggests
Young people say they are more likely to turn to online platforms for mental health support than medical professionals, family or friends, according to a survey. A poll found that nearly two-thirds (65%) of 16 to 24-year-olds would look for online support for a mental health issue or concern rather…
Webwatch: Law Commission call for tougher laws to tackle online abuse
Tougher laws are needed to protect victims of online and social media-based abuse, a report by the Law Commission has said. The study, commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), found a "lack of coherence" in the current criminal law as it fails to keep pace…
Wednesday, 31 Oct, 2018
Webwatch: Concern over online availability of 'lethal combination' prescription drugs
Anyone with a credit card can buy a "lethal combination" of drugs online, health inspectors have said as they called for the public to be better informed about the dangers of buying prescription drugs from unregulated websites. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it was "worried" about the challenge of…
Friday, 26 Oct, 2018
Webwatch: Concern of social media impact on rise in self-harm among teenage girls
Social media use has contributed to a rise in self-harm among teenage girls, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has suggested.The Cabinet minister also accused digital platforms of doing "absolutely nothing" to enforce minimum age rules.Asked about the causes of an increase in mental health problems among children and young people, Mr…
Webwatch: New Apps launched on Understanding Child Development for NI workforce
The Northern Ireland Social Care Council in partnership with Ulster University, Queen’s University Belfast and the Departments of Health and Education, developed a series of Understanding Child Development Apps. Social work is increasingly a mobile profession and the new Apps provide a response to the demands and pressures of this…
Wednesday, 3 Oct, 2018
Webwatch: Facebook announces new tools to tackle bullying and harassment
Facebook has announced new tools it says will help users combat bullying and harassment on the social media site. The tools will allow users to hide or delete multiple comments from posts at once, and the site is testing a feature that would block offensive words from appearing in comments.…
Monday, 1 Oct, 2018
Webwatch: Government orders social media safety guidelines over child mental health fears
Medical experts have been instructed to draw up official guidelines for social media use amid fears over its impact on child mental health, Matt Hancock has revealed. The Health and Social Care Secretary said he was "very worried" as a father by the growing evidence of the detrimental effect on…
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__label__cc | 0.580476 | 0.419524 | Pazzanistraat 4, 1014 DB Amsterdam
Saturday September 7th
Hearing the Image, Seeing the Sound: the Importance of Synesthesia in Cinema
Panel- Free to the Public! But reserve your spot here:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4298247
Why is John Williams and other composers of epic scores considered the “classical” musicians of modern times? What would Star Wars be without the iconic music? Why do sometimes we a see a film and the music instead upstages the story and is ill-fitting? The delicate art of scoring music for film or writing diegetic musical number is often under-appreciated by many who have concluded that film is just about image…however, ever since the days of the Silent’s…music has always been utilized to convey emotion and meaning. What exactly is sound design?
Stephen Trask, the Grammy nominated musician for his work on the musical Hedwig and The Angry Inch, will discuss his process in collaborating with John Cameron Mitchell for writing the film and how flawlessly the dialogue blends with the music to create the powerful resonance we experience when watching.
Sound designers and composers Donna Kavanagh, Manifesto alumni all the way from New Zealand, and new member of the festival family with his short, The Overcoat, composer Jetse De Jong, will join in on the discussion and also take questions from the audience.
Princess of the Row
Dir. Max Carlson (USA,2019)
Starring: Edi Gathegi, Tayler Buck and Martin Sheen
Run Time 1 hr 25 min
Constructed Identities Panel
Free to the Public! But reserve your spot here:
-Identity is an elusive concept. We feel we must define ourselves using a relatively small selection of roles and conscious character traits, even if none accurately represents our notion of “Self.” The confusion surrounding our true natures is further compounded by the fact that society regularly asks us to suppress so much of our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual vibrancy.-
How has digital media and technology fostered or burdened these expressions of individuation?
The 1980s cyberpunk movement, with William Gibson’s Neuromancer as the apotheosis, thrilled science fiction audiences with dystopian visions of society completely transformed by digital technologies. Today in 2019, global society is transitioning into a universal culture dominated by these cyber spaces and in turn, the very term identity has metamorphosed into something that challenges how we previously defined humanity. Currently we are experiencing a significant epoch of change.
Professional You Tuber, Tatiana Pirogova, Professional Twitch Content Creator, Shanna Zwart, Fandom and pop culture PhD scholar, Neta Yodovich and Television and Radio broadcaster and sci-fi scholar, Laura de La O form a generationally and culturally diverse perspective in this engaging discussion and exploration of these questions. This forum is open to the public in hopes we can navigate where our species is headed in our connection or disconnection to those sitting near us, or thousands of miles away. Be prepared for some heated and enlightening debate! | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8211 |
__label__cc | 0.508127 | 0.491873 | Home Features We Saw You: Royals!
Five Things To Do This Weekend in Memphis: January 25th-27th
Mr. Malmo's Monkeys
We Saw You: Royals!
Michael Donahue met a Memphis king and queen at Carnival Memphis 2019.
Bob Berry and Catherine Tabor Owen
Robert “Bob” V. Berry is king and Catherine Tabor Owen is queen of Carnival Memphis 2019.
They were introduced at a reception at the home of Carnival president Thomas Hussey and his wife, Stacey.
Berry is the founder of Worlds Away, a designer, manufacturer and wholesaler of mirrors, case goods, occasional furniture, lighting and accessories. Their furniture and decor are sold all over the United States and in 21 other countries.
Norman Davis Owen and his wife, Christian
Owen, daughter of Christian and Norman Davis Owen, is a sophomore at Sewanee: The University of the South, where she is a member of Order of the Gown, the National Society of Leadership and Honor, and the Sewanee Tigers tennis team.
This year, Carnival is honoring the home furnishings and decor industry at its annual Business and Industry Salute Luncheon, which will be held Feb. 20 at the HIlton Memphis.
This year’s featured Carnival charities are The Neighborhood Christian Centers Inc., Palmer Home for Children, and Porter Leath.
Carnival Memphis grand krewes already are in full swing with each krewe presenting its coronations of kings and queens.
Stacey and Thomas Hussey
Krewes for Kids, which is Carnival’s largest fundraiser for the children’s charities will be held April 6 at the new Crosstown Arts Theatre at Crosstown Concourse.
Carnival Memphis week, which includes charitable visits in the morning and parties at night, will kick off May 31 with the Crown and Sceptre Ball at the Hilton Memphis.
Cotton Carnival Michael Donahue Memphis We Saw You | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8217 |
__label__cc | 0.68147 | 0.31853 | The Fintech100 – announcing the world’s leading fintech innovators for 2018
Sydney, 23 October, 2018 -- The 2018 Fintech100 was announced today, highlighting dynamic fintechs from around the world that are transforming the financial services industry, from digital payments and lending, to insurtech, to neo-banking, as they attract investment at a record pace.
The 2018 Fintech100 is the fifth edition of the annual report, a collaboration between fintech investment firm H2 Ventures and KPMG Fintech. The Fintech 100 includes the ‘Leading 50’ fintech firms around the globe, ranked based on innovation, capital raising activity, size and reach; and the ‘Emerging 50’, exciting new fintechs that are at the forefront of innovative technologies and practices and are often pursuing new business models.
Key highlights from the 2018 Fintech100 include:
Chinese fintechs continue to dominate the top of the list, accounting for three of the top five places on the Leading 50 list with Ant Financial in first, JD Finance second and Baidu fourth; Singapore’s Grab was a new entry, taking third place, and US fintech Sofi moved up to fifth place.
Global competition continues to expand, with 36 different countries represented in the full Fintech100, up from 29 in 2017 and 22 countries in 2016. Almost half of the companies on this year’s list (41) were founded and continue to operate in emerging markets.
The US tops the Fintech100 with 18 fintechs placed, including three of the top 10, followed by the UK with 12 and China with 11. Australia and Singapore place strongly with 7 and 6 fintechs respectively.
Payments companies dominate the Fintech100, with 34 in total, followed by 22 in lending, 14 in wealth management and 12 in insurance. “Multi’s” (fintechs offering a broad range of financial services to customers) dominated the top of the list, led by Ant Financial.
Digital or “neo banks” also increased their representation to 10 with Monzo, Number26, SolarisBank and Starling Bank making their Leading 50 debut.
Ian Pollari, Global Co-Lead of KPMG Fintech, commented: “The 2018 Fintech100 showcases the increasing diversity and scale of the global fintech market. Payments and lending continue to be the dominant sectors, however wealth management is taking off, with 14 companies on the list and insurtech remains strong with 12 companies. Notable this year is the emergence of neo banks, with 10 on the list – which is the beginning of what we believe will be accelerated growth of digital banking models globally.” Ben Heap, Founding Partner at H2 Ventures, said: "Venture capital backing of fintech companies continues to accelerate. The companies on the 2018 list have raised over US$52B in venture capital, more than double the total of last year’s list, and more than US$27B of capital in the past 12 months, a 366 percent increase over last year. In terms of major funding rounds, 26 companies on the Fintech100 have each raised US$100M in the last twelve months. The first four companies in the Leading 50 have all raised over US$1B in the last 12 months alone." The top 10 companies in 2018 Fintech100
1. Ant Financial (China)
2. JD Finance (China)
3. Grab (Singapore)
4. Baidu (Du Xiaoman Financial) (China)
5. Sofi (US)
6. Oscar Health (US)
7. Nubank (Brazil)
8. Robinhood (US)
9. Atom Bank (UK)
10. Lufax (China)
Selecting the Fintech100
The Fintech100 were selected following extensive global research and analysis based on data relating to five factors. Two criteria are related to capital raising reflecting the emphasis that venture capitalist investors place on the ability of firms to innovate in order to generate a long term sustainable competitive advantage.
1. Total capital raised
2. Rate of capital raising
3. Geographic diversity
4. Sector diversity
5. X-factor: degree of product, service and business model innovation (a subjective measure that is applied only with respect to companies appearing on the 50 Emerging Stars list).
View the full Fintech100 list here.
Kent Miller
KPMG International
About KPMG Fintech
The Financial Services industry is transforming with the emergence of innovative new products, channels and business models. This wave of change is driven by evolving customer expectations, digitalization, as well as continued regulatory and cost pressures. We are passionate about supporting clients to successfully navigate this transformation, mitigating the threats and capitalizing on the opportunities. KPMG Global Fintech comprises professionals in over 45 fintech hubs around the world, working closely with financial institutions and fintech companies, to help them understand the signals of change, identify the growth opportunities and to develop and execute on their strategic plans.
About H2 Ventures
H2 Ventures is a global thought leader in fintech venture capital investment. Founded by brothers Ben and Toby Heap, and based in Sydney, Australia, it invests alongside entrepreneurs and other investors in early stage fintech ventures. H2 Ventures is the manager of the H2 Accelerator – Australia's only dedicated fintech accelerator – and operates out of Sydney's dynamic Startup Hub.
About KPMG International
KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 154 countries and territories and have 200,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.
Download the full KPMG Report: The Fintech100 – announcing the world’s leading fintech innovators for 2018 | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8232 |
__label__cc | 0.593451 | 0.406549 | Author Adrienne Morris
The Writing Life at Middlemay Farm
THE TENAFLY ROAD SERIES
AUTHOR SITE & CONTACT
ABOUT ADRIENNE
Welcome to Middlemay Farm
Fiction Serial
Fiction: Pillow Talk
July 20, 2017 July 20, 2017 / Adrienne Morris / 4 Comments
“It’s too bad you suffered a headache,” Miss Peckham said as she slipped beneath the covers. “What do you suppose it was from, Thankful?”
“I guess with all the excitement today …”
Miss Peckham giggled. “You call today exciting? You really haven’t lived much have you?” Her back itched from the wool and she shifted around uncomfortably.
Thankful turned on her side. “It was foolish of you to force William to dance so much—he’ll be the laughingstock and be in pain when he sobers up.”
Miss Peckham laughed. “Is there a time when Mr. Weldon is sober? He chose for himself to dance.”
“To impress you. He doesn’t seem to have much luck with girls.”
“Well, if he kept his head out of the bottle and his, um, body out of whores, he’d present a better picture, but it’s his life. It’s not my problem,” Miss Peckham stated. “He’s a child.”
“That’s a very nice attitude.”
“Men are either children or brutes. Mr. Weldon has a few connections that will be helpful in my research. It’s in my best interest to remain on good terms with him—and truth be told, he’s not bad company for a drunk.”
“He’s more than that! Must I remind you he saved your life?” Thankful asked.
“Oh, I’m tired of hearing about that already. I gave him a thrill tonight on the dance floor so I say we’re even,” Miss Peckham replied and climbed out of bed again. “It’s so damned hot.” She pulled off the last of her clothes, the moonlight illuminating her. Thankful shut her eyes tight. “Miss Thankful, it’s curious how army women play a game of adopting all the men in camp. I don’t understand it yet, but it’s intriguing.”
“Everything you say seems so dirty and cynical,” Thankful grumbled.
“Well, Miss Thankful, I see through the false modesty and virtues of society. You just don’t enjoy feeling exposed.”
“No, I feel sorry that people like you exist,” Thankful said, turning away from her.
“The feeling is mutual,” Miss Peckham replied with a laugh.
PREVIOUS EPISODE: WEARY OF RUNNING
Excerpted from WEARY OF RUNNING. Read more about Buck Crenshaw, his sister Thankful and William Weldon’s misadventures when you buy the book today!
“The second installment in The Tenafly Road Series definitely did not disappoint. With the introduction of new characters and the return of familiar ones, Weary of Running made for an exciting read. The protagonist, Thankful, is the real highlight of the novel. She consistently makes very poor decisions but in the end, you can understand why she has made every last one of them. The story ranges from love and romance to questions of faith and morality. It does all this without being preachy and explores many angles of different aspects of life. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.” Amazon Review
“Buck Crenshaw is my favorite dysfunctional lovable character.”
Fiction: A Shunning at West Point
May 26, 2016 January 8, 2017 / Adrienne Morris / 23 Comments
A few weeks later Buck accepted an invitation to help test the jittery new guards on duty. Stealthy cadets came at all angles and times. One officer played a stranger refusing to give the countersign; another called down from a tree while another one slid by undetected, much to the embarrassment of the fledgling guard.
Buck in his first summer had impressed his superiors by never becoming rattled except for the one time when Fred shoved a garter snake down his trousers.
The moon sunk away, the exercise ended, and the upperclassmen drifted back to their tents for a little sleep. Buck came upon Streeter. He wasn’t tired, so Buck struck up conversation. “How are you liking guard duty, Mr. Streeter?”
“It’s a challenge, sir, but then I guess we wouldn’t be here if we were afraid of challenges,” Streeter replied. “Sir, is it true that when yearlings take to riding lessons, it’s open to the public?”
“Yes. Why?” Buck asked. “Are you not very good on a horse, Mr. Streeter?”
“I’m quite good, but I think it best I keep a low profile.”
“Hmm, I’m fairly good, too,” Buck said. “I want to join the cavalry. I have no intention of keeping quiet on that score. I intend to be head of my class and beat my brother in all things.”
“Well, sir, a high profile will do you no damage,” Streeter replied, glancing around uneasily. “I was given a few newspapers by my congressman who came to visit.”
“Yes, he seemed very distinguished for a colored—I mean a Southerner.” Buck’s face burned in the dark.
A cough from a tent in the distance and busy crickets covered the silence.
Streeter lowered his voice. “The papers are running stories that I’m badly mistreated so far and that I’m behaving in a cowardly fashion to the insults and threats.”
“Is it true?” Buck asked.
“To be honest, I haven’t been paying any attention,” Buck said.
“Oh,” Streeter said. “Well, no, sir. I’ve had no need to fight or defend myself at all. The other cadets keep to themselves—strictly to themselves, sir. I don’t have any words with them except for in the most official capacity.” Streeter waited for a response, glancing up at the stars. “I believe I’m being cut out. It’s to be expected, but what makes me sore is that some of the fellows I studied with before exams now pretend not to know me. Sakes alive, there’s a light complexioned cadet who I know is at least half colored and he is more turned off to me than any of the others. I’ve heard some cadets call me ignorant things when they think I can’t hear, but mostly everyone is exasperatingly cordial and polite.”
Buck had a sudden horrible thought. Was he being cut from the others, too? When was the last time one of his classmates spoke to him informally? Buck wracked his brain and sighed in relief as he remembered a joke someone told him at breakfast.
Streeter spoke again. “Do you want my copy of The Tribune, sir? I’ve finished it.”
“Oh, yes, thanks. It’s my father’s favorite paper. We teased him that it was the personal ads he liked best—you know they’re guides to prostitutes?”
Streeter rolled his eyes. “I wondered.”
“But of course I would never have any interest in that sort of thing!” Buck joked.
“Me neither, sir,” Streeter said with gravity. “The man my father worked for had syphilis—the final stages.”
“Oh,” Buck said, “what did your father work as?”
“A slave.” Streeter laughed.
“Well, he had it better than a lot of other folks,” Streeter said. “He was good with racehorses and even after the war his services were in demand. In the end, he’s well off by southern standards. Sent us to missionary schools. The teacher was a colored lady from the North and all I wanted was to speak like her.”
“You’ve succeeded then,” Buck said. “I’d hardly know you were from down there.”
“Thank you, sir,” Streeter replied.
Again there was a long pause, but no attempt to end the meeting.
“I guess you like thoroughbreds,” Buck said.
“Oh, they’re okay. My father and his master had a queer fondness for Morgans.”
“Really? My father, too. I love them myself,” Buck replied with enthusiasm. He felt around in his pocket. “Hmm, would you like a smoke?”
“That’d be grand. I’ve tried to quit. My parents, when they first found me chewing tobacco, thought I was a ruined son,” Streeter laughed.
“My parents have had more than one reason to believe I was ruined over the years.” He lit Streeter’s cigar. “My brother and I have been a trial to my parents. But I guess we weren’t taught right.”
“You seem all right, sir,” Streeter said.
Buck puffed away. “Anyway, it’s good to be on the straight and narrow for once. I’m going for color guard soon.”
“Good luck, sir. Those officers are tough.”
“Yes, when I got here first I was some mess,” Buck chuckled. “I always had people to do for me at home and now I was on my own. You’ve got a head start on me, Mr. Streeter. I still can’t believe how well you set your things in order on the very first try. I even caught it for being easy on you.”
“Really, sir? I’m not at all pleased to hear that,” Streeter replied. “I wouldn’t like to think that you treat me any differently.”
“No, I never would, I assure you!” Buck huffed at the temper Streeter showed him. It was out of place for a junior cadet.
Streeter continued. “I must say you would do me the biggest favor if you gave me no preferential treatment at all. Maybe even taking this cigar puts us in a bad light. If I’m to succeed in the men’s eyes I must do everything on my own. I cannot be helped by a yearling everyone thinks is too lenient.”
“Lenient?” Buck’s heart raced.
“It is your reputation, sir.”
“How dare you speak to me this way!” Buck fumed. “I show the cadets respect and you see that as weakness?”
“I didn’t say I thought you were too lenient, but I must watch the impression I make with the others, sir.”
“Get out of my sight!” Buck yelled and stormed off to the tent they shared.
PART ONE HERE
PART TWO HERE
Excerpted from WEARY OF RUNNING. Read more about Buck Crenshaw and his misadventures when you buy the book today!
**Image LOC Flirtation Walk, West Point Military Academy
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“Characters so deep you follow them into the abyss, hoping to come out unscathed, but never returning the same. They will haunt me forever.”
“Rich and colorful page turners. Morris has a fine sense of time and place and brings her memorable characters to life. She also tells a captivating story. You won’t find it easy to put her books down, and her characters will stay with you when you do. We can only hope she keeps writing and gives us more episodes in this fascinating chronicle.”
*Books available in paperback and in ebook form for most electronic devices.
Instagram at the Farm
Time to wake up!
It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Nala pretending to be a farm dog when she’s really dreaming of the couch ... she really doesn’t enjoy farm animals. They’re dirty.
Our reality, our true self, is hidden in what appears to us to be nothingness.... Thomas Merton
My husband recently started bringing me flowers and I’m loving it 🥰
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Adrienne Morris and middlemaybooks.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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The House on Tenafly Road Book Trailer
Adrienne Morris
Adrienne Morris is author of the novel The House on Tenafly Road (selected as an Editors' Choice Book by The Historical Novel Society and a Notable Indie Book of the Year) and The Tenafly Road Series, the continuing historical saga of the Weldon and Crenshaw families of Gilded Age Englewood, New Jersey. Adrienne lives on a small upstate New York farm with her human and animal family.
Raising Milk and Honey
Nothing Gilded, Nothing Gained
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
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__label__wiki | 0.74591 | 0.74591 | Huskies Close Weekend with Decisive 75-39 Win over Davis & Elkins
Davis & Elkins (0-2) 14 6 11 8 39
Michigan Tech (2-0) 25 22 14 14 75
Pts: Jamiyah Johnson - 10
Reb: Sydney Nestor - 5
Ast: Colleena Burdock - 4
Pts: Abbie Botz - 18
Reb: 2 Players (#23, #TM) - 5
Ast: Ellie Welsh - 6
(Video) Coach Hoyt Postgame Interview
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball team wrapped up an impressive opening weekend with a 75-39 non-conference win against Davis & Elkins Saturday in Big Rapids, Michigan. The Huskies tipped off the regular season with a 96-65 decision in their favor against Ursuline on Friday night after closing the preseason with two exhibition victories.
"I'm happy with the win today and we played really well, especially in the first half," Michigan Tech Head Coach Sam Hoyt said. "It was good to see us play fast and get some points in transition to create a good lead. It was also nice to be able to get everyone some playing time this weekend, which will help build our confidence as we move forward throughout the season. I don't know if I would have expected 30 point wins in both games, but I knew we would be ready to go and it was great to see that we could perform at a high level and sustain a lead."
Even though the first quarter went in Michigan Tech's (2-0) favor Saturday 25-14, the beginning took the shape of a back and forth battle. Each side traded baskets and the lead through the first five plus minutes. Junior Hannah Hobson knocked down a triple to put the Huskies in front 9-7 with 5:42 to go in the first. Jamiyah Johnson tied the game again at 9-9 a few seconds later, but for the rest of the quarter the tide shifted in the Huskies favor.
Freshman Jordan Ludescher powered Tech in front 11-9 on a layup at the 4:20 mark and from that moment forward the Huskies would never relinquish the advantage. Hobson then knifed to the bucket for a layup off an assist from Ludescher followed by another triple to make it 19-6 with 3:11 remaining in the first. Those points were all part of a 16-5 scoring burst by the Huskies to finish off the first frame. Sophomore Cassidy Trotter capped off the quarter with a layup to send the Huskies into the second period with a 25-14 advantage.
The Huskies kept the momentum rolling at the outset of the second with junior Ellie Welsh dialing in a triple from long range to make it 28-14. Junior Abbie Botz was next up with a pair of two-point field goals and then Hobson found the range again from three-point land for a 35-14 Huskies lead. Botz and Trotter then posted points on layups before Davis & Elkins (0-2) generated their first basket of the second quarter.
The Huskies would eventually outscore the Senators 22-6 in the second quarter to establish a strong foothold in the contest. Welsh closed out an impressive first half for Tech with a three-point basket, extending the lead to 47-20 with 20 minutes in the books.
Tech's offense slowed a bit in the third and fourth quarters, but the defense continued to keep the Senators off balance. The Huskies limited Davis & Elkins to 11 points in the third and eight in the fourth, resulting in the final tally of 75-39. The Senators were held to single digit points totals in two of the fourth periods on Saturday.
Botz established a new career by leading the Huskies' offense with 18 points on a 9 of 12 shooting performance from the field. She also hauled down four rebounds and had a steal on the defensive end of the floor. Hobson also recorded a new career high with 16 points off the bench, powering the Huskies from behind the arc with four triples. Trotter and freshman Ellie Mackay chipped in nine points apiece while Welsh tallied six points and a team high six assists. Junior Baillie McGirk tossed in five points and had a team best five rebounds.
As a team, the Huskies were on target with 29 of 50 shot attempts from the field (58.0%), found the mark on 10 of 20 tries from behind the arc (50.0%), and were 7 for 11 at the free throw line (63.6%). Tech had a large advantage on the glass again Saturday, out-rebounding the Senators 35-19. The defense also forced 22 Davis & Elkins turnovers.
Johnson guided the Senators with 10 points off the bench followed by Kali Wilburn and Rebecca Laberge with six points each. Sydney Nestor reeled in five rebounds and Colleena Burdock distributed four assists and had three steals. Davis & Elkins made just 15 of 47 shots from the field (31.9%), went 2 of 19 from three-point range (10.5%), and 7 of 9 at the charity stripe (77.8%).
The Huskies are in Houghton on Friday for their home opener against MSU-Moorhead with the tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. Tech will then entertain Minnesota State Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. to close the weekend. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8249 |
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Home › Architectural Research › Book Quotes: WPA Guide to the Magnolia State
Book Quotes: WPA Guide to the Magnolia State
By ELMalvaney on April 26, 2010 • ( 2 )
As I get back on my feet from my French connection, I figured this week would be a good one to dedicate to another in the Book Quotes series. This week, we’ll take the section titled “Architecture” from Mississippi: Guide to the Magnolia State, published in 1938 as part of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never actually read the whole book all the way through–a deficiency I plan to address by adding the book to my “To Read” pile, which always grows faster than it sinks. In addition to the section on Architecture, the book also includes descriptions of the larger towns in the state, descriptions of “Negro Folkways” and “White Folkways,” histories of industry and commerce, agriculture, religion, education, and the press, among various other interesting snippets.
The book is not without its flaws–racial and economic stereotypes, and romanticization of the antebellum period and the Lost Cause (W. White may have to cover his ears and take himself to a happy place) are common–and in the section on architecture we see the beginnings of several myths about Mississippi’s architectural development that have grown and flourished and seem impossible to debunk. But it’s worth remembering that this work, along with the first HABS documentation efforts, represent the first systematic attempt to define Mississippi’s architecture, and so sometimes makes assumptions that later research has shown to be incorrect. These should be forgiven in such an early work, struggling to both create and use the new language of architectural history. Its greater value is in its attempt to summarize the architecture of the entire state, taking a bird’s eye view, and in the insights it gives into how the earliest architectural historians in the state saw and interpreted the landscape, informed by personal inspection of many buildings which tragically are no longer standing for those of us in later generations to see for ourselves.
In the Preface to the 1938 edition, the State Director Eri Douglass and the State Editor Gene Holcomb note the difficulties of their mostly primary research and acknowledge “occasional inaccuracies.” They also single out several people for special appreciation, one of whom is Beverly Martin, a young architect from Natchez–readers with a good memory may remember Martin was the associate architect of the Braden Elementary School (1949) with R.W. Naef. Martin’s biographical sketch in the 1962 American Architects Directory states that he “co-authored the Mississippi Guide Book,” and I interpret that to mean he actually wrote the section on architecture.
Where I see that the text contains inaccuracies or makes statements that have since been called into questions, I’ve commented in footnotes.
Just as transportation lines form the skeleton of the social organism, so architecture reveals its character. In Mississippi’s homes the student may recreate the pattern of the State’s everyday existence; and enough remains of its early architecture to evoke a period of romance that has had few equals. French voyageur, English Tory, Spanish Don, and Southern planter have crossed the great stage of the State, and each has left the color of his drama in his architecture.
"Old French Fort" (HABS, photo 1936)
The French were the first to settle. On the Coast, a locale rich in lore, their impress remains in the thick squat masonry and solid shipshape timbers of the old fort on Krebs Lake at Pascagoula, built by Sieur Joseph de la Point in 1718, before the founding of New Orleans.[1]
Following the French, in 1763 Great Britain took over the empire west of the Alleghanies; in the Natchez region English colonists pushed even while the Atlantic seaboard was cutting its bonds with the mother country. No structure like the Krebs Fort remains as a monument to English settlement. Instead, the English built log cabins and rough-hewn blockhouses indistinguishable in type from those in the eastern half of the Continent.
But if the English left little that was distinctive, the dandified ideas of the Spanish, brought in with the last score years of the eighteenth century, made a profound impression. Swinging up from the Coast as far as the Natchez bluffs, the Dons left as distinct and as civilized an architecture as could be wrung from the wilderness. It is recognizable in the pleasantly-canted roof, the strong concentration of ornament, and the flair for flamboyant, if rare, color of the type known as “Spanish Provincial.”
At the close of the eighteenth century Virginia and Carolina emigrants pushed into the region about and to the south of Natchez. The effect of this mixture of Old World and New was a fusion of significance. The grand staircases, spacious rooms, and haughty colonnades of the newcomers combined admirably with the delicate spindling work and fluid lines of their predecessors to produce homes in the “Grand Manner.”
The Americans who came after the Spanish, settled themselves on the Natchez bluffs and, separated by wooded ravines, built homes of a type close to the Grand Manner yet distinctively rural. They made use of the same motives, but their adaptation of it was rangy, more open. Fronted by long single or double recessed galleries, the roof forming a transverse ridge, the homes were one-story, story-and-a-half, or two-story; and their simple, unflaunted dignity marked them for what their name implies, the “Southern Planter.”
At a later date the Mississippi “hill-billy” made his home north and east of the Natchez country. One to every ridge, the houses were of logs (later clapboarded) with a wide wind-swept hall, known as the “dog-trot,” running through the center, and with the cook house in the rear. As the people became wealthier and more prosperous, they closed in the center hall, often decoratively, and added long front porches. The dog-trot houses were so natural and traditional to these pioneers who had migrated from Tennessee, the Piedmont of Georgia, and the Carolinas, they constitute a contribution to American architectural types. A log cabin was an indivisible unit; in order to expand, another had to be built. That the hilly-billy should lay his two cabins parallel and roof the open space between to make a hallway was natural. To keep the cook shack separate was dictated by fire hazard and the desire to keep the heat from the living room–time and saving steps for his wife were no part of the frontiersman’s consideration. To sheathe the logs with clapboards was the first evidence of the end of the frontier. To wall in the dog-trot and add a porch was the last.[2]
North of the hill-billy country, in the Central Hills and especially in the Black Prairie region during the “flush times” of the 1830’s, a Greek Revival type of home was introduced, known locally as the “Black Belt” from the geographic region that produced it. The Black Belt home, contrasted with the house of the Grand Manner type, placed emphasis on sheer refinement of ornament and attenuation of proportions–a trait apparently common to all architectural cycles toward their wane. The Shields home at Macon best expresses the characteristics of this form, though many examples may be found between Macon and Aberdeen, and, less concentrated, in the Northern Hills. The Georgia emigrants who built this type were evidently remembering their native models.
A number of ante-bellum homes were “imported,” a term derived from having either the builder or the architect from England, France, Scotland, or Germany. Lochinvar at Pontotoc is typical, but the best examples are in Madison County, around Canton. The Delta, too, has many imported homes in this sense of the term, distinguishable by rubbed brick forms and asymmetrical planning, considered a sin in earlier times. The Delta, last settled, was peopled by luxury-loving Kentuckians and Carolinians who built from designs more often seen in the Ohio Valley.
St. Mary's Cathedral, Natchez (HABS photo, 1936)
The character, tastes, and economy of early Mississippians left their effect also upon church architecture. Along the Coast, in the Natchez district, and, following the flush times of the 1830’s, in Holly Springs, Oxford, and Columbus, the wealthy planter and professional class built many churches with slave labor. Constructed usually of home-burned brick, the churches were, as a rule, Gothic Revival in design, with tall spires and stained glass windows. St. Mary’s Cathedral, Natchez, completed in 1851, the Christian Church, Columbus, and the Episcopal Church, Holly Springs, built in 1858, are examples. The windows often were imported and unmatched. Interiors expressed good taste and a touch of luxury in open beams, delicate hand-carved decorations, and solid comfortable pews. More often than not a gallery extended across the front of the auditorium for the use of slaves who were prevented by law from having a church of their own.
But as the dog-trot type of house in the Piney Woods and Central Hills differed from the planter’s mansions so did the plain and straight-forward churches of these sections differ from those of the older and wealthier districts. These churches were, and to a large extent are, of a type colloquially called “shotgun.” Comparatively small, oblong or box-like shells, they had frame side walls and V-shaped, split-shingle roofs. Without porches or an approach of any kind other than simple wood steps, they had single entrance front and rear. Windows were of plain unstained glass. The interiors offered the plainness of open rafters, unpainted walls and floors, and pine pews–the latter as stern and temperate as the people who worshiped in them. Hundreds of these churches dot the rural sections today, but the Toxish Baptist Church [Pontotoc County] is a good example of their simple box-like construction.
Back to post 1 This date is not as certain as it is stated here. Opinions of experts who have spent more time with the building than I have range from 1718 through the 1770s–either way, it’s the oldest building in the state of Mississippi.
Back to post 2 Not all dogtrots–in fact very few that I’ve examined–went through this step-by-step evolution. Many were built as two-room houses with an open hall between them and an original undercut front (and usually rear) porch. Also, many center-hall houses were built with an already-enclosed center hall, and thus were never truly “dog-trots.”
This post is third in a four-part series on the Architecture section of the WPA Guide to the Magnolia State, published in 1938 as part of the Federal Writers’ Project. Want to read the rest of the series?
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State
No Such Thing as “Southern Colonial”
Let’s Just Forget 1865-1920
But the Depression is Great!
‹ MissPres News Roundup 4-25-2010
WPA Guide to the Magnolia State: No Such Thing as “Southern Colonial” ›
Categories: Architectural Research, Churches
April 26, 2010 • 11:31 am
I agree that this essay should be read with care. I did not know that the settlers in the Delta were “luxury-loving”, interesting as the Delta was mostly a swamp. I wonder if “luxury-loving” means lazy and freeloading. Also, I had no idea the Spanish brought “dandified ideas” to Natchez, which I find amusing.
On an architectural note, I have never heard of the term “shotgun” churches. Also, is the Shields House in Macon still extant? I don’t think I have heard of this house.
ELMalvaney
Yes, as I said, a few romanticized notions make their way through this article. I haven’t heard of a “shotgun” church either and I suppose it’s a term that Mr. Martin coined that never quite caught on. I looked in vain for any reference to the “Shields House” in Macon, since I hoped to include a picture of it. None of the HABS-documented houses are named that, even in their secondary names, so . . . I’m unsure whether it still exists, and the description is vague enough to include a number of houses. Maybe somebody else out there who knows more about the owners of Macon’s houses in the 1930s could help?
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I-5 Bias: the Early Spring Training Edition
Welcome to I-5 Bias: the Early Spring Training Edition! This is the second in what we hope will be an occasional, throughout the season collaboration between this Angels blogger and Matt Lowry of Dodger Familia Thoughts, a great Dodgers blogger and friend of this blog. Between two Giants World Series wins in three years (sorry Matt 😉 ), the AL West making quite the exciting splash in September 2012 and the ensuing Postseason, and recent shrewd personnel moves throughout the AL and NL West, MLB’s attention sure seems to be packing up and heading west these days. Matt and I are both incredibly excited by this development and especially by all of the attention our teams’ offseason moves have brought to my Angels and his Dodgers. So we thought that we would share our perspective on these two Freeway Series rivals, to entertain, inform and, hey, to spark conversation and debate. Why not! East Coast bias? Nah, forget that. From now on it’s I-5 bias instead!
For this edition, we have posed six Angels and Dodgers oriented questions prompted by spring training, the World Baseball Classic and recent media commentary, to be answered on both of our blogs. We hope you enjoy this continuing freeway collaboration and, hey, if anyone has any burning questions for future editions (yes, even snarky ones), please ask away:
What player(s) should we keep an eye on during spring training? Are there any young minor leaguers Angels/Dodgers fans should pay special attention to?
Kristen Says: Well, I don’t think I have to tell anyone to keep an eye on the usual suspects. 😉 In fact, at least this early on in spring training, I wish fans would keep less of an eye, or at least a more casual eye on some of the bigger names. Josh Hamilton going 0 for 3 in his Angels February spring training debut merits a top Yahoo headline today? Really? *shaking my head and laughing* As for some of the players who aren’t already on every fan’s radar but should be, with Bobby Wilson no longer on the team, Hank Conger will be trying to make this season finally be the season that sees him start and stay on the 25-man roster. His batting average was the only thing standing in the way before and this spring he’s off to a great start. Peter Bourjos spent 2012 on the bench but is slated to finally share the outfield with Mike Trout in 2013. He should be both thrilled to play again this spring and extra eager to prove himself. Outfielder Kole Calhoun and short stop Andrew Romine will start the season in the minors on the 40-man roster but are exciting up and comers likely to become 25-man roster fixtures in the seasons to come.
Matt Says: Well for the Dodgers there’s two players that fans should keep an eye on. Yasiel Puig and Zack Lee. Puig as you know was the first major International signing that the Dodgers made in the middle of the season. Many scouts say he has good Power but is still Raw and needs more coaching. Fans will finally get to see what he is all about this Spring and we’ll get to see if he is ready or needs more time. Zack Lee is another player who is listed as the #1 Prospect in the Dodgers Organization. This is a guy who I believe will be called up this season (If any injuries are to hit). If not we will see him in Triple A.
Teams often find a hidden gem in a non roster invitee. Which NRI player(s) have the best shot at making the Roster come opening day?
Matt Says: Dodgers tend to find hidden gems with the NRI players. I will say one who has a good shot would be Peter Molan and Mark Lowe. The Dodgers want to add a Veteran presence in a young bullpen and both of them have a good shot at making it but will have to beat out Stephen Fife and Josh Wall just to get on the 40 man roster. Molan you may remember was with the Braves last season but was hit with Injury problems and Lowe was with the Rangers as well but didn’t play as much. Only one of them will make it on the 40 man roster in my opinion.
Kristen Says: Barring any injuries or other oddities *knock on every scrap of wood in a 40 mile radius!* I think the Angels came in to spring training with the 25 and 40-man rosters pretty much set in all respects except perhaps the bullpen. I think that if NRI relief pitcher Hiroyuki Kobayashi continues to have a good Spring, he will have a shot at making the roster for Opening Day but I don’t expect any of the other Angels NRI players to make the roster for a couple of seasons yet.
From 2012’s Spring Training Freeway Series games: Matt Kemp swings at a nasty Angels pitch and misses with Hank Conger catching…oh how I hope the Angels starting rotation can deliver this season!! Angels at Dodgers, April 3, 2012. Photo by This is a very simple game…
Are there any issues or unanswered questions that you hope to see your team work out in spring training?
Kristen Says: For me, at least, the biggest question still facing the Angels is the starting rotation. I’m thrilled with the addition of Jason Vargas, but once I get past Jered Weaver and Vargas, I am full of questions. Will C.J. Wilson’s bone spur surgery mark the reappearance of the strong, reliable, successful C.J.? And will we get to see this C.J. in the second half too? Which Tommy Hanson will we see? And so on. I bounce back and forth between optimism and queasiness on the subject and really hope that spring training ultimately gives us a strong indication of positive answers to those questions. A secondary question for me is how quickly will the planned outfield configuration of Trout in left, Bourjos in center and Hamilton in right shape up? I don’t ask how well because I don’t really think that’s a necessary question — an all young, talented centerfielder outfield is a pretty drool-worthy prospect. At the same time, Trout and Hamilton are both used to calling the shots in their respective outfields and Bourjos spent most of 2012 — unfairly — on the bench so it may take him a few games to get used to taking charge again and will definitely take all three of them a few games to get used to each other’s range and working together. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what spring training is for – and I do love the fact that so many games are on TV now so that we get to watch the process.
Matt Says: Well for sure it isn’t Chemisty haha. I honestly think there’s a few questions and issues that I would like to see the Dodgers workout. One is being Hanley at Shortstop. Hanley isn’t the best defensive Shortstop out there and we all know he was at 3rd for a reason with the Marlins last year. Hanley will have to get fielding down at short and only has so much time with the Dodgers before he goes and plays in the WBC with the Dominican Republic. The rotation after Kershaw and Greinke is also a mystery as well. Dodgers had a deep rotation which could see guys either traded or moved to the bullpen. #3-4-5 will be up in the air pending on how Capuano, Harang, Beckett, Billingsley, Lilly, and Ryu pitches through the spring. Right now it’s projected to be Beckett, Billingsley, and Ryu but that could all change.
The Dodgers are well represented in the 2013 World Baseball Classic with five players participating. The Angels only have one player participating. How do you feel about this? Do you think it’s more important to have the cream of MLB represented in the WBC or for teams and players to conserve their talent for the regular baseball season?
Matt Says: I for one Love the World Baseball Classic. I like that the Dodgers are well represented in this because they’re playing for their country which is something they don’t get to do that much. I honestly would like to see the MLB’s best play in the classic but can understand if the Player don’t want to play..Notice I said player because I feel it’s up to them if they want to play in the Classic. Through the past few weeks we have seen teams step in a block players from play in the tournament and that I think is not fair. I get that teams don’t want guys hurt playing but it’s the same risk if you have them play in a Spring Training game. In my opinion I think it’s more important to have players ready for the Regular season but the WBC is played in the Spring and the players will have their rest before the Season starts but that’s for the players to decide. You see players like Mike Trout who declined to play to work with the Angels and that I can understand and respect.
Kristen Says: I think it’s great for the Dodgers to be so well represented in the WBC and most years I would be happy to see the Angels equally well represented. However, after all of the injuries of 2011 and 2012 and with so many very young players still learning how to keep positive momentum all the way through the second half of the regular season, I am glad that this Angels team largely opted not to participate. There will be other WBCs with more Angels participation. In general, while it would certainly be exciting to have all of the best in baseball playing in the WBC, I think this is a question best left up to the individual players. As with the Angels, I completely understand when players, knowing their own pre-season training needs, decide that they would prefer just to concentrate on the regular baseball season and skip out on the WBC. Look, half the fun of the WBC is seeing MLB greats playing for their home or ancestral countries, so excellent MLB participation isn’t going to guarantee a strong USA team regardless – though I do think we have a strong, competitive team this year and am excited to have tickets to the USA/Mexico game in a few weeks. I also don’t think that teams should step in to block players from participating in the WBC unless there is a legitimate injury concern in the sense of a frequently or recently injured player.
From 2012’s Spring Training Freeway Series games: Peter Bourjos entertains Mark Trumbo and other teammates on the bench…a location I sincerely hope neither Bourjos nor Trumbo will be seeing much of this season. Angels at Dodgers, April 3, 2012. Photo by This is a very simple game…
We had a Freeway Series showdown — naturally! — during the MLB Network’s recent Face of MLB contest and Matt Kemp beat Mike Trout. Thoughts? Reactions?
Kristen Says: On the surface, the Face of MLB contest is just a fun, silly way to pass the offseason time. On a deeper level though, I think the results demonstrate the effect of changing technology on the way fans interact with the game. With the increasing popularity of social media, constant MLB-wide highlights streaming across a baseball dedicated cable channel and all of the different ways we have to stream games online and watch out of market games on TV, baseball is no longer about just getting to see “our team” and the handful of, primarily East Coast teams, that at one point held an almost “National Brand” status. There was a time, not so long ago, when West Coast ballplayers would have been eliminated in the first round of any such competition. Now we fans still root the hardest for our own teams – as it should be! — but we are also aware of the daily exploits of talented players on every team regardless of rank and market size and I think that’s wonderful! As for Matt Kemp beating Mike Trout in this competition quite handily, this season I think that’s as it should be. Both are exceptionally talented players but Trout is a brand new face while Kemp is an established a team leader with several MVP level seasons to his credit. However, as Trout continues to live up to his potential, I expect that the results of any such future contests will quickly start shifting in Trout’s favor. 😉
Matt Says: I didn’t vote or anything for this because I don’t see the point in it but I find it to be something that adds for the fans. Last year Mike Trout was in the same position Kemp was in 2011. Great season only to not be named MVP due to his team not being in the Playoffs. Honestly I believe this is a great honor for both players to be recognized but in my opinion this was for the fans to make that call which we all knew who everyone was voting for. I just want to know outside of Dodgers/Angels fans who voted for who haha.
Bonus Bloggers’ Bias Question: As a fan, do you look forward to spring training or can you take it or leave it?
Matt Says: As a fan yes I do and for many reasons. One it signals that Baseball is back after a long off-season and seeing Free-Agents sign and moves being made in the winter. Also allows fans to get a good look at players like a Kershaw and Kemp play and get their pre-season done, New players like Grenkie and Ryu play with their teams for the first time, and get a good look at the Top Prospects in the farm system play in MLB Uniform and see if they’re the real deal. Best part is actually going to see Spring Training and actually getting to meet the players. Yes people spend a lot of money to attend opening day or Opening night but it’s the only time fans can catch Baseball at a cheap price and in a location (Well to me and Kristen) where it’s not far at all. This year will be my first trip to Spring Training in Arizona and I am honestly looking forward to it. I understand some fans say they’ll wait till Opening Day to see what the team is about and that’s fine but with me being such a Baseball Junkie I like to see the Prospects and NRI guys just to see what my team will be working with.
Kristen Says: I love spring training and look forward to it every year! Yes, this is partially because of how stir crazy I get in the offseason. However, a big part of my spring training love is the glimpse it gives us inside the teams’ preparations for the season. I love watching my favorite players shake off the rust and work back into their regular season form and I enjoy watching new players and/or existing players in new positions work to blend seamlessly into the team unit. No, the games aren’t the same quality as regular season games, especially this early on. And, yes, once we get past about March 15th, I will be Jones-ing hard for the regular season to start. But the more casual vibe of spring training has an undeniable charm all its own and serves as the perfect appetizer before the regular season main course. (I decided that this was a more mature metaphor than Foreplay/Long Time, if you will. Aren’t you all so proud? 😉 )
From 2012’s Spring Training Freeway Series games: Angels jack of many trades and chief bomb hitter, Mark Trumbo, and Dodgers catcher Tim Federowicz move with the pitch. Angels at Dodgers, April 3, 2012. Photo by This is a very simple game…
Written by This is a very simple game... 9 Comments Posted in I-5 Bias Tagged with 25 Man Roster, Aaron Harang, Andrew Romine, Angels, C.J. Wilson, Chad Billingsley, Chris Capuano, Clayton Kershaw, Clubhouse Chemistry, Dodger Familia Thoughts, Dodgers, Hank Conger, Hanley Ramirez, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, I-5 Bias, Injuries, Jason Vargas, Josh Hamilton, Kole Calhoun, Mark Lowe, Matt Kemp, Mike Trout, Opening Day, Peter Bourjos, Peter Molan, Spring Training, Tommy Hanson, World Baseball Classic, Zack Greinke | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8252 |
__label__cc | 0.749227 | 0.250773 | myriamfrancoiscerrah
Posts Tagged ‘pakistan’
Huff Post blog: Anti-Semitism? Not at our dinner table
You can read this on my Huff Post blog here
When news broke that Lord Ahmed had allegedly blamed Jews for his 12-week stint behind bars for killing a man through reckless driving, I tweeted my disgust with his blatant expression of prejudice. Many Muslims echoed my sentiments.
That’s why Mehdi Hasan latest blog “The sorry truth is that the virus of anti-Semitism has infected the British Muslim community” has left me feeling uncomfortable.
A critical factor in Lord Ahmed’s statement was his audience. Speaking in Pakistan where radical groups regularly peddle anti-semitic libel, he thought his words would find resonance. Do I think he would have made that same statement to a British Muslim audience , even if he thought the cameras weren’t watching? No I don’t. Because regardless of the anti-Semitism of certain elements among British Muslims, anti-Semitic discourse is not considered acceptable and does not routinely go unchallenged.
On one hand, Mehdi is absolutely right to point out that anti-Semitic attitudes are not uncommon in Muslim circles and have become somewhat normalised, concealing the ugly face of hate behind objections to Israeli policies and spurious claims of Jewish conspiracies. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the stumbling block in much Jewish-Muslim dialogue. As one interfaith activist told me, “we’re fine as long as we steer away from Middle East politics.” The single biggest issue which fosters animosity towards Jews, whom some erroneously fail to distinguish from expansionist Israelis, is the Israel Palestine conflict. This doesn’t make the intolerance any less inexcusable of course. The other significant factor fostering anti-Semitism is conspiracy theories, an unfortunate import from many Muslim majority countries, where opaque and autocratic governing structures lend themselves to an unhealthy fixation with the machinations of “dark forces”. Both tensions over the Middle East conflict, as well as conspiracy theories go some way towards explaining the existence of anti-Semitic attitudes. They certainly don’t excuse them.
On the other hand, I do not see such views as being tolerated, considered acceptable or even being ignored – on the few occasions I have witnessed anti-Jewish sentiment, I have seen it robustly challenged usually by the “mild-mannered and well-integrated British Muslims” Mehdi refers to. That said, I’ve also witnessed an elderly Muslim man remonstrating an over-zealous youth by reminding him that our forefather Prophet Abraham, whom we praise alongside Prophet Mohamed in all five of our daily prayers, was the Patriarch of the Jewish people. So while I support Mehdi for taking a stand against anti-semitism and urging Muslims to be as diligent in denouncing it as they are islamophobia, I reject the presumed community complicity implied by his reference to ”our dirty little secret”.
It’s disheartening to hear Mehdi’s been witness to so much anti-semitism, but it is important to recognise that his, like mine, is just one experience amongst many. More reliable indicators of Muslim-Jewish relations are the sheer number of cooperative initiatives and evidence of mutual solidarity. In 2009, following the Israeli onslaught against Gaza, British Muslims rallied together to denounce anti-Semitic attacks amid fears of a backlash against Jewish communities in Britain. In March last year when Mohamed Merah opened fire on a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing seven, Jews and Muslims marched together in a show of solidarity against hate. The Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders regularly brings together over 70 religious leaders as part of an effort to develop good Muslim-Jewish relations across Europe. Such displays of camaraderie are not anomalous.
Mehdi’s presumption of group guilt undermines the valuable work being done by many interfaith groups – the MUJU Comedy Crew, the Joseph Interfaith Foundation and the Three Faiths Foundation, among others – in recognition of our shared heritage. It also unfairly tares the vast majority of Muslims who do in fact reject anti-Semitism and who risk henceforth being viewed with suspicion.
Commenting on a Gallup poll which showed that in the US, the single most powerful predictor of “a great deal” of prejudice toward Muslims is equivalent negative bias toward Jews, James Carroll wrote: “Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are halves of the same walnut. That is surprising because Jews and Muslims are widely perceived–and often perceive themselves–as antagonists occupying opposite poles in the great contemporary clash of cultures.” The reality is that Jews and Muslims share the same struggle against intolerance and prejudice and many are united in opposing regressive legislation which affects the practice of rituals central to both faiths.
When Baroness Warsi stated that islamophobia had “passed the dinner-table test” in Britain, she referred to the way in which anti-Muslim sentiment is increasingly perceived as normal. It is a misnomer to argue that anti-Semitism has passed the same threshold in the British Muslim community. Any intolerance is too much intolerance and so I applaud Mehdi for highlighting the critical importance of standing against bigotry in all its forms. I just hope his somewhat rash generalisations won’t be used to validate anti-Muslim prejudice, and we can all move beyond notions of ‘the other’, in order to find ways to work towards the common good.
Written by Myriam Francois
Posted in all, musings
Tagged with anti-semitism, conspiracies, intolerance, islam, islamophobia, jewish, lord ahmed, mehdi hasan, mohamed merah, muslims, myriam francois-cerrah, pakistan
Myriam Francois-Cerrah
writer, journalist, budding academic myriamcerrah@gmail.com I confirm the subscription of this blog to the Paperblog service under the username mfrancoiscerrah
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__label__cc | 0.697565 | 0.302435 | Heartland Advisors Awarded a ‘Top Guns’ Designation for Mid Cap Value Strategy
Nov 20, 2018 | Business
Designation for the third quarter of 2018
MILWAUKEE, WI, November 20, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ — Heartland Advisors has been awarded a “Top Guns” designation for by Informa Investment Solutions’ PSN manager database, North America’s longest running database of investment managers.
The designation is for the third quarter of 2018 based on the performance of the firm’s Mid Cap Value Strategy. The strategy is co-managed by portfolio managers Will Nasgovitz and Colin McWey, CFA.
Through a combination of Informa Investment Solutions’ proprietary performance screens, PSN Top Guns ranks products in six proprietary categories in over 50 universes. This is a well-respected quarterly ranking and is widely used by institutional asset managers and investors. Informa Investment Solutions is part of Informa Financial Intelligence, a leading provider of critical decision-making solutions and custom services to financial institutions.
Top Guns firms are awarded a rating ranging from one to six stars, with the number of stars representing continued performance over time. Heartland was named a Top Gun with a star rating of four. Products with this rating must have an R-Squared of 0.80 or greater relative to the style benchmark for the recent five-year period. Moreover, returns must have exceeded the appropriate style benchmark for the three latest three-year rolling periods. The top ten returns for the latest three-year period then become the Top Guns.
The complete list of PSN Top Guns and an overview of the methodology can be found at informais.com/resources/psn-top-guns.
About Heartland
Established in 1983, Heartland Advisors, Inc. is an independently owned equity value investment manager based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of September 30, 2018, the Firm managed approximately $1.7 billion. The Heartland family of value-driven, actively managed portfolios includes distinct U.S. strategies offered through four mutual funds and four separately managed accounts. Learn more at heartlandadvisors.com.
Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The Mid Cap Value Strategy seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in mid-size companies as defined by the market capitalization range of the Russell Midcap® Index. This focused portfolio seeks companies with strong underlying business franchises priced at a discount to their intrinsic worth that have temporarily fallen out of favor.
The Mid Cap Value Strategy invests in mid–sized companies on a value basis. Mid-sized securities generally are more volatile and less liquid than those of larger companies.
Value investments are subject to the risk that their intrinsic value may not be recognized by the broad market.
Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal.
There is no guarantee that a particular investment strategy will be successful.
The Heartland Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Separately managed accounts and related investment advisory services are provided by Heartland Advisors, Inc., a federally registered investment advisor. ALPS Distributors, Inc., is not affiliated with Heartland Advisors, Inc.
CFA® is a registered trademark owned by the CFA Institute.
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__label__cc | 0.732533 | 0.267467 | Wine and Dine soars to new heights!
Communications November 29, 2018 HorizonsOn CAmpus Newsletter133 views
With more than 250 attendees, the annual Wine and Dine for Horizons fundraiser at Colorado Academy inspired tremendous support from the CA community and helped to raise a substantial amount that will go to fund the organization’s annual operating costs. While Horizons makes its home on CA’s campus, the nonprofit must generate funds for all of its programming, salaries, and operational dollars.
Thanks to the efforts of Co-Chairs Alison Gile and Janie Ramseier, this community-building fundraiser made for an enjoyable evening filled with games, a moving program and video, a live auction, incredible food and wine from many restaurant and beverage sponsors, and a fun photo booth.
The fanciful design concept “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” was brought to life by dynamic decor duo of Allison Dodge and Rachel Aguirre and their dedicated team of volunteers. As always, the Wine and Dine committee provided tremendous support throughout the planning process and event set-up. Jose Martinez, Horizons former student and current staff member, shared the transformative impact of Horizons on his life. He evolved from a quiet and withdrawn student to his role now as an educator and a Horizons teacher.
CA parent Tom Kimball ‘89 handled the live auction like the pro that he is. Those in attendance gave a warm CA welcome to the new Horizons Interim Executive Director, Daniela Meltzer, who stepped into the role just a few weeks prior to the event.
The event netted more than $165,000. Horizons at CA serves more than 150 low-income students from Pre-Kindergarten through high school, providing academic and enrichment activities for six weeks each summer and on multiple Saturdays throughout the school year. The program has been operating at CA for more than two decades and is one of more than 50 Horizons chapters nationwide.
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__label__cc | 0.593524 | 0.406476 | Nessie watch: Fears over ‘storm Loch Ness’ monster hunt
The mass search for Nessie was inspired by the Storm Area 51 Facebook event.
Nessie: An event has been created to 'storm Loch Ness'. Getty Images
Published 22nd July 2019 at 3:12 pm
A rescue service has issued a warning after tens of thousands of people signed up to an event to “storm Loch Ness” in search of the “monster”.
More than 19,000 have said they are going – with an additional 39,000 people marking their “interest”, following the creation of the event on Facebook.
The mass search for Nessie was inspired by Storm Area 51 – another Facebook event which has jokingly called for people to raid the US Air Force base in Nevada to uncover the truth behind the infamous UFO conspiracy.
Warning: Loch Ness RNLI have warned against ‘storming’ the waters. Loch Ness RNLI
However, in the wake of the Scottish hunt – scheduled to take place on September 21, Loch Ness RNLI is warning of the dangers of the deep.
In a statement, they said: “With no US Army involved, Loch Ness looks a little less hazardous than storming Area 51, but here we have our own set of problems
“Our Atlantic 85 lifeboat has an impressive survivor carrying capacity, but even that will be stretched by the ‘attendees’ of this event.”
The spokesperson added that “jokes aside”, the Loch Ness waters were actually very dangerous with swimmers at risk of “cold water shock and hypothermia”.
They stated the loch was 230m deep – which is nearly two and a half times the height of Big Ben – and said conditions could deteriorate quickly with wave heights of 13ft recorded.
The rescue crew signed off their warning with “Nessie 1 – 0 Bandwagon”. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8273 |
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Funding backs healthy relationships program
February 13, 2019 By Paul Mayne
High-risk youth from across Canada will soon receive much-needed support around healthy relationships as researchers simultaneously gain a better understanding of what kind of programing works best for these young people – all thanks to federal backing of a new Western-led project.
Western Education professor Claire Crooks and her team received $5 million over five years from the Public Health Agency of Canada for their project, A Healthy Relationships Approach to Violence Prevention and Mental Health Promotion with Vulnerable Youth. The funding was announced at Western’s Faculty of Education today.
“Our programming has been shown to reduce teen dating violence – but its impact is much broader,” Crooks said. “Our positive youth development approach gives youth the skills they need to develop healthy relationships, improve their mental health, and minimize problematic substance use.”
Adapted from the Healthy Relationships Plus (HRP) program, developed by Western’s Centre for School Mental Health, the new project looks to evaluate current and develop new programming for high-risk youth, including LGBT2Q+, Indigenous and newcomers, in the area of healthy relationships.
The funding will allow the project to engage with more than 2,600 youth and provide training and resources to 540 facilitators and 875 pre-service educators across Ontario, Alberta and Northwest Territories.
“There are short-term and long-tern consequences for these youth. This is a public-health problem that requires public-health solutions and we need effective programs,” Crooks said, adding 20 per cent of youth have experienced some form of dating violence. “Not only is that common, but it’s harmful.”
She continued, “When we raise our children, we don’t want them to just stop hitting. We want them to develop the skills and capacities they need to be successful, contributing members of their community. It means teaching healthy relationship skills, good communication, how to give an apology, what consent means and how they can get help for themselves or a friend. This is an unpredicted opportunity for us to create a real impact.”
The project also allows researchers to build evidence around what works for these youth in real-world settings and share that knowledge with organizations working in the area.
The project will work with community organizations, school boards, ministries, Child Protective Services, Youth Justice Services, public health units and others to improve existing options for dating violence prevention programming currently out of reach to all youth.
Anago, one of the community partners involved in the project, is a non-profit that creates opportunities for at-risk youth and vulnerable adults to achieve independence through integration into the community.
Anago Executive Director Kathryn Eggert says the healthy relationships program they offer has made a difference in a number of youth’s lives in the London community.
“We, as human beings, are wired to be in relationships. Learning about how to have healthy relationships, particularly when you have been exposed to the extreme trauma like some of the people we support have experienced, is invaluable for them to live healthy in the community,” she said. “Youth are having many ‘a-ha’ moments about what a healthy relationship is. It is making a difference. It has real value for youth. They see it; they feel it; they learn it.”
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__label__cc | 0.531901 | 0.468099 | Nashville's 5 favorite bars (that won't break the bank)
Hoodline December 22, 2019
Dino's | Photo: Ting W./Yelp
Looking to try the top bars around?
Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable bars in Nashville, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to meet your needs.
1. Dino's
photo: josh h./yelp
Topping the list is Dino's. Located at 411 Gallatin Ave. in Lockeland Springs, the bar, traditional American and breakfast and brunch spot is the highest-rated cheap bar in Nashville, boasting four stars out of 164 reviews on Yelp. Look for burgers, hot chicken and huevos rancheros on the menu.
We turned there to learn more about Dino's.
"Dino's was established in the 1970s, following many other businesses such as Brown's Diner and The Catfish Shack," the business says in the history section of its Yelp profile. "The building has been standing since the 1930s!"
As to what the business is known for, "Cheap, cold beer, fine food," it writes on Yelp in the section explaining specialties.
2. 5 Agaves Mexican Restaurant Bar & Grill
Photo: Frank B./Yelp
Next up is Historic Old Hickory Village's 5 Agaves Mexican Restaurant Bar & Grill, situated at 1508 Robinson Road. With 4.5 stars out of 49 reviews on Yelp, the bar and Mexican spot has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for a low-priced option. The menu features nachos and tacos.
Yelper Quentin T., who reviewed 5 Agaves Mexican Restaurant Bar & Grill on Sept. 4, wrote, "After a first visit that left something to be desired this has become my go-to Mexican spot in town for good food and cheap margaritas."
3. Mercy Lounge
photo: Jim h./yelp
Citizens Protecting Revitalization's Mercy Lounge, located at 1 Cannery Row, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the affordable bar, music venue and venues and event space four stars out of 107 reviews. Stop by for a beer.
Yelper Allegra A. wrote, "It was relatively spacious for a small-medium concert and wasn't overpacked despite there being a decent amount of people there. They also have a fairly affordable drink menu, which is always appreciated. Service was fast and the overall vibe of the venue was cool."
4. Roadside Bar & Grill
photo: eddy w./yelp
Roadside Bar & Grill, a bar and traditional American spot in Hermitage Hills, is another much-loved, inexpensive go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 28 Yelp reviews. Head over to 4617 Old Hickory Blvd. to see for yourself. Look for pizza and wings on the menu.
We looked there for an overview of Roadside Bar & Grill.
Regarding signature items, "Bar and grille, non-smoking and live music most nights" it writes on Yelp in the section highlighting specialties.
5. Duke's
Photo: Ellena S./Yelp
Over in Lockeland Springs, check out Duke's, which has earned four stars out of 70 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the bar and deli, which offers sandwiches and more, by heading over to 1000 Main St. The spot also offers music, according to the website.
If you're hungry for more, we found these details about Duke's.
"We're a little bar with a little deli," it writes on Yelp in the section about specialties.
This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Trump's Russia adviser 'escorted from White House' amid investigation
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__label__cc | 0.713421 | 0.286579 | Anonymous didn’t steal from the FBI after all – new conspiracy theories needed!
11 Sep 2012 16 Apple, Data loss, iOS, Law & order
Previous: Go Daddy largely unavailable for over 4 hours – Hacker revenge or SNAFU?
Next: Ban on in-flight gadget use: based on fear or evidence?
A techie named David Schuetz at security consultancy Intrepidus Group has done something so obvious, so simple, and so tellingly useful, that I’m going to go all out and call it a stroke of genius.
Here’s the story.
A week ago, a person called Anonymous published one-million-and-one stolen Apple device IDs. (There’s always room for numerological whimsy in hacking circles.)
This Anonymous person then blamed the FBI – crimes are always someone else’s fault if you’re a hacker – by claiming that the data was stolen from an FBI agent’s Windows desktop.
Conspiracy theories abounded. Even here on Naked Security we fell into the trap of believing Anonymous, noting, without the whiff of an if, that “why the FBI was collecting the UDIDs and personal information of millions of iPhone and iPad users is not yet clear.”
The FBI answered back to say that this was all poppycock. Not the crime, of course. The one thing which was certain was that data had been stolen and published unlawfully.
The Feds simply denied having had that data, having asked for it in the first place, and having been hacked at all.
Conspiracy theories then spiralled out of control. What could be more of an admission than a denial?
David Schuetz was made of sterner and more scientific stuff. In a fit of applied rationality, he turned his trusty Unix tools at the Apple Unique Device Identifier (UDID) dump, and quickly noticed that there weren’t 1,000,001 of them. That was just Anonymous marketing claptrap. There were only 985,117, giving about 15,000 repeats.
Schuetz – and learn from this! – quickly realised that the non-unique UDIDs weren’t just a contradiction, but the key to the whole thing. With help from a fellow Twitterer, who offered the explanation “seems like maybe a game or ad company,” Schuetz guessed that the repeated UDIDs might belong to developers, and went looking.
Many of the most-repeated UDIDs turned out to link back to the text string Bluetoad. And Bluetoad is a digital media company that creates iPhone and iPad apps. And after seeing Schuetz’s evidence, Bluetoad fessed up.
Bluetoad was hacked – just over a week ago, as it happened. A database of Apple device IDs was stolen. This list was, almost without doubt, the source of the data leaked by Anonymous.
Conspiracy theory won’t go away, of course. Perhaps the FBI stole the data from whomever stole it from Bluetoad? Perhaps the FBI paid for a cover-up which could be blamed on Bluetoad? Perhaps this is extreme guerilla marketing by Bluetoad?
The ironies in all of this?
Bluetoad’s speciality is software to convert one online format to another – notably from PDF to Flash, a concept perhaps best described as out of the frying pan, into the fire, and doubly ironic since PDFs are supported on iDevices, whilst Flash is not.
And Apple no longer accepts apps which collect UDIDs, following a privacy backlash.
So, if you were feeling uncharitable, you could blame this on a not-actually-necessary application that gathered no-longer-acceptable-to-collect data and sent it back to a not-secure-enough company that stored it in a needlessly-remotely-accessible database.
I hope you can make a good conspiracy theory out of that spectacularly hyphenated combination of circumstances.
Because if you can’t, we’re stuck with a depressingly familiar explanation where computer security is concerned: SNAFU.
Worse than that, you’re going to have to admit the ghastly possibility that Anonymous might not have been entirely truthful about its criminality.
16 comments on “Anonymous didn’t steal from the FBI after all – new conspiracy theories needed!”
@richardhack says:
"Perhaps the FBI stole the data from whomever stole it from Bluetoad?"
This is precisely possible. That is, Blue Toad's files could have been hoovered up by someone, combined with others, and only their stuff released by the hackers regardless of where they obtained it.
The FBI's denial is completely worthless in any event. Anyone who knows the name Sibel Edmonds knows the FBI is completely and totally untrustworthy.
However, until the hackers provide more evidence of the source of the file, the extent of the full data file, and additional data such as user names, their credibility will be suspect.
Paul Ducklin says:
I'm lightly confused…but it seems you are saying that it may have gone down like this: hackers stole data from Bluetoad and others, and combined it all. Then the FBI almost immediately stole the combo-data from those hackers, and left it lying around on the Windows desktop of a PC that was remotely exploitable via Java, then some others hacker or hackers (what I'm calling Anonymous above) almost immediately stole that combo-data from the FBI, carefully extracted only the part of the combo-data which originally came from Bluetoad, and released that.
I have to agree with you that this is possible, but I wouldn't have chosen the adjective "precisely" to go with the word "possible". "Doubtful but admittedly possible", perhaps. "Fancifully possible." But _precisely_?
njorl says:
Some dictionaries link "precisely" to "just". I don't think I caught the meaning on first reading, but "precisely possible" was (probably) intended as "no more (or less) than possible". So, the great minds were thinking alike!
(And it's an ad_verb_, as you've probably realised after switching off.)
“Even here on Naked Security we fell into the trap of believing Anonymous”
We? No. Don't be so hard on yourself, Paul. It was all Graham. And no surprise, really. Reading any of his posts, one will soon realize, his FUD detector must be broken.
Or at least I hope it's broken. I really hate thinking that he cynically jumps on every passing bandwagon just for the sake of catchy headlines.
Hmmm. That's a bit harsh, don't you think?
Firstly, I'm not being "hard on myself". Secondly, Graham wrote "why" where I might have written "if so, why." So he fell into an Anonymous hephalump trap [*], nothing more than that.
Anyway, his misplaced "why" wasn't central to the point – he went on to say, "whatever the story, the data wasn't secure, and that's bad." He was right.
To jump from my criticism of Graham to blast everything Graham writes ("reading any of his posts", as you put it) is a bit rich, wouldn't you say?
I think my criticism of his mistake is fair; I think yours is OTT. So there 🙂
PS. Note to readers: Sean works for a competitor.
[*] See the children's books of A.A. Milne for further details.
Re-reading my article, I did miss an “if” in one para.. Sorry about that
But elsewhere I said “Anonymous claims”, “allegedly purloined” etc
So, on balance… Not the greatest error, but one I still regret.
i read both articles, and knew very clearly that Graham was -at best- unsure of the claims. i never for a second thought he had simply accepted Anonymous' claims, rather theorized about what the implications could be if such claims turned out to be true.
i am so glad i liked Sophos on facebook, i feel much more educated about online security and such, reading each article that comes out regarding the latest news.
keep it up lads.
Which competitor? I'd love to which company has staff that goes around other peoples sites just to insult and poke at their (minor) mistakes
Floyd says:
Based on Google search results: f-secure.
@richardhack :: I read your Twitter feed. You're an idiot. Having said that, hacker claims are ALWAYS suspect.
Guido Faulkes says:
Wisdom follows, pay attention!
Any data, residing with any company is in the posession of US federal institutions, because all US and submissive allies' companies are required by secret FISA court order to have a "Room 641A", where the NSA bit-siphon is attached. Whatever BlueToad collected was collected for Uncle Sam, no matter what Blue Toad intended.
Whether NSA shares said data with FBI does not need to concern us, opressed citizens, we only need to know freedom, liberty and privacy does not exist anymore!
By the way, in related news the US federal government released formerly classified docs yesterday to eventually admit that President FDR did know about the 1940 "Katyn" massacre of 20,000 polish POW officers, specifically at the hands of soviet secret police henchmen of NKVD.
Yet, Franklin Delano Rosenfeldt kept mum on the topic and tossed the 1945 "liberated" Poland into the soviet communist empire of evil, for 4 full decades of misery. This shows how wile the US federal government has always been. You and your family could be the next Katyn victims!
You do realise that the American government owns the company that produces the tin-foil which your stylish piece of headwear is made from, don't you? Maybe they just want you to believe that there is a room 641A. The NSA is just a loss leader for their tin-foil business.
cf. says:
Anonymous have always spouted rubbish they did a few dos attacks and suddenly they think there big time
wasn't it Antisec? That's what I read on forbes by Andy Greenberg
So, can I assume you'll be hiring David as a consultant writer? Or at least as a researcher…
His application of "Oh Really?" seems to have cracked this wide open. Accepting a statement as fact when it comes from an apparent authority is a key feature of social engineering hacks.
Think Mulder: Trust No One.
Solenoid says:
“..Anonymous might not have been entirely truthful..”
Excellent punchline for the article. This one had me howling with lulz at Anonymous’ expense.
(scarcasm) : But those folks are so open and accountable for their actions, as well as cohesive and consistent. “I want to believe,” says the poster in Fox Mulder’s FBI basement office.
by Lisa Vaas
FBI asks Apple to help it unlock iPhones of naval base shooter
FBI hits back at Anonymous – your claims are TOTALLY FALSE
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The Dreaded Count-In
Articles, Music Instruction Articles
By Wayne Erbsen
Perhaps you’re a lurker at the bluegrass jam or pickin’ session. Sometimes you’ve heard the musicians count at the beginning of the songs with “one, two, three” or “one, two, three, four” and wondered how and why they’re doing that. You may have been in a position of having to start a song in a jam, and you’ve dreaded having to do the count-in. In either case, read on.
When it’s your turn to start a song in a jam, the surest way to get the other musicians to come in at the right place is to count them in. To illustrate this, let’s take the song Footprints in the Snow, which starts with the words “Some folks.” If you start tapping your foot and then sing or think the words “some folks,” you’ll see that “some” starts on the first downbeat of the song. To count in a song like this, you would count “one, two, three, four.” The other musicians would come in on the next “one.“ Your challenge will be to count at the very same speed you want the song to be played at. You should practice the count-in at home before you try it at a jam.
Besides songs like Footprints in the Snow, where the lyrics start with the first downbeat of the song, you’ll find that many songs begin with several pick-up notes. A good example of this is Red River Valley. The first verse begins with “From this valley…” To count in this song, you would count “one, two, three” with the group coming in on “four.”
If you’ve got to count in a song in 3/4 or waltz time, the counting is a little different. Take a song like All The Good Times Are Past and Gone, which starts on the first beat of the song. In this case, you would count “one, two, three, one, two, three.” The group would join you on the next “one.” Amazing Grace is an example of a song in waltz time that has a pick-up. In this case, the first syllable of “Amazing” is the pick-up note. You would count “one, two, three, one, two.” The group would come in on the “three” with the first syllable of “Amazing.”
If you’re still confused by the counting, watch and listen how the more seasoned musicians do the count-in, and you’ll soon get the hang of it.
In writing this article, I made a random list of 60 bluegrass songs. Out of these 60 songs, only sixteen started right on the first beat of song, while 44 had pick-up notes at the beginning of the song. That means that almost three times more songs start with pick-up notes than start with the first beat of the song. Although this is a rough estimate, it’s useful information to know how the majority of songs will start.
Just for sport, here is my list of songs that start with the first downbeat of the verse:
Black-Eyed Susie
Don’t This Road Look Rough and Rocky
Handsome Molly
I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages
Long Journey Home
Man of Constant Sorrow
Pass Me Not
Paul and Silas
Here’s the songs with pick-up notes at the beginning of the verse:
Angel Band
Back Up and Push
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Cabin in Caroline
Colleen Malone
Crying Holy Unto the Lord
Deep Ellen Blues
East Virginia
High on a Mountain
Honey, You Don’t Know My Mind
I Am a Pilgrim
Just Over in the Gloryland
Katy Dear
Keep on the Sunny Side of Life
Little Birdie
Little Girl in Tennessee
Lonesome Road Blues
Love of the Mountains
Midnight on the Stormy Deep
Nine Pound Hammer
Rocky Road Blues
Roll on Buddy
Sittin’ on Top of the World
Take This Hammer
There’s More Pretty Girls Than One
Wildwood Flower
Working on a Building
Wayne Erbsen has been teaching banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin since dinosaurs roamed the earth (really about 50 years). Originally from California, he now makes his home in Asheville, North Carolina. He has written more than 30 songbooks and instructions books for banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin.
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__label__wiki | 0.576802 | 0.576802 | Neil Wilby
Journalist and Justice Campaigner
Tag: Jane Palmer NYP
‘Are we all equal under the law, Dave?’
In June 2013, when David Graham Jones took charge of North Yorkshire Police for the first time, he probably thought that he had ‘landed on his feet’ as we say oop t’North. A rambling, old country hall as HQ, miles from anywhere, it truly is far from the madding crowd
lfordPolicing the genteel and largely rural acres of Harrogate, Ripon and York (the latter two the only cities on his patch) would also be a far cry from his previous career postings in the rough, tough gun-toting, knife-wielding districts of Salford and Belfast.
Add to that a charming, equable and unchallenging employer, in the form of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Julia Mulligan, and a Command Team deeply committed to self congratulation and backslapping, and it all must have seemed very agreeable
Top all that off with a largely tame local and regional media and what could possibly go wrong for the Jones boy?
Much has been written elsewhere about the Jimmy Savile and Peter Jaconelli child abuse scandal in the seaside town of Scarborough. In brief, the investigative efforts of two citizen journalists – Tim Hicks and Nigel Ward – led to a BBC Inside Out programme aired in April 2014. It showed NYP in a poor light and Jones didn’t put either himself, or any of his officers, up for interview.
The bottom line is, that without the sterling efforts of Messrs Hicks and Ward, the many victims of the two, now notorious, child sex offenders would have received no recognition, apology or closure. Their reward by North Yorkshire Police? To be hounded through the civil courts for eighteen months.
A Google search of ‘Operation Rome’ and ‘Operation Hyson’ will link to a number of forensic articles I have written about these two disastrous, and very costly, NYP investigations that now span almost five years. They have brought significant reputational damage to both Jones, and his police force .
Much worse publicity is yet to come as Hyson, a civil harassment claim against the two journalists responsible for the exposure of the Savile and Jaconelli scandal, lurches towards a trial at Leeds County Court on 20th July, 2016. Eighteen months to the day since proceedings were issued. The press benches will, no doubt, be overflowing to report on the unfolding proceedings.
Jones, as lead claimant in that civil case, felt it necessary to award himself free legal fees, courtesy of the public purse, before approving the launch of the claim. At a figure currently estimated at £40,000, come the end of the trial. He also authorised two of his very senior officers, Deputy Chief Constable Timothy Madgwick and C/Supt Lisa Winward (pictured below) to access the same legal fees benefit.
On top of that estimated £120,000 diminution of the public purse by three serving police officers, Jones – in a grand gesture of munificence – also granted free access to the public purse to one of his retired police officers, ex Superintendent Heather Pearson and former Police Authority Chair, Jane Kenyon. That leap of faith then takes the bill up to an estimated £200,000.
But Jones didn’t stop there. In the best traditions of past North Yorkshire Police ACPO officers such as Della Cannings, Grahame Maxwell, Dave Collins and Adam Briggs, and their liberal approach to the spending of police funds, he awarded the same amount of free legal fees to four members of the public. Taking the total estimated bill to the North Yorkshire precept payer for the private court claim up to around £350,000.
Curiously, Jones is a leading light in the Chief Police Officers Staff Association (CPOSA) who might, reasonably, have been expected to provide support for one of their members pursuing legal action, rather than Jones using police funds as a personal piggy bank. Jones’ Deputy, Tim Madgwick, is also a CPOSA member. A copy of the CPOSA legal expenses policy can be viewed here. Similarly, Lisa Winward and Heather Pearson are covered by legal expenses insurance as members of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales (PSAEW). Whilst the insurance is more regularly used as an aid to defending claims against officers, Hyson was grounded, allegedly, in health, safety and welfare issues connected to the police officers.
Even more curiously, Mrs Mulligan (supported by Jones) contemplated embarking on legal action to recover monies from Maxwell and Briggs but abandoned the idea, because it might have cost too much in legal fees (and the Maxwell and Briggs personnel files had reportedly and mysteriously ‘disappeared’). In the context of the huge sum of public money spent on Hyson, and what is likely to be achieved, letting the errant chiefs off the hook looks a very poor judgement call indeed, by comparison.
Put shortly, it was “inappropriate” according to Jones and Mrs Mulligan to chase two former NYP Command Team officers for £100,000 they owe (read more here), but no problem at all to spend around £350,000 of public money hunting down two journalists.
Which makes this joint statement of Chief Constable Jones and PCC Mulligan in the wake of the Maxwell, Briggs farrago sound very hollow indeed: “The commissioner and the chief constable are determined that issues of this kind shall never be allowed to occur again”.
But an issue of exactly that kind has occurred, just over a year after that solemn pronouncement was made – and the two people at the very heart of the scandal – and some of the attempts to conceal it from the public, are the very same Dave Jones and Julia Mulligan.
The unauthorised removal (or theft if you like) of the Briggs and Maxwell personnel files also has a troubling ring to it. Are NYP saying to the wider world that sensitive materials stolen from their own police HQ go completely undetected? This has shades of the Sir Norman Bettison scandal, when renewed allegations of platinum wire theft against the former Merseyside and West Yorkshire Police chief constable (pictured below) could not be progressed, as the original criminal and disciplinary files has ‘disappeared’ from South Yorkshire Police HQ by the time outside investigators were appointed.
Returning to Chief Constable Jones, he made one of his rare public, questions from the floor, appearances in October 2013, alongside Julia Mulligan, at St Joseph’s Theatre in Scarborough. He fielded this polite and seemingly innocuous query from Nigel Ward, who was in the audience:
The response was reported as: ‘I bloody well hope so’.
But what Chief Constable Jones didn’t share with Nigel Ward, or the rest of the Scarborough audience that day, is that he runs a police force that recklessly, relentlessly and calculatingly breaks the law almost every single day. I have spent over a year peering into some of the dark corners of North Yorkshire Police and the issues upon which I can now shine light make for bleak reading:
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA):
Chief Constable Jones is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as the data controller for North Yorkshire Police. One of the key requirements in that role is to lawfully dispose of information requests within 20 working days. They catastrophically fail to do so, as the image below graphically depicts.
The situation was unacceptable when Jones arrived at NYP, early in the 2013/14 financial year, but it has plainly got WORSE under his leadership. The Information Commissioner’s office has, allegedly, been ‘monitoring’ the situation for the past five years as a York Evening Press article from 2011 discloses (read in full here).
On NYP’s own website they claim that their philosophy is one of an ‘open and transparent’ approach to disposal of FOIA requests. They further claim that they follow the processes and guidelines set out in the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) FOIA manual. A weblink to the manual is helpfully provided by NYP. Except, I have had to write to NYP’s civil disclosure unit and point out that their link is defective. They have been provided with the correct one (click here). However, my email has not drawn a response at the time of publication and the link has not been repaired.
More crucially, I have read the ACPO guidance and I can find very little corrrelation between how North Yorkshire Police deal with information requests (I have made 19 in the last two years) and what the manual directs them to do. So, not only is the law routinely broken, Jones sticks up two fingers to his fellow chief constables.
The dishonesty doesn’t stop there, either. NYP publish a disclosure log on their website but its usefulness is, actually, very limited because it is apparent that some of the FOIA outcomes that damage the police force’s reputation do not make it onto that log. A classic example being the one revealing the numbers of out of time requests over the past three years. So much then for the ‘open and transparent’ philosophy.
As with information requests, so it is with data subject access requests. The Act provides for all personal information to be disclosed from the force’s files.
In the case of my own two subject access requests (SAR’s), NYP have broken the law by failing to dispose of one of them appropriately within the stipulated 40 day period. Even after being given the generous option of a simplified form of response (a schedule of documents held, rather than full disclosure of all of them) what was provided was a deeply unsatisfactory shambles that looks as though it has been put together over a disclosure officer’s lunch break. The schedule arrived on the fortieth day, precluding any possibility of the contemplated inspection of the documents within the statutory period.
The other SAR, concerning my data held by Mrs Mulligan’s PCC office, has still not even been acknowledged, let alone determined. It fell due on 31st May, 2015. NYP are responsible, under a joint corporate services arrangement, for dealing with SAR’s and FOIA requests on behalf of the PCC’s office.
Following this latest breach of the law, a further FOIA request has been submitted to NYP requesting details of how many SAR’s the force have dealt with over the past three years, and how many were properly determined to the requester’s satisfaction within the statutory 40 day period. Full details here.
Many may say, and justifiably so, that catching murderers and organised criminals – and keeping the streets clear of drugs, guns and knives is much more important to the public, and its police force, than keeping journalists happy with a stream of information requests. But the principle of operating within the law is exactly the same: Cutting corners with sloppy detective work, outside the recognised investigative framework, will lead to some perpetrators either not being caught (the mistakes by NYP at the outset of the Claudia Lawrence case is a classic and most tragic example), or being acquitted at court if they are arrested and charged.
Police Reform Act (PRA)
Enshrined in the Act at Section 22 is the Independent Police Complaint Commission’s Statututory Guidance. Which is, effectively, a comprehensive manual setting out how complaints against police officers should be handled by the forces by whom they are employed. The person ultimately responsible for ensuring NYP compliance with the law, guidance and police regulations is Chief Constable Jones. In the terms of the Act and Guidance he is known as the ‘Appropriate Authority’. He is, quite rightly, allowed to delegate some of his powers as it would be impossible for a police chief to be embroiled in the day to day minutiae of hundreds of complaints against his officers at any one time.
But here’s the rub: Jones has selected as his delegate an officer who has shown clearly that he is not at all familiar with Statutory Guidance and, even if he was, would not feel at all bound by it. Former Leeds Drug Squad ‘hard man’ DI Steve Fincham‘s view, on all the evidence I have seen, is that the Police Reform Act and Statutory Guidance might apply to other forces when dealing with the public, but not to NYP. Why should it? It’s just another law, amongst many, to flout as and when it suits.
Jones has been subject to thirteen complaints since he took up the post in 2013. Only two were recorded and investigated. The outcomes, in both cases, were that the complaints were not substantiated. NYP did not fully comply with a FOIA request in terms of disclosing the nature of the complaints (read here). Two of the complaints have been made against Jones since the publication of the FOIA outcome. They are both, presently, subject to non-recording appeals to the IPCC.
Civil Court Procedure Rules (CPR) are taken very seriously by the courts and, generally, most of the lawyers practising there. So they should. High Court judges, with greater powers than a chief constable, take a very dim view of breaches of the precisely laid out legal framework – and sanction accordingly. But Jones’ North Yorkshire Police appear unconcerned by such issues and appear to regard CPR as merely a rough guide to civil litigation that applies to everyone else but not to them. Why should it? They are above the law.
Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations
The procedure for public inspection of accounts for a larger relevant body, mentioned in Regulation 22, is that it must make the documents mentioned in that regulation available for public inspection for 20 working days. North Yorkshire Police are such a body, but do not feel bound by the Regulations.
Not just unbound, but prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid compliance. In August, 2015 it was agreed, in writing, with NYP’s Chief Financial Officer, Jane Palmer, that certain invoices would be disclosed to me via pdf files carried by email, rather than visit NYP HQ in person (a 140 mile, 3 hour round trip) and pay for them to be photocopied. Almost a year later – and amidst much correspondence and two formal complaints I am still waiting. Those invoices that are being unlawfully withheld unsurprisingly concern Operations Rome and Hyson.
Police Act (Code of Ethics)
In 2014, and pursuant to S39A (5) of the Police Act 1996 (amended by S124 of the Anti Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, 2014), the College of Policing introduced a Code of Ethics.
The public relations narrative from NYP is they they are taking every reasonable step to embed the Code Of Ethics into all operations within the force. Indeed, every email received from NYP includes the message “Committed to the Code of Ethics“.
But, setting apart the lengthy, routine and serious breaches of statute, guidance and regulations, NYP have, on the face of the extensive evidence I have collected, no interest whatsoever in complying with either the Ethics Code, or Nolan Priciples, or Standards of Professional Behaviour. This is a police force that has had all its own way, without any form of worthwhile scrutiny or oversight, since time immemorial.
Here are just some examples that involve four very senior officers, and their complete disregard for any standards that one might associate with those in public life, let alone a Policing Code of Ethics.
(i) Many more emails than not remain unacknowledged, let alone answered. The two worst offenders in my own experience are Head of NYP’s Professional Standards Department, Superintendent Maria Taylor and Press/Communications Officer, Greig Tindall. Which, by any measure, is extraordinary: The department head charged with upholding high ethical standards of all other officers in the force – and a Communications Officer who doesn’t communicate very well, if at all – both routinely place themselves outside the Code of Ethics.
(ii) There is a strong likelihood that if a response is eventually received from a senior officer, after being prompted, then it may be sent simply with the intention to obfuscate or deceive. That is the documented experience of my direct contact with the aforementioned Jane Palmer and Force Solicitor, Jane Wintermeyer. That may well be how they view their respective roles or, indeed, how they are instructed to respond by their masters, but it doesn’t sit well within an ethical or professional framework.
The two Janes are both, presently, the subject of ongoing misconduct complaints. Apologies have been received from both of them, but that is not the remedy now sought. The issues at stake require much stronger action from the force. But instead of dealing with the core issues and moving on, the drive to cover up misdemeanours of senior officers in North Yorkshire Police is all-pervading and very much extends to Mrs Mulligan’s own PCC office.
David Jones has recently been seconded to the equally shambolic South Yorkshire Police: Ostensibly, to temporarily replace his former Greater Manchester Police colleague, David Crompton, as a pair of ‘clean hands’.
Now, the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire, Dr Alan Billings, must decide whether he has simply replaced one David, albeit on an interim basis, with another David who is a copper out of the same flawed mould.
Page last updated Tuesday 7th June, 2016 at 2135hrs
© Neil Wilby 2015-2016. Unauthorised use or reproduction of the material contained in this article, without permission from the author, is strictly prohibited. Extracts from and links to the article (or blog) may be used, provided that credit is given to Neil Wilby, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Photo credits: NYP, NYPCC, SYPCC, Liverpool Echo
Author Neil WilbyPosted on June 1, 2016 November 10, 2016 Categories North Yorks Police, NYPCCTags 'I bloody well hope so', ACC Paul Kennedy, Alan Billings, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Are we all equal under the law Dave?, C/Supt Lisa Winward, Chief Constable Dave Jones, DCC Tim Madgwick, Della Canning, Della Cannings, Greig Tindall, Greig Tindall NYP, Heather Pearson, Heather Pearson North Yorkshire Police, Jane Palmer, Jane Palmer NYP, Jane Wintermeyer, Julia Mulligan, Lisa Winward, Maria Taylor, Nigel Ward, Norman Bettison, Operation Hyson, Operation Rome, Paul Kennedy, Supt Maria Taylor, Tim Hicks, Tim MadgwickLeave a comment on ‘Are we all equal under the law, Dave?’
Disaster-prone chief constable exits Twitter January 16, 2020
Hero police officer sues chief constable over racial and religious discrimination January 14, 2020
Kerry Perkins -v- West Yorkshire Police November 25, 2019
Chickens come home to roost October 2, 2019
The Smoking Gun September 27, 2019
Did ‘bad apple’ taint the Thatcham barrel? September 23, 2019
Dr Abdul Rashid -v- West Yorkshire Police September 9, 2019
Cost of GMP’s disastrous IS Transformation Programme rises to £80 million September 4, 2019
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The metal is a dimorphic allotrope of an hexagonal α form that changes into a body-centered cubic (lattice) β form at 882 °C (1,620 °F). The specific heat of the α form increases dramatically as it is heated to this transition temperature but then falls and remains fairly constant for the β form regardless of temperature.Similar to zirconium and hafnium, an additional omega phase exists, which is thermodynamically stable at high pressures, but is metastable at ambient pressures. This phase is usually hexagonal (ideal) or trigonal (distorted) and can be considered to be due to a soft longitudinal acoustic phonon of the β phase causing collapse of planes of atoms.
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A metallic element, titanium is recognized for its high strength-to-weight ratio. It is a strong metal with low density that is quite ductile (especially in an oxygen-free environment),lustrous, and metallic-white in color. The relatively high melting point (more than 1,650 °C or 3,000 °F) makes it useful as a refractory metal. It is paramagnetic and has fairly low electrical and thermal conductivity.
Commercial (99.2% pure) grades of titanium have ultimate tensile strength of about 434 MPa (63,000 psi), equal to that of common, low-grade steel alloys, but are less dense. Titanium is 60% denser than aluminium, but more than twice as strong as the most commonly used 6061-T6 aluminium alloy. Certain titanium alloys (e.g., Beta C) achieve tensile strengths of over 1400 MPa (200000 psi). However, titanium loses strength when heated above 430 °C (806 °F).
Titanium is not as hard as some grades of heat-treated steel, is non-magnetic and a poor conductor of heat and electricity. Machining requires precautions, because the material might gall if sharp tools and proper cooling methods are not used. Like those made from steel, titanium structures have a fatigue limit that guarantees longevity in some applications. Titanium alloys have less stiffness than many other structural materials such as aluminium alloys and carbon fiber.
Like aluminium and magnesium, titanium metal and its alloys oxidize immediately upon exposure to air. Titanium readily reacts with oxygen at 1,200 °C (2,190 °F) in air, and at 610 °C (1,130 °F) in pure oxygen, forming titanium dioxide. It is, however, slow to react with water and air at ambient temperatures because it forms a passive oxide coating that protects the bulk metal from further oxidation.When it first forms, this protective layer is only 1–2 nm thick but continues to grow slowly; reaching a thickness of 25 nm in four years.
Atmospheric passivation gives titanium excellent resistance to corrosion, almost equivalent to platinum, capable of withstanding attack by dilute sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, chloride solutions, and most organic acids. However, titanium is corroded by concentrated acids.As indicated by its negative redox potential, titanium is thermodynamically a very reactive metal that burns in normal atmosphere at lower temperatures than the melting point. Melting is possible only in an inert atmosphere or in a vacuum. At 550 °C (1,022 °F), it combines with chlorine. It also reacts with the other halogens and absorbs hydrogen.
Titanium is one of the few elements that burns in pure nitrogen gas, reacting at 800 °C (1,470 °F) to form titanium nitride, which causes embrittlement. Because of its high reactivity with oxygen, nitrogen, and some other gases, titanium filaments are applied in titanium sublimation pumps as scavengers for these gases. Such pumps inexpensively and reliably produce extremely low pressures in ultra-high vacuum systems.
Titanium unalloyed and alloy plates
Thickness(mm)
Specifications(mm)
Cold-rolled
Hot-rolled
ASME SB265
>4.1~60.0
0.3~0.5*400~600*<1500mm
0.9~6.0*400~1000*1000~2500mm
0.1~15*400~1200*1000~2500mm
16~60*400~1200*1000~3000mm
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5) Filling Materials : breast fillings intraocular filling materials, filling materials in orthopedics.
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__label__wiki | 0.840842 | 0.840842 | Who is your favourite assassin so far?
Mine is ezio by a long shot
verified 9mo
AC3 Remastered!
Literally typing this as the game finishes downloading. So psyched to finally play! I remember when it originally came out and I was so excited to play it, but for some reason never got around to it!
Awes0meAustin
LV.5 Lurker 9mo
Assassin's Creed History #2: Desmond Miles
Desmond Miles, (b. March 13, 1987, d. December 21, 2012) was a member of the Assassin Order and a descendant of numerous familial lines that had sworn an allegiance to the Assassins; including individuals such as Aquilus, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, Edward Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton. He was also the son of the Mentor William Miles and unknowingly the father of Elijah, a young Sage.
By age 16, Desmond became tired of living in hiding and aspired to pursue his own dreams. Using the minimal training of Assassin skills he had obtained from his father, Desmond fled from the Assassin compound he had grown up in and managed to travel from South Dakota to New York City where he found employment as a bartender in the Bad Weather nightclub.
In September 2012, Desmond was kidnapped and incarcerated by Abstergo Industries, a Templar organization, and forced into a machine called the Animus to relive the genetic memories of his ancestor, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad. It was Abstergo's aim to acquire a map that detailed many "Pieces of Eden" spread across the Earth, which Desmond was reluctantly successful in doing. Following this, he managed to escape Abstergo with the help of Lucy Stillman, an undercover Assassin, and joined an Assassin cell in Italy, which consisted of herself, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane.
Utilizing an upgraded Animus of Rebecca's construction, Desmond relived the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in order to improve upon his newly obtained skills.
Eventually, with the knowledge gained from Ezio's memories, Desmond and his fellow Assassins obtained the location of Ezio's Apple of Eden, which was located in a vaultunderneath the Colosseum. Though successful in obtaining the artifact, Desmond's body was taken over by Juno, a member of the First Civilization, and was made to stab Lucy after Juno revealed her to be a traitor. As a result of the shock, Desmond fell into a coma and was placed in the Black Room, the safe mode of the Animus, in an attempt to stabilize his condition. With help from the virtual construct of Clay Kaczmarek, "Subject 16" of Abstergo's Animus Project, Desmond was able to regain consciousness, and found himself located in the state of New York once more, this time with Rebecca, Shaun, and his father, William.
While in the Grand Temple, Desmond relived the memories of Haytham Kenway and Ratonhnhaké:ton to find the key to the sanctum containing the device needed to prevent a devastating solar flare. He also undertook field missions to retrieve power sources for the Temple, coming into conflict with Daniel Cross. After his father was captured, Desmond rescued him from Abstergo's Roman facility and assassinated Cross and Warren Vidic in the process.
After finding the key, Desmond opened the sanctum but discovered he had been misled. It was made known that the device would save the world, but also unleash Juno, who had been imprisoned because of her hatred for humanity; using the device would also claim Desmond's life. Regardless, Desmond chose to sacrifice himself for humanity's survival, while expressing faith that his fellow Assassins would find a way to stop the new threat.
Desmond was born in an Assassin hideout near to the Black Hills, west of Rapid City, in the United States. Known as "the Farm", the hideout was an off-the-grid compound with a population of around thirty people, all leading a nomadic lifestyle.[3]
Desmond trained along with the other children of the Farm under the supervision of William Miles, his father, which proved to be extremely intense, often scaring him. He was also instructed to always be wary of their enemies, though as he grew older, Desmond became bored by the war stories of the Assassins and Templars, and underestimated Abstergo's influence over the world as a result. Finally concluding his parents to be little more than conspiracy freaks, he decided to leave the compound.[3]
On his sixteenth birthday, Desmond ran away from the Farm. His training proved to be useful, as he was able to outrun and avoid the Assassins who had pursued after him. Following this, Desmond traveled through "the badlands" and hitch-hiked for some time, until he eventually came across a person who advised him to go to New York City, prompting him to leave for the metropolis and blend into the crowds.[3] In 2005, Desmond also met a woman with whom he unknowingly conceived a child.[4]
Desmond eventually gained employment as a bartender at Bad Weather, most likely due to his looks. While he worked there, his specialty drink was the "Shirley Templar", a Shirley Temple cocktail with gin. Wanting to avoid the Assassins, Desmond never used his real name, and made sure to only use cash to purchase items.[5] Over time, he tried to start a new life, but would sometimes begin to miss his family and old friends.[3]
Unfortunately for him, Desmond was eventually found by Abstergo, after being traced through a fingerprint which was needed for his motorcycle license. Subsequently, he was kidnapped by the Templars, who brought him to an Abstergo laboratory in Italy. The company then went about erasing all evidence of his abduction.
On 1 September 2012, Desmond was abducted by Abstergo agents at the command of Master Templar Daniel Cross.[1] The next day, after awakening at an Abstergo facility in Italy, he was held captive for use as a test subject in the Animus, a device that could read the memories of people's ancestors through the "genetic memory" passed down through their descendants' DNA.[5]
At first, Warren Vidic attempted to pry the information he wanted from Desmond's mind, who was out cold, but he was met with failure. When Desmond came to, he angrily claimed to be nothing more than a bartender, but Warren revealed that Abstergo knew of his history as an Assassin, forcing Desmond to finally admit his past life.[5]
Warren and his assistant, Lucy Stillman, told Desmond that they were trying to access a certain memory of his ancestor, but Desmond's subconscious was resisting their efforts. Warren warned Desmond that if he refused to co-operate with their efforts, they would induce him into a coma, continue their work, and leave him to die when they had finished. Without much of a choice, Desmond agreed to help them and they became temporarily partners.[5]
From that point on, Desmond was made to explore through the genetic memories of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad – a Syrian man who was a member of the Assassin Order during the High Middle Ages. For several days, Desmond did so under the Templar's watchful eye, but during the nights, he was anonymously given a code that allowed him to open the door to the bedroom provided for him, which granted him the ability to explore the laboratory that he was being held in. As he was presented with the opportunity, Desmond used it to access the Animus' computer, and, after he had stolen Warren's access pen, gain access to Warren's personal computer as well.[5]
Through reading private emails, Desmond learned much about Abstergo, as well as the Animus subject that had preceded him, Subject 16, who was noted to have suffered from the "Bleeding Effect", a drastic symptom induced due to prolonged exposure to the Animus. Eventually, on Lucy's prompting, the Assassins attempted to liberate him, with the gunfire of their assault being heard through an intercom device.[5]
After the rescue attempt failed, Warren boasted that those Assassins were, in fact, the last of the group Desmond had escaped from, and that their desert hideout had been previously destroyed. When Warren left, however, Lucy reassured Desmond that that compound had been found deserted and that his parents had "probably escaped". During this discussion, Lucy revealed herself to be an undercover member of the Assassins.[5]
Subsequently, Desmond eventually achieved Warren's goal and discovered the locations of numerous Pieces of Eden. Following this, three executives of Abstergo Industries ordered for Desmond's execution, but his life was saved by Lucy's intervention, as she asked them to keep Desmond alive in order to re-access his memories if necessary.[5]
After the executives left, Desmond realized that he was able to use "Eagle Vision", an ability that he shared with Altaïr, which he had picked up through the Bleeding Effect. Using it for the first time, he perceived a strong interpretation of Warren and Lucy's true allegiances, as well as countless scrawled messages and puzzles on the walls and floor of the main laboratory and his own quarters.
If you would like to read more about Desmond Miles, you can do so by using the link below 👇👇
https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Desmond_Miles
#ACHistory
gatorboy45
verified LV.39 Mod 9mo
AC Unity PS4
Looking for people to do co-op missions with and get co-op trophies
Natwan 777
Assassin's Creed History #1: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (1165–1257) was born to a Syrian-Muslim father, Umar Ibn-La'Ahad, and his wife, Maud, who died of complications during childbirth. Umar was later executed by the forces of Saladin when he was revealed to have participated in a disastrous mission to assassinate the ruler, which resulted in Umar killing a nobleman who had caught him. He allowed himself to be executed and the last thing he heard was the voice of his son crying for him.
As the years passed, Altaïr grew to be a skilled Assassin, so he had to lose a finger. He once led the retaking of Masyaf after Al Mualim, the Mentor of the Order, was captured, which earned him the respect of his fellow Assassins. He was then sent on a mission to Solomon's Temple to recover a hidden artifact. The mission was a failure, as Altaïr broke the tenets of the Order and left his fellow Assassins to face the Templars alone after he was thrown from the room by Robert de Sablé. Altaïr fled to Masyaf to report his failure but was followed, resulting in Masyaf being attacked by the Templars. The Assassins were able to fend off their enemies, but Altaïr was punished by being stabbed by Al-Mualim.
Altaïr later awoke and discovered that he had been stripped of his rank, but was told by Al-Mualim that he would be able to recover it if he could kill nine Templars in the Holy Land. Altaïr was able to assassinate the first eight, then discovered that his last target was Robert himself. He then made his way back to Jerusalem where he met Robert. However, as he removed the helmet of the Templar, he found out that he had not faced Robert but a woman. He allowed her to live and she told him that Robert had made his way to Arsuf. Altaïr followed and finally killed Robert, who revealed that Al Mualim was actually using Altaïr to obtain the Apple of Eden, a powerful artifact left behind by the First Civilization. Altaïr returned to Masyaf, where Al Mualim confirmed what Robert had said. Altaïr, aided by a number of other Assassins, fought his way to Al Mualim, who had used to the artifact from Solomon's Temple to enslave the people of Masyaf. Altaïr and his mentor battled each other and Altaïr finally killed him, taking his place as Mentor.
After these events, Altaïr eventually began to study the artifact, known as the Apple of Eden, and recorded his findings in a journal known as the Codex. He also married Maria Thorpe, who was the decoy of Robert de Sable, after he convinced her to defect to the Assassins. He had two sons, Darim and Sef Ibn-La'Ahad. During this time, Altaïr used what he had learned from the Apple to create new techniques and innovations for the Assassins to use. He later journeyed in 1222 to Xia province, China, with Maria, Darim and Qulan Gal to assassinate Genghis Khan. They returned ten years later to discover that Abbas, Altaïr's rival, had usurped control of the Order. Abbas tried to force Altaïr to give him the Apple, revealing that Sef had been executed and told that Altaïr had ordered it. Angered, Altaïr used the Apple but Maria told him to stop, resulting in her being stabbed by one of the Assassins loyal to Abbas. Altaïr and Darim fled Masyaf and Altaïr fell into a deep depression. Years later Altaïr retook the Order with the help of Assassins led by Tazim Al-Sayf, the son of Malik.
He began rebuilding the Order, splitting it up into small "guilds" located around the world and began construction of a large library hidden under Masyaf, sealed by five keys containing his memories. When Venetian explorers, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo arrived in Masyaf after they were invited by Altaïr and Darim, he told them of his experiences and put into action his idea of dividing the Assassins into smaller groups with their help. Later, Masyaf was attacked by Mongols and Altaïr helped the explorers escape by using the Apple to fend off the attackers. He then divided his books by giving some to the Polos and sending some to Alexandria. He also gave the Venetians the memory keys to the library, before sealing himself into the library along with the Apple after saying goodbye to Darim. While in the library, Altaïr recorded one last memory on a key he kept with him and died moments after. His remains were found centuries later by the 16th-century assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
If you want to read more about Altaïr, use the link below 👇👇👇
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altaïr_Ibn-LaʼAhad
Does anyone want to go in ps4 party and talk I’m currently playing AC odyssey
Cre8iveN8
LV.11 Santa Claus 9mo
Can someone name off all the AC’s in order or give a link for a list of them?
Hectagonix
LV.5 Rootin Tootin 9mo
Thoughts on playing this in 2019???
Sierra_Hulk
LV.20 Vampire 9mo
I feel like people hate on syndicate and unity too much when origins and odyssey are (in my opinion)
Are the worst they are nothing like the og gsmes
BLINDPIRATE777
LV.18 Rootin Tootin 9mo
Next Assassin's Creed Could Be About Vikings (RUMOR)
(This is all a big rumor and nothing is set in stone, so take this all with a grain of salt)
It’s time to get excited for a new Assassin’s Creed game. 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins breathed new life into Ubisoft’s played-out stealthy murder simulator by turning it into a full-blown RPG as epic as its ancient Egyptian open-world setting. And it pulled off this radical shift by taking an extra year of development. Assassin’s Odyssey followed the next year and while it carried over these cool innovations while adding more horniness, it was more evolution than revolution.
However, the next Assassin’s Creed is getting the same extra year in development Origins got, so expectations are high for this game, and that’s before taking into account it’ll probably launch on next-gen platforms. Now new rumors and suggesting what form this next leap in the series will take: Vikings.
As discovered by YouTube user JorRaptor, the recent Ubisoft loot shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 features a poster for a show called “Valhalla” showing a vaguely Assassin’s Creed-looking guy holding a vaguely Assassin’s Creed-looking magic apple. By referencing Norse Heaven, players connected the dots and guessed this was an Easter Egg for the next Assassin’s Creed game starring Vikings.
And now insiders are saying these guesses are correct. 2020’s Assassin’s Creed game “Kingdom” will indeed center around Vikings. Presumably the naval warfare of recent games will play and even bigger role. Plus the aggro pre-firearms warrior combat of Spartans can totally working with Vikings. Just import some of those For Honor assets. Also this continues the fun trend of Assassin’s Creed staying just one step behind God of War in terms of ancient mythological locations. Can’t wait to stab Thor in the throat.
This Assassin’s Creed news also reminded everyone that, yes, Watch Dogs 3 will be set in London. Maybe Ubisoft will work in a plot about Prince Harry wanting to ban Fortnite. Or perhaps this is in response to other recent games trying to capture what’s cool about pre-Brexit England like Forza Horizon 4 and Pokemon Sword and Shield.
https://youtu.be/Eu2KyRTzbcA (Credit goes to Jorraptor on YouTube for the video)
https://www.geek.com/games/the-next-assassins-creed-is-probably-about-vikings-1782061/ (Credit goes to the Geek Website for the news article)
Assassin's Creed Origins The Curse of the Pharaohs Walkthrough Gameplay Part 5 Something Rotten
Watch "Assassin's Creed Origins The Curse of the Pharaohs Walkthrough Gameplay Part 5 Something Rotten" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/gTOlH8Xphk8
Evilhaavy4YT
LV.22 Epic 9mo
Proving that Assasin's Creed is Illuminati Confirmed (Just a joke, dont take it srsly)
I died for no reason in AC (assasin's creed) which is kinda weird...
GUYS! i just realized that...hoodies are triangle-like shapes
a triangle has 3 sides and 3 corners
so does the great pyramid of giza
the illuminati is a triangle with an eye
add an eye to the great pyramid of giza
ASSASIN'S CREED IS ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED
UWOTM8
Conan exiles rp
Survival rp need people to join message me to join
Red dead pro 2.0
LV.6 Shotcaller 9mo
Tiny Sphinx replica from assassins creed origins
BBP SQAUD YT
I’m looking for someone to play unity with
SkintCashew
Looking to play around in unity with someone do some missions.
karolbalon88
LV.18 Nightmare 9mo
What is your favorite Assassin’s Creed game mine is origins
Just.Jaden14
LV.20 Professional Noob 9mo
Touched up the picture hope you all like this version
It looks like Vikings for the win
Joeyogurl
Assassin's Creed Origins on sale to support charity!
Assassin's Creed Origins is the featured game of this month's Humble Bundle. For $12 you get AC Origins and about 10 other games. The money goes to charity so it's a great reason to get a bunch of great new games!
Funky Bunch
LV.23 Poppin’ Bottles! 9mo
Who wants to ball out
Assassins Creed Unity looking for someone who’s decent and can make it more enjoyable to play so I’m not always playing by myself or randoms who let you do 99% of the work
CH3M
LV.10 I'm a Bot 10mo
So I decided to draw AC3 Conner hope you all like. Subscribe to my YouTube channel link in bio.
LV.20 Professional Noob 10mo
I download ac unity again I lose all my progress I have the achievements but my outfits gone progress gone how does that make sense
LV.6 Shotcaller 10mo
Any people playing unity?
Looking for a team
Where are all my odyssey players? I'm on xbox GT: DMurkiin hoping someone can party up and help me understand the leveling and gear system better!
DMurkiin
LV.3 Lurker 10mo
Assassin 82 !
its fortnite for lif
Assassins creed odyssey live Please support my channel by subscribing. Thank you
Watch "Assassins Creed Odyssey Live gameplay" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/fSJJ6yIYXLM
LNG Assassin
LV.17 Sage 10mo
How’s assassins creed 3 remastered?
WHATTHEMICK
LV.8 PlayStation 10mo
Assassin’s Creed is the best game
iAmDaniel7
LV.10 Looking for teammates! 10mo
5.0 Great
4.0 very detail and long story line i love.
3.5 i am really bad on Assassin's Creed series..... I always watch friend rather than play
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Blood Shed
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Idents
Connie now screening on ShortsTV and available on iTunes US & Europe
#FFIDENT20 now online – with a star-studded cast
on August 23, 2019 August 28, 2019 by Cat Davies
Our secret ident for Arrow Video FrightFest this year is now online – #FFIDENT20 – FrightFest Opening Night of the Dawn of the 28th Day. Starring Andy Nyman, Emily Booth, Kim Newman, Jack Doolan, Adam Green & Joe Lynch.
It was screened before the UK premiere of Come to Daddy at FrightFest on Thursday 22nd August 2019.
Crazy For You available to buy or rent on iTunes & Amazon!
James Moran’s epic serial killer romance Crazy For You starring Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who, Broadchurch, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Hannah Tointon (Inbetweeners, Penny Dreadful) is finally available to buy or rent on iTunes and Amazon, thanks to Shorts International! You can now own it and enjoy the polka dots as often as you like…
Now available to buy or rent:
Crazy for You is also regularly screening on ShortsTV in North America, Europe and South Asia.
on December 7, 2018 December 7, 2018 by Cat Davies
The foul-mouthed, felt-mouthed little puppet is now available on iTunes in the US and Europe thanks to Shorts International! Connie is just a snip at only $2.99 or £1.99 respectively – so fill your stockings this festive season.
Connie has had an incredible journey since the shoot in May 2016, playing festivals globally, including awards qualifiers, scooping awards, receiving great reviews and entertaining audiences we could only have dreamed of. Sharing it with a whole new audience is something else, so we’re proud to be working with Shorts International.
You can buy it in the US here, and Europe here.
Connie and Crazy For You – 5-year licensing deal with ShortsTV for broadcast and EST/VOD sales!
on May 4, 2018 May 4, 2018 by Cat Davies
We’ve agreed a licensing deal with Shorts International to broadcast Connie and Crazy For You on ShortsTV in North America, Europe and South Asia for five years from late 2018. Both films will also shortly be added to the ShortsTV online stores on Amazon (UK, USA and Germany) and iTunes (in over 80 countries) for purchase.
We’re excited to be working with Shorts International as ShortsTV is the world’s first 24/7 HD TV channel dedicated to shorts, and currently available to approximately 25 million homes worldwide. We’re thrilled that our short films will reach such a wide audience beyond the film festival circuit.
Launch date details coming soon.
Blood Shed World Premiere Success & Glittering Reviews!
on September 7, 2017 September 7, 2017 by Cat Davies
Blood Shed had its World Premiere at Horror Channel Frightfest on 27th August and was a great success! It was a joy to see so many happy, shed-fancying, Kickstarter supporters at the screening at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, London.
Some of our cast & crew at the premiere Pic: Moranic Productions 2017
We were really moved by the support, and overjoyed at the laughs and cheers that filled the cinema screen. Thanks so much to all who attended.
Director and Producer introducing the film at the screening Pic: Moranic Productions 2017
We’ve also had a flurry of great reviews following the screening! Here are a couple of links and extracts:
“A thirteen-minute slice of genius… enough gags and gore to put a smile on anyone’s face”
“Davies and her partner-in-cinematic-crime James Moran have a perfect handle on what makes an entertaining and memorable short.”
“a hilarious comic book-style throwback to the DIY gore of the Eighties”
“The result is a funny, gory throwback to an epoch when, supposedly, men were men, women were women, and outbuildings were flesh-hungry hellsheds.”
“…indebted to the CGI-free horror of the Eighties, and in particular to George A. Romero’s Creepshow (1982)… as though this were a lost British segment of Romero’s anthology film.”
HorrorTalk
“Loaded with laughs and gore to satisfy in this very niche sub-genre you never knew you needed.”
Blood Shed has been selected for the Wimbledon International Short Film Festival 2017, which takes place in October. We’re one of just fourteen shorts selected from across the globe. This is one of the UK’s top ten short film festivals (Metro), so we’re thrilled to be included, but we’re also nominated for the coveted Best London Filmmaker award, and also eligible for the Best Short Film and Audience awards.
And hot off the press, we’ve just heard the film has been selected for the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland, also in October. This is a long-running festival supported and endorsed by luminaries such as Paul Greengrass, Finola Dwyer, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Maureen O’Hara, John Moore and Mark Bomback. A great festival for our Irish Premiere!
We have more festival announcements coming up that we can’t reveal just yet, but all will be listed on the Blood Shed screenings page on the official website.
It looks like the shed will be very busy over the coming months – maybe she needs a secretary…
Pic: Moranic Productions 2017 | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8299 |
__label__wiki | 0.574276 | 0.574276 | Senators Push For More Safety Inspectors Following Metro-North Derailment
Officials: FRA Funds Only Cover 1 Percent Of Rail Safety Operations Nationwide December 15, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Filed Under:budget sequester, Charles Schumer, Congress, Federal Railroad Administration, Metro-North derailment, Obama Administration, Positive train control, railroad safety inspectors, Richard Blumenthal, Safety Inspections
The senators called for more funding to FRA. (Credit: WCBS 880)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Richard Blumenthal are calling for more railroad safety inspectors in the wake of the fatal Metro-North derailment earlier this month.
The senators made a joint appearance Sunday to reveal that federal railroad safety officials only have funds to inspect one percent of rail operations nationwide.
Sen. Blumenthal called the number shocking, 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck reported.
“So you’ve got 140,000 miles of track across the United States, 78 inspectors, which is an impossible task,” Blumenthal said.
In a congressional briefing this week, senior officials said the Federal Railroad Administration needs more funds to do necessary safety inspections of infrastructure and protocols, as well as to implement positive train control.
“When the FRA is so underfunded, they’re not doing their job. So it’s up to the local railroads to do it and some do better jobs than others as we’ve seen, ” Sen. Schumer said.
The FRA said that following the Metro-North derailment, which killed four people and injured more than 60 others, it is looking to send additional teams to rail systems across the country. However, the administration said it needs more resources in order to prevent another accident.
Blumenthal said there will be a safety report from an FRA team within 60 days, WCBS 880’s Ginny Kosola reported.
Officials: FRA Funds Only Cover 1 Percent Of Rail Safety Operations Nationwide
Schumer and Blumenthal announced Sunday that they will fight for additional funds in the upcoming fiscal year 2014 appropriations bill, so the agency can hire an additional 45 inspectors.
The budget sequester cut approximately $9 million from the FRA’s budget in the 2013 fiscal year, WCBS 880 reported.
The additional inspectors will be dedicated to inspecting railways, as well as evaluating safety protocols and the infrastructure of railroads around the country.
The senators requested that Congress meet the Obama administration’s full 2014 request of $185 million for safety and operations, an increase of approximately $15 million over this year’s sequestered budget.
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com: | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8302 |
__label__wiki | 0.606921 | 0.606921 | Funded Programs
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No-Shave November is a web-based, non-profit organization devoted to growing cancer awareness and raising funds to support cancer prevention, research, and education.
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Sharath Kumar Udupi, Karnataka
Let it Grow and Join the Fight Against Cancer!
Each day, 22,000 people die from cancer worldwide (WHO). There's a good chance that someone you know and love will be affected by this disease. Nearly half of cancer diagnoses and deaths are preventable. No-Shave November's mission is to not only raise funds for cancer research and treatment but to educate the population about preventative measures. For over six years, participants around the globe have put down their razors and foregone their hair appointments to join the fight against cancer. The No-Shave November campaign has successfully raised over $3.5 million dollars to combat this disease. Every dollar raised brings us one step closer in our efforts to fund cancer research and education, help prevent the disease, and aid those fighting the battle. Each whisker grown allows us to embrace our hair, which many cancer patients lose during treatment. Will you join me? Start by using the links to the right.
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No-Shave November 2015 Campaign Budget
Percentages based on conservative growth from the 2014 campaign. Expenses within administrative and fundraising categories include overhead costs to operate, maintain, and promote No-Shave November. Reserves are held for future campaigns and to ensure the continuity of the program. For more information, email info@no-shave.org.
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The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is one of the nation’s leading voluntary health organizations and the only U.S. nonprofit organization focused solely on cancer prevention and early detection. Founded in 1985, it has catapulted cancer prevention to prominence and fulfills its mission through research, education, outreach and advocacy. The Foundation has played a pivotal role in developing a body of knowledge that is the basis for important prevention and early detection strategies. Its vision is to Stop Cancer Before It Starts!® For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.
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Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) is a leading patient-empowerment and advocacy organization in the United States, providing balanced and objective information on colon and rectal cancer research, treatment, and policy. We are relentless champions of hope, focused on funding promising, high- impact research endeavors while equipping advocates to influence legislation and policy for the collective good. Learn more at fightcrc.org.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. St. Jude is where doctors often send their toughest cases, because St. Jude has the world’s best survival rates for some of the most aggressive forms of childhood cancer. St. freely shares the breakthroughs we make, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
The No-Shave November Team
No-Shave November has been a tradition for many years, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2009 that members of the Chicagoland Hill family decided to use it as a means to raise money for charity. It was a project that held special meaning to the eight Hill children after their father, Matthew Hill, passed away from colon cancer in November 2007.
Participants in No-Shave November have always been willing to ditch their razors and, more recently, donate to cancer fighting foundations. But what started as an easy way for a few followers on Facebook to donate their hard-earned money has turned into a nationwide celebration. Every November for the past six years, these No-Shavers have donated the cost of grooming (from a few dollars on razors to $100 on a salon visit) and helped our organization raise over $2 million dollars to date. As a family run, web-based organization, No-Shave November has grown exponentially since 2009. Our goal is to keep raising money for cancer prevention, education, and research and to let that hair grow in the process! We want every participant to embrace their hair for the many cancer patients that lose theirs due to vigorous treatments. We believe that together, anything is possible, and we’ll get closer to eradicating cancer one whisker at a time!
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© 2019 No-Shave November | 501(c)(3) | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8304 |
__label__cc | 0.555361 | 0.444639 | NRU History.
Founded late 2008 when a group of us work colleagues from South Wales UK got together after deciding we needed a bit more of a challenging FPS than Call Of Duty 2 which we dabbled with for a while, when we came across Battlefield 2 and decided to buy a few copies and give it a go.
It was certainly love at first site for all of us and we quickly decided we needed our own server so with a bit of searching and a lot of trial and error started our own server which we could set rules and monitor the game but above all maintain fun and fairness.
This was the moment the glorious NO FLY BF2 Server was born. A server only used the jets and helis for transport only, not to fight with.
We started very small but many brilliant people joined along the way and I will not name any in case I miss anyone out, we progressed onto bigger servers and a professional website but as big as we grew I feel we always maintained our fair and fun attitude which I feel still continues to this very day. Although I don't get involved myself with the clan these days it's in very good hands and let's hope it continues with everyone's support for years to come.
Mac - Co-Founder NRU
Now, after some ups and downs, we are still a big international clan with members from all over the world. Starting with BF2, going into BC2, BF3, and now BF4, BF1 and BF5. Mostly with our own server to manage our fun and friendly attitude on the server.
Being a member of the NRU is a bit like being a part of the NRU Family, having fun and mucking around ingame or at the forums is always a part of the game for us. We are a bit different from other clans, that's for sure, because we are Noobs R Us | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8306 |
__label__wiki | 0.519543 | 0.519543 | Calverton
Off the Fork
Mattituck’s Love Lane Street Fair this Saturday
by Jen Nuzzo on July 10th, 2013
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Photo by Barbaraellen Koch | The Mattituck Chamber of Commerce’s Old Fashioned Street Fair is a family-friendly event scheduled for July 13.
The Mattituck Chamber of Commerce is hosting its 36th annual Old Fashioned Street Fair on July 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.
The popular family-friendly event will be held on Love Lane in Mattituck and surrounding streets. There will be about 120 vendors, live music, face painting, food and refreshments, as well as the crowning of Little Miss and Little Mr. Mattituck.
For more information or to volunteer, call (631) 953-9389.
Love Lane Love Lane Street Fair Mattituck Mattituck Chamber of Commerce north fork
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For more than a decade, Jackie Wilsberg has been the warm, familiar face behind... | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8308 |
__label__cc | 0.659952 | 0.340048 | PC, Platforms, PlayStation 3, Previews, Regular previews, Xbox 360
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (Preview)
August 23, 2012 Brendan Griffiths Leave a comment
Frogwares have been providing Sherlock Holmes titles for years now on the PC with only Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper making its way to a console. But keyboard-loathing point and click adventure fans will be pleased to hear that the latest case to crack will be tri-platform, coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The developers and publishers are keen to expand the Sherlock Holmes brand and bringing their games out on all three platforms, specifically the consoles, is key to that goal.
Influenced by the movies from the 60s rather than the ridiculous Guy Ritchie eyesores, the experience will be a traditional one, instead of something that’ll have Arthur Conan Doyle spinning in his grave. For the first time in the series, we’ll be seeing a very dark side of Sherlock Holmes. The trailer even goes as far as to make him look like a murderer so we’re intrigued to see how events will play out. During the course of the game, we’ll be playing as both Holmes and Watson. Our money’s on Holmes being a bit murdery on the side. Look at his evil face! He totally did it.
The control format will be the familiar point and click style on the PC, but the console experience has been specifically designed to allow full analogue movement control in both regular and first-person viewpoints. This will remove that stiff feeling that these games often provide on consoles. The camera will also be controllable, showing off the fully 3D environments.
Click here to read the rest of my preview at Dealspwn.com
Focus Home InteractiveFrogwaresgame previewsGamescom 2012The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Previous PostDarksiders II (Review)Next PostRaiden Slices Up The Competition In PlayStation All-Stars | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8309 |
__label__cc | 0.616108 | 0.383892 | Exclusive excerpt from Cronin’s Key II
By the time Cronin had made arrangements to meet Kennard inside the British Museum, Eiji had armed himself and Jodis with quivers of arrows and stakes, and Kole had declared he wasn’t going anywhere if it involved leaping. Jacques would stay with him, as would Eleanor. Alec knew his father would more than likely go back to bed, considering it was after midnight, New York time. In truth, Alec realized, his dad looked like he could use the rest. He looked tired, worn, and worried. “Be safe, huh?” was all Kole said before Alec, Cronin, Eiji, and Jodis disappeared. In what was his third country in less than an hour,…
nrwalker 11 Comments
Cronin’s Key II Excerpt and Pre-sale link
With just one week to go, I thought I’d share an excerpt from Cronin’s Key II… EXCERPT CHAPTER ONE: Alec sat on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table reading the New York Times on an iPad. He’d look up every so often at the apartment, at Cronin’s walls of memorabilia, smiling at the antiques shelved there, then at the vampire beside him. “What’s so funny?” Cronin asked. He didn’t even look up from the Chinese newspaper he was reading, though a smile played at his lips. “I was just looking over all your relics,” Alec explained. Cronin had told him about most of the artifacts he’d… | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8312 |
__label__wiki | 0.640956 | 0.640956 | Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff
Lisa M. Gargano, Julia E. Painter, Jessica M. Sales, Christopher Morfaw, La Dawna M. Jones, Dennis Murray, Gina M. Wingood, Ralph DiClemente, James M. Hughes
Objective: Teachers, like healthcare workers, may be a strategic target for influenza immunization programs. Influenza vaccination is critical to protect both teachers and the students they come into contact with. This study assessed factors associated with seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake among middle- and high-school teachers. Results: Seventy-eight percent of teachers who planned to receive seasonal influenza vaccine and 36% of those who planned to receive H1N1 influenza vaccine at baseline reported that they did so. Seasonal vaccine uptake was significantly associated with perceived severity (odds ratio [OR] 1.57, p = 0.05) and self-efficacy (OR 4.46, p = 0.006). H1N1 vaccine uptake was associated with perceived barriers (OR 0.7, p = 0.014) and social norms (OR 1.39, p = 0.05). The number one reason for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake was to avoid getting seasonal/H1N1 influenza disease. The number one reason for seasonal influenza vaccine refusal was a concern it would make them sick and for H1N1 influenza vaccine refusal was concern about vaccine side effects. Methods: Participants were recruited from two counties in rural Georgia. Data were collected from surveys in September 2009 and May 2010. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between teachers' attitudes toward seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccination and vaccine uptake. Conclusions: There is a strong association between the intention to be vaccinated against influenza (seasonal or 2009 H1N1) and actual vaccination uptake. Understanding and addressing factors associated with teachers' influenza vaccine uptake may enhance future influenza immunization efforts.
Human Vaccines
https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
Human Influenza
H1N1 influenza
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics(all)
Gargano, L. M., Painter, J. E., Sales, J. M., Morfaw, C., Jones, L. D. M., Murray, D., ... Hughes, J. M. (2011). Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff. Human Vaccines, 7(1), 89-95. https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff. / Gargano, Lisa M.; Painter, Julia E.; Sales, Jessica M.; Morfaw, Christopher; Jones, La Dawna M.; Murray, Dennis; Wingood, Gina M.; DiClemente, Ralph; Hughes, James M.
In: Human Vaccines, Vol. 7, No. 1, 01.01.2011, p. 89-95.
Gargano, LM, Painter, JE, Sales, JM, Morfaw, C, Jones, LDM, Murray, D, Wingood, GM, DiClemente, R & Hughes, JM 2011, 'Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff', Human Vaccines, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 89-95. https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
Gargano LM, Painter JE, Sales JM, Morfaw C, Jones LDM, Murray D et al. Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff. Human Vaccines. 2011 Jan 1;7(1):89-95. https://doi.org/10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
Gargano, Lisa M. ; Painter, Julia E. ; Sales, Jessica M. ; Morfaw, Christopher ; Jones, La Dawna M. ; Murray, Dennis ; Wingood, Gina M. ; DiClemente, Ralph ; Hughes, James M. / Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff. In: Human Vaccines. 2011 ; Vol. 7, No. 1. pp. 89-95.
@article{6549faafa2dd450d8470137b2ef6ecb3,
title = "Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff",
abstract = "Objective: Teachers, like healthcare workers, may be a strategic target for influenza immunization programs. Influenza vaccination is critical to protect both teachers and the students they come into contact with. This study assessed factors associated with seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake among middle- and high-school teachers. Results: Seventy-eight percent of teachers who planned to receive seasonal influenza vaccine and 36{\%} of those who planned to receive H1N1 influenza vaccine at baseline reported that they did so. Seasonal vaccine uptake was significantly associated with perceived severity (odds ratio [OR] 1.57, p = 0.05) and self-efficacy (OR 4.46, p = 0.006). H1N1 vaccine uptake was associated with perceived barriers (OR 0.7, p = 0.014) and social norms (OR 1.39, p = 0.05). The number one reason for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake was to avoid getting seasonal/H1N1 influenza disease. The number one reason for seasonal influenza vaccine refusal was a concern it would make them sick and for H1N1 influenza vaccine refusal was concern about vaccine side effects. Methods: Participants were recruited from two counties in rural Georgia. Data were collected from surveys in September 2009 and May 2010. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between teachers' attitudes toward seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccination and vaccine uptake. Conclusions: There is a strong association between the intention to be vaccinated against influenza (seasonal or 2009 H1N1) and actual vaccination uptake. Understanding and addressing factors associated with teachers' influenza vaccine uptake may enhance future influenza immunization efforts.",
keywords = "Adolescents, Attitudes, H1N1 influenza, Health belief model, Seasonal influenza, Teachers, Vaccination",
author = "Gargano, {Lisa M.} and Painter, {Julia E.} and Sales, {Jessica M.} and Christopher Morfaw and Jones, {La Dawna M.} and Dennis Murray and Wingood, {Gina M.} and Ralph DiClemente and Hughes, {James M.}",
doi = "10.4161/hv.7.1.13460",
journal = "Human Vaccines",
publisher = "Landes Bioscience",
T1 - Seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake, predictors of vaccination and self-reported barriers to vaccination among secondary school teachers and staff
AU - Gargano, Lisa M.
AU - Painter, Julia E.
AU - Sales, Jessica M.
AU - Morfaw, Christopher
AU - Jones, La Dawna M.
AU - Murray, Dennis
AU - Wingood, Gina M.
AU - DiClemente, Ralph
AU - Hughes, James M.
N2 - Objective: Teachers, like healthcare workers, may be a strategic target for influenza immunization programs. Influenza vaccination is critical to protect both teachers and the students they come into contact with. This study assessed factors associated with seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake among middle- and high-school teachers. Results: Seventy-eight percent of teachers who planned to receive seasonal influenza vaccine and 36% of those who planned to receive H1N1 influenza vaccine at baseline reported that they did so. Seasonal vaccine uptake was significantly associated with perceived severity (odds ratio [OR] 1.57, p = 0.05) and self-efficacy (OR 4.46, p = 0.006). H1N1 vaccine uptake was associated with perceived barriers (OR 0.7, p = 0.014) and social norms (OR 1.39, p = 0.05). The number one reason for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake was to avoid getting seasonal/H1N1 influenza disease. The number one reason for seasonal influenza vaccine refusal was a concern it would make them sick and for H1N1 influenza vaccine refusal was concern about vaccine side effects. Methods: Participants were recruited from two counties in rural Georgia. Data were collected from surveys in September 2009 and May 2010. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between teachers' attitudes toward seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccination and vaccine uptake. Conclusions: There is a strong association between the intention to be vaccinated against influenza (seasonal or 2009 H1N1) and actual vaccination uptake. Understanding and addressing factors associated with teachers' influenza vaccine uptake may enhance future influenza immunization efforts.
AB - Objective: Teachers, like healthcare workers, may be a strategic target for influenza immunization programs. Influenza vaccination is critical to protect both teachers and the students they come into contact with. This study assessed factors associated with seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake among middle- and high-school teachers. Results: Seventy-eight percent of teachers who planned to receive seasonal influenza vaccine and 36% of those who planned to receive H1N1 influenza vaccine at baseline reported that they did so. Seasonal vaccine uptake was significantly associated with perceived severity (odds ratio [OR] 1.57, p = 0.05) and self-efficacy (OR 4.46, p = 0.006). H1N1 vaccine uptake was associated with perceived barriers (OR 0.7, p = 0.014) and social norms (OR 1.39, p = 0.05). The number one reason for both seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccine uptake was to avoid getting seasonal/H1N1 influenza disease. The number one reason for seasonal influenza vaccine refusal was a concern it would make them sick and for H1N1 influenza vaccine refusal was concern about vaccine side effects. Methods: Participants were recruited from two counties in rural Georgia. Data were collected from surveys in September 2009 and May 2010. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the association between teachers' attitudes toward seasonal and H1N1 influenza vaccination and vaccine uptake. Conclusions: There is a strong association between the intention to be vaccinated against influenza (seasonal or 2009 H1N1) and actual vaccination uptake. Understanding and addressing factors associated with teachers' influenza vaccine uptake may enhance future influenza immunization efforts.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Attitudes
KW - H1N1 influenza
KW - Health belief model
KW - Seasonal influenza
KW - Teachers
KW - Vaccination
U2 - 10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
DO - 10.4161/hv.7.1.13460
JO - Human Vaccines
JF - Human Vaccines
10.4161/hv.7.1.13460 | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8316 |
__label__wiki | 0.557933 | 0.557933 | Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache
Simon Akerman, Bruce Simon, Marcela Romero-Reyes
Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Radiology and Medicine
Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported to be effective in the abortive treatment of both migraine and cluster headache. Using validated animal models of acute dural-intracranial (migraine-like) and trigeminal-autonomic (cluster-like) head pain we tested whether VNS suppresses ongoing and nociceptive-evoked firing of trigeminocervical neurons to explain its abortive effects in migraine and cluster headache. Unilateral VNS was applied invasively via hook electrodes placed on the vagus nerve. A single dose of ipsilateral or contralateral VNS, to trigeminal recording and dural-stimulating side, suppressed ongoing spontaneous and noxious dural-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal firing. This effect was dose-dependent, with two doses of ipsilateral VNS prolonging suppression of ongoing spontaneous firing (maximally by ~ 60%) for up to three hours, and dural-evoked (Aδ-fiber; by ~ 22%, C-fiber: by ~ 55%) responses for at least two hours. Statistically, there was no difference between ipsilateral and contralateral groups. Two doses of VNS also suppressed superior salivatory nucleus-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal responses (maximally by ~ 22%) for 2.5 h, to model nociceptive activation of the trigeminal-autonomic pathway. VNS had no effect on normal somatosensory cutaneous facial responses throughout. These studies provide a mechanistic rationale for the observed benefits of VNS in the abortive treatment of migraine and cluster headache. In addition, they further validate these preclinical models as suitable approaches to optimize therapeutic efficacy, and provide an opportunity to hypothesize and dissect the neurobiological mechanisms of VNS in the treatment of primary headaches.
Neurobiology of Disease
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
Published - Jun 1 2017
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
Autonomic Pathways
Unmyelinated Nerve Fibers
Trigeminal autonomic
Trigeminovascular
Akerman, S., Simon, B., & Romero-Reyes, M. (2017). Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache. Neurobiology of Disease, 102, 96-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache. / Akerman, Simon; Simon, Bruce; Romero-Reyes, Marcela.
In: Neurobiology of Disease, Vol. 102, 01.06.2017, p. 96-104.
Akerman, S, Simon, B & Romero-Reyes, M 2017, 'Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache', Neurobiology of Disease, vol. 102, pp. 96-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
Akerman S, Simon B, Romero-Reyes M. Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache. Neurobiology of Disease. 2017 Jun 1;102:96-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
Akerman, Simon ; Simon, Bruce ; Romero-Reyes, Marcela. / Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache. In: Neurobiology of Disease. 2017 ; Vol. 102. pp. 96-104.
@article{215109de496244c2bfb23742b7f75171,
title = "Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache",
abstract = "Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported to be effective in the abortive treatment of both migraine and cluster headache. Using validated animal models of acute dural-intracranial (migraine-like) and trigeminal-autonomic (cluster-like) head pain we tested whether VNS suppresses ongoing and nociceptive-evoked firing of trigeminocervical neurons to explain its abortive effects in migraine and cluster headache. Unilateral VNS was applied invasively via hook electrodes placed on the vagus nerve. A single dose of ipsilateral or contralateral VNS, to trigeminal recording and dural-stimulating side, suppressed ongoing spontaneous and noxious dural-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal firing. This effect was dose-dependent, with two doses of ipsilateral VNS prolonging suppression of ongoing spontaneous firing (maximally by ~ 60{\%}) for up to three hours, and dural-evoked (Aδ-fiber; by ~ 22{\%}, C-fiber: by ~ 55{\%}) responses for at least two hours. Statistically, there was no difference between ipsilateral and contralateral groups. Two doses of VNS also suppressed superior salivatory nucleus-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal responses (maximally by ~ 22{\%}) for 2.5 h, to model nociceptive activation of the trigeminal-autonomic pathway. VNS had no effect on normal somatosensory cutaneous facial responses throughout. These studies provide a mechanistic rationale for the observed benefits of VNS in the abortive treatment of migraine and cluster headache. In addition, they further validate these preclinical models as suitable approaches to optimize therapeutic efficacy, and provide an opportunity to hypothesize and dissect the neurobiological mechanisms of VNS in the treatment of primary headaches.",
keywords = "Cluster headache, Migraine, Trigeminal autonomic, Trigeminovascular, Vagus nerve stimulation",
author = "Simon Akerman and Bruce Simon and Marcela Romero-Reyes",
doi = "10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004",
journal = "Neurobiology of Disease",
T1 - Vagus nerve stimulation suppresses acute noxious activation of trigeminocervical neurons in animal models of primary headache
AU - Akerman, Simon
AU - Simon, Bruce
AU - Romero-Reyes, Marcela
N2 - Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported to be effective in the abortive treatment of both migraine and cluster headache. Using validated animal models of acute dural-intracranial (migraine-like) and trigeminal-autonomic (cluster-like) head pain we tested whether VNS suppresses ongoing and nociceptive-evoked firing of trigeminocervical neurons to explain its abortive effects in migraine and cluster headache. Unilateral VNS was applied invasively via hook electrodes placed on the vagus nerve. A single dose of ipsilateral or contralateral VNS, to trigeminal recording and dural-stimulating side, suppressed ongoing spontaneous and noxious dural-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal firing. This effect was dose-dependent, with two doses of ipsilateral VNS prolonging suppression of ongoing spontaneous firing (maximally by ~ 60%) for up to three hours, and dural-evoked (Aδ-fiber; by ~ 22%, C-fiber: by ~ 55%) responses for at least two hours. Statistically, there was no difference between ipsilateral and contralateral groups. Two doses of VNS also suppressed superior salivatory nucleus-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal responses (maximally by ~ 22%) for 2.5 h, to model nociceptive activation of the trigeminal-autonomic pathway. VNS had no effect on normal somatosensory cutaneous facial responses throughout. These studies provide a mechanistic rationale for the observed benefits of VNS in the abortive treatment of migraine and cluster headache. In addition, they further validate these preclinical models as suitable approaches to optimize therapeutic efficacy, and provide an opportunity to hypothesize and dissect the neurobiological mechanisms of VNS in the treatment of primary headaches.
AB - Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported to be effective in the abortive treatment of both migraine and cluster headache. Using validated animal models of acute dural-intracranial (migraine-like) and trigeminal-autonomic (cluster-like) head pain we tested whether VNS suppresses ongoing and nociceptive-evoked firing of trigeminocervical neurons to explain its abortive effects in migraine and cluster headache. Unilateral VNS was applied invasively via hook electrodes placed on the vagus nerve. A single dose of ipsilateral or contralateral VNS, to trigeminal recording and dural-stimulating side, suppressed ongoing spontaneous and noxious dural-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal firing. This effect was dose-dependent, with two doses of ipsilateral VNS prolonging suppression of ongoing spontaneous firing (maximally by ~ 60%) for up to three hours, and dural-evoked (Aδ-fiber; by ~ 22%, C-fiber: by ~ 55%) responses for at least two hours. Statistically, there was no difference between ipsilateral and contralateral groups. Two doses of VNS also suppressed superior salivatory nucleus-evoked trigeminocervical neuronal responses (maximally by ~ 22%) for 2.5 h, to model nociceptive activation of the trigeminal-autonomic pathway. VNS had no effect on normal somatosensory cutaneous facial responses throughout. These studies provide a mechanistic rationale for the observed benefits of VNS in the abortive treatment of migraine and cluster headache. In addition, they further validate these preclinical models as suitable approaches to optimize therapeutic efficacy, and provide an opportunity to hypothesize and dissect the neurobiological mechanisms of VNS in the treatment of primary headaches.
KW - Cluster headache
KW - Trigeminal autonomic
KW - Trigeminovascular
KW - Vagus nerve stimulation
U2 - 10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004
JO - Neurobiology of Disease
JF - Neurobiology of Disease
10.1016/j.nbd.2017.03.004 | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8317 |
__label__wiki | 0.64318 | 0.64318 | Summary of our fraud survey results for licensing and community trusts
Part 2: Detailed results for licensing and community trusts
Key terms in this report
Part 1: Overview
Part 3 : Incidents of fraud in licensing and community trusts
Part 4: Where to from here?
Appendix 1: Tables of licensing and community trust survey data
Appendix 2: About the survey
Part 2: Detailed results for licensing and community trusts Summary of our fraud survey results for licensing trusts and community trusts. https://oag.govt.nz/2012/fraud-summary-licensing-and-community-trusts/part2.htm https://oag.govt.nz/@@site-logo/logo.png
Summary of our fraud survey results for licensing trusts and community trusts.
Having the right framework to prevent fraud means having a code of conduct and policies about fraud, protected disclosures, receiving gifts, and using credit cards. It means making it safe and easy for staff to talk about fraud and raise any concerns or suspicions. It also means having fraud controls that are reviewed regularly, carrying out due diligence checks of suppliers, doing pre-employment screening, and providing staff with fraud awareness training.
Five of the nine respondents said that their licensing or community trust had a fraud policy. Only two respondents said that the fraud policy was regularly communicated.
Eight of the nine said that they had a code of conduct, and six of those said that they were regularly reminded about it.
Only two of the nine respondents said that their licensing or community trust had a protected disclosures policy, even though every public entity is legally required to have such a policy.
Two respondents said that their licensing or community trust had a clear policy on accepting gifts or services. Overall, this question in the survey generated significantly more "free text" responses than any other question. It was clear to us that many respondents have unanswered questions, regardless of the clarity of their policy.
In our view, the most important matter is the conflict of interest risk – licensing and community trust staff should always decline a gift if accepting it could influence, or be seen as influencing, their decision-making. And gifts need to be recorded in a gifts register.
Clear and consistent policies, and messages about those policies, can prevent inappropriate behaviour, provide guidance to all staff, and ensure that everyone understands their role in, and responsibility for, preventing fraud.
Clear roles and responsibilities
Although the culture modelled by the leaders of an entity is critical, preventing fraud is not the responsibility of any one person. Five of the licensing and community trust respondents said that other employees understood their responsibilities for preventing and detecting fraud.
In our view, all employees need to understand their roles and responsibilities so that a culture receptive to discussing fraud can be supported and maintained.
Respondents from all levels in licensing and community trusts (from the chief executive through to operational and administration staff) felt confident that managers understood their roles and responsibilities for preventing and detecting fraud. Five of the nine respondents said that managers told staff about incidents of fraud.
Environment receptive to conversations about fraud
All nine respondents worked in an environment where staff were encouraged to come forward if they suspected fraud. They all said that they could come forward knowing that their concerns would be taken seriously and without fear of retaliation.
Fraud controls
Fraud most commonly occurs when controls are inadequate and when staff do not comply with policies and procedures. Although entities should be able to trust their employees to do the right thing, having trusted employees is not a fraud control. The likelihood of being discovered is often a strong deterrent for those contemplating wrongdoing, so internal controls and culture play a critical role in preventing and detecting fraud.
The pace of change in many work environments means that the process of ensuring that fraud controls align with the business should be an ongoing exercise.
Six of the nine respondents said that their licensing and community trust regularly reviews its fraud controls. If an entity does not regularly review its fraud controls, it could mean that some of the fraud controls are no longer effective, because systems and processes change over time. To work effectively, fraud controls need to be reviewed annually or every two years.
Due diligence checks and pre-employment screening
Many frauds occur through the use of fake suppliers and suppliers with a close personal relationship with an employee. Carrying out due diligence checks can help to mitigate the risk that suppliers can pose. Some examples of due diligence checks are:
removing unused suppliers from the system;
requesting references or credit checks; and
regularly monitoring the changes to supplier details.
Five of the nine licensing and community trust respondents said that due diligence checks were carried out. In our view, all public entities should be carrying out due diligence checks on new suppliers.
Most often, it is trusted employees who commit fraud. Trusting employees is important, but to trust without first ensuring that it is appropriate to do so exposes licensing and community trusts to unnecessary risk.
Only four of the nine respondents said that new employees undergo pre-employment screening that includes a criminal history check.
Fraud awareness training
Even the most diligent employees might not identify a fraud if they have not had training. Knowing where to look and what to look for can be difficult. Only one of the licensing and community trust respondents had received fraud awareness training at their current workplace.
By combining due diligence checks with awareness training and internal controls, any entity can foster a strong anti-fraud culture. Raising awareness of fraud helps build a culture that is receptive to fraud conversations and encourages employees to come forward if they suspect anything.
Greater risk during tougher economic times
Of all 1472 respondents to our survey, 69% did not feel that their entity had a change in risk because of the current economic climate. Experience internationally generally confirms that recessionary economic climates – when staff feel less secure in their employment and increasingly under pressure – present a greater fraud risk. Fraud increases because of "need" rather than "greed".
At the time of our survey, all nine respondents in licensing and community trusts felt secure in their employment. Only three of the nine felt under pressure to "do more with less".
Questions 1 to 15 in Appendix 1 set out the survey response data about fraud prevention.
Responding to risks
Survey participants were asked whether their entity takes proactive steps to reduce any risks when fraud or corruption risks are raised. Eight of the nine respondents from licensing and community trusts answered "Yes" to this question.
Monitoring credit card spending and staff expenses
Seven of the nine licensing and community trust respondents said that their organisation was closely monitoring credit card spending. Eight said that their organisation closely monitored staff expenses.
Questions 16 to 22 in Appendix 1 set out the survey response data about fraud detection.
Responding to fraud
Telling staff about incidents of fraud
Five of the nine licensing and community trust respondents said that their senior managers told all staff about incidents of fraud.
Communicating with staff is vital in raising awareness about fraud. Greater awareness makes it easier for staff to be vigilant, can confirm the organisation's "zero tolerance" approach to fraud, and helps to maintain an environment where it is easy for staff to speak up about risks and raise any concerns.
Referring suspected fraud to the appropriate authorities
Seven respondents expected that suspected fraud would be reported to the appropriate authorities. However, when asked about how their trusts had responded to actual incidents of fraud, three of the six who answered this question said that the fraud was not reported to the appropriate authorities.
We know that many entities are reluctant to bring criminal charges against their employees, because of materiality – but also because of the time and costs of preparing a case, resolving matters in the courts, and a perception that fraud is a low priority for the Police.
However, all public entities are expected to consider reporting fraud to the appropriate authorities. We encourage all licensing and community trusts to do this.
Any decision made not to respond to fraud can erode staff confidence in the senior management team. It can create a perception that managers are not committed enough to preventing fraud and discourage staff from reporting their concerns. Taking no action when fraudulent behaviour occurs also increases the risk that an employee suspected of committing fraud could move to another public entity and continue their dishonest behaviour.
Credit card and expense claim fraud
Seven respondents were confident that their licensing and community trust would take inappropriate credit card spending seriously and discipline the person involved. Two respondents did not know whether their licensing and community trust would take inappropriate credit card spending seriously and discipline the person involved. This suggests a need for senior managers to communicate more about the fact that inappropriate credit card spending is not only discovered through monitoring but also taken seriously.
There was the same response when respondents were asked whether inappropriate expense claims were taken seriously and resulted in disciplinary action. Seven licensing and community trust respondents were confident that action would be taken to recover any misappropriated funds.
A clear process to recover funds shows the seriousness with which fraud is taken. In our view, chief executives and senior managers need to send clear messages that they will seek to recover any and all misappropriated funds.
Questions 23 to 31 in Appendix 1 set out the survey response data about fraud responses. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8318 |
__label__wiki | 0.850252 | 0.850252 | Panetta faux pas: India, China threats to US
Edited By Odishatv Bureau Published By Odishatv Bureau On Nov 18, 2011 - 3:34 PM
Washington: In a major goof-up, new US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta clubbed India and China, describing them as emerging "threats", but his office quickly retracted the remarks, saying Washington strongly values close ties with New Delhi.
Panetta put his foot in the mouth as he departed from prepared text during a speech at a shipyard in Connecticut, where he said, "we face the threats from rising powers – China, India, others – that we have to always be aware of and try to make sure that we always have sufficient force protection out there in the Pacific to make sure they know we`re never going anywhere."
The Defence Secretary`s comments came at an awkward moment just when President Barack Obama met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the two leaders agreed to boost ties not only bilaterally but at multilateral level also.
The Pentagon chief, who spoke to the workers at the shipyard which builds Nuclear attack submarines, described the array of threats to the US as coming from Iran, North Korea and cyber attacks.
But the former CIA chief, who recently publicly said that he was looking forward to visit India, strayed from the known US foreign policy stand by adding China and India to the list of countries posing security dangers that US would need to make clear to these powers.
However, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little was quick to clarify Panetta`s remarks, saying the US strongly values a close relationship with India and sees it as a nation of increasing prominence and power. "The Secretary strongly values a close military relationship with India, which he sees as a nation of increasing prominence and power. He doesn`t view India as a threat," Little told PTI.
"The US and India work together on a regular basis to find ways of cooperating around common security interests. We`re committed to pursuing even stronger cooperation in the future," Little said in a statement after Panetta`s speech.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby said it would be incorrect to draw a conclusion from Panetta`s speech that the US sees India and China as a threat. "Any suggestion that he (Panetta) was implying that he considered India and China military threats is false. The Secretary believes it is important to improve our military relationships with both countries," he said.
"He was referring instead to the challenges these rising powers face within themselves, challenges that we share with them as we try to forge better relationships going forward in a very turbulent, dynamic security environment," Kirby said.
In his speech, Panetta said in 10 years of war against terrorism, the US has weakened Al Qaeda and the Taliban. "We weakened the Taliban. We`ve had the lowest violence levels in Afghanistan in five years. We`re beginning to secure key areas of that country. We`re developing an Afghan army, an Afghan police. We are moving in the right direction.
"A lot of work to be done, but hopefully by the end of 2014 we`ll be able to again have an Afghanistan that can govern and secure itself," he said.
"In my old job at the CIA, working with the military, we were able to go after their leadership and they continue to go after their leadership. The reality is we have taken down key people, including Osama bin Laden and others, and the result of that is that this country is safer by virtue of what we`ve been able to do," Panetta said.
"We need to keep the pressure on. We need to make sure that we don`t give up. These guys are still at it. Whether it`s Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia…, we`ve got to keep the pressure up and make damn sure that they never again are able to attack this country," he added. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8320 |
__label__cc | 0.673201 | 0.326799 | California Edition
offMetro NY
Home Activity Dart This Way: Hanover, New Hampshire
Hiking Getaways
Dart This Way: Hanover, New Hampshire
Allison Tibaldi
Home to Dartmouth College, the refined New England village of Hanover is a slice of Americana, chock-full of car-free diversions that can be enjoyed year round.
The Must-Do Experiences
If you’re seeking an active getaway in any season, compact Hanover is geographically blessed. It sits on the banks of the Connecticut River, a bona fide aquatic playground. The Ledyard Canoe Club rents kayaks, canoes and stand up paddle boards starting at a reasonable $5 per hour for non-members. You’ll spy a small swimming dock, but it’s only for Dartmouth affiliates. Be bold and dive in the crystalline water when no one’s looking. It’s the ultimate way to refresh after a paddle.
For hikers, the Appalachian Trail cuts right through town. This simple wilderness footpath stretches 2,100 miles, from Maine to Georgia. You’ll encounter through-hikers relaxing and replenishing in Hanover. For the less ambitious, embark on a five-mile hike to Velvet Rocks. The dense softwood forest is full of moss-covered rocks that look like the plushest velvet.
The Hood Museum of Art’s rich collection is one of the largest of any American university. Highlights include West African, Peruvian and American folk art. Paintings by contemporary giants such as Picasso and Miró round out the offerings. When snow falls, the college-owned Dartmouth Skiway is a frosty gem. Shuttles whisk you to the mountain’s 30 trails right from town. If you want to nourish your cerebral side, artistic assets are plentiful. The vibrant Hopkins Center for the Arts is a community focal point. It offers over 100 live performances and 200 screenings annually.
The Insider’s Tip
Mexican artist Jose Clemente Orozco’s compelling mural series, The Epic of American Civilization, covers the walls of the lower level of Dartmouth’s Baker Library. Considered to be one of the greatest mural cycles in the country, it offers a complex and controversial narrative of the history of the Americas in its 24 panels.
Hanover is at the epicenter of New England’s fresh food movement. Arrive on a Wednesday, when the seasonal Farmers’ Market dominates the Dartmouth Green. You’ll relish in gorgeous produce, baked goods and regional farmhouse cheeses to the sound of live acoustic music.
For fine dining, Pine is fast becoming Hanover’s go-to choice. Chef Justin Dain has worked hard to cultivate strong relationships with local farmers and foragers, and diners reap the rewards. His seasonal menus feature New England cuisine with an imaginative twist. Start with homemade ricotta dolloped on crispy crostini, drizzled with local truffle honey. Move on to gnocchi that are as fluffy as a cumulus cloud or slow-cooked salmon served on a bed of puréed mint-infused peas.
Don’t leave town without breakfast at Lou’s. This Hanover tradition has been packing locals and students in since 1947. Grab a swivel stool or a roomy booth and prepare to be wowed. The morning feast features hefty portions of eggs, pancakes and decadent French toast made with crullers, served with real maple syrup. They take pride in sourcing locally while keeping prices modest. Breakfast until 3 pm, bakery open until 5pm.
The Digs
The Hanover Inn enjoys a privileged location overlooking the Dartmouth Green. Step into the lobby and you’ll immediately feel a sense of place, with the dramatic New Hampshire-quarried granite table taking center stage. The 108 rooms include strategically placed Dartmouth memorabilia, splashes of green (the school color) and New Hampshire-crafted furniture. The hotel is owned by Dartmouth College, so expect a clubby vibe right down to the “Who’s In Town” green-felt register board that lets you know which Dartmouth alum are visiting.
The Directions
The luxurious Dartmouth Coach departs midtown twice daily and drops passengers off right next door to the Hanover Inn five hours later.
For more information, visit www.visitnh.gov and www.hanovernh.org.
Photo Credits: Šarnas Burdulis, Allison Tibaldi, and the Hanover Inn
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New Hampshire Guide
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Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributes travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She is fluent in Italian and Spanish and laughably adequate in French. Her background as an Early Childhood Educator gives her an added understanding of what it takes to travel with kids in tow. She firmly believes that the most important part of education takes place outside of the classroom, on the road, around the world. She never misses a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. Follow Allison at @gourmetrav.
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__label__cc | 0.744255 | 0.255745 | Home > Uncategorized > Testing: Relief, a New Definition, and a Threat
Testing: Relief, a New Definition, and a Threat
January 15, 2014 okeducationtruths
School districts have received a lot of information about testing from the SDE this week. Talk about your mixed messages…
Relief:
Superintendent Barresi this week made a big splash by eliminating the double testing requirement of middle school students who take math classes for high school credit. In the past, if a seventh or eighth grade student (and sixth grade in some cases) were to take Algebra I, Geometry, or Algebra II, he or she would still have to take the grade-level math test. It never made sense. For years, parents and schools have wanted this changed, and now, fortunately, it has been.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 14, 2013) — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi today notified district school superintendents that middle school students testing in Algebra I, Algebra II or Geometry are no longer required to take the grade-level math assessment.
“This double testing has long been a requirement of the U.S. Department of Education, but it is unnecessary and not in the best interest of our students,” Barresi said.
Currently, students in seventh grade and eighth grade can take high school-level math courses. But students doing so are also being required to take seventh-grade or eighth-grade math and score proficient on these math exams, in addition to scoring proficient on the end-of-instruction test in Algebra I. Proficiency on the Algebra I end-of-instruction test is a graduation requirement of the Achieving Classroom Excellence law, enacted in 2005.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) requested a waiver from the double requirement in November 2013 but has yet to receive a response. The upcoming spring testing window, Barresi said, made it necessary for OSDE to do away with the double-testing requirement immediately.
The spring testing window starts April 10.
For accountability purposes, assessment results for the higher-level math classes will also count for a middle school’s A-F grade.
The one downside I see to this is that those schools will probably take a hit on their A-F Report Cards. We all know I’m not a huge fan anyway, but since these reports are the monkeybars on the education reform playground, even a difference of a couple of points can make a difference – not a real difference, but a perceived one.
New Definition
School districts also received notice this week that the SDE was making changes to the testing program. You can see the list below, but the key change comes in the first bullet. From this point forward, schools are required to count students who miss the first six weeks of school as Full Academic Year students. The definition of FAY has changed before. At one point, it had been defined as continuous enrollment for a full year – as in from the end of the last year’s test cycle. Then it changed to the beginning of the school year, which probably makes sense anyway. This change does not.
OK State Dept of Ed sent this bulletin at 01/15/2014 05:17 PM CST
Dear Superintendents, District Test Coordinators, Principals, and District Technology Coordinators,
The Oklahoma State Department of Education is in the process of amending Oklahoma’s ESEA flexibility waiver. Some major changes to be implemented this year include the following:
The Definition of Full Academic Year (FAY) status has been changed to enrollment from Oct. 1 to the time of testing with no lapse of enrollment greater than 10 consecutive days of instruction
The AMO description has been updated to remove the growth components from the Math and Reading Performance Indicators
The accountability system for small schools (less than 10 tested students) is described
OMAAP exams are no longer being offered for first-time test takers and are thusly no longer included in accountability determinations
Students scoring 10% above pre-determined cut scores on alternate exams such as the ACT or SAT are eligible for exemption from the Algebra II, Geometry, English III, and U.S. History EOI exams
The minimum sample size for reporting student information (i.e., FERPA reports) is now 10 students
The ESEA addendum detailing these changes can be viewed at http://ok.gov/sde/accountability-assessments. This document and the associated appendices replaces [sic] the NCLB Accountability Workbook that was in place before Oklahoma’s request for ESEA Flexibility.
I have no idea what motivated this change. Maybe Oklahoma was counting too many students as NFAY to make the feds happy. In any case, this will disproportionately hurt schools with high mobility. Those tend to be the schools with the highest levels of poverty too. It is also important to note that changing the sample size will increase the volatility in reporting for schools with small populations of subgroups. With only 10 students in a group, one student’s performance can make a huge difference.
Lastly, the SDE sent out an email late this afternoon, reminding school districts that they must participate in the so-called Stress Test for the testing companies. Immediately, the okeducationtruths inbox began receiving messages. People are none too happy. Please read all the way to the bottom of the message:
SDE: Participation in Statewide Online Readiness Test is Required
Statewide Online Readiness Test
The January 28, 2014, Statewide Online Readiness Test is designed to ensure that the online assessment of students will be both reliable and valid. This required test will verify that at each school testing site:
the correct Test Client is installed on all computers that will be used for testing;
the required Content Package is installed on all computers that will be used for CTB testing;
each computer meets the required technical specifications;
each computer can connect with and communicate to the vendor’s servers;
the school’s infrastructure is correctly configured and can support the full load of students who will be testing simultaneously;
the test content can be correctly displayed; and
the testing client is fully operational on each computer.
This readiness test requires that on January 28th, all of the computers that will be used for assessment log into the testing site and “take” a practice test. If the technology setup has been done correctly, each Readiness Test can be completed in about 30-45 minutes. Schools can choose whether to have students take the practice test or have adults move from computer to computer to complete the readiness test.
Each assessment vendor will have a one hour window for their readiness tests on January 28, 2014.
9:00 to 10:00 a.m. CST – all middle schools and high schools will participate in the readiness test using the CTB test client and content (schools with students in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12).
Measured Progress
10:00 to 11:00 a.m. CST – all schools serving middle school students (grades 6, 7, and 8) will also participate in the readiness test using the Measured Progress test client.
If your school day does not start at 9:00 a.m., you can choose to do CTB testing from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and Measured Progress from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Each computer that will be used for testing needs to complete the appropriate readiness test(s).
Our assessment vendors will report the number and type of devices that successfully complete the readiness test. We will use that information to certify that all of the required schools in each district have met the readiness requirements.
Participation in the Oklahoma Readiness Tests is considered a required report under 70 O.S. § 3-104, subsection (13).
13. Have authority to require persons having administrative control of all school districts in Oklahoma to make such regular and special reports regarding the activities of the schools in said districts as the Board may deem needful for the proper exercise of its duties and functions. Such authority shall include the right of the State Board of Education to withhold all state funds under its control, to withhold official recognition, including accrediting, until such required reports have been filed and accepted in the office of said Board and to revoke the certificates of persons failing or refusing to make such reports;
In other words, if any of you schools out there (and I’m not pointing fingers at particular counties) decide that you don’t want to play with the testing companies on January 28th, the SDE may withhold your funding. I wouldn’t read that as an idle threat. I would read that as an actual threat.
Weren’t we just talking about character a couple of days ago? And now she’s already threatening schools.
Testing is a huge stress on schools. Because of space and computer limitations, classes often have to be displaced – sometimes for weeks at a time. Asking schools to do that – even for a brief window – on a random day in January, is a major imposition.
If someone were to choose non-compliance, any resulting loss of funds would be completely unacceptable.
Parents, teachers, legislators – oh, and voters – need to know this.
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: CTB McGraw Hill, Education, Measured Progress, SDE, Superintendent Barresi, Testing
I don’t know why it still shocks me each time I read something ELSE terrible, but it’s like a punch in the gut again!
Brenda Shaw
The other piece is this, large districts, such as TPS, have literally tens of thousands of computers to test – and each one has to be manned by either a student or an adult during what is now two hours of the day. So again, we are losing instructional time and being required to do something that will only give the SDE the power to say that any resulting computer issues during the testing window are the fault of the school districts. This is truly a shame.
Rob miller
Great post, my friend! I think we have quite a few folks who are becoming informed and energized. Did you happen to read JB’s post on her election website? Sickening!
Do I have to?
Yours was tremendous too. I think the more parents who get this info the better! It was in the Tulsa World today too.
Oh, do you mean the blather by OCPA? They lost me at “the greatest wealth is no longer produced by those who own and labor in factories, farms and mines.”
He’s looking at it all wrong. Those laborers of whom he speaks produced a lot of wealth for others but precious little for themselves. His points only get worse from there.
Thanks for keeping us informed! The momentum is changing and constituents are getting smarter! I did have an interesting conversation with Senator Haligen (sp) yesterday after his interesting comments on our panel at the OK Policy Budget Summit. He very clearly said he wants to hear from his constituents and is more likely to support those who went out of their way to contact him. He did also say he deleted long form letters sent and will read ones where people have written themselves. He also said two sentences of their stance is helpful! Something to share with your readers as move toward the upcoming legislative session. Parents should also be encouraged to share their personal stories which was noted heavily in the advocacy training by together Ok yesterday.
On Double Standards and Opt Outs | okeducationtruths
Full Academic Year – By the Numbers | okeducationtruths
The Stress Test | okeducationtruths
About that “stress-free testing experience” | okeducationtruths
Depends on What Your Definition of “State Mandated” Is | okeducationtruths
Reason #2 to Pick a New State Superintendent: The Settlement with CTB | okeducationtruths
After the Top 20: Dishonorable Mention | okeducationtruths
On Double Standards and Opt Outs Next We Will Standardize Character | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8322 |
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The FDA is Recommending Transition to Duodenoscopes with Innovative Designs to Enhance Safety: FDA Safety Communication
Fri, 17 Jan 2020. FDA is sharing recommendations and updates to help improve duodenoscope reprocessing.
Surgical Gowns and Packs by Cardinal Health: FDA Statement – Potential Quality Issues Affecting Some of its Level 3 Surgical Gowns and Accompanying PreSource Procedural Packs
Thu, 16 Jan 2020. The medical device manufacturer Cardinal Health alerted its customers to potential quality issues affecting some of its Level 3 surgical gowns and accompanying PreSource procedural packs.
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__label__wiki | 0.542697 | 0.542697 | ‘Extremely uncommon’: 9-year-old charged with murder after 5 die in Illinois fire…
01) ‘Extremely uncommon’: 9-year-old charged with murder after 5 die in Illinois fire
Thanks to feinmann0!
“CHICAGO — First-degree murder charges lodged against a 9-year-old child in a central Illinois mobile home fire that killed five people are a shocking revelation that experts say goes against international recommendations — and the state’s own history of juvenile justice reform.
Chicago-based juvenile defense lawyer Gus Kostopoulos called the charges “extremely uncommon.”
“I don’t remember any cases of a child this young being charged with murder going back 20 years,” Kostopoulos said.
The child will also be charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, Woodford County State’s Attorney Greg Minger told the Peoria Journal Star on Tuesday.
The April 6 fire killed a 1-year-old, two 2-year-olds, a 34-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman near the town of Goodfield, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago. The victims died of smoke inhalation.
Woodford County Coroner Tim Ruestman said that the fire was started intentionally, the Star reports.
On Tuesday, the United Nations released its first-ever study of children deprived of liberty. The report recommends that no child under the age of 14 should be prosecuted for a crime.
9-year-old charged with murder in Illinois
So, yet another example of America’s twisted logic: a child of 9 is treated as an adult when it comes to murdering others, but deemed too young to enjoy a consensual relationship with others.”
It’s a very old issue of discussion, but…yes…I also recognize this sort of thing as social hypocrisy.
If you refuse to acknowledge responsible autonomy in someone…how do you turn around and severely punish them, for something like this?…Don’t you still believe they were somehow oblivious, and hence, inculpable?
Personally…at age nine, I could have understood the possible consequences of starting a fire in a bad place…I could also understand the ramifications of death, and killing people.
Maybe that’s just me…Maybe I’ve always been a bit advanced in some ways, for my age and time…and maybe that’s why I’ve often been at odds with the culture around me.
Was I a freak of an “old soul”, who had intuitions and comprehensions that my childhood peers normally lacked?
…or are more children psychologically sophisticated, than what society recognizes?
The 12 and 13-year-olds making their own porn: One in ten say they have made or been part of sexually explicit videos…
01) The 12 and 13-year-olds making their own porn: One in ten say they have made or been part of sexually explicit videos
“More than one in ten children aged 12 to 13 have made or been part of a sexually explicit video, according to shocking new research.
Nearly one in ten in the same age group are worried that they are addicted to porn, a survey of nearly 700 children for the NSPCC’s ChildLine service found.
And nearly a fifth said they had seen porn images that had shocked or upset them.
Dame Esther Rantzen, the founder of ChildLine, said children as young as 11 had contacted the service with concerns about pornography.
A report by charity ChildWise in 2013/14 revealed that website Pornhub was among the top five favourite sites named by boys aged 11-16.”
So, ChildLine claims that ten percent of the entire 12 and 13 year old population [of the UK?], is having sex in front of cameras, or otherwise doing something sexual in front of a camera, for other people to see?
I would put this in Child Porn Memoirs…but, this comes off more like fear mongering, than level headed discussion of child porn.
Given the source, and the lack of sound evidence…you’ll no doubt understand my cautious skepticism.
Oh…I have no trouble believing that a lot of kids are shagging each other, or masturbating in front of webcams…I’m just not so sure I believe the volume is that big.
Maybe I’m wrong…What do you think?
Wouldn’t it be something, if this turned out to be true?
Depression, the secret we share – Andrew Solomon…
01) Depression, the secret we share – Andrew Solomon
“The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment.” In a talk equal parts eloquent and devastating, writer Andrew Solomon takes you to the darkest corners of his mind during the years he battled depression. That led him to an eye-opening journey across the world to interview others with depression — only to discover that, to his surprise, the more he talked, the more people wanted to tell their own stories. (Filmed at TEDxMet.)”
This entry was posted in Health, Wordpress Archive on November 30, 2019 by eqfoundation.
Why is There NO Record of Ancient Humans? – Randall Carlson…
01) Why is There NO Record of Ancient Humans? – Randall Carlson
“Randall Carlson is a master builder and designer, a geologist, anthropologist and historian. He specializes in sacred geometry, ancient civilizations, climate and environmental change, myths, legends, comic cycles and catastrophes. He is a proponent of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, and has theorized about the extinction of historical advanced human civilizations.”
Saagar Enjeti: Warren loses HALF her support after bungled M4A rollout…
01) Saagar Enjeti: Warren loses HALF her support after bungled M4A rollout
“Saagar Enjeti explains why Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare For All flip flop contributed to her polling drop.”
Meagan Day: Why Obama will try to stop Bernie…
01) Meagan Day: Why Obama will try to stop Bernie
“Jacobin’s Meagan Day describes Bernie’s secret weapon, his solid coalition of supporters.”
Report: Obama Said He Would Try To “Stop” Bernie…
01) Report: Obama Said He Would Try To “Stop” Bernie
“Pete Buttigieg Is a Lying MF” Goes Viral on Twitter…
01) “Pete Buttigieg Is a Lying MF” Goes Viral on Twitter
“Pete Buttigieg is trending on Twitter, but not for positive reasons.”
The Critical Importance of the “Pro Contact” MAP Community…
We possess the integrity and honesty, to acknowledge and discuss those socially uncomfortable topics which the “anti contact” MAP community does not.
We are not so afraid of the world and what people will think about us, that we refuse to see and confront the world around us as it exists.
Despite whatever social pariahs this makes us…we are honest.
We will bring forward and work through the social issues, which “anti contact” MAPs are unwilling to…lack the knowledge, courage or integrity to.
“Pro Contact” MAPs are, hands down, what these issues most need.
We wont lie…We wont spread misinformation…We wont internalize the rhetoric of the enemy.
I don’t like the “pro contact MAP” label…It is squarely an invention, of those who call themselves “anti contact MAPs”…and it has been forcefully imposed upon us, by them. It is an idiotic, classicist wedge, which implies things about “the other”, by putting words into their mouths…It has only served the end result, of making many enemies within the MAP community.
However…since we have this large faction which insists on carrying out these hostilities within the MAP community…let me just be clear…that the “anti contact” faction has a grotesque integrity deficit [some of them are straight up dangerous, ignorant, self righteous, hypocritical a-holes, indistinguishable from antis and other internet bullies], and that anyone would suggest that they “should drown out the pro contact voice”, is just despicable.
Sorry Fae…I really, honestly want to like you on a personal level…but you are way in the wrong, with this sentiment…
I think you are a genuinely decent person…
…but don’t even dream, that you can stop natural truth from making it’s way to the surface.
That folly, is the path of those who inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history.
…Many MAPs are going to be on that wrong side…That much is regretfully clear.
This entry was posted in In Self Defense: The Life & Times of an Atheist BoyLover, Wordpress Archive on November 29, 2019 by eqfoundation.
Slander for Profit: Jon K. Uhler…
“Radio host, Carrie Abbott (http://CarrieAbbott.com) and
Jon K. Uhler, MS, LPC, discuss the minds, motives, & darkness of Sexual Predators.
A heavy conversation, but so important, if we are to learn how to protect kids & support survivors.”
We fight, because people like this are free to slander and libel us at will, without consequence, and even in the pursuit of personal, monetary gain.
This “interview” is a doozy.
02) Jon on Twitter
You can follow the link to his Twitter account, take a look around, and come to your own conclusions about the extremity of his dehumanizing behavior.
He has a “business” which offers “professional advice” to churches, to “get/keep sexual predators out”. He produces and releases a seemingly endless stream of fear mongering, and libelous smearing against MAPs.
…all while exhibiting no actual understanding of MAPs, MAP issues or the MAP movement.
He appears to be a typical, abusive, exploitative bigot.
Hamburger Veermaster unpacks and critiques a typical Jon K Uhler rant.
…and gives a bit of background on Jon.
Do you feel right about having someone like Jon out there, spreading this type of dehumanizing propaganda?…If you are a MAP, are you okay with people like this, doing these things at your expense, and for a predatory personal profit?
This entry was posted in Why We Fight, Wordpress Archive on November 29, 2019 by eqfoundation. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8334 |
__label__cc | 0.67443 | 0.32557 | Interior Lives: the age and interpretation of perishable artefacts from Maori rockshelter sites in inland Otago, New Zealand
Atholl Anderson Australian National University
Moira White Otago Museum, PO Box 6202, Dunedin, New Zealand
Fiona Petchey Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato, PB 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
Keywords: fibre artefacts, rockshelter sites, inland Otago, New Zealand
Rockshelter and similar sites in inland Otago have produced a relatively large number of Maori artefacts made in readily perishable materials such as flax leaves and fibre, tussock grass or tapa (bark) cloth. Regional preservation is clearly related broadly to the relatively arid climate. However, AMS radiocarbon dates on 11 samples from 10 sites shows that while a few date to the 17th century or earlier, the ages of most cluster in the 18th to early 19th centuries. We argue that this represents a phase of accelerated deposition in which material was left behind deliberately, as logistically-determined storage for future use in a strategic plan for exploiting inland resources. We propose that such a process of ‘furnishing the landscape’ with useful artefacts and stored raw materials became possible when territorial security was achieved by the extension of immigrant tribal authority over the inland region.
Anderson, A., White, M. and Petchey, F. (2015) “Interior Lives: the age and interpretation of perishable artefacts from Maori rockshelter sites in inland Otago, New Zealand”, Journal of Pacific Archaeology, 6(2), pp. 41-48. Available at: https://pacificarchaeology.org/index.php/journal/article/view/166 (Accessed: 20January2020). | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8337 |
__label__cc | 0.748062 | 0.251938 | For Future Doctors
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« For Future Doctors: Kan Dah cakap……………
For Future Doctors: The New Rules and Regulations ………..for better or worst? »
For Future Doctors: Kan Dah Cakap…….. Part 2
July 6, 2017 by Pagalavan Letchumanan
Just 6 days ago I wrote on the issue of SPM BM in regards to appointment into civil service. Just after the issue was publicised by the newspaper, it became a hot issue of discussion on TV. For at least 2 days following the news report, both RTM and TV3 were having a field day condemning the decision to exempt medical grads from SPM BM requirement. All the political heroes and defenders of the country suddenly appeared from nowhere. Well, election is coming……
In my last article, I wrote clearly the historical events over the last 20 years in regards to the need for SPM BM to join civil service. I also wrote on how the opening of enrolment into international schools had led to another big issue that we are facing now. However, the original intention of the news article reported by TheStar was actually in regards to the need to sit for 6 SPM papers and the inability to sit for a single SPM BM paper. Unfortunately, it was blown out of proportion by various quarters leading to a cabinet discussion of the matter.
Yesterday, the cabinet had decided that SPM BM is now needed even for contract post! This basically means, for those who had graduated but do not have SPM BM, you are now required to sit and pass SPM BM paper before even being eligible to apply for housemanship post. This will only further delay your posting. As it is, graduates are already waiting close to 8-12 months, those affected students would probably have to wait for 2 years now! So, for those who are currently still an undergraduate student, please sit for SPM BM as soon as possible. You just need a pass! The only good news is that you don’t need to sit for 6 papers anymore.
As I had always said, when the number of post becomes limited (admitted by DPM himself), the government can pick and choose. This is just the first step. For those who are doing medicine without the minimum entry requirement or NOC since 2012, please be prepared to be next in line. The government don’t give a damn whether you are a medical grad or not. No special privileges will be given.
Pass SPM Bahasa and be in civil service, medical grads told
BY MAZWIN NIK ANISandMARTIN CARVALHO
PUTRAJAYA: Medical graduates must pass the SPM-level Bahasa Malaysia (BM) paper to be appointed as contract-based doctors in public hospitals.
However, these contract doctors will not be required to take the six core SPM subjects – Bahasa Malaysia, English, History, Mathematics, Science and Moral or Islam Studies – to be in the civil service.
Once they pass the examination, they can serve as housemen in government hospitals.
Contract-based doctors are those undergoing housemanship as well as those on compulsory service.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the matter had been clarified by the Education Minister at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
“The Cabinet was told that the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate allows for professionals to take a single paper. So these graduates can take their Bahasa paper in November and then apply for housemanship,” he said.
Last week, The Star reported that some 300 medical graduates with O-Levels qualifications would be required to take the SPM-level BM to be accepted into housemanship.
Making it clear: Dr Ahmad Zahid explaining the ruling for contract doctors to the media at his office in Putrajaya.
A medical graduate said that they were given a waiver for SPM BM from 2003 when the country did not have enough doctors but the waiver was suddenly removed this year without adequate notice.
Before the waiver was withdrawn, O-Levels BM or Bahasa Kebangsaan A was accepted.
Following their plight, the ministry asked the Public Service Department (PSD) to waive the SPM-level BM pass requirement for contract staff and in February, the PSD agreed to the request. But they still need the SPM-level BM for permanent posts.
However, some medical graduates in Selangor said they could not register for only the BM subject but had to register for all six core SPM subjects at the state Education Department, while those from some other states were required to take only BM and History.
On Sunday, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on his website that a waiver was given on the SPM-level BM for contract-based doctors (two years of housemanship and two years of compulsory service) but not for permanent posts.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said the Cabinet decided that SPM-level pass for Bahasa Malaysia would remain a requirement for those who wanted to work with the civil service.
“We are committed to uphold what is stated in the Federal Constitution when it comes to the issue of the national language,” he told a press conference.
Dr Ahmad Zahid said that apart from the Health Ministry, no other ministry, department or agency had relaxed the ruling.
“But at one point, the Health Ministry needed doctors, so this exemption was made. Now, the Cabinet wants the requirement to be maintained,” he added.
He also pointed out that only 23 medical graduates were given the exemption and not “300 or 3,000 as reported”.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the requirement for contract medical officers, including contract-based doctors, to sit for the SPM-level BM paper was re-introduced last December because of the current flood of medical graduates.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/07/06/pass-spm-bahasa-and-be-in-civil-service-medical-grads-told/#sEXLrVQ65GovGxtz.99
Posted in Education | 14 Comments
on July 7, 2017 at 8:08 PM | Reply em
What is the maximum a specialist can charge for consultation at a private hospital? What happens if I get overcharged?
on July 7, 2017 at 8:11 PM | Reply Pagalavan Letchumanan
That depends whether it is consultation or a procedure. It also depends on whether it is during office hours or after. The charges are regulated by Private Healthcare and services Act 1998. There you can search for list of charges , the latest update was in 2015. If overcharge, you can complain to Ministry.
on July 8, 2017 at 8:04 PM | Reply Norshila Shahar
I have a friend from Turkey who has been a GP in his home country for 2 years. He did graduate from an MMC recognised institution ( University of Ankara) He wants to pursue a specialisation in a Malaysian government university hospital where he hopes to be paid while training. He tells me that there are quite a lot of his peers in Turkey who are seeking specialisation abroad due to the current political climate in Turkey.
I have read about the MMC registration procedure but cannot seem to find clear info on whether any Malaysian University hospital offers these training posts to foreign doctors.
On reading your posts and responses it sounds unlikely but I do not know the ins and outs of the medical profession and system in Malaysia at all. But I would like to help out my friend.
I wonder if you could give me some advice on whether foreign doctors have any hope of this at the current time?
on July 9, 2017 at 12:08 PM | Reply Pagalavan Letchumanan
Local Public universities do offer some post for foreigners in their Master’s program. However, it is limited and to my understanding, they do not pay you a salary but you need to pay a fee for the 4 years program. Furthermore, after graduation, job is not guaranteed either.
on July 15, 2017 at 9:08 PM | Reply Shyukur
UM ( university of malaysia and national university of malaysia ) clinical orthoedics surgery department will give salary, stipend, free accomodation and meal for foreign postgraduate master trainee.
You can contact Prof (K) Sharaf Ibrahim : sharaf@ppukm.ukm.edu.my
on July 16, 2017 at 11:34 AM Pagalavan Letchumanan
on July 16, 2017 at 1:50 PM Norshila Shahar
Thank you very much for this valuable information. Much appreciated.
on July 18, 2017 at 6:55 PM Shyukur
If you know this rare opputunity once in a lifetime ( $alary, stipend, free meals and free accomodation ), it is better to pack and fly immediately to malaysia to to know more the univeristy hospital of malaysia and national university hospital of malaysia and their postgraduate training. In my humble opinion, it is better to talk to the chairperson directly face to face to avoid missing this unique training.
on July 10, 2017 at 11:30 AM | Reply Doctor Doctor
A doctor and her SPM Malay paper
https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/387980
To Norshila Shahar,
Come hell or high water, it is better to go to Malaysia, and speak to him about the postgraduate training ( $alary, free accomodation and unlimited meals ) for foreign trainee. Don’t miss this extremy rare golden oppurtunity and who knows this policy and generosity ( $alary ) might be ended soon out of the blue in one or two days
on July 21, 2017 at 5:05 PM | Reply Norshila Shahar
Thanks so much for yr advice..
I wrote to Dr Sharaf he told me to contact the UM ortho dept. Will do so soon.
Yes this is a great opp …thanks again for yr help.
Norshila
on September 3, 2017 at 3:02 PM | Reply Eddy
Hi Dr, referring to your previous article comments>> “”So, for those who are currently still an undergraduate student, please sit for SPM BM as soon as possible. You just need a pass! The only good news is that you don’t need to sit for 6 papers anymore.””
My Question:-
1) Is it 100% confirmed that a first timer to take SPM(whether right after O level, currently at Pre-U programme or now taking MBBS Undergraduate) can be exempted the 6papers? I thought some mentioned still a requirement from MOE to still require 1st timer to take BOTH BM and Sejarah paper and pass in order to be issued a SPM Certificate?? If this is true,it just doesn’t make sense to make it compulsary to take up Sejarah paper for future Dr’s?? & this will definitely add more stress to o level students.
I strongly agree with you that all O levels student should Now Prepare and sit for BM paper to avoid additional HO waiting period upon graduating MBBS.
Really hope you can help to get a Clear confirmation on this for the benefit of this group of students from O level. Many Thanks!
on September 5, 2017 at 7:23 PM | Reply Pagalavan Letchumanan
1) based on what was reported in the news, it should be only BM. However, our government is very popular in making overnight decisions without informing anyone!
on September 8, 2017 at 12:53 PM | Reply Eddy
Noted with thanks!
Dr. Pagalavan
MBBS(Mal.) MRCP(UK) FRCP(Edin) AM(Mal)
Consultant Physician & Rheumatologist
For Future Doctors: RISE OF PALPATINE……………Welcome to 2020
For Future Doctors: Is This A Tragedy or A Comedy…………. Part 2
For Future Doctors: Is this a Tragedy or a Comedy……….
For Future Doctors: Either we change or we die a slow death…………
For Future Doctors: The Hurricane that finally came and sweeping through the nation……….
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Arthritis Foundation Malaysia
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For Future Doctors: RISE OF PALPATINE...............Welcome to 2020
For Future Doctors: Housemanship, Medical Officer and Postgraduate Training (Part 1)
For Future Doctors: Step by step approach to subspeciality in Medicine
For Future Doctors: Is This A Tragedy or A Comedy............. Part 2
For Future Doctors: What if ........................?
For Future Doctors: General Misconception of being a doctor PART 1
Clown of the Year Award! | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8338 |
__label__wiki | 0.785347 | 0.785347 | ‘Les Miz’ spoof sweeps Oscar parody awards
February 21, 2013 | 5:00am
Eric Roberts WireImage
“Les Misérables” may not sweep the Oscars, but a parody of it was the toast of spoof film awards the Toscars. “Miserable Lesbians” won a record eight Golden Fists, including best film. The ceremony, organized by Brits in LA, is for sendups of the movies nominated for Best Picture. Titles included “Breasts of the Southland Wild,” “Silver Whinings Payback” and “Stargo.” Actor Eric Roberts headed a judging panel at the Egyptian Theatre. A stage version of “Miserable Lesbians” written-directed by Sandro Monetti is coming to New York’s 59E59 Theatre in July. Monetti said, “I told Hugh Jackman and Helena Bonham Carter about it. Hugh asked who was playing him, and Helena asked if she could be in it.”
Guy Fieri mocked with parody menu | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8339 |
__label__wiki | 0.798041 | 0.798041 | Jack Deth’s posts
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What A Character! Daniel Stern – Wise-Ass to the Stars
Daniel Stern in Home Alone (1990)
By Jack Deth
Welcome all and sundry! Having been sidelined for awhile with the vagaries of an old body catching up with me, I was thrilled to see that the Sixth Annual What A Character! Blogathon was in the works, with some delightful selections from numerous cinephiles coaxing my attention to the newer batches of those who work in the background of sets and groups, inching their way closer to success.
To that end, allow me a few moments of your time while I dig out, dust off, root around, and unearth the career of some local homegrown Maryland talent in
What A Character: Master Craftsman Daniel Stern. Wise-Ass To The Stars!
Along with Chris Meloni (“Bound,” “Oz,” “Law & Order: SVU”) and Jonathan Banks (“Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “Wiseguy,” “Breaking Bad”), Stern was the tall, gangling scarecrow of an upstart who caught my eye providing sarcastic comic relief as one of four high school graduate buddies facing life’s daunting future in Breaking Away.
A Peter Yates-directed coming-of-age project from 1979, filmed in and around Bloomington, Indiana. A surprisingly good example of a on-location film that excels in “Bang For The Buck,” mixing teen angst, uncertainty, and a scaled-down version of a hometown bicycle “Tour de France” with the four friends — “Cutters,” named after the local families who cut and formed marble and granite for the state’s municipal and court buildings — going up against better-trained, -financed and -equipped fraternities. Adding a dash of underdog to the film’s drama and comedy that surprised audiences, the Golden Globes, and Academy of Arts and Sciences alike.
What does Mr. Stern bring to the film? A refreshing bit of quiet, affable stability among his friends, Dennis Christopher (Dave), Dennis Quaid (Mile), and Jackie Earle Haley (Moocher). Even though Mr. Stern looks like the kid who was made for basketball, he can’t dribble. His Cyril is the rock that their friendship is based on. Even up to the point of helping Dave serenade a sorority girl (P.J. Soles), and getting beaten up by a jealous frat boy for his efforts in a case of mistaken identity. When otherwise making himself available to indulge in light sarcasm directed at Bloomington’s many authority figures,
Not too shabby for a first outing. With the film racking up four major nominations in the 52nd Academy Awards and taking home a win for Best Original Screenplay, a win for Dennis Christopher as Most Promising Newcomer to Lead In Film from the 33rd BAFTA Awards, plus four 37th Golden Globe nominations and one win for Best Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy.
Keeping busy through the next three years with roles in Starting Over, A Small Circle Of Friends, and Stardust Memories. Being at the right place and the right time to ply his craft under some soon-to-be heavy hitters in the acting and directors departments. With Alan Pakula and Woody Allen at the tiller of notable “You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere” projects. While lining up his sights on a personal Barry Levinson project tailor made for Mr. Stern’s talent: Diner.
A landmark film and launchpad for another aspiring group of young talent ranging from Tim Daley, Kevin Bacon, and Mickey Rourke to Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser, and Ellen Barkin, with Mr. Stern playing the more mature and settled married member of the film’s batch of bachelors, whose touchstone is Baltimore’s Fells Point Diner. Though life outside the diner reveals that Mr. Stern’s electronics salesman and music aficionado Shrevie is not all that wise, mature or settled.
In a film that broke many molds in focusing on dialogue much more than action, to the point of the financing and distributing studio, Warner Brothers, wanting to shelve the finished film, until surprisingly positive reviews were written by Pauline Kael, and the Los Angeles and New York Times.
Outside of encompassing everything good about the spirit and possibilities of independent films, Diner is a meticulously-detailed medium-budgeted piece of cinema, wrapped around the last evening of 1959 and beyond in regards to clothes, cars and locations. The film does allow for all its stars to shine in script and improvisation, backed by an excellent, eclectic soundtrack.
Mr. Stern then made time for a side expedition into the Valium addiction biopic, I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can, before sitting down to an audition with director John Badham and his action/conspiracy thriller, Blue Thunder.
Where he plays recently graduated Officer Richard Lymangood. Former Navy Aviation Rating, JAFO (Just Another Fu$king Observer) and Electronics Geek working with veteran ASTRO (Air Support To Regular Operations) helicopter pilot Officer Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider), under Division Commander Captain Jack Braddock (Warren Oates). Where Mr. Stern falls on his sword and flawlessly tees up some of Mr. Oates’ best lines.
Sticking true to form and keeping a cautious one step back from the implications of a heavily armed rotary wing platform seething with unheard of surveillance, stealth and computer capabilities in preparations for the 1984 Olympics.
And what it could do when weaponized and released on the citizens and cultural landscape of Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Mr. Stern supplies the conscience, though not much is needed, in guiding Mr. Scheider’s Frank Murphy to a quick and dirty solution in the film’s final moments.
Clearing the decks for roles in Sidney Lumet’s Daniel (a personal favorite), C.H.U.D., Frankenweenie, and Hannah and Her Sisters. Turning again to comedy for Born In East L.A. and The Milagro Beanfield War. Switching over to nighttime noir drama in D.O.A. Before opting for science fiction in the 1989 deep sea exploration thriller, Leviathan.
Where Mr. Stern goes against character and out of his way to be an arrogant, misogynistic “Been There. Done That” prick, Buzz “Sixpack” Parrish, who keeps the women, Amanda Pays and Lisa Eilbacher, on edge, while giving the rest of the cast — Peter Weller, Ernie Hudson, Richard Crenna and Hector Elizondo — their moments to shine in an under-appreciated and -rated personal slow smoldering, edge of your seat “Guilty Pleasure.”
Shifting gears back to comedy for Little Monsters, and My Blue Heaven, then writer John Hughes, director Chris Columbus, and a small-scale franchise with 1990’s Home Alone.
Where Mr. Stern effortlessly makes his partner in crime, Harry Lime (Joe Pesci), look even better and more pathetic while being on the receiving end of a well-budgeted and -cast, seasonal and overblown, live-action Warner Brothers “Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote” cartoon.
Following it up with City Slickers a year later.
Slipping over in voice acting, narration, and supplying the adult voice of Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) for six seasons (1988-1993) of ABC’s multi-award-winning “The Wonder Years.” Editor’s note: the clip won’t embed, click through to listen.
Making time to reprise his role as Paul Berquist in City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold, along with Bushwhacked and Celtic Pride before latching onto Peter Berg directing Jon Favreau, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven and Leland Orser in the Bachelor Party Gone Bad “Black Comedy,” Very Bad Things in 1998.
Shifting back over to animation voice work for thirty episodes of “Dilbert.” Staying in television for better than five years with guest spots across the spectrum. Before returning to film and Drew Barrymore’s debut directing a small budgeted “Girl Power” film with Ellen Page, Whip It, another personal low budget favorite.
Where Mr. Stern plays Ellen’s dad, Earl Cavender, who goes against his wife’s (Marcia Gaye Harden) wishes and rallies behind his “one shot at happiness” with Texas Roller Derby.
Then returning for a final lap around television, its many series and guest star slots. Most notably fifteen episodes of WGN’s award winning (2014-2015) series, “Manhattan.”
Overall Consensus A consummate “Actor’s Actor” who learned his craft from the bottom up, while having the great good fortune to get the attention of young and established directors who would make their mark in later years.
Three years behind me, age-wise, Mr. Stern graduated from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in 1975 and auditioned for the Washington Shakespeare Festival seeking a job as a lighting engineer, but wound up as a “strolling player with a lute,” before landing roles on stage and off Broadway with Gary Sinise’s Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and its production of “True West,” appearing with Mr. Sinise and troupe co-founder John Malkovich. Stern garnered experience and positive reviews before starting his cinema career as too-tall Cyril in Breaking Away, and masterfully catching and riding the crest of that wave for decades thereafter.
Racking up an impressive number of roles in favorite, original, low-budget “Bang For The Buck!” films like Breaking Away, Diner, Blue Thunder, Daniel, Leviathan, Home Alone, Very Bad Things, and Whip It, and creating multiple personae for cinema and television, while holding on tightly to his gift of dry, wry. sarcastic and occasional wise-ass humor.
A “Utility Infielder”? Not precisely. More content and assured as part of an ensemble, while making that ensemble and film much better for his inclusion.
All in all, the very definition of a Character Actor!
Agree?…. Disagree?…. Personal Opinions or Choices? The Floor Is Open For Discussion!
Posted on 15 December 2017 16 December 2017 by PaulaPosted in FeaturesTagged 1980s, 1990s, barry levinson, blog event, blogathon, breaking away, daniel stern, diner, peter yates, what a character, what a character 2017.
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22 thoughts on “What A Character! Daniel Stern – Wise-Ass to the Stars”
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If I were in charge (dream on!), I’d trade a star and a couple of prospects for that particular utility infielder. We’d do alright in the series.
jackdeth72 says:
Thank you for a great start, Patricia:
Mr. Stern does have a memorable body of work. Which is what drew me to him for this year’s Blogathon.
Now that you mention it, Mr. Stern did play a major league pitcher past his prime in the 1993 comedy, ‘Rookie Of The Year’.
I’m always excited to see Daniel Stern’s name in the credits. Has he ever given a bad (or even mediocre) performance? Not to my knowledge. He’s been a fairly busy actor, by the looks of it, and for good reason!
Since the time I first noticed Mr. Stern. I can’t think of a time when he wasn’t working. A sure sign that excellence creates opportunities.
Even if the film is not well received. (‘Little Monsters’. Aimed at kids and not adults.) Mr. Stern fulfills his obligation and delivers. Often more than required, necessary or asked for.
Great piece, Jack! Always a welcome character actor in the mix of a film. He has wonderful instincts for physical comedy. Thanks for joining our blogathon with this fab contribution.
Thanks, Kellee:
Mr. Stern has always struck me as one of the next generation of character actors beyond Nicholson, Harry Dean Stanton and Bruce Dern.
An every man of surprising depth and talents. As noted verbally in ‘Breaking Away’ and ‘Blue Thunder’. Then turning on a dime for physical comedy in ‘Home Alone’ and its sequel.
Thanks for this career recap, Jack. I have to admit most of these have gotten by me, but I most remember Stern in City Slickers in the “I hate bullies” scene, which shows Phil’s transformation in no uncertain terms. So maybe he went a little too far, but it’s a satisfying moment to watch.
You’re welcome, Paula:
I wanted to keep this retrospective narrowed down to ‘Breaking Away’ and perhaps, ‘Diner’. But the deeper I dug the more films I remembered Mr. Stern in.
Audiences and actor lives for those scenes where one “loses it”.
And Mr. Stern’s ‘I hate bullies!” scene rates right up there with the best of Jimmy Stewart (‘Winchester 73’) and Jack Nicholson’s “I am the Shore Patrol!” scene from ‘The Last Detail’.
And one of the reasons the scene works so well is that Mr. Stern’s Phil Berquist is perceived to be so quiet, meek and easy to intimidate. Yet savvy enough to reel his anger back in once his message is received.
Totally…I was thinking of Jimmy Stewart as well, only in the steak scene in MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE 🙂
Outstanding choice, Paula!
Jimmy throwing the Duke’s island sized steak and larger platter around makes the scene.
I’ll open with your favorite. Dan Duryea as Johnny Prince on ‘Scarlet Street’.
Then bump and check to the Dealer with Robert Ryan as murderous Anti-Semite, Montgomery in the last moments of ‘Crossfire’.
Marsha Collock (A Person in the Dark) says:
He’s like the regular guy who looks like he should never be a movie actor (which is why he’s so good!). Great post about a guy we’re always happy to see.
Thanks very much, Marsha:
Which also firmly plants Mr. Stern in the grand company of J.K. Simmons, Eli Wallach, Jack Klugman, Joe Pesci and John Goodman to name but a few.
As soon as I saw the subject of your post, I immediately thought: Breaking Away. He was that good, and memorable, in that film. I haven’t seen much of him since Diner, so it was great to get caught up thanks to your post.
You’re more than welcome, Jocelyn:
It’s also nice to see that Mr. Stern has kept those memorable, impeccable standards alive and well throughout his career.
Glad you enjoyed the trip down Memory Lane!
Also. Excellent retrospective on Brian Donlevy.
It’s nice to see the old and fertile fields of Mr. Donlevy plowed by a just starting out Fred Mac Murray in his being a “Superb Louse” in ‘The Caine Mutiny’, ‘Pushover’, ‘Double Indemnity’ and ‘The Apartment’.
I gotta hand it to you, Jack…”superb louse” is still the best description of MacMurray’s characters in those films.
Thanks very much, Paula:
It’s nice to see that we’ve a classic on our hands.
Cliff Blau says:
He was also featured on a short-lived TV series I quite enjoyed, Hometown. Again he was a solid part of an ensemble.
Welcome, Cliff:
Good catch with ‘Hometown’. Which featured Jane Kaczmarek after her Officer Pilsky in six episodes of ‘Hill Street Blues’ and her bartender and love interest for Harvard Law Student, James Hart; Connie Lehrman in eight episodes of ‘The Paper Chase’. And long before her wife, Lois in ‘Malcolm In The Middle’.
Also interesting to see that her and Mr. Stern’s paths crossed again two years later in ‘D.O.A.’.
Wonderful piece Jack. I’m not sure I’ve considered Stern to be anything other than a workmanlike performer in, as you allude to, an ensemble. But it’s interesting to realise, courtesy of your detailed article, what Stern has brought to a number of films. He’s an ordinary Everyman but I think that’s a quality he possesses. He’s definitely likeable. And funny. I have to admit, I always watch Blue Thunder and wish, this time around, he makes it to the end. That says something about his qualities as an actor and how he captures our hearts.
Cheers, Dan. Long time no see!
Thanks very much for your insightful and delightful comment.
Mr. Stern’s ability to be a cinematic Everyman is right up there with James Stewart, Elisha Cook, Jr. and Harry Dean Stanton in making any role his own. And adding touches and vulnerabilities which make the audience truly care for him.
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__label__wiki | 0.915427 | 0.915427 | Justin Timberlake Leaves Flirty Comments on Wife Jessica Biel's Instagram Following Scandal
Justin Timberlake issued a public apology to his "amazing" wife Jessica Biel in response to being spotted holding hands with another woman in November
By Benjamin VanHoose
Things between Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel seem to be back to normal — at least when it comes to social media flirting.
Timberlake, 38, left a loving comment as well as a smattering of emojis under his wife’s latest Instagram posts, in which Biel, 37, poses for a partnership with yoga brand Gaiam.
“Squad! 😍,” he wrote in the comment section on Thursday, harkening back to the days when the couple would frequently flirt on social media, prior to Timberlake’s PDA scandal with another woman last month. “❤️😍❤️,” he added to a second post on Monday.
Earlier this month, the “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer issued a public apology on his own Instagram account, writing that he was sorry for putting his “amazing wife” through “such an embarrassing situation.”
On Nov. 23, Timberlake was photographed as he appeared to hold hands with actress Alisha Wainwright, 30, during an outing with friends in New Orleans — though Timberlake later assured fans that “nothing happened” between him and his scene partner.
RELATED: Justin Timberlake Seen for the First Time Since His Public Apology for Holding Hands with Costar
“A few weeks ago I displayed a strong lapse in judgment — but let me be clear — nothing happened between me and my costar. I drank way too much that night and I regret my behavior. I should have known better,” he wrote in his apology.
In the statement, he personally apologized to Biel, whom he married in 2012 and with whom he shares 4-year-old son Silas.
“This is not the example I want to set for my son,” Timberlake added.
“I apologize to my amazing wife and family for putting them through such an embarrassing situation, and I am focused on being the best husband and father I can be. This was not that.”
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Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, September 2018
Tommaso Boddi/Getty
RELATED: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel: A Complete Relationship Timeline of the Superstar Couple
A source previously told PEOPLE that the couple would find a way to “work through” the situation.
“It was good that he apologized publicly but obviously the real work he is doing is in private, and hopefully this was just a bad drunken night of this type of behavior,” said the insider.
Another source said that Biel is likely looking to preserve her family amid the controversy and move on with their life.
“Obviously Justin drank too much this time, but Jessica believes he didn’t cheat on her,” the source said. “What’s most important to her in life is her family and being the best mom to Silas. She’ll never break up her family over something like this.”
By Benjamin VanHoose @BenVanHoose | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8344 |
__label__wiki | 0.900144 | 0.900144 | Should LPEA voters decide buyout question? Board members say ‘no’
Proposal fails in tie vote on 12-member panel
La Plata Electric Association is studying a buyout from Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which could allow the co-op to purchase more renewable energy. The co-op’s board Wednesday decided not to send a bylaw amendment to members to allow them to decide whether a vote of the membership should be required to leave Tri-State.
Voters won’t be asked this year to change the bylaws at La Plata Electric Association to allow members to decide whether to buy out of a contract with the co-op’s wholesale power supplier.
LPEA’s 12-member board voted 6-6 Wednesday on whether to place the bylaw question on the co-op’s May ballot. The tie vote means the proposal failed.
“We are saying, ‘Please trust us, that we will do the right thing,’” said LPEA President Bob Lynch.
LPEA is contracted to purchase 95 percent of its power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission until 2050.
Some co-op members are interested in buying out of the contract because it limits how much renewable power LPEA can purchase. Other members are concerned a buyout from Tri-State would increase electricity rates.
Wednesday’s vote was a reversal from the board’s previous position. In February, the board voted 8-2 to work with staff on an amendment to the co-op’s bylaws that would require a vote of the members to enter into, extend or terminate a power-supply contract.
The idea of a bylaw amendment arose from a petition started by a citizens’ group, Common Sense LPEA, asking board members to require a vote of the membership for any expenditure over $50 million, said Heath Rowe, a member of the group.
The board responded by saying if Common Sense LPEA withdrew its petition, the board would place a question on the ballot that would require a buyout be approved by the membership. In return, the citizens’ group agreed to stop gathering signatures to place a bylaw change on the ballot, he said. A few citizens thanked the board for agreeing to place a question on the ballot at the beginning of Wednesday’s meeting.
“I feel like we got back-handed on this deal,” Rowe said after the vote.
Rowe said he planned to start a new petition to place a bylaw change on the ballot next year that would require a vote of the membership on any deal to leave the Tri-State contract.
The deadline has passed for members to submit a petition to place a question on the May ballot, he said.
“I just don’t understand why they don’t want us to vote,” he said.
Board members Doug Lyon, Kirsten Skeehan, Dan Huntington, Davin Montoya, Mike Alley and Kohler McInnis, all voted in favor of the bylaw change. Before the vote, Lyon said the new bylaw would offer the board flexibility to purchase power from other sources and accountability to membership.
“It meets the members’ concerns that nothing too big will happen, like 100 percent buyout, without their say so,” he said.
Board members Bob Lynch, Britt Bassett, Rachel Landis, Guinn Unger, Tim Wheeler and Jack Turner opposed placing the bylaw question on the ballot.
A vote of the membership could be contrary to the methodical, analytical and factual approach that the co-op is taking to a buyout decision, Turner said. Turner was also opposed to the bylaw change in February.
“It is the most important work that LPEA has done since I have been on this board,” he said.
An LPEA committee is researching a buyout from Tri-State and it has not yet presented its findings.
Landis said that before any buyout she would like to see the board reach a decision about a buyout after holding town-hall meetings, surveys and gatherings with the members, so the community could help shape what any big change in power supply would look like.
“If put to a vote, this would be a really hard thing for the average voter to feel they could make an informed decision on, a decision that once made would be binding. The binary nature of a binding decision would not give the board or the staff the flexibility such complexity requires. ”
mshinn@durangoherald.comThis story has been updated to add Kirsten Skeehan to the list of board members who voted in favor of the bylaw change. A previous version of this story also gave an incorrect vote total from the February vote. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8345 |
__label__wiki | 0.722627 | 0.722627 | Peter Verstappen
Pixelformer
Savegame Pro
Pixelformer is an Android mobile game, published on the Google Play Store. Developed with the Unity3D game engine using C# as programming language. Pixelformer is a retro styled arcade game where the player has to move through the level and collect all
the pixels and diamonds. The pixels increase your score, the diamonds allow you to progress to the next level. The levels are built like puzzles and as you progress they become more difficult, so you have to find the fastest path to
keep your multiplier and maximize your score!
Pixelformer was first published in March of 2016. Using the feedback given by the players, I worked on improving the game all throughout 2017 and released a major update in August of 2018. This update included the usage of Google Play Services which allows
the player to join in leaderboards to show off their high scores to the world, and to unlock achievements. With the new release, the game has become free to play and implements advertisements. Visit the
facebook page to stay updated on future game updates and news.
Play the game!
Visit the Pixelformer website and install the game on your device to play!
Pixelformer Gallery
© 2020 Peter Verstappen. Created for free using WordPress and Colibri | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8347 |
__label__cc | 0.586583 | 0.413417 | Neighbors from hell: Infanticide rife in guillemot colony
Guillemot on Isle of May, Scotland. Credit: Kate Ashbrook
One of Britain's best-known species of seabird is increasingly attacking and killing unattended chicks from neighbouring nests due to food shortages.
Researchers at the University of Leeds and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology observed a dramatic increase in the number of adult guillemots deliberately attacking chicks of the same species in the last year. Hundreds of such attacks occurred, and many were fatal, with chicks being pecked to death or flung from cliff ledges.
These disturbing findings, published online today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, indicate that social harmony – even in long-established colonies – can break down when conditions get tough, for example if starvation looms. The study highlights a previously unsuspected parental dilemma: should both leave their chick unattended and spend more time feeding, or should one of them remain to protect the chick from attacks from neighbouring birds even if it gets less food?
"The attacks were brutal and usually involved more than one adult as chicks fled from the initial attacking neighbour" says lead author Kate Ashbrook, of Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences. "More than two thirds of all documented chick deaths in the sample area were caused by attacks from neighbouring parents. Yet this particular colony has been monitored for almost thirty years, and in that time chick attacks have been very rare occurrences."
Common guillemots (Uria aalge) are attentive parents and rear only one chick during the breeding season, which runs from April to July. Because chicks are vulnerable to attacks from predatory gulls, parents rarely leave them unattended, taking it in turns to find food. However, a decline in prey in recent years has led to both parents being forced to search for food at the same time. Researchers witnessed almost half of all chicks unattended at some point during the day.
Surrounded by neighbours and open to the elements, guillemot colonies are a risky place to raise a chick. Although aggression between adults is common - breeding pairs often are in physical contact and ledges can be densely packed with up to thirty breeding pairs in one square metre – aggression toward chicks is unusual.
The research focused on a large established colony of guillemots that inhabit the Isle of May in Scotland. Co-author Professor Sarah Wanless from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has been monitoring this colony since 1981. She comments: "This research highlights how fragile the social fabric of a seabird colony is. Having a stressed, hungry neighbour isn't good news if you're an unattended guillemot chick."
Source: University of Leeds
Cable ties probably won't stop magpie attacks
Citation: Neighbors from hell: Infanticide rife in guillemot colony (2008, September 17) retrieved 20 January 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2008-09-neighbors-hell-infanticide-rife-guillemot.html
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Cute chick rover: A new way to spy on shy penguins (w/ Video) | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8352 |
__label__cc | 0.656488 | 0.343512 | Snare 13.7
Posted on August 18, 2012 by wildbow
“Where is he?” I growled.
“As if I’m going to tell you. To think Jack called you the clever worm.”
“Don’t call me that.” I felt a flare of irritation that bordered on anger. Was that me, or was it her power at work?
Tattletale put a hand on my shoulder. I shut my mouth. She asked Cherish, “What do you want in exchange for your help? You want us to let you go?”
Cherish laughed a little, and it reminded me of Alec’s own dry chuckle. “No. Definitely not. In exchange for the information about what the Imp is up to, you’re going to give me medical treatment, you’re going to keep me here, and you’re going to keep me safe.”
“And for the info on Grue?” Tattletale asked.
“I’m thinking a billion-” Cherish winced as she moved mid-sentence and pulled at the wound.
“A billion dollars so you can scamper off to the other side of the world and live the good life while you hide from those bastards,” Tattletale finished.
“Right. Or are you going to tell me that’s too much? Is your teammate’s life worth a smaller amount? Where do you draw the line, Ms. Frowny-face?”
Tattletale glanced at me. I looked, in turn, to Coil. He gave me a barely perceptible shake of his head. He wouldn’t fork over the amount.
“You’re not really in a position to be making demands,” Trickster said. “You’re bleeding to death, and we do have the ability to hurry the process along.”
Cherish shrugged. “Bonesaw gave me the works. Mesh sheaths for every major artery and organ, wire reinforcement for my skeleton. It’s not going to kill me anytime soon.”
I made a mental note of that. Chances were good that Jack, Bonesaw and the other more vulnerable members of the Nine had some similar protection. How differently would things have played out if Ballistic had used his power and blown them up?
“I could,” Trickster threatened. “Or we could wait and see which happens first: Either you agree to share the information we want or you slowly bleed out.”
“A game of chicken? I’m down.” Cherish prodded her injury with a fingertip. It was clear it hurt, but she still stuck a finger into the hole and investigated some. “The auto-injection pump is dosing me with painkillers and antibiotics now. First time feeling this stuff work.”
“Letting that… lunatic perform surgery like that?” Sundancer asked, shivering a little. “How? Why?”
“Not much choice in the matter, but I was awake for the entire thing, and I read her emotions as she did it. No hint of any traps or dirty tricks.”
Tattletale glanced at the bullet hole in Cherish’s chest. “I’m suspicious it’s so routine for her that there wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar if she did try something.”
Cherish leaned forward, “Are we going to do this? Test your perceptive abilities against mine? Some intellectual jousting?”
Tattletale shook her head. “She’s stalling. She knows time’s on her side, because we need to rescue Grue sooner than later. Longer we wait, the worse our position.”
“I admit I’m at something of a loss.” Coil sounded pensive, as he looked at our captive. “Where do we put her?”
“Jack did research on you assholes,” Cherish cut in, still trying to distract us, “I know your schtick, Tattletale. Pick at people’s weaknesses, tell them stuff they don’t want to know. I can do the same thing. I’m better at it than you are.”
“It’s a bit of a crazy idea,” I said, ignoring her. “But what if we didn’t stash her in this base? Or any of the others? We put her anywhere in the city, there’s the risk that some unwitting John, Dick or Harry will come by, and she’ll get them to help her somehow. Can’t station guards on her, so… why not the water?”
“A boat?” Ballistic asked.
“I could tell you a story,” Cherish said, “Little girl grows up with money. Daddy pulls in six figures, maybe seven. Massive house, I expect. Maybe horses, a mercedes, indoor and outdoor pools…”
“I was thinking about a buoy,” I replied, speaking over her. “Could even rig things so she’s out of sight. Cuff her to it, we can be pretty damn sure she won’t be getting free.”
“But what about boats coming by?” Sundancer asked.
“Almost no boats on the water,” I replied. “Coastline is a mess, thanks to Leviathan. Ships can’t dock here.”
“Good,” Coil said. “Then as soon as she is given some basic medical care, I’ll have my men take her out there. I’ll need to work out measures to ensure she doesn’t escape.”
“So the little girl who wanted for nothing still found a reason to run away from home. Spent life homeless on the streets. Stealing and dealing for petty cash so she could eat. What would make someone leave home like that, Tattletale?”
Coil turned to the soldier next to him, “Can you go find Pitter and bring him here? I want her sedated sooner than later.”
The soldier nodded and headed off to find the medic. He winked at Tattletale as he jogged by. I’d met him. Not one of Tattletale’s soldiers, but I’d crossed paths with him. Fish? Seemed like he and Tattletale were getting along.
“That’s a mistake,” Cherish smiled. “Without my cooperation, you won’t find them. You won’t be able to contact Imp or know where to look for her brother.”
“Tattletale?” Coil spoke.
“You already informed us on most of that,” Tattletale told Cherish. She leaned against the wall. “Your method of communication with Imp. You’re planning on meeting her. Afternoon? Evening?”
“As if I’m-”
“Late afternoon. Thanks.”
“What?” Cherish frowned.
“What time in the afternoon? Four… five… six. Six o’clock. There we go. Where? Upper end of town or downtown?”
“I’m not saying anything!”
“You’re telling me everything.” Tattletale must be reading Cherish’s tells. Her body language, eye movements, her tone and word choice. “Let’s see, you’re meeting Imp downtown around six. You would have made it a place where you could talk with her for a minute while you were out of sight of the others. Bathroom?”
Cherish didn’t move a muscle. Maybe she realized what Tattletale was doing.
“Bathroom, then. Same building as the rest of the Nine? Now we just need to dig up where they are, and you’ve got no cards left. Unless you want to share that information in good faith.”
There was no response from our prisoner.
“Hmmm,” Tattletale said. “She’s cornered, and she’s probably contemplating something like suicide by cop. Or whatever the term is when the other group aren’t cops. She’d rather die than have us turn her over to her teammates, so she’ll try a gambit like using her powers, knowing we’ll probably gun her down.”
“Got any ideas?” Trickster asked her.
“She liked the dead man’s switch for her suicide collar. Why don’t we set up something similar? Put a soldier on guard somewhere nearby. We schedule it so he receives a note from us every fifteen minutes. If he doesn’t get it, he passes a message to the Nine telling them exactly where to find Cherish?”
I could see Cherish tense.
“How do we get a message to them without them killing the messenger?”
“We can work it out.” Tattletale shrugged. She looked at Trickster, “You think Oliver could handle it?”
Trickster nodded. “I’ll get him on thinking up some way to arrange this.”
“Tattletale.” Coil spoke, “Can you gather the rest of the details from her before we secure her offshore?”
“So long as she doesn’t get stupid and try to do something more than talk.”
Cherish decided to speak up. “Who’s next? Who should I dish the dirt on? Feeling homesick, Trickster? Scared little boy pretending to be a leader. It’s your fault, you know. She blames you. Everyone does. They’re even starting to hate you.”
“Can we talk without her in earshot?” I asked.
Coil nodded and gestured for us to leave. His soldiers moved to Cherish’s side and gripped her arms.
“No point!” Cherish grinned, “I’ll know what you’re talking about. Can’t keep secrets from me!”
“But you won’t be sidetracking us,” I replied.
“You failed, you know,” Cherish said, changing tacks. “When someone has an obsession like you do, it’s like a giant neon sign to an empath like me. All it takes is for me to peek into Coil’s head, peek into the hearts of everyone else in this base, and I know you’ll never get what you want. You won’t save her. You can’t. Window of opportunity is long gone.”
I jabbed her where the bullet hole was. The strength went out of her legs and she fell to her hands and knees. I stepped back, drew in a slow breath and then kicked her in the face. She fell to the ground.
“Skitter.” Coil’s word was without inflection. There was no admonishment or warning to it. I took it as a reminder of where I was, which might have been his intent.
“We can talk about that later,” I told him, “My priority right now is Grue.”
Coil nodded.
I glanced down at Cherish. “Hope Bonesaw reinforced your teeth while she was fixing you up.”
“She did,” Cherish muttered, one hand to her mouth.
I kicked her in the head once more for good measure, and then turned away, my hands raised to assure the others I was done.
“That’s enough,” Coil said. He signaled his men. “Take the prisoner to the coastline and find a spot to depart.”
Cherish was dragged off to a point further down the catwalk. Her shouts reached us well after she was out of sight, “Your boss is screwing you! All of you! You have no idea how badly! You’re cogs in his machine, and he’s only steps away from pulling it all together. Get rid of the Nine, stage the final play with everyone in their proper spots, but then he doesn’t need you anymore!”
“Sowing dissension in the ranks,” Coil said. He sounded remarkably calm given what Cherish had been saying. “Nothing more.”
“Right. She could be lying,” Trickster ventured.
“She is. Mostly,” Tattletale said.
I doubted anyone believed what the three were saying. At the same time, nobody here was in a position to walk away in response to this unconfirmed information.
“Tattletale, see to the interrogation,” Coil ordered.
“That leaves the remainder of us to decide on a way of rescuing the others.”
I fidgeted. The idea of Brian in the hands of the Nine was… daunting. Was Siberian eating him alive, literally? Was he at the mercies of Mannequin? Jack could be torturing him for details on us. Or he could be in Bonesaw’s clutches.
Chances were good that they were pissed. Jack excepted, maybe. He’d seemed to like our ambush. In any event, any anger or sadistic tendencies were likely to be taken out on Brian.
Fuck. I kept imagining uglier and uglier possibilities.
“They’re going to be waiting and ready. We’ll need help, I think,” I said.
“Help?” Trickster turned my way. “You’re forgetting that the rest of the factions in the city have made a pact against us.”
“Not everybody there agreed,” I said. “There was one group at the meeting that didn’t agree to the pact.”
“Am I remembering wrong?” Trickster asked. “Coil, Merchants, Chosen, Faultline’s group…”
“That’s right,” I said.
“What are you thinking, then?” Sundancer asked.
“Coil,” I said, “You got some surveillance gear for Tattletale, right? Can I see it?”
Trickster accompanied me. We didn’t get the benefit of Bitch’s dogs. She’d wanted to check on her territory and take care of her dogs. I’d grudgingly agreed that she should take care of that, and Trickster and I had set off alone.
I gave him a sidelong glance as we ascended the stairs of the empty apartment building. What had Cherish said? Scared little boy? She blames you. They all do. I could remember Sundancer’s remarks on the drama in the group and how lonely it was to be around them. I recalled Genesis seeming less than thrilled when her team arrived last night. Was Trickster at the center of it? He was more ruthless than his comrades, which was interesting because his power was the least lethal. It might have been a point of contention. But what would he have done that the others would blame him for?
Could I comment on that? Should I?
I remained silent. We exited the stairwell at the fifth floor and entered a dark hallway. I clicked on a flashlight, and we made our way down the hall. Trash was piled everywhere, and I was all too aware of the maggots that were crawling on the floor, barely visible in the dim light.
“Which way?” he asked.
I pointed. A side benefit of my power was that it made it pretty damn easy to maintain my sense of direction.
We tried the doors for the two apartments that led in the right direction. Both were locked.
Trickster touched the doorknob, then looked across the floor at the trash in the hallway. The doorknob disappeared, and a chunk of wood fell to the ground. He repeated the process with the internal mechanisms, and the lock was effectively transported away. He opened the door and walked inside, going straight for the windows.
“Done this before?” he asked.
I shook my head. I was gathering my bugs, the stronger fliers, and drawing out lines of silk. Trickster handed me the individual components. A small spy camera, no larger than a tube of lipstick, and a similar microphone. My bugs bound them together with silk and then stretched out more to distribute the lifting among the dragonflies, bumblebees and wasps.
“Okay, let’s see,” I muttered.
“Testing, testing, one, two, three…“ My swarm managed some semblance of the words I wanted, a mix of buzzing, chirps and clicks to form the right pitch. Some sounds were hard or impossible to make. The ‘puh’, ‘buh’ and ‘muh’ sounds didn’t form, and I struggled to form something that sounded like a ‘t’ in the middle of a word. It was intelligible, but only barely.
I ensured the rigging around the camera was more or less steady and then sent the swarm out the window. I relied on my power to keep track of it while I opened the laptop Coil had provided and turned on the video feed. When it had arrived outside the PHQ headquarters, I drew it together into a densely packed human form.
It took six and a half minutes for the Protectorate to react to the figure. That bothered me, on a level. Were they disorganized? Or was it difficulty in communicating and marshaling their forces when they didn’t have phones or other means of passing on alerts? They gathered in the lobby. I adjusted the camera the insects were carrying and made out Weld, Kid Win, Clockblocker, Miss Militia, Battery and Legend. There were three more capes I didn’t recognize. Members of Legend’s team?
Seeing them gave me pause.
As Miss Militia stepped outside, I pulled on the headphones, and Trickster did the same.
“Skitter?” Miss Militia asked.
“Something like that,” I replied using my swarm. “I wanted to talk.“
“Given what happened the last time you were here, I’m not sure we’re on speaking terms.”
“We have two of the Slaughterhouse Nine in custody. We are prepared to turn one over into your custody.”
“What? I didn’t hear that.”
Damn. It sounded natural in my head, as I got them to make the noise, but I wasn’t quite there yet. Maybe it would have been better to just pass a phone to her. I’d gone this route for the dramatic touch, and because I hadn’t wanted them to trace us.
I rephrased, “Shatterbird and Cherish have been captured. We will deliver Cherish to you if you wish. We are done interrogating her.”
“Interrogation. You mean torture, don’t you?” Legend asked from where he stood in the doorway.
“Why?” Miss Militia asked. “Why the offer?”
“You can put her in secure custody, and we need your help.“
“For?”
“The Nine have captured Grue. We mounted one successful attack this morning, we got two of theirs for one of ours. They will be ready for a rescue attempt. They know our powers. Help us attack. Help us catch them off guard a second time and stop them for good.“
“You’re not only asking us to fight the Nine, but you want us to fight alongside notorious villains.”
So I was notorious now? Huh. Couldn’t let that distract me. “I’m offering you Cherish.“
I could make out Miss Militia shaking her head. “I’ll be blunt, Skitter. I’m not Armsmaster. I don’t have a stake in personal glory or renown. I’m not going to pussyfoot around, either. Put a bullet in her skull and be done with it. There’s a kill order on them, nobody’s going to charge you for murder.”
“Then work with us because it’s the best way to stop the Nine.”
“I refused Hookwolf when he made the same offer, and I’m going to refuse you. The capes on my teams are good people. I won’t throw away their lives with a reckless attack. We’re going to develop our own strategies, plan, and find a safe way to target them.”
“And civilians die in the meantime.” I retorted. Grue dies in the meantime, if he wasn’t dead already.
“We’ve tried the same strategies we use against Endbringers. Multiple teams, allying with locals. Sometimes we get one of them. Sometimes we get three or four. But we lose people, lots of people, in the process. The remaining members of their group always find some way of escaping. The fact that we tried and failed in going all-out gives them notoriety. They bounce back after an attack like that, and they bounce back hard, with creeps, lunatics and killers flocking to them for the chance at that same sort of glory.”
“The difference between us and Hookwolf is that we’ve succeeded. We have two of them in our custody. You can’t bide your time, organize, and wait for an opportune moment. They have years of experience fighting people who do that. Anything you try, they’ve probably dealt with. We win by catching them off guard with powers they don’t know about, powers they can’t expect and interactions between powers. Calculated recklessness.“
“We can handle that on our own, with more calculation and less recklessness.”
“He’s studied you. For any member of your team with more than three months of experience, he already knows everything they can do, their tricks and individual talents. You have powers we need. We have knowledge on their location, firepower of our own and two captives. We’ll only pull this off if we work together.”
“Putting our lives in your hands,” Miss Militia replied.
“Only as far as we’d be relying on you,” I answered her.
“Who are you, Skitter?” Legend asked. He floated closer to my swarm-decoy. “I can’t get a read on your personality or motivations, and that’s without touching on what came up at the close of the Endbringer event.”
“My teammate is in the hands of the Nine, they could be murdering more people right this second, and you’re talking about me, of all people?”
“If we’re going to offer you help, we should know who we’re interacting with,” he said.
I glanced at Trickster, then back at the image on the screen. “What do you want to know?“
“We’ve talked with the people in your territory. Between what they say and what came out at the hospital, I can’t help but wonder at your motives.”
“There’s someone specific I want to help. If I can improve the lives of others at the same time, then all the better.“
“So where do you stand, then? Where do you see yourself in terms of the sliding scale of good and evil, heroes and villains?”
I almost laughed, and some of my humor must have translated in a mental direction to my bugs, because they started making a noise that wasn’t speech. I stopped them. It wouldn’t have sounded much like laughter anyways. “All of the above? None of the above? Does it matter? Some of us wear the villain label with pride, because they want to rebel against the norms, because it’s a harder, more rewarding road to travel, or because being a ‘hero’ often means so very little. But few people really want to see themselves as being bad or evil, whatever label they wear. I’ve done things I regret, I’ve done things I’m proud of, and I’ve walked the roads in between. The sliding scale is a fantasy. There’s no simple answers.“
“There can be. You could do what’s right.”
I was getting an inkling of what Bitch referred to as ‘words’. Prattle that meant so very little in the face of what was happening in the present. Was this the kind of irritation, impatience and anger she felt with so many social interactions? I clenched my fist. “Speak for yourself. You want to hide here while my group and Hookwolf deal with the brunt of the Nine’s attention. Just like you did with the ABB.“
“That happened under Armsmaster’s leadership. You can’t blame us for being intelligent about how we go about this.”
I was disappointed my swarm couldn’t convey my anger. “I can blame you for being cowards. I’m going. If you want to talk about morality, start by talking to Armsmaster.”
“Can’t. He’s gone.”
I paused. Did the Nine get him? “Dead?“
“Escaped from his hospital room. With our attention on the Nine, we don’t have the resources to track him down.”
“Does he know about the Nine’s threat to hit the city with a plague if he leaves?“
Fuck. Not only was that one more uncertainty stacked onto everything, but Armsmaster was the closest thing I had to a nemesis. Having him running around the city was not a good thing.
For a brief moment, I contemplated having Trickster teleport me to ground level, so it was me talking to the local heroes, and not just my swarm. I could tell them that I was putting my well-being in their hands, risking them arresting me, as a gesture of good faith.
Except I couldn’t help but see myself from their perspective. Warlord of the Boardwalk. I’d rotted off Lung’s manhood and carved out his eyes. I’d played an undefined role in Armsmaster’s downward slide. I’d robbed a bank, terrorized hostages with poisonous spiders, attacked their headquarters and used insects dipped in capsaicin to cripple their junior heroes with incapacitating pain. All the while, I’d acted with a seemingly ambiguous morality. Was I a good guy doing all the wrong things? Or did they see me as dangerous and unhinged?
There was no way I could put myself in their hands without knowing what they thought about me, and frankly, I wasn’t sure how to think about myself. How the hell were they supposed to make a call?
“So. You in?” I tried, instead.
I could see him look back at Miss Militia, who shook her head. “Miss Militia runs the local team, so it’s ultimately her call, but… we’ve talked about it, and I agree with her. No. The risks outweigh the potential benefits.”
My heart sank. “Then one final tip. You should know that Bonesaw’s done some surgery on all of her people. Implanted protection for the more vulnerable parts of their bodies. They’re tougher than they look.“
“Thank you,” Legend said. “You might not believe me, but I wish you the best of luck.”
I snarled as I shut the laptop and turned away from the scene, calling my swarm back to me.
“That didn’t work,” Trickster said.
“No. And we just wasted a lot of time.”
“We’ll have Shatterbird working with us, thanks to Regent, and we’ve got Imp as our man on the inside, maybe. We’re going to outnumber the remaining five or six of them, right? It’s not hopeless.”
“They’ll be ready for us. They’re entrenched, they have a hostage, and we’re totally unable to fight two of them. How long is it going to take to extricate Grue from whatever cage they have him in?”
“It’s not hopeless,” he repeated. “Whatever they’re doing to keep Grue prisoner, if I can see him, I can free him.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“Would it reassure you to know that your conversation with the local heroes gave me an idea of my own?”
My head snapped in Trickster’s direction.
“Come on. We should hurry,” he said.
This entry was posted in 13.07 and tagged Battery, Bitch, Cherish, Clockblocker, Coil, Fish, Kid Win, Legend, Miss Militia, Regent, Tattletale, Taylor, Weld by wildbow. Bookmark the permalink.
74 thoughts on “Snare 13.7”
Mr Walaa on August 18, 2012 at 00:20 said:
Wow I wonder what there doing to Grue?
eduardo on August 18, 2012 at 01:32 said:
Nobody thought about a bomb inside Grue? Mind control in Bonesaw`s stile or something similar?
The talk with the heroes was very interesting.
Once he is entrenched Coil will need the two groups to help keep the territory, this talk about not needing them anymore does not make sense in this context.
Nice work windblow.
Wildbow, not windblow. 😉
Pinkhair on August 18, 2012 at 01:53 said:
Pretty sure Taylor thought of if, given her comment to Trickster.
Terry on December 27, 2013 at 12:14 said:
I was personally thinking that perhaps one of the 9 just acquired a “brand new Edgar suit”, as a worst case scenario…
It’s funny because onfvpnyyl gur bccbfvgr vf gehr.
I’ve been wondering when Taylor would get around to doing this! Maybe next time she could use a cheap speaker to augment the bugs.
““Skitter,” Coil’s” Maybe a period instead of a comma?
So guys, said I’d get around to it (Explanation here):
Here’s the deal. The donation benchmark is moving up to $200. Roughly 2 months to hit the mark (at the close of the current ‘book’, if you will). If you do, I’ll release a weeklong arc with daily updates.
If you don’t hit the mark, it’ll probably be a two parter, released over the normal schedule, with things trimmed down fairly considerably. Leftover amounts would go towards the old $75 benchmark for Thursday updates.
Is there any donation counter or the like?
Loki-L on August 18, 2012 at 04:31 said:
I like how Skitter’s powers are shown to be improving, not through becoming ‘more powerful”, but through increased skill and clever application of what she has. Her “worm that walks” routine is getting better and better. The next step will probably be somehow using her bugs senses so she will no longer rely on the eavesdropping equipment for two-way communication.
Another improvement is that she has given some thought on the whole good/bad thing her motivation and the way she is perceived by others. I like the title of “Warlord of Broadwalk” or should that be ‘Warlady’?
My bet on the thing that she said that gave Trickster an idea is the “interaction between powers” bit. It sounds promising.
It seems that even when our heroes win the fight against the nine the stage has already been set for the next set of problems involving Coil’s ultimate agenda and further confrontations with the heroes. Things will only get worse from now on it seems. I can’t wait.
Psycho Gecko on August 18, 2012 at 06:51 said:
A sockpuppet elephant and fox run across a stage to stand in front of you, their audience. The elephant uses its trunk as a horn as the fox holds up a lighter. The light rises up from the lighter, floating into the air, illuminating just enough of the stage to see something large, and dark, and fangy in the back shadows…for a brief second as the light goes out. Then lines of sparks trail of from where it disappeared, simultaneously causing blue, green, and red neon screens to light up. Whatever monstrosity lurked in the dark is gone as smaller dark, hair creatures with white-out eyes and mouths full of sharp fangs stalk out wearing leisure suits and gold necklaces, each posing with one hand on the hip and the other hand pointing into the sky. These Boogiemen then form up to present…a T-rex bursting in through the back of the stage. Said T-Rex blinks through its monocle, checks the book of synonyms in its little arms, then bays, bellows, blusters, booms, brays, clamors, hollers, reechos, sepercusses, resounds, reverberates, routs, rumbles, shouts, sounds, thunders, trumpets, vociferates, yells, and otherwise Roars for the crowd. At this point, Psycho Gecko appears on its head and leaps to the stage below. Standing with a cough, he opens his arms wide. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to start off thanking my friend, The Saurus, as well as the Boogiemen. And so, after a brief but annoying illness that isn’t actually over yet, I’m back!”
Only the sounds of crickets applaud.
“Well, after Wildbow violently shooting down my thoughts on Siberian last update, screw you crickets too.”
Now, on to what passes as substance for me. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
“Or are you going to tell me that’s tomo much?” No, but I’d tell you it’s too much.
Also, you’ll notice how Legend’s talk of it being simple and just doing what’s right is completely negated by the situation he’s in. After all, he’s having to say that a bunch of superheroes should just let this group of murderous supervillains rampage all they like because it has failed in the past. They’re superheroes! What’s right is to go after the rampaging lunatics! Hell, even if you want divide up and have people argue in support of the Protectorate’s course of inaction or against it, the fact that there’s an argument at all shows at least two different courses of action deemed to be “right” by someone. Right is in the eyes of the beholder. Unless you mean the opposite of left. In which case, Skitter’s still correct. They left Grue behind. The opposite of this is not leaving Grue behind. Therefore, they must do what is right, which is not left! Ta da, simple.
I’d prefer for Grue to live, but at the same time I don’t think I’ve seen a guy get stuffed into a fridge in quite this manner. They’ll probably have to toss that frozen chicken out to fit him in. And the salad, they’ll have to toss the salad. Ew, egg salad. I’ve never tossed anyone’s egg salad, but I hope to find out what that means before I get roped into it. I’ve got a theory about tuna salad though.
I’ll tell you some interaction of powers to try. Land a bug on Jack’s face, then have Trickster look him right in the eye. Then, after Jack’s eye is nothing more than brown recluse (NOT a spider you want biting you…their venom takes out chunks of human) you can deliver the hurt. Might pay to keep some big worms around so Jack can’t wrap his fingers around a knife.
Speaking of which, I know where to get some big worms. Anyone else here ever been to Saturn?
Everybody runs from the man with a gun.
Except the police officer.
Nobody said it was easy.
But they forgot this.
Kim on August 20, 2012 at 09:59 said:
Police man hits the deck.
Hide first, then strike
You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tune a salad.
And I like Frozen Chicken’s comments too much to toss them!
*ties Frozen chicken to his own shoulder, then puts an eyepatch on and a costume pirate hat* Yar! We be joinin’ the crew of the Quantum Anne’s Revenge! Watch yer tongue, matey, or they’ll make you walk the Planck.
frozen chicken on August 19, 2012 at 08:44 said:
‘Quantum Anne’? Was she exceedingly short, highly unpredictable and infuriatingly indecipherable?
…Hmmm. That does sound pretty fearsome. Alright, I’m in!
*Pulls out a scale and begins weighing the anchor.*
“10 kilos! Is that a good weight for an anchor?”
So, if you know where the Ane is you do not know where it is going?
chrisleech on February 15, 2015 at 09:21 said:
Actually, that’s not quite how it works. If you know where the Quantum Anne is then you don’t know how fast it’s going. If you know how fast it’s going then you don’t know exactly where it is.
Indigo on August 18, 2012 at 08:34 said:
Cherish had some pretty interesting things to say, wonder how they’ll pan out. And Trickster’s plan might just back up his name.
anonymus on August 18, 2012 at 09:47 said:
hi thanks for the chapter
typo (2*can)
Coil spoke, “Can you can gather the rest of the details from her before we secure her offshore?”
Thank you, Anonymus. Those words, they breed like rabbits, and when they’re all disorganized-like, the twins are hard to spot.
Maybe Coil’s secretly a lolcat under the mask.
Kailen on October 20, 2015 at 12:23 said:
What is teh probability, to two dessimul placez, taht I can haz cheeseburger?
1114 on August 18, 2012 at 12:51 said:
Good chapter! I liked Skitter’s idea and how it worked. The interaction between everybody was very good! I liked Cherish, and how they just talked over her. And the part talking to the Heroes was well done. I like how the Heroes just don’t know who Skitter is or what she’s about. I liked the self analysis, Warlord of the Boardwalk etc.
Also, I’m a little surprised at how Skitter just went off on Cherish! Like it was nothing! She’s getting more casual about violence for sure. It’s kind of like when she hit Bitch way early on, except here it was just a few sentences cause it was like nothing to her. Jabbed her finger in the bullet hole without a second thought.
Anzer'ke on August 18, 2012 at 17:34 said:
To be fair to Taylor, Cherish was poking at her amidst making fun of her inability to save the man she loves, telling her she also cannot save an innocent girl. And Cherish is a complete asshole.
Seems a reasonable cause for some violence to me.
Eh, so Cherish fell off the back of a truck a little bit, so what? And maybe she tripped in the shower, or punched herself shaving, something like that? Rolled over and fell out of bed in the middle of the night, you know what I’m saying? Sleepwalked into a room full of boxing kangaroos. Tripped going down the stairs. Then she tried the elevator and tripped on that too. Tried to eat a giant bowl of jello and nearly drowned.
These are all perfectly reasonable ways she might have gotten hurt that are in no way suspicious or show malicious forethought in them.
Skitter needs some lessons from Lord Ilpalazzo on justifying crime.
I think the biggest effect of Skitter’s little show will be to make her a target for Battery.
Tieshaunn on August 20, 2012 at 19:05 said:
First comment on this site.
Love this work, though I only found it about two months ago, it has become one of my two favourite webfictions.
But I have to say, you are going almost a bit overboard with making the ‘heroes’ unsympathetic – at least the older ones. We should have SOME reason to root for the good guys, but especially after this chapter, I just want to kick Legend’s hypocritical ass right into Behemoth’s jaws (if he/she/it has any).
I mean, there he stands saying Skitter should do the right thing, while also refusing to take a risk to stop several mass murderers, one of whom is supposed to set the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT in motion! Wow. I like him even less than Purity right now. And I hate her more than any member of the S9.
I’m anxious to see what Trickster’s idea will be.
Finally, I wanted to ask if there is a way to get this story in .pdf-form, or as an ebook (even if that would cost money). I’d love to be able to read it anytime without having to download and archive every single page.
Tieshaunn
I’d hope that if the story were told from Legend’s perspective, his unwillingness to take the risk would be sympathetic enough.
I do have plans to release Worm as an ebook after the story draws to a close. That’s a little ways off, admittedly. But the convenience aspect, the fact that it’d get a pretty comprehensive edit (possibly paid for in part with the donations you guy have made/will make before then) and possible bonus content, is hopefully going to be a selling point for the book for any previous fans.
hi also waiting for on pdf-form/ebook
what is the other favourite webfictions?
Whateley Academy
starts weak to good and gets excellent (especially the stories written by Diane Castle)
I think that from Legend’s point of view, his options are to either not fight as the Nine kill a bunch of people or to fight and have the Nine kill a bunch of people plus lose all of his group. Of course, that doesn’t make him good per se- He’s on the same path as Saruman.
Are you serious? They KNOW they should be looking out for emotional manipulation, the moment Ballistic started backing out they should have realised Cherish noticed but hadn’t warned the others. I don’t know what their move would have been from there but it was stupid of them not to realise.
I’ve forgotten, did Cherish give Refent any clues that she might want to retire from the Nine? If not, her response to the ambush would be pretty unpredictable and subtle.
Am I being stupid, or is the only possible departure spot the spot where their boat is? So “Take the prisoner to the boat” or “take e prisoner to the coastline and find a boat to steal.”
Presumably they’re taking a boat with them, and need to find a good launch point. Any boats actually on the shore are likely to be locked up (not much a problem for Coil’s men’s talents) and totally destroyed by Leviathan’s tidal waves (bigger problem).
Did you intend to leave the Pure out of the list of groups who agreed to the pact?
swiftmockingjay451 on January 20, 2014 at 13:29 said:
Edit: I may be wrong, but I believe the phrase is “Tom, Dick, or Harry”, not “John, Dick, or Harry”.
Also btw I am in love with this webfic. Keep writing. Forever. And ever. and ever andeverandever…
wow… so much for the heroes 😦
And that’s why Taylor is a supervillain ¬_¬ Scumbag heroes!
LeonTrollski on February 13, 2014 at 01:02 said:
“because his power was the least lethal.”
AHAHAHAHAHA
I can see him jumping into a volcano or something, and switching right before he hits.
Schrodinger's Hat on June 15, 2014 at 13:53 said:
Hey guys, I’m pretty sure I missed something crucial, but could someone explain to me why Cherish wasnt using her powers to manipulate her captors. I mean, I wouldve just left it if her powers were entirely non-operational, but she still seems to be able to read/hear the emotions of the people around, just not play them the way she did when she made her entrance.
Because due to regent this would mean instant death.
Also time delay and sheer number of people. Even ignoring Regent, the odds that someone would act to kill her in spite of (or because of) their new flood of emotions are pretty bad for Cherish.
rolvenezuela on July 13, 2014 at 11:05 said:
I´m reading this webserial for the first time cause a lot of friends says it´s i awesome… and wooow man, this is fucking addictive, i love the story and the characters. Great job Wildbow ! you´re my personal hero.
On a side note… is Taylor keep doing that´s amazing thing the nine should select HER as a candidate and rule the world 😀
quintopia1 on July 20, 2014 at 14:17 said:
Knowing Miss Militia’s ulterior motives, this was quite painful to watch. Sometimes dramatic irony hurts.
oh wait a minute, i’ve confused her with Battery. I guess I’m not sure what either of their motives are.
I really dont like any of these so called heroes. Especially the ones who see things to much in terms of black and white. that sort of thinking gravely narrows perspective. Skitter is much more realistic in her vision. Seeing the world in the shades of gray it is.
GenEngineer on January 30, 2018 at 16:23 said:
To be fair, Skitter also just described how very similar the Undersiders were to the S9 not too long ago.
Shades of grey, yes, but heroes might be a bit justified in being cautious about just what shade Skitter falls under
Get Lisa out of this room. NOW. If she gets compromised there’s literally no telling what she’s capable of.
Hint: they have to respond to calls for help. 😛
Oh my god. The best heroes available, offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to catch or contain the worst villains anyone can find… and they sound just like Taylor’s principal and teachers. “Why should we believe anything you say?”
It’s true that the enemy of my enemy isn’t always my friend- but that doesn’t mean xe isn’t a very useful resource. Skitter recognized that. Why couldn’t Legend or Miss Militia?
Pachilles on January 26, 2015 at 16:30 said:
These so-called ‘heroes’ piss me off. I keep imagining what I’d have said to them, if I were her.
“You bunch need to find a dictionary and look up the word ‘hero’ and judge yourselves how you rate. I’m proud to be labeled ‘villain’, just to distance myself from your version of what a ‘hero’ is.
Socordya on February 20, 2015 at 21:41 said:
I am not even sure that the author realized that Miss Militia and Legend are reprehensible jackass. Have been since the hospital scene.
Moridain on February 1, 2015 at 21:10 said:
I would have shamed them. Post the video on the internet, having two members of the team openly state they will not move in a decisive strike against the protectorate.
I bet they would move fast then. 😛
Steve on March 6, 2015 at 21:31 said:
Oooo, I just realized a level of depth to the character creation of the team. Each one is a stereotypically marginalized minority of a sort, well, save for Regent, who is not a leader type nor getting absurd spotlight time. You have white brunette female for protagonist main character, male leader of color, butch nonsocial white brunette female foster child, smart white blonde female, and now the newest member, female of color from a broken home. The most priviledged positions on the team are that the main character os white and that the leader is still male.
I’m surpised that a powerful mtf nonwhite transgendered character and another intersex character haven’t appeared somewhere yet. Also, no spoilers, but after all that’s happened, I’ll be disappointed to find that Skitter isn’t official leader over Grue by the end of the next arch
Vivian on April 13, 2015 at 21:18 said:
Hmm. PHQ Headquarters. Do they have ATM machines there?
Axle on April 26, 2015 at 00:05 said:
Miss Militia’s levelheadedness is actually quite refreshing. Cops certainly would never work with local cartel members. She’s just trying her best to keep her team safe and efficient, and can’t trust a villain to do the same for them. Which unfortunately is bad for skitter.
she’s probably contemplating something like suicide by cop. Or whatever the term is when the other group aren’t cops.
Suicide by cape, obviously
Trickster stepping up to the plate! Not that he hasn’t done it before, but if the bit about how powers interact with each other is what clued him into his plan, then I’m at a loss for figuring it out. I’m sure I’ll have a “duh” moment after I keep reading, but it still makes me a bit jealous to see these brilliant schemes by the characters and realize that I wouldn’t be able to think of them on the spot in the same situations.
As a side note, I was thinking about Regent’s power, and the process to gain control. Seems to me like it’s pretty painful, but more in the sense that his victim is actively fighting against the control. I wonder if the process would be easier if he performed it on someone who was asleep, or otherwise unconscious/incapacitated.
Jacobo Delgado on July 12, 2016 at 13:40 said:
” I won’t throw away their lives with a reckless attack.”
Should be lifes instead of lives 🙂
David DeLaney on January 4, 2017 at 08:48 said:
… no, in English that f->v when pluralized is common. ‘lives’ is correct.
–Dave, typo lives matter!
chrismcdanielwriter on July 18, 2016 at 13:31 said:
Time and Time again, the “heroes” stand by and do nothing of any real import. I know we have a skewed perspective, but I can’t see how they are going to keep the trust of the people at this rate.
Armmaster officially took out Lung, but it was reported that it was after a gang clash and Lung might have cleared at least a little of that up when he started gunning for Skitter.
Villains crippled the ABB and Bakuda, which is the only reason the “heroes” were able to capture them and start sending them to prison.
Villains crippled Empire Eighty-Eight, tearing it down right before the Endbringer attack.
Many heroes fought Leviathan, but the two who were stopping him when he was closest to civilians attacking the shelter, Skitter and Bitch. And frankly, the only reason they were able to keep track of Leviathan and keep the pressure on him was because of Skitter.
Skitter took control of a territory, only to start improving it much better and faster than the heroes were doing with the city.
And now the Slaughterhouse Nine are again being thrashed by Villains, while the heroes sit in their ivory tower waiting for an “opportune time” which will translate into, after the villains have done enough of the groundwork that we can clean shop.
The only thing I think that is preventing the heroes from dealing with a very unhappy populace is that they are controlling the flow of information very well, and they are spinning things to keep themselves looking better than they actually are, otherwise? Otherwise the people would see that the Villains are doing more good for their well being than the heroes, and that would be bad.
Can’t last forever though, the facade is going to start cracking.
Stormrage on August 13, 2016 at 00:02 said:
Why does it feel like Trickster is gonna troll the Nine by swapping Grue with Legend or something?
Harshal on January 5, 2017 at 01:10 said:
“All of the above? None of the above? Does it matter? Some of us wear the villain label with pride, because they want to rebel against the norms, because it’s a harder, more rewarding road to travel, or because being a ‘hero’ often means so very little. But few people really want to see themselves as being bad or evil, whatever label they wear. I’ve done things I regret, I’ve done things I’m proud of, and I’ve walked the roads in between. The sliding scale is a fantasy. There’s no simple answers.“
That was amazing. I am loving how Skitter is developing into a great personality and not just a character.
S. Zimmerle on July 5, 2017 at 21:49 said:
Man. These “heroes” are consistently worthless.
ArkhCthuul on August 15, 2017 at 04:04 said:
And the heroes.continue.to idiot ball whenever possible. Sigh….
God the “Heroes” in this universe are fucking useless. Oh, Civilians getting killed? Nah, not gonna do shit. “Oh powerful villain? Guess what, we are way to weak mimimimi”, meanwhile Skitter and freinds with her powers that are, for the most part, WAY worse than the Heroes manage to do something. And for fucks sake, the fact that they don’t get how easily they could completely annihilate the Nine if they let Trickster switch Clockblocker in and out of the vicinity of the “killable” ones (Burnscar, Bonesaw, Mannequin, Jack), freezing them and sticking a grenade on them and they go “BOOM” and done. Then “only” Siberian and Crawler are left, and they could find ways around those 2 aswell, and be it chaining Crawler up with the strongest and bigges amount of spider silk Taylor can manage and then throw him into the Mariana Trench. I doubt he can reassemble from the type of pressure down there. Or hell, have a flier throw him into a fucking active Volcano.
heroes are useless here. :<
Ooh, Cherish managed to tick Tattletale off with the “only I’m better at it than you are”. You can just see Tattletale going “Oh, it’s on.”
Cherish, Cherish, Cherish. Your power might let you see deeper cracks sooner than Tattletale, but that doesn’t matter if you can’t deliver them effectively. You just threaten to ruin everything and blurt out the secrets when it looks like that’ll fail. And don’t get me started on your composure. It doesn’t matter how destructive your cannon is if it’s made of glass.
I love seeing arrogance skewered like that, especially when skewering it ruins the prick so thoroughly.
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Posted on March 5, 2013 by wildbow
The Grue Echidna had created turned his attention to the rest of us. His power massed around him and then flowed forth like a tidal wave of crude oil. I was already atop Atlas, rising into the air. I couldn’t avoid the fact that Scapegoat was in the truck, and if we were separated-
I flew after the wave of darkness, tracing its path as it met Scapegoat’s van and making my best guess at where it would wind up.
The darkness hit a wall, and the van materialized, solid once more. More heroes were deposited two or three city blocks away from where they’d been standing.
My heart was pounding in my chest as I blinked a few times and double checked that I hadn’t gone blind. If the Grue had cut off Scapegoat’s power, or if he’d delivered enough of an impact to disrupt it, it could have left me in worse shape than before.
I could see, and I could breathe. Scapegoat was safe inside the containment van.
He’d scattered us. Our tight battle lines were now spread out over city blocks, and people were having a surprising amount of trouble getting their bearings. One of the team leaders managed to get his squad organized, pointing them in the right direction, before Echnidna’s Grue hit them again.
There was a limit to what I could do.
I gathered my bugs and started working out how to stop the Grue.
I had cords pre-prepared. I spliced a number together into a hundred-foot long line, then had my bugs fly the cord out.
A minute later, my fastest flying bugs were winding the cord around the Grue’s neck, while others were biting and stinging. He barely even noticed, beyond swatting at the insects wherever they landed.
I needed something to tie him to. A telephone pole? It wouldn’t stop him or even hamper him in what he was doing to disrupt our fighting lines. If he could teleport himself, then it wouldn’t even hamper him at all in the long-term.
Legend, Eidolon and Alexandria moved into the fray, accompanied by a number of other flying heroes. They were coordinated enough that they had to have planned it out in advance. Alexandria went in first, circling around and then swooping down to strike Echidna across one back leg. She stuck on contact. Through a combination of her own strength and one of Legend’s lasers, she got free before Echidna could turn and envelop her.
Eidolon was making his move before Alexandria was even free. He cast out a bubble that swelled as it moved through the air. By the time it reached Echidna, it was twice as big around as she was, enough to reach from one sidewalk to the other. The colors around her became muted, and her movements slowed to a tenth of the speed.
It was a time-distortion effect. Legend took the opportunity to emit twenty individual laser beams. They each flowed out as a steady, unfaltering stream, and turned in mid-air to punch into Echidna. Each was meticulously placed to drive through the center of her body and avoid the places where her victims were being absorbed, or even cut her victims free.
One beam turned down and took a sharp right to strike the ground just to the teleporter-Grue’s right. It slashed towards him and he used his darkness to teleport himself to safety, cutting the cord I’d created in the process.
I commanded my bugs to collect the thread and cart it to the destination he’d teleported to. It was futile to try to tether a teleporter, I knew, but if I could find a way to trip up his abilities, tie his ankles together at a crucial moment… something, it might help. Beyond that, I’d have to hope the venom brought him down.
Echidna tried to move to one side, but Legend’s beams followed unerringly, swelling in size and number. Thirty, forty, fifty… each cutting their way through her flesh as though she were made of little more than snow. Smoke or steam billowed around her as her flesh charred and boiled. The lasers might have been affected by the time distortion, but that didn’t matter when the lasers were moving at the speed of light in the first place.
She feinted right, then lunged left, but Legend’s aim didn’t err in the slightest, and Eidolon’s slowing effect drifted after her. Still, Echidna moved faster than Eidolon’s slowing effect did. Slowly but surely, as pieces of her flesh were carved away and left to fall to the ground, she made progress toward the effect’s perimeter.
Alexandria flew low to the ground, striking and catching hold of a traffic light. In one second she was a blur, the next she appeared to be moving as fast as a person did when they ran. Charging into the effect’s area, Alexandria made a beeline for Echidna.
The swing was slow motion, but Echidna was too. Alexandria struck her with the metal pole, and Echidna moved like she’d been hit full strength. Her front claws were lifted off of the ground by the force of the blow, and she reared up, the canine faces contorting in pain and anger.
The lasers moved around Alexandria, passing within centimeters of her. She didn’t even flinch as she lowered herself to the ground behind Echidna, used her hands and one knee to correct a bend in the pole, and then stabbed it into one spot on the back of Echidna’s leg where a hero was trying to get free. Legend’s cutting lasers and the leverage of the pole pried him free. Alexandria caught him before he hit the ground and threw him.
Other heroes saw and positioned themselves before he reached the edge of the effect. He resumed normal speed and the heroes caught him.
Echidna’s Grue blanketed the area in darkness, and Legend opened fire on the area where the darkness had originated from; the ground floor of a nearby grocery store. My bugs identified the Grue on the far side, and with a moment to get arranged, they connected the ends of cords. A little shorter than a hundred feet, now. If I tied it to a section of a nearby window, and he tried to run, it could maybe yank him off his feet, but that didn’t amount to much.
The Grue teleported Echidna to him, freeing her from Legend’s attack and the slow effect. The darkness carpeted them and bought her a second to breathe and regenerate.
Had to remove the Grue from consideration. I tried to visualize what would happen next, anticipate their next move. Noelle would throw herself into the fray again. Either he’d use his teleportation to do it or…
I tied the other end of the cord to a piece of bone plate that stood out on Echidna’s side.
Eidolon was pointing to the building that Echidna had materialized behind, pointed two fingers at it with a thumb extended in a gesture much like a gun. Legend took the signal and opened fire, unleashing countless lasers into the ground floor of the building.
The Psycho-Grue took shelter, ducking to one side of a nearby dumpster. At the same time, Echidna did just what I’d hoped for: she bolted. The cord went taut, and the Grue was pulled off his feet by the suddenness and force of her movement.
I hadn’t tied it into a proper noose, but the cord was around his neck. I’d read somewhere that nooses tended to kill because they broke the neck rather than by suffocation, provided they were tied right and there was enough of a drop.
This wasn’t a drop, but it was a tough cord around his neck, and the creature on the other end weighed no less than fifteen tons, maybe twice that. She’d accelerated from zero to fifty in an instant, and he went limp almost immediately, dead or completely disabled in a heartbeat. My bugs cut the cord and held it ready.
Echidna hadn’t used her power yet. She’d absorbed enough capes, but something was holding her back. I wondered if her regeneration drew on the same pool of flesh-generation that made the clones and she couldn’t make clones while healing the kind of heavy damage the Triumvirate was dishing out. Maybe there was some other drawback.
The ‘shoulders’ of her lower body scraped and dragged against the sides of buildings as she stampeded through the back alleyways. She kicked a dumpster and sent it careening as she ran, brushed against a fire escape with enough speed and force that it was ripped from the brick wall.
She was very nearly out of my power’s reach when Myrddin cut her off. He waved his staff and a group of heroes materialized around him. Tecton and Chevalier were among them.
The heroes around me were trying to get sorted into squads again. I was aware of someone driving the van that held Scapegoat. Taking him in the wrong direction.
I drew arrows with my bugs on the dashboard and prayed that whoever the cape was behind the wheel, they were aiming in the right direction.
Seeing how the heroes were struggling to get organized, suffering for the lack of armbands to help them navigate and get essential information, I decided in an instant that I needed to guide more than just the van.
I began drawing out arrows and letters.
I drew out an ‘E’ with an arrow pointing in Echidna’s direction, a hundred times in a hundred places. Above Echidna, I set swarms of insects to flying in formation, tight circles and figure-eight loops, vertical or horizontal. Letters and words formed. Echidna, Myrddin, Chevalier. Did the ‘e’ go after the ‘i’? Couldn’t remember. Was supposed to be ‘i before e, except after c’, but there were more exceptions to the rule than there were correct uses.
Shaking my head to stir myself awake, I tried to refocus, paying attention to the primary site of the fighting.
Echidna charged Myrddin and the heroes that accompanied him. He used his staff to draw something into the air. My bugs could feel a vibration, see the white blur of a light source.
The sign he’d drawn exploded outward, striking Echidna on her right side. It was enough to alter her course, and her shoulder slammed into the corner of one building. Her body dragged against the building’s face until that she had to stop and pull away.
Chevalier pointed his sword at her, fifteen feet long, and pulled a trigger. A blast erupted down the center of the sword’s mass, and a cannonball caught one of Echidna’s monstrous heads between the eyes. Through the composite vision of all my bugs, I could get a sense of the damage that had been done, the spray of gore.
I was too tired to be focusing on my bugs to this degree. My awareness of my real self was faltering. I was unconsciously updating the positions of the arrows to allow the heroes to home in on Echidna, but I also had to work to keep myself close to Scapegoat, and I wanted to make sure I knew where Bitch and the others were. Atlas was following my unconscious commands, but that meant I was straying a dangerous distance from Scapegoat. Had to be safe.
The arrows I’d drawn for each of the heroes were working, though. Heroes were moving towards Echidna with purpose, now, and the van with Scapegoat inside was moving in the right direction. I caught some squad captains giving orders. A cape that could speak over distances was relaying information to Myrddin and Chevalier.
Tattletale was on the ground, but she didn’t advance toward the scene of the fighting. She had gotten her hands on a cellphone, and was speaking steadily into it, relaying information. I only caught some of it – I couldn’t devote that much focus to her. It was about Noelle.
Chevalier and Myrddin made an effective duo. Chevalier’s power had made his armor virtually impervious, his cannonblade massive, each effectively many times as dense and/or many times as large as they should be, but he was still able to treat them as though they were the normal size. He swung his sword as though it were barely there, and when he found an opportunity to strike out with a gauntleted fist, the effect was always far greater than the hit deserved.
Not so different from Fenja and Menja, only his gear was the focus, not himself, and he was a little more versatile.
Myrddin, for his part, coupled versatility with raw power to devastating effect. He had a bag of tricks and switched from one to another without hesitation. Echidna spewed a stream of bodies and gore, and Myrddin drew a dark sign into the air, suctioning the incoming matter into it. I sensed Chevalier and Tecton slamming their weapons into the nearest surfaces to avoid being pulled in, catching hold of allies who weren’t so capable. Then my own bugs were yanked toward the crevice and violently crushed against all of the other debris, leaving me momentarily blind in that area. More of my bugs flowed in, giving me time to see Chevalier delivering a series of powerful sword strikes and cannon shots at Echidna, not letting up. He paused, throwing himself into a side-alley as Noelle tried to stomp on him, and Myrddin released the matter he’d suctioned in as a condensed bullet of gore, dust, crushed bodies and dead bugs.
Perhaps the strongest thing about the partnership between the two heroes was how well it accommodated others. Heroes with ranged powers were free to unload on Echidna while the other two fought, and heroes like Tecton could offer further support, destroying the ground beneath her feet. She was big enough now that he couldn’t trap her, but he could make her stumble, or bring concrete from the nearby buildings raining down on top of her.
The Triumvirate flew straight over Echidna, and Legend opened with a laser beam I could see from three blocks away. He killed some of the bugs I’d been using to draw words in the air in the process. That was as much my fault as his.
Echidna was more or less trapped, forced to back away, but unable to fully turn around with the walls of the alley on either side of her. Eidolon threw down another slowing bubble behind her, and Alexandria dropped to ground level to stand behind Echidna and stab the metal pole of the street light through the knee of one of Echidna’s back legs.
There was nothing for me to do beyond helping to organize the others. I made sure to draw arrows and words high enough above the buildings that anyone approaching the scene would be able to tell that Alexandria and Chevalier had Echidna flanked.
Atlas carried me above the scene, a distance away from the Triumvirate, but still close enough to see into the alley.
Echidna was sustaining a beating, and there were only four directions she could go. She could go up, which was the only route available to her that didn’t involve going through a solid surface, but that involved running face first into the laserbeam that Legend was firing straight down from above. Going down involved tearing through pavement and whatever was below the road. Even if there was a storm drain or some other underground space to enter, she was doubtlessly sustaining too much damage to take the time to get that far, and she was too big to fit, unless the area was cavernous.
That meant she was bound to head either left or right, through walls of brick or concrete. I was careful in how I positioned my swarm, putting them on walls so I could tell if she knocked one down on her way through, while keeping the bugs out of her likely path. Cloned bugs were the least of our problems, but I wasn’t about to contribute to her arsenal.
I’d drawn heroes closer to the scene of the fight with my directions. Now I had to communicate the danger.
I spoke through my bugs, moving each closer to the capes. The swarm was spread out, which made the resulting voice thin and reedy to the point that I wasn’t sure if it was audible over the noise of the fighting in the alleyways.
“Incoming,” my swarm buzzed.
More than a few heroes jumped at that.
“Look for my signal,” I said, “She’ll have to go through the walls to escape.”
Many of the squads were in or around the alleys but not actually participating in the fights. With arrows and the movement of my swarm, I did my best to indicate the ways to the walls she might head for, and I drew exclamation marks on the faces of the buildings next to her.
It didn’t take her long to reach the limit of her patience. She tried to advance on Chevalier, only to get driven back by Tecton, Myrddin and one or two ranged capes. Backing up meant running into Alexandria, who was stabbing and swatting with the pole that had held the traffic light.
One claw ripped through brick and wood, and she plunged into the building to her left. She was tall enough that she had to hunker down, and she was still shoving her way through the flooring that separated the first and second floors. Her route put her on a path for where the fighting had originated, where the majority of the heroes were now waiting.
She could wade through brick and concrete and leave a building folding in on itself in her wake, but dealing with a mass of capes proved more difficult. Forcefields blocked her movements, and a half-dozen heavy hitting capes like Grace were waiting to blindside her.
A heartbeat after the first wave assault passed by, Chronicler’s replicas of the melee assault group tore through Echidna a second time.
Echidna fell over, and was in a position to see Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon overhead.
Some capes had stayed in the fray, including types like Weld and Wanton, who couldn’t be absorbed and couldn’t be affected by the capes with ranged attacks. They joined in with the Triumvirate’s attacks on the fallen foe.
She vomited, but it wasn’t the same as before. Her vomit this time was thick with bodies, to the point that it didn’t spray. The vomit tumbled from her four mouths as a sludge that met or exceeded her total body weight in sheer volume. Worse, where it had maybe been ninety percent liquid and ten percent people, before, the numbers had inverted.
Legend raked a laser across the piling, writhing, reaching bodies, but Echidna was getting to her feet, throwing herself into the building behind her. She’d done enough damage with the last maneuver, and her return trip brought a wall crashing down. Powers of all kinds were brought to bear as the capes on the ground did what they could to save themselves and their teammates.
I could have stayed, helped with the wounded, but the van with Scapegoat was moving on, and I was worried about what might happen if Echidna managed to get away. She was wounded, but regenerating, and bodies kept pouring forth from her mouth. It would be best to leave the wounded and dying to the less mobile capes. I was more useful in the fray, though that didn’t say much.
She was moving at a good pace. Only the fastest were able to match her in speed, and few of those were also capable of slowing her down so the rest of us could catch up.
A trail of clones flowed in her wake. All of them were capes, and even though they were unclothed and unarmored, some were taking more than a few hits to finish off. Worse, at least one of the people she’d caught was a cape in much the same vein as Prism had been. A self duplicator. It amounted to scores of bodies, where one in twenty were capable of copying themselves, and maybe three or four in twenty were tough or borderline invulnerable.
I joined in with the other heroes who were fighting to kill or mop up the clones before the psychotic things could get organized. They were lumped together as a tangle of limbs, heads and torsos, and each was tacky with the fluids of the vomit. My swarm made contact, and began ruthlessly doing as much damage as I was capable of.
Myrddin caught up and hit her with one of his ‘spells’. Echidna promptly disappeared in a clap of thunder, and Myrddin went very still, floating in the air.
From his controlled breathing and lack of celebration, I could only assume that Myrddin was concentrating. Echidna wasn’t dead and gone, only held at bay for the time being. I was willing to bet it was the same effect he’d used to carry Chevalier, Tecton and his other teammates into the fight in the alleyway.
In the meantime, the rest of us were left to dispatch the clones as quickly as possible. They were frailer looking, with features missing. There were clones without ears, clones without noses, clones with missing fingers. Half finished, their skin was so thin as to be translucent, and most lacked hair or their hair was so sparse as to barely matter. The skin of most broke and bled where my bugs bit, as though it were little more than wet paper.
If my swarm was made up of countless tiny surgeons, doing strategic damage, Rachel’s dogs were the opposite. Bentley plowed through the ranks of the clones like a living bulldozer. He wasn’t running full-bore, but he wasn’t slowing down at any point either. The other dogs followed, each roughly the size of a pony, chained to Bentley’s harness. The dogs fought among themselves in their struggles to attack and wound the clones, but I could see Rachel doing what she could to ensure that none of them were killing.
She’d done the same with Bastard. It made sense, in a way, that she didn’t want them to get accustomed to killing before they were fully trained.
The clones weren’t wholly helpless, though, fragile as they might be. They did have powers. Through the bugs of my swarm that lingered on the combatants, I could track the fallen. Two heroes down, injured or dying, another deceased.
We were outnumbered, and we couldn’t afford to lose one person for every twenty clones that fell. Echidna had created at least a hundred clones in the course of her last getaway. She would create a hundred more when she reappeared, if we didn’t find a solution.
Legend found a position to open fire from, and sent a barrage of lasers down toward the trail of bodies, while Alexandria followed the direct path that Echidna had taken, darting left and right to strike out and kill even the tougher capes in a single hit.
In the midst of the chaos, a speaker began blaring at the top of one containment van. The same voice that had come from the armbands.
“The following information has been disseminated, and remains unconfirmed. Echidna is in a rage state. The monster is in control, not the girl. Seventeen capes are currently within her. Her rate of regeneration and production of clones is derived from a central core within her lower body that produces an endless quantity of biological material. A body part severed from the core will die. Destroying the core in entirety will destroy her…”
Tattletale, I thought. She’d passed on the info she’d gleaned.
Scapegoat was out of the van and shouting. Weld was among the capes that came to his assistance. He held a female clone in his iron grip, with one hand over her mouth.
Tecton and Wanton moved to help, and Scapegoat looked up at me, gesturing.
Pointing at the ground.
Would have been easier if he’d just said it. I found a clear spot on a rooftop and landed.
The second I was settled, Scapegoat laid his hands on the clone Weld had caught.
As before, the sensations hit me. Phantom sensations of every possible texture and experience rippling across my entire body.
This was why he’d told me to land. He’d been worried I might lose control of my power, maybe losing control over Atlas and fall.
I just had to endure. I could control my bugs to some extent, though flight wasn’t so possible. One of the clones had broken away from the fighting, and my bugs were both attacking her and pointing the pursuing capes in the right directions. She split off into four copies. The heroes killed three of the four, only for the survivor to split off into a quartet once again.
If I’d been thinking about containment, I might have set triplines at each of the major intersections, cutting them if and when heroes passed through. As it was, I couldn’t stop her retreat, and could only try to blind her, choke her and distract while they closed the distance with my direction.
But she was fragile, like most of her fellow clones. Mandibles tore her paper-thin skin, and more bugs found her jugular.
Just like that, she died with blood spouting from her throat. She created duplicates of herself, but they were created with the same injury.
The capes caught up to her. One murmured, “Kudzu.”
“…s not her, Jouster,” another said.
Elsewhere, Regent was dispatching other clones. He deftly tripped up the more mobile ones and closed the distance, then executed them with a quick stab of a knife.
The sensations kept hitting me. It was a deeper sensation now. Tastes, vision, hearing… everything under the sun, fragments of a million different sensations. Picking through the noise was nearly impossible. I had to find refuge in my swarm’s senses, disassociate from my body…
If I hadn’t been trying so hard, I might have missed it. It was more subtle than the first time I’d heard it. A keening noise that my own ears couldn’t hear. Even many of the insects were unaware.
Using my swarm, every bug in the four block range, I buzzed out the alert.
“Shatterbird!”
Some capes reacted fast enough. Helmets with visors were torn free, intact armbands and cell phones discarded. Some erected forcefield barriers. I was tearing off my mask, bundling it in the fabric that hung around my legs.
There were others too caught up in the fighting, yet others dependent on hardware with silicon chips that they couldn’t shirk so quickly.
It wasn’t as strong as her last big attack; there was less glass in the city to carry the effects. Still, I could hear the resounding crash of everything glass in this half of the city breaking. A tidal wave of destruction rolled past us, leaving countless injured in its wake. The attack was weaker, but not necessarily weak.
Tecton had been left immobile, components of his suit destroyed. The clone and Scapegoat were down, struck by the glass from the van’s windshield. Chevalier had been caught by something, a fragment of glass that had penetrated a slit in his visor, and he was struggling to fight three clones and avoid hitting his teammates, all while partially blind.
I checked myself. I could breathe, I wasn’t blind. All despite Scapegoat’s disabled state.
Had he transferred the conditions to the clone? Was I in the clear?
I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t sure I could afford to take the risk and stray beyond that one-hundred and fifty foot range of his.
The direction the attack had come from… Shatterbird had stayed behind, used her power from the base. I’d assumed it was because Echidna had eaten her, but it was all too possible that they’d found another route. Inducing temporary unconsciousness? Or perhaps Echidna had eaten her and then spat her out right away, to induce enough weakness that Regent couldn’t use her. I’d have to ask Regent for details, and that wasn’t an option.
No, there were bigger worries. Battle lines had broken, and simply by virtue of being more numerous than we were, many clones were still standing. It made only a small difference, but it was still an advantage for their side: the clones weren’t wearing or carrying anything glass. An advantage of being naked.
The big heroes were trying to get organized. Myrddin was still keeping Echidna out of the fight, the Triumvirate were exchanging quick words as they tried to figure out whether they should stay for when Echidna popped back into existence or help with the clones. Legend shot as he talked, and Eidolon was casting out blue sparks that flew forth.
Clones were advancing on Scapegoat and Tecton. Weld was there, but he wasn’t quite enough.
I stood on Atlas’ back as he descended to the road, shaking my mask to let the glass fall free before carefully pulling it back on. Weld glanced at me and nodded as I appeared at his left, helping to form a defensive line.
Weld’s hands started to change into long blades, and with the reach they afforded him, he was able to defend more ground.
I stepped off Atlas and let him stand on his own, his scythelike forelimbs raised. He wouldn’t be that good in a fight, but the clones were fragile, and two more weapons was better than nothing. My knife and baton slid free of their respective slots in my compartment, and I whipped the baton out to its full length. It offered me a little more reach, an excuse to take one more step away from Scapegoat’s body and the frozen Tecton. In this fashion, Weld, Atlas and I formed something of a triangle.
Being on the ground, it added a kind of reality to the situation. On a technical level, I was more aware of the bodies when I used my powers, more aware of the enemy numbers. Here, though, I could see only the crowd. Hero and clone were fighting, the ground was littered with the dying, the maimed and the dead. There were countless people who needed help, people who I couldn’t personally reach.
My bugs could reach them. I did what I could, trying to blind the right people, to injure and maim clones where I could ferret out vulnerabilities. Most of the vulnerable clones were already out of the fight, leaving us with only the more troublesome ones. The duplicators, the durable and the mobile.
I was fighting a duplicator. Another Kudzu, like the one I’d killed earlier, unless there was another Asian duplicator with a Japanese-sounding name. She was vulnerable, but she knew how to fight. Better than I did. My advantage was my weapons and my armor. Hers was her relentlessness.
My baton crushed one skull like an overripe pumpkin, my knife caught another in the chest, pushing past bone like it was a willowy tree branch rather than anything more solid. I kicked her in the chest to help pull my knife free, and suffered a painful kick to the side of my knee before I was able to retaliate. I fell, tried to strike the offending Kudzu with my knife, but she caught my wrist. A swing of my baton was caught as well. I got my feet under her and thrust my head into hers as I returned to a standing position Her face was softer than my mask was.
She fell, and the fourth Kudzu formed three new doubles before I could advance and attack her. One kicked me hard enough that I had to lean against Tecton’s armor to get my balance. My swarm had hurt the one Kudzu who’d stayed back, and the new doubles were feeling the same pain, but they were still fresh, weren’t tired or hurt from previous rounds.
Weld fought with an invincible man who was smoking, his hands hot enough that they were heating Weld’s flesh. The man grappled him, and Weld’s attempts to strike him were having little effect. The man dug his fingers into Weld’s chest, and white-hot metal dripped to the ground. He was digging for organs.
I hated to spare bugs when I was fighting the Kudzu-clones, but I sent some Weld’s way. They coated the man, and found some flesh they could damage.
“His back, Weld!” I shouted. “His front half is tough, but everything that isn’t facing you is vulnerable!”
A Kudzu took advantage of my distraction to club me. I retaliated by stabbing her, a nonfatal blow.
Weld pulled one arm free, reached behind the man, and started sawing into the back of his head. Serrated edges formed on the blade, to allow for a better cut, Weld found something vital, and the man slumped to the ground.
He turned to help me with the Kudzu.
A scattering of Legend’s laser bolts tore through our surroundings, though he was blocks away. Three of the Kudzu I was fighting were hit by Legend’s shots, and Weld lunged forward to stab the fourth. The least hurt of them vibrated and split off into a fresh set of quadruplets.
Clones of clones, I thought. I could only swear in my head. My lungs weren’t suffering like they had been earlier, but I was short on breath nonetheless.
Overall, our side was winning, but we weren’t winning fast. Nearly a third of us had fallen when Shatterbird hit, and more were losing in this chaos that followed.
Which made this the moment, fittingly, when Echidna popped back into existence.
Eidolon and Legend had been doing what they could from range, and now they were forced to deal with Echidna, leaving the rest of us to deal with the remaining clones.
Legend started using a massive laser to tear into the piles of clones that spilled forth from her mouths.
One Kudzu-clone shouted. “Cover me! I got this!”
Roughly a quarter of the remaining clones broke away from their individual engagements, including the Kudzu I was fighting.
Fuck me, they’re cooperating.
Our side did what they could to stop them, but these clones were still in the fight because they were hard to kill. My bugs attacked the Kudzu, and I gave chase to stab one, then another in the back, before my hurt knee gave out and I fell to a kneeling position. Bitch and her dogs threw themselves into the ranks of the clones, tearing and rending, but it wasn’t enough.
Chevalier wasn’t far from me. His cannonblade detonated, painfully loud in my ear, and four or five clones died with each shot. Legend’s lasers tore into their ranks, and Eidolon threw down a slowing field to stall for time.
It was too little, too late. They were making a beeline for Echidna, for Legend, Alexandria, Eidolon and Myrddin.
The Kudzu who’d shouted got close to Echidna, and a tongue circled her throat. She was reeled in, and stopped herself at Echidna’s mouth, bracing herself in position.
Chevalier took aim and shot. A miss.
Miss Militia’s rifle shot was on target, punching through the front of the Kudzu’s throat.
But the Kudzu’s death wasn’t instantaneous, and she had time for one last gesture. Echidna vibrated, and then split off into four copies.
Four copies of Noelle.
My breath caught in my throat in the moment I processed the reality of what had just happened. I managed to huff out a small shuddering breath.
They were withering and dying like Kudzu’s obsolete clones were, slowly but surely, right off the bat, but there were still four of them.
This was Echidna’s greatest weapon. Ballistic had talked about her sense for tactics, but that was Noelle, really. This was Echidna, and she was too gone for much of that.
No, the variations that naturally occurred in powers laid out a range of capes. Virtually every power was offensive, just about every power had some use. That was the norm, the standard.
But exceptions existed. They were the Bonesaws, the Crawlers, the Echidnas, the Legends, Alexandrias, Eidolons and Dragons of the world. By sheer fortune, they’d stumbled onto powers that set them head and shoulders above everyone else. Having the right variant, being in the right situation to use that power.
If one in a hundred capes met that kind of standard where they were just that much more versatile or powerful, then Echidna could make a hundred capes, and chances were good that one of those would be exceptional in that way.
An Echidna-double turned and charged straight for us, stampeding through the clones to get to the troops on the ground. Forcefields went up, Chevalier unloaded cannon blasts to stall her advance, and we all did our best to retreat. I took to the air with Atlas.
The other two Echidnas, including the original, started fighting the big name heroes. Tongues lashed out, and Legend severed them with cutting lasers. The clones vomited geysers, spitting out no clones with the fluid, and Alexandria bore the brunt of the blow.
Eidolon was creating blue sparks that floated around him, but when Alexandria began to lose in her struggles to keep the vomit from reaching her comrades, he switched to using a slowing field instead. He cast it down around two of the Echidnas. The one he didn’t catch vomited, and he threw up a small forcefield to ward off the attack.
A narrow tongue was hidden in the midst of the vomit, a concealed attack. Prehensile, it snaked out and caught him by one arm.
Eidolon was pulled in, and clipped the forcefield he’d raised with enough force that he was momentarily stunned. The forcefield and slowing fields disappeared, and Alexandria was caught off guard by the sudden increase in her opponent’s speed.
Caught against its back, she started to tear herself free with the help of one of Legend’s cutting lasers. A spray of vomit forced Legend to abandon his efforts to save his teammates and retreat for his own safety. He cleaned up the clones that the original Echidna was still producing.
A second later, one of the Echidna-doubles leaped on top of the other, sandwiching Alexandria between her and the other Echidna-double.
The real Echidna closed her mouths, and the vomiting stopped. She stepped on the tongue that had a hold on Eidolon, then stepped on the caught Eidolon.
Legend did what he could, but even with the three Echidna-doubles looking more like the walking dead than anything else, he couldn’t do enough lasting damage to any of the brutes. Miss Militia and Chevalier contributed some ranged fire, as did the heroes on my side of the battlefield, but the Echidna-doubles used their bodies to block the worst of the incoming fire.
Echidna bit deep into her double, tore at flesh until she found the morsel caught between their bodies. Alexandria. I could see the muscles in her throat working as she swallowed.
Each of her doubles made a final reckless charge before falling to pieces.
A hush of sorts descended on everyone present.
Two of our best, caught.
Echidna reared back a little, then spat, as though she were coughing out a morsel of food she’d been choking on.
An Alexandria. Had to be, with that long black hair. The woman stood, and I could see how she was missing an eye. She brushed her hair to one side, so it covered half her face, and I could hear a murmur.
“Director Costa-Brown,” someone in the crowd murmured.
The Head of the PRT and Alexandria were one and the same.
I couldn’t bring myself to care. I wasn’t sure if it was just that I was in shock, that I was more focused on the fight that was looking a hell of a lot less winnable, or a simple lack of surprise that the PRT would have been so corrupt and imbalanced as to have a major balancing factor missing from their ranks.
Miss Militia took aim with her rifle and shot. The bullet sparked as it clipped Alexandria’s forehead.
Alexandria shook her head.
Another cough, another spit.
Eidolon. I couldn’t tell if he was unattractive by nature or if it was just mild deformations. He looked so small, so below average.
He found his feet. Miss Militia shot him twice, and he fell back against Echidna’s leg.
He flickered, and the wound was smaller, another flicker, and the wound almost disappeared. Each flicker was stronger than the last in how it reversed the damage. He staggered to his feet again.
“Go!” Chevalier screamed, breaking the frozen silence. “Before he’s at full strength!”
We charged. There was no other choice. If we didn’t win now, everyone lost.
This entry was posted in 19.05 and tagged Abhorror, Alexandria, Apocrypha, Atlas, Bastard, Bentley, Bitch, Chevalier, Echidna, Eidolon, Grace, Ignis Fatuus, Legend, Miss Militia, Myrddin, Regent, Scapegoat, Tattletale, Taylor, Tecton, Wanton, Weld by wildbow. Bookmark the permalink.
264 thoughts on “Scourge 19.5”
wildbow on March 5, 2013 at 00:09 said:
Sorry for any typos. Came right down to the wire with this one, and proofreading time was limited.
Please vote on topwebfiction if you enjoyed.
Also, a side note- if you’ve exhausted the other superhero web serials, I included a new link on the front page, for the relatively new ‘Morpheus reports’. Reviews are mixed (one 4.5 star rating, one 2.5 or something like that). I haven’t read it myself, but one editor on Webfictionguide compared it to Worm.
Luke Licens on March 5, 2013 at 11:14 said:
“Even if there was a storm drain or some other underground space to enter, she was doubtlessly sustaining too much damage to take the time to get that far, and she wasn’t big enough to fit, unless the area was cavernous.”
I think she’s too big, as opposed to not big enough. 😉
endochrom on March 5, 2013 at 00:10 said:
“Heroes with ranged powers were free to unload on Echidna while the other two fought, and heroes like Tecton could offer further support, destroying the ground beneath her feet. She was big enough now that he couldn’t…” Cuts out here
randomsoul2 on March 5, 2013 at 00:10 said:
….FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
Whelp, that’s it. Last one out of the universe, hit the lights.
leinadrengaw on March 5, 2013 at 00:19 said:
And in the fine tradition of Worm, everything just keeps getting worse.
I’d point out how hard it would be for anything to get worse, but that would probably cause Behemoth to show up. And possibly get eaten by Echidna.
…Can Endbringers get eaten by her? They’re not really living, as shown by the last interlude, but they’re sure good at faking it.
Toma Gwyn (@Tomagwyn) on October 26, 2018 at 06:47 said:
Even if she couldn’t duplicate an endbringer, with the amount of matter Behemoth and Leviathan have she will become huge and much more powerful.
Buildings also have a lot of matter. Doesn’t mean she can absorb them.
packbat on March 5, 2013 at 00:25 said:
Hey, Tattletale? We just crossed the Godzilla threshold. If you were planning to rip the universe a new hole, now’s a good time…?
Three Lefts Make a Right on March 5, 2013 at 00:29 said:
Now I’m picturing Godzilla and Echidna fighting.
Psycho Gecko on March 5, 2013 at 02:01 said:
The difference between Godzilla and Echidna is Godzilla is capable of dying. He died in the original movie, in fact.
Somebody get me 1950s Japan in here to fight Echidna!
Thomas on March 5, 2013 at 09:16 said:
That wasn’t Godzilla, just Gojira.
Japan lost to Leviathan though so I doubt they’d help much here. Just goes to show that we need a new name for the Godzilla Threshold in the Wormverse. Maybe the Leviathan Threshold? It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Poetically Psychotic on February 26, 2018 at 10:08 said:
The Scion Threshold. The point where the only thing to do is pray for Scion’s prompt arrival.
TheAnt on March 5, 2013 at 00:32 said:
Labyrinth isn’t here yet and she is still in a rage state, so they can’t negotiate. If they don’t take those things down in the next few minutes, and keep up the pressure, thats it. Their only option afterward is to try and hold out until Lisa can put her plan into action or Scion shows up. Wheres a Scion signal when you need one?
Reveen on March 5, 2013 at 01:13 said:
I hope by “negotiate” you mean negotiating Noelle’s ass into an alternate universe sun.
C’mon heroes. Time to man up and handle this Reed Richards style.
Reed Richards style…you mean make it worse? We can’t afford that, man! Get me Dr. Doom!
Well I don’t know what Taylor’s status is at the end of the story, if she survives at all, I wouldn’t mind her turning into the Wormverse’s equivalent of Dr. Doom.
You have to admire a guy who can put out such a badass challenge when stuck in the depths of a hell dimension. Come clones, there is Skitter enough for all!
http://obsessivecomicdisorder.tumblr.com/image/25924349878
I’d hope that Skitter would be a bit more careful with debts than Doom.
I’m sure Doom was soundly defeated by Luke Cage and never heard from again. Probably like the time the Purple Man was in a power enhancer and Dr. Doom took off a mask that protected him from Purple Man’s power.
http://rraaaarrl.tumblr.com/image/32091982320
Yeah, sometimes Doctor Doom is a moron. I blame the writers.
“Hm…what if we had Purple Man try to command Doom to turn himself in?”
“Nope, he has that mask, remember?”
“Shit. Well, um…oh, I give up, just make Doom do nsomething stupid again.”
“Maybe he takes off the mask?”
“Brilliant! We’ve figured it out and it’s not even lunchtime.”
It’s always good to see bitter enemies finding common ground.
You should see the crap Purple Man did to Cage’s now-wife.
Though I just remembered that we can go over Doom’s head here. The most powerful hero in all of Marvel, capable of defeating Thanos, Dr. Doom, Wolverine, and Deadpool easily.
Prepare yourself for oblivion, Noelle!
Oh god. You would be a squirrel girl fan, PG. It all makes sense.
The link is broken.
And Squirrel Girl? Seriously?
drachefly on January 6, 2014 at 17:33 said:
Grace Scuridae????
Squirrel Girl is, in terms of raw power, one of if not the strongest Marvel character. She is also one of the only characters to EVER defeat Doctor Doom… and not have it ret-conned into “actually a Doombot”.
Unfortunately, I don’t like the taste of nuts. Not even deez. I just bring it up because that’s what her lips are supposed to taste like. Probably have to ask Wolverine if you want more intimate details about her.
I’ve been likened to Deadpool in power armor before though. He is very much not a fan of Squirrel Girl. I don’t care for the implication that I’m something recycled in new packaging. Still, it’s easy to forget my intelligence when the stuff people remember most are the toilet humor and dead baby jokes.
Take that as an advantage or disadvantage how you wish, but I’ve yet to see anything truly proof against a Fool. The Strength of an Emperor, the Temperance of a Hierophant, the Justice of a Hanged Man, or even the Judgement of the World are of little consequence. I will trick your Magician, debauch your High Priestess, annoy a Hermit, belittle your Empress, separate Lovers, and flee whatever Tower you seek to imprison me in, probably crashing my Chariot in the process due to a messed up Wheel of Fortune. The Devil take me, but can he keep me?
O how the Stars, the Moon, the Sun itself would gleam down on me forever if not for the one left I fear.
Lord Khurush on July 7, 2017 at 12:50 said:
is that a Jojo’s reference?
Patrick Reitz (@dreamfarer) on March 5, 2013 at 09:17 said:
“if not for the one left I fear.”
Would that be the “left turn at Albuquerque” PG?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?
Right about the time I saw the word three copies, I thought oh crap. When Alexandria and Eidolon got caught, I thought OH SHIT. What an Epic and Desperate fight. Reminds me of when she fought Mannequin. But I hope Taylor or the heroes manages to come up with something, otherwise I’d say call the president, and nuke the site. Before a freaking army of Alexnadrias and Eidolons show up.
LostThrawn on March 5, 2013 at 00:27 said:
Tangentially, I’ve been wondering if Myrddin, the magic using hero of Chicago, is a deliberate reference to Harry Dresden or a coincidence.
Worm certainly seems to have a similar level of relentless threat escalation as the Dresden files.
Taylor’s one of the few people I think of who can rival Harry for how utterly beat up a story leaves the protagonist.
The difference of course is that Harry gets roughly a year or so to rest between his adventures and Taylor gets roughly five to ten minutes.
Don’t be absurd.
She often gets a whole day.
MrMoray on March 5, 2013 at 00:34 said:
It’s been a pretty bad day for Cauldron. The organization is now known to be more than rumor. The Triumvirate has been outed. Alexandria has been outed as PRT director.
If they survive, a whole bunch of non-Cauldron heroes may very well be rethinking their allegiances.
Loki-L on March 5, 2013 at 07:03 said:
That is not all. Remember how the Skitter clone snitched on her murdering Coil to Weld?
Well the Alexandria and Eidolon clones now need to buy time to give the Eidolon clone the chance to charge up to full power. revelaing secrets in the worst possible light might be just what they need to buy that time…
There is also the chance that one or more of their powerhouses won’t come out of this alive, which will be bad for everyone if Eidolon’s assesment of his own importance in any fight against an Endbringer is true.
No matter how shady the dealings of Cauldron are the worlds needs Alexandria and Eidolon for the next Endbriger attack. They might win the battle against Noelle but end up losing the war against the endbringers if they aren’T careful.
That point has come up a lot before, that the world needs the Triumvirate or its doomed, but I have to wonder how true that is.
The Triumvirate are clearly big guns compared to the rest of the heroes out there, but ultimately they can’t stop the Endbringers. All they manage to do is make the destruction of the city take longer.
They didn’t do so hot against Leviathan. They ended up hoping for Scion to show up.
Gnarker on March 7, 2013 at 09:43 said:
Isn’t praying to and for Scion standart Endbringer protocol?
That “longer” is often what it takes for Scion to show up before everything gets f&#@ed.
Random Lurker on March 5, 2013 at 00:39 said:
Well this is all horrible.
Looks like people will finally have to start seriously considering Tattletale’s dimensional rift suggestion. Otherwise, everyone’s boned.
Also, the clones of Alexandria and Eidolon will likely spill the beans about Cauldron, much like Skitter’s clones did about Coil. Coupled with the now obvious corruption/lack of oversight due to Alexandria’s identity, I wonder how they’ll talk themselves out of this one. Sadly, I’m sure they will.
When Skitter sensed Bitch hurting rather than killing clones, Skitter’s lines seemed like she was just rationalizing Bitch’s work. Seems like she’s sliding further and further down dark paths. I hope that was what Wildbow was going for, cause that’s my impression.
Thoughts, questions, and speculation:
We never got to clearly see the offensive side of Scapegoat’s power. I’m assuming he transfers injuries, too, right?
Skitter is reaching out so much with her swarm, now, that she might really disconnect with her body someday and really be The Worm That Walks.
Actually, everybody’s killing clones. It’s a dead clone fest. See this clone? *holds up a clone* This clone is dead. *bangs its head against a wall* It has ceased to be.
I don’t think Skitter was rationalizing for Bitch, just observing how she used her dogs. Killing clones, these specific clones at least, is morally neutral. Despite possessing reasoning skills the clones are unreasonable muderbots and have to be treated as such.
Bitch has to be careful though because dogs aren’t so good at distinguishing “unreasoning murderbots” from “humans that annoy master”. Granted Rachel is doing it because she cares about the dogs more than she cares about the humans, but that makes it no less of a noble impulse on her part.
As for Scapegoats power, I’m pretty sure we did see it used offensively in this chapter. When he gestures Taylor to the come to the ground, it seems like that was because he blasted one of the clones with her symptoms.
About Bitch: That might hold water if Bitch was killing humans. As-is…well, would you rather her dogs get used to killing human-like targets?
Pinkhair on March 5, 2013 at 00:43 said:
I’m guessing that Apocrypha is Alexandria, though it is interesting just how many of the heros present could fit that- Legend, Chronicler…
Good to see Taylor coming into her own here. Though she probably has little future as a big name villain left if the heroes actually learn from observing her tactics.
“building. Her body” Extra spaces.
“She was big enough now that he couldn’t” Sentence cuts off there.
“chest to help pull my knife” extra space.
“Her face was softer than my mask.” Maybe mention her putting her mask back on? The last it had been mentioned was her wrapping it up.
Changes made, thanks.
MrVoid on March 5, 2013 at 00:45 said:
So… anyone have any fancy nicknames for Alexandria or Eidolon clones? I personally am thinking something along the lines of Roma or Athens for Alexandria and either Gary Stu or Shade for Eidolon.
What kind of hero names themselves after an invasive species? I would have named myself something more generic and less of a biological catastrophe like vine or root. I understand that Ivy is taken, but really, there is no way that Cucumber, Grape, Virginia and Wisteria are all taken if one is going for a vine theme.
The moment I heard the name I immediately thought of… well, pretty much the sort of tactics that she promptly employed. She is kudzu because it you leave anything alive you might as well be starting over.
Maybe she started as a villain, and didn’t want to sound pathetic?
Let’s get ready to RUUUUUUMBBBBBLLLEE!
Cool to get a chapter that’s pure action after the character/exposition heaviness of the last few chapters. I don’t really get that feeling of dread from a combat cliffhanger than I do with the intrigue/character oriented cliffhangers. I’m just pumped to see what happens next.
Hey! You know would be really keen? If we had some of those neato mecha-dragons that Piggot squandered on the non-city destroying giant monster supervillains. Hindsight’s a bitch ain’t it?
Also, Chevalier is badass. Plain and simple. Make’s me wish we got more vivid appearence descriptions from time to time.
Yeah, I think I was getting worn out on the exposition, but there were too many bases to cover, and people were noticing if/when I missed any.
Makes ME glad that if Chevalier gets cloned his clones will be naked.
If it makes you feel any better, those dragon suits TOTALLY ruined Skitter’s barbeque.
Anzer'ke on March 6, 2013 at 08:17 said:
Yeah that evil barbecue. With all that…evilness…
In fairness, Piggot didn’t expect that villains capable of doing worse than conquering a B-tier big city would show up so soon, nor that the Undersiders would break Dragon’s toys so easily. She simply underestimated the Undersiders and failed to anticipate Noelle…existing.
Potential redundancy with murmur.
“‘so it covered half her face, and I could hear a murmur.
“Director Costa-Brown,” someone in the crowd murmured.”‘
Saintsant on March 5, 2013 at 01:03 said:
Wow… At least Cauldron’s getting its fair share of misfortune.
Was Brockton Bay built on an Indian Burial Ground? Because damn, this city is cursed. ABB bombings, Leviathan, The 9, Coil, Echidna. I would honestly not be surprised if the next Endbringer attacked the city again. It might actually have been a good idea to condemn it.
It’s more that a lot of things led to the others coming to pass. The two primary threads are:
ABB-> Leviathan attacks city in conflict -> The 9 hit vulnerable target
And Travelers are invited to Brockton Bay by Coil -> Coil provokes/takes advantage of disasters to seize city -> Coil dies -> Noelle goes free.
There’s crossing-over of threads (Leviathan hitting city in part because of potential of contact with Noelle, Coil causing conflict with ABB that led to disaster)
Leviathan was aware of Noelle? I guess that goes toward answering the question of how closely the Endbringers are working together.
Also, I don’t remember reading Coil as being overtly behind the ABB gang war. I’ll have to go over past chapters and try to see what the fucker manipulated to make that happen.
I think Tattletale confirmed a few chapters back that she isn’t an Endbringer and they are something else. I am surprised that the ABB did help to attract Leviathan. I honestly thought it only attacked for the chance to replicate itself with Noelle. Coil really only instigated things by simply winning a lot of fights. He attacked and kept realities where he did better and probably forced the ABB in a corner. Bakuda did her psycho bitch thing and escalated things.
I meant more that Simurgh must have told Leviathan about the Manchurian agents she got locked and loaded. Bird-bitch must’ve known that Noelle was going to turn into Echidna and sent over Leviathan to bust her out.
That tells us why the big guy went after the shelters, he wasn’t just trying to kill people, he was going after underground structures looking for Echidna.
Oh, I see what you mean. But after Cauldron and Noelle, the biggest mysteries left are Scion and the Endbringers. Something is controlling/guiding them, otherwise they would all attack at the same time and not bother waiting several months between attacks.
Scion and the Endbringers would be a great name for a rock band.
Irrevenant on May 8, 2014 at 00:44 said:
As others have pointed out, it’s entirely possible that Endbringer attacks don’t coincide because they naturally move in cycles with little-to-no overlap. Blizzards, floods and sandstorms never hit the same place all at once, but that’s not evidence of planning – it just means the required conditions are different for each.
Don’t forget the mystery of what Emma said to keep other students from helping Taylor out of the locker. And what the scraps of paper say.
“This’ll be awesome. Don’t mess it up.” Alternatively, nothing. Either way, with the implicit threat of being un-cool (and possibly beaten up by Sophia) in the background.
And yeah, just wait. Precog messages are scary…
Individuo on March 5, 2013 at 01:16 said:
This is going to hell pretty quickly, more than before. Unless Scion-Ex machina appears, i cant really see this ending well for anybody (but that would be too easy).
So, using an old Rpg trope: ” Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, the end”, ladys and gentlemen, what we have here is the old TPK, enjoy.
Indigo on March 5, 2013 at 01:25 said:
Well, I’ve enjoyed reading this so far. Too bad everyone is going to die…
Don’t worry, Tattletale hasn’t tried her plan yet!
The Sandman on March 5, 2013 at 01:29 said:
Don’t worry, folks, it can still get worse!
Assuming Scion is on his way, he could also get nommed.
I find it interesting that Leviathan knew enough about what Noelle could do that he was heading for her when he hit the city. I suppose that could be considered worst-case scenario number two.
Number three is that Noelle escapes, the Nine meet up with her, and they start feeding her cloned capes.
On the other hand, I’m wondering if Skitter is finally going to have (or finish having, as the case may be) her second trigger event. Especially if my current theory is right, in that her inability to coordinate and control anything that isn’t an arthropod is the Manton Effect variant that applies to her powers.
Jenna K. Moran on March 5, 2013 at 01:44 said:
In fairness, she seems to be pretty good at coordinating and controlling things that aren’t arthropods. Just, not telepathically! ^_^
Wow. Great chapter.
Which is one of those things that makes me suspicious about what her powers really are, actually. Her current ability to read people and situations just does not seem to mesh very well with the way she was so far down the social totem pole in school that she was waist-deep in bedrock; if nothing else, she would have been able to figure out how to simply remove herself from the stupid primate dominance games altogether.
The other thing is that, unless I’m badly misinterpreting trigger effects and their relationship to powers, gaining the power to Make Friends and Influence People seems a lot more likely as a response to Taylor’s pre-powers situation than the power to Be Aquaman, Except With Bugs. Her current main power, therefore, could be considered training wheels for her real power. When they finally come off…
It would be interesting for Skitter being the big gun for once and gaining a bigger reputation. But a big reputation can be both good and bad. On the one hand it will make ruling the city as the queen of the underworld much easier, on the other it will cause heroes to actively plan/prepare to take her out, and there will always be a cape looking to build a reputation for themselves by taking on the baddest thing on the block.
Alexandria’s strength and Legend’s lasers keep them from being caught (usually). Scion has both of those, probably more powerful, and more. If he gets nommed, I’ll eat my hat.
…Once I buy one.
Barring Scion dropping out of the sky to save the day, this really isn’t looking good. The Eidolon clones are manageable, if they’re sniped as soon as they’re created, but if she creates them en masse…? Yeah, this is going to go sour really quickly, especially as the clones are capable of cooperation. One of his weaknesses is that he can’t hold onto many powers at a time, limiting his potential for combination attacks… If two or three of him get powers that synergize well up to full strength, it’s game over.
Also, Wildbow, while this chapter was enjoyable, it’s very… dry. X happened, followed immediately by Y, then Z ensued shortly afterwards. There’s little description; obviously, that’s partially because of the absolutely huge number of characters participating in this fight, but there might be room for a little more flavor.
nomananisland on March 5, 2013 at 05:56 said:
I found that when Skitter was above the crowd on Atlas her narration was very third-person objective omniscient — and what you’re terming “dry” — and it made sense to me because she’s observing a ton of situations and trying to analyze them.
It got more emotional / tense / personal when she came down on the ground to help Weld and then sh*t hit the fan — and that made sense, because she was back in action. I like that this story can shift gears and does so in explicable, reasonable ways — whether it’s conversations, planning, vicious one on one action, or battlefield general analysis (and I mean in general and from the perspective of a General).
Agreed. One of the things people say about writing is that description should also act as characterization, and damned if it doesn’t here.
…wow, I just realized: Skitter has basically taken over Mission Control for the fight now that the armbands have been trashed. I wonder when people will start picking up on that and trying to pass information around via insect. Skitter’s basically the best battlefield communications they have right now.
I enjoyed the back to back badasses moment with Weld. One possibility with her dryness is thqt with her coordinating them from above, the heroes are now like less controllable bugs to her.
She is, after all, the Greek god of multitasking.
It’s not summer yet, so we automatically know they survive. Somehow. It just might be hard for us to imagine. The problem for Wildbow is that one of these days Skitter is going to be hogtied and strapped to a nuclear bomb on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean with no help coming whatsoever and then WB will have to find some way to write her out of that situation.
We already know she’ll survive. It’s just a matter of how much worse things will go until someone reverse the polarity of the phase drive and ricochets photon torpedoes off the aft shields.
At this point, Skitter can’t go to the bathroom without the toilet turning out to be an eldritch abomination with the power of exploding with the power of a million suns.
If she went to go rob a convenience store, the owner would turn out to be Scion.
If she so much as Jaywalked, the Triumvirate would throw out a kill order on her ass.
I bed Miss Militia would categorize her as an S class threat for picking her nose the wrong way. I mean, we all know nose picking technique is important, but let’s not get too anal about that sort of thing. Unless Miss Militia is into that sort of thing. The anal, not the nose picking.
And if anyone can make it “someone reverses” in the first comment, lowercase j for jaywalked in the second, and instead of power of exploding with the power of a million suns, lets go with “ability to explode with the power of a million suns.”
I take it you’re sticking with the plan to “bed Miss Militia” though right?
I gotta stick to my guns.
Dues on March 9, 2013 at 00:04 said:
Just be careful where she sticks hers.
Yeah, much as the high-octane action sequences are entertaining, it’d be nice to simply give Brockton Bay (and the readers’ nerves) a bit of respite. Chances to rebuild, let characters interact and go about their business, and so on…
Whether or not the story Wildbow has planned out will allow for that is another matter entirely, but Cauldron (assuming they make it out of this with the Triumvirate intact) will be in damage control mode for a while.
Yeah, I figure I’ll chill out for a bit after this.
Call it poor planning, whatever. I had a bunch of story threads in mind as I entered into writing the story, and this was one of them. Only thing was, the situation and how it actually played out in tempo & consistent tension wasn’t so carefully arranged.
But introduction of new main character & changes to setting should allow for a few calmer moments in the next few arcs.
I’m kidding. (Maybe).
Fake Name on March 5, 2013 at 15:28 said:
I hope you allow for more dialogue and interaction between the heroes and villains after this, especially in a less “holy shit we’re all gonna die” mood.
Anyways, I found out about your story fairly recently, and ended up reading all of it over the course of a few days. I put IRL stuff on hold for it. Took a huge chunk of time, and I loved every minute of it.
Out of curiosity, do you have an ending planned? I’m wondering how much longer this story will go on. Or do you plan to just keep writing until you get bored?
Anyways, thanks for writing. I’ll be making a donation soon (though not under the email I used here).
Ending is planned. Tentative ETA of fall/winter 2013.
alexanderthesoso on March 5, 2013 at 16:17 said:
I’m kinda hoping for some settling down, some fun stuff in the next book as well. my OWN nerves have been on edge reading the last few chapters in a go.
Alathon on March 5, 2013 at 18:30 said:
For what it’s worth, I liked the overall effect.. it’s like the Undersiders went to S-rank boot camp, learned how to function against that level of opposition before some of ’em even learned to drive. Those who toughed it out have shared hardships. There’s also a lot of canvas to work with as a result of the evacuations, the big villain groups having been driven out, and the eradication of the Merchants by the NIne.
That last one in particular is big.. they killed a whole lot of people like Yan and Sugita, and it’d be interesting to see how Brockton Bay functions in the long run as a result. At the very least, it gives people like Sierra breathing room while they try to pick up the pieces.
A never-ending stream of world-class threats would surely get old, but a few strung together hasn’t seemed unreasonable to me.
I’m with Alathon for the most part, but it still feels like some more padding would be good.
I suppose the ages and time frame limit that but it still feels a little breathless.
As a serial it’s one thing but I kinda wonder if reading all this as large novel chunks would feel too high adrenaline. There aren’t very many places to take a breath for more then a chapter or so, it kind of gives the feeling of constant reaching the climax of an arc after a while. I suppose that’s perhaps in the nature of a serial’s writing style…
And so Skitter defeats the evil exploding toilet monster and takes a dump. Uh oh, turns out she somehow dumped a load that will unleash radioactive superflu into the water supply. And when she gets that defeated, she has cancer from the radiation. It makes her ugly. Real ugly. Bruce Campbell grabs an axe ugly. So she tries to go to the hospital. Her phone call to them somehow causes a faulty wire to interact with several tanks of oxygen and the hospital explodes. Heroes respond and recognize her, so they call in the big guns to attack her for destroying the hospital.
Well I am interested in future story lines in how the Undersiders will exactly rule the city. Taylor will have to balance things, try to help people/build up her organization, and defend against intruding capes as the Queen of the Underworld. Then there is her relationship with Grue, Tattletale’s past, the fact that Heartbreaker has a tag, her reunion with her bullies, Cauldron’s inevitable attack, a talk with Dragon, a new Endbringer attack, and the PRT dealing with the fallout of Coil, Cauldron, and Noelle. I would LOVE seeing Skitter either gain or becoming an Arch Enemy to someone. A hero is defined by their villains after all. I thought Triumph would consider her an arch enemy for what she did to him and his family but he seems to not hold her any ill will, Shadowstalker can’t get near the city without ending up Regent’s puppet, and Armsmaster will be out fighting the 9 for the foreseeable future. I’m kind of hoping Mannequin pulls a comicbook resurrection and becomes her true nemesis.
I still want to deal with the fucking bitch who bullied her. And I don’t throw that word around lightly. Just when referring to Bitch, or female dogs, or bitches.
That would make for an interesting storyline if one of the Bullies found out her true identity and she had to kidnap/imprison her to keep her secret from falling out. It would force her into a dark mirror of Coil and be similar to Breaking Bad. She can’t let her go, but she can’t bring herself to kill her and cross that line.
Hmm, she’d probably make with the threats, at this point in time. She’s quite good at exploiting her reputation to manipulate others. Honestly, though, how much of a blow would exposing her name/face be? She isn’t Taylor anymore, not really. It’d just limit her options for the future, as she’s currently Skitter full-time.
Potential Storyline right there. Will she ever decide to go back to school? Will she keep her Taylor persona only for her dad?
She’s developing an Armsmaster-esque mindset of being willing to make sacrifices to achieve the greatest good, for the greatest number. Her Taylor persona is ineffectual, an effective non-entity in the greater scheme of things. She’ll probably keep on going as Skitter because of the responsibility she feels towards the people of her territory/the city at large.
Someguy on March 5, 2013 at 05:52 said:
If Skitter ever gets her Secret ID outed, I really want it to be shown during an Interlude from Emma’s perspective, the look on her face would be priceless.
I think I know why Triumph doesn’t hold a grudge against Skitter.
1. He’s a goddamn badass.
2. He repudiated his past as a vindictive little brat.
3. Skitter did her level best to stop Trickster when he was going over the line.
4. When Skitter used the epi-pen, she apologized to him personally and admitted culpability for his pain.
Whatever Weld and Clockblocker thought, I think Triumph knew that Skitter IDed him during the fight, not before (“Ursa or Prism”, gentlebeings?). As he saw it, she basically played by the rules (point 3), and if he almost died, well, that was something he accepted a long time ago as a consequence of volunteering (points 1 and 2). Which means that the way she acknowledged it (point 4) indicates that Skitter is absolutely the kind of villain that heroes would prefer to have controlling territory: one with a moral compass that will stop them from committing atrocities.
Oh, we learned he was a decent man and hero in his interlude. But all the reasons you list are reasons why he wouldn’t work as an arch enemy. I really think she needs a true arch nemesis. Joker had the Batman, Superman has Lex Luthor, Spiderman arguably has the green goblin. Someone who she personally has a hatred for or who personally hates her. Mannequin would have worked, he seemed to really want to kill her. The ideal would probably be a hero that is far from heroic/has a good reputation, is a good counter to her bugs, and who has a personal hate on for Skitter. Shadowstalker might have another trigger event or find a way to negate Regent’s control, Trickster will do anything possible to take revenge on whoever takes down Noelle, and Jack said he wouldn’t be surprised if Mannequin somehow survived. On a lighter note, I do find it kind of funny that the Undersiders are probably considered the arch enemies of the Wards now.
A big thank-you to Aaron for his donation.
That rounds off the benchmark, and I’ve put another chapter on the to-do list. Woohoo!
Quick survey: what music do you guys associate with Worm? I just reread the chapter playing Fired Earth Music- Man of Steel Remix (Epic Dramatic Dubstep).
If it was just this particular chapter, I’m sure I could find some nice epic music for it. However, the song I most associate with Worm is a short little ditty by Dream Theatre called “Misunderstood”
I was listening to the Rush album Snakes and Arrows alot when I first started reading, so there’s a bit of a connection for me. Come back to me after checking it out and try to tell me it’s not a bit fitting.
I read this chapter listening to Rules of Nature from the Metal Gear Rising soundtrack. Makes me wish someone would cut Noelle in half.
Heh, I totally hear La Villa Strangiata when Skitter is collecting her bugs, or when she’s making costumes.
goodol'Vorbis on March 5, 2013 at 08:04 said:
2 steps from hell, i think i listened to the Invincible album as I read the Leviathan Arc, and it was badass
That group was my idea for the epic music. Can find them on youtube, along with similar bands.
Action-wise, put on Coheed & Cambria’s “Welcome Home” when she starts to land. For Weld alone, “The Metal” by Tenacious D.
Maybe a little AC/DC? I could see “Big Balls” as Regent’s theme music.
Curtis on March 5, 2013 at 10:02 said:
This is currently what I listen to while reading Worm. Mostly because there is a fight scene going on right now. I don’t read super fast either so a playlist like this is ideal.
And as far as I’m concerned the song at 43:07 (Gloves Off by Sencit Music) is the current Worm “season” theme.
Hobbes on March 5, 2013 at 17:23 said:
I’ve thought about making a kind of “textual trailer” for Worm set to music, but I don’t really have the time. I think each “act” of Worm has a different tone, but for whatever reason (maybe because it’s a good mix of light and dark), I keep I’ve I’ve thought about making a kind of “textual trailer” for Worm set to music, but I don’t really have the time. I think each “act” of Worm has a different tone, but for whatever reason (maybe because it’s a good mix of light and dark), I keep coming back to “Mechanics,” by Juan Deuce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpebybhrdj8
If I knew how to play piano or compose music, I think it’d be really cool for Tattletale–and the other characters, I suppose–to have her own piano theme.
It would operate in sync with her dot-connecting. One power-induced revelation would be a high, lingering note. Gradually, the high, trilling notes would cluster together, mimicking a child’s laughter. From there, as Tattletale used her power more, the score would grow more dense, incorporating complex intervals and lowering in pitch. Perhaps a piano version of “Take a Bow” (by Muse, not Rihanna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ph73RFMHKo) could be interpolated in some way, albeit with variations. Same general tone, though.
The cool thing about this, is that it can be cut off or grow discordant if Tattletale is interrupted while going “full steam ahead,” e.g. by Jack Slash or Miss Militia. It would hopefully convey a sense of abandon and loss of control at points, to symbolize that Tattletale is herself drawn along by her compulsion to “tell.”
I haven’t thought much about other characters’ themes (namely because I don’t have much musical ability), but Grue’s theme could be some kind of noise jam composed for the cello, with some words with the bass turned up in the background (i.e. so it almost sounds like they’re underwater).
On a lighter note, here’s Regent walking through Brockton Bay, using his powers to cause slapstick comedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Lf_1y7rYE
I may just have to attempt this…
Let me know if you do and want a sounding board. I have a bunch of ideas re: score, but no ability to see them through.
Or I could just post them here, duh.
Tattletale’s opening piano could be an up-tempo piano version of the violins in Mozart’s Lacrimosa (at the very beginning, when the singers start)…I think the word I’m thinking of is arpeggios, but less peppy and more sinister and Tattletale-like.
Then add in the hip-hop style sampling of something like Muse, or even just a straight up El-P instrumental. I think El-P and Worm have similar aesthetics, sometimes. Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypVVbJqxmEs
Weld, kidnapped by Cauldron (my theory: he’s an alternate Brian who didn’t trigger and made some bad choices before getting duped), from his junkyard womb untimely ripped…
Well, immediately after my last post I sat and began writing, an hour or so later I was very unhappy with the progress, it being completely different to what I’d intended. Here’s what I had in mind;
Piano up high in A Major, ditty sort of job, slow and descending with increasing pace before an arpeggio alternating between A, f# and E (in that order) in a gradually ascending pattern with increasing swell of strings, abrupt halt in A with a minor seventh – perhaps in horns – for a disruption
Pacy re-opening in strings for a bar or two when BAM, piano and drums (electronic, I dunno..?) Fulfilling cadences, leading to a short double time part, and end.
I think the part I went wrong with was that I did it all in Major. Didn’t sound sinister enough. I’ll try again, and what I’ve got now can be reserved for some time I need a happy sounding sad song.
Actually for Grue I have a half finished tune that (with some alterations) could fit the part nicely, more on that later.
My really big question is, hat kind of theme does Skitter get? Her character shows so many facets that, to show them all in one go would be a Noelle shaped mess, no single song can be THAT diverse.
I can’t really visualize music from notes, as I have no training, but I was thinking she’d have an “intro villain theme,” for when she’s just starting out. That one can be almost peppy, considering she’s also riding the high of having actual friends.
Then, there can be a dark reprise for things like the S9 and so on. Skitter and Taylor can also have separate themes, which allows for more variety.
Seeing as the character ‘Skitter’ develops gradually over the course of the story, in contrast to most other characters who don’t change as much, I think Skitters’ theme would best be a cycle of several songs, that are closely tied to the themes of the story arcs. It is, after all, Skitter’s story.
I’ll try to keep from dropping too much on y’all at once.
Leviathan’s Theme (Beware, may cause rampant headbanging): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhmO6NuFMRo
And Simurgh’s Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyhrYis509A
Although if that’s too horrible and you want something more on the beautiful side, there’s this Song of Simurgh (no really, check this one out for one moment of perfect beauty): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIHgslKtouk
The endbringers, seeing what they are, should in my opinion get a horror soundtrack.
Simurgh: She needs some way to represent her singing, perhaps with, at first, a flute, which then shifts to a soprano or choir of sopranos. The witch’s theme from Left 4 Dead might be good inspiration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxMn37ukUt4). It should also slowly climax over the course of the song, to represent the steadily worsening mindrape. Also, in the later parts it should sometimes very suddenly be interrupted by sad and quiet parts, perhaps on piano, only to just as suddenly snap back, to represent the flashbacks.
Leviathan: Heavy metal. Add to that thunder from drums, and some way to represent the sea and the rainstorm, perhaps similar to the above idea for Grue’s theme, to give the whole thing a cold, wet, and drowning athmosphere.
Behemoth: Well, not much I can really say there, seeing as we haven’t seen much of him. Also heavy metal, but more on the death metal side to represent the overwhelming force he brings to bear?
The song I posted as Leviathan’s Theme should fit your requirements for it aside from the thunder. The problem with too much emphasis on the storm is that you run the risk going into sky god territory. You need more Poseidon and less Zeus.
Ok, ok, I’m stopping. I just think this one works for Noelle, particularly in this chapter when she pops back into the fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Fad9yJN_o
I’d also suggest Bonesaw get’s Animal Collective’s “Who Could Win a Rabbit”, but that fight’s between her and HABIT.
Generally speaking, Arkasia and dubstep of their style. Though I was listening to the Daft Punk tron soundtrack at the start of 8.1 so I totally remember the lead-up to the Leviathan fight set to Daft Punk – C.L.U.
“Out there is our destiny!” Cauldron’s announcement to evac to another Earth.
Kim on March 6, 2013 at 13:55 said:
Memorandoom.
Not just the name… the flavor.
Trevor on June 3, 2013 at 00:43 said:
http://miracleofsound.bandcamp.com/track/the-savage-side-of-me
Written about Tomb Raider 2013, but dammit, it fits Taylor so well.
Somehow,this seems to fit Worm as a whole…Edgar Allan Poe’s poem,song version,fits really well
Undead-Spaceman on March 5, 2013 at 04:58 said:
I’m I the only person who seems to have noticed that Skitter didn’t put her mask back on after the Shatterbird attack? There was no mention of her doing so unless that’s a mistake by Wildbow, than Skitter’s been running around for about half a chapter completely unmasked around the hero’s.
Fans on March 5, 2013 at 05:34 said:
They’ve already seen her face thanks to the Skitter clones, so it doesn’t really matter much anymore.
Considering that she has now seen Alexandria’s face I guess the quid-pro-quo deal regarding secret identities that was offered when she unmasked shadow stalker could apply here.
Also keep in mind that except for the heroes who have photographic memory no one will be able to actually do anything with having seen her face. Taylor is not some world famous millionaire that everyone would recognize if unmaked. Shadow Stalker is probably the only cape who would be able to capitalize on having seen her face.
Alternatives such as taking a picture or an electronic record to later sent it through a facial recognition database are out thanks to Shatterbird.
Short of someone liek alexadria deciding to browse through yearbooks from local highschools later Taylor’s secret should be reasonably safe.
I noticed.. I figure it just doesn’t rate, everything’s gone to hell. Afterwards though? There’s gonna be some serious trust issues to resolve… the several dozen busted secret identities will be one of ’em.
Well, unmasked and covered with bugs.
Okay, there is only one option left.
Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann.
Let’s see Echidna beat that!
Eldan on March 5, 2013 at 10:37 said:
And then minutes later, they are fighting sixty clones of Simon.
Not a problem, all the Simon clones would still be good.
“Believe in the bee that believes in you!”
“Not the you that believes in the Bee that believes in you. Not the Bee that believes in you. Believe in the you that believes in you!”
“This is the regurgitated slurry of biological material and cloned heroes that will pierce the wall between dimensions!”
Would that mean sixty spirit Kamina’s would pop out, each to bitchslap one evil Simon clone and tell them to be good?
Hm. Yeah,
Though the longer I think about it…. they wouldn’t kill Echidna. They would teach Noelle the power of believing in herself and then make her fight on their side.
Spoiler warning for this comment
I recall the creators stating that Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann itself was Kamina come back to life for a time. As well as confirmation that had Yoko not arrived he would have won that fight at the start of the series with just his sword. So certainly he could handle a little beating sense into his little bro.
Exactly, she too is a Spiral Being! Heck, the power of evolution is gonna be super charged in that body of hers. A little concussive motivational intervention and she’ll be kicking arse for the good…well goodish. I mean good intentions at least. XD
Realised right after posting that that post CONTAINED A MAJOR SPOILER!
Wildbow if you could delete it or stick a spoiler warning at the top or something.
I am really sorry if I spoiled it for someone, wasn’t thinking.
Bobby on March 5, 2013 at 05:44 said:
Well that turned out well.
They sent duplicators to fight THE duplicator, that’s Government efficiency & military intelligence for you.
The sheer idiocy of the PRT continues to surprise me. They should have gathered/used only Tinker based heroes, those that are immune to her absorbing, and masters that can have their minions fight her from a safe distance. She beat Eidolon, so I would have insured that certain heroes would have been nowhere near the city.
Truthseeker on March 5, 2013 at 12:56 said:
Well, if they had gone with the all-Tinker force it would’ve been decisively over at Shatterbird’s call instead of “just” kicked into oh-crap mode. Just sayin’.
Good point. I guess having the rest of the heroes in reserve would have been smarter.
Assuming Kudzu was among the first heroes absorbed, she wasn’t anywhere near the place they thought Echidna was going to surface and the fact that she was taken is really bad luck. Presumably, the plan was for her to stay away from the direct fighting and deal with clones/rescue/whatever. In hindsight (and you know what they say about hindsight), not the most safe plan ever, but I certainly wouldn’t call it “idiocy”. Especially considering that whoever made the call was under the mistaken impression that the situation was less severe that it actually was, thanks to meddling.
I realize that hating on the PRT is the trendy thing here in the comments, but geez, people, give them a chance.
Fiona on March 5, 2013 at 16:35 said:
The only ones who should have been fighting her are Dragon, Armsmaster, and their creations. That they are off preoccupied with the Nine, might be the way Jack brings disaster on the world through leaving Brockton Bay.
soulpelt on March 5, 2013 at 08:27 said:
Welll…..they’re fucked. If I was them I’d teleport out, nuke the area several times and say it was for the greater good.
Great chapter, though. My God My heart is pounding just from reading it.
I’m not sure a nuke would kill Echidna, she’s fast enough to get away from ground zero and her durability combined with a healing factor might allow her to survive. I know it wouldn’t kill Alexandria or Eidolon, and Eidolon’s clone in particular could probably stop it from detonating in the first place.
My bugs identified the grue on the far side, and with a moment to get arranged, they connected the ends of cords.
“grue” should be capitalized?
Um the Muse on March 5, 2013 at 10:45 said:
tracing it’s path –> tracing its path
One of the team leaders [point] them in the right direction, Echnidna’s Grue hit them again. –> right direction but Echnidna’s Grue hit them again.
against it’s back –> against its back
It’s good to see Skitter back in action again 🙂
This chapter brought home to me a point about the morality of Skitter’s point of view. I’ve given her a free pass on a bunch of her actions, but you could say the same thing about Noelle and her situation. She must feel that the entire world is against her, basically. I wonder if Noelle is actually in more control than the characters assume.
alexander hollins on March 5, 2013 at 12:56 said:
Phew. Just finished going through the archives in the past few days. Didn’t read all the comments, so I might be doubling up, but I could see SKITTER being the end of the world. She’s already mused on the outnumbering of bugs to people, and everyone she holds dear dying, captured and going through a second trigger… I could see her going nutbars and making all the bugs in the world start hunting humans. God, I hope she never sees Lennigan vs the ants.
STH on March 5, 2013 at 13:51 said:
Velcome to ze party dahling!
Chaamed, I’m sure. Wich way to the punch boll?
Just as a warning: In Wormverse, bowl punches YOU!
And then it turns out to have been sleeping with your spouse, indirectly giving you a horrible disease that renders you infertile while making your nipples really hard and really pointy and really sensitive all the time just before you take part in a marathon.
Noelle put Skitter, Eidolon and Grue all in the same category as people whose smell is as different from normal capes as the smell of a normal cape is different from normal people. That heavily implies they all had two trigger events already.
I suppose it could, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense given that Eidolon is a Cauldron parahuman.
My thought as well. At first I thought that she was smelling trigger versus bottle, but Eidolon is a bottle. UNLESS… we assume that a bottle hero CANT have a trigger event? What if he HAS, but his cauldron powers are in the way? What if his powers are fading because of that, and the booster shots are interfering. What if his actual triggered power will activate once his bottle powers fade entirely?
Legend mentions in this interlude that each of them had been in situations where they should have had trigger events, but didn’t. He might be lying, but still… It seems more probable that the parallels Eidolon draws power from are slowly approaching heat death.
Or perhaps, with the steadily increasing numbers of parahumans, he is actually losing connections to the worlds which he draws power from. His powers so far as I have seen can be defined as, anything that we haven’t seen other parahumans do. Therefore I believe that he is draining power from unused or unclaimed universes. It would certainly explain dark matter in our universe.
If this is true, and he wants his powers back, he will have to go on a rampage. I personally would rather have Eidolon responsible for the end of the world than Theo. So I am placing my bets on a combination of endbringer assaults, Eidolon or some combination of the two.
I like MrVoid’s thoughts. Also isn’t the scent just her smelling particularly strong passengers. The ones that handle a large amount of stuff (Grue and Eidolin’s ability to copy powers, the latter’s natural knowledge of and skill with them, Taylor’s database of info, multitasking and her bugs surprising independent reasoning) seem to be more potent.
Saintsant, well, not everyone gets one. and most of it is forgotten, remember? So whats to say Eidolon didn’t have one, say fighting an endbringer for the first time?
Welcome to the comments section, land of the doomed. You might need some brain bleach if you stay for any length of fime. Or a few callouses on your sense of humor. Beware, for below the story itself lies madness.
Nah, I don’t think Skitter is our Worldender. Just a girl who likes to cover herself with bugs. Get so used to it, she’ll do it in her sleep. Not going to be fun for Grue to wake up to. New meaning to the word cockroach.
Yeah, but imagine the hand jobs. Buzzing bugs for extra vibration?
Oh, and you all FAIL for your bad jokes. I just mentioned on the comments for the chapter that ends with Skitter and Grue having sex, no one used the line, It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Noelle Meinhardt? I’d be hardt too if I was eating Skitter and Alexandria in public.
slow clap
Sounds like a delayed-reaction STD.
“I had cords pre-prepared.”
That doesn’t quite sit right. ‘Prepared’ already implies ‘having been done.’ The extra pre- is just, what’s the word? Redundant?
“Oh look Honey, Echidna’s been duplicated and has just captured Alexandria and Eidolon!” Dearest managed to retain her voice’s charming lilt even as she raised her volume to be heard over the hum of the vacuum cleaner.
“Of course Dearest,” Honey grunted around his finely crafted pipe, “This is Worm. Nothing ever gets better.” He leaned forward in his sensible but comfortable chair and took his pipe in hand. “It’s the fault of those Communists in the White House!” he said, punctuating his exclamation with jabs of the pipe toward the television.
Winny didn’t know what Honey and Dearest were talking about, but she stepped outside to grab the morning paper in her teeth all the same.
Jguy on March 5, 2013 at 17:17 said:
This is a bit out of left field but I didn’t know where to put it. In the comments during the Leviathan fight, you stated that Leviathan wasn’t considered a Brute 10, despite his incredible toughness. With the imprisonment of Lung, he was classified as capable of going up to Brute 9 on the scale. Does this mean that Lung has the potential in a drawn out fight to be as strong and as durable as Leviathan?
In terms of sheer physical power and durability, yes.
Dear. Lord. At this point, I shudder to think what a Brute 10 is. Sc(z)ion is only one I can think of. Perhaps Noelle here but she doesn’t seem outright tougher than Leviathan.
Behemoth/Hadhayosh is a ten.
Ah yes, forgot about him. Know I am picturing a 3 story dragon-Lung arm-wrestling Leviathan with steam pouring out everywhere.
Leviathan would still hand him his ass, though. He can’t even begin to match up to him in the speed department; this also assumes Lung would even survive long enough to reach full power.
Well we’ve seen that Lung’s pyrokinesis and regeneration increase with his power, so who is to say that a fully powered Lung couldn’t make fire so hot that it would remove Leviathan’s water shadow. This is assuming Lung gets fully powered otherwise there is no point in discussing this. Also, lung can fly.
The sticking point with the Endbringers is that they bend physics to the breaking point to achieve invulnerability. Lung can be gibbed if you hit him harm enough and fast enough. Leviathan would probably find a way to come back even if you hit him with an asteroid or something. The Endbringers have survived nukes after all.
Thing is, at that point, I think Lung could do the same. Wildbow just said “In terms of sheer physical power and durability, yes.” Now what it would -take- to reach that point is up to the author himself.
Another random comment to Mr. Wildbow. I’m trying to give a good general scale of what a ranked 1 power would be for my game. Would someone with just Brute 1 be on par or above an Olympic Weightlifter or Pro-boxer in terms or strength?
Ranked 1 powers mentioned thus far include Shadow Stalker and Brandish (Mover 1 and Shifter 1, respectively).
For Shadow Stalker, that’s the ability to float or jump a good distance (12-15 feet from a standing position). Somewhat more versatile than an olympic athlete might be able to maintain.
For Brandish, it’s the ability to become an immobile, nigh-invulnerable sphere.
Ah, okay. So Ranked 1 powers could be considered either marginally super human, like the ability to jump10 – 15 feet while standing still, or are not very versatile in their use, like only being able to change into a immoble, nigh-invulnerable sphere.
Keep in mind that the classifications originally were used to determine threat level. It’s very possible to have a dramatic power with a very low power level, or a very simple/minor power that would be biased toward a higher classification.
I probably should not have used examples that include physical capabilities since those are easily seen/quantified I.E Brute 1 can lift this much, Brute 2 can lift this ect ect.
This is an excerpt from what I’ve wrote up so far on Rankings:
“Rankings are not hard and fast rules, but a scale on which to judge the power, versatility, and utility of a power. Someone whose power involves controlling paper who only uses it to make knife sharp paper throwing-knives would get a ranking of 1 or 2 of Blaster or Striker. If that same person got creative and realized they could make a paper dragon the size and strength of a real one would have their ranking bumped up to 5 or 6 and have Master included in the ranking.”
This is a very good way to put it J. Especially since the lowest rank cape, in terms of cumulative rank, is Skidmark with shaker 2. His creativity was probably burned off by all of hte meth that he used. His abilities however, making what were essentially repulsor shields as far as I can tell, could have been used for so much more.
Heh. A meth addict rated a shaker.
Mr. Wildbow, you expressed interest in see what I came up for my game using your world. I have the GM side of it done on Microsoft Word and I’d like to send it to you. Do you have an email address I can send it to?
I’ll send you an email and you can reply back. (My contact info’s on the donation page on the bottom, though).
I pose a question to those of you who have sailed the distant seas of the internet. Could Noelle/Echidna be stopped by the SCP foundation?
Possibly. I have not memorized every item on it but isn’t one possibly God and another Caine? Think they might be able to stop her.
The containment procedures would be similar to SCP-682, I think. The added caveat is that no decomissions could be attempted that expose her to other living beings.
At the very least, they could just stick her in a room with SCP-447 and a dead body. And stick the room in another galaxy.
Thing is, I wonder if their focus on violence first, inhuman cruelty later would make the SCP foundation even worse at dealing with her then the heroes.
Hey, don’t you dare get their priorities mixed up. It’s inhuman cruelty first, then violence.
Better yet, we just need SCP-666-J. Get Dr. Gerald in here, ASAP!
http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-666-j
Of course, they’d want to contain Skitter in the J section thanks to another one: http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-006-j
Imp really reminds me of SCP-055.
Which means Imp is not like 055.
eduardo on March 5, 2013 at 20:54 said:
Ok, I think that Murphy’s laws are natural laws in the world of worm.
A corolary of the first law of Murphy is that:
Nothing is so bad that it can’t get worse.
UnlikelyLass on March 6, 2013 at 01:33 said:
I’m not really worried about what’s going to happen next. I get the sense, after everything that she’s been thought, that things are going to be mostly okay, at least for her.
I mean, she’s had her back broken AND been blinded AND been sucked up by Echidna AND had her ability to remember people removed AND been trapped in a burning house surrounded by men armed with machine guns AND faced down Leviathan armed with a (high-tech) spear AND took out a Dragon armor single handed.
Yes, this situation is bad. But what I’m left wondering isn’t ‘is she going to make it?’, it’s ‘HOW will she make it?’
Taylor’s ability to not just improvise, but coordinate VERY complicated multi-step plans almost unconsciously, her situational awareness, and her ability to read people and situations all make her not just a survivor, but a constantly surprising one.
She is a moderately athletic high school girl who can ‘control bugs’.
But really, that’s shorthand for what she can really do.
She has a swarm sense. This allows her to both sense the position of all the bugs in her range, but also allows her at least some access to the specific senses of each of those bugs. She can more or less unconsciously map these disparate senses into a near complete omnidirectional awareness of her surroundings — giving her a functional replacement for vision to a point that people in close contact with her didn’t notice she was blind.
She has a limited range, but as near as we can tell, she has no upper limit on how many bugs she can interface inside that range.
She can use her awareness and control of her bugs as a way of distracting herself from the sensations of her body — sufficient to continue functioning with pain and impairment such that someone else with identical injuries required two people to assist them in moving around poorly.
And when she was dosed with a drug that paralyzes you and disrupts the bit of your brain that controls powers, her powers still worked.
It’s almost like her body is, on some level, already just one more but that’s getting controlled…
All of which is a long-winded way of saying I’m really looking forward to what crazy combination of plans and events Wildbow will use to get everyone out of the current mess, and what the new status quo will be afterwards…
…You just helped me put my finger on why Noelle thought Skitter’s smell was so much stronger than most – I think what Noelle detects is the strength of the *passenger!*
People like the Chicago Wards, their passengers don’t need to do much at all because they’re dealing with single, simple powers — enhanced coordination for Grace, whatever targeting assistance Raymancer gets, creating the geology maps for Tecton — but Grue’s passenger needs to be able to help him with *any* power … as does Eidolon’s. They need a breadth and flexibility that puts them in an entirely different category of complexity.
And Skitter’s passenger controls *all the insects*. All of them. Simultaneously and independently. Just off the top of my head, I’d call that *more* work than Grue or Eidolon.
That’s always been my assumption, too — what Taylor is doing is an enormous amount of work *behind the scenes*. I mean, just the making a swarm of bugs buzz in a way that emulates human speech is really complicated. She does it almost unthinkingly.
The person whose powers are most similar to Skitter’s is Regent, I think. Except where she’s interfacing with and overriding thousands of simple nervous systems, Regent is interfacing with a small number of really complicated ones. It takes him a long time — hours — to really get a hold of someone, and it’s an active learning process for him.
Skitter, on the other hand, instinctively just interfaces with her bugs as an extension of her own body, with no more thought than moving her arm.
Sometimes it seems like it’s even *less* effort than moving her own arm….
I think I’ve said it before, but a viable alternate name for her would be ‘Cockroach’.
Admittedly, yes, but remember that she was named by the heroes.
“Maggot? Worm?” Browbeat offered, “Stick her with a crappy name?”
“We don’t want to do that,” Clockblocker sighed, “Maybe if we’d won, we could get away with it, but it doesn’t look so good if the press reports that we got our asses kicked by someone called maggot.”
Cockroach has a lot of the same problems as Maggot when you look at it from their perspective.
She could develop an Hispanic accent and call herself La Cucaracha.
Wear some semi-regal stuff in red and black and call herself Lady Bug.
Cockroaches are renowned for their durability.
Does this mean we get to call the TaylorXClockblocker ship “Clockroach”?
slider214 on February 26, 2018 at 14:48 said:
I believe that’s one of the preferred names for that ship yes lol.
While I fully support that ship, my heart always goes for Lisa/Taylor.
Yog on March 6, 2013 at 01:36 said:
Well, one thing for certain, even if they get out of it relatively ok, the political sh*tstorm will be enormous. PRT has just been outed for illegal experimentation on people (and there will be people coming out of woodwork claiming, truthfully, to have been abducted by Cauldron), withholding strategically vital information relevant to the survival of mankind (super formula’s existence), aiding and abeiting a fugitive on an international kill-list (Assault may well come forward with “they wanted to let Shatterbird and Siberian to go free”), abuse of power (Alexandria being the director of PRT in her civilian persona).
If Cauldron is American-based, then America will face total embargo / huge political crisis on an international stage.
Heroes are going to start asking questions and, after this, are very unlikely to believe a word of what Alexandria or Eidolion or Legend says, especially if clones start talking right now.
We may well be seeing the end of PRT.
And then Simurgh cracks birdcage open releasing all the inmates.
Actually, Legend pinned the whole ‘human experimentation’ on Manton. Whether or not that’ll stick, especially if Tattletale lives through this, is another matter entirely.
He did, yes, but I don’t think many people will buy it. not after Alexandria being revealed as PRT director (which is a huge breach of protocol and an indication of an inherent corruption). Not after people will come forward (and they will) telling about how no, it wasn’t just one Manton. Not after the experiments will continue after Manton is dead. Not after the Cauldron is forced to go public.
PRT has problems right now. Tons of them. I don’t see Alexandria not stepping down in disgrace. Possibly going to Birdcage. Or there’ll be riots / schism within the organization.
You forget that this is Worm, with a powerful enought PR Machine, an army of lawers, money to buy the politicians, judges, engage in embracery, jury tampering, witness intimidation/tampering not to mention with Contessa and other Cauldron pawns running around to silence detractors, not only will they definately will get away with it, they’ll come out as living Saints in the process.
Wouldn’t be surprised if they had Vought-America’s reach from The Boys, complete with a man of their own in the White House.
Yeah, Wildbow, I would have read a good chunk of The Boys.
Given the circumstances, the only people they can snow are the norms, and they don’t really matter anymore. The capes know what’s up now, like.. fifty or more of them. Word gets around, there’s no way to shut it down sort of liquidating most of the Protectorate. Which Cauldron might consider, but I suspect they’d rather just do some sort of managed release of info, and take their ire out on Legend and the Undersiders.
The big problem is that the explanation that it was Manton doesn’t withstand even moderate scrutiny. Siberian was active simultaneously with Case 53s appearing very far away.
Except he didn’t say Manton was responsible for the case 53s. He said Manton stole some serum samples and those samples somehow got into the hands of the unknown person responsible for the case 53s. An unknown person who might be dead, might have run out of samples, or whatever, but, conveniently, will never be found. That’s actually a pretty good cover story because it’s more or less impossible to disprove (especially with Manton dead).
Thanks go out to Tim for his donation
And a similar thank-you goes out to Hans (with a reminder to self to update the counter when I have access to my regular PC again).
Kat. on March 8, 2013 at 17:18 said:
I have no idea if anyone has speculated this before me (there are a LOT of comments throughout this thing) and it’s probably been disproved already but-
What would happen if Noelle swallowed Newter? I mean, I suppose she knows what he is, and would smartly not eat him, unless she thinks she’s more invincible than she is. On the other hand, if she could withstand his potency, it would be great arsenal to give herself some of his effects. Or a devastating set of clones.
Still, I think it’d be kind of great if he was like a suicide pill that she could take.
It’d probably affect her, at least temporarily. Noelle doesn’t seem to have much actual ability to resist damage; she’s just big, and heals really fast. Due to the aforementioned size, it might not work well, and she’d probably shake of the symptoms and spit him out quickly. It’s worth a shot if Skitter can convince Newter to be devoured by Noelle.
Well, even a little dab did for Lung- but that was in his eye, right next to his brain.
Man.. after all this fighting, it’s gonna be really obvious to the Wards and Protectorate just how much Skitter has been softballing them. No burrowing into their eyes or through their ear drums, no digging for arteries or veins, no getting in through wounds to consume them from the inside out. Sticking to non-lethal poisons on her bugs when she could easily spread lethal poisons or diseases.
As well, they’re gonna have an idea of just how much Skitter brings to the table in in terms of battlefield awareness and control.
A few chapters back Miss Militia when says to Skitter “you guys don’t pull any punches”, I kind of figured Skitter would correct her, but she never did.
While it would be nice to get credit for having held back, in that particular situation she’d probably lose more than she gained by making clear just exactly how dangerous she really is.
Unless my memory fails me, Miss Militia once said something to the effect of “you don’t kill people, but apart from that you don’t have a lot of limits”. So, yeah, Skitter pulls her punch in the sense that she doesn’t use lethal force, but that’s true for MOST capes, to the point that it’s pretty much what’s expected unless specifically noted otherwise. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth noting that she’s pretty ruthless, and it doesn’t mean Miss Militia doesn’t realize Skitter could be worse than she is.
My point being, you don’t get credit when you follow the rules, you just get treated worse if you don’t. People who aren’t psychopathic monsters don’t need to be patted on the back because they DON’T kill people horribly, even if it would be easier for them to do so. Not killing is just kinda the norm. And people who ARE psychopathic monster, well… they’re dealt with accordingly.
Bugs are really good vectors for disease too. Bonesaw’s plague was obvious (though she could almost certainly do “de sottle”) but Skitter could have half the city infected with HIV in a week without anyone knowing for a LONG time.
…That may just be terrifying enough to classify her as a potential S-Class threat.
205 comments? Wow! I don’t recall seeing any of the earlier chapters with 200+ comments on them. I’m hoping this means that readership has picked up quite a bit and the word’s starting to get out about how awesome this series is!
Only chapter that beats this one for most commented is 15.9.
Word’s definitely getting out some. Just this past Tuesday, record views for a single day (5,795, up from past record of 4,711) and for most unique views in one day (1081, up from 980 the week before).
Past few weeks have seen huge increases to numbers. In terms of average daily views, it was…
Jan28th to Feb3 – 2569
Feb4 to Feb10 – 2632 (up 2.45%)
Feb11 to Feb17 – 2933 (up 11.41%)
Feb18 to Feb24 – 3003 (up 2.4%)
Feb25 to Mar3rd – 3887 (up 29.45%)
And numbers so far this week are fantastic.
Mon (3597), Tues (5795), Wed (3856), Thurs (3842) and currently sitting at 3527 for today with one hour to go. (Average for these past 5 days is ~4273, 9.7% increase over the past week).
I said it before, but the reviews that went up on Webfictionguide and Packbat’s work especially were a huge part of that. Packbat’s been working his ass off on Worm’s TV tropes pages (connecting no less than 60 relevant tropes pages to Worm’s page, and adding each respective trope to Worm’s page), and it’s made a difference.
You know those things that make your day? (I hesitate to call them little things because they’re not little to me)
For me, donations, reviews and having fans put in that effort to do stuff like fanart, work on the wiki or TV tropes pages are totally that. They plaster a goofy smile on my face or have me pumping my fist in the air in front of the computer. And thanks to donators, reviewers and awesome people like Packbat, pretty much every day for the past couple weeks has been made for me like that.
Thank you guys. (and I hope the numbers are interesting to see).
And I think in time this will translate over to your other story now running: PACT, an occult(?) tale.
afifakhan2001 on March 9, 2013 at 06:25 said:
this may be a completely random and off the wall question coming from absolutely nowhere but…Have you ever watched the show QI?
Asmora on March 12, 2013 at 23:48 said:
Amazing show. Mr. Stephen Fry is among the ten most awesome humans alive. Possibly top five.
The fliers should REALLY have been more sensible than that!
Eidolon should have made sure he was at several times the tongues range!
Plot Induced Stupidity?
Again, where was this Japanese girl against the Endbringer? She could simply be held by a flier out of reach and keep spamming the clone button. Sure her clones aren’t doing that much damage, but equip her with some tinker armour and weapons and presumably they’d get cloned too (otherwise she’d be naked and no secret identity for her).
Also what kind of pathetic tactician is in charge of this? They KNEW Shatterbird was down there, they knew that! Why didn’t they prepare? Also since the mass teleporter died how are they bringing in heroes so fast anyway? Can they teleport across the country? Why not just teleport evil pysco monster into the ocean then? Hell why not do that with the Endbringers? Are they immune to teleportation? Then teleport the area around them which happens to have them inside? What if you tried to teleport the planet would everything move bar the Endbringers?
I see Daniel has mentioned it, but what the hell is with them repeatedly putting long range fighters in close range?
To be fair, that last one is at least partly down to Noelle being *insanely* fast for her size. Yeah, most of the fliers’d probably be okay, but it’d be nigh-impossible for the ground-based ranged combatants to keep their distance.
Eidolon seemed to need to remain fairly close to use his more effective powers on Noelle.
Totally agree re: Shatterbird though – she should definitely have been taken into consideration…
Hey also if Noell is cloned so are the dozens of heroes inside her. That’s a bit of a positive right? When you defeat one you’ll get a ton more heroes to help
Wish you could edit comments, but does everytime the passenger create’s new those brain things with powers attached are other passengers having to connect because if so shouldn’t it be like constant trigger events and if not why not since they all seem to get new powers
A Reader still archive binging on October 17, 2013 at 06:57 said:
Reading on iPod at the moment, still catching up.
But for some reason scattered throughout this chapter there are bits that are weirdly larger in font size. Can’t confirm whether its like this on PC though
The Chosen One on November 9, 2013 at 06:50 said:
New reader here, in the middle of an archive binge after seeing Less Wrong’s recommendation last week. I’ve gotta say, this is one of the best stories I’ve read in a while. All the pieces fit together really well, it’s generally easy to follow (with exceptions where necessary, of course) the sheer originality and detail of the characters and setting are *staggering*, and there’s just enough nerdy physics stuff to keep my whole brain engaged, even while blatantly avoiding actually talking about the physics to keep focus on the story elements and stay very true to one of my favorite genres. That said:
“The lasers might have been affected by the time distortion, but that didn’t matter when the lasers were moving at the speed of light in the first place.”
When you bring up the question of whether a time distortion field affects the apparent or perceived speed of light, I can’t help but get distracted thinking about it.
Now, I don’t expect any real answers to these questions. If they were important, they’d be answered in the story, and if they were capable of being answered fully and satisfactorily, it just wouldn’t be a superhero story. Anyways, these are some of the things that have been bugging me in the Wormverse.
1. Clockblocker’s power. If he actually stops something in Time, how can we still see it, appearing to be frozen in space? Shouldn’t it be removed completely from existence for the duration of the effect, unable to interact with, say, photons? I first thought it might just be moving very very slowly, but I don’t think that would make it completely ‘inviolable’ with regards to Siberian, and would raise some other questions about how forces and energies would or wouldn’t affect the target in a general sense.
2. Vista’s power. Explicitly stated to be spatial warping, presumably to distinguish it from telekinesis powers; the way it’s described sounds less like she’s warping Space itself and more like she’s transforming matter: stretching, skewing, rotating, and translating the affected mass relative to the affected Space. Basically a very specific kind of telekinesis applied on a large scale, but still telekinesis as far as I can tell. Again, this goes back to photons: if Space alone was changed as described, nothing would *look* different, because light would follow the curves.
3. Grue’s power. Grue’s darkness is alternately described to disable the senses of those within, and to physically block data (sound, *radiation* and, again, photons) from entering and/or escaping. However, he can still see and hear through it normally, as if it weren’t there, with no indication that he senses *through* it like Skitter does with her bugs. When he tried to describe knowing where the darkness is, but *not* being affected by it, he noted he doesn’t really know how others experience it, and I wondered if he could watch a tape of himself or something, to see what it looks like. What would the tape look like? The way they treated the darkness in the bank robbery, I got the sense that it was blocking light and sound in the area, even to surveillance, but I don’t recall it being stated outright. Would he see through it on the tape, even if it was recorded opaque to others? Is it more like Imp’s power, strictly affecting observation on both sides? If so, how did it contain radiation a couple chapters ago? Then *again*, that assumption was based solely on Tattletale’s educated guess, and the aftermath hasn’t been fully explored yet!
In conclusion, I have a strong yet literarily insignificant feeling that light in general simply works differently on Earth Bet (one of the simplest excuses for otherwise impossible superpowers in the genre, all things considered) and I’ll just have to keep reading in any case.
P.S. If I were to suggest any one change to Worm, it is sometimes hard to keep track of the current time and location just from the narrative. Most of the time it’s probably just me not paying attention, like when I was caught off guard by the mention that Atlas hadn’t eaten in 12 hours, reminding me just how little time had passed between arcs, but it actually gets kind of annoying during the Interludes where I always feel lost for the first few paragraphs. This seems like the kind of work that would benefit from a time/date/location header, as one might find in the corner of the screen after a scene transition in a spy movie. Or something.
Ya know,your concerns would be really valid if they were phrased before we understood how the Passengers operate.Not much things you cannot do with quantum tricks,including these abilities…Grue could be seeing an alternate reality,Clockblocker’s victims could simply be transfered forward in time while,meanwhile,being replaced by immovable solid images that are quantum fixed based on the passenger’s perception,altering the point they are fixed too if they would drift,and Vista could plain old channel landscapes from universes where space works differently.
These are just examples,with the resources the passengers have,assuming of course TT is correct,one could,with some creativity,find 100 different wauys to pull of these thing…if the powers are intelligent they might actualy work based on perception of the user’s brain.They have the resources to strongarm physics to fit the perception after all.
Our tight battle lines were now spread out over city blocks, and people were having a surprising amount of trouble getting their bearings.
Snrk. Memo to Skitter: most people only have one set of eyes and ears…
Relativity is a bitch like that.
Hawk on December 2, 2014 at 20:49 said:
Gg, fast finish pls…
If that was a Dota game 🙂
Timekeeper on May 1, 2015 at 20:34 said:
> “Armband!” I interrupted Chevalier.
> “What?”
> “Warn them. She’s here!”
> Seeing how the heroes were struggling to get organized, suffering for the lack of armbands to help them navigate and get essential information
> “Shatterbird!”
> Some capes reacted fast enough. Helmets with visors were torn free, intact armbands and cell phones discarded.
I think something got reordered here…Skitter notices the lack of armbands immediately after we see Gully and Chevalier using their armbands, before anyone (except the Undersiders themselves) loses their armbands.
So this name, Echidna, the characters took to it pretty quick. And it’s /okay/, but all I can think is “Oh she’s got four heads, like an echidna’s penis” and that’s not a super great association.
If you ever decide to build a time machine, you should consider the name Asmodeus, the three-headed King of Demons.
Echidna was the mother of monsters in ancient Greek myth. I suspect that outside of Australia most people are familiar with that definition before they’re familiar with the animal. If they’re familiar with the word at all.
Al (@twinklecakings) on December 24, 2015 at 11:00 said:
if you think about it, it’s quite telling that the guy’s thoughts immediately went to lizard-hedgehog dicks rather than a monster who is mainly known for giving birth to other monsters.
kerleth on July 1, 2016 at 18:32 said:
Reading through this for the second time and something occured to me. I realize now why Grue just happened to need to get taken out of the picture.
1) Small area filled with capes.
2) Enemy that spawns autonomous superpowered copies.
3)Area power that steals a portion of everyone within’s parahuman abilities.
Grue the Endbringer!
Even if he only stole a tenth of each person’s power, he’d likely end up a 10+ on every scale! Not to mention what might happen from leeching off a touch of noelle’s power.
wildbow on July 1, 2016 at 19:07 said:
He steals one at a time.
We don’t yet know whether Cauldron’s agenda is good or bad. Them getting outed like this could be a very bad thing if their plans are good.
«Had to remove the Grue from consideration.» not a sentence. There’s really to reason to leqve off the subject here — it’s uncharacteristic.
«Had to be safe.» ditto
The Ellimist on July 30, 2017 at 14:04 said:
Some weird font changes I noticed.
Jack Watson on January 26, 2018 at 15:35 said:
Don’t know if I’m going insane, but there’s a weirdly sized and spaced paragraph near the beginning.
Amazing though
Love your writing!
I don’t know what you guys expected! ITS 4 NOELLES OF COURSE YOU WERE GONNA LOOSE!!!
On mobile, some of the paragraphs are larger than others.
Kaeleigh on December 10, 2018 at 09:08 said:
A few paragraphs are in a different font size, at least on mobile.
I can’t help but wonder where Chevalier got the idea for his cannonblade. It’s not like JRPGs exist in this universe…also it seems like a pretty impractical weapon, especially without tinker abilities supporting it.
I wonder if he knows Earth Bet’s Monty Oum.
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__label__wiki | 0.552686 | 0.552686 | Oresundsinfo
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Oral Hygiene Instructions with Gum Specialist Dr Hafeez Ahmed
Why is Oral or Dental Health Important?
Remaining Calm When Visiting The Dentist: 5 Great Tips
How To Find a Dentist For Your Child?
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__label__wiki | 0.676906 | 0.676906 | The Online Star Register Blog
Tips & Gifts
Locate Your Own Star in the Night Sky with the OSR Star Finder App
- 03 Dec 2015
The Online Star Register offers a FREE mobile app for iOS and Android to locate stars and constellations in the night sky. Naming and finding a star registered with the Online Star Register (OSR) is even easier with the Star Finder App. Pinpoint a specially named star’s location in the sky with a unique star code, or browse constellations based on your location.
Naming a star is a special gift that a friend or loved one isn’t likely to forget, as long as they can locate it in the sky. Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget about the star if it can’t easily be located with the naked eye. Instead of stepping outside and making a guess, OSR makes locating the star in the night sky a breeze with the Star Finder App.
“This app makes it easy to know which constellations you’re looking at, even if you can’t see all of the stars.”
1 What does the Star Finder app do?
2 Video: how does the app work?
3 How do users like the Star Finder?
What does the Star Finder app do?
This app was specially created by OSR to help registered star owners locate their stars easily. With the OSR Star Finder app you can:
Simply aim your phone at the sky and the app will locate the star based on its unique OSR Code.
Share a photo of the star, or navigate to the personalized Star Page.
Learn more about the star’s cosmic neighborhood and explore other stars and constellations in the area.
Locate the star during the day by switching on Night Mode. You can also switch the Augmented Reality-mode on and off.
Adjust the filters so you can view planets, the moon, and the horizon.
Locating a star can be especially difficult because the night sky changes throughout the year. By using the Pick the Best feature on the app, you can:
Learn what time of year your star is most visible.
Input your exact location so you can find the star in relation to your position to the night sky.
Find out which constellations are currently visible from your location.
The best way to understand how the app works is to experience it. Simply download the app and enter the OSR Code LPR805246 to view an example of a named star!
AppStore (iOS) Play Store (Android)
How do users like the Star Finder?
Because the app can be used with or without a specially named star, many users have wonderful things to say about it. One user comments, “After guessing at constellations for a while, we tried this app – A lot of fun and made it easier.”
Another user says, “If you are looking for a fast, free stargazing app, look no further, you have found the one!”
If you decide you’re ready to name a star for someone special after browsing stars in the sky, you can do it quickly and easily with the app too.
If you’re looking for an unbelievable gift, it really doesn’t get any better than a registered star with the Online Star Register. If you’re ready to name a star for a friend, family member, or co-worker, learn more about the gift packs we have to offer. Don’t forget to check out our themed gifts that are available for a variety of special occasions!
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Personalize your Star Gift with the FREE Star Page
One Million Stars: Explore Our Galactic Neighborhood
The story of Online Star Register
Online Star Register (OSR) believes that every person on earth should enjoy their very own star in the night sky. That’s why we make it possible for you to name a star in the Online Star Register!
OSR has been naming stars for people all around the world since the start of this millennium and is now the number one star register service in the world. A personalized star registration in the Online Star Register is widely considered one of the most original, emotional, and personal gifts you can give to your partner, a friend, family member, or coworker.
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Name a star now! - Locate Your Own Star in the Night Sky with the OSR Star Finder App
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__label__wiki | 0.520239 | 0.520239 | Banning Nuclear Weapons: The Beginning
H. Patricia Hynes Portside
Against all odds, 122 countries agreed in July to ban nuclear weapons. At the heart of the United Nations treaty is an explicit ethical goal: to protect peoples of the world from the humanitarian catastrophe that would ensue if nuclear weapons were employed. Once 50 states ratify the treaty, it will enter into international law. The United States, the only country to use nuclear weapons, dropped the first atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945 at Hiroshima, and Aug. 9 on Nagasaki.
August 6 and 9: Launch of the Nuclear Age
The anniversary of the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki compels us to think more deeply about the continued existence of nuclear weapons.
Tidbits - October 3, 2013
Reader Comments: Eliseo Medina and UFW; American Exceptionalism; Income Gap;Atomic Bomb Near Mishap; Walmart; Govt Shutdown; Syria & Peace movement; South Africa; Iran; Prisons for Profit graphic; Announcements - National Teach-In on Syria -Oct 8; Che Guevara Assassination - Bay Area-Oct 19; Support CUNY Students; Organizing Boot Camps-United Students Against Sweatshops; Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century - New York-Oct 18; Job Opening at In These Times
On the Anniversary of Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The top military commanders concurred that the decision to use the atomic bomb was political, not military.
On This Day in 1945: The Only Real Attempt to Halt the Atomic Bombing of Japan
Greg Mitchell The Nation
It’s well known that as the Truman White House made plans to use the first atomic bombs against Japan in the summer of 1945, a large group of atomic scientists, many of whom had worked on the bomb project, raised their voices, or at least their names, in protest.
Dispatches from the Culture Wars – Not Ready for Prime Time edition
Bradley Manning is off limits at SF Gay Pride parade; Ohio air show pushed to drop Hiroshima raid reenactment; Raul Castro’s daughter denied visa to attend gay rights conference; Rape Case Solved By Anonymous in Less Than 2 Hours Despite "No Evidence"; Teamsters foil Westboro Baptist Church; Palestinian marathon tribute to Boston victims; Oscar Romero beatification; Amherst and the economists’ fuzzy math; Zuckerburg dishes out the dough for Keystone XL
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__label__wiki | 0.862292 | 0.862292 | Preview: Portugal vs Armenia
November 14, 2014 / mitchellrua / Leave a comment
Tiago Gomes could start against Armenia. Photo Record.xl.pt
Fernando Santos will look to build on a sound start to his tenure in the Portuguese dugout ahead of a clash against Group I dark horses Armenia in the Algarve. Having come away with the three points in Copenhagen after a last-gasp Cristiano Ronaldo effort, A Seleção da Quinas will be confident of building on a professional display in their last hit-out in front of a packed Faro crowd. Continue reading →
Portugal Edge Mexico in Even Encounter: More Questions than Answers
June 7, 2014 / Sam Biggers / Leave a comment
Mexico 0-1 Portugal
A last minute goal from Bruno Alves was the only thing that separated Mexico and Portugal, as the two teams faced off in Foxborough, Massachusetts for a pre-World Cup friendly match. Indeed, the two teams were very evenly matched and while each team had chances to break the deadlock, it was a clever set piece and a spectacular header that pushed Portugal ahead of the Mexicans. This was Mexico’s last friendly before departing for Brazil, while Portugal will face Ireland next Tuesday before heading to South America.
The Greece game last week was a good challenge because the team’s defense is of similar strength to that of Germany, who Portugal will face in the group stage. While the Greeks were deft at defense, their attacking prowess was not nearly as pronounced. Consequently, the Portuguese team got a good test in attacking, but not nearly as much so in defending. Mexico was different. Known as being competent at both attack and defense, the Mexicans posed a much more complete challenge for the Portuguese. As a result, the game was a very close one, and with a little bit of luck, the Mexicans could have easily gotten a result against what was a very flat Portuguese side.
The Portuguese were without Ronaldo, Raul Meireles, and Pepe due to injury, which meant that the team that was named by Paulo Bento was surely not the one we will see against Germany on the 16th. While Bento did experiment, he only did so with his team selection-not the formation. In the Seleccao’s previous game against Greece, Bento started the team in a 4-4-2 formation-one that Portugal is not accustomed to. This time out, Portugal started in their familiar 4-3-3, which is much more suited to Portugal’s counter-attacking style of play. Eduardo was started in goal in place of Rui Patricio. This was likely not a signal that Portugal’s no.1 will change, but likely simply to give Eduardo some game time to try to determine if he is suited for the no.2 role. The backline was a familiar one, with regulars Joao Pereira and Fabio Coentrao on the wings. Bruno Alves and Neto started in the middle of defense, with the latter temporarily taking the place of the injured Pepe. In midfield were Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, and Andre Almeida. Almeida likely took the spot of Raul Meireles, who is out injured. Almeida’s inclusion in the starting lineup comes as a surprise, as his primary position in the national team of late has been at left-back. It seems that Paulo Bento had some more experimenting to get out of his system, and used this friendly match to determine the extent of Andre Almeida’s versatility. On the wings were Nani and Vieirinha, the latter of which replacing Ronaldo. Up top was Eder, which may be a signal that Bento is ready to replace Helder Postiga in the striker position with the Braga forward.
The beginning of the match was a fairly even affair, with both teams failing to create any clear-cut chances. The first chance of note came in the 21st minute, when Eder’s diagonal run met Fabio Coentrao’s pass. The big man managed to hold off the Mexican defender who was marking him, but only saw his left-footed shot palmed away by the Mexican goalkeeper. From that point forward, it was primarily Mexico who controlled proceedings, with winger Andres Guardado reeking havoc in particular. Despite a spell of dominance, the Mexicans failed to capitalize, leaving both teams square at the interval. The second half was more of the same. Portugal showed flashes of competence and Mexico showed more will to win. Some solid saves from Eduardo and profligacy in front of goal for Mexico meant that the two teams were still tied 0-0 going into the final minute of stoppage time. Marco Fabian was adjudged to have fouled Helder Postiga, and the Portuguese were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. Joao Moutinho stepped up, and swung in a perfectly weighted ball, which met the head perfectly of the on-rushing (and unmarked) Bruno Alves. His header thundered into the net, and was immediately drowned out by the Portuguese fans, who went mental. Sure. The Portuguese probably didn’t deserve to win…but there’s nothing better than a last-minute goal.
There are many questions surrounding the Seleccao right now. Many teams schedule friendlies to help the team gel and to answer questions about the team before a major tournament. The purpose is to answer questions. Not to raise more questions. While Portugal did not play spectacularly by any estimation, their performance was markedly half-hearted. At times, they were blatantly outplayed by a Mexican team who was surprisingly well-organized. Currently, Portugal is ranked 4th in the FIFA World Rankings, while Mexico is farther down the list at 20th. Though the FIFA rankings have their inaccuracies, they are still a relatively good gauge as to the skill of teams. Portugal should have recorded a much more comfortable result over Mexico. There are other factors that come in to play also. Players are not keen on getting injured before the World Cup, and with recent news of injuries to stars such as Germany’s Marco Reus and Italy’s Riccardo Montolivo, players are especially on alert. So, caution could have been a part of Portugal’s play last night, but as the game wore on, caution looked to play less of a role as players lunged into tackles. Portugal simply looked outplayed, which is disconcerting.
How are teams to gel if they are missing key players. A starting eleven needs to be established so that those 11 players can get experience playing with each other; experience that helps them learn each others’ strengths and weaknesses. With Ronaldo, Meireles, and Pepe all out of the side for Portugal’s first two friendly games (Greece and last night against Mexico), this Portuguese team is at a huge disadvantage. Paulo Bento is a great coach, which he showed at Euro 2012, but he needs to have a healthy team to work with. Ronaldo and Raul Meireles are only just getting back to full fitness, and will (optimistically) only participate in one friendly match before the World Cup starts and Portugal has to face the second best team in the world, Germany. Bento needs to pull out all the stops against Ireland on Tuesday if the team has any hope of preparing for Germany.
Eduardo, Joao Pereira(Ruben Amorim), Neto, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao(Rafa), Andre Almeida, Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, Nani, Vieirinha(Varela), Eder(Helder Postiga)
HIGHLIGHTS HERE
Portugal Still Can’t Crack Greece
May 31, 2014 / Sam Biggers / Leave a comment
courtesy of Maisfutebol.iol.pt
Portugal 0-0 Greece
It’s been 18 years since Portugal last defeated Greece, and it seems they may just have to keep waiting. The Greeks have formed quite a reputation for having one of the toughest defenses in Europe, and it showed today. All Portugal could manage was a scoreless stalemate in the team’s send-off before leaving for Brazil. I would be remiss to mention that a bore draw from Portugal is to be expected. Typically in pre-tournament friendlies, the issue of utmost importance is that of team cohesion. The result doesn’t matter as much as the teamwork that is fostered and developed in the trivial games. This teamwork will prove very useful when the results begin to matter. Though there were no goals, there were some points of interest.
Prior to the match, the fitness of Real Madrid duo Pepe and Ronaldo was in doubt, and Bento confirmed that the two would sit the match out. This, coupled with a new formation from Bento, created a very interesting lineup. Portugal have grown accustomed to playing a 4-3-3 formation, which is a very attack-minded and balanced formation. This formation also fits the team’s strengths well, and it has shown under Bento. The fluidity in attacking is greater than anything the team managed under Bento’s predecessor Carlos Quieroz. But tactical flexibility is what separates good coaches from great coaches and good teams from World Cup winning teams, so competence in another formation is a must. Bento started the troops in a 4-4-2, with regulars Joao Pereira and Bruno Alves joined by Andre Almeida and Ricardo Costa in defense. In midfield, the team played with two center midfielders and two wingers. William Carvalho and Miguel Veloso played centrally, while Nani and Varela occupied space on the wings. Up top were Helder Postiga and Eder, with Eduardo in goal. The new formation and patchwork lineup made it clear that this match would be used to experiment.
Portugal began the match brightly, with Nani and Eder almost connecting marvelously within the first two minutes. And indeed it looked as if the 4-4-2 suited Portugal well. Nani was playing surprisingly well on the right (considering his lack of playing time at Manchester United this season), and the team still had its natural flow. Eder tended to drop back more often than Postiga, helping link the midfield to the forwards or to spray the ball out wide to Varela or Nani. William Carvalho and Veloso both looked comfortable in the middle of the park, and though they are typically played in defensive-minded roles in midfield, they proved well versed in attacking football. The game ended with few chances, and although Portugal did not score, the team looked very bright at times.
Portugal will now travel to the United States for the remainder of their pre-World Cup tour, facing Mexico on the 6th and the Republic of Ireland on the 10th.
Eduardo(Beto), Joao Pereira, Andre Almieda, Bruno Alves, Miguel Veloso, William Carvalho(Neto), Nani(Rafa), Varela(Vieirinha), Eder(Ruben Amorim), Helder Postiga(Hugo Almeida)
Paulo Bento Names 23 for World Cup Squad
Paulo Bento announced yesterday a list of 23 players that will represent Portugal at this summer’s World Cup. Seven players who were included in last week’s 30-man squad announcement were dropped. Some exclusions were predictable. Some not. Let’s look closer.
Final Squad
Goalkeepers: Beto (Sevilla), Rui Patricio (Sporting), Eduardo (Braga)
Defenders: Bruno Alves (Fenerbahce), Pepe (Real Madrid), Joao Pereira (Valencia), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Neto (Zenit), Ricardo Costa (Valencia), Andre Almeida (Benfica)
Midfielders: Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Miguel Veloso (Dinamo Kiev), Ruben Amorim (Benfica), Rafa (Braga), William Carvalho (Sporting)
Forwards: Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Helder Postiga (Lazio), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Nani (Manchester United), Eder (Braga), Varela (Porto), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg)
Standby players (dropped players): Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Rolando (Inter), Vitorino Antunes (Malaga), Quaresma (Porto), Andre Gomes (Benfica), Joao Mario (Vitoria Setubal), Ivan Cavaleiro (Benfica)
Average Age of Squad: 28 years old, 27.8 years old, 27.9 years old
Average Caps of Squad: 35.9 caps, 27 caps, 34.5 caps
Number of Players from Liga Zon Sagres: 7, 10, 8
Number of Players from Premier League: 1, 3, 6
Number of Players from La Liga: 6, 6, 2
Number of Players from Serie A: 1, 0, 1
Number of Players from Ligue 1: 1, 1, 2
The inclusion of Rui Patricio and Beto are completely warranted. Few can argue that both Patricio and Beto are two of Portugal’s most in-form goalkeepers at the moment. Beto is coming off a successful season that saw him win the Europa League with Sevilla (and saving two penalties in the shoot-out in the final). Rui Patricio is already established as Portugal’s no.1, and his performances for Sporting Lisbon did nothing to hurt that this season, leading the Lisbon-based team to a second-placed finish in the Liga.
The last goalkeeper spot was between Anthony Lopes and Eduardo. While Anthony Lopes enjoyed a decent debut season for Lyon, establishing himself as the team’s starting goalkeeper, Eduardo has World Cup experience. During the previous World Cup, Eduardo was Portugal’s starting goalkeeper, and lest we remind you that his performances at the last World Cup earned him a move abroad to Genoa. While Anthony Lopes has an extremely bright future, and his performances this season may merit inclusion, the decision to choose Eduardo over him is one that I understand and agree with.
Bruno Alves, Pepe, Joao Pereira, and Fabio Coentrao are all staples in the Portuguese team. Pepe and Bruno Alves have flourished at Real Madrid and Fenerbahce, respectively. Alves played in 25 league games, helping Fenerbahce to their first Turkish League title since 2011. Though Real Madrid didn’t manage to win the title this season, Pepe performed admirably in 30 league games, firmly establishing himself as a starter. While Fabio Coentrao didn’t receive as much playing time as he may have liked, he did perform well when he did manage to get a game. According to WhoScored.com, Coentrao managed a 6.96 match rating in the 15 games he participated in in all competitions. While this is nothing spectacular, it shows that Coentrao has the ability to play at the top level, an ability he has shown time and time again while donning the Portugal jersey. His inclusion is a no-brainer. Joao Pereira is another player whose previous performances for the Seleccao merit an automatic call. Currently playing at Valencia, Pereira managed 25 league appearances, as the team only finished 8th in La Liga.
Ricardo Costa has proven himself in a Portugal shirt in the past, and though he 33 years old, he is still an important part of both Valencia and the Seleccao. This was an interesting decision from Bento. Rolando, who spent this past season on loan at Inter from Porto, performed admirably in the Serie A. Some would argue that this season was his finest of his career to date. An outcast at Porto, Rolando managed 29 appearances at Inter, a team many would argue are among the best in Europe. I think the issue of experience is the factor at play here. This World Cup will be Ricardo Costa’s third, while if Rolando was included, it would be his second. Costa also played more of a part in qualifying, most notably scoring in the team’s 1-1 draw with Israel. Moving to Russia, Luis Neto enjoyed a wonderful sophomore year at Zenit. Though the team were pipped by CSKA Moscow for the Russian Premier League title, Zenit performed well this season, and Neto was at the heart of the team’s defense, completing the season with 25 league appearances. The inclusion of Andre Almeida was an interesting one, but one that makes sense once thought about. Many have clamored for Cedric Soares, of Sporting Lisbon, to be called, and for good reason. Cedric impressed for the Portugal U-20 team as they finished runners-up to Brazil at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, then for Academica on loan from Sporting, then the Portugal U-21 team, and finally Sporting’s first team. This season, Cedric was the undisputed starter at right-back for Sporting, amassing 28 league appearances in the process. Andre Almeida, on the other hand, only managed 10 appearances in the league for Benfica. Why should Almeida be included over Cedric you may ask? This is why. Andre Almeida began his career in midfield, but has been transformed into a solid right-back. Also capable of filling in at left-back, Almeida has extreme versatility. By calling up Almeida, Bento essentially did not need to call up another left-back, due to Almeida’s versatility. This meant that there were more spots open for other attackers. Also, Almeida participated in three finals (two domestic Portuguese cups, one Europa League final). In addition to this, Almeida was a part of a title-winning team in Benfica. Cedric, while he performed magnificently for a Sporting team which managed a second-place finish, is simply not the best choice. There will come a time for Cedric, but this World Cup is not it.
The core of Portugal’s midfield in Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, and Raul Meireles are all obvious choices, though some not quite as obvious as in the past. Joao Moutinho has established himself as one of the finest box-to-box midfielders plying his trade in Europe at the moment. His performances for Monaco further proved it this season. Helping Monaco to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 this season, Moutinho made 31 league appearances in the process. His performances for the Seleccao have been nothing short of wonderful lately, and many are looking to Moutinho to continue making the Portuguese midfield “tick” at this summer’s finals. Raul Meireles and Miguel Veloso have lost a considerable amount of stock lately. Though they have both put in performances ranging from solid to spectacular for Portugal in recent years, their performances have begun to noticeably decline. While Raul Meireles helped Fenerbahce win the Turkish League this season, Miguel Veloso only managed 20 league appearances, as Dynamo Kiev finished a disappointing 4th in the Ukrainian League. Even though Veloso and Meireles are noticeably on the decline, their spot is a certainty, due to prior performances. Even if they do not start, they offer a great deal of experience off the bench. William Carvalho, though he’s only appeared twice for the Seleccao, is another obvious inclusion. Carvalho’s performances this season for Sporting Lisbon have been nothing short of astounding. A virtual unknown before the start of the season, William Carvalho is now the subject of transfer speculation, most notably from Manchester United, who allegedly have a 37 million pound transfer in the works. And it’s no wonder. Carvalho won four of nine Liga Zon Sagres Player of the Month awards and six of nine Liga Zon Sagres Young Player of the Month awards. Many are clamoring for Carvalho to take Miguel Veloso’s spot in Portugal’s starting eleven as the midfield’s anchor. It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.
Rafa is a slightly surprising inclusion to the team. An extremely attack-minded midfielder, Rafa made the move from Feirense to Braga at the beginning of the season, and has absolutely flourished in Braga. Teams such as Roma and Southampton are hot on his tails, and for good reason. Though Braga’s season went south very quickly, Rafa’s performances were certainly not a disappointment. The midfielder’s inclusion naturally comes at the expense of another. Josue made a highly-anticipated move from Pacos Ferreira to Porto at the beginning of the season. A regular under Porto coach Paulo Fonseca, Josue has found playing time and form very hard to come by since Fonseca was sacked. Many view Josue to be the successor to Raul Meireles in Portugal’s midfield, but it appears that that definitely won’t occur during this World Cup. Bento’s final midfield inclusion is perplexing for most: Ruben Amorim over Adrien Silva. Adrien Silva has established himself as one of the finest midfielders in Portugal at the moment, and some would argue he’s one of Portugal’s finest midfielders. Silva is in a similar position to Cedric. Silva was an integral part of Sporting’s team which finished second in the league this season, and many are rightly perplexed by his omission from the squad. Adrien is yet to make an appearance for the Seleccao, while Ruben Amorim has managed 10 appearances thus far in his career. Though Amorim is older, he has more experience on the national level for Portugal, while Adrien has none whatsoever. Amorim, like Andre Almeida, is a much more versatile player than Adrien. Amorim can fill in at right-back aptly, and can also fit in anywhere in the midfield. Ruben Amorim was also part of a team which won the domestic treble, and also participated in the Europa League final. Though he only made 17 league appearances this season, Amorim gained priceless experience at Benfica. This is not to say Adrien deserved to be included; just that Amorim is perhaps a bit better qualified. Adrien Silva will certainly have his time after the World Cup. Not to forget anyone, Andre Gomes and Joao Mario are both very talented players with bright futures ahead of them, but with all respect to Paulo Bento, their inclusion in the 30-man provisional list is laughable.
Ronaldo is really the only staple in Portugal’s forward line. The forward has enjoyed yet another wonderful season, scoring 31 goals in 30 games for Real Madrid, a statistic that normally is otherworldly. But for Ronaldo, it’s just another season. Nani, Hugo Almeida, and Helder Postiga are all favorites of Paulo Bento, and though none have enjoyed fruitful seasons respectively, they still have the ability to offer something for the Seleccao. Nani’s season at Manchester United was a mix of injury and lack of form, combining into a horrendous season, even worse than the rest of Manchester United’s season. Hugo Almeida enjoyed a decent season at Besiktas, managing to put the ball in the back of the net 13 times in 31 appearances. Helder Postiga’s season was not quite as fruitful as Almieda’s, but not as disastrous as Nani’s. After moving from Zaragoza to Valencia in the off-season, Postiga established himself as Valencia’s starting striker following the sale of Soldado to Tottenham. Only scoring three goals, most notably scoring two against Barcelona, Postiga was sent on loan to Lazio, where he has struggled with injury, and has only managed five appearances with no goals. Moving to the wing position, Varela has enjoyed another successful season at Porto. The winger amassed 48 appearances in all competitions, as Porto finished third in the league behind Benfica and Sporting. Few can forget Varela’s wonder-strike in Portugal’s group stage game against Denmark at Euro 2012. His goal gifted Portugal the victory, and many will hope that similar super-sub feats can be achieved by him this summer in Brazil. The final winger included in the squad is Wolfsburg’s Vieirinha. After starting the season promisingly, Vieirinha suffered an injury that has kept out until last month. Now fully recovered, Vieirinha managed a handful of appearances for Wolfsburg before the season ended. The final striker spot on the call goes to Eder, of Braga. After enjoying a wonderful season for Braga last season, Eder could not manage to replicate his form this season. Only scoring three goals this season, Eder never fully recovered from a loss of form due to injury. Can he find his form this summer? He might have to if/when Almeida and Postiga don’t perform. Can you sense my cynicism?
Hat-trick Hero Ronaldo Leads Portugal Past Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland 2-4 Portugal
2014 World Cup Qualfication
It was a night to remember for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese captain started and scored three goals in a 4-2 come-from-behind win against Northern Ireland in 2014 World Cup qualification. Accused of under-performing for Portugal in the past, those criticisms are quickly being forgotten. This win keeps Portugal at the top of their qualification group, ahead of Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Northern Ireland, and Luxembourg (though they’ve played one more game).
The game started off as a relatively even affair between the two teams. Bento had named a familiar starting lineup, one that has worked for him in the past. The first goal came in the 21st minute. A corner kick was swung in by Joao Moutinho. The ball met the head of a Northern Ireland defender, who cleared the ball to the edge of the box. Bruno Alves was waiting, and promptly side-foot-volleyed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net to make the score 0-1 in Portugal’s favor. This was the first clear opportunity of the night, and the quality of play was encouraging. Vieirinha, who replaced the off-form Nani in the starting lineup, came close with a near-post shot after some impressive wing-play. Play soon fell in the favor of the hosts, who began pressing Portugal more and more. Northern Ireland was soon rewarded when an in-swinging corner kick was met by the head of Gareth McAuley. With the scores leveled, Helder Postiga very stupidly picked up a red card just before half-time because of a failure to keep his temper in check. Both the teams went into the locker room level on the scoreboard, but Northern Ireland definitely had the run of play in their favor.
The second half started in the worst possible fashion for Portugal. Another corner kick from Northern Ireland caused confusion in the Portuguese box, allowing Jaime Ward to score his first international goal. It was not the start that Portugal had been hoping for, though it came as no surprise, given the events of the first half. Portugal began to press harder and harder after the goal, with Miguel Veloso most notably coming close with a long-range bullet. The equalizer came soon after Veloso’s effort. Moutinho swung in a corner kick, which was met by the head of Cristiano Ronaldo. The header was unstoppable, and the scores were now leveled at 2-2. The momentum was starting to shift, and Portugal began pushing even more, in search of a winning goal. That search only lasted about ten minutes. Fabio Coentrao picked up the ball deep on the left side, and sent an early, looping cross into the box. Ronaldo was there to head the ball in the net, making the score 3-2 in Portugal’s favor. The Selecaao (rather Ronaldo) weren’t done just yet. Winning a free kick on the edge of the box, Ronaldo struck the ball through the wall and into the Northern Irish net to make the score 4-2, and completing his first-ever hat-trick for Portugal.
Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles(Nani), Vieirinha(Nelson Oliveira), Ronaldo(Ruben Amorim), Helder Postiga
Bento’s Old Guard on the Way Out
Paulo Bento – changing his ways
One of the chief criticisms of Portugal National Team boss Paulo Bento has been on his over-reliance on established players over new, up-and-coming talent. Bento would consistently pick the same players game after game, sometimes regardless of their club performances, while overlooking in-form younger players. Though the team has been wildly successful as compared to his predecessor, Carlos Queiroz’s, campaign, supporters of the team still find his player selection frustrating. This may all be changing, however.
Josue and Lica – Players for the future?
For the games against Northern Ireland and Brazil later this week and next week, respectively, there appears to be a shift in the norm. Bento has begun calling up a new generation of players, an easy decision given the circumstances. In the 23 selected, there are four who have never made an appearance for the Seleccao, and a further five who have less than 10 caps. Players such as Lica and Josue (who have been stellar for Porto so far this season), Adrien and Andre Martins (who have been equally impressive for a new-look Sporting team), and Anthony Lopes, Antunes, and Neto (who are all starters in the top flights of France, Spain, and Russia, respectively) are all new to the team, and could very easily be important players by the time the 2014 World Cup rolls around.
A prime example of the shift from the old to the new is Luis Neto. After a stellar 2010-2011 season at second-division Varzim, Neto was snapped up by Nacional, in the Portuguese top flight. At Nacional, the central defender blossomed, instantly becoming the club’s most important player. His performances certainly did not go unnoticed, and Neto was transferred to Serie A club Siena for the 2012-2013 season. His performances for the struggling Siena were impressive enough that, after just over half-a-season later, he was transferred to Russian powerhouse Zenit St. Petersburg. At Zenit, he joined fellow compatriots Danny and Bruno Alves. Neto was almost immediately thrown into the starting lineup, and has since excelled. Only aged 25, Neto has established himself as a player on the rise in the world of football. The momentum has propelled him into national team action. As stated above, his performances had not gone unnoticed, and Paulo Bento surely noticed. Soon after his move to Zenit, Neto made his debut for the Seleccao, in a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Ecuador. It is widely understood that Neto will be the successor to Bruno Alves for the Seleccao. While the career of Alves, currently 31, is not over, he is most certainly in decline.
Though the perception of Paulo Bento is that his team selections are unfair and full of bias, that may all be changing. With the inclusions in this squad of four previously uncapped players in Lica, Josue, Anthony Lopes, and Adrien Silva, the momentum appears to be shifting. This is a natural process, and one that Portugal needs to accomplish if it has any hope of being competitive in the future.
Russia Edge Portugal
October 14, 2012 / Sam Biggers / Leave a comment
Russia 1-0 Portugal
A first half goal from Aleksandr Kerzhakov was enough for Russia to earn a narrow 1-0 victory over a sub-par Portuguese side. This win ensured that Russia remains undefeated in Group F, and as a result of the loss, Portugal slips into second in the group.
There was an air of uncertainty surrounding Portugal prior to the start of the match, due to the questionable fitness of Raul Meireles, Pepe, and Ronaldo. Pepe and Ronaldo were able to shake of their minor injuries to start the match, but Raul Meireles was not as lucky. The starting lineup was the usual one, with Patricio in goal, Joao Pereira and Fabio Coentrao on the defensive flanks, and Pepe and Bruno Alves paired up in the center of the defense. Due to his injury, Raul Meireles was relegated to the bench, with Ruben Micael sliding in to replace him. Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho joined Micael to complete the midfield. Up top was Nani, Ronaldo, and Helder Postiga, the usual suspects.
The game started well for Portugal, but very quickly turned sour when Russia scored on virtually their first attack. A quick counterattack caught Portugal off guard, and Russia made the score 1-0. From that point on, Portugal’s game-plan was that of catch-up, while Russia seemed, for the most part, to be content with expertly absorbing the Portuguese attacks. Ronaldo and Bruno Alves underlined Portugal’s intent by drawing two stellar saves out of the Russian goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, but Russia’s defense was prepared for everything the Seleccao threw at them. Portugal looked sharp, however, and an equalizer did not look too unlikely. Fabio Coentrao hobbled off injured after just 20 minutes of play, weakening Portugal’s attack. The half ended at 1-0, with Portugal wondering how they had not yet scored.
Russia came out in the second half raring to go, while Portugal surprisingly looked off the pace and lethargic. One would think that after Portugal fell behind, they would come out of the gates ready to go, but that was not the case. The second half was decidedly a Russia affair, with only sharp saves from Rui Patricio saving Portugal’s blushes. Even the inclusion of Silvestre Varela (lately dubbed at Portugal’s supersub) and Eder (has scored four goals this season for Braga) could not turn the tides.
Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao(Miguel Lopes), Ruben Micael(Varela), Joao Moutinho, Miguel Veloso, Ronaldo, Nani, Helder Postiga(Eder)
Man of the Match: Bruno Alves
Flop of the Match: Helder Postiga
PortuGoal Player Ratings
Portugal Dominate in Azerbaijan Encounter
September 12, 2012 / Sam Biggers / Leave a comment
Portugal 3-0 Azerbaijan
A dominant display from the Portuguese National Team led them to a 3-0 victory over a lowly Azerbaijan side. The hosts showed much of the attacking prowess that they lacked against Luxembourg, and were unlucky that the scoreline was not higher in their favor. The team struck the crossbar an astonishing five times, as they ruthlessly attacked the Azerbaijani goal.
The game started brightly, which could not have been said about last week’s game against Luxembourg. Portugal were fully in the driving seat against Azerbaijan, and almost all of the action came from the home side. Joao Pereira and Raul Meireles both had efforts beaten away by the opposition goalkeeper in the opening exchanges between the two teams, before Helder Postiga almost finished off a wonderful team move, only to be denied by the crossbar. Joao Moutinho would then feel unlucky to see two excellent shots not translate into a goal, when one was saved by the keeper and the other thundered back off the crossbar. Portugal would continue to press, with Raul Meireles and Helder Postiga both coming close (the latter of which hit the crossbar). The half ended with the scores still even at 0-0 and Portugal wondering how they were not yet winning.
The second half started much the same as the first. It was evident that Portugal was hungry for a goal, and their play reflected that. Bruno Alves had a header saved soon after the restart, and Ronaldo went close soon after that on three different occasions. The goal was not far off, however. Silvestre Varela was substituted on for Miguel Veloso just after the hour mark, and the substitute made an immediate impact. Some sloppy defending from Azerbaijan opened up a golden opportunity for Varela, who calmly slotted the ball home for his third international goal. That goal did not cause Portugal to slow their attack, however. The Seleccao continued to press, but were constantly thwarted by either the post or the Azerbaijani goalkeeper. The second goal duly arrived a little more than twenty minutes after the first one. A pinpoint cross from Raul Meireles found Ronaldo, whose redirected his header into the path of the onrushing Helder Postiga, who poked the ball home. Portugal was not done, however. Joao Moutinho’s corner kick soon after was met with a thumping header from Bruno Alves into the upper right-hand corner to make the score 3-0. In the dying minutes of the match, Eder was substituted on to make his debut for the Seleccao. That was how the game ended: a comprehensive 3-0 victory for the hosts.
Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Miguel Veloso(Varela), Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles, Ronaldo, Nani(Ruben Amorim), Helder Postiga(Eder)
Transfer Rumors – 8/8/12
August 8, 2012 / Sam Biggers / 1 Comment
As with any transfer window, there are always an excess of transfer rumors, some of which are believable, some of which are off the wall. We’ll bring you both, and you can decide for yourself which is which.
Zenit to Juventus, Porto, or Atletico Madrid?
Portuguese international defender Bruno Alves is hinting that a move away from Russia may be in the near future. The defender, who featured heavily in the Portuguese squad at this summer’s European Championships, was snapped up by Zenit in 2010 for a fee of over 20 million pounds. This move came after widespread speculation linking him to the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United. Since his move, he has established himself as an important player for the club. Now, Juventus, Porto, and Atletico Madrid are all said to be interested in the defender. As with Porto’s case, there has been talk of Zenit using Bruno Alves as a makeweight in a shock swoop for Hulk at Porto. Regardless, Atletico Madrid seem the most likely to win his signature, with Alves’ father stating that his son “would have no problem going to Atletico Madrid.”
Eliseu
Malaga to Benfica?
In the midst of financial turmoil, Malaga are looking to sell some of their most prized assets. Spanish international Santi Cazorla has already moved on to Arsenal, while Venezuelan striker Salomon Rondon has made a seven million pound move to Russia. One player who has been important for the Spanish club over the past few seasons is Eliseu. A winger who was converted to left-back, Eliseu has impressed many with his performances for not only Malaga, but the Portuguese National team. It is no secret that Benfica are in the market for a left-back after the departure of Capdevila to Espanyol, and the underwhelming performances of Emerson. Benfica coach Jorge Jesus has even used Melgarejo, a Paraguayan forward, as a left-back, an indication that a true left-back is needed for the club. Benfica’s interest in Eliseu is not new, but there now may be more urgency behind the move. Benfica is not the only club interested in the winger, with six other unnamed clubs interested as well.
Besiktas to Atletico Madrid or Liverpool?
Dazzling winger Ricardo Quaresma looks to be on his way out of Turkish club Besiktas. After a wage dispute, it appears that Quaresma is being frozen out of the club, and is reportedly training with the club’s reserve team. The Portuguese international’s skill is undeniable. After an ill-fated move to Inter Milan earlier in his career, the winger’s glory days looked over. After his move to Besiktas, however, the winger gained back some of his confidence, and, once again, began to shine. Now, his days at Besiktas looked numbered. It is reported that Liverpool have reserved eight million pounds for his services, and Atletico Madrid will pounce should their deal with Crisitan Tello fall by the wayside.
Euro 2012 Away Jersey Presented
February 28, 2012 / Sam Biggers / Leave a comment
In a ceremony on Sunday, Nike officially presented Portugal’s away kit for Euro 2012. The design is exactly the same as the leaked photo from a month back, being white with a red/green cross. Paulo Bento, Nelson Oliveira, Danilo Pereira, Raul Meireles, Bruno Alves, and Miguel Veloso were all present at the presentation. This is the jersey that will be worn in Portugal’s friendly against Poland tomorrow. Here are some of the pictures. | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8375 |
__label__wiki | 0.625025 | 0.625025 | 1953 Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park…
Posted: March 16, 2019 in Features, Who,What,Where & When...?
Tags: 1953 Australian Grand Prix, Alta Ford V8, Andy Brown, Doug Whiteford, Frank Kleinig, HWM Jaguar, Kleinig Hudson 8 Spl, Lex Davison, Maserati 6C1500, Maybach, MG K3, Stan Jones, Talbot Lago T26C, Ted Gray, Ted McKinnon
1953 AGP grid. Front row L>R Davison HWM Jag, Jones Maybach 1, Whiteford Talbot-Lago T26C, car 11 on row 2 is Ted Gray Alta Ford V8 (Dacre Stubbs)
The allocation of the 1953 Australian Grand Prix to Albert Park was the result of over two decades of work by the Light Car Club of Australia…
I live 800 metres from Albert Park Lake, I awoke this morning to F1 music at 7.05 AM- the sound of two-seater Minardi V10 engined cars ferrying their lucky cargo around gods motor racing country at high speed. The dawn of the 2019 race seems an apt time to upload this article on the 1953 event- the first Albert Park AGP.
Barry Green in his wonderful book ‘Glory Days’, writes that there was a strong push to race at Albert Park in 1934. The Light Car Club of Australia, (LCCA) the promoter of race meetings at Phillip Island were aware of the ‘Islands growing unsuitability given its loose gravel surface as speeds increased.’ Extensive negotiations secured Albert Park as the venue for a race meeting to celebrate the Centenary of Victoria in 1935.
The ‘Sun News Pictorial’ one of the Melbourne daily tabloids, and then as now a good thing in which to wrap ones fish n’ chips, announced the event on June 4 1934.
In doing so the ‘paper lit the fuse of naysayers who brought about the events cancellation, but not before racers Arthur Terdich, Bill Lowe, Barney Dentry, and Cyril Dickason in Bugatti, Lombard, and Austins respectively, lapped the track with mufflers fitted to prove noise wasn’t the issue.’
Stan Jones at speed in Maybach 1, Albert Park 1953, DNF. Stan made this series of cars sing, Maybach 1 won the ’54 NZ GP at Ardmore but none of the Maybachs- 1,2,3 or 4 won an AGP, such a shame! If the Chamberlain 8 is Australia’s most brilliant and innovative special surely the Maybachs are the greatest? Hopeless bias declared! (R Fulford /SLV)
Post war things were little different, but a partnership between the LCCA, the Australian Army- who had a facility at Albert Park, and Victorian Labor Senator Pat Kennelly was more successful.
The three groups/people provided the combination of race organisation, promotional ability, logistical capability- the Army being able to ‘man’ Albert Park, a site of some 570 acres, and political power and influence.
For all, the ability to raise funds in the aftermath of World War 2 was important. For the army, it was money for war widows and orphans, for Kennelly to finance much needed improvements to the park for to upgrade the local amenity, and for the LCCA, the betterment of motor racing.
The parties all were aware they needed to be very careful with the use of the facility so the event was a one day affair, with practice in the morning, racing in the afternoon with the roads open to the public in between. Total time absorbed by the racing activities was less than seven hours!
And so, the 1953 Australian Grand Prix, held at Albert Park over 64 laps, 200 miles in total, on Saturday 21 November, was won by Doug Whiteford in a Lago-Talbot, the last AGP win for ‘French Racing Blue’.
Doug Whiteford’s Talbot Lago T26C passes the abandoned MG Spl of Jack O’Dea on the way to victory. Writing on the side of the car is a list of race wins. Whiteford owned two TL26C’s- this one, 1948-ex Louis Chiron chassis ‘110007’ and later, an earlier but higher spec car, chassis ‘110002’. Vern Schuppan is the current owner of ‘110002’. Crowd right to the edge of the track (R Fulford/SLV)
The entry list was headed by local Melbourne businessmen Doug Whiteford, Stan Jones and Lex Davison.
Whiteford was perhaps the form driver, he won the AGP at Mount Panorama the year before in the same Talbot-Lago T26C. Doug was a tough grafter who owned an automotive repair and sales business a drop kick from the shores of Albert Park Lake in Carlisle Street, St Kilda.
The preparation and presentation of all of his racers was legendary. His career stretched back well pre-war to motor cycles circa 1932. He raced Norman Hamilton’s blown Ford. V8 Spl at Phillip Island circa 1935, an MG Magnette and a supercharged Ford Roadster before building the Ford Ute based ‘Black Bess’ his 1950 AGP winner.
A racer to the core, he competed all the way through into the early to mid seventies, after his long time at elite level, as a works driver for the Datsun Racing Team in small sedans and sportscars.
What a shot! Not at Albert Park I hasten to add, Fishermans Bend is my guess. Whiteford changing plugs on his TL T26C. A mechanic by trade, he toiled on his own cars, his race record, standard of preparation and presentation legendary. Date unknown (R Fulford/SLV)
On the up was Stanley Jones, another tough nugget from Warrandyte, rapidly building an automotive retailing empire which would fund an impressive array of racers over the decade to come- all of which would come tumbling down in the credit squeeze of 1961. Jones had thrown in his lot with Charlie Dean and Repco a year or so before- Jones bought Maybach from Dean with Charlie and his team at Repco Research in Brunswick continuing to maintain and develop it. Jones was as forceful as Whiteford was stylish- both were impressively fast.
Also on the rise was Lex Davison, native of St Kilda but then a resident of Lilydale and fast building the shoe manufacture, importing and retailing business he inherited from his father.
Lex by this stage had learned his craft on a varied mix of cars, most recently an Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 GP car. He had just bought an ex-Moss/Gaze F2 HWM to which he fitted a Jaguar 3.4 litre six-cylinder DOHC engine to ‘C Type’ specs and gearbox, this clever combination took his first AGP win at Southport, Queensland in 1954- a race Jones had a mortgage on until the chassis failure of Maybach 2 at very high speed.
Elite Racers All: L>R Jack Brabham Cooper T23 Bristo, third in this group, #3 Lex Davison HWM Jag and #8 Ted Gray Alta Ford V8. Shot included to show the HWM and Alta- Victoria Trophy Fishermans Bend 22 March 1954. Lex is soon to win the ’54 AGP, Jack is soon to travel to the UK and Gray is soon to get a competitive mount in Tornado 1 Ford! (VHRR)
Lex was an urbane man of considerable wit, bearing and charm- but he could and did go toe to toe with racers of Whiteford and Jones ilk and beat them. His career, which had far from peaked in 1953 stretched all the way to early 1965 when he shared the front row of the NZ GP grid with Clark and Hill, a couple of fellas ‘still in short pants’ in 1953.
Frank Kleinig and his Kleinig-Hudson straight-8 Spl could not be discounted nor could the Ted Gray driven Alta Ford V8 Spl- much more would be seen of this outstanding pre-war driver who cut his teeth on the country speedways of Victoria in the years to 1960 with the Lou Abrahams owned Tornados 1 and 2.
Oh to have seen this bloke drive at his best!- as here at Rob Roy Hillclimb, 2 November 1947. Frank Kleinig, Kleinig Hudson 8 Spl, a remarkable marriage of MG chassis, Hudson mechanicals and various other donor parts continuously developed over a couple of decades. A car which shoulda won at least one AGP. Kleinig another driver/mechanic ace (G Thomas)
Kleinig should have won an AGP or two, or three.
The Sydney driver was one of the very quickest immediately pre and post war but times had changed. The AGP was now a scratch race, not a handicap and Frank’s machine, development of which never stopped simply wasn’t quick enough to win outright whatever the undoubted skills of the bloke behind the wheel.
Ted and Frank both needed the ‘guns’ up front to retire and have a dose of reliability themselves for the long 200 mile race to win.
The Reg Nutt, Talbot Darracq 700, DNF dropped valve on lap 14 (Dacre Stubbs)
The balance of the entry was a swag of MG Specials, pre-war GP cars, sports cars and a sprinkling of Coopers including several new fangled JAP mid-engined cars.
Above and below. Davison, Jones and Whiteford. Further back #11 Gray, his Ford V8 creating the smokescreen, #7 Kleinig, #10 Hayes Ford V8 Spl #6 Vennermark/Warren Maser 4CL (unattributed)
Practice and the Race…
Practice commenced early at 8.30 AM and before too long their was drama aplenty amongst the topliners.
Davison’s HWM suffered bearing problems in practice, the session started at 8.30am, the team linished them as best they could prior to the race start at 2.30 pm, but the same affliction stopped the car during the race.
Another top driver I didn’t mention above was Sydney ex-speedway star Jack Brabham but his new Cooper T23 Bristol succumbed in the morning session, like Davison, to bearing problems. The ace engineer/mechanic did of course turn this car into rather a formidable weapon- one which inspired him to try his hand in England a year or so hence.
Also having practice dramas was Whiteford, who had a lose, the car was quickly loaded up and trailered back to Doug’s ‘shop closeby ‘…where the front suspension was stripped. Jim Hawker used the table of a mill as a surface plate and found a bent stub axle he straightened in a press. The Lago also needed a new flexible hose; without a word Whiteford took a pair of side-cutters, walked across to the pre-War Triumph his nephew Doug McLean was rebuilding and liberated precisely the correct hose. This was fitted, the brakes were bled…’ wrote Graham Howard.
The Jones Maybach in for the pitstop which changed the race, albeit the car retired in any event. Passing is the Jag XK120 of Frank Lobb (Dacre Stubbs)
From atop a double-decker bus race officials and a crowd estimated by local newspapers variously at between 50,000 and 70,000 people saw Whiteford, Jones and Davison form the front row with Lex’ HWM leading into the first corner under heavy, muggy skies.
The start was fraught and chaotic as several crews were still with their driver and car as the flag dropped!
Davo’s lead was shortlived, Stanley passed him on the first lap and then drew away. McKinnon was a lap 1 casualty when he nosed the hay-bales but got going again, Arthur Wylie spun the Jowett Javelin Spl at Jaguar Corner but he too got going.
Early in the race Jones led Whiteford, Davison, Arthur Wylie’s Jowett powered Wylie Javelin and Curley Brydon’s ex-Bill Patterson MG TC Spl.
Davo was out on lap 3, he watched the balance of the event from Stan’s pit.
Bob Pritchett in Australian Motor Sports (AMS) wrote that ‘The trouble with the HWM was that the oil pressure relief valve was cockeyed on its seat allowing all the oil to rush right back into the sump through bypass: most surprisingly, the XK120 oil pressure gauge is so hooked in that, under such circumstances, full pressure was still indicated. Lex’s boys did their best with emery strip and managed to have the car on the line for the GP, but it was of no avail.’
Same scene as above from a different angle- Charlie Dean at bottom right (unattributed)
By half distance Stan still had a good lead over Whiteford, but on lap 40 he pitted for fuel and with his Maybach straight-six engine overheating- the car also needed a water pump drive belt.
His crew were not expecting him and in the confusion Stan was bathed in methanol fuel which necessitated a speedy dismount and then being doused in water before returning to the fray.
Whiteford could not believe his luck.
He perhaps lacked the pace to win, although Pritchett observed on the other hand that he didn’t think ‘Doug was unduly worried…Every few laps he would come up from his half-minute or so back and have a a look at the Maybach and then fall back into line again, so he must have had something up his sleeve’? Stan always pushed hard and was said to lack mechanical sympathy, something Doug had in spades. Jones retired Maybach on lap 56 with clutch failure.
Whiteford’s right rear separates from the Talbot Lago on the exit of Dunlop Corner (AMS)
It was not an easy win though.
Melbourne weather is capricious, the skies darkened and rain tumbled down and cars spun- Wal Gillespie’s HRG (shared with Thompson) amongst others. Spectators added to the challenge with ‘suicidal disregard for their own safety…John Calvert rammed a strawbale…when he had to take avoiding action. I suppose they just can’t understand that towards the end of the straight, the quick drivers are covering the best part of fifty yards each second…’ Pritchett mused.
Whiteford slows the TL 26C at the pits to change wheels having lost his right rear tyre. Fortunately the separation happened close to the pits and his efficient crew (Fairfax)
Two laps from home the right-rear tyre of the T26C came off its rim, fortunately only 300 metres from the pits.
After a stop of 30 seconds to change the wheel, with a huge gap to his pursuers, the local lad was on his way to win the race ‘in a Largo Talbot by 5 laps at an average speed of 82 mph for the 200 miles’ The Melbourne Sun, with its characteristic great attention to motor racing reporting detail, recorded in its 22 November account of the race.
Curley Brydon, a member of the RAAF’s crack 78 fighter squadron during the war, was second in his MG TC Spl 5 laps adrift and South Australian Andy Brown third in an MG K3 Magnette. Then came former AGP winner Les Murphy, MG Q Type and Lou Molina in the MM Holden Spl sportscar
Third placed Andy Brown’s very pre-war MG K3 in for a pitstop. K3 ‘030’ still in Oz- ex-Bira/Snow/Dunne/Davison/Brown and many others! (Dacre Stubbs)
Graham Howard in his ‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’ (HAGP) account of the race reports on some post race controversy which reader and owner of the Curley Brydon TC, Richard Townley develops further in his note below this article.
Howard wrote ‘…Curley Brydon, who had provisionally been placed third, protested that too many people had assisted with Whiteford’s tyre change, and indeed it was suggested one of the helpers was no more than a gate-crashing spectator; but it was agreed that Whiteford could have changed the wheel single-handed and still had time to win, and Brydon’s protest was withdrawn.
Curley Brydon, in the 2nd placed MG TC Spl s/c leads the 16th placed John Nind MG TB Spl (K Wheeler)
Whiteford is quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) as saying ‘Our pit was very congested and there were more spectators around than mechanics. Evidently someone we didn’t know tried to help.’ Note that the SMH report states the protests were heard on Sunday 22 November, the day after the race.
As Richard Townley relates in his comments post publication of this article, Phil Irving wrote in his autobiography that Whiteford ‘…was not immediately declared the winner, through an unofficial report that he had been helped by a bystander to get the Talbot back on course after over-shooting a corner. Not having the use of a telephone, the marshal on the corner concerned wrote out a report to be delivered to the Clerk of The Course, who did not receive it until long after after the race had ended.’
‘Doug, who knew the rule book by heart was aware that the official report of the incident had not been lodged within the stipulated half-hour of the race finish, and shrewdly claimed that it was ultra vires and could not form the basis of a protest. This view being upheld by the stewards, Doug was awarded his third AGP, but it was not a very popular victory’ Irving wrote.
Let’s come back to this after dealing with the balance of the protests.
Howard continues ‘However, he (Brydon) also protested Andy Brown’s second placing, and after investigation it was agreed Brydon was second: Murphy protested Brown as well, claiming to have passed him on the last lap, but this was not upheld.’
‘Fifth was Lou Molina first time out in the neat little Holden-engined MM Special, and the first AGP finish for a Holden engine, Sixth was Jim Leech, a nice reward for his part in securing Albert Park for the race.’
‘Seventh, with a plug lead off, with only first and fourth gears useable and with his seat belt broken, was Frank Kleinig; from six AGP starts, going back 15 years to 1938, it was the cars first finish, and very popular. Nonetheless, the days of 15-year old AGP cars could not last much longer’ Howard concluded.
No doubt Kleinig was well pleased with the result as Pritchett wrote that he left Sydney very late for the meeting with trade-plates affixed to the racer to run it in on the Hume Highway!- when that process was complete the car took its place on the trailer for the balance of the trip south.
So what do we make of Phil Irving’s claims of Whiteford receiving outside assistance?
I can find no record of this in any of the published information I have access to.
It is not mentioned in any of the contemporary newspaper reports of the meeting- not in Howard’s AGP account in HAGP, Howard’s ‘Lex Davison: Larger Than Life’, Barry Green’s superb long piece on the meeting in ‘Albert Park Glory Days’ or in the November or December 1953 issues of Australian Motor Sports.
Lets not forget that the protests were heard and decided, according to the SMH, on the day after the race- Sunday 22 November.
The Stewards of the meeting, given all of the circumstances, and I have in mind the logistics of communication at the meeting, could choose to admit as evidence what they saw as appropriate- and call witnesses.
By that i mean the Marshal concerned could have been called, and no doubt others who were stationed on the corner at the time to give their account of what Irving wrote occurred, to the Stewards, and for them to then make a determination accordingly.
So, on balance, and in the absence of other accounts which agree with Irving’s I don’t believe his version of events to be the correct one. I am happy to alter that position if other proof, a photograph or first-hand spectators recollection, for example can be made available.
I wonder if Phil, writing his book years later- it was published after his death in 1992, is somehow linking DW’s Saturday morning practice spin with the Saturday post-event protests? Irving makes no mention in his book of the other protests addressed by Howard, Green and the SMH in their reports.
Intriguing isn’t it?
(Fairfax)
Winners are Grinners: ‘Dicer Doug’ has won his third and last AGP.
His birthdate is a bit of a mystery but a consensus seems to be during 1914, so it makes him 39, still a young man albeit a racing veteran of not far short of 20 years then.
A great shame to me was his purchase of a 300S Maserati when the factory lobbed with five cars- three 250F’s and two 300S for the 1956 AGP right here at Albert Park- those machines were driven by Messrs Moss and Behra.
I mean it’s a shame in that, if he had bought and raced a 250F he would have been right in amongst Jones, Davison, Reg Hunt and Ted Gray with an equal car. He made the 300S sing but a 250F would have been a more appropriate car methinks
Things go better with Melbourne Bitter- Coke in this case for ‘Dicer Doug’ (Fairfax)
’53 AGP Australian Motor Racing Context…
This excerpt from the 1953-54 LCCA Annual Report is self explanatory and whilst it is self-serving does provided valuable information about the positive impact of the event in terms of the public’s perception of motor racing.
‘When your committee finally obtained permission to conduct the Australian Grand Prix on Albert Park circuit the victory was only half won.
To overcome public prejudice has been the major bugbear of organised racing on public roads and any incompetent handling of this delicate situation could easily have touched off an explosion of indignation.
That we did not receive even one complaint can be attributed to good fortune and untiring organisation of directors and officials. As it can be said that enthusiasts will make the best of the most adverse conditions, our achievements at Albert Park was the greater in having gratified both the general public and the competitors.
In justifying the faith which the Albert Park Trust, inexperienced in motor racing, was prepared to place in our ability, we have broken down one of the few remaining barriers to a more general acceptance of motor racing as one of the national sports.’
Whereizzit?! Whiteford sneaks a peek at what he already knows- his pit is close and he has 5 laps in hand, but still a heart in the mouth moment.
Bob King recalls the moment ‘My memory says I saw Doug on the bare rim at Melford Corner, but this must be wrong. This photo is probably taken on the way from Jaguar Corner (which is still there if you look for it) and the pits. After all, I was only 15 and it was my first motor race: A life changing event.’
(S Wills)
Ted McKinnon’s 15th placed Maserati 6CM1500. An ex-works car, this machine first raced in Australia at the 1951 AGP at Narrogin, WA, raced by visiting Englishman Colin Murray.
Car #57 alongside is not entered in the AGP (Dacre Stubbs)
(Dacre Stubbs)
(D Elms)
Lou Molina’s fifth placed Molina Monza Holden Special and then Les Murphy, MG Q Type fourth, about to be rounded up at speed by Stan Jones in Maybach 1- an unusual angle of Albert Park at its south end.
(R Townley)
‘History of The Australian Grand Prix’ Graham Howard and ors, ‘Lex Davison: Larger Than Life’ Graham Howard, ‘Phil Irving: An Autobiography’, ‘Glory Days’ Barry Green, Australian Motor Sports December 1953,
Melbourne Sun 22 November 1953, Sydney Morning Herald 23 November 1953
Dacre Stubbs Collection-Martin Stubbs, R Fulford Collection, State Library of Victoria, VHRR Collection, Fairfax Media, Ken Wheeler via Richard Townley Collection, Spencer Wills via Bob King Collection
Tailpiece: Whiteford on the way to victory, Talbot-Lago T26C…
(R Fulford/SLV)
Richard Townley 0418 324 052 says:
Here is a little more to add to your 1953 Albert Park Australian Grand Prix post.
My 1948 Patterson Brydon MG TC Special was part of the VHRR Historic Display at the weekend.
You will find a great image of the TC entering the main straight ( Dunlop Corner)
in this link http://ttypes.org/ttt2/mg-t-series-racing-in-australia
The image was given to me by Ken Wheeler, hopefully it can be added to the post.
Patterson Brydon MG TC Special’s outstanding race was the 1953 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on
the 21st of November, when Brydon finished second to Doug Whiteford’s Type
26C Lago Talbot (Chassis No. 110007)
The 1953 Albert Park AGP was very significant for Australian motor sport as it
was the first AGP conducted to the FIA International Sporting Code under the FIA
Formula Libre regulations.
In fact Brydon may well have been placed first in the event as Phil Irving
describes on page 436 of his book “An Autobiography”
“Doug Whiteford, who won the 1952 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst in the Lago
Talbot, was lucky to repeat the performance because, although he crossed the
line first, he was not immediately declared the winner, through an unofficial
report that he had been helped by a bystander to get the Talbot onto the course
after over-shooting a corner. Not having the use of a telephone, the Marshall on
the corner concerned wrote out a report to be delivered to the Clerk of Course,
who did not receive it until long after the race had ended. Doug, who knew the
rule book by heart was aware that the official report of the incident had not been
lodged within the stipulated half-hour after the race finish, and shrewdly claimed
that it was ultra vires and could not form the basis of a protest. This view being
upheld by the stewards, Doug was awarded his third A.G.P., but it was not a very
popular victory.”
‘Ultra vires’ is a Latin phrase that translates to “beyond the powers.” This means
that someone is acting beyond the scope of the authority or power that is granted
to him by law, contract, or agreement.
The magazine “Wheels” described Brydon’s race in these terms: “Brydon took
second place after an unhurried drive behind the dicing leaders. Not thrashing the
car, he picked up places as others fell out and showed that anyone with a good
car can run a high place over a long distance if he prepares it correctly.”
Further reading: “An Autobiography” – Phil Irving
“Totally T-Type 2” http://ttypes.org/ttt2/index.php
markbisset says:
Many thanks for the above, which is fascinating stuff, and a really important contribution to the race history.
I consulted my copy of Irving’s book, it’s interesting that in that chapter of ‘snippets’ the only comments Phil made about the race are of the LCCA’s success in getting the venue, the course layout and that controversy.
I have added into the article Graham Howard’s comments from the AGP book about Brydon’s protest in relation to potentially too many folks assisting in Whiteford’s pit stop, but that is a different thing to the ‘outside assistance’ claim of Irving’s of which he makes no mention.
Howard comments in the Davison book of Whiteford not attending the LCCA prize giving to collect his trophy, which perhaps indicates the angst at the time over the above. I’ve had a quick look on Trove and found a 23 November Sydney Morning Herald account of the protests which were heard on Sunday 22 November, the day after the race, mention is made of the protests Graham Howard mentions in his HAGP piece but not the ‘outside assistance’ claim made by Phil. Finally, thanks for the photo which I have popped into the article.
Richar Townley says:
Thanks for including the Ken Wheeler image.
I have emailed you some images of the Phil Irving’s book that were provided by the late and great Don Kinsey at his last ever PI race meeting.
Don worked at the Herald Sun when Curley (never Curly) Brydon was the MD/CEO. Don said they would meet every week for coffee and talk about motor racing etc.
When Don showed me his copy of the book that related to the 1953 AGP he was most excited as he said this confirmed what Curley had told him many years before about the race and the ‘late ‘ protest.
May I suggest you include these images in your PT article as it may create some feed back from some of the old-timers if they are still around. It will also balance some of Graham Howard’s quotes that you have included.
Speaking of 1953 AGP old timers it would be great if you could make contact with Noel Charge who was placed 13th in the event in his MG TC Special
Neil’s brother Stuart was placed 8th in his Austin Healey 100.
Neil is now over 100 and must be the oldest living Grand Prix driver in Australia if not the world.
Please give me a call 0418 324 052 and I will give you the contact detail if you don’t already have them.
Thanks Richard,
Look forward to seeing the images, Bob King sent me one overnight I will add too.
I’ll give you a yell re Noel Charge. Fascinating isn’t it!
Richard Townley says:
Oops…. apologies it is of course Neil Charge not Noel Charge
Ha-ha,
I changed it to Noel but Neil was in the back of my head!
JOHN GILLETT says:
Hi Mark and Richard,
This is a great article about one of the most important races in Australia, being the first FIA race and the first at Albert Park.
I am the owner of #39, shown “abandoned” after the end of Jack O’Dea’s race at lap 9. The previous owner, David Harvey, for whom the car was built as a race car in 1949 by Tony Ohlmeyer in Adelaide, told me about the race. He said he “told Jack how to drive it”. The race was “a long distance, not a sprint”, which was a reference to Jack O’Dea’s record as a speedway driver. David told me the car was, subsequent to the 1953 race, sold by O’Dea Jack Brabham along with another car ( a Cooper 500?). JB confirmed this to me when he saw the car at Albert Park “Tribute to Jack Brabham” historic demonstartion in 2003. He said he didn’t plan to own a TC at that time, but since he had it he thought he should drive it, which he did at least once at Parramatta Park in late 1954. After this it went to Harry Gapps, JB’s friend. I have owned the TC since 1966 when I was a boy, and am still racing it, most recently in group Lb at Phillip Island two weeks ago.
As it happens, I also own the MG K3 #22 driven to third place in the race by Andy Brown. This is the ex Prince Bira car brought to Australia by John Snow, and raced at victor Harbor, Lobethal, Bathurst, Nuriootpa , Albert Park and Port Wakefield Australian Grand Prix events. Therefore both my TC as well as the K3 were it was in the same races as the Patterson/Bryden MG TC, and in recent years, Richard Townley and I have again competed together many times at race tracks throughout south eastern Australia.
Both the cars were on display at the 2013 AGP to celebrate the 60 year anniversary of the AGP at Albert Park, along with the Curley Bryden MG.
Small world.
regards, John Gillett
Many thanks for getting in touch, this article and the additional contributions have made it very content rich!
I’m intrigued to see mention above of the 1953 AGP being “the first AGP conducted to the FIA International Sporting Code under the FIA Formula Libre regulations”. It says in the Official Programme that it was “A Formula Libre Scratch Race”, but why do we think that “FIA Formula Libre” applied? Wasn’t the term “Formula Libre race” simply used to signify that a race was not being run for cars of any recognised formula (e.g. FIA F1, FIA F2 etc)? If I am wrong and the organisers did specifiy “FIA Formula Libre”, would this really have been “very significant for Australian motor sport”? I don’t think that the 1953 field was fundamentally different to the usual Australian Grand Prix free-for-all lineups that had existed since 1938.
I agree with you- in fact Australian GP’s from 1936 to 1963 were run to F Libre at which point ANF ‘Tasman 2.5’, colloquially, replaced it. You will appreciate that my definition starts with the December 1936 South Australian Centenary GP aka 1936 AGP- i simply refuse the recognise a December 1936 race as anything other than the 1936 AGP rather than this 1937 AGP bullshit.
I’m not sure, nor do i care if F Libre is an FIA category- to me it was and is an ‘anything goes’ class. I’ll circle back to HAGP and the Barry Green book over the weekend to see if there is something in this ‘FIA F Libre’ thing.
The more interesting point raised by Richard Townley, to me at least, is whether or not Phil Irving’s claim of DW receiving outside assistance is true or not- inclusive of the ‘out of time’ aspect. There appears to be nothing in AMS about it.
Have you discovered anything germaine in that regard?
Sorry, I haven’t been able to locate any additional information regarding the outside assistance issue. The ten page meeting report in the November issue of AMS doesn’t mention it.
Thanks for having a look- I spent some more time on this on Saturday and can’t find any record of this at all. Huge Irving admirer that I am, he was far from infallible without citing some factual errors in his book. We all make them, I certainly do!- the beauty of this forum is that I can fix em when folks like you pick them up.
I did add to the article, if you can be bothered having a final look- i’ve also asked a few wise old racing owls about this (outside assistance) and drawn a blank.
So, my conclusion at this point is that (a) Phil is confusing the Sunday morning practice spin and probable push-start to get him going back to the pits and/with the post-race protests or (b) Phil was settling an ‘old score’ with Whiteford- an immensely difficult man on occasion by most accounts. Not that Phil was short of idiosyncrasies either! It is intriguing all the same.
Peter O’May’s Longford Pictorial… | primotipo... says:
[…] and here; https://primotipo.com/2019/03/16/1953-australian-grand-prix-albert-park/ […]
Paul Cummins says:
Love your website, some great photos and stories. In the photo with the Jag XK120 passing the pitted Maybach, it is the Lobb XK (Chassis #660832). It is also in the photo (from newspaper?) of the Talbot Lago’s wheel separating (Vic rego VC 262). The other XK120 in the race driven by Calvert (Chassis #660139) was a lighter colour and ran disc wheels instead of the Borrani wire wheels on Lobb’s XK. For reference see photo on page 47 in ‘The Jaguar XK in Australia’: Elmgreen and McGrath. The Lobb XK was owned by my father Ian Cummins since 1971 (which I now have), he was miffed that he wasn’t invited to the 60th Anniversary! 🙂
Thanks Paul for getting in touch, lucky boy owning that particular XK120.
I’ve changed the caption accordingly, a mate of mine has just bought an XK150- I must head down to Flinders and check it out and have a drive!
Elfin Mono Clisby, Mallala April 1965… | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8387 |
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Vixen is:
Janet Gardner (vocals)
Roxy Petrucci (drums)
Share Ross (bass)
Britt Lightning (guitars)
01. Rev It Up (Live)
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Solar tax credits bring tangible long-term benefits to Hawaii
Half a billion dollars and counting. That’s about how much Hawaii tax filers claimed from 2012-2015 for the Renewable Energy Technologies Tax Credit (RETTC) with the vast majority of that sum being for solar energy systems, electric and thermal. In 2015, the most recent year the Department of Taxation has published data, 13,954 tax filers…
Now that the CGS program has closed, what comes next for solar in Hawaii?
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission filed Decision and Order 34924 on October 20, introducing two new solar programs for the Hawaii solar industry. Further details remain to be worked out and the utilities have 60 days to submit the proposed new tariffs and required forms to the PUC for their review and approval. There are…
Nisbet Oyster Co. and Craft3 announce completion of groundbreaking solar installation at Kea’au hatchery, first-of-its-kind in Hawaii
Hawaiian Shellfish, subsidiary owned by Willapa Bay, Washington-based Nisbet Oyster Co. will now produce 75 percent of its own energy ASTORIA, OREGON – Today, Nisbet Oyster Co., producer of Goose Point Oysters, announced the installation of solar panels at its Hawaii-based oyster hatchery, Hawaiian Shellfish LLC, – making it the first shellfish hatchery in Hawaii…
Emily Ebert Has been promoted to the position of General Manager at ProVision Solar
ProVision Solar has promoted Emily Ebert to General Manager. Emily has 13 years’ experience in the construction industry and she joined ProVision Solar in 2010. Emily’s leadership will be vital in ensuring the continued success of ProVision Solar in this competitive energy market. Emily Ebert has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Mt. Vernon Nazarene…
Electricity bills on the rise across Hawaii
According to an article in Star Advertiser released March 23, electricity bills are rising across the Islands. While the cost increase is just a fraction of a cent per kilowatt-hour the impact on your electric bill amounts to an extra several dollars compared to the previous month’s bill. For the Big Island, an average household…
The First Solar Powered Movie Theater in Hawaii
Hilo, Hawaii—December 2016 It’s about time! The Palace Theater, built in downtown Hilo, Hawai’i in 1925, is one of the more prominent public buildings constructed in the early 20th century. By setting the stage with a “reduce, then produce” theme, the historic theater has undergone extensive energy efficiency upgrades and is now going solar electric.…
Sun shines for solar PV, despite tax credit step-down
Shake up HEI, for sake of isles’ energy future
3 Tesla Powerwalls + SunPower Solar = 33 Days “Off Grid” — CleanTechnica Interview
The Conversation: Solar Energy
Tesla: Self-Powered in Kailua Kona
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56 Multiplicity of Themes in Philip Roth's Fiction: Expressing Contemporariness
Authors: Shivani Sharma
Philip Roth is one of the most significant contemporary American novelists and is always engaged in creative activities. He is a recognized and prolific novelist of post-World War II period, an author of over 29 books where his text serves as a picture as well as critiques of contemporary culture from World War II to post 9/11 America. Roth is an honored author who has been awarded with prestigious literary awards. In his works he explains what is important to contemporary American Jews. His fiction is known for its autobiographical character, for blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, also for challenging exploration of Jewish and American identity. In many ways Roth is also considered as postmodern writer as his works can be read in the context of being a postmodern narration. He also stands as one of the most offensive novelist living today and has been read as a misogynist, a liberal defender, a solipsist, an anti-communist, and even an anti-Semite. It is not only the variety of contemporary issues that are discussed in his works but we can also see the strong element of multiplicity of themes in his writings. This paper is an attempt to explore the multiplicity of themes in the fiction of Philip Roth.
Keywords: multiple themes, Jewish-American literature, Philip Roth, expressing contemporariness
Procedia PDF Downloads 294
55 Comparison Between Conventional Bacterial and Algal-Bacterial Aerobic Granular Sludge Systems in the Treatment of Saline Wastewater
Authors: Philip Semaha, Zhongfang Lei, Ziwen Zhao, Sen Liu, Zhenya Zhang, Kazuya Shimizu
The increasing generation of saline wastewater through various industrial activities is becoming a global concern for activated sludge (AS) based biological treatment which is widely applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). As for the AS process, increase in wastewater salinity has a negative impact on its overall performance. The advent of conventional aerobic granular sludge (AGS) or bacterial AGS as novel biotechnology has gained much attention because of its superior performance. Most recently, algal-bacterial AGS has been proposed as a much more efficient alternative with better nutrients removal and the potential to reduce aeration cost through symbiotic algae activity, which could also reduce treatment cost. Previous studies on saline wastewater treatment by AGS show that the increase of salinity may decrease biomass growth and nutrient removal rate. Up to the present, little information is available on saline wastewater treatment by algal-bacterial AGS, nor a comparison of the two AGS systems has been done to evaluate nutrient removal capacity as biomass reduces with salinity increase. This study sought to figure out the impact of salinity on algal-bacterial AGS system in comparison to bacterial AGS one, contributing to the application of AGS technology in the real world of saline wastewater treatment. In this study, the salinities tested were 0, 1, 5, 10 and 15 g/L of NaCl with 24-hr artificial illuminance of approximately 97.2 µmol m¯²s¯¹, and mature bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS were used for the operation of two identical sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with a working volume of 0.9 L each, respectively. The results showed that salinity increase caused no apparent change in the color of bacterial AGS, while for algal-bacterial AGS, its color was progressively changed from green to dark green. A consequent increase in granule diameter and fluffiness was observed in the bacterial AGS reactor with the increase of salinity in comparison to a decrease in algal-bacterial AGS diameter. Nitritation rate in both systems was almost 100% throughout, except at 10 g/L NaCl with 92% and 95% in the bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS systems, respectively. However, nitrite accumulation peaked from 1.0 and 0.4 mg/L at 1 g/L NaCl in the bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS systems, respectively to 9.8 mg/L in both systems when NaCl concentration varied from 5 to 15 g/L. Almost no ammonia nitrogen was detected in the effluent except at 10g/L NaCl concentration, where it averaged 4.2 and 2.4 mg/L respectively in the bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS systems. Nutrients removal in the algal-bacterial system was relatively higher than the bacterial AGS system in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Nonetheless, the nutrients removal rate was almost 50% or lower. Results show that algal-bacterial AGS is more adaptable to salinity increase and could be more suitable for saline wastewater treatment. Optimization of operation conditions for algal-bacterial AGS system would be important to ensure its stably high efficiency in practice.
Keywords: Nutrients Removal, sequencing batch reactor, algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge, bacterial aerobic granular sludge, saline wastewater
Procedia PDF Downloads 1
54 Architecture of a Preliminary Course on Computational Thinking
Authors: Mintu Philip, Renumol V. G.
An introductory programming course is a major challenge faced in Computing Education. Many of the introductory programming courses fail because student concentrate mainly on writing programs using a programming language rather than involving in problem solving. Computational thinking is a general approach to solve problems. This paper proposes a new preliminary course that aims to develop computational thinking skills in students, which may help them to become good programmers. The proposed course is designed based on the four basic components of computational thinking - abstract thinking, logical thinking, modeling thinking and constructive thinking. In this course, students are engaged in hands-on problem solving activities using a new problem solving model proposed in this paper.
Keywords: computational thinking, Abstraction, Computing Education, constructive thinking, modelling thinking
53 Does Inflation Affect Private Investment in Nigeria?
Authors: Amassoma Ditimi, Nwosa Philip Ifeakachukwu
This study examined the impact of inflation on private investment in Nigeria for the period 1980 to 2012. Private investment was measured by foreign direct investment and private domestic investment. The study employed the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique. The empirical regression estimate showed that inflation had a positive but insignificant effect on private investment in Nigeria; implying that although an increase in inflation rate leads to a corresponding increase in private investment but however the effect was found to be insignificant. Thus, the study recommended that government should prevent high inflation rate that can negatively affect private investment in Nigeria and government should also put in place appropriate facilities that are investment enhancing in order to increase the level of both domestic and foreign private investment in Nigeria.
Keywords: private investment, Nigeria, inflation rate, OLS
52 Integral Abutment Bridge: A Study on Types, Importance, Limitations and Design Guidelines
Authors: Babitha Elizabeth Philip
This paper aims to study in general about bridges without expansion joints. Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) fall into this category of bridges. They are having a continuous deck and also the girders are integrated into the abutments. They are most cost effective system in terms of construction, maintenance, and longevity. The main advantage of IAB is that it is corrosion resistant since water is not allowed to pass through the structure. The other attractions of integral bridges are its simple and rapid construction, smooth and uninterrupted deck which provides a safe ride. Also damages to the abutments can be avoided to a great extent due to better load distribution at the bridge ends. Damages due to improper drainage are not seen in IAB because of its properly drained approach slabs thus eliminating the possibility of erosion of the abutment backfill and freeze and thaw damage resulting from saturated backfill.
Keywords: Soil Interaction, integral abutment bridge, life cycle cost, continuous bridge, joint bridge
Procedia PDF Downloads 67
51 Experimental Measurements of Evacuated Enclosure Thermal Insulation Effectiveness for Vacuum Flat Plate Solar Thermal Collectors
Authors: Paul Henshall, Philip Eames, Roger Moss, Stan Shire, Farid Arya, Trevor Hyde
Encapsulating the absorber of a flat plate solar thermal collector in vacuum by an enclosure that can be evacuated can result in a significant increase in collector performance and achievable operating temperatures. This is a result of the thermal insulation effectiveness of the vacuum layer surrounding the absorber, as less heat is lost during collector operation. This work describes experimental thermal insulation characterization tests of prototype vacuum flat plate solar thermal collectors that demonstrate the improvement in absorber heat loss coefficients. Furthermore, this work describes the selection and sizing of a getter, suitable for maintaining the vacuum inside the enclosure for the lifetime of the collector, which can be activated at low temperatures.
Keywords: Thermal, Vacuum, insulation, flat-plate solar collector
50 Sentiment Analysis: Comparative Analysis of Multilingual Sentiment and Opinion Classification Techniques
Authors: Sannikumar Patel, Brian Nolan, Markus Hofmann, Philip Owende, Kunjan Patel
Sentiment analysis and opinion mining have become emerging topics of research in recent years but most of the work is focused on data in the English language. A comprehensive research and analysis are essential which considers multiple languages, machine translation techniques, and different classifiers. This paper presents, a comparative analysis of different approaches for multilingual sentiment analysis. These approaches are divided into two parts: one using classification of text without language translation and second using the translation of testing data to a target language, such as English, before classification. The presented research and results are useful for understanding whether machine translation should be used for multilingual sentiment analysis or building language specific sentiment classification systems is a better approach. The effects of language translation techniques, features, and accuracy of various classifiers for multilingual sentiment analysis is also discussed in this study.
Keywords: Machine Learning, Machine Translation, sentiment analysis, cross-language analysis
49 The Determination of Sodium/Potassium Ion Ratio in Selected Edible Leafy Vegetables in North-Eastern Nigeria
Authors: Raymond D. Uzoh, Philip K. Shallsuku, Christopher S. Vaachia
Selected edible leafy vegetables from North-eastern Nigeria were analysed for their sodium and potassium content in mg/100 g and the ratio Na+/K+ worked out. From experimental results, Venonia amydalina (bitter leaf) contained 150 mg (0.15 g) of sodium and 20500 mg (20.5 g) potassium with a ratio of 0.007, Brassica oleracea var capitata (cabbage) contained 300 mg (0.3 g) of sodium and 19000 mg (19 g) of potassium with a ration of 0.012. Others are Telfairia occidentalis (fluted pumpkin) with 400 mg (0.45 g) of sodium and 19500 mg (19.5 g) of potassium with a ratio of 0.020; Hibiscus sabdriffa (sorrel) has 200 mg (0.2 g) of sodium and 600 mg (0.6 g) of potassium with a ratio of 0.300; and Amarantus caudatus (spinach) contained 450 mg (0.45 g) of sodium and 23000 mg (23 g) of potassium with a ratio of 0.020. The presence of sodium and potassium in foods has become increasingly important as recent studies and dietary information gathered in this research has shown that sodium intake is not the sole consideration in elevated blood pressure but its considered as a ratio Na+/K+ fixed at 0.6. This ratio has been found to be a more important factor, suggesting that our diet should contain 67 % more potassium than sodium.
Keywords: diet, Vegetables, Blood Pressure, Foods, potassium, sodium
48 A Comparison of Double Sided Friction Stir Welding in Air and Underwater for 6mm S275 Steel Plate
Authors: Philip Baillie, Stuart W. Campbell, Alexander M. Galloway, Stephen R. Cater, Norman A. McPherson
This study compared the mechanical and microstructural properties produced during friction stir welding(FSW) of S275 structural steel in air and underwater. Post weld tests assessed the tensile strength, micro-hardness, distortion, Charpy impact toughness and fatigue performance in each case. The study showed that there was no significant difference in the strength, hardness or fatigue life of the air and underwater specimens. However, Charpy impact toughness was shown to decrease for the underwater specimens and was attributed to a lower degree of recrystallization caused by the higher rate of heat loss experienced when welding underwater. Reduced angular and longitudinal distortion was observed in the underwater welded plate compared to the plate welded in air.
Keywords: Fatigue, Underwater, Charpy impact toughness, distortion, friction stir welding(FSW), micro-hardness
47 Performance of Neural Networks vs. Radial Basis Functions When Forming a Metamodel for Residential Buildings
Authors: Philip Symonds, Jon Taylor, Zaid Chalabi, Michael Davies
With the world climate projected to warm and major cities in developing countries becoming increasingly populated and polluted, governments are tasked with the problem of overheating and air quality in residential buildings. This paper presents the development of an adaptable model of these risks. Simulations are performed using the EnergyPlus building physics software. An accurate metamodel is formed by randomly sampling building input parameters and training on the outputs of EnergyPlus simulations. Metamodels are used to vastly reduce the amount of computation time required when performing optimisation and sensitivity analyses. Neural Networks (NNs) are compared to a Radial Basis Function (RBF) algorithm when forming a metamodel. These techniques were implemented using the PyBrain and scikit-learn python libraries, respectively. NNs are shown to perform around 15% better than RBFs when estimating overheating and air pollution metrics modelled by EnergyPlus.
Keywords: Neural Networks, Radial Basis Functions, metamodelling, python machine learning libraries
46 Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Beta-Glucosidase of Streptomyces
Authors: Adam Abate, Elham Rasti, Philip Romero
Beta-glucosidase is the key enzyme component present in cellulase and completes the final step during cellulose hydrolysis by converting the cellobiose to glucose. The regulatory properties of beta-glucosidases are most commonly found for the retaining and inverting enzymes. Hydrolysis of a glycoside typically occurs with general acid and general base assistance from two amino acid side chains, normally glutamic or aspartic acids. In order to obtain more detailed information on the dynamic events origination from the interaction with enzyme active site, we carried out molecular dynamics simulations of beta-glycosidase in protonated state (Glu-H178) and deprotonated state (Glu178). The theoretical models generated from our molecular dynamics simulations complement and advance the structural information currently available, leading to a more detailed understanding of Beta-glycosidase structure and function. This article presents the important role of Asn307 in enzyme activity of beta-glucosidase
Keywords: molecular dynamics simulation, structural parameters, Beta-glucosidase, GROMACS
45 A Novel Technological Approach to Maintaining the Cold Chain during Transportation
Authors: Philip J. Purnell
Innovators propose to use the Internet of Things to solve the problem of maintaining the cold chain during the transport of biopharmaceutical products. Sending a data logger with refrigerated goods is only useful to inform the recipient of the goods that they have either breached the cold chain and are therefore potentially spoiled or that they have not breached it and are therefore assumed to be in good condition. Connecting the data logger to the Internet of Things means that the supply chain manager will be informed in real-time of the exact location and the precise temperature of the material at any point on earth. Readable using a simple online interface, the supply chain manager will watch the progress of their material on a Google map together with accurate and crucially real-time temperature readings. The data logger will also send alarms to the supply chain manager if a cold chain breach becomes imminent allowing them time to contact the transporter and restore the cold chain before the material is affected. This development is expected to save billions of dollars in wasted biologics that currently arrive either spoiled or in an unreliable condition.
Keywords: Internet of Things, Transportation, Cold Chain, data logger
44 Availability and the Utilization of Recreational Facilities for Prison Inmate Rehabilitation
Authors: Thomas Ejobowah Boye, Philip Oghenetega Ekpon
The paper examines the availability and the utilization of recreational facilities for prison inmate’s rehabilitation in Nigeria. In order to carry out the study the researchers visited sampled prisons in the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. Instant assessment of available recreational facilities was carried out. Inmates were asked to tick a self-design questionnaire that was validated by experts in the Departments of Physical and Health Education, Delta State University and the College of Physical Education, Mosogar on available recreational facilities and activities engaged in by them. The data collected was subjected to percentage analysis. The study revealed that there is little or no standard recreational facilities in all the prisons visited. Considering the role physical activities play in the overall development of individuals physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and socially it was recommended that the authorities of the Nigerian prisons should as a matter of urgency include recreational activities as a means of reforming and rehabilitating prison inmates. To achieve the desire to rehabilitate prison inmates the researchers also recommended that facilities and equipment should be made available in all prisons in Nigeria.
Keywords: Rehabilitation, Recreation, facility, prison
43 Urban Ecological Interaction: Air, Water, Light and New Transit at the Human Scale of Barcelona’s Superilles
Authors: Philip Speranza
As everyday transit options are shifting from autocentric to pedestrian and bicycle oriented modes for healthy living, downtown streets are becoming more attractive places to live. However, tools and methods to measure the natural environment at the small scale of streets do not exist. Fortunately, a combination of mobile data collection technology and parametric urban design software now allows an interface to relate urban ecological conditions. This paper describes creation of an interactive tool to measure urban phenomena of air, water, and heat/light at the scale of new three-by-three block pedestrianized areas in Barcelona called Superilles. Each Superilla limits transit to the exterior of the blocks and to create more walkable and bikeable interior streets for healthy living. The research will describe the integration of data collection, analysis, and design output via a live interface using parametric software Rhino Grasshopper and the Human User Interface (UI) plugin.
Keywords: urban Design, Urban ecology, GIS, Transit, Parametric Design, Superilles, Barcelona
42 The Incesant Subversion of Judiciary by African Political Leaders
Authors: Joy Olayemi Gbala, Fatai Olatokunbo, Philip Cloud
Catastrophic dictatorship has been discovered to be the major leadership challenge that orchestrates stagnated and contrasted economy with dysfunctional democracy in Africa through willful misappropriation of resources and egregious subversion of the rule of law. Almost invariably, most African leaders inexplicably often become power drunk and addicted which usually leads to abuse of state power, abdication of constitutional duties, unjustly withdrawal of business license of operation, human right violation, election malpractices, financial corruption, disruptions of policies of democratic government transition, annulment of free and fair election, and disruptions of legal electoral procedures and unachievable dividends of democracy and many more. Owing to this, most African nations have gone and still go through political unrest and insurgencies leading to loss of lives and property, violent protests, detention of detractors and political activists and massive human displacement. This research work is concerned with, and investigates the causes, menace, consequences and impacts of subverting the rule of law in Africa on the economy and the development of the continent with a suggested practical solution to the plights.
Keywords: Leadership, Law, Corruption, violation
41 Between Dark and Light: The Construction and the Exclusion of Memory of Prison Heritage in Post-Soviet Period
Authors: Guo Cyuan Deng
This study represents how the Soviet-occupied dark memory in Baltic countries were interpreted and represented by examining the way of management of prison heritage. Based on the formulation of a dark-tourism spectrum which Philip Stone proposed, the Patarei prison in Estonia and the Karosta prison in Latvia are compared, and it is thought that both prisons, which had experienced similar colonial history, face different tourism operation in the present. The former is being run by NGO and remain the situation of “empty" by art intervening. However, the Estonia government attempt to get the operation of museum and transform it to anti-Soviet museum in order show national identity. By contrast, the latter is being managed by private company, whom transformed the prison to "dark fun factories" by entertainment activities in order to private capital accumulation. Moreover, it is not only indicated that both prisons exclude the minority's memory, but also the flaws of dark-tourism spectrum which divide the dark and light are discussed. Finally, given the nature and function of dark heritage, the concept "le métro" is used to supplement Stone's spectrum.
Keywords: national identities, Dark Tourism, prison heritage, Post-Soviet, Baltic countries
40 Investigating the Organizational Capacity of Communities Affecting Water Supply Resilience
Authors: Behrooz Balaei, Suzanne Wilkinson, Regan Potangaroa, Larry Abel, Philip McFarlane
Water supply system failure has serious direct and indirect effects on people wellbeing. Post-disaster water system serviceability depends on a variety of factors from technical characteristics to social, economic, and organizational attributes of communities. This paper tests the organizational factors affecting water supply resilience to outline how these factors contributed to previous disasters. To do so, a framework is briefly introduced in this study to provide a clear guide to identify the significant relevant organizational factors. Then the factors affecting water serviceability following a disaster are outlines. Next, these factors are measured in the case of Tropical Cyclone Pam, which hit Vanuatu in March 2015. Reviewing the existing literature has also been carried out to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the background A site visit and a series of interviews have also been undertaken following the cyclone to collect site-specific data and information. In the end, the organizational factors were ranked to enable decision makers to identify significance of each factor compared to the others.
Keywords: Water supply, Resilience, organizational capacity, Vanuatu, Tropical Cyclone Pam
39 Seasonal Stirred Variations in Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Medicinal Plants Turraea holstii and Clausena anisata
Authors: Francis Machumi, Ester Innocent, Pius Yanda, Philip C. Stevenson
Curative dependence of traditionally used medicinal plants on season of harvest is an alleged claim by traditional health practitioners. This study intended to verify these claims by investigating antifungal activity and chemical composition of traditionally used medicinal plants Turraea holstii and Clausena anisata harvested in rainy season and dry season. The antifungal activities were determined by broth microdilution method whereas chemical profiling of the extracts from the plant materials was done by gas chromatography (GC). Results indicated that extracts of plant materials harvested in dry season showed enhanced antifungal activity as compared to extracts of plant materials harvested in rainy season. GC chromatograms showed overalls increase in number and amount of chemical species for extracts of plant materials harvested in dry season as compared to extracts of plant materials harvested in rainy season.
Keywords: Medicinal Plants, Chemical Composition, antifungal activity, seasonal dependence
38 Anthraquinone Labelled DNA for Direct Detection and Discrimination of Closely Related DNA Targets
Authors: Sarah A. Goodchild, Rachel Gao, Philip N. Bartlett
A novel detection approach using immobilized DNA probes labeled with Anthraquinone (AQ) as an electrochemically active reporter moiety has been successfully developed as a new, simple, reliable method for the detection of DNA. This method represents a step forward in DNA detection as it can discriminate between multiple nucleotide polymorphisms within target DNA strands without the need for any additional reagents, reporters or processes such as melting of DNA strands. The detection approach utilizes single-stranded DNA probes immobilized on gold surfaces labeled at the distal terminus with AQ. The effective immobilization has been monitored using techniques such as AC impedance and Raman spectroscopy. Simple voltammetry techniques (Differential Pulse Voltammetry, Cyclic Voltammetry) are then used to monitor the reduction potential of the AQ before and after the addition of complementary strand of target DNA. A reliable relationship between the shift in reduction potential and the number of base pair mismatch has been established and can be used to discriminate between DNA from highly related pathogenic organisms of clinical importance. This indicates that this approach may have great potential to be exploited within biosensor kits for detection and diagnosis of pathogenic organisms in Point of Care devices.
Keywords: Discrimination, Anthraquinone, DNA detection, electrochemical biosensor
37 True Religious Piety and Its Social Implications an Analysis of Calvin’s Thought
Authors: Philip Tachin
Despite the positive contributions that religion has impacted human society, religious discrimination and violence also have been growing globally with extreme negative effects on human life and social relationships. Believers in religious extremism are motivated by a sense of exhibiting true religious piety in which case they do not only withhold their practical benevolence from those who do not belong to their faith but they even seek the elimination of other adherents from human existence. This phenomenon has a very high magnitude in Nigeria over the years, which deserves more research for the purpose of finding sustainable solutions to the problem. Calvin believed that true religious piety must, among other things, be categorized in personal and corporate positive social actions that esteem human needs irrespective of ethnic, ideological and belief differences. It is therefore appropriate to pose the following questions: Should true religious piety be seen in terms of how the actions of adherents positively impact human society? Could Calvin’s idea on this issue be very significant and helpful in the context of the Nigerian situation? In answering these questions, this research will limit its investigation to Calvin’s Institutes and some of his Commentaries. The goal of this research is to offer an instructive orientation to the readers that will help in building a more tolerable, peaceful, and a free and virtuous society.
Keywords: Calvin, human good, religious piety, virtuous society
36 Negativization: A Focus Strategy in Basà Language
Authors: Imoh Philip
Basà language is classified as belonging to Kainji family, under the sub-phylum Western-Kainji known as Rubasa (Basa Benue) (Croizier & Blench, 1992:32). Basà is an under-described language spoken in the North-Central Nigeria. The language is characterized by subject-verb-object (henceforth SVO) as its canonical word order. Data for this work is sourced from the researcher’s native intuition of the language corroborated with a careful observation of native speakers. This paper investigates the syntactic derivational strategy of information-structure encoding in Basà language. It emphasizes on a negative operator, as a strategy for focusing a constituent or clause that follows it and negativizes a whole proposition. For items that are not nouns, they have to undergo an obligatory nominalization process, either by affixation, modification or conversion before they are moved to the pre verbal position for these operations. The study discovers and provides evidence of the fact showing that deferent constituents in the sentence such as the subject, direct, indirect object, genitive, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, clause and idiophone, etc. can be focused with the same negativizing operator. The process is characterized by focusing the pre verbal NP constituent alone, whereas the whole proposition is negated. The study can stimulate similar study or be replicated in other languages.
Keywords: Focus, Basà, negation, nominalization
35 The Pitfalls of Short-Range Endemism: High Vulnerability to Ecological and Landscape Traps
Authors: Leanda Denise Mason, Philip William Bateman, Grant Wardell-Johnson
Ecological traps attract biota to low-quality habitats. Landscape traps are zones caught in a vortex of spiraling degradation. Here, we demonstrate how short-range endemic traits may make such taxa vulnerable to ecological and landscape traps. Three short-range endemic mygalomorph spider species were used in this study. Mygalomorphs can be long-lived ( > 40 years) and select sites for permanent burrows in their early dispersal phase. Spiderlings from two species demonstrated choice for microhabitats that correspond to where adults typically occur. An invasive veldt grass microhabitat was selected almost exclusively by spiderlings of the third species. Habitat dominated by veldt grass has lower prey diversity and abundance than undisturbed habitats and therefore acts as an ecological trap for this species. Furthermore, as a homogenising force, veldt grass can spread to form a landscape trap in naturally heterogeneous ecosystems. Selection of specialised microhabitats of short-range endemics may explain high extinction rates in old, stable landscapes undergoing (human-induced) rapid change.
Keywords: Invasive Species, biotic homogenization, mygalomorph, short-range endemic
34 Optimization of a Four-Lobed Swirl Pipe for Clean-In-Place Procedures
Authors: Guozhen Li, Philip Hall, Nick Miles, Tao Wu
This paper presents a numerical investigation of two horizontally mounted four-lobed swirl pipes in terms of swirl induction effectiveness into flows passing through them. The swirl flows induced by the two swirl pipes have the potential to improve the efficiency of Clean-In-Place procedures in a closed processing system by local intensification of hydrodynamic impact on the internal pipe surface. Pressure losses, swirl development within the two swirl pipe, swirl induction effectiveness, swirl decay and wall shear stress variation downstream of two swirl pipes are analyzed and compared. It was found that a shorter length of swirl inducing pipe used in joint with transition pipes is more effective in swirl induction than when a longer one is used, in that it has a less constraint to the induced swirl and results in slightly higher swirl intensity just downstream of it with the expense of a smaller pressure loss. The wall shear stress downstream of the shorter swirl pipe is also slightly larger than that downstream of the longer swirl pipe due to the slightly higher swirl intensity induced by the shorter swirl pipe. The advantage of the shorter swirl pipe in terms of swirl induction is more significant in flows with a larger Reynolds Number.
Keywords: CFD, wall shear stress, swirl pipe, swirl effectiveness, swirl intensity
33 Vehicle Risk Evaluation in Low Speed Accidents: Consequences for Relevant Test Scenarios
Authors: Philip Feig, Klaus Gschwendtner, Julian Schatz, Frank Diermeyer
Projects of accident research analysis are mostly focused on accidents involving personal damage. Property damage only has a high frequency of occurrence combined with high economic impact. This paper describes main influencing parameters for the extent of damage and presents a repair cost model. For a prospective evaluation method of the monetary effect of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), it is necessary to be aware of and quantify all influencing parameters. Furthermore, this method allows the evaluation of vehicle concepts in combination with an ADAS at an early point in time of the product development process. In combination with a property damage database and the introduced repair cost model relevant test scenarios for specific vehicle configurations and their individual property damage risk may be determined. Currently, equipment rates of ADAS are low and a purchase incentive for customers would be beneficial. The next ADAS generation will prevent property damage to a large extent or at least reduce damage severity. Both effects may be a purchasing incentive for the customer and furthermore contribute to increased traffic safety.
Keywords: Accident research, Effectiveness, accident scenarios, ADAS, property damage analysis
32 Evaluation of Resting Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure of Staff of Multi-National Petroleum Company in Warri, Nigeria
Authors: Ekpon Oghenetega Philip, Tayire Okabare Favour, Boye Ejobowah Thomas
The study evaluated the resting systolic blood pressure (RSBP) and resting diastolic blood pressure (RDBP) of staff of a multi-national petroleum company in Nigeria with the aim of helping the staff maintain optimal health which is necessary to carry out their secular work. Eleven healthy male (age 36.9±10.48 years, mean±S.D) and 38 healthy female (39.99±12.23 years, mean±S.D) staff of the multi-national petroleum company performed an incremental exercise on a treadmill and cycle ergometers to determine RSBP and RDBP. An assessment of the health status of the staff of the company was carried out using a physical activity readiness questionnaire (PAR-Q) to determine their suitability for the program. Analysis of the t-test for male staff of RSBP shows that it was statistically significant with a calculated t value of 2.19, α = 0.05 and t-calculated for RSBP of female staff was 1.897, α = 0.05 showing a significance. While the t-calculated RSBP for male staff of the multi-national company is 0.44 with α =0.05 and the female RDBP is 4.129, α = 0.05 and they are all significant. It was recommended that staff of the company should regularly visit the company gym during their leisure hours to maintain optimum health.
Keywords: Exercise, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pressure staff
31 Qsar Studies of Certain Novel Heterocycles Derived From bis-1, 2, 4 Triazoles as Anti-Tumor Agents
Authors: Madhusudan Purohit, Stephen Philip, Bharathkumar Inturi
In this paper we report the quantitative structure activity relationship of novel bis-triazole derivatives for predicting the activity profile. The full model encompassed a dataset of 46 Bis- triazoles. Tripos Sybyl X 2.0 program was used to conduct CoMSIA QSAR modeling. The Partial Least-Squares (PLS) analysis method was used to conduct statistical analysis and to derive a QSAR model based on the field values of CoMSIA descriptor. The compounds were divided into test and training set. The compounds were evaluated by various CoMSIA parameters to predict the best QSAR model. An optimum numbers of components were first determined separately by cross-validation regression for CoMSIA model, which were then applied in the final analysis. A series of parameters were used for the study and the best fit model was obtained using donor, partition coefficient and steric parameters. The CoMSIA models demonstrated good statistical results with regression coefficient (r2) and the cross-validated coefficient (q2) of 0.575 and 0.830 respectively. The standard error for the predicted model was 0.16322. In the CoMSIA model, the steric descriptors make a marginally larger contribution than the electrostatic descriptors. The finding that the steric descriptor is the largest contributor for the CoMSIA QSAR models is consistent with the observation that more than half of the binding site area is occupied by steric regions.
Keywords: CoMSIA, triazoles, novel heterocycles
30 Household Energy Usage and Practices in the Rural Areas of Northern Part of Mindanao Island, Philippines
Authors: Odinah Cuartero-Enteria, Aive Pecasales, Jhadly Philip Buniel, Christian Joy Vega, Shiela Estubo
In the Philippines, Mindanao Island has the cheapest electricity because of the hydroelectric plants. Due to the rapid increase of the electricity consumption which the sources of electricity cannot support, it causes rotating brownout during summer season. This study investigated the household energy usage and practices in the rural areas of northern part of the Mindanao Island, Philippines. The questionnaire that includes the respondents’ profile and their common practices in energy consumptions was used as a tool in gathering the data. Several households were subjected to the survey. Results show energy consumption is not dependent on the profile of the respondents. It was observed that most of the families prefer to use energy saving methods of reducing electricity consumption. The main energy saving methods are unplugging unused home appliances, using of compact fluorescent bulb and energy-efficient gadgets, and using high electricity consumption appliances by schedule. Based on the results, the households in the rural areas know the practices of reducing electricity consumption. However, it is highly recommended that concern agencies should initiate information dissemination and strict implementation of well-formulated energy conservation practices all over the areas in Mindanao.
Keywords: Practices, rural areas, households, Philippines, Mindanao Island, energy usages
29 Understanding Climate Change with Chinese Elderly: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Climate Change in East China
Authors: Pelin Kinay, Andy P. Morse, Elmer V. Villanueva, Karyn Morrissey, Philip L Staddon, Shanzheng Zhang, Jingjing Liu
The present study aims to evaluate the climate change and health related knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of the elderly population (60 years plus) in Hefei and Suzhou cities of China (n=300). This cross-sectional study includes 150 participants in each city. Data regarding demographic characteristics, KAP, and climate change perceptions were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. When asked about the potential impacts of climate change over 79% of participants stated that climate change affected their lifestyle. Participants were most concerned about storms (51.7%), food shortage (33.3%) and drought (26%). The main health risks cited included water contamination (32%), air pollution related diseases (38.3%) and lung disease (43%). Finally, a majority (68.3%) did not report receiving government assistance on climate change issues. Logistic regression models were used to analyse the data in order to understand the links between socio-demographical factors and KAP of the participants. These findings provide insights for potential adaptation strategies targeting the elderly. It is recommended that government should take responsibility in creating awareness strategies to improve the coping capacity of elderly in China to climate change and its health impacts and develop climate change adaptation strategies.
Keywords: Climate Change, China, Elderly, kap
28 Enabling Integrated Production of Electric Vehicles in Automotive Final Assembly: Realization of an Expert Study
Authors: Achim Kampker, Heiner Hans Heimes, Mathias Ordung, Jan-Philip Ganser
In the past years, the automotive industry has changed significantly. Innovative mobility concepts have become more important, and electric vehicles see a chance of replacing vehicles with combustion engines in the long term. However, the coming years will be characterized by coexistence. In this context, there are two possible production scenarios: One the one hand, electric vehicles could be manufactured in bespoke assembly lines. Concerning the uncertainty regarding sales figures development, this alternative boasts a high investment risk. Therefore, an integrated assembly building upon existing structures also seems a feasible solution. This empirical study aims at validating hypotheses concerning theoretical and practical challenges of the integrated production in the final assembly. In order to take a test of approaches of the research by analyzing censored feedback of professionals, these hypotheses are validated in the framework of an expert study. For this purpose, hypotheses have been generated on the basis of a requirements analysis and a concept specification. Thereupon, a list of question has been implemented and deduced from the hypotheses to execute an online- and written-survey and interviews with professionals. The interpretation and evaluation of the findings includes an inter-component comparison for the electric drivetrain. Furthermore, key drivers for a sufficient integrated product and process design are presented.
Keywords: Integrated Manufacturing, Automotive industry, Product and Process Development, final assembly
27 Turn Organic Waste to Green Fuels with Zero Landfill
Authors: Xu Fei (Philip) WU
As waste recycling concept been accepted more and more in modern societies, the organic portion of the municipal waste become a sires issue in today’s life. Depend on location and season, the organic waste can bee anywhere between 40-65% of total municipal solid waste. Also composting and anaerobic digestion technologies been applied in this field for years, however both process have difficulties been selected by economical and environmental factors. Beside environmental pollution and risk of virus spread, the compost is not a product been welcomed by people even the waste management has to give up them at no cost. The anaerobic digester has to have 70% of water and keep at 35 degree C or above; base on above conditions, the retention time only can be up to two weeks and remain solid has to be dewater and composting again. The enhancive waste water treatment has to be added after. Because these reasons, the voice of suggesting cancelling recycling program and turning all waste to mass burn incinerations have been raised-A process has already been proved has least energy efficiency and most air pollution problem associated process. A newly developed WXF Bio-energy process employs recently developed and patented pre-designed separation, multi-layer and multi-cavity successive bioreactor landfill technology. It features an improved leachate recycling technology, technologies to maximize the biogas generation rate and a reduced overall turnaround period on the land. A single properly designed and operated site can be used indefinitely. In this process, all collected biogas will be processed to eliminate H2S and other hazardous gases. The methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen will be utilized in a proprietary process to manufacture methanol which can be sold to mitigate operating costs of the landfill. This integration of new processes offers a more advanced alternative to current sanitary landfill, incineration and compost technology. Xu Fei (Philip) Wu Xu Fei Wu is founder and Chief Scientist of W&Y Environmental International Inc. (W & Y), a Canadian environmental and sustainable energy technology company with patented landfill processes and proprietary waste to energy technologies. He has worked in environmental and sustainable energy fields over the last 25 years. Before W&Y, he worked for Conestoga-Rovers & Associates Limited, Microbe Environmental Science and Technology Inc. of Canada and The Ministry of Nuclear Industry and Ministry of Space Flight Industry of China. Xu Fei Wu holds a Master of Engineering Science degree from The University of Western Ontario. I wish present this paper as an oral presentation only Selected Conference Presentations: • “Removal of Phenolic Compounds with Algae” Presented at 25th Canadian Symposium on Water Pollution Research (CAWPRC Conference), Burlington, Ontario Canada. February, 1990 • “Removal of Phenolic Compounds with Algae” Presented at Annual Conference of Pollution Control Association of Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. April, 1990 • “Removal of Organochlorine Compounds in a Flocculated Algae Photo-Bioreactor” Presented at International Symposium on Low Cost and Energy Saving Wastewater Treatment Technologies (IAWPRC Conference), Kiyoto, Japan, August, 1990 • “Maximizing Production and Utilization of Landfill Gas” 2009 Wuhan International Conference on Environment(CAWPRC Conference, sponsored by US EPA) Wuhan, China. October, 2009. • “WXF Bio-Energy-A Green, Sustainable Waste to Energy Process” Presented at 9Th International Conference Cooperation for Waste Issues, Kharkiv, Ukraine March, 2012 • “A Lannfill Site Can Be Recycled Indefinitely” Presented at 28th International Conference on solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. March, 2013. Hosted by The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management.
Keywords: Sustainable Development, Waste Management, methanol, Bio-Energy, green fuel | cc/2020-05/en_middle_0097.json.gz/line8409 |
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