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Wrist watches have been fashion accessories since they were first invented. The first generation of smartwatches were dull, chunky looking devices, more functional than fashionable. How things have changed. You can select from thousands of watch faces and even design your own. Wrist straps can be swapped out and designers have come up with clever quick-release clasps for them, knowing that the need to charge your watch regularly will see you needing to remove it quickly.
The original android smartwatch models were bulky and uncomfortable, but technological advances have led to stunning designs including the Samsung smart watch and apple smart watch. Our incredible selection of android smart watch devices is packed with the latest smartwatch android OS systems for maximum performance. Together with clear displays (with customization options), they also deliver maximum comfort with premium quality straps (including leather) for all-day use, Bluetooth functionality to connect to your smartphone for notifications, and dedicated apps for precise control. Enjoy a smart watch android experience with the freedom to do more and achieve so much more with your time.
Using your voice with the Google Assistant function built into the Q watches (and every modern Wear OS watch) is generally okay, though only roughly 80 percent reliable. The combination of a microphone on the side of your watch, a Bluetooth connection to your phone when you’re away from Wi-Fi, your phone’s cellular Web connection, and the imperfect acknowledgement of human speech by Google Assistant do not make for anything near a 100 percent success rate. When it works, Google Assistant makes you feel connected and advanced; when it fails, you can be seen as a person who asks their wrist about the capital of Malaysia. This is more a reflection of the state of connectivity and digital assistants than of the Q watches themselves—or any Wear OS watch, for that matter—although in our experience Wear OS watches fail on voice queries more often than Siri on the Apple Watch. That said, voice dictation on the Q watches is far more reliable, at least when it comes to recognizing words and phrases, than Google Assistant. If transcription fails, it’s more likely to be because of the watch/phone connection than the watch mishearing your words.
The TicWatch Pro shares the TicWatch E model’s older processor and late arrival, and it would be just another big (45 mm case), thick (12.6 mm) Android smartwatch, if not for its trick of having an old-fashioned-looking LCD screen that the watch switches to when you’re not actively looking at it or using it. This feature extends battery life significantly, especially if you go for periods in Essential Mode, where you see only the LCD screen showing the time, date, and your step count. But the transition from the LCD screen back to a “smart” OLED screen is not smooth or quick, and if you switch the watch to Essential Mode, you have to reboot it to get back to regular smartwatch functions.
The style offerings for smartwatches have improved dramatically, and your options are no longer limited to “large, nerdy and round” or “large, nerdy and square.” Still, even with more than 300 Fossil-branded watches planned across 14 major watch and fashion brands, smartwatches are generally much wider and chunkier than standard watches, as the size needed to accommodate the electronics and battery lends itself to bolder, more pronounced styles.
Receive Texts, Emails, And Alerts Without Reaching For Your Phone/ Military-Grade Gear S3 Is Tough Enough To Handle The Elements/ Built-In S Health App, Track Your Steps, Monitor Your Heart Rate, And More/ 4GB Internal Memory/ RAM 768MB/ Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth 4.2/ Gorilla Glass SR+ Case Crystal/ 1GHz, Dual Core (Exynos7270) Processor/ 360x360 Display Resolution/ On-Cell Touch AMOLED Touchscreen/ GPS Navigation/ Dark Grey Finish
The LG G Watch was the first one we tried that uses Google’s Android Wear OS (the Moto 360 and Samsung Gear Live do as well). It includes Google Now, the company's Siri-like "intelligent personal assistant." Say “OK Google,” and you can do Google searches, compose texts, and make requests of your watch (“Show me my steps” or “Set an alarm”). Google Now also offers up a stream of "cards" on the watch's face, with information it determines is relevant to you. If, for example, the card tells you how many minutes it would take you to get home from your current location, you can click on the card and get specific traffic and navigation information.
The screen is great, and the pre-installed watch faces make it stand out from rivals. Android Wear feels very samey across all devices, but it's a well developed OS. It's reasonably intuitive and simple, but there's a little too much swiping and tapping on the small screen. It also works across both Android and iOS, although iPhone functionality is limited (no apps etc.)
Battery life for the Q watches is unremarkably reliable, and that’s the best thing you can say about a touchscreen smartwatch. The Q Explorist never ran out of juice entirely while wearing it, even after having it be the primary turn-by-turn direction notifier on two 1-hour drives, followed by 30 minutes of actively tracked cycling and the usual all-day text/app notifications. While we didn’t wear the Venture for full days of testing, most reviews find no fault with the battery. The USB charger is a basic magnetic disc that slides onto the rounded back of the watch (though it could stand to stick onto the watch more strongly, like the Apple Watch’s similar disc).
We loved Samsung’s characteristic bezel navigation. Instead of having to swipe your finger across the touchscreen repeatedly, all you have to do is gently twist the bezel. It’s a much smoother way of scrolling through your list and it just feels more natural. The are other side buttons which lie almost flush with the side of the watch, making it difficult for them to catch on sleeves.
The hardware is now “swimproof” with improved water resistance and there’s also now a heart rate sensor. Those work with the new Google Fit app to improve the fitness experience from your watch. Further, the Falster 2 has built-in GPS and NFC as well. This opens up Google Pay functionality for the watch for mobile payments in-store. Of course, Wear OS is still at the center of the experience, and the whole thing runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100.
Smart watch Company OS Android version iOS version CPU Type Bluetooth NFC Developer Options GPS Notify Link Loss Alert Notify Missed Call Notify Timer Notify View Content Call Conversation Find My Phone Voice Control Respond to Notifications Notify Sound Notify Backlit Screen Notify Vibration Ambient Light Sensor Gyroscope Magnetometer Multi-touch Accelerometer Dust and Water Resistance Clock Display Type Screen Size, Inches Screen Resolution, pixels Pixel density, ppi Display Technology Average Battery Life, days Battery Capacity, mAh Battery Technology Case Diameter, mm Case Thickness, mm Wrist Band Width, mm Weight (main unit+watchband), g Wristband Options Replaceable Wristbands LED Flashlight
Plus, these smartwatches are made by Fitbit, so they’re incredible fitness and health trackers. They both offer 24/7 heart rate tracking, on-screen workouts with Fitbit Coach, over 15 exercise modes, GPS (Connected GPS in the Versa’s case), and swim tracking thanks to their 5ATM rating. There’s also room to store your music, as well as Fitbit Pay support (Ionic and Special Edition Versa only).
None of the newly tested models’ time displays time out when the watches are inactive, which we’ve seen happen on previously tested smartwatches. The time displays of the LG, Samsung, and Motorola models have a setting to keep them always on, though they dim after a little while. The Martian Notifier and Cookoo2 have traditional analog watch faces.
The Series 4 now has several new health-focused features, which are very intriguing, including the ability to detect when you fall and even alert emergency contacts if need be, as well as an electrical heart rate sensor that works with an app to alert you to heart health issues. The electrocardiogram (ECG) app has been certified by the Food & Drug Administration, but it's not out yet.
On 9 September 2014, Apple Inc. announced its first smartwatch called Apple Watch to be released in early 2015.[75] On 24 April 2015, Apple Watch began shipping across the world.[76] Apple’s first try into wearable technology was met with considerable criticism during the pre-launch period, with many early technology reviews citing issues with battery life and hardware malfunctions. However, others praised Apple for creating a potentially fashionable device that can compete with "traditional watches,"[77] not just the smartwatch industry in general. The watch only turns on when activated (either by lifting one's wrist, touching the screen, or pressing a button). On 29 October 2014, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Band, a smart fitness tracker and the company's first venture into wrist-worn devices since SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology) a decade earlier. The Microsoft Band was released at $199 the following day, on 30 October 2014.[78]
In 1998, Steve Mann invented, designed, and built the world's first Linux wristwatch,[15] which he presented at IEEE ISSCC2000 on 7 February 2000, where he was named "the father of wearable computing".[16] See also Linux Journal,[17] where Mann's Linux wristwatch appeared on the cover and was the feature article of LJ Issue 75. Seiko launched the Ruputer in Japan - a wristwatch computer with a 3.6 MHz processor. It was not very successful, since instead of a touchscreen it used a joystick-like device to input characters (much like high scores in arcade games), and the small screen with a resolution at 102x64 in 4 greyscales made it hard to read large amounts of text. Outside of Japan, this watch was distributed as the Matsucom onHand PC. Despite the rather low demand, the Matsucom onHand PC was distributed until 2006, making it a smartwatch with a rather long life cycle. Ruputer and onHand PC applications are 100% compatible. This watch is sometimes considered the first smartwatch since it was the first watch to offer graphics display (albeit monochrome) and many 3rd party applications (mostly homebrew).
I've been pleased to see swim-tracking trickle down into more affordable devices over the past few years. Fitbit's Flex 2 remains its most affordable device with swim-tracking features, priced at $60. But the $150 Charge 3, with its big display and smattering of smartwatch capabilities, is for a different audience than those who would gravitate to the tiny, quasi-cylindrical Flex 2. Even if you don't swim often, water-resistance up to 50 meters means users don't have to worry about showering with the Charge 3 or dropping it in the pool by accident.
Dropping the phone: Some models of smartwatches in the Samsung and Apple line-ups feature a mobile network chip, allowing you to plug in a micro SIM card to make and receive calls, texts and emails and access the internet without being paired to your phone. It sounds great, but remember that the smartwatch has a very small battery, so relying on it for communications will drain the power quickly.
The Moto 360 was the first round smartwatch we got our hands (or wrists) on, and the design was a standout, for us. It looks like a traditional watch and fits more comfortably than rectangular smartwatches, but still packs the full functionality of an advanced smartwatch. Like the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, it runs the Android Wear OS, allowing voice commands and pushing relevant information to the wearer.
We test every new smartwatch to gauge its design and comfort. If it’s not stylish and comfortable enough to get you from an early morning workout to the office to a night out, you probably won’t wear it every day. Most smartwatches are also fitness trackers, so we put all of its sensors to the test, from step counts to heart rate to GPS (when applicable).
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Aaron Gansky
Firsts in Fiction
FiF LIVE!
Heart’s Song
Who is Harrison Sawyer
The Blood Sword: A Hand of Adonai Novel
The Hand of Adonai
An Affair to Forget
Write To Be Heard
Originally published in the Aperion Review, Winter 2015 Issue.
My father pulls to the side of a quiet residential neighborhood and parks the car. He spins the barrel of his revolver and clicks it in place. “You’re good here, right?”
I nod. He’s left me alone in the car before, sometimes to run into the store, sometimes at night on unfamiliar streets like this. On the drive, I watch the map and memorize the roads, a game my father has me do to pass the time. It’s hard in the dark, but I remember turns, and I’m good at figuring out shadowy landmarks.
When he leaves on nights like this, he’s never gone long. I pass the time by reading comics. Afterward, he always takes me out for ice cream or buys me more comics and lets me stay up late.
He kisses my forehead and steps out of the car. Before he closes the door, he says, “I love you, kid. Stay put.” He tucks the gun into the waist of his pants. The dome light gleams off the polished wood handle before he closes the door and leaves me in the dark.
My father’s boots click across the asphalt. There’re no streetlights here, and a November chill frosts the windows. I climb in the back seat, settle on the floor, pull my knees to my chest and cover myself in our emergency blanket. It smells like dust and gasoline. I click on my flashlight and open the latest X-men. I want to be a hero, want to stop speeding cars with a wave of my hand, want to heal people with a thought. I’m able to get through three of the six comics dad bought for me last week at Kettleman’s drugstore. One I read twice.
When I hear his boots on asphalt again, the sound is different, softer, more a click and drag than the sharp clacking of earlier.
I slither out from the blanket and climb back in the front. His face is pale in the patchy porch lights, and he holds his left hand under his coat. He’s breathing hard, and he slumps into the seat. There won’t be ice cream or comics tonight. “Remember how to drive?”
I nod. He’s had me sit on his lap and steer before, but only in and out of the driveway at home, and we haven’t been home in weeks. The whiteness of his face scares me, so I don’t ask questions.
He licks his lips and turns the car over. “Hop on,” he says. I slide onto his lap, and he pushes the small of my back forward. “Don’t lean back.” He presses the gas slow. “If you want me to go faster, tap my right leg. Tap my left if you need me to slow down or stop.”
“Can’t you see?” I say.
“Not Superman, kid. Don’t got X-ray vision.” He laughs, but the air whips out in bursts, wheezes.
I turn on the headlights. He’s shown me how to do this, how to do the blinker, the wipers, but not the defroster. “The window’s foggy.”
He turns a dial and the fog thins in clear fingers.
“You have to be careful with guns,” I say. “They’re not toys.”
He leans back. “Remember how to get to Uncle Joey’s?”
“I should take you to the hospital.”
“They’d take me away from you, and you’re all I got.”
“You’re all I got,” I say.
The first corner comes fast, and I turn the wheel right. The tires squeal, slip on the pavement. “Slow down,” I say.
“You didn’t tell me,” he says. His legs shake under me.
Uncle Joey’s is miles away, and I worry I’ll forget the way. It takes me a minute to learn the fine art of signaling speed by tapping his legs. It’s all I can do to stay on the road, so I straddle the line, and go over it when I get close to turns. There’s never many cars on the back roads we take, not this late at night. “What happened?”
“Just drive, kid.”
“Are you going to die?”
“Life isn’t like comics,” he says. “Good guys don’t always win.”
“We’re the good guys, right?”
“We’re always the good guys,” he says. “But no one else knows it.” His voice is softer now, like he’s tired, like he’s about to fall asleep. “And you,” he says. “You’re my hero.”
“Dad,” I say. I tap his left leg, but he doesn’t slow. “Dad.”
The car speeds up. My chest tightens. “Dad. Slow down.”
I see the turn coming, the red octagon, the flash of headlights coming from the left.
I stretch out my hand toward the oncoming car. In that moment, I am my father’s hero.
Author: Aaron Gansky
Planning a Series
The Writing Biz — Agents
4 thoughts on “Drive”
Kathy Lewis says:
Aaron, loved it. But I want more. Does the kid have super powers? I want him to.
Molly Jo at Frankly, My Dear . . . says:
What a heart-wrenching story. Very vivid, descriptive. Well done. I don’t know what else to say, you already know it’s a great story. It’s been published elsewhere, yes? Well done, I say again.
Lindsey Brackett says:
Got me right in the gut. Wow, Aaron. Grateful to learn from you this week.
Aaron Gansky says:
Thanks, Lindsey. Super happy to have you in class. Loved your insights. Splickety helped with the edits on this piece. I’m grateful for all you guys do.
Finding the Write Gift
The Language of the Discipline
Self-Editing Tips and Tricks for the Fiction Writer
Cataloging Inspiration and Ideas
Writing Emotion Without Melodrama
View adgansky’s profile on Facebook
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View firstsinfictionpodcast’s profile on Google+
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Reproductive Privacy Act
USA – Then and now, Edmonds doctor a defender of abortion rights
Then and now, Edmonds doctor a defender of abortion rights
Some states’ strict laws worry Dr. Suzanne Poppema, who performed the procedure for 20-plus years.
by Julie Muhlstein
Retired, Dr. Suzanne Poppema rides her horse five days a week. The Edmonds woman now has time to take piano lessons. Yet retirement hasn’t ended her commitment to a cause that became her life’s work.
Poppema, who in the early 1980s had a family practice in south Everett, spent much of her career performing abortions. In 1996, she wrote a book, “Why I Am an Abortion Doctor,” co-authored with Mike Henderson, a former Herald writer.
Continued: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/then-and-now-edmonds-doctor-a-defender-of-abortion-rights/
anti-choice legislation
anti-choice restrictions
Aurora Medical Services
Dr. George Tiller
Dr. John Cramer
Roe v. Wade
Suzanne Poppema
Why I Am an Abortion Doctor
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The Music In It: Adele Kenny's Poetry Blog
Poetry Quotes
Writing Poetry
Ekphrastic Poetry
The Music in It
Poetry Prompt #20 – Toys
When I was little, there were no media-linked toys, iPods, laptops, or cell phones. For many children of my era, the toys we loved best were little green plastic army men, Hula-Hoops, Slinkies, Ginny and Barbie dolls, Play-Doh, and Mr. Potato Head (played with real potatoes). However, any toy, from any era, will be great for this prompt.
First, think back to your childhood and recall a toy that was special to you. "Freewrite" about that toy for a few minutes. How is this toy the memory-trigger for a past experience and/or relationship? Write a poem about (1) the toy, (2) about a memory triggered by your recollection of the toy, or (3) about a person you associate with the toy. Alternatively, you might write about a toy that was special to your child or to a pet. You might enjoy writing a persona poem from the perspective of a toy. It's playtime!
By Linda Radice
The kid in the commercial had straight stairs for the
coil to work its way down. The three-story staircase
in our house had landings that turned. My slinky
required a nudge around corners, but guided close
to the railing it went smoothly past Uncle Joe who
came to visit great-grandma every Thursday afternoon,
and slid by my grandfather in his gardening shoes at
sun up. I could make it glide with my father’s run
when the fire whistle called him to the station, and
work it around my mother – the constant between each
floor – who stepped quickly, my brother on her hip,
to check on my grandmother after her stroke.
The staircase and the house around it are for sale.
The rest of the people who walked there are gone –
sixty years of footsteps that wore the wood smooth.
I perfected Slinky’s twisted descent long ago –
the kid with the straight stairs has nothing on me.
Copyright © 2010 by Linda Radice. All rights reserved.
Posted by ADELE KENNY at 10:30 AM 10 comments
Poetry Prompt #19 – Color Your Poems
The use of color in poetry has a long history: among other early poets, Virgil used over 500 color words in The Aeneid, and Shakespeare often used both colors and the word color to heighten linguistic drama.
Personal and cultural associations affect our experiences of color and, while perceptions of color are essentially subjective, there are color effects that have general meanings. For example, colors in the red section of the color spectrum are considered warm and include red, orange and yellow. Warm colors evoke emotions ranging from love, sincerity, and comfort to anger and hostility. Colors on the blue side of the spectrum are called cool colors and include blue, purple and green. Cool colors are often described as calm, but they are also related to feelings of sadness, loneliness, and indifference.
While “color poem” prompts are often used in classrooms with young students, color can enhance mature poetry as well (with the caveat not to overdo). Before writing, take a look at some examples of poetry in which colors are used. Notice how effective judicious use of color can be – only one or two color references can add much to a poem (less can be more). Consider the following examples:
"Colors" by Stephen Vincent Benet
"The Shroud of Color" by Countee Cullen
"Is White a Color?" by John Matthew
"Another Night in the Ruins" by Galway Kinnell
"February Evening in New York" by Denise Levertov
"To The Light of September" by W. S. Merwin
"What's Broken" by Dorianne Laux
"The Moment I Knew My Life Had Changed" by Maria Mazziotti Gillan
For your color poem:
Begin by taking a “color inventory” of your life. What colors do you like to live with? If you had to live with a single color what would it be? What is your favorite color? What colors do you associate with the best or worst times of your life? What colors do you associate with people, places, experiences? Following are ten possibilities for color poems:
1. Write a poem about a color without naming the color and without using one of its synonyms (for example, don’t use “crimson” in place of “red” or “azure” in place of “blue”).
2. What color is your life? Write a poem about your life’s color(s).
3. Write about an experience using colors to set the “tone.”
4. Compare a relationship to a color.
5. Compare a person to a color.
6. Compare your job (or creative work) to a color.
7. What is your life’s “rainbow?”
8. Write a poem about a place (scene, landscape) and use colors to highlight descriptions and details.
9. Think about implied colors as in Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” Wordsworth only mentions “golden” once, but the sense of “yellow” is strongly present throughout the poem. Try this in a poem of your own. Click Here to Read Wordsworth's Poem.
10. As an alternative to color, write a poem about something colorless.
Posted by ADELE KENNY at 7:43 AM 8 comments
Poetry Prompt #18 – Reverie Poem
Reverie:
absentminded dreaming while awake;
a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts.
For me, during these “dog days” of summer, reverie means sitting in my gazebo (with my Yorkie next to me) and being “pleasantly lost” in thought to the music of birds, crickets, and cicadas. Sometimes my “absentminded dreamings” become poems.
For your reverie poem:
1. Take a walk, lie on the grass, lounge in your favorite lawn chair (or, if the outdoor weather isn’t cooperative, relax on a sofa or other comfortable place in your home). Any time is fine, but try doing this in the morning or evening.
2. Keep paper and a pen or pencil nearby.
3. Simply unwind, free your mind of distractions, and let yourself daydream.
4. Write down some of the things that come to you, and don’t try to organize your thoughts.
5. Later in the day (or the next day), go back to the notes you took during your reverie and look for inspiration. Is there something there that you can develop into a poem? What did you daydream about? What did your reverie bring to mind? Instead of one poem, you might find material for several short poems or a sequence of short poems. Your reverie may take a traditional, experimental, or fantasy form (and it's not necessary to use the word "reverie" in your title.)
Examples (Click Link to Read):
"Hornworm: Summer Reverie" by Stanley Kunitz
"V.R. (A Reverie) 1819-1901" by Thomas Hardy
"A Nocturnal Reverie" by Anne Finch
"The Forest Reverie" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Reverie in the Open Air" by Rita Dove
"An Indian Summer Reverie" by James Russell Lowell
Poetry Prompt #17 - Food in Poetry
Food as a subject for poetry has a long history. Poets of China’s ancient Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (about 1127-221 BC) wrote of celebratory foods; and in early Greek poetry, feasting and everyday eating are found in the Iliad and in the Odyssey. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Baucis and Philemon share their food with supposed beggars who are actually gods in disguise and who reward the couple’s generosity.
Defined as “over-indulgence and over-consumption of food or drink,” gluttony has figured as a moral concern in poetry. In Dante’s Inferno, gluttony is severely punished in hell, and in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner sermonizes on gluttony (lines 219-262) and makes it clear that gluttony is a cardinal sin. “To eat or not to eat” becomes a moral dilemma in Book 2 of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, which echoes the Bible (Genesis 3:1-13) when Guyon is tempted with a tree of golden apples. In Paradise Lost, Milton begins his tale of humankind’s fall with the biblical story of Eve eating the forbidden fruit and uses numerous food metaphors; Milton, like Chaucer, connects gluttony with sin.
Ben Jonson’s “Inviting a Friend to Supper” offers a menu of salad, mutton, fowl, cheese, fruit, pastry, and wine. In his “To Penshurst,” the menu includes pheasant, carp, eels, cherries, plums, figs, grapes, quinces, apricots, peaches, cake, nuts, apples, cheese, pears, beer, bread, and wine (whew!). In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” milk and honey are linked to an altered state of mind; in John Keats’s “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” the beautiful woman destroys a knight by feeding and seducing him; and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s English idyll “Audley Court” is a “picnic” of food imagery in a poem that is not about food.
Poets have also used food imagery to express spiritual concerns. T. S. Eliot’s question “Do I dare to eat a peach?” conveys the speaker’s spiritual/emotional weariness in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hunger,” hunger and dining signify loneliness and love.
On the lighter side of the poetry pancake, Robert Burns’s “Address to a Haggis” is traditionally recited when the signature Scottish dish is served; Robert Southey’s ode-like “To a Goose” ends with “ … this I know, that we pronounced thee fine, / Seasoned with sage and onions. And port wine;” and Sydney Smith wrote recipes in verse, including “Recipe for a Salad” and a poem about roast mutton. In Elemental Odes, Pablo Neruda wrote about artichokes, lemons, and olive oil (and the use of the oil in mayonnaise and salad dressing). Ogden Nash wrote light verse about food in such poems as “The Clean Platter” in which he stated, “When I ponder my mind / I consistently find / It is glued / On food.” D. H. Lawrence wrote poems entitled “Pomegranate,” “Peach,” “Medlars and Sorb-Apples,” “Figs,” and “Grapes;” and William Carlos Williams immortalized plums in his famous “This Is Just to Say.”
In “The Bistro Styx,” Rita Dove wrote of a modern young woman’s journey to Paris that is analogous to Persephone’s descent into the underworld. Her meal at the Bistro Styx includes Chateaubriand, Camembert, pears, figs, parsley, bread, and Pinot Noir.
Oh, and lest we forget, in poetry, drink qualifies as food – consider William Butler Yeats’s “A Drinking Song.”
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
Now, with Diane Lockward’s great inspiration (previous post) and a bit of food poetry history here, what will you write about food (and/or drink)?
1. Is there a poem waiting for you in the smell or taste of a particular food, a poem in which you describe food in terms of sensory perceptions?
2. What foods do you associate with your life, special people, memorable times, laughter or tears?
3. What food can you use as a metaphor for an experience or a relationship? Is there a food that you might compare to a present or former romance?
4. Do you associate a certain food with a dinner table conversation or any “talk” that was important to you?
5. How about a “food fight” poem? (Can you make it metaphorical for a struggle or challenge you’ve faced?)
Remember: Food imagery can enhance a poem that's not about food at all!
Guest Poet Diane Lockward on Food Poems
Note: I’ve known Diane Lockward for a number of years. She’s an amazing poet with an equally amazing reading style. I asked Diane to be a guest poet this week because next week's prompt will consider poems about food, and Diane's food poems are among the best I’ve read. She has said of her work, "Some of the poems are about the hunger we have for real food, but others are about the larger hungers – our need for love, for sex, family, success, the past. These hungers are a kind of longing. I'm interested in what happens when we are left undernourished or starving." Diane is the author of three poetry books, What Feeds Us, which received the 2006 Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize, Eve’s Red Dress, and, most recently, Temptation by Water. Her poems have been published in several anthologies and in such journals as Harvard Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner. Her work has also been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer’s Almanac. Interestingly, Diane's husband owns a restaurant.
From Diane Lockward
I’m often asked why I write poems about food. My interest, of course, goes back to childhood. I was a fussy eater whose father insisted that every plate be cleaned. I became adept at surreptitiously getting rid of food I found disgusting. While I had no appetite for vegetables, I had a big sweet tooth. But the foods I loved—cake, cookies, candy, ice cream sundaes—were prohibited by my father who wanted me slender. My cravings only increased. On the sly I consumed entire jars of Marshmallow Fluff.
At some level, perhaps, I'd begun equating food with risk, danger, punishment, deprivation, desire, hunger.
I went to Sunday school and met Eve and learned about the garden, the snake, and the apple. I must have filed all of that away for future use. Fruit, temptation, capitulation, expulsion, abandonment.
I saw the film, Tom Jones, and was mesmerized by that famous eating scene in which Tom and a buxom woman he meets at an inn sit at opposite ends of a long table and proceed to rip apart chicken legs and stuff their faces with juicy grapes, all the while gazing at each other with seduction in their eyes. Food and sex. Of course!
So for me food has all kinds of connotations. I don't think I'm unique in that. Consider, too, how many of our social rituals are connected to food. Special dishes for special occasions. Romantic dinners. Repasts. And memories. Aren't there certain foods that call up memories, good or bad? And think of the sensory appeal of food; every part of the body is somehow involved. Finally, food intrigues me for its rich metaphorical potential. For example, in my poem, “The First Artichoke,” the artichoke becomes emblematic of a family with its many layers, its heart at the center, a heart that’s fragile.
I'd like to add that while the title of my second book, What Feeds Us, invites the conclusion that I am a "food poet," in fact, that collection contains only nine poems that are overtly about food, and each one of those nine is really about something else. Look at my poem, "Linguini"—is it really about pasta?
It was always linguini between us.
Linguini with white sauce, or
red sauce, sauce with basil snatched
from the garden, oregano rubbed between
our palms, a single bay leaf adrift amidst
plum tomatoes. Linguini with meatballs,
sausage, a side of brascioli. Like lovers
trying positions, we enjoyed it every way
we could—artichokes, mushrooms, little
neck clams, mussels, and calamari—linguini
twining and braiding us each to each.
Linguini knew of the kisses, the smooches,
the molti baci. It was never spaghetti
between us, not cappellini, nor farfalle,
vermicelli, pappardelle, fettucini, perciatelli,
or even tagliarini. Linguini we stabbed, pitched,
and twirled on forks, spun round and round
on silver spoons. Long, smooth, and always
al dente. In dark trattorias, we broke crusty panera,
toasted each other—La dolce vita!—and sipped
Amarone, wrapped ourselves in linguini,
briskly boiled, lightly oiled, salted, and lavished
with sauce. Bellissimo, paradisio, belle gente!
Linguini witnessed our slurping, pulling, and
sucking, our unraveling and raveling, chins
glistening, napkins tucked like bibs in collars,
linguini stuck to lips, hips, and bellies, cheeks
flecked with formaggio—parmesan, romano,
and shaved pecorino—strands of linguini flung
around our necks like two fine silk scarves.
Read Diane's Poem "Bueberry": "Blueberry" by Diane Lockward
Read Diane's Poem "The First Artichoke": "The First Artichoke" by Diane Lockward
Click Here to Visit Diane's Website: Diane's Website
Click Here to Visit Diane's Blog: Diane's Blog (Blogalicious)
Click Here to Order Diane's Books
Be sure to check back on Saturday for next week's prompt – food poems (Poetry Prompt #17).
Posted by ADELE KENNY at 1:03 PM 6 comments
United States Calendar
"The Music In It" is a blog for anyone interested in poets and poetry—the craft and the community.
The title comes from Countee Cullen, who wrote: "My poetry, I should think, has become the way of my giving out whatever music is in me."
Look for a new prompt or guest blogger every couple of weeks or so, usually posted on Saturdays, and check the archives for older prompts and posts. Be sure to click on the poetry-related links in the sidebar.
Thanks for your visits and comments.
MY NEWEST BOOK — WIND OVER STONES CLICK ON IMAGE TO ORDER
ABOUT WIND OVER STONES
From Renée Ashley
Compressed and brilliant in their philosophical and imagistic scintillations, the prose poems in Adele Kenny’s Wind Over Stones are of one piece in both voice and intensity of gaze. Through each artwork she has chosen as her lens, she seems to be saying, If we look hard enough and long enough, and with just the right slant of light, we can see through these paintings into ourselves. Her vision embodies, without presumption, the knowledge that, as John Muir told us, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” Kenny tells us, “This kind of purity comes to us without intention—in ordinary things that are anything but ordinary….” She paints it for us herself: “A flurry of bats becomes the Milky Way, and we make no pretense of understanding the infinite (deep inside us), our need to become nothing before we unname ourselves and disappear.” Everything is connected, and through the language of fairytale, examination, and prayer—the same language, after all—each of Kenny’s poems is a gem in a garland of gems.
Publisher's Comments
This unique collection of ekphrastic prose poems continues Adele Kenny’s reflections on the spiritual condition of being. Despite loss and change, she looks into the dark without flinching and finds light among the shadows.
Using ekphrasis as a rhetorical device and combined with Kenny’s signature elements of technical proficiency, hauntingly lucid imagery, and compelling immediacy, these poems filter and record experience in startling ways as they journey across aging’s inevitable arc. Hardwired by Kenny’s understanding of the human spirit, these poems offer us insights into the healing power of attention and awareness.
QR codes are included in this book so that readers can access the paintings that inspired the poems while they are reading. This interactive element enables readers to enjoy a multi-dimensional experience through their smart phones with cameras or free QR code scanning applications on their mobile devices.
Haiku Collection
Click on the cover image to order.
ABOUT NOT ASKING WHAT IF
"Kenny has written some of the most hauntingly beautiful spiritual haiku I’ve ever read—haiku that take us as close to divinity as human language can get. Her haiku are spare and commanding, rich in imagery, and layered with meaning." (Alex Pinto, Tiferet)
“Traditional haiku, environmental haiku, psychological haiku, spiritual haiku—Adele Kenny has done them all. Her haiku are spare and powerful, always nuanced with rich symbolism. Her images and juxtapositions make readers hold their breath in wonder.” (Malachy McCourt, Author of A Monk Swimming)
Review by Emily Vogel in Ragazine:
http://ragazine.cc/2016/09/more-books-more-reviews/
A LIGHTNESS, A THIRST, OR NOTHING AT ALL
2016 PATERSON PRIZE FINALIST
A LIGHTNESS, A THIRST, OR NOTHING AT ALL, is a 2016 Paterson Prize Finalist!
A LIGHTNESS, A THIRST, OR NOTHING AT ALL — BOOK TRAILER
ABOUT WHAT MATTERS
"These poems are eloquent, candid, straightforward and genuine." (Robert Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1997-2000)
"In Adele Kenny's finely wrought meditations on grief and loss, she never forgets that she's a maker of poems. What Matters straddles two of the exigencies of the human condition: diminishment and endurance. It abounds with poems that skillfully earn their sentiments." (Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize in Poetry)
"These are poems that come to (poetic) grips with the issues of grief, fear, and death ... focused in a new and strong way." (Gerald Stern, National Book Award in Poetry)
Click Here to Read the Tiferet Review of What Matters
Click Here to Read Michael T. Young's Interview
Click Here to Read Michael T. Young's Review
Click Here to "Attend" the Virtual Salon for What Matters
CHAUCER KENNY
Chaucey is my Yorkshire Terrier. He's named for Geoffrey Chaucer, author of THE CANTERBURY TALES and the father of English literature. I call him my own CANTERBURY "TAIL."
BLOG AUTHOR PROFILE
ADELE KENNY
I’m the author of 24 books (poetry & nonfiction) with poems published in journals worldwide, as well as in books and anthologies from Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill. I’ve worked as a guest poet for numerous agencies, have twice been a featured reader in the Dodge Poetry Festival, and my awards include two poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, the 2012 International Book Award for Poetry, and the Distinguished Alumni Award (Kean University). My book, A LIGHTNESS, A THIRST, OR NOTHING AT ALL, is a 2016 Paterson Prize finalist. In March of 2012, I was appointed Poet Laureate of Fanwood, NJ by the Borough Mayor and Council. A former professor of creative writing in the College of New Rochelle’s Graduate School, I’m founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series and poetry editor for Tiferet Journal. I give readings and conduct both agency-sponsored and private poetry workshops.
http://www.adelekenny.com/
REALLY FUNNY (Bulldog Reading Dylan Thomas)
HOW TO READ POETRY – Funny!
ATTENTION HAIKU POETS
If your area of interest is haiku and its related forms, click the image above for a list of journals (published in various countries) that might interest you.
Ever find yourself in the middle of a poem and unable to find that one perfect word? Here's the link for a site that provides synonyms, antonyms, related words, similar sounding words, and much more. Easy to use!
http://www.rhymezone.com/
POETS' GRAVES - A FASCINATING SITE
This is a comprehensive site that includes pictures of dozens of famous poets' grave sites. It's interesting to see our favorite poets' final resting places. CHECK IT OUT!
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/index.html
"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again." (Oscar Wilde)
EVER WONDER WHAT SOME OF THOSE FAMOUS POETS LOOKED LIKE?
POETS' DEATH MASKS (Last Impressions)
POETS' BIOS
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/58
INTERESTING POETRY SITES
Carriage House Poetry Series
Diane Lockward's Blogalicious
Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac
Lib. of Congress Poetry Webcasts
Muse-Pie Press
NJ Poets & Poetry
Poet's House
Poetry Craft & Theory
Poetry Society (UK)
Poets Online
Poets.org.
Poetswednesday & More
Prompts for Writers
St. Julian Press
The Inner Music
TheThe Poetry Blog
Tiferet Journal
Verse Daily
Whale Sound (poetry recitations)
Your Daily Poem
poetry.us.com - Great Online Anthology
POETRY PROMPT SITES
Dragon Writing Prompts
Prompts for Writing and Reflecting
POETRY TERMS
Glossary of Poetic Terms (McGraw-Hill)
Poetry Glossary (poets.org)
POETRY VIDEOS
Carriage House Poetry Series Gothic
Carriage House Poetry Series, Joe Weil & BJ Ward Reading
Reading - Adele Kenny
Reading - Diane Lockward
Reading - Laura Boss
Reading - Maria Mazziotti Gillan
Readings from Dodge Festivals (many videos of great poets)
Copyright © 2019 by Adele Kenny. All rights reserved. Awesome Inc. theme. Powered by Blogger.
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The Barnet Pledge
Action plan to 2023
Barnet Winter Faith Festival
Festivals Calendar
News + Past Events
Messages of Hope
The Youth Forum aims to create a safe space where young people can engage together in a dialogue of aspirations and concerns in order to build a strong and vibrant multi-faith culture in the borough.
Youth Forum at Unitas 14 Nov 19
Rationale for the BMFYF
We live in a rich, colourful and diverse multi-cultural, multi faith society in which young people have an opportunity to shape an agenda for a peaceful, sustainable and inclusive community.
This diversity means that from the youngest age most of us are brought face to face with different world-views and different sources of ethical judgment and action
The strategic strength which diversity gives to Barnet is only unlocked when students and young people from different backgrounds are sharing stories, experiences, building friendships, understanding and trust which enable them to become involved in organizing and planning social action projects.
Over the last ten years, there has been a significant increase in inter faith learning and other activity run by, with and for young people, and a number of initiatives with this as their special focus.
There is therefore a clear opportunity for the Barnet Multi Faith Forum (BMFF) to profile some of the excellent inter faith youth activity that is already happening and stimulate more.
In addition we aim to give practitioners a chance to share good practice and to discuss ways to encourage more organisations and individuals to become involved and open the door to further cooperative working which will benefit young people in their faith communities, youth organisations, in schools, and institutions of Further and Higher Education in Barnet
Membership of the BMFYF
The BMFYF age group for its members should be from 15 years old to 25 years old, to truly encompass and represent all young people of a faith background in Barnet.
There should be clarity that the empowerment and engagement should be representative of all faiths, abilities, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds in the borough.
It will also be critical to balance the numbers of young people that may be studying, in apprentices, employment or not, or in care.
Each faith youth group/ school / agency should nominate a designated staff lead / guardian and a link between the youth forum member and The BMFYF Youth Coordinator.
The faith group lead will select up to three young people to represent their faith group/ community.
The elected young person should commit to attending meetings and taking forward any agreed actions over the course of one year (term-time).
The BMFYF aims to be youth-led, so that the young people are the driving force of the forum’s direction, with support from the BMFYF
Barnet Multi Faith Youth Forum Proposed Structure and Governance :
Ideally the BYFF structure should be as informal as possible, but there is recognition that there will be need for capacity to centrally organise activities and events.
The proposed structure should mirror the Executive of the BMFF with specific portfolios divided up between teams that represent every faith and aims to be inclusive of both students and young people.
Specific portfolios will be developed upon consultation, but it should broadly reflect the aims of the Youth Forum to organize events, campaigns and outreach activities.
The BMFF Youth Coordinator should act as the Chair of the BYFF, and held to account for its activities by the Executive of the Barnet Multi Faith Forum.
The BYFF will function in accordance with the values, aims, principles and practices as enshrined within the BMFF constitution.
The Youth Faith Forum will be supported by the BMFF executive.
It will have the opportunity to elect an individual to the BMFF executive.
It will submit a updated and regular reports to the BMFF executive
Developmental practices
In recognition of the rapidly changing academic commitment of young people, the BMFYF accepts that the cohort of youth forum reps is subject to change each year.
For this reason, a yearly Manifesto will be drafted in consultation with the youth reps at the first meeting of each year.
The manifesto will set out the key priorities and actions the forum wish to collectively achieve.
BMFYF members should expect to meet once a month term time from September to April, with a view to reconvene for an end of year achievement event/celebration before the summer break.
Interfaith Network http://www.interfaith.org.uk/
The Unity of Faith Foundation http://theunityoffaiths.org
Barnet Multi Faith Forum © 2020
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News - World 10 years after Vatican takeover, Legion in new abuse crisis Jan. 20, 2020 | 09:47 PM
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News - Middle East Ukraine presses Iran to hand over downed jet's black boxes Jan. 20, 2020 | 08:52 PM
News - World Trump's lawyers urge dismissal of 'flimsy' impeachment case Jan. 20, 2020 | 08:46 PM
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Islamic State cannot be defeated by military action alone, say major Church leaders
Leaders of two of Britain’s major Churches say that the UK Government must not give into the rhetoric that Islamic State can simply be bombed out of existence.
In a statement released today, leaders of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Methodist Church in Britain say that the case for military intervention can only be supported as one part of a broader political and economic strategy to tackle the ideology of IS.
Read more about Islamic State cannot be defeated by military action alone, say major Church leaders
Churches campaign for abolition of Trident ahead of Peacemaking Sunday
As diplomatic initiatives gather pace to build a framework for a nuclear-weapon-free world, three British Churches are reiterating their call for the abolition of Trident.
Read more about Churches campaign for abolition of Trident ahead of Peacemaking Sunday
Statement on the death of Ian Paisley
The Revd Ken Howcroft, President of the Methodist Conference, and Ms Gill Dascombe, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference have issued a statement on the death of Ian Paisley.
Read more about Statement on the death of Ian Paisley
Archbishop to deliver keynote speech at public issues Conference
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will give the keynote address at the ‘Love your neighbour: Think, Pray, Vote’ conference.
Read more about Archbishop to deliver keynote speech at public issues Conference
Call to prayer for Iraq and Syria on 31 August
People are being urged to dedicate a special time of prayer to the ongoing crisis in Iraq and Syria next Sunday.
Read more about Call to prayer for Iraq and Syria on 31 August
Joint Statement by the Bishop of Durham and the General Secretary of the Methodist Church
Safeguarding arrangements in our two Churches
Read more about Joint Statement by the Bishop of Durham and the General Secretary of the Methodist Church
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The Italian authorities fines WhatsApp for $ 3 million euros
The Italian Antimonopoly Authority fined WhatsApp service developers for 3 million euros. This information was reported reported by Reuters.
According to the agency, WhatsApp imposed conditions on the users that obliged them to agree to data transfer to Facebook parent company. In particular, they were persuaded that without agreeing on this they would not be able to continue using the service.
The WhatsApp press service commented on this situation the following way: "We are considering this decision and preparing a response to the authorities."
The supervisory authorities of all EU countries demanded that WhatsApp last year to suspend the transfer of Facebook data because of users’ doubts' in agreeing on the conditions.
The fact that WhatsApp will open Facebook access to the user base became known in August 2016.
Google ignores canonical links when an error is suspected
Google ignores canonical links if it is suspected that an error could have been made during their implementation. This was told by the search representative, John Mueller during the last video meeting with webmasters.
One of the participants asked Mueller at the meeting:
"If a large number of canonical links points to the same page, can this lead to some problems with website?"
Mueller replied the following:
"No, it is not necessary. The only problematic situation that may occur is when all these pages point to the main page as canonical. In this case, our systems understand that the rel = canonical attribute was wrongly implemented and thus, they ignore this data.
But if the website contains a large number of pages with the same content (URLs with different parameters, etc.), using the rel = canonical attribute is an ideal option in this situation."
It should be recalled that earlier this month the Moz founder, Rand Fishkin, prepared a review of the best practices for the URL canonicalization.
Google adds tags for recipes, videos and products in the image search
Google added tags for recipes, videos, products and GIF to the image search results. Now when searching for images, users will immediately see which type of content the individual results are related to.
The Google rep commented on the new feature saying the following:
"These badges will help you find those images that involve additional actions or contain more detailed information."
To display a label on a website page, appropriate marking of structured data should be added: for recipes, goods or video. GIF-images Google algorithms will recognize and mark automatically, thus, markup is not needed for them. New badges will not always be displayed just like extended snippets. Filling in the fields for the recommended properties of the markup increases the chances of getting them.
Google also updated its structured data verification tool. Now it processes markups for images.
It should be recalled that Google started showing videos and recipes in the search results for pictures starting from last month.
Publishers have found a way to beat Facebook's ranking algorithms
The AdAge Edition noted that publishers have found a way to beat Facebook's ranking algorithms. They began to attach short videos in MP4 format instead of pictures; since videos re usually given priority in the users' tapes.
New tactics are used by large publishers, such as BuzzFeed, and smaller ones, among them is ForShitsAndGiggles.
For example, the 48-second "video" published by BuzzFeed has received more than 1.4 million views in just a couple of weeks:
Other examples also include short videos that last only a few seconds.
The Facebook representative in the AdAge commentary says that the social network does not prioritize the video before other types of publications in the news line. But if the user usually interacts with the video, he will often see posts of this format in his tape:
"We are constantly improving the news line to show you the most relevant stories, and prevent attempts to deceive the system."
Nevertheless, Russ Torres, the USA Today Network vice president of video content and strategy believes that in fact Facebook promotes the video in line.
BuzzFeed and ForShitsAndGiggles have not yet commented on this aspect.
How Google processes pages with the Canonical and noindex attributes
During the last video conference with webmasters, John Mueller answered the interesting question: how does the search engine process pages that both contain the Canonical and Noindex attribute?
The question to Mueller was:
"I once was at a seminar where I was told that if you use rel = canonical and Noindex on a page, then Canonical will transmit the Noindex canonicalized page. Is that true?".
"Hmm. I don’t know. We discussed this issue for a long time, at least inside the team. In particular, what should we do in this case.
Using Canonical, you are telling that two pages should be processes identically. Noindex reports that the page that contains it must be removed from the search. Therefore theoretically our algorithms can get confused and decide that you need to delete both pages. Correct? Or they can process them in different ways, taking into account Noindex attribute.
As a matter of actual practice, it is most likely that algorithms will decide that the rel = canonical attribute was added by mistake."
48% Identified keyword/phrase research as a most effective SEO tactic with 34% citing frequent website update. (Source: MarketingProfs)
Those involved in the B2B buying process are already 57% of the way down the path to a decision before they’ll actually perform an action on your site. (Source: Google)
Mobile click-to-open rates for US marketing emails sent by Yesmail clients in Q3 2015 were at 13.7%, up 1.6% compared to Q3 2014. Desktop click-to-open rates for marketing emails in Q3 2015 were at 18.0%, down 3.8% from the year before. (Source: eMarketer)
In a September 2015 study by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs, 76% of B2B marketers in North America said they expect to create more content in 2016 than they did in 2015. (Source: eMarketer)
Social media (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest) was not a meaningful channel during the holiday 2015 weekend, driving only 1.6% of e-commerce orders. The same applies to Cyber Monday, where social media networks drove 1.5% of orders. (Source: Custora)
Consumers using Android devices accounted for 22.7% of online transactions over the 2015 holiday shopping season, up slightly from 20.7% in 2014. (Source: Custora)
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Support the Alternative
Bloomington's rich get richer, poor get poorer
by Steven Higgs
The income gap between Bloomington's richest and poorest residents grew during the "boom years" of the 1990s, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Associated Press. And it grew faster than the statewide average.
Welch still feeding at the GE trough
A pair of news items this past week reminded Bloomington citizens in general and blue-collar workers in particular of the mindset they're up against in their struggle for economic justice in the global economy.
Wal Mart - Building an empire on its workers' backs
It appears that Wal Mart did not get to be the nation's leading retailer through shrewd business practices or volume sales, as some might believe. According to lawsuits filed by Wal Mart Stores Inc. employees in 28 states, the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant has built its empire in part on the backs of its workers.
Copyright © 2014 by The Bloomington Alternative. All rights reserved
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Tag Archives: video evidence
During more than four months of reporting on the Army’s misguided prosecution of Maj. Christian “Kit” Martin, I’ve had conversations with many people about the case. Recent interactions with two law-and-order veterans, both of whom will remain unidentified due to the fact they’re frequently involved in military justice cases, are worth sharing as both seem to “smell a rat” at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Socialist Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders has nothing to do with the Army’s prosecution of Maj. Christian “Kit” Martin, but he does seem to match the description one attorney had for the major’s “ex-wife” accuser.
On Sept. 27, a well-respected and very-experienced man — and retired big-city homicide detective, to boot — contacted me after reading my article, Attorney Cites ‘Foul Smell in the Air’ Surrounding Effort to Link Army Officer to Multiple Murders Near Fort Campbell, published the same day. His comments appear below:
“It is incredulous that any law enforcement officer of any rank or assignment would not immediately jump on the opportunity to obtain video evidence. In this case, Major Martin had told deputies on scene that he had surveillance cameras and offered that video footage to them. Their refusal to accept the cameras suggests they had already made up their mind, evidently by virtue of what they had been told by the Army that Major Martin was the most likely culprit. It will probably just be a matter of time before the Christian County (Ky.) Sheriff’s Department realizes they have been played by the Army and comes forward with that information.”
Similarly, I received an email message from a military defense attorney with whom I occasionally chat. He asked if I had seen a piece published by Fox 17 in Nashville under the headline, Home, Cars of Fort Campbell Army Major Searched in Connection to Ky. Murders. I replied, telling him I had not seen it yet, and he came back with the comments below about Major Martin, his accuser/ex-“wife” and Maj. Jacob Bashore, the special victims prosecutor overseeing the Army’s prosecution of Major Martin:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Bashore has (Martin) thrown into pretrial confinement and charged with murder just to muddy him up for the BS rape charge. And this ex-‘wife’ of his sounds like she is ‘batshit crazy,’ so I really hope Christian County is inquiring into her whereabouts on that night. But, if my intuition is on point, they probably won’t.
“On the off chance they do, I really hope the accuser/ex-‘wife’ did it for two reasons: (1) the case against Major Martin will most likely go away; and (2) the SVP would have some serious, serious egg on his face by going along with this woman who appears to have Crystal Magnum qualities. (Crystal Magnum went to jail for killing a man after she falsely accused the Duke Lacrosse players of rape). Similar to my client, (name redacted), it would be a shining example of when law enforcement and prosecutors push to convict innocent men, sometimes innocent people are murdered.”
Coming from guys experienced in criminal investigations and high-stakes trials, the words above should cause every American to take pause. Why? Because men like Major Martin are being charged, tried and convicted far too often based almost solely on allegations made by vengeful women.
I encourage you to read more about Major Martin’s case and other cases of military justice run amok, and then stay tuned for updates as they surface.
UPDATE 12/7/2015 at 8:13 a.m. Central: A military judge continued the military trial date for Army Maj. Christian “Kit” Martin to sometime in March 2016, though no specific date has been set.
UPDATE 12/10/2015 at 11:09 a.m. Central: I’ve learned that Major Martin’s military trial date is set for March 14-18, 2016.
This entry was posted in Crime, Major "Kit" Martin, Politics and tagged Army, Attorney Cites ‘Foul Smell in the Air' Surrounding Effort to Link Army Officer to Multiple Murders Near Fort Campbell, batshit crazy, Bernie Sanders, Bob McCarty, Christian County Sheriff, Crystal Magnum, Duke LaCrosse, Fort Campbell, Home Cars of Fort Campbell Army Major Searched in Connection to Ky Murders, Kentucky, law and order, law enforcement, Law-and-Order Veterans 'Smell A Rat' at Fort Campbell, Major Bashore, Major Christian "Kit" Martin, Major Christian Martin, Major Jacob Bashore, Major Kit Martin, McCarty, military justice, rape, Socialist, special victims prosecutor, surveillance camera, vengeful women, veterans, video evidence on December 2, 2015 by admin.
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Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez – Netflix Review!
The world is fascinated with celebrity gossip both in film and sports. You can’t turn a page or watch a show without someone talking about these famous people’s personal lives. Within this culture, there is bound to be criminal activity and as we’ve seen with the entertainment industry and sports, there are quite a few nasty stories of prominent figures abusing and murdering people. I can point to O.J. Simpson as the classic tale of this situation, but we all know how that ended up. No, it’s with former NFL player Aaron Hernandez that takes the cake as it seems like no other prominent figure in sports had this much trouble and fell from a lucrative career as much as he did. Thanks to Netflix, we now have the fantastic three-episode true-crime documentary series Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron of Hernandez to give us more insight into what happened.
Netflix is Raising Prices Again!
by Gumbercules9000 on Oct 5th, 2017
Netflix has a spending problem and we the customers are paying for it. #Bullshit The price of the most popular plan, which is the streaming plan that is normally $9.99. Prices are going up 10%, which is only a dollar a month, making it $10.99 now. I’d be okay with this, but nothing is happening to warrant this other than that the shit-heads at Netflix are selling the farm for more content.
‘Shaft’ Is Making A Comeback From Netflix and New Line!!!
by Red Zeppelbon on Oct 2nd, 2017
♪♫Who’s the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all about?
(Shaft)
Right on ♪♫
If you were unsure the answer was anything other than “Shaft”, you best be getting yourself a film-education right fast and in a hurry. If you just can’t seem to get that done, Netflix will give you a primer when they reboot the classic 1971 film that was already rebooted once in 2000.
We’ve Got The Trailer For ‘Gerald’s Game’ Only From Netflix!!!
From the brilliant mind of Stephen King, Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard took the horror-master’s novel and gave us a screen play for ‘Gerald’s Game‘. While trying to spice up their marriage in their remote lake house, Jessie must fight to survive when her husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her handcuffed to their bed frame.
Check Out The Trailer For ‘Wheelman’ Coming To Netflix!!!
Frank Grillo (Kingdom, Captain America: Civil War) stars as the wheelman, a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race-to-survive after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him and the only person he can trust… his thirteen-year-old daughter. All reasons to think fast and drive faster.
Get Ready For Season Four of Netflix’s ‘Black Mirror’!!!
Netflix’s ‘Black Mirror‘ debuted way back in 2011. A more innocent time because we didn’t have deep, lurking fears about technology and how it could do anything but improve our daily life. Then came Charlie Brooker and the anthology series that has forced me, at least, to cover all the cameras on my devices with tape or sticky tack. Coming back for it’s fourth season, we’ve got a little, and I do mean little, information on the next six episodes.
A Little Evil is coming to Netflix!
by Gumbercules9000 on Aug 22nd, 2017
Netflix is releasing a new film called Little Evil from writer/director Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil) that is a comedy-horror about a loving family of three. Well, maybe not loving, but more like the actual Antichrist. This looks like a lot of fun and has quite a good cast. If this is anything like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, then we are in for an entertaining ride for sure. Enjoy the trailer below. Also, I must point out how eerily similar the boy in the poster above looks like a cross between Angus Young from AC/DC and Damien from The Omen. I can’t wait.
Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ Debuts Season 2 Trailer!!!
Netflix’s addicting royal drama, ‘The Crown‘ is coming back for a second season, unfortunately, we have to wait until December 8. We do get a first peek at a trailer and a few images that are from the upcoming continuation.
Netflix To Gain Western Series From The Coen Brothers!!!
by Red Zeppelbon on Aug 9th, 2017
Joel and Ethan Coen are bringing their genius craft to Netflix in the form of a Western, anthology series about the American Frontier. The news was announced with typical Coen-flair – “We are streaming motherfuckers!”
The Trailer For Netflix’s ‘Death Note’ Looks Awesome!!!
‘Death Note‘ is based on the famous Japanese manga, and starring Lakeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe, Shea Whigham, and Nat Wolff. ‘Death Note‘ streams on Netflix August 25.
The New Original Netflix Movie To the Bone has a Trailer!
Netflix has a new original movie they are releasing on their streaming platform on July 14th called To The Bone that stars Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves. Don’t expect John Wick to walk in and start offing people or Ted Theodore Logan to start playing the guitar here. This is on a more serious note, which follows a young woman named Ellen (Lily Collins), who suffers from severe anorexia and enters a group recovery home in a last ditch effort to get better and survive. There, a fun and unconventional doctor (Keanu Reeves) will learn how to conquer the awfulness of anorexia.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is Set for Netflix and has a Trailer!
Netflix has secured the new tv series ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance‘, which is a prequel series from Jim Henson’s 1982 opus ‘The Dark Crystal‘, which of course was many of our favorite childhood movies growing up.
Season 5 of Arrested Development is coming to Netflix in 2018!
A few days ago, Jason Bateman announced on Twitter that he had signed a deal for the long awaited 5th season of Arrested Development on Netflix. Today, it’s announced that the entire cast and crew have signed on to come back to reprise their roles in one of the funniest television shows to ever grace the small screen. Michael Cera, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Portia de Rossi, David Cross and Alia Shawkat, and Bateman will be coming back, along with show creator Mitch Hurwitz. Netflix doesn’t have an exact date yet, but it will premiere sometime in 2018.
Martin Scorsese’s Latest Mob Movie Lands At Netflix!!!
by Red Zeppelbon on Feb 22nd, 2017
There are two things Martin Scorsese knows a lot about, one of them is making movies and the other is making mob movies. From ‘Goodfellas‘, to ‘Gangs of New York‘, to ‘The Departed‘ with several stops in between, his films speak for themselves so it’s no wonder that a bit of a bidding war has broken out around his latest project ‘The Irishman‘. The companies are sending up their white flags with Netflix standing on the pile of broken bodies, the victor.
Netflix Gives ‘The OA’ Another Season!
Netflix announced today that they will be giving a second season to ‘The OA‘, which is just fantastic news. The first season, which premiered all eight episodes on Netflix in December, was a huge hit and starred Brit Marling with direction by Zal Batmanglij on all eight episodes. Brit and Zal have worked together before. You need to see their work on ‘The Sound of My Voice‘ and ‘The East‘.
Kosa:
Can't you ever do anything the easy way?
Lara Croft:
I wouldn't want to disappoint you.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) The Movie Quotes
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The history of the Bottrill family goes back to before the Norman Conquest. The Boterel family can now be found in Australia, America,Canada, and many counties in England - Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire and London. The history of the family can be followed in a series of historical novels, the first being 'The king's toads'.
In 1100, the town of ‘Washington/Wessyngton/ Wassington/Whessingtun’ near Durham was part of the estates (called 'Richmondshire') of Alan Rufus, Earl of Richmond and brother of Geoffrey Boterel.
Alan Rufus built Ravensworth Castle for another of his brothers, Ribald, who handed it on to a further brother, Bardolph. Bardolph’s son, Akaris fitz-Bardolph, who died 1161, was lord of Wessyngton, juxta Ravensworth, Richmondshire. He was given the manor by his father in the time of King Henry II. (‘fitz’ means ‘son of’)
Akaris’ younger son, Bondo fitz-Akaris, was born 1122 in Kirby, Ravensworth, and died after 1180 at Wessyngton/Washington village, Ravensworth, Richmondshire, England. Bondo is sometimes known as Bondo de Washington, and sometimes Bondo de Ravensworth. One of Bondo's sons was William de Washington, born abt. 1150 in Washington/Wassington, England, who was second cousin to William Boterel, lord of Boscastle, Cornwall.
If you look at the genealogy of George Washington, his first ancestor to live in Washington was a Norman knight, William de Hertburn, born 1150-1160, who acquired the manor of Washington around 1183, according to the 'Boldon Buke' (a contemporary record now in Durham Cathedral library). William had previously owned land at Hartburn, County Durham, but exchanged this with the Bishop of Durham who wanted Hartburn. This must have suited William for some reason – perhaps because Washington was nearer to Ravensworth. As lord of a new domain, William was known as "William de Wessynton", taking his name from his new estates.
It would not have been possible for another knight to take the same name as an existing knight, even with a spelling variation, so the two Williams must have been one and the same. 'William de Wassinton' is named on an Exchequer Roll of 1211.
George Washington’s ancestors lived in Washington Old Hall near Durham for five generations. Then they acquired by marriage lands in Lancashire and moved there. Eight generations later, they moved to Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire in the mid 1500s. Bottrills had already been farming in Northamptonshire for two hundred years – a coincidence.
So the Bottrills and the Washingtons, now separate, had a common ancestor.
Posted by John Bottrill at 16:44
Labels: Alan Rufus
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S Scottish origin?
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S Scottish origin? What is the evidence for a Scottish origin for George Washington? Various sites claim that W...
The Whitmore family in Staffordshire
The Whitmore family in Staffordshire stemmed from the Boterel family. Here is some of their history. Geoffrey Boterel II 1091-1148 Cou...
THE VIKING BOTTRILLS
THE VIKING BOTTRILLS On reasonable evidence, the Bottrill family can be traced back to Fornjot (year 500AD) who was King of Finlan...
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 1137-1453
THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR 1337-1453 The Boterel family was badly mauled, particularly in the early years. The empire of the Norman ...
GEORGE WASHINGTON In 1100, the town of ‘Washington/Wessyngton/ Wassington/Whessingtun’ near Durham was part of the esta...
FAMILY ORIGIN
FAMILY ORIGIN The first recorded Boterel was Nicholas. Where did he come from? It is possible that he was the son of Geoffrey Boterel I,...
BOTTRILLS AT THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
BOTTRILLS AT THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. William the Conqueror, led an army of three groups. The right wing was Flemish, the cent...
THE ORIGINAL BOTEREL SHIELD
THE ORIGINAL BOTEREL SHIELD Geoffrey Boterel was born around 1025 to Eudes, Duke of Brittany (de facto) and Count of Penthièvre. But ...
If you have family history to discuss, contact me at jhbottrill@gmail.com
John Bottrill
Gillingham , Dorset, United Kingdom
A retired academic, property developer, writer, English teacher, palmist, genealogy researcher, I've been living in comfort in Northern Spain - a region like the Lake District, but with good weather for 10 years. The place has magic. It's the nicest place I've ever lived. Personally, I'd happily live and eventually die here. But family reasons necessitate a return to UK, so it's for sale. I'm atheist, a married gay, and addicted to Bridge and Croquet.
Copyright John Henry Bottrill. Watermark theme. Powered by Blogger.
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Breaking World News
May 'to stay' vow
Hello. Here’s your morning briefing:
Theresa May: I’m here to stay
She’s faced huge criticism since the Conservatives lost their House of Commons majority in the snap election she called for, but Theresa May insists she wants to remain prime minister “for the long term”. She told the BBC’s Ben Wright she could win the next election, scheduled for 2022.
“What me and my government are about is not just delivering on Brexit but delivering a brighter future for the UK,” she said. Mrs May, described as a “dead woman walking” by former Chancellor George Osborne, has sought to consolidate her position by reaching a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson promised Mrs May his “undivided backing”, but Labour’s Jon Trickett said the prime minister was “deluding herself” and leading a “zombie government”.
Dugdale: I was outed as gay against my will
Labour’s former leader in Scotland has told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme she was forced to come out as gay after comments about her sexuality were included in a magazine article. Kezia Dugdale, who resigned from her political role on Tuesday, said she had asked for the quotes not to be used in the Fabian Review. But the article’s author said “at no point” had she received this request. Ms Dugdale is in a relationship with an SNP politician, which she said people found more “fascinating” than her sexuality.
Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning
Texas chemical plant expected to explode
The aftermath of Storm Harvey, which has killed at least 33 people, continues to cause damage, with energy supplies hit and oil companies shutting down pipelines. Now it’s been revealed that a chemical plant near the flooded city of Houston is expected to explode or catch fire, as there is no way to refrigerate the compounds kept there. The smoke produced at the Arkema plant will irritate skin, eyes and lungs, the public has been warned.
Diana remembered
It’s 20 years since Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. Royal correspondent Peter Hunt asks how the Royal Family has changed during the years since. And the BBC’s Alex Regan looks at the legacy Diana left her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, just 15 and 12 when she died.
North Korea: What are the options?
By Justin Bronk, Royal United Services Institute
A successful invasion of North Korea led by the US would leave it responsible for rebuilding a shattered country. North Korea has existed in an unparalleled state of psychological manipulation, chronic economic hardship and isolation for over 60 years. The monumental task of reintegrating East Germany after the Cold War pales in comparison. The reality is that none of the military options available to the US for dealing with North Korea come without high costs and significant risks – considerations which it will have to weigh up against uncertain and problematic potential outcomes.
Several papers lead with Theresa May’s comments on wanting to remain in power for several years, with the Daily Telegraph calling them a “radical departure” for the prime minister, who previously vowed to stay on only as long as her party wanted her to. The Times says she wants to stay on to focus on social justice as well as Brexit and feels “emboldened” by a lack of Conservative challengers. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports on the “moving” viewing by Princes William and Prince Harry of floral tributes to their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. “She’s still the people’s princess” is the Sun’s headline.
Building collapse At least 30 people feared trapped in Mumbai
Terror suspect Manchester bomber’s brother faces trial in Libya
‘Legal highs’ Review set up after laughing gas cases collapse
Free childcare Nurseries warn of “chaos” over 30 hours’ provision
If you watch one thing today
One man’s march for indigenous rights
If you listen to one thing today
Was Byron much cop before he was famous?
If you read one thing today
And Vinyly
Turning the dead into vinyl records
Today’s lookahead
Today It’s football’s transfer deadline day, with the English transfer window closing at 23:00 and Scotland’s at midnight.
11:30 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities publishes its set of policy recommendations for the UK.
1989 Buckingham Palace announces that Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips are to separate after 16 years or marriage.
From elsewhere
Are you in danger of a pre-midlife crisis? (Daily Telegraph)
Neighbours star speaks out on the importance of family (Daily Mail)
Debunking Hollywood’s portrayals of human hibernation (The Atlantic)
Police called over obdurate pensioners in sauna (The Local)
← Kent Heckenlively, US 'anti-vaxxer', denied Australian visa
Myanmar Rakhine: Rohingya refugees drown amid exodus →
Newspaper headlines: 'Dishevelled' Julian Assange faces justice
Birmingham church stabbing leaves three hurt
Newspaper headlines: Brexit vote, and Downing Street 'grope'
Sarah Montague: Radio presenter confirms £400k pay settlement with BBC
Human impact on nature 'dates back millions of years'
Copyright © 2017 Breaking World News. All rights reserved.
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The Writings of Mark Twain [pseud.]
Publisher: BiblioLife
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. ASCENT OF VESUVIUS CONTINUED. CEE Naples and die.' Well, I do not know ' that one would necessarily die after merely seeing it, but to attempt to live there might turn out a little differently. To see Naples as we saw it in the early dawn from far up on the side of Vesuvius, is to see a picture of wonderful beauty. At that distance its dingy buildings looked white and so, rank on rank of balconies, windows, and roofs, they piled themselves up from the blue ocean till the colossal castle of St. Elmo topped the grand white pyramid and gave the picture symmetry, emphasis, and completeness. And when its lilies turned to roses when it blushed under the sun's first kiss it was beautiful beyond all description. One might well say, then, ' See Naples and die.' The frame of the picture was charming, itself. In front, the smooth sea a vast mosaic of many colors; the lofty islands swimming in a dreamy haze in the distance ; at our end of the city the stately double peak of Vesuvius, and its strong black ribs and seams of lava stretching down to the limitless level campagna a green carpet that enchants the eye and leads it on and on, past clusters of trees, and isolated houses, and snowy villages, until it shreds out in a fringe of mist and general vagueness far away. It is from the Hermitage, there on the side of. Vesuvius, that one should 'see Naples and die.' But do not go within the walls and look at it in detail. That takes away some of the romance of the thing. The people are filthy in their habits, and this makes filthy streets and breeds disagreeable sights and smells. There never was a community so prejudiced against the cholera as these Neapolitans are. But they have good reason to be. The cholera generally vanquishes a Neapolitan when it seizes him...
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Remington Ventures Inc.
Remington Ventures Inc is introducing our first product offer.
Introducing the Aqua-Nova â„¢
REMV Hydrogen on Demand OEM Unit. Model 1.01
This is our first production model in our line of (LENR) augmented HHO gas production units. It has the highest efficiency ratio to unit cost of any similar units currently on the market for these devices. With these units installers should expect to have a burned in period of 30 hours to build up our proprietary LENR enhancing reactive composite hydride layer on the electrodes of the unit.
This unit is sized for a 4 cylinder engine. The units can easily be hooked in parallel for larger applications. 2 of these units will provide a 50% increase in fuel efficiency on average for a 6 to 8 cylinder engine. Large bore 8 cylinders and trucks should use 3 units for a 50% fuel economy boost.
We plan to market these units through our authorized resellers and will be installed by certificated installers only. Great attention was paid in the design of these units to provide for long service life and cost effective operation and are constructed entirely using only stainless steel hardware and our high efficiency large surface area electrode assembly. The housing is designed to sustain high temperature operation and up to 125 psi of pressure.
Other parts are needed to build a system from these units. They also require a resonant pulsed DC controller to operate efficiently. We offer OEM power units for single or multiple cell applications. The unit below is our 15Amp unit for operating single cell installation applications.
Installed systems are expected to retail starting at $495 for a single unit installation.
Operation Basics for HHO fuel economy boosters
These boosters work by adding hydrogen to the cylinder which has a faster ignition speed than gas or diesel which with the added oxygen increases the flame spread and provides a more complete combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel.
This allows the engine’s fuel air mix to be adjusted much leaner without losing power. This is what improves the economy of the engine the boosters are used on.
This is the basics of how it works but the important part of the unit is the efficiency of the operation of the gas production. The more efficient the better it works, the smaller the unit can be and also the leaner the fuel mixture can be adjusted. Our system uses a resonant pulsed DC signal which creates a cavitation within the unit.
In our version of the technology our HHO booster unit has a coating built up on the electrodes of a hydrogen dense layer. When the cavitation is set up in this hydride layer it modifies the wave function of the nuclei in the atoms in that layer which causes compression in the coulomb barrier making low energy nuclear reactions possible within the hydride layer. These very energetic fusion reactions add their energy directly to the electrolyte which increases the efficiency of gas production in the booster cell.
LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reaction) Augmented HHO Gas Production
Our proprietary composite hydride electrode layer contains a minimum of 20% Boron 11 isotope. This neutron heavy form of Boron is used in our device as a fuel because it produces aneutronic fusion reactions at a low energy input level when struck by one of the hydrogen atoms generated during the DC resonant pulse modulation through the electrolyte solution and with an input energy of only 500,000 electron volts, it produces three alpha particles (He) and also releases 8,700,000 electron volts of energy. Most other fusion reactions involving hydrogen and (He) helium produce penetrating neutron radiation. The energy produced from one of these Boron 11 + proton fusion reactions is added directly to our systems electrolyte which increases the energy efficiency and increases the volume of the HHO fuel gas output of the cell. All of these fusion reactions stop as soon as the power is turned off to the unit so it is a completely safe and green form of nuclear energy being used in this system to greatly increase the efficiency of electrolysis breakdown of water into HHO fuel gas.
What to expect in future products we release?
What is on the horizon for our Model 2 release? It is a system that will eliminate the tanks used in this current model design. The model 2 will also be able to sustain much higher temperatures and will have a lower part count and longer unit life than the Model 1. We will also release the model 2 in a variety of custom form factors so that it will fit more vehicles in what ever space is best available and will have a lower unit cost in volume than the model 1. We will also be finding sources for higher concentrations of Boron 11 isotope in lower cost sources so that we can pass on to our dealers a better fusion fuel system for a lower cost per unit for the LENR fusion reaction enhanced electrolyte system we offer to dealers only.
Products | Remington Ventures Inc.
The Company is focused on electronuclear fusion power systems for vehicles. Hydrogen accumulated at a densely negative electrode can form isotopes and helium exothermically. The released nuclear energy is converted to chemical potential energy in the evolved gases. The chemical potential energy of the gases exceeds the electrolytic energy similar to high-temperature steam electrolysis. The Company is working toward electronuclear fusion devices for vehicle power. The Company's work indicates a preferred cycle for modern vehicle power. The cycle is nuclear fusion in water electrolysis to produce gaseous chemical potential energy, followed by combustion of the gases to extract work and producing steam. Small amounts of exhaust helium are vented, and the water is recycled through the system. In this cycle little hydrogen is converted to helium for normal vehicle power requirements.
quantumbit.com
We are generating a plasma as well as an electric field so there is little nead for an electrolyte. It is similar in many respects to this High-temperature electrolysis The difference is that the extra energy is being released from a plasma induced LENR instead of an outside heat source like solar and it will work 24 hours per day. Between the research I have done and the research Qbit has done in this area of technology we are pretty certain we can zero out the external fuel source eventually. It will end up being a pure alkali metal hydride LENR or nuclear transmutation induced plasma electrolysis cell and it will make enough fuel cheap enough we can quit concerning ourselves about this problem and get back to being a productive nation and world and out of debt bondage for good. The first model will go out with a minimum of 50% fuel economy boost within 30 days.
REMV accepts development contract for LENR hydrogen generator from QBII | Remington Ventures Inc.
fuelcell, fusion, efficiency, engine, hydrogen
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One Coffee, One Shot... A Day of Dancers Among Us Ends with a Splash
I was exhausted.
I had started shooting Dancers Among Us with ZDF German Television at 9:00am with Marcella Guarino and the $10,000 helicopter, then met Jermaine Terry for the Andy Warhol and Lincoln Center adventures. All three situations had been extremely challenging, with the heat stifling, and I was about to attempt the most difficult shot yet.
Years ago I was so excited to get my first cell phone that I couldn't wait to play with it. I was on the subway while doing so, holding a coffee. The train stopped suddenly and I spilled my coffee all over the woman next to me. I wanted to recreate that moment now- a dancer stumbling, gracefully of course, on the subway, spilling her coffee on an innocent bystander.
The dancer would be Allison Jones, whose unique physicality inspired this idea. The innocent bystander would be Geoff Legg, whose wonderful photographs often grace the pages of these posts. Geoff changed into a white t-shirt, we bought a huge iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts, and we all climbed aboard the B train heading downtown.
We had one chance to get the shot... ONE CHANCE! A single frame! After that Geoff would be stained with coffee, the ground would be wet, and the passengers would be freaked out.
With the ZDF sound and camera men recording the madness, we tried to solidify a pose. The train rumbled on, speeding quickly toward Brooklyn.
Allison was trying to use the bar above Geoff for stability, but her leg was getting blocked- I wanted her line to be unobstructed. Her handbag was in the way as well. We came up with a new plan and kept practicing.
We rehearsed for THIRTY MINUTES! Allison was getting tired. The passengers were getting concerned. We were deep into Brooklyn. It was time to roll the dice.
I asked Allison to practice one last time, just to set it in stone. All of a sudden my camera STOPPED FOCUSING. It just stopped. There was nothing I could do.
We waited ten infuriating minutes. Nikon was being temperamental, focusing about half the time. People were starting to get off the train. The subway would be empty soon. Now was the time.
I asked Geoff to appear asleep. I hoped Allison's position would be right, her eyes would be open, her expression would be natural, and the coffee would be arching in a steady stream, splashing Geoff in the face at the exact moment I released the shutter. Oh, and I hoped Nikon would decide to focus.
"Here we go everyone. Remember to get your leg up, Allison. Hit him hard with the coffee and look surprised. Geoff, you ready? One.. Two... Three... Go!"
Splash! Coffee everywhere. Mayhem ensued. The train pulled into the station. Our moment had passed. I took a breath and looked at the photo.
Allison nailed it! Everything I wanted, and more. One take. In focus. Unbelievable!
I wasn't even exhausted anymore. I was exhilarated. It had been the most exciting and productive day of my entire career.
And it wasn't over.
When we returned to Manhattan, Allison had an idea. "I could do something really cool with that phone booth." Five minutes later, I had this image.
Then Jennifer Jones, who had been waiting patiently all day to shoot an homage to Marilyn Monroe on her 85th birthday, hit this shot on the first try!
Thank you to everyone I mentioned in this week's Dancers Among Us blog posts- dancers Marcella Guarino, Jermaine Terry, Allison Jones, and Jennifer Jones for their amazing talents, Travis Francis for two fantastic videos, Geoff Legg for shooting and taking one for the team, and ZDF German Television for making me bigger than Brad Pitt in Europe! What an incredible day.
Posted by Jordan Matter at 12:37 PM
Dancers Among Us Feature on ZDF German Television
Will They Like Me in Kansas? -- Dancers Among Us G...
I Went Viral - 45,000 Reads in 72 Hours
One Coffee, One Shot... A Day of Dancers Among Us ...
Conquering the Big Kahuna - Dancers Among Us at th...
Floundering Through a Dancers Among Us Shoot, Resc...
A Helicopter, an Aircraft Carrier, and a $10,000 P...
My Lucky Life
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Dr. Hal Scherz on the VA Scandal
Dr. Hal Scherz of Docs4PatientCare has a powerful OpEd in the Wall Street Journal, "Doctors' War Stories From VA Hospitals".
The whole thing is worth reading, but here is an excerpt:
In my experience at VA hospitals in San Antonio and San Diego, patients were seen in clinics that were understaffed and overscheduled. Appointments for X-rays and other tests had to be scheduled months in advance, and longer for surgery. Hospital administrators limited operating time, making sure that work stopped by 3 p.m. Consequently, the physician in charge kept a list of patients who needed surgery and rationed the available slots to those with the most urgent problems.
Scott Barbour, an orthopedic surgeon and a friend, trained at the Miami VA hospital. In an attempt to get more patients onto the operating-room schedule, he enlisted fellow residents to clean the operating rooms between cases and transport patients from their rooms into the surgical suites. Instead of offering praise for their industriousness, the chief of surgery reprimanded the doctors and put a stop to their actions. From his perspective, they were not solving a problem but were making federal workers look bad, and creating more work for others, like nurses, who had to take care of more post-op patients.
At the VA hospital in St. Louis, urologist Michael Packer, a former partner of mine, had difficulty getting charts from the medical records department. He and another resident hunted them down themselves. It was easier for department workers to say that they couldn't find a chart than to go through the trouble of looking. Without these records, patients could not receive care, which was an unacceptable situation to these doctors. Not long after they began doing this, they were warned to stand down.
There are thousands of other stories just like these...
For more, read the full text of "Doctors' War Stories From VA Hospitals".
(Although the story is behind a subscriber paywall, the WSJ often allows readers to type "WSJ <article title>" into a Google search window to access their "Free Pass" version. In other words, type "WSJ Doctors' War Stores from VA Hospitals" without the quotes.)
Hsieh Forbes Column: Three Factors That Corrupted ...
Hsieh Forbes Column: VA Denies Coverage to USAF Ve...
Adalja on Sovaldi
Life Imitates The Onion On Physician Satisfaction ...
VA vs. Single Payer?
Flawed Quality
RebelMD: "The Voice of Hippocratic Medicine in Ame...
Online Firms Bring Concierge Medicine to the Middl...
Sissel's Challenge To ObamaCare
Two Doctors In WSJ
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Privacy Policy for clients and customers of BUDDHA BAR MANILA.
BUDDHA BAR MANILA (“BUDDHA BAR”) abides by the policies of the State to protect the fundamental human right to privacy and communication, while supportive in ensuring the free flow of information for innovation.
II. Introduction
This Privacy Policy (also known as Privacy Manual) of BUDDHA BAR is hereby adopted in compliance with R.A. no. 10173 also known as Data Privacy Act of 2012, its Implementing Rules and Regulations (Hyperlink to the law) and any other policies to be issued by the National Privacy Commission. BUDDHA BAR values the data privacy rights of its clients and customers. By accessing the BUDDHA BAR website and availing any of our services or products, BUDDHA BAR ensures that data of its clients and customers are collected, processed, stored, utilized and shared or transferred for furtherance of clients or customers interest in our products or services and for legitimate means and purposes only.
This Privacy policy shall inform you of our data protection, and may serve as your guide in exercising your rights under the Data Privacy Act. It is to be understood that this Privacy Policy applies only to clients and customers of BUDDHA BAR.
III. Definition of Terms
The terms provided herein can be found under R.A. 10173, Sec. 3, par. b, par. c, par. g and par. l, respectively.
Consent of the data subject refers to any freely given, specific, informed indication of will, whereby the data subject agrees to the collection and processing of personal information about and/or relating to him or her. Consent shall be evidenced by written, electronic or recorded means. It may also be given on behalf of the data subject by an agent specifically authorized by the data subject to do so.
Data subject – refers to an individual whose personal information is processed.
Personal Information – refers to any information whether recorded in a material form or not, from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by the entity holding the information, or when put together with other information would directly and certainly identify an individual.
Sensitive Personal Information – refers to personal information:
(1) About an individual’s race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color, and religious, philosophical or political affiliations;
(2) About an individual’s health, education, genetic or sexual life of a person, or to any proceeding for any offense committed or alleged to have been committed by such person, the disposal of such proceedings, or the sentence of any court in such proceedings;
(3) Issued by government agencies peculiar to an individual which includes, but not limited to, social security numbers, previous or current health records, licenses or its denials, suspension or revocation, and tax returns; and
(4) Specifically established by an executive order or an act of Congress to be kept classified.
IV. Consent
Consent or authorization from clients and customers of BUDDHA BAR will be secured first prior to any collection, process, storage, access, use, and sharing or transfer of personal data given to BUDDHA BAR. Consent will be secured through paper-based or electronic form.
Before you give your consent, BUDDHA BAR assures you an opportunity to read in full text its Privacy Policy, as do now. By reading the Privacy Policy or after you had been given the chance to read the Privacy policy, and you have given your consent to us, whether in electronic or paper-based form, you are hereby giving BUDDHA BAR the authority to collect, process, store, use, access, and share or transfer your personal data.
By giving us your consent, you agree that the consent and authorization you provide have been executed freely, voluntarily and with full knowledge and consent of its consequences. It is intended to be the consent and/or permission required under this Privacy Policy, the Data Privacy Act and all other relevant laws. It is valid as an agreement signed by you and shall have continued effect throughout the duration of your relationship with BUDDHA BAR and/or existence of your account(s), and/or until the expiration of the retention limit set by laws and regulations, and/or the period set until the destruction or disposal of records as mandated by relevant laws, unless you withdraw such authorization and consent in writing. Thus, you hereby render BUDDHA BAR, its officers, employees and representatives free and harmless from any and all liabilities arising from the above use and disclosure of your information.
V. Processing of Personal Data
It is to be emphasized that by the use of our website and by submitting to us any forms which contain your data, YOU GIVE US YOUR CONSENT for us to collect, process, store, use, access, and share or transfer information from you. With such, it is also to be emphasized that this Privacy policy assures you that the data we collect, use, and store from you are protected.
The data that BUDDHA BAR may collect, store, process, or use from its clients or customers may vary depending upon the transaction entered into with BUDDHA BAR.
A. Data obtained or processed by BUDDHA BAR MANILA through any forms or communications submitted to us.
That information with an asterisk (*) is considered to be sensitive information under the Data Privacy Act.
• Name,
• Email,
• Contact number,
• Address,
• Location, (whether local or abroad)
• Birthday,
• Age
• Civil Status*
• Religion,*
• Gender,*
• Specimen Signature.*
Your personal circumstances:
• Family background,
• Educational Background*
• Employment History,*
• Medical records;*
• Contents of any Government ID;*
• Other personal information necessary for the delivery of our service you intend to
avail of. *
• CCTV footages for security purposes when you visit BUDDHA BAR.
• Other information contained in or relating to any communications that you submit to us through any means,
Data we obtain in accessing our website at buddhabarmanila.com
• Your IP address and cookies from which you accessed our website, and details of which version of web browser and operating system you used,
• The date and time of your visit in our website,
• Google Analytics data, which is information on how you use our website, using cookies, and page tagging techniques to help us improve our website,
• The website address of the website from which you accessed our website,
• The approximate location from which you viewed our website.
B. How are the data obtained from clients and customers USED by BUDDHA BAR
• Respond to your inquiries or complaints regarding your transaction/s,
• Assess your qualifications before granting your request to any of our products or services,
• Track the status of your request,
• Deliver announcements and other relevant information,
• Maintain and update your account or transaction in our records and/or system,
• To facilitate your use of our website and services,
• Comply with any laws, orders or regulations of any Government agencies, and orders of Philippine Courts,
• Comply with any company policy of BUDDHA BAR.
• Research in developing and improving our products and services,
• For Advertisement and Marketing purposes but without disclosure of any of your data,
• Such other legitimate purposes.
VI. How the data under the custody of BUDDHA BAR Accessed and Stored
It is to be stressed that due to the serious effort of BUDDHA BAR to protect all data under its custody, only the client or customer himself or herself as well as the authorized representative of BUDDHA BAR can access such personal data. Authorized representative of BUDDHA BAR whose task is to process data of clients or customers are under an obligation of confidentiality.
We store the data we collect from you in the database of BUDDHA BAR as long as necessary for the purpose by which you avail any of the products or services of BUDDHA BAR. Our information storage mechanism ensures secure storage of your data. BUDDHA BAR also has policies and procedures intended to protect data under its custody. BUDDHA BAR’s database and websites are regularly checked for any suspicious activity that may affect the data under our custody.
VII. How BUDDHA BAR shares, transfers, or discloses information under its custody
BUDDHA BAR assures that when data is being transferred or shared, the authorized representative of BUDDHA BAR who transfers and receives such data is under an obligation of confidentiality and subject to this Privacy Policy.
BUDDHA BAR may disclose data of its clients or customers regarding any transaction:
• With various units within BUDDHA BAR to fully understand the transaction of the client or customer or for any investigation conducted by BUDDHA BAR to prevent any unlawful or suspicious activity.
• To any of its affiliates or third-parties for legitimate purposes and only in connection with the services and products that BUDDHA BAR provides.
• To any service providers who may need access to the information for the purpose of carrying out work on behalf of BUDDHA BAR
• To any Government agencies pursuant to law, regulations, or investigations conducted by them
• To a third person if it is pursuant to a Court order
• To the client or customer with regard to their own account or record under the custody of BUDDHA BAR, when requested.
VIII. Retention and Deletion of Personal Data
BUDDHA BAR, in compliance with Data Privacy Act, will only retain personal data collected from its websites or from forms or communications submitted to us, for as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the purposes for which the data was obtained or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, or for legitimate business purposes, or as provided by law.
BUDDHA BAR hereby informs all data subjects that the right to suspend, withdraw or order the blocking, removal or destruction of his or her personal information from the custody of BUDDHA BAR is based upon discovery and substantial proof that the personal information of the data subject are incomplete, outdated, false, unlawfully obtained, used for unauthorized purposes or are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected.
IX. What are your rights under the Data Privacy Act as Data Subject (IRR of R.A. No. 10173, Rule VIII, Sec. 34)
a. Right to be informed
b. Right to object
c. Right to access
d. Right to rectification
e. Right to erasure or blocking of Personal Data
To know all the rights of a Data Subject, you can always check Data Privacy Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
It is emphasized that these rights are to be exercised by answering and submitting to us this form. Rest assured that BUDDHA BAR will diligently respond to your request. For any questions regarding the Privacy Policy of BUDDHA BAR, you can communicate with its Data Privacy Officer at:
Complaints/ Security Breach Incident: dpofficer@bb-manila.com
Landline: 737-55-20
X.Policy Revisions
We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are informed with any changes.
XI. Other policies.
This Privacy policy is always to be read and harmonized with all existing policies of BUDDHA BAR.
This Privacy policy can be downloaded here.
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The City Council has made repairing the City's roads and drains a priority. A 5 phase approach has been developed to fund the repair and maintenance of the City's roads and drainage system. View the Road and Drainage Repairs Plan.
Phase 1: Measure L, 1 half cent sales tax (approximately $1 million per year in sales tax revenues will be collected April 2013 through March 2022)
Phase 2: Measure J, $20 million general obligation bonds (issued in March 2015)
Phase 3: $25 million general obligation bonds approved by voters in June 2016
Phase 4: $22 million general obligation bonds tentative date to go before voters June 20xx
Phase 5: Undetermined ongoing revenue source to maintain the roads at a PCI of 50 or above
Road and Drainage Repairs Plan
Citizens' Infrastructure Oversight Commission
Accomplishments to Date
Road and Drain FAQs
Expenditures To Date
Upcoming Plans and Projects
Department of Public Works and Engineering Services
Pavement Program Management Updates
Road & Drainage Repairs Photo Gallery
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Location: swiss
SWITZERLAND – 13 Days
Day 01 : Swiss Border or Airport – Interlaken
Arrive at any Swiss Border or Airport, travel by train to Interlaken. Visit the famous mountain, rated as top ten mountain visits in the world by national geographic traveller – The Queen Of Mountains Mt Rigi. Rest of the day free at leisure to explore the city on your own. Overnight in Interlaken.
Day 02 : Interlaken
Travel to the famous mountain peak of Mt Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe from Interlaken station. The Jungfrau ( 4,158 metres (13,642 ft.) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the southern canton of Bern and the northern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.In the evening return to Interlaken. Overnight in Interlaken.
Day 03: Interlaken – Lucerne
Today you will travel from Interlaken to Lucerne by train. Lucerne, a compact city in central Switzerland, sits amid snowcapped mountains on the north end of Lake Lucerne. With its colorful Altstadt (Old Town) and 14th-century Museggmauer city walls, covered bridges including the iconic Kapellbrücke and spired, turreted buildings, it’s the storybook image of a Swiss town. It’s also gateway to hiking and skiing destinations in the nearby Rigi and Pilatus mountains and the Alps.Rest of the day free at leisure to enjoy the city of Lucerne on your own. Overnight in Interlaken
Day 04: Lucerne
Interlaken Proceed for an early morning excursion to Mt Titlis. Titlis (also Mount Titlis) is a mountain of the Uri Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Berne. At 3,238 metres above sea level, it is the highest summit of the range north of the Susten Pass, between the Bernese Oberland and Central Switzerland. It is mainly accessed from Engelberg (Obwalden) on the north side and is famous as the site of the world’s first revolving cable car. The cable car system connects Engelberg to the summit of Klein Titlis (3,028 m) through the three stages of Gerschnialp (1,262 m), Trübsee (1,796 m) and Stand (2,428 m). The last part of cable car way leads above the glacier. At Klein Titlis, it is possible to visit an illuminated glacier cave from an entrance within the cable-car station, which also includes shops and restaurants. The Titlis Cliff Walk, the highest elevation suspension bridge in Europe, opened in December 2012, giving views across the Alps.Overnight in Lucerne.
Day 05 : Lucerne – Zurich
Travel by train from Lucerne to Zurich.The city of Zurich lies at the north end of Lake Zurich in northern Switzerland, a global center for banking and finance. The picturesque lanes of the central Altstadt (Old Town), on either side of the Limmat River, reflect its premedieval history. Waterfront promenades like the Limmatquai follow the river toward the 17th-century Rathaus (town hall). Rest of the afternoon free to explore Zurich on your own. Overnight in Zurich.
Day 06 : Zurich
Today depart to Airport for your next tour .
Day 07: Rome
On Arrival in Rome Airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel rest of the day at leisure to explore the city on own. Rome, Italy’s capital, is a sprawling, cosmopolitan city with nearly 3,000 years of globally influential art, architecture and culture on display. Ancient ruins such as the Roman Forum and the Colosseum evoke the power of the former Roman Empire. Vatican City, headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, boasts St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museums, which house masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes. Evening proceed an a Rome by night , dinner and music tours. Overnight in Rome.
Proceed on Full day Naples and Pampeli Tour with lunch. Return back at 0930pm in Rome. Overnight in Rome.
Day 09 : Rome- Florence
Proceed to the Railway station (on your own). It takes approx 2hours to reach Florence by train.Florence, capital of Italy’s Tuscany region and birthplace of the Renaissance, is home to masterpieces of art and architecture. One of its most iconic sites is the Florence Cathedral, with its terra-cotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and bell tower designed by Giotto. The Galleria dell’Accademia displays Michelangelo’s “David,” while the Uffizi Gallery exhibits preeminent works such as Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and da Vinci’s “Annunciation.” On arrival transfer to the hotel (on your own) overnight in Florence.
Day 10: Florence
Morning free at leisure, in the afternoon proceed on a half day tour of Pisa which includes visit to PIZZA DEI MIRACOLI The Leaning tower , formally known as Piazza del Duomo, is a wide walled area located in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as an important center of European medieval art and one of the finest architectural complexes in the world. , the Baptistery, visit Cathedral and other important monuments. Return to Florence. Overnight in Florence.
Day 11: Florence-Venice
proceed to the Railway station (on your own) . it takes apporx 3hours to reach Venice. On arrival transfer to the hotel (on your own) in the evening enjoy a romantic Gondola Trip with songs and music. Overnight in Venice.
Day 12: Venice
Morning free at leisure. Venice is a city in northeastern Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline, between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture, and its artwork. The city in its entirety is listed as a World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon. In the afternoon proceed an a half-day tour of the three islands MURANO. BURANO & TORCELLO. Overnight in Venice.
Transfer to the Airport (on your own) for the flight to final destination.
02 Nights Accommodation in Lucerne
02 Nights Accommodation in Interlaken
01 Nights Accommodation in Zurich
02 Nights Rome
02 Nights Florence
02 Nights Venice
Arrival Transfer in Rome
Eurail ITALY PASS 3DAYS (II CLASS)
Swiss Pass
Excursion to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
Excursion to Mt. Titlis
SWITZERLAND TOURIST VISA:
Valid passport ( Old passport if any),
Visa Application form,
2 colour photos, 35 x 45mm, 80% face appearance, white background, Glossy finish,
Covering Letter on Business Letterhead.
3 Years IT Returns.
Last Six Months Original Bank Statement with seal & signature of bank manager.
Business registration certificate.
If employed, 3 Months’ salary slips, NOC & Leave Sanctioned letter from employer Original.
Hotel Confirmation & Day to day Itinerary.
Overseas Medical Insurance.
Air Ticket Confirmation.
12. Students above the age of 16 years (beyond secondary school certificate either travelling
Alone or with parents) should attach copies of their college ID cards
SWITZERLAND BUSINESS VISA:
Valid passport (Old passport if any),
2 colour photos, 35 x 45mm, 80% face appearance, white background,
Last Six Months Bank Statement with seal & signature of bank manager.
If employed, 3 Months’ salary slips Original.
Hotel Confirmation.
Overseas Medical Insurance,
Air Ticket Confirmation
Letter of invitation directly to Consulate by Fax from Swiss Company & one copy to us.
Time Taken: Minimum 8 working Days
PLEASE NOTE: – Additional documents may be required in certain cases & Applicant could be requested to appear for personal interview. Visa Fees is NON REFUNDABLE
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Over 3 years (10)
Materials Research (1)
Mineralogical Magazine (9)
Powder Diffraction (1)
Crystal structure and crystal chemistry of fluorannite and its relationships to annite
M. F. Brigatti, E. Caprilli, D. Malferrari, A. Mottana
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 71 / Issue 6 / December 2007
Print publication: December 2007
This study focuses on the crystal-chemical characterization of fluorannite from the Katugin Ta-Nb deposit, Chitinskaya Oblast’, Kalar Range, Transbaikalia, eastern Siberia, Russia. The chemical formula of this mineral is (K0.960Na0.020Ba0.001)(Fe2+ 2.102Fe3+ 0.425Cr3+ 0.002Mg0.039Li0.085Ti0.210Mn0.057)(Al0.674Si3.326) O10(F1.060OH0.028O0.912). This mica belongs to the 1M polytype (space group C2/m) with layer parameters a = 5.3454(2) Å, b = 9.2607(4) Å, c = 10.2040(5) Å, b = 100.169(3)º. Structure refinement, using anisotropic displacement parameters, converged at R = 0.0384. When compared to annite, fluorannite shows a smaller cell volume (Vfluorannite = 497.19 Å3; Vannite = 505.71 Å3), because of its smaller lateral dimensions and c parameter. Flattening in the plane of the tetrahedral basal oxygen atoms decreases with F content, together with the A–O4 distance (i.e. the distance between interlayer cation A and the octahedral anionic position) due to the reduced repulsion between the interlayer cation and the anion sited in O4.
Monazite-huttonite solid-solutions from the Vico Volcanic Complex, Latium, Italy
Giancarlo Della Ventura, Annibale Mottana, Gian Carlo Parodi, Mati Raudsepp, Fabio Bellatreccia, Enrico Caprilli, Paolo Rossi, Salvatore Fiori
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 60 / Issue 402 / October 1996
Print publication: October 1996
The crystal-chemical relationships occurring within a single grain of monazite-(Ce) from Vetralla, Vico Volcanic Complex, north of Rome, are outlined. The sample is from a miarolitic cavity in a holocrystalline ejectum consisting of K-feldspar plus minor plagioclase, mica and Fe-oxides, collected from a pyroclastic explosive level. The Gandolfi film (Cu-Kα radiation) can be indexed in space group P21/n with a = 6.816(4); b = 6.976(4); c = 6.471(3) Å; β = 103.63(3)°; V = 299.0(6) Å3. Electron-probe microanalyses plot within the field of monazite along the huttonite-monazite edge of the huttonite-monazite-brabantite triangle. Despite patchy and irregular zoning, the grain shows a clear enrichment towards pure monazite at the outer rim. A constant Th:Si ratio of 1:1 indicates the existence of a simple solid-solution between huttonite and monazite. The substitution can be written as Th4+ + Si4+ → REE 3+ + P5+ without requiring any electrostatic compensation by divalent cations, or by anionic groups. The REE distribution pattern is compatible with that of monazites from syenitic rocks.
Zr-rich non metamict perrierite-(Ce) from holocrystalline ejecta in the Sabatini volcanic complex (Latium, Italy)
G. C. Parodi, G. Della Ventura, A. Mottana, M. Raudsepp
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 58 / Issue 393 / December 1994
This paper reports the first in-situ finding of perrierite-(Ce) in Latium. The mineral occurs as brownish-red, transparent, well-developed, euhedral, prismatic crystals inside the miarolitic cavities of a holocrystalline ejectum from La Mola, Monti dell'Anguillara district, Sabatini volcanic complex.
The cell parameters (from Gandolfi film) are (in Å): a = 13.629(9), b = 5.727(1), c = 11.715(6), β(°) = 113.74(2), V(Å3) = 835.5(9). The crystal-chemical formula, based on microprobe analysis of one grain, is:
This perrierite is the most Zr-rich described so far. The entry of Zr in the C site of the structure is related to the substitution of large amounts of Ca in the A site, according to the charge balancing relationship:
The genesis of perrierite-(Ce) from La Mola is linked to late pneumatolitic-pegmatitic hypabyssal stages of the regional volcanic activity.
Asbecasite: crystal structure refinement and crystal chemistry
Michele Sacerdoti, Gian Carlo Parodi, Annibale Mottana, Adriana Maras, Giancarlo Della Ventura
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 57 / Issue 387 / June 1993
The crystal structure of antimonian asbecasite in an ejectum of hypabyssal origin occurring at Tre Croci near Vetralla, Vico volcanic complex, Roman potassic province, Latium, Italy, has been refined to R = 0.042, and is compared to the original crystal structure determination carried out on the Sb-free asbecasite of hydrothermal metamorphic origin from the type-locality, Cherbandung in Binna valley, Monte Leone nappe, Switzerland. New electron microprobe analyses of samples from both localities demonstrate crystal-chemical features that permit distinction between asbecasites from the two occurrences, so far the only known localities for this mineral.
Improved X-Ray Powder Diffraction Data for Franckeite
Annibale Mottana, Salvatore Fiori, Gian Carlo Parodi
Journal: Powder Diffraction / Volume 7 / Issue 2 / June 1992
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2013, pp. 112-114
The X-Ray powder diffraction patterns of three franckeite specimens from Bolivia all lack the 2.91 and 2.82 Å reflections of 100 intensity reported in PDF 15-25. A new indexed pattern is given for the franckeite of the San José mine, Oruro.
Phase relations of aenigmatite minerals in a syenitic ejectum, wonchi volcano, Ethiopia
Mario Gaeta, Annibale Mottana
Wonchi volcano (Ethiopia) is the second locality for wilkinsonite, the new mineral related to aenigmatite via the coupled substitution 2Fe3+ = TiFe2+. Wilkinsonite occurs as relics surrounded by rims of riebeckite and biotite in a syenitic ejectum which also contains microphenocrysts of aenigmatite. The two minerals do not represent an equilibrium pair. They both formed in the magma chamber under plutonic to hypabyssal conditions, but during two following stages of crystallisation separated by a major drop in ƒO2 conditions.
Ranciéite from Mazzano Romano (Latium, Italy)
Eugenio Barrese, Ciriaco Giampaolo, Odino Grubessi, Annibale Mottana
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 50 / Issue 355 / March 1986
Ranciéite occurs as stalactites coated with 10 Å halloysite in an open fissure crossing the Mazzano Romano Mn-impregnated tuffs. Chemical analysis (by EMPA) gave: MnO2 71.9, CaO 6.11, BaO 2.85, MgO 1.53, K2O 0.86, Na2O 0.53 plus minor oxides, total 85.07% (average of sixteen spots). Thermal analysis gave a total loss of ∼ 20 wt% of which 13.9% can be attributed to bonded water. The resulting formula contains 4H2O rather than 3H2O, as in most published references. The loss of water leads to the formation of hausmannite plus unidentified phases, after a complex sequence of reactions. Dehydration is directly followed by an X-ray amorphous stage. The X-ray pattern and IR spectrum indicate a poor structural order, in agreement with the likely formation conditions of the Mazzano ranciéite at atmospheric pressure and very low temperatures (less than 50 °C), from cold water percolating through the main Mn deposit.
Cesanite, Ca2Na3[(OH)(SO4)3] , a sulphate isotypic to apatite, from the Cesano geothermal field (Latium, Italy)
G. Cavarretta, A. Mottana, F. Tecce
Journal: Mineralogical Magazine / Volume 44 / Issue 335 / September 1981
Print publication: September 1981
Cesanite occurs both as a solid vein (1 cm thick) and as a cavity-filling of an explosive breccia in core samples of the Cesano 1 geothermal well (Cesano area, Latium, Italy).
Cesanite is coloudess, medium to coarse grained, soft (H = 2 to 3) and light (ρ meas 2.786±0.002 g cm−3). It is uniaxial negative, ε = 1.564, ω = 1.570, with space group P63/m and cell parameters a = 9.442 (4), c = 6.903 (3) Å, for c/a = 0.730. Identifying spacings are 8.161, 2.822, 2.727,1.844 Å, in X-ray powder patterns strikingly similar to those of apatite. The chemical formula (microprobe analyses on two grains) is Ca1.53Sr0.03Na3.42K0.02[(Cl0.06F0.06OH0.44)(S2.99O12)]·0.44H2O, while the theoretical formula, derived from considerations on structural identity with apatite, is Ca2Na3[(OH)(SO4)3]. Cesanite is the end member of the apatite-wilkeite ellestadite series where [PO4]3− is entirely substituted by [SO4]2−, the charge balance being made up by Na+ substituting for Ca2+.
Ferrocarpholite from Colle Ciarbonet (Cottian Alps)
G. Scaini, A. Mottana, K. Abraham
The chemistry and cell parameters of omphacites and related pyroxenes
A. D. Edgar, A. Mottana, N. D. Macrae
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2018, pp. 61-74
In an attempt to correlate the chemical compositions and cell sizes of omphacites and related pyroxenes, the cell dimensions of fifty-five analysed pyroxenes have been determined, or taken from the literature. Twenty-two of the chemical analyses are new, nineteen of them being done by electron microprobe. Approximately two-thirds of the total number of analyses may be considered first class, the remainder are of doubtful or unknown quality. Cell parameters, determined by X-ray powder diffraction methods, have errors of 0·1 % for the majority of samples, although for some samples taken from the literature errors are unknown.
The majority of methods of recalculating omphacite analyses into their end-member molecules are unsuitable for correlation of cell constants with chemistry, mainly due to the impossibility of graphical representation of more than three end-member molecules, and to the non-stoichiometry of these molecules. Using a modification of Tröger's (1962) method of recalculating chloromelanite analyses the present analyses have been recalculated into the diopside-jadeite-acmite and diopside-jadeite-hedenbergite molecules and compared with their determined cell parameters. Because of the gradations in all parameters between these end-member molecules, determination of compositions based on the cell parameters (a, b, c, vol, or β) can only be made within wide limits. However, using a method of projection of compositions from the acmite and hedenbergite apices to the diopside-jadeite join the ratios of diopside to jadeite can be determined for most samples to within ±5 mol%. As there are the most important constituents of most omphacites, this method permits an approximate estimation of omphacite compositions. From a knowledge of the cell sizes of the omphacite a rough indication of the conditions of formation of its host rock may also be obtained.
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The Pastor's Wife
Posted on Jan 20, 2020 Jan 20, 2020 by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Pastor s Wife Ingeborg Bullivant decides spontaneously to join a tour to Lucerne and returns engaged Yet her new life as a rural Prussian pastor s wife restricts her as much as her old and when the dashing artist I
Title: The Pastor's Wife
Author: Elizabeth von Arnim
Ingeborg Bullivant decides spontaneously to join a tour to Lucerne and returns engaged Yet her new life as a rural Prussian pastor s wife restricts her as much as her old and when the dashing artist Ingram appears, musing about wondrous Italy, wanderlust tempts her a second time Von Arnim s accomplished and comic novel is based on her own first marriage and life in provIngeborg Bullivant decides spontaneously to join a tour to Lucerne and returns engaged Yet her new life as a rural Prussian pastor s wife restricts her as much as her old and when the dashing artist Ingram appears, musing about wondrous Italy, wanderlust tempts her a second time Von Arnim s accomplished and comic novel is based on her own first marriage and life in provincial Germany at the turn of the century.
Pastor s Wife Poems Pastor Gifts Use these pastor s wife poems to show your pastor s wife the appreciation she deserves Choose from these six pastor s wife appreciation poems, or you can even write your own Begin by choosing a title Your chosen title, poem and sentiments are then transferred onto a handsome backdrop of shimmering crystal to make this one a kind gift idea for your pastor s wife. Pastor s Wife Appreciation Gifts DIY Awards Honor the first lady of the church with a personalized pastor wife gift plaque As a pastor s wife, she deserves sincere recognition for all the sacrifices she makes so Role of a Pastor s Wife pastoralcareinc What is the role of a pastor s wife Most articles are centered around the lead pastor Many duties are assumed and some are illogical or dysfunctional We have listed some practical tips on role of a pastor s wife. The Angry Pastor s Wife masterpiece all torn up deactiv asked hey I really like what you post, I wish you could post often I m only but I have felt like God is calling me to be a pastor s wife for years so I came looking for some blogs of godly women already in that position and I was not disappointed when I found this one praying for ya have a nice day Body of pastor s wife found after car went into flooded Franklin County Franklin County, Pastor, minister, missing, flood Body of pastor s wife found after car went into flooded creek, sheriff confirms WTHR Indianapolis Franklin County Franklin County, Pastor, minister, missing, flood In Praise of Pastor s Wife Pastor Appreciation Honor your Pastor s wife with In Praise of Pastor s Wife, the definitive Pastor s Wife appreciation poem, beautifully engraved on this stunning presentation plaque, with her name, and your church name added to the heading I m Just The Pastor s Wife MOYO is live on Facebook Come stop in and say hi moyojesus at Monongahela Church of the Nazarene Insanity Plea For Slain Pastor s Wife CBS News Mar , A minister s wife charged with shooting her husband to death in the church parsonage waived her right to a hearing that would have aired evidence against her. I m Just The Pastor s Wife Back in Indiana for the week Gonna see my beautiful sis in law tie the knot Dean better know what a lucky guy he is gingeryvoldemort Suspected killer of pastor s wife watched her bleed A three man crime spree on the morning of Nov ended in the murder of an Indianapolis pastor s pregnant wife, according to a newly released legal filing.
The Pastor's Wife « Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth von Arnim 176 Elizabeth von Arnim
Title: The Pastor's Wife « Elizabeth von Arnim
Posted by:Elizabeth von Arnim
About “Elizabeth von Arnim”
Elizabeth, Countess Russell, was a British novelist and, through marriage, a member of the German nobility, known as Mary Annette Gr fin von Arnim.Born Mary Annette Beauchamp in Sydney, Australia, she was raised in England and in 1891 married Count Henning August von Arnim, a Prussian aristocrat, and the great great great grandson of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia She had met von Arnim during an Italian tour with her father They married in London but lived in Berlin and eventually moved to the countryside where, in Nassenheide, Pomerania, the von Arnims had their family estate The couple had five children, four daughters and a son The children s tutors at Nassenheide included E M Forster and Hugh Walpole.In 1898 she started her literary career by publishing Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a semi autobiographical novel about a rural idyll published anonymously and, as it turned out to be highly successful, reprinted 21 times within the first year Von Arnim wrote another 20 books, which were all published By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden.Count von Arnim died in 1910, and in 1916 Elizabeth married John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, Bertrand Russell s elder brother The marriage ended in disaster, with Elizabeth escaping to the United States and the couple finally agreeing, in 1919, to get a divorce She also had an affair with H G Wells.She was a cousin of Katherine Mansfield whose real name was Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp.Elizabeth von Arnim spent her old age in London, Switzerland, and on the French Riviera When World War II broke out she permanently took up residence in the United States, where she died in 1941, aged 74.
205 thoughts on “The Pastor's Wife”
Jan-Maat
I picked this up, probably just because it was cheap but was left wondering why I hadn't heard of Elizabeth von Arnim before.The novel has a deceptively light tone that enables her to talk easily about troubled and difficult marriages - this is a book written in the early years of the 20th century as well as a book that drew on her experience of her own marriage.The story is fairly straight forward. Young woman, the daughter of a bishop, is proposed to while on holiday and because she can't mana [...]
I've never read such an apparently mild book that made me so wildly angry. Von Arnim is becoming a personal hero.(Longer review written at a greater distance included in my fall/winter roundup on my blog: shouldacouldawouldabooks/)
What a delightful novel. Written by Elizabeth von Arnim and published in 1914, the story is that of Ingeborg Bullivant, the second and less obviously attractive daughter of Bishop and Mrs. Bullivant in England. Ingeborg has been raised by her father to be completely obedient and to be his secretary and assistant, this upbringing rooted not so much in real affection as in Biblical admonitions, although her “sanctity,” at least as he defines it, defines his affection. Ingeborg consequently has [...]
Poiema
This was my second von Arnim read, and I am rather amazed at this author's ability to confront complex women's issues and still maintain a light touch. By that I mean that the heavy issues are not confronted head-on, but are wrapped in layers of humor, heady descriptions of nature, and forays into art and literature. I find I need time to digest it all after closing the book.In this novel, a young woman goes from the protected and stifling cocoon of her Father's home (an English Bishop), to the [...]
What a roller coaster ride this was! I was so surprised at ever turn. What utterly perfect and marvelous character development. What exquisite changes in points of view. This is exactly what I read Elizabeth von Arnim for. She makes me smile. Sometimes she sort of breaks my heart. She never bores me. What a fabulously unexpected ending.
I enjoyed Ingeborg's brief escapes. Women going quietly about their work might suddenly break out and do surprising things. People you take for granted might have an inner life you never imagined. von Arnim has a predominantly negative view of men in most of her writing - it seems to have been her life experience - but it gets tired for me. Ingeborg's work to develop her mind through reading, her attempts to break her children out of their mute acceptance of what is, and her sheer joy at seeing [...]
Laura McDonald
I believe I am getting to the root of what I love and don't love about Von Arnim's writing. I love her autobiographical and first-person POV work. I love her insights into life, love, and nature. I love her optimism and happiness and boundless joy at small pleasures. I love that she loves to be alone with her thoughts, and she actually thinks and sees right to the bottom of things.I don't love her third-person and omniscient POV work. I didn't know exactly why until I read The Pastor's Wife and [...]
I am puzzled about how to consider this book. On the one hand, the main character is over-powered by everyone else in the book except her preternaturally good children (who utterly creeped me out, innocent as they were), but has, as it were, two moments of happy personal strength (and it is strength), one at the beginning and one at the end. The rest of the time is a struggle which is hard for the reader to "watch." The ending is a sort of triumphant tragedy, and I don't know that I will ever kn [...]
Hallgerd
I am amazed at the lightness of touch of this book. It is witty, sometimes downright hilarious (for example the proposal scene) and joyful and yet manages to reveal (without any preachiness or tut-tutting) the crushing effect of the inequality that dominated women's lives. It's beautifully written. I recommend it.
The Pastor's Wife (1914 fiction) was a sad commentary on people in the church who haven't a clue what it means to follow Christ. Every character was selfish to the core. It was terribly hard to like a book in which none of the principle characters have any redeeming qualities.
A Lovely, long Von Arnim novel which deals ith marriage, motherhood and the subjugation of women. My full review here: heavenali.wordpress/2014/0
Elena T.
"La moglie del pastore" non fa eccezione sugli altri Von Armin; raramente capita di imbattersi in personaggi tanto briosi quanto i suoi. In questo caso Ingeborg, la protagonista del libro, essenza stessa della femminilità fatta di grazia e bellezza quasi ultraterrena. Con una cinquantina di pagine meno sarebbe stata una perla perfetta.
4-4.5/5Romanzo che è tanto scorrevole e piacevole, quanto triste di fondo – ma altrettanto vero.Benché Herr Dremmell sia tipizzato e appartenente ad un’altra mentalità ed epoca, rappresenta uno dei difetti che si trovano spesso in tanti uomini, il fatto di non ascoltare, andare avanti secondo quanto si pensa e dare per scontata la persona che si ha accanto.E come Ingeborg è passiva, inetta a prendere davvero in mano la sua vita, ad alcuni può apparire irritante e sciocco, ma personalmen [...]
Oh Ingeborg, how silly and naive can you be? :)Elizabeth Von Arnim writes about charming characters. But the funny thing is that her books make try to picture her, the writer, the voice behind her characters. I try to imagine which of her flaws, which of her strengths she gives to each of her characters.Only down side for me on this book was some slowness of the plot development, some lack of action that created the need for me to read other books in the meantime. Regardless, I was happy to retu [...]
This isn't my favourite but it's very enjoyable even although I did see how it was going to end sometime before getting there.
This novel was published in 1914 and is another of the genre examining the stultifying effects of forcing women into a very narrow and defined role. A young English woman, raised by her father "The Bishop" to be nothing more than a helpful adjunct and possession of her father, sneaks away on a freedom spree to visit Lucerne when she is supposed to be in London visiting the dentist. She meets a German pastor/farmer and is swept away by his attentions. She resolves to marry him against her father' [...]
This is my third Von Arnim novel, and she seems to have a theme: fanciful, lonely young women married to men who care little about them. Here Ingeborg is a bishop’s daughter, raised in utter oppression, who accidentally becomes engaged to a Prussian pastor. If you allow that being ignored is somewhat better than being oppressed, then her life improves when she becomes the pastor’s wife.This is equal parts amusing and sad. Ingeborg receives love only when she behaves in a certain way, and sin [...]
Lytton Bell
The writing sometimes almost reaches the poetic eloquence of a D.H. Lawrence - maybe this was simply a shining moment historically for English Literature. I had to give it five stars because she pulled off a miraculously tragic ending without inspiring utter hopeless agony in the reader. Genius trick. The characters were so subtle, complicated and interesting - how did she do that. Especially how Ingram turned slowly from hot sauce to dry rot in such a way as to convince you he had always been a [...]
Well, this book is a mix of serious and ridiculous, so it captures life pretty accurately. While wrestling with serious issues regarding women and society, von Arnim lets the ridiculous just shine through so that sometimes I couldn't be sure if I was angry or laughing. Poor Ingeborg!
At 22 years of age, Ingeborg, finds herself unchaperoned in London with 10 pounds. For years she has served as her father, the Bishop's, secretary, and homemaker, in place of her mother who has taken to the couch for years, and chaperone for her younger more beautiful sister; every hour of her day was scheduled to take care of somebody else's needs. When she sees the chance to join a tour group going to Lucerne for 7 days, leaving her with a little money left over, she jumps at the chance. Then [...]
Vera Maharani
Ingeborg, the heroine of the story, was an English bishop's daughter. On her first trip alone to London for a dentist appointment, she impulsively booked a trip to Lucerne and somehow came back engaged to a German pastor. They got married and Ingeborg was taken to her husband's hometown in Kökensee, where she lived in a constant culture shock and misunderstanding. This story followed Ingeborg as she try to make best of her life as the Frau Pastor and not losing herself in the process.Starring a [...]
Elalma
A detta di molti sedicenti luminari le donne non scrivono bene quanto gli uomini, chiss� perch� al mondo femminile si addicono storie d'amore oppure al massimo storie di famiglie, di intimit� e cose cos�. La von Arnim eredita secondo me parte dell'arguzia e dell'ironia degli inglesi dell'ottocento,ricorda Trollope, in alcune ambientazione e come lui fa sorridere, ma aggiunge un'innovazione straordinaria. Mette in luce le ipocrisie dell'epoca, e smontando parecchi miti, quale quello della [...]
I am officially a fan of von Arnim. This is such a sad story of hope and innocence versus indifference and expectations. It seems a tale of old where men and women, husbands and wives, parents and children all behaved differently and all had very specific, more black and white roles than what we have today in relationships. However, the hurt of indifference and disappointment in people you trust is always the same.
Von Arnim so beautifully captures the human spirit in all its happiness and pain that it feels as fresh as if it were written today. This novel is an emotional roller coaster, with dry humor often the result of conflicting social norms or values, yet also the setting of agonizing verbal and physical abuse - which felt so real it was almost hard to read. Nevertheless, I would read it all again because it was so beautifully written.
Melody McMahon
I loved the other von Arnim I read a long time ago, so decided to read this and was not unhappy I did, but it is strange. Very lighthearted at first even though complaining about lot in life. But the thing that really made me distraught was the lack of gumption in Ingeborg's life--she makes these huge leaps, though come to think of it, they are all rather spur of the moment, but when it comes to it, she cannot get the gumption to take charge of her life.
I enjoy reading books from this era. I found the ending of The Pastor's Wife unsettling. Like there should have been more to it; it was not a satisfactory finish. But I did enjoy reading the book. It was just not a book one closes with a happy sigh, but a book that leads one to introspection about realties and right and wrong.
I picked this as February's Velvet Ashes Book Club book -- great themes for women living as ex-pats:*family patterns*second culture women*figuring out cultural rules*loneliness and boredom*marriages that weren't the most satisfying(For Downton Abbey fans -- Mosely gave Anna a copy of this book. It was hot in 1914)
Mary Christian Payne
INTERESTINGINTERESTINGI liked this book, probably because I love to read books from writers of this era The plot was good, but would be unrealistic in today's world. far too much detail,but very typical of its time.
Vickimouse61
Good but not my favorite Arnim is very good at pointing out the complexities of human relationships. People are complicated and endings are not always happy. She gets that. Very descriptive writing. I liked it a lot but probably won't read it again.
Puddiner
I loved The Enchanted April but gave up on this book. It did not hold my interest at all
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Russians Onboard in DR Congo Plane Crash, Embassy Says
Russian crew members are believed to be onboard a plane that vanished off radar and crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Russian diplomats told state media Friday.
A cargo plane carrying eight passengers and crew, including DRC presidential staff, crashed in a forest in the country’s east on Thursday. The Antonov An-72 transport aircraft crashed in a forest and broke apart upon landing.
“We found out that Russian citizens whose names are being established were among crew members,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoted Natalya Kononova, an official at Russia’s Embassy in the DRC, as saying.
Debris of the plane has been found but the passengers are still missing, said Congolese presidential adviser Vidiye Tshimanga.
Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
Breaking Wind the Russian WayU.S. Senator Told Russian Prank Callers He’s ‘Sympathetic’ to Turkey in Kurdish Row
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Review of Belfast Free Range Music Festival
April 29, 2012 Rockin' Out
If I could have cloned myself in order to hear more of the excellent music at the 2012 Belfast Free Range Musical, I’d have done so. As it was, the festival, held Saturday, April 28 in eight venues across Belfast, offered up a rich variety of genres from bands and artists from all over the country. It was a blustery but brilliantly sunny day, and as festival-goers scurried from spot to spot, there nevertheless was an invitingly laid-back vibe.
As in years past, the festival starts with some looser, more relaxed sounds. I was able to catch 11-piece ensemble The Living Daylight at the First Church, who play a lovely blend of reggae and folk, with a touch of calypso, mariachi music and gypsy jazz sprinkled in. They’re based out of Brooksville, where the members also create artisan bread and treats at their own Tinder Heath Bakery. It was good way to ease into the day, and the wide variety of age groups present at that early hour – noon, to be exact – happily swayed to the beat. One of the nice things about Free Range is that when they say it’s all ages, they really mean it’s all ages; tiny children and retirees alike, sitting next to Portland hipsters and Belfast locals. Sure, sometimes a gaggle of inquisitive, talkative four-year-olds at a hushed, meditative folk performance is a bit distracting, but I’d like to think those kids are going to grow up to be extremely well-rounded individuals, if they’re being exposed to an event like Free Range at such a young age.
After a bit of lunch at the Belfast Co-op, my friends and I returned to the First Church to hear Portland-via-Waldo County bluegrass duo Coloradas, comprised of Roy Davis,
Bernie Nye and guest bassist Amanda Kowalski. Davis has one of those plaintive voices just meant to sing bluegrass, and the pair’s songwriting is thoughtful and intimate. We booked it to the Colonial Theatre afterwards to see Arborea (at left), the experimental folk duo from Lewiston who’s garnered a great deal of acclaim in the music press. And with good reason; Buck and Shanti Curran make utterly gorgeous music. Shanti’s crystalline soprano floats above Buck’s articulate guitar playing, which is some of the finest I’ve heard in recent years. That’s not an overstatement; he weaves in elements of Arabic and Indian music, while staying rooted in a traditional folk sound, bringing to mind wizards like Richard Thompson or the less bombastic side of Jimmy Page. Together, the two of them are mesmerizing.
We managed to catch a few songs by AWAAS, the Portland trio that rose out of the ashes of noise-rockers Ocean and Conifer. They have a hard-edged sound reminiscent of bands like Big Black or Black Flag, i.e. post-punk, but with a more metal sensibility. We then took the Free Range Fest shuttle up to the beautiful Waterfall Arts on High Street, where we settled in to see Lonesome Shack, a country blues duo all the way from Seattle. Yes, people are going to compare them to the White Stripes, but that’s a gross underestimation; their music is more rooted in the sounds of John Lee Hooker and Junior Kimbrough. Two guys, one dance party. Awesome. We got back into downtown just in time to go back to the First Church to see MV & EE, a Vermont collective centered around Matt Valentine and Erika Elder; think psychedelic folk, with deep, atmospheric sounds swimming in reverb, and adorned with soaring guitar.
We then ran back up the street to see the What Cheer? Brigade, who I had the pleasure of seeing in 2008 during the Black Fly Ball, the unbelievably fun party the Beehive Collective throws during the Blueberry Festival in Machias. They’re a 19 piece punk rock brass band, and if you are able to resist the siren call of their sound (hip hop, Balkan music, Dixieland, Latin, everything in between) then you have no soul. What other band can compel hundreds of people into the street to dance with reckless abandon, in their shirt sleeves, in 45 degree weather? Not very many others, I’d wager. The Legion Hall was full to capacity (and about 85 humid, sweaty degrees) so there was a bit of a wait to get in, but by the end of the show, it didn’t matter.
I caught a bit of Coke Weed, the buzzworthy Bar Harbor band, who played at Myn’s on Market, a tiny new venue just a block from the Legion Hall. They totally killed it – rock with a country edge, with a shiny veneer of swagger and sex. You just feel cooler listening to them. We then went down to Three Tides, to ensure that we could get into the Hillytown.com After Party, which filled to capacity last year. Some Marshall Wharf beers, some warmth by the fireplace, and the company of lots of interesting people. Orono-via-Portland trio Great Western Plain played first; they really hit that sweet spot that is garage rock and sneering punk attitude. A Severe Joy was next, and I think I’ve effused plenty on this blog how much I love Jose Ayerve’s solo project. Sparkling lights, costumes and electronic, new-wavey beats. What’s not to love? He performed with Bangor belly dance troupe Paradigm, who sported shimmering bat wings and hula hoops. The night ended with Vistas, the shockingly talented DJ duo out of Camden, who somehow manage to inspire dancing while staying smart and interesting. It was a truly memorable day and night. Belfast has something incredibly special going on with Free Range.
← Things To Do This Weekend, April 27-29: Hip hop (and you don’t stop) Spose balances sarcasm with sincerity on new album →
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Home » Arts
Dear Evan Hansen takes audience on emotionally complex journey
Historic vote awards residency to two Latinx Dallas theater companies
New Dallas Arts District hotel opens with art objects you want to touch
Dallas Arts District hotel opens with art objects you want to touch
By Candy Evans
Lava Thomas' Resistance Reverb: Movements 1 & 2 Photo courtesy of Hall Arts
Bathroom at Hall Arts Hotel. Photo courtesy of Hall Arts
The Right Kind of Boy by Clare Woods. Photo courtesy of Hall Arts
Bedroom suite at Hall Arts Hotel. Photo courtesy of Hall Arts
Photo courtesy of Hall Arts
"This is the end of a long journey," said Craig Hall on December 3, cutting a red ribbon draped across the free-standing lobby staircase of his newest gem, the Hall Arts Hotel. "It's got a lot of soul. A lot of hotels are bland and not unique: we have 28 different room types!"
It not only has soul, it is the prolific Dallas-based developer’s (and his wife, Kathryn’s) newest masterpiece, the very first luxury hotel to grace the Dallas Arts District. Perched at the corner of Ross Avenue and Leonard Street, the 183-room, 10-story luxury hotel is right across the street from Pritzker Prize-winning architecture and celebrated arts venues.
The hotel is the first part of a $250 million development that includes a luxury high-rise condo tower next door expected to epitomize luxury living in Dallas. The HALL Arts Residences are expected to open in spring of 2020.
The passion for art is woven into the DNA of the property. Hall Arts Hotel offers a diverse collection of impactful, thought-provoking works of art celebrating established and emerging talents.
Hall Arts Hotel is not just another well-crafted luxury boutique hotel. It is a showplace for a collection that the Halls, avid modern art collectors, personally approved.
And to truly let the art be the focal point, HKS architects kept the backgrounds, from walls to furnishings, soft and neutral. Where there is no neutral, there is floor-to-ceiling glass brimming with sunlight.
The art was collected in a collaboration with Virginia Shore, former chief curator of the U.S. Department of State’s ‘Arts in Embassies’ Program, and Dallas’ revered art advocate (and HALL Group private curator) Patricia Meadows, for the commissioned pieces, some of which are yet to come.
Collection highlights are evident right at the front door. A vibrant overhead sculpture of ruby-hued tambourines hangs at the hotel entrance and over the seating area, the reds so vivid I asked if it was perhaps a holiday sculpture. It is not. It is Lava Thomas’s “Resistance Reverb: Movements 1 & 2,” a nod to the historical use of tambourines by protestors and advocates during times of activism including the Women’s Marches (and another reason why I loved it).
An ethereal, delicate light installation overhead in the dining room, called Ellie’s after Craig Hall’s late mother, is Spencer Finch’s “Asteroid,” said to visualize Finch’s experience of nature. Ellie’s takes inspiration from Napa Valley, where the Halls own their famous winery, offering coastal dishes and farm-fresh ingredients. Perched on the second floor, with a black grand piano on a platform, Ellie’s Restaurant + Lounge is the property’s main dining facility for breakfast, lunch, dinner with live music and entertainment five nights a week.
A sculpture near the elevator called 6302 Spoons, 2012, by Najla El Zein consisted of metal spoons depicting a nasal-like shape made me want to touch. Spoons!
But wait until you walk into the 2,500 square foot Grand Ballroom (able to accomodate 250 people) for the most vivid, soft floral wall of art by Clare Woods, The Right Kind of Boy by Clare Woods.
There are 28 types of rooms, each inspired by the Dallas Arts District. Designed by HKS Architects with interiors by Bentel & Bentel, the rooms are sophisticated and luxurious with padded leather headboards that extend behind the side tables, soft tones, beverage centers, huge showers, vessel tubs in the larger suites, luxe towels tucked under dual master sinks, Natura Bissé bath products by La Bottega, and lush king beds made up in Frette linens.
Even the keyless entry is unique and artistic.
The guest rooms and hallways feature local photographs that showcase vibrant scenes of the Dallas Arts District, which were compiled by Meadows following the conclusion of the Arts District’s ‘Through the Lens’ photography competition. The images were selected and compiled into a beautiful coffee table book titled “Through the Lens: Dallas Arts District,” from which all sales proceeds will go back towards the Dallas Arts District Foundation’s grants fund, which provides grants to local arts organizations to program throughout the district.
It’s a district bereft of life – without a ticket, there’s no reason to be there. Besides theater traffic, the only activation comes from the occasional outdoor event or wayward food truck from Klyde Warren Park. With hotel guests, all the art, and Ellie’s filling up with chatter and music, well, there is your life!
Crescent Hotels and Resorts is operating the hotel, which has already had its soft opening. HALL wines from St. Helena and Rutherford are already being poured at the reception desk. Crescent is an award winning, nationally recognized, top-3 operator of hotels and resorts operating over 100 hotels, resorts & conference centers in the US and Canada. Crescent also operates a collection of legendary independent lifestyle hotels and resorts under the Latitudes Collection umbrella. The new HALL Arts Hotel is also the only Dallas hotel qualified to be a member of Leading Hotels of the World, a portfolio of luxury hotels focused on pampering guests with amenities and services, “united not by what makes them the same, but the details that make them different.”
A version of this story originally appeared on CandysDirt.com.
Discovery District in downtown Dallas on tap for restaurant beergarden
Spend the night at the infamous Texas Chainsaw Massacre house for $400
Dallas Arts District Foundation awards $25K to a dozen arts nonprofits
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Home > Rise Executive Search & Recruitmen
Rise Executive Search & Recruitmen Launch their New Website
Rise Executive Search & Recruitmen today announced the launch of a new, redesigned version of its website, www.rise-exec.com. Key features of the site include a cleaner and more attractive design, a more engaging user experience with enhanced search and navigation, and the capability to set up job alerts and details searches for candidates via the Rise Executive Platform.
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Tom Jennings
Gomorrah, dir. Matteo Garrone (2008)
28th November 2008 Tom JenningsFilm Review
This Toxic Thing of Ours, by Tom Jennings
Gomorrah, directed by Matteo Garrone
Wrong-footing viewers with the surreal slaughter of sleazebags in a tanning parlour, Italian Mafia drama Gomorrah then immediately switches gear to quasi-documentary war-reportage from the mean streets of Naples satellite suburbs – more the tragic downbeat naturalism of The Wire’s forensic dissection of the drugs trade than middle- or high-ranking criminal (anti-)romances like The Godfather, The Sopranos, Scorcese or Scarface. That the latter inspires a couple of young sociopaths here to enact their gun-toting fantasies, with predictably suicidal results, reinforces the film’s ambition to reflect grass-roots reality while courting international acclaim (e.g. winning the Cannes Festival Grand Prix). Its five storylines intersect to depict the brutal grass-roots degradation and depradations caused by Camorrah clan control of daily life in the most deprived region of Western Europe – selected from a tapestry of thinly-fictionalised accounts in the best-selling novel by journalist Roberto Saviano, now under police guard for meticulously exposing what is known locally as ‘The System’.
From panoramas of the Scampia public housing project in the Caserta wasteland, twitchy paranoid camerawork stalks their decaying decks following the aforementioned outlaw-wannabes, a youngster graduating from shopping-delivery to footsoldier by setting up a customer whose son turncoated to a rival ‘family’, the neighbourhood ‘accountant’ paying remittances to imprisoned members’ kinfolk (the only available ‘welfare’), a talented tailor in a fake high-fashion sweatshop, and a personal assistant to a waste-disposal manager paying landowners to flytip international chemical effluent on their estates. The palpable all-round hopelessness yields the pervasive ruination of moral, social, physical and environmental health, with few hints of agency (the clothes-designer escaping to become a trucker; the PA walking away from the patron his parents were so proud to have wangled him a career with) sugarcoating the rotten-borough desperation – the rot so comprehensively infecting the entire biosphere and lifeworld that the individual heroic villanies of Italian and Hollywood cinemas alike seem utterly irrelevant.
This Toxic Thing of Ours
Vividly conveying the poisonous totality of organised crime in Southern Italy, Gomorrah nevertheless risks resigned detachment (‘Isn’t it awful!?) and invites correspondingly external solutions, tackling neither the phenomenon’s historical development in defensive community cohesion nor its complex intrinsic entanglement with mainstream institutional structures. This is ironic given the recent refuse-collection strike in Naples and the Berlusconi government ordering military intervention in its ‘war on crime’ pretence – whereas the national political parties have intimately colluded with shady business, so that ‘respectable society’ is virtually indistinguishable from the Mafia’s parallel dual-power structures (especially in Sicily, where Christian Democrat communalism dovetailed seamlessly with Cosa Nostra patronage; or the notorious interpenetration of right-wing cabals and corrupt commercial and Vatican banking). As if in recognition of its partiality, the film ends with statistics of the Camorrah’s financial scale (including massive investment in New York’s rebuilding at Ground Zero) – leaving audiences to infer the universal toxicity of government-by-capitalism and the futility of expecting its guardians to act against it.
www.tomjennings.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
for further essays and reviews by Tom Jennings, see also www.variant.org.uk and http://libcom.org
Jar City, dir. Baltasar Kormakur (2008)
Hardboiled and Hardwired, by Tom Jennings
Mobilising the distinctive features of Iceland’s insular history and comparatively recent breakneck modernisation, Baltasar Kormákur’s 101 Reykjavik (2000) cleverly spun indie cinema’s staple of aimless slackers from dysfunctional families adrift in trendy youth culture. Heavily indebted to Pedro Almodóvar’s subversions of social and sexual conformism in contemporary Spain, he has continued to mine the tragic farces of kinship in sundry genres – from The Sea’s (2002) sins-of-the-patriarch saga to stock white-trash grifters in the over-Hollywoodised A Little Trip to Heaven (2005). Now, the debut’s counterpointing of harsh Icelandic geography and the long-suffering travails of its inhabitants returns with a vengeance – both literally and metaphorically – in another crime thriller scenario in Jar City, based on a novel by Arnaldur Indridasun. Here, however, while still brim-full of manipulative melodrama and mordant humour, there is also a recurring poignancy which transcends the director’s earlier comic misanthropy – evoking empathy for otherwise thoroughly unlikeable characters whose misery seems both self-inflicted and pre-ordained.
The film’s sense of stifling structural determination is enhanced by Bergsteinn Björgúlfsson’s alternately majestic aerial pans across the Arctic landscape (with dramatic choral score) and claustrophobic interior cinematography. We descend into this forbidding environment via a grotty urban basement with dour world-weary detective Erlendur (Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson) expressing disgust at a “typical Icelandic murder – messy and pointless”. Lonely lowlife lorry-driver Holberg’s skull was caved in with his own ashtray, but the sole crime-scene clues are a penchant for porn and a decades-old photo of the grave of a child – whose later exhumation shows her brain removed before burial. Meanwhile genetic database administrator Orn (Atli Rafn Sigurdarson) obsessively mourns his young daughter succumbing to the same rare brain condition. These threads dovetail as the investigation implicates Holberg’s old criminal muckers – but one (the country’s “most notorious maniac”) is now in prison and the other found hidden under Holberg’s floor having been killed years earlier. Suspicions of their past sexual violence then also evaporate once a search for rape victims yields only Orn’s mother disclosing hitherto concealed youthful indiscretions. Realising Orn has independently pieced together his real parentage and killed Holberg (as we see in flashback), Erlendur is too late to prevent his suicide which extinguishes the catastrophic bloodline.
Hardboiled and Hardwired
The domestic box-office success of this entertaining and accomplished movie testifies to the strong resonance of thematic concerns which have wider, even universal, relevance. The obvious hook is the Icelandic DNA mapping project run by private company deCODE Genetics Inc, with the usual hype promising medical revelation via Big Pharma’s monopoly over life’s biological substrates – despite its empirical basis being as dangerously shaky as the governmental thirst for scientific population management supposedly necessitating exhaustive identity intrusion. But the title namechecks Reykjavik’s repository of the treasure troves of previous generations of pathologists – endless samples of pickled organs, etc – whose fleshy monstrosity now upgrades to sanitised digital simulacra. As Erlendur has it: “Tragedies, sorrows, and death, all carefully classified in computers. Family stories and stories of individuals. Stories about me and you. You keep the whole secret and can call it up whenever you want. A Jar City for the whole nation”. Whereas the novel was originally called Myrin (‘the marshes’ of Iceland’s lowland) – more sharply capturing the complacent edifices of our time built upon far murkier, unstable foundations; with the brave new hi-tech rhetoric merely a clinical corporate veneer on persistent older fictions which regiment racial purity, moral health and social conduct to suit the reproduction of hierarchy.
The point, of course, is that whatever significance is ascribed to the role of genetics, it’s what people do with such ideas that really matters. And the attitudes of those involved in the plodding investigation here revolve around a comparable jarring of inward- and backward-looking fatalistic conservatism against the demands of an uncomfortable present and uncertain future. So prevailing homespun wisdom about dark deeds misguidedly blames the dire products of ‘tainted blood’ on “incest, rape, or foreigners” – thus attributing to biological imperative various skeletons actually closeted by purely cultural prejudice. Meanwhile dialogue is peppered with the detectives’ banter concerning their own and the suspects’ personalities and tastes, with his assistants’ contrasting narcissisic yuppie pretensions and sympathetic no-nonsense womanly intelligence offsetting Erlendur’s authoritative macho. Yet his response to the wreckage of his private life transcends blind obedience to warrior stereotype – tending an injured thug he’s chucked down the stairs, and caring for the pregnant daughter he’d previously abandoned to promiscuous junkiehood. Ingrained laws – whether of the State or jungle – make humanitarian sense neither of the case at hand nor the routine redemptions of altruism, conviviality and love.
For that purpose, more open minds and hearts are required – precisely the potentials, as it happens, that decisive mutations in hominid evolution unleashed with the retention of infantile simian features. Neoteny – especially in brain morphology, and hence language and learning – relaxed fixed instinctual control allowing greater individual and collective adaptability and creativity. The rest is (human) history, with no programmed, predictable outcome – to the eternal dismay of control-freaks of all stripes. Ironic, then, to witness current regressions to the comforting delusions of innate determinism, as sociobiology – neoliberalism’s ideological handmaiden – fashions just-so fantasies of perfectly calculating psychopaths maximising profitable ‘fitness’. But not as organisms, peskily stubborn as we have proved in insisting that a better world is possible. No, instead we’re animated by swarms of sinister ‘selfish genes’, somehow orchestrating unbelievably intricate biochemical, behavioural, even conceptual patterns sidestepping social, cultural and political agency. And with this wholesale philosophical disavowal to be biotechnologically operationalised in the dissection and correction of chromosomes, you have to ask: Is this the apex of advanced civilised rationality, or proof positivist of the criminal insanity of capitalism?
Somers Town, dir. Shane Meadows (2008)
New Wave Goodbye, by Tom Jennings
East Midlands film-maker Shane Meadows has consistently crafted acutely-observed studies of the effects of capitalism’s structural adjustment in contemporary Britain where it has hit hardest in post-industrial working-class communities – his distinctive theme being male efforts at forging functional social networks to survive drudgery and despair under pressure from both material and psychic infrastructures decaying beyond repair. In scripts co-written with Paul Fraser, sharp wit and spot-on dialogue retain affection for and empathy with realistically conflicted characters while developing an understated but sophisticated understanding of personal pain – contriving hope without either pretension or patronisation. After the micro-financed Small Time (1996) captured aimless slacking and scamming on a Notts sink estate, Twenty Four Seven (1997) focussed on Bob Hoskins’ boxing club keeping kids (and himself) out of trouble, before A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) delved deeper into absent/bad father dialectics spinning teenage friendship and family breakdown. Then the bigger-budget Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002) wove ersatz Western heroics into humble romantic comedy – falling rather naffly flat in the process – before the darker Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) convincingly twisted generic macho conventions with Paddy Considine’s Falklands vet relentlessly avenging his intellectually-challenged kid brother’s victimisation.
Returning to intimate resonance, the partly-autobiographical skinhead story This Is England (2006; discussed in Freedom, 30th June and 14th July 2007) more successfully conveyed modern social and political interconnectivity. Now, before the long-planned King of the Gypsies (about a bare-knuckle prize-fighter from Meadows’ hometown of Uttoxeter), Somers Town visits pastures new – geographically, anyway – exploiting cinema history with renewed confidence to widen the narrative remit. Here, sixteen year-old Tommo (Thomas Turgoose) abandons Nottingham after a miserable childhood. Cheeky likeability doesn’t prevent him from succumbing to the mean streets of London, however, and on his first night after arriving at Kings Cross station he’s beaten-up by local thugs who steal his belongings. Meanwhile introverted Polish adolescent Marek (Piotr Jagiello) spends lonely days photographing the titular square-mile between Euston and St Pancras his brickie dad Marius (Ireneusz Czop) is working overtime to help gentrify – in particular taking countless snaps of Maria (Elisa Lasowski), a French greasy-spoon waitress he has a crush on. The unlikely lads hook up and vie for her attentions in between skivvying for low-rent spiv Graham (Perry Benson), and Marek smuggles Tommo into his room unbeknownst to Marius. The arrangement goes pear-shaped when they drunkenly wreck the flat after Maria suddenly disappears back to Paris, whereupon Graham puts Tommo up and he and Marek fantasise reunion with her courtesy of Eurostar.
New Wave Goodbye
Despite its deceptively light touch, slender running time (71 minutes) and generally life-affirming tone, Somers Town harbours more interesting undercurrents than may be initially apparent. As usual the comic accuracy of the banter is enhanced by improvisation, so that the subtle, engaging performances render somewhat unbelievable relationships satisfying and highlight the many set-piece gags and pratfalls. Moreover, Meadows’ trademark attention to details of place and movement within neglected and transitional spaces offers crucial small measures of freedom otherwise belied by heavy constraints on possible action. But the film transcends even these worthy (if parochial) achievements by deftly incorporating moods, scenarios and developments originally deployed in a whole swathe of distinctive European social-realist codes – the viewer’s long experience of which (irrespective of awareness) prompting specific expectations that can then be played with. Yet such elements are not flaunted with knowing postmodern flash and artifice. Instead they emerge unobtrusively and organically in the characters’ trajectories through happenstance, idle choice or practical necessity – and never distort or mystify a story more salient to the world-weary disoriented DIY cynicism of this rotten new millennium than the over-simplistic clean-cut idealism of the last century’s angry young grammar-school graduates marching into the media.
So, minimal co-ordinates would include postwar Italian neo-realism’s naturalistic portraits of hard labour and even grimmer class and gender norms yielding stoic tragedies of wasted life, shading into 1950s Northern UK kitchen-sink protagonists impotently banging heads against the brick walls of an unjust status quo. And whereas the French New Wave’s iconic Jules et Jim et al shocked elders and betters with rebellious lifestyles, London’s Swinging Sixties dreamt of dissolving all tradition in consumer ecstasy while Polish and Czech experiments with black-and-white expressionism and surrealism were soon crushed by Stalinism. Traces of all these dimensions and levels of cultural rites of passage converge and collide here – referencing universal youthful naïvete morphing into adult disillusionment as well as the hopes and fears of 20th century social democracy’s disappointed children, and perhaps also Shane Meadows’ own directorial maturity in wielding such weighty themes in a whimsically subversive response to Eurostar’s tainted shilling commissioning a cool art-film to feed corporate vanity. As for the prognosis – for the likes of Tommo and Marek, and the rest of us – it may be naïve to predict we won’t get fooled again. But if false promises of consumerism are capitalism’s carrot, its stick is the engineered destruction of lifeworlds – and Somers Town sensibly suspends any resolution even when the die is decisively cast in the real location. Nevertheless the film clearly proffers horizontal rather than upward mobility, and collective as opposed to individual engagement, as the only realistically productive options.
Linha De Passe, directed by Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas (Brazil, 2008)
Nils All, by Tom Jennings
Salles reunites with long-term collaborator Thomas in the low-key social realism of early successes Foreign Land (1996) and Central Station (1999), which skilfully knit together narratives of everyday life in portraying the contemporary history of Brazil from the bottom-up. Linha De Passe is therefore an interesting contrast to both the director’s recent films – Behind The Sun’s (2001) intense magical-realist village vendetta, the fluffy tourist portrayal of young Che in Motorcycle Diaries (2004), and the naff Japanese ghost-story remake Dark Water (2005) – as well as lurid contemporary stylisations of ‘favela chic’ in City of God (Fernando Meirelles, 2002), City of Men (Paolo Morelli, 2007), and Elite Squad (Jose Padilha, 2008). The new release combines true-life scenarios, sophisticated construction, inspired cinematography and editing, and sympathetic casting and direction to avoid the overblown grandiosity and simplistic social stasis of these other films, while exploring individuality and collectivity via twin metaphors of family and football to illuminate with great humility social complexity and potential. Moreover the title has several ‘beautiful game’ connotations – from ‘keepy-uppy’ and developing teamwork to a wider philosophy of transcendence – but a resolute refusal of ‘Roy of the Rovers’ cliches make this, to my mind, the best football film ever.
Nils All
Single-matriarch cleaner Cleuza (a majestic Sandra Corveloni, best actress winner at Cannes) is pregnant by a fifth different absent father after another escape into drunken delirious fandom. She struggles to hold together four sons in a decrepit concrete shanty in Sao Paolo: Dario’s neighbourhood ball-playing genius, at eighteen too old to break into the minor leagues; Dinis’ womanising motorcycle courier, already with a child he can’t support, turns to violent car-crime; Dinho’s petrol-pump jockey looks to evangelical religion; and Reginaldo, the youngest, truants on local buses searching for his Black father. The petty filial conflicts and fierce loyalty, oscillating between selfishness, spite and big-heartedness, of these young working-class men with few prospects beyond endless drudgery – but still varying measures of agency – are seamlessly interwoven so as to deny neither crushing frustration nor the stubborn intelligence, resourcefulness and determination of lower-class life. A homage to the Italian neorealist classic Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960), Linha De Passe thus trumps its negativity – though the fairytale denouement of Dario getting a break and scoring the winning goal is hedged with cautionary suspicion that the pervasive corruption of the sport’s institutions will smother him. Meanwhile Cleuza gives birth screaming, Dinis decides he can’t hack wrecking people’s lives, Dinho assaults his boss, and diminutive Reginaldo drives away a bus in search of past, present and future …
The 3rd World, by Immortal Technique
28th November 2008 Tom JenningsMusic Review
Globalising Ghettocentricity by Tom Jennings
Harlem-raised after his family fled Peruvian civil war, Immortal Technique’s misspent youth included incarceration for violent offences, wherein he honed his hip-hop flow before redirecting rage onto rivals, winning open-mic contests across New York and further afield. So far, so classic ‘boy from the ’hood done good’ – except for the parallel awakening of revolutionary class-consciousness translated into the most explicitly political rap recordings yet. From the get-go favouring precarious autonomy over commercial straitjackets – McJobs paying for studio time, handling distribution personally – Revolutionary, Vol. 1 (2001) heralded his agenda in the ‘Poverty of Philosophy’:
“My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others … As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we’ll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient … I have more in common with most working and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it’s sinking, while these bougie motherfuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we’re all in, we’re gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole … You cannot change the past but you can make the future …”
The debut’s burgeoning buzz prompted distro collaboration with independent labels for 2003’s Revolutionary, Vol. 2. Also far exceeding sales expectations, this was swiftly followed by Viper Records’ establishment to regain self-control. Apart from legendary single ‘Bin Laden’ (with refrain: “Bush knocked down the towers …”), Immortal Technique concentrated on consolidating talent like producer Southpaw and MC Akir, whose Legacy is the best hip-hop album in years.* At long last, then, a new album – The 3rd World, produced in mixtape fashion by Green Lantern (formerly house DJ for Eminem’s Shady Records) – continues Tech’s maturation, adding contemporary hip-hop styles to raucous minimalism. His vocals too have greater texture and engaging thoughtfulness than prior default tenors juggling psychotically omnipotent bragging and sneering hectoring when dropping political science. Both doubtless suit MC-battling but can become soporifically monotonous – militating against appreciating his prodigious lyrical dexterity astutely condensing contrasting levels of analysis into each theme with ferocious wit and insurrectionary wisdom.
The 3rd World’s concept relates “the streets here in the US to those around the world”. Moreover, in terms of cultural production, “the struggles of developing countries … are mirrored within the rap industry. In the same way that First World superpowers have continuously exploited the Third World for its natural resources, land, labor and industry, the major label superpowers have done the same” (Immortal Technique, www.viperrecords.com). So the into, ‘Death March’, emphasises that “We are now in a state of guerrilla warfare … through the streets of your psychology”. And if the equation of commercial rap to chattel slavery stretches credulity, the multiple analogy in ‘Harlem Renaissance’ powerfully links US urban political-economics to world-system wars and cultural recuperations past and present:
“Harlem was once was red-light district-rated / Designated ghetto like the yellow star of David … / Until after the invasion of gentrification / Eminent domain, intimidation – that’s not negotiation … / Ivy league real estate firms are corrupt / They lay siege to your castle like the wars in Europe / They treat street vendors like criminal riff-raff / while politicians get the corporate kickback …
When I speak about Harlem I speak to the world / The little Afghan boy and the Bosnian girl / The African in Sudan, the people of Kurdistan / The third world American, indigenous man / Palestinians, Washington Heights Dominicans / Displaced New Orleans citizens / Beach-front Brazilians, favelas that you living in / The ’hood is prime real estate, they want back in again …
I didn’t write this to talk shit, I say it because / Some of ya’ll forgot what the Harlem Renaissance was / We had revolution, music, and artisans / But the movement was still fucked up like Parkinson’s / ’Cause while we were giving birth to the culture we love / Prejudice kept our own people out of the club / Only coloured celebrities in the party / And left us a legacy of false superiority / W.E.B. DuBois versus Marcus Garvey / And we ended up selling out to everybody / The Dutch Schultzes and the John Gottis / Banksters, modern day gangsters, immobilari … / Harlem Renaissance, a revolution betrayed / Modern day slaves thinking that the ghetto is saved / So they start deporting people off the property / Ethnically cleansing the ’hood economically / They want to kill the real Harlem Renaissance / Trying to put the virgin Mary through an early menopause / The saviour is a metaphor for how we set it off / Guerrilla war against the lease-owning predators”.
Other tracks and guest appearances flesh out the grass-roots revolutionary stance with more depth than even Paris, The Coup and Dead Prez can manage – from the Spanish-language ‘Golpe De Estado’ (=Smash the State) through rabble-rousing anthems full of insight and intelligence. Meanwhile, several reflective cuts leave self-righteous preachiness decisively behind, including ‘Mistakes’ pondering wrong turns taken: “Some people learn from mistakes and don’t repeat them / Others try to block the memories and just delete them / But I keep them as a reminder they not killing me / And I thank God for teaching me humility / Son, remember when you fight to be free / To see things how they are, and not how you’d like ’em to be / ’Cause even when the world is falling on top of me / Pessimism is an emotion, not a philosophy / Knowing what’s wrong, doesn’t imply that you right / And it’s another when you suffer, to apply it in life”. So, even as a stopgap while The Middle Passage and Revolutionary, Vol. 3 incubate, this superb album has a compelling sound and vision all its own.
* see my review of recent radical rap in ‘Rebel Poets Reloaded’, Variant 30, 2007 (www.variant.org.uk).
The 3rd World is available on import, from Amazon or, preferably, direct from Viper.
for further reviews and essays by Tom Jennings, see also www.variant.org.uk and http://libcom.org
Gone, Baby, Gone, by Dennis Lehane (1998); dir. Ben Affleck (2007)
Public Service Denouncement, by Tom Jennings
edited version published in Variant, No. 33, October 2008
In ‘CSI: The Big Sleazy’ (Variant, No. 31), I discussed The Tin Roof Blowdown, James Lee Burke’s 2007 crime novel set in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina, in terms of the anger and sadness of the author at the abject failure of government institutions to respond adequately to the scale of that disaster. In the narrative, Burke’s surrogate is Dave Robicheaux – an ageing Louisiana police detective, Vietnam veteran and recovering alcoholic drafted in to bolster the restoration of law and order in the flooded city – whose progressive social conscience and keen class- and race-consciousness contrast with his proclivity towards the violent resolution of conflict and frustration. In effect, this character’s obsession with his individual weaknesses – expressed, for example, in nostalgia for a mythic past and a chivalric ideal of personal integrity that cannot tolerate or withstand the complexities of contemporary society – leads him to continually recreate the circumstances which cause him such pain in his life. Furthermore he projects these same dynamics onto his perceptions of the world around him, which are thus reflected in his professional conduct, personal relationships and impact on the lives of others. I concluded that analogous patterns of self-defeating, cyclical fantasies circulate culturally and politically too; an angle which helps to illuminate the ways Burke tries to weave larger phenomena into the unfolding of his scenarios. Operating within the detective mystery genre then allows the writer to dramatise these sorts of contradictions, linking macro- and micro-levels in a particularly powerful and compelling way.
Meanwhile crime fiction has enjoyed something of a renaissance since the 1980s – aspiring to the status of serious literature as well as pulp populism, and embracing ambitions to critical social commentary from pungent perspectives outside of and in opposition to mainstream complacency. Many younger writers were inspired by neo-noir pioneers like Burke, Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy, who built on the genre’s founding characteristics pitting independent ‘working stiffs’ and ‘little guys’ against the corporate corruption of the monstrous modern urban machine. However, these authors’ somewhat old-fashioned, backward-looking sensibilities – partly, no doubt, due to their generational positioning – result in a pessimistic, ultimately even conservative, outlook concerning prospects for change. Beyond, that is, the temporary victories of cynically lovable rogues unmasking the amoral excesses of the rich and powerful – but which promise no enduring impact, either on the overarching societal structures and conditions which foster and shelter large-scale wrongdoing, or on the range of strategies employing variations of brutal and cunning self-seeking machismo shared by heroes and villains alike. These dispiriting trends are reinforced in the most popular latter-day descendants of private eyes in visualisations of urban chaos and crime at the cinema, where earlier shades of grey in classic film noir had mutated by the 1990s into lurid stylisation and the glamourisation of cartoonish violence – such as in films by John Dahl and Quentin Tarantino – with social and political context or nuance obliterated by technicolour nihilism and comic-book characterisation.
But there is another trajectory in recent noir fiction which starts from the empirically obvious proposition that the suffering associated with criminal violence falls disproportionately and routinely on the poor. Lower-class strata may be stigmatised and marginalised in terms of media portrayal as well as in achieving American dreams, yet constitute the bulk of the population – so that a point of view properly rooted within their milieux and lifeworlds may more accurately encapsulate the contours of present social ills. Alongside authors such as Walter Mosley and Michael Connelly (Los Angeles), Andrew Vachss and Richard Price (New York), and George Pelecanos (Washington DC), a prime exponent of this new wave is Dennis Lehane, whose Boston-based stories deal with urban impoverishment, gentrification, racism, organised crime and political and institutional corruption in such a way as to meditate on how ordinary people collectively understand and negotiate extremes of adversity – preferring vernacular verisimilitude in geographical and temporal specificity to the quirkily baroque, drifting grifting misfits elsewhere. Since this writer attracted widespread attention with Clint Eastwood’s multiple Oscar-winning 2003 version of Mystic River (first published in 2001), several more of his books are now the source material for big-budget films whose producers expect equally impressive worldwide audiences. The next adaptation to reach the screen and fulfil the projection was Gone, Baby, Gone (directed by Ben Affleck, 2007; originally published in 1998), providing a convenient opportunity to evaluate any advances made by this revisionist hardboiled realism.
In Loco Parentis
Based on the fourth book in Lehane’s acclaimed Kenzie & Gennaro series, Gone, Baby, Gone’s UK theatrical release was delayed in sensitivity to the Madeleine McCann case – an association no doubt boosting box-office despite the two child abduction scenarios bearing scant resemblance. The salacious jostling of news-team vultures would be one common denominator – here descending on the depressed environs of Dorchester, South Boston, Massachussetts. Their typically hysterical saturation coverage highlights single-mother Helene McCready (a magnificent Amy Ryan) lamenting her disappeared four-year-old Amanda, shepherded by steely-eyed police with neighbours and family rallying supportively even in a prevailing mood of ominous pessimism. First-time director Ben Affleck (co-scriptwriter with Aaron Stockard) as well as the story’s creator also hail from these mean streets, while thirty-something protagonist PIs Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) have lived there all their lives. Passionate attachment to the blue-collar ’hood is reflected in the latters’ preoccupations (e.g. Kenzie: “Things you can’t choose … make you who you are”), and in the camera’s regular carefully naturalistic pans around inner-city blight, alighting on variously battered and beleaguered, resigned and/or residually energetic real residents – many of whom are also cast in supporting roles and minor caricatures complementing consistently fine acting by star-turns.
Despite high-minded pronouncements by Crimes Against Children Unit cop supremo Captain Jack Doyle – who years ago lost his own child to kidnappers – and ace detectives Remy Bressant and Nick Poole being assigned to the case (Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris and John Ashton respectively lending grizzled gravitas to proceedings), official inquiries quickly falter. Specialist skip-tracers hunting down debtors and errant spouses, the initially reluctant Kenzie and Gennaro are beseeched by Amanda’s aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and uncle Lionel (Titus Welliver) to join the investigation. After putting the word out on the street, local confidence in their discretion immediately yields leads – first, a recently-paroled child-molester may be in the area; then, the potential involvement of notorious gangster kingpin Cheese Olamon (Edi Gathegi) and missing drugs-money. Helene’s own substance-abuse, chaotic self-centred behaviour and neglectful parenting compound suspicious unreliability, and her elusive boyfriend Skinny-Ray Likanski’s (Sean Malone) sudden violent execution clinches the link. No longer patronised by the police for naïve amateurism, the investigators uncover the cash and Doyle brokers a highly unorthodox exchange for Amanda at a remote flooded quarry. Unfortunately the botched switch leaves Cheese shot dead, and she’s believed drowned when a favourite doll is found floating in the treacherous waters. Doyle is sacked for culpable incompetence and retires in disgrace to the sticks; the little girl’s funeral is held; crime-and-punishment pundits seek new shock-horrors; and everyone sees tragic closure achieved.
Except for Kenzie, who still smells a rat – but a subsequent spiralling descent into the violent degradations of child abuse and addiction eventually reveals depths of duplicity at all levels even he’d never dreamed (surely also wrongfooting most viewers – so anyone not wanting the suspense ruined should not read on). When another local child disappears, Kenzie’s old schoolfriend, now drug dealer, Bubba Rogowski (Boston rapper Slaine) confirms that cocaine addicts Leon and Roberta Trett (Mark Margolis and Trudi Goodman) are sheltering paedophile Corwin Earle (Matthew Maher). Not waiting for backup, Kenzie, Bressant and Poole’s shootout with the Tretts leaves the latter three dead, whereupon Kenzie finds the missing boy already murdered and kills Earle in cold blood. Soon afterwards, uniformed cop Devin (Michael Kenneth Williams) – another mate from back in the day – provides vital corroboration of the suspicions Kenzie has developed about Bressant who, disguised as a stick-up artist, desperately threatens to assassinate Kenzie and Titus to seal their silence. But a trigger-happy bartender gets him first and Titus confesses their collaboration in Amanda’s disappearance. Putting it all together, Kenzie and Gennaro travel upstate and discover Amanda playing happily with Doyle’s wife. However, refusing Gennaro’s ultimatum to leave the child where she’ll have a chance of a decent life, Kenzie reports the crime and Doyle is arrested. When the dust has settled, Kenzie visits the reunited mother and daughter. He finds Helene apparently cleaned-up, but preparing for a new date (courtesy of the local celebrity status afforded her by the media) and obligingly babysits, considering the situation thoughtfully as Amanda gazes mutely at the television …
These plot twists in the last part of the film certainly serve to undermine our assumptions as cultivated so far – and Kenzie and Gennaro’s too, leaving them disagreeing over a final dilemma so fundamental as to terminate their professional and romantic relationship. Nevertheless, ultimate judgements and justifications concerning rights, wrongs and likely consequences remain suspended. Not only are heroic rescue, reassuring redemption, and cautionary tragedy refused, but the conservative grounds upon which viewers might expect such outcomes – from banal Hollywood crime-action pulp to the parallel (but no less fantasy-ridden) morbid tabloid shock-horror over current affairs – are comprehensively undercut. Such disquieting limbo was obviously deliberate, and scriptwriting decisions altering and cutting the source novel wholesale pass the buck to us even more starkly. But, when the crunch comes, the alternative courses of action are already so thoroughly tainted by association with webs of corruption, collusion, dishonesty and degeneracy that imagining integrity in any pat answer is out of the question. The story’s unusual strength, then, is to insist that apparently straightforward moral choices, posing isolated individual instances in simplistic good-versus-evil binaries, don’t stand scrutiny once their complex, ambivalent contexts and histories are laid bare – ‘doing the right’ thing thus depending on what inevitably has to be ignored, assimilated, or denied.
The critical consensus concerning Gone, Baby, Gone, however, has been that the potential force of any such sophisticated philosophy is scuppered by the denouement’s implausibility – deeming it unbelievable that the entire saga should constitute a conspiracy choreographed by Doyle in connivance with his lieutenants all the way down to Helene’s disapproving relatives; with varying material, malicious and purportedly altruistic interests and self-righteousnesses interweaving in spiriting the lass to ‘safety’ while her mam drank in the bar. The ensuing host of casualties, whether dead or bereft – unmourned criminals, Bressant and Poole, sundry written-off lower-class dupes – are then blithely sacrificed, pawns for the patriarch’s peace of mind on relinquishing burdensome responsibility. But what really galls, one suspects – for those of conventional bent – is that out the window also go all pretensions of institutional credibility. Crucially, the scheme’s success hinged on acceptance at face value of the normal scripts, cliches and homilies of governance, public service and basic decency among higher- and lower-order model citizens obeying the law along with those charged with upholding it. Whereas not only does the arrogance of power lead the rogue detectives to assume they can get away with their scam, but we are invited to tacitly underwrite their belief that their actions are in the best interests of the child – which was supposed to be the official remit all along.
Now, this narrative device – of illegal activity by law-enforcement personnel seeing no other way to fulfil their sworn duty – can be interpreted not as a rare unfortunate exception, but rather a particularly vicious and vivid expression of business as usual. Such might be the response, for example, of those on the habitual sharp end of prejudicial insult, harassment and stitch-up from police officers and, for that matter, officialdom in general. In which case an overarching metaphor comes into focus – the police force standing for the entire institutional paraphernalia of government, including its purportedly benevolent arms – whose main function is to keep the lid on all the cans of worms threatening polite society. From this jaundiced perspective, at least, Gone, Baby, Gone’s plot may not seem outrageous at all, resonating far beyond its particular setting to the War on Welfare everywhere. But in a South Boston rapidly decaying beyond reasonable hopes of salvation, Kenzie and Gennaro are cast as representative of a grass-roots, working-class sensibility, yet without the luxury of cynical fatalism if they are to nail the truth and do their job. And although the film loses the bulk of Lehane’s meticulous dialogue conveying the full convincing texture of conflicting attitudes in action, viewers are given several hints among the blood-red herrings that the protection of childhood innocence is a (perhaps the) primal pretext for other, guiltier, agendas.
So, encouraged to perceive Helene harshly through circumstantial implication, explicit condemnation, and the harsh glare of unforgiving attention, we never glimpse direct evidence of her actual everyday relationship with her daughter. We are expected to assume the worst. Kenzie, though, sees genuine grief (as opposed to self-pity) beneath her white-trash bravado – which inclines him to accept the mission – while Gennaro embraces advocacy for Amanda herself, regardless of the concerns of the adults. These combined criteria, without which the case would have gone decisively cold, specifically rebut any stereotypical dismissal of Helene. Contrariwise, Doyle’s parental fitness is unchallenged, despite his known trauma and willingness to wreck lives to heal it. Who is the child, to him, beyond a substitute salving private pain? Do his influence and affluence – displaced from urban hell to rustic idyll – guarantee saintly credentials in arrogating to himself godlike choice? Then shouldn’t all the suffering children be saved from the agony of the ghetto and the evils impoverishment produces? Even if the manner of its accomplishment adds to the oppression and injustice nourishing desperation in the first place, simultaneously precluding youthful renewal? While, irrespective of increments of positivity which might (arguably) transpire, serving the selfish desires and fantasies of those in positions to exploit the system to advantage? … Anything for a happy ending?
No. The relentless message from media and politicians is to abandon the irredeemable poor, demonising any deviation from passively respectable defeatism. The innocent purity to be protected here, then, is the lingering quasi-religious illusion that things might turn out right by trusting the benevolence of those in charge and believing their rationalisations. Whereas, surely, if a single soul spared is the best to hope for, this betrays an utmost cynicism – the complete collapse of legitimacy of the status quo to match its guardians’ insincerity. But Kenzie won’t give up on his people (or himself), following simple ethics, fulfilling his promise – returning Amanda to her mother – when others see Greater Good accepting thoroughgoing corruption in a broken society. Even he suspects he chose wrong, in the final scene mournfully contemplating prospects, Helene again out on the razzle. Yet with no individual correct solution to a collective quandary, maintaining honesty, integrity and compassion and nourishing them around you may represent a pragmatic faith preferable to fairytale wish-fulfilment making token exceptions to busted-flush rules. Credit is due to Gone, Baby, Gone’s makers for going against the grain to render such thorny issues even conceivable on mainstream screens.
To Protect and Serve
While acknowledging that it was no mean feat to adapt over five-hundred pages of original novel down to a script five-times shorter – yet still managing to effectively convey the spirit and overall ambivalence that the author intended – it is worth looking more closely at the heavy culling involved in the process of visualising Dennis Lehane’s scrupulously character- and dialogue-driven prose. In his writing, responses to, evaluations of, and wider ramifications pertaining to even the most harrowing experiences are contrived to flow naturally from the culturally and emotionally realistic perspectives of his protagonists and their idiosyncrasies – rather than the arbitrary manipulation to serve externally-imposed stock motivations that Hollywood is notorious for. Most obviously in this respect, the blockbusting set-piece action scenes and the extremes of violence portrayed sit awkwardly with the unsentimentally direct depictions elsewhere of mundane everyday poverty and its smaller-scale, if no less corrosive, aggressions and menaces. In fact Lehane admits to imagining the kinetic, balletic characteristics of such sequences according to cinematic iconography, and the film treatment certainly obliges – although with a consistent concentration on the visceral and psychological suffering incurred, evoking horror rather than cartoon titillation. Nonetheless the slick revelation and negotiation of their ugly depths cannot conceal the fact that the pivotal confrontation at the quarry and storming of the paedophile’s den, for example, are side issues both in terms of the specific narrative logic as well as the more abstract themes being developed.
True, there is a balanced, gradual progression of heightening danger, more immediate physical threat and raised stakes the further and deeper into the mire Kenzie and Gennaro stumble. But in the book’s trajectory, although each blow dealt, injury sustained, and narrow escape accomplished wreaks indelible damage on bodies and psyches that is never trivialised, the objective qualities of these deadly situations are overshadowed by the shared struggle to interpret their significance in the light of limited, provisional understanding. So, not surprisingly, the very real evils of organised crime and the undoubted prevalence of child sexual abuse were considered prime candidates to account for Amanda’s abduction. As favoured moral panics they also feature centrally in prevailing discourses justifying the whole panoply of legal powers whereby the state protects society via monitoring and intrusion. Whereas here these are manifestly unfit for purpose, dysfunctioning only as pretext and smokescreen, so that any regressive catharctic release after the usual suspects are disposed of dissipates rapidly as no payoff accrues. With the child still missing, only obstinate dissatisfaction with received wisdom, relentlessly seeking sense, eventually makes the difference. And this perverse persistence feeds on a constant interplay of repartee, interplay and synergy between Kenzie and Gennaro mulling over matters arising within their network of close friends, colleagues and acquaintances among criminals, cops and ordinary folk – an immersion which is precisely what the film’s condensation abandons.
A world in flux to be deciphered by the hard graft of socially-situated knowledge instead hard-boils down to showcase showdowns in a static fantasy universe of heroic fallen angels and archetypal demons puppet-mastered by unseen fiendish hands – resembling all those tiresomely mechanical detective thriller formats onscreen and in the genre literature, which pander to disgusted fascination at the depths of human depravity while working overdrive to reassure us of our distance from it. But Lehane’s version flirts with these conventions only to flout and transcend them, and Kenzie is no lone crusader for justice – despite the screenplay’s best efforts. Most importantly, Gennaro’s role is attenuated to the extent that she appears no more than a feminine accessory representing empathy, concern and support counterpointing Kenzie’s masculine detachment and objectivity – whereas practically the opposite is the case in the book, where he is intuitive and she more practical and organised, a better planner and indeed a better shot (she actually shoots Bressant, and saves Kenzie’s bacon much more often than vice versa throughout the series). As a partnership of rough equals, their conflictual relationship is central to the investigation’s progress, and their contrasting perspectives on relationships and family arising from their own wretched childhoods have left them both deeply flawed and of questionable moral stature in various different respects. Their estrangement at the end then reflects the deeply personal resonances of the situation rather than dogma – and even this is accommodated in the subsequent instalment, Prayers For Rain (1999), by which time each sees the merits of the other’s position.
Moreover Kenzie, Gennaro, Rogowski, and Cheese, along with other excised characters, were all childhood friends, schoolmates or neighbours with shared histories straddling all sides of the law. Bubba Rogowski is the couple’s most steadfast friend and protector, not just an old acquaintance – a borderline-psychotic weapons-dealer and feared enforcer with extensive Mob connections rather than a local pusher. Devin (and his partner Oscar) are longstanding close friends too, and Homicide detectives (not patrolmen) into the bargain. They have been kept in the loop and in fact make the decision to arrest Doyle, who had not lost his own child at all; while Bressant was ex-Vice squad (where the rogue activities originated) and married to a former prostitute. Unable to have biological children or adopt legally, they had also stolen a child – with strong hints of an established pattern involving many parents deemed deserving or unfit. Thus, among countless elements lost from the plot, such details indicate that, for Lehane, the function of Kenzie and Gennaro’s familiarity with their neighbourhood wasn’t simply getting information from people who don’t trust the authorities. More ambitiously, it was to develop all of the themes of the story from the bottom-up, within a working-class community split along all manner of fault-lines, where no one’s hands are clean or consciences clear – our heroes being just as implicated in the degeneracy that they encounter and sometimes initiate as are the residents saturated with it, the police powerless to control it, and the traditional villains of the piece seeking to profit.
Despite Ben Affleck’s laudable effort to translate the substance of its original subtlety and force into screen entertainment, then, Gone, Baby, Gone’s passage from the written word loses, to a significant extent, its characters’ embedding in a collective search for meaning in relation to self, family and class in a concrete historical setting. Here, the worldviews of those who grew up poor in the 1970s and 1980s, when the economic, political and geographical profile of urban America twisted so drastically, inevitably involve particular inflections of disillusionment with grand narratives of democracy and freedom and broken promises of upward mobility and social inclusion. The moral landscapes, intellectual priorities, and practical choices of those of the younger generations who still pursue a better life without succumbing to the seductions of materialistic misanthropy can hardly be expected to show patience with the middle-class liberal pieties that have failed them so miserably. Instead they fall back on their own resources – such as they are – and manage in this story to penetrate opaque veils of deception and delusion, misdirection and malice. In the process the fascistic overtones are exposed of a contemporary cultural eugenics foisted on the weak by the strong in the name of a humanistic duty of care which no alternative means can be found to fulfil. Yet the critics deem this preposterous to the point of mendacity – so that one wonders which world they inhabit.
Without in any way minimising the dreadful anguish precipitated by a lost child, Lehane cultivates those associations of this iconic image which loom largest in today’s deprived neighbourhoods – not least the shattered aspirations of parents for their offspring and the vain hopes of a bright future among the youth themselves. The careful accretion of biographical detail and the backstories of the protagonists situate these problematics squarely within their lived experience, modulating their ethics and conduct, so that they are fully part of a local scene which, on the other hand, the filmmakers can only objectify in sweeping anthropological survey. Here, Casey Affleck’s self-effacing lead performance at least captures the author’s intention to sidestep the tortured existential solipsism of the traditional private dick (along with his femme fatale’s Oedipal supplement) as the driver of the narrative arc – even if the central role of Kenzie’s extended elective family is also sadly sidelined in the filmic logic. But in fact plot structures are secondary in most Lehane novels, being tailored to wider organising metaphors and signifying chains connecting working-class adjustment to changing conditions – especially in A Drink Before The War (1994) treating racism, gang warfare, political corruption and child abuse and Darkness, Take My Hand (1996) with serial killers given succour by family, neighbourhood, criminal and municipal complicity, as well as in Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River.
However, while Eastwood’s cinema version of the latter retains the quasi-Shakespearean symmetry of three characters representing disastrous facets of masculinity, the emphasis was shifted entirely by downgrading its grounding in the mutual deterioration of their socio-economic and psychological wellbeing – a comparable truncation to that observed with Gone, Baby Gone. So it seems that mainstream US media remain unwilling or unable to countenance stories which properly respect the real misery neoliberal barbarism produces at home among its surplus populations, but also hint at the potential for “genuine solidarity and the pursuit of shared purpose in circumstances in which business as usual is decisively threatened” (see my ‘Rose Coloured Spectacles’, in Variant, No. 27). Whereas the opportunity to follow such lines of flight is increasingly exploited in new-school American crime writing, on screen the balance consistently tilts towards old-school staples of vicious impasse and hopeless tragedy – from, for example, Spike Lee’s 1995 adaptation of Richard Price’s Clockers (1992) through to HBO’s much-heralded television soap opera The Wire, chronicling the small-time drug trade and its policing in Baltimore, Ohio (featuring scripts by Price, Pelecanos and Lehane, among others). Conversely, one cinematic exception to this recalcitrant rule is Ray Lawrence’s remarkable Jindabyne (Australia, 2006). Here an attack on a child again radiates heart-wrenchingly throughout a community, with the murder whodunnit also irrelevant, yet the film closes optimistically as ordinary townsfolk mobilise their sorrowful social fabric towards fellow-feeling and a fresh start (see my review for Freedom magazine, available at http://libcom.org). In other words, it can be done – in the imagination as in real life – however much we are encouraged to disbelieve it.
Standard Operating Procedure, dir. Errol Morris (2008)
Telling Tales of Torture, by Tom Jennings
Iraq, 2003. Thousands of fleeing civilians and comparable numbers rounded up on extremely tenuous suspicion of involvement in the full-scale insurgency cower at its epicentre in Abu Ghraib prison between Baghdad and Fallujah under constant mortar attack and with guards outnumbered several hundreds to one. Ranking Guantanamo veterans and military, CIA and privately-contracted interrogators parachute in to extract information by any means necessary, backed by the Commander-in-Chief and his White House cronies with policies trashing the Geneva Convention. A contingent of young army grunts fresh to this hellhole witness the routine humiliation, torture and murder of detainees. Some complain, but are told it’s their professional and moral duty as warriors for liberty, and with varying degrees of diligence and enthusiasm comply with orders to ‘soften up’ prisoners using ‘standard operating procedures’ devised by superiors. Still partially disbelieving, many shoot cameraphone stills and videos of the planned and sanctioned insanity. These then leak into the public domain, and the rest is history – which director Errol Morris proceeds to comprehensively dissect in his new cinema documentary.
Standard Operating Procedure centres around spoken testimony from five of the seven low-ranking ‘bad apples’ scapegoated by subsequent inquiries. Sergeant Charles Graner and Ivan Frederick – ringleaders choreographing the sexualised humiliation rituals – were still in jail, but Javal Davis, Sabrina Harman (notoriously smiling thumbs-up over a murdered ‘ghost’ detainee unlisted in prison records), Lynndie England (with hooded prisoner on leash), Megan Ambuhl (now married to Graner; supervising with Harman and England the ‘human pyramid’ of naked Iraqi men) and Roman Krol feature, as do several other former military police alongside their Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski (now demoted to colonel) and the Criminal Investigation Division’s Brent Pack (who assisted the prosecutors) [1]. The interviews – filmed using Morris’ famed Interrotron, whereby interviewees answer straight to camera while actually seeing the questioner – and the gigantised iconic snapshots and video clips (some never seen before in mainstream media) are supplemented by staged ‘illustrations’ of the events described, with ominously-lit widescreen cinematography and melodramatic score reconfiguring Abu Ghraib’s bedlam as sinister gothic otherworld.
The film’s rendering of human beings in an inhuman situation rather than emblems of evildoing erodes stereotypes of underclass psychopaths relishing malevolence, despite rationalisations of unconscionable cruelty characterised by ambivalence, alienation and disgust at themselves, colleagues, and military and government hierarchies as well as towards purported enemies. Facing uncertain prospects for physical and career survival, the pathetic patriotic training-camp pep-talk of ‘noble causes’ couldn’t completely erase their intelligence and sensitivity or fully underwrite the twisted sadism required of them. And certainly neither could it equip them to comprehend their later demonisation without hefty doses of the bitter fatalistic cynicism and resentful detachment radiating from them now. So letters home from Sabrina Harman to her partner support her assertion that, whereas she saw no option but to follow orders, the photographs were intended as proof of what occurred. Naturally she didn’t imagine them scuppering an otherwise successful cover-up orchestrated by her top-brass – explicitly commanding all relevant visual evidence destroyed once the shit hit the fan – or that she would end up in the dock when those who actually tortured, maimed and killed detainees were never even considered targets of justice. In that sense, then, the whitewash worked.
Telling Tales of Torture
Thus far may have sufficed for your bog-standard crusading investigator exposing the stitch-up of relatively defenceless underlings as primary villains of the piece – their bosses all the way to the top wriggling and squirming behind pseudo-legalistic sophistry while pinning medals on each other. But ex-private eye Morris always digs deeper to deconstruct the framing of images (as well as of people) and their deployment in media and informational management to advance institutional interests – The Thin Blue Line (1988) famously saving the life of a prisoner on Death Row, and the Oscar-winning The Fog Of War (2003) laying bare the delusional arrogance of the powerful in the person of Robert McNamara (one of the US government architects of the Vietnam War). Here the material leads in many fascinating directions – most only hinted at, such as the much-vaunted prominence of women in the US armed forces unraveling into archetypal virgins (e.g. Jessica Lynch subjected to faked ‘rescue’ by US Special Forces), witches (Karpinski as ‘bad mother’) and whores (Harman et al fucking with Iraqi men’s heads); yet all, of course, puppet-mastered by patriarchs large and/or small-minded.
In interviews Morris emphasises that ‘The Photographs Actually Hide Things From Us’ [2] and a rare achievement of his film is showing this awareness emerging naturally among the MP patsies, irrespective of philosophically sophisticated ruminations on virtual hyperreality and spectacle [3]. To Ambuhl, “The pictures only show you a fraction of a second. You don’t see forward, you don’t see behind, you don’t see outside the frame”; Harman concludes “The military is nothing but lies. I took these photos to show what the military’s really really like”; and England shrugs, “It’s drama, it’s life” – cementing the theme of fictionalisation at all levels. The questioning thus extends beyond why these particular images arose, survived and proliferated, to not only their editing and incorporation into discourses concerning the war but, most crucially, what focusing on them as the ‘truth’ of the matter therefore facilitated being excluded from consideration. More conventionally worthy efforts sometimes tackle such complexity – such as the Tate Modern media art exhibition 9 Scripts from a Nation At War [4], which presents the thoughts of various protagonists and observers with different positions, perspectives and prevailing understandings of the Iraq conflict. But the visceral impact of Standard Operating Procedure undermines any simplistic or transparent relationship between information and scientific ‘reality’, exposing the manner of its manipulation in wider structures of contemporary power.
1. The book version, Standard Operating Procedure: A War Story by Philip Gourevitch & Errol Morris (Picador, 2008), integrates the participant accounts of the operation of Abu Ghraib’s torture regime gathered in research for the film.
2. see, for example, www.greencine.com/central/morrissop for a comprehensive discussion.
3. An exhaustive analysis of Sabrina Harman and the Cheshire Cat McGuffin of‘that’ smile can be found in Morris’ New York Times blog (‘The Most Curious Thing’ at http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/).
4. June-August 2008; see Imogen O’Rorke’s review, ‘Flipping the Script’ at www.metamute.org.
Happy-Go-Lucky, dir. Mike Leigh (2008)
19th August 2008 Tom JenningsGeneral
Prozac Attitude. Film review by Tom Jennings, published in Freedom, Vol. 69, No. 14, August 2008.
Prozac Attitude, by Tom Jennings
Belying his miserabilist reputation, Mike Leigh’s new film Happy-Go-Lucky celebrates incorrigible optimism – but with the usual twists, finds Tom Jennings
After virtually unremitting gloom in Mike Leigh’s family dramas All Or Nothing (2002) and Vera Drake (2005) [1], it’s telling that Happy-Go-Lucky’s refreshingly light tone most strongly parallels Johnny’s cynical nihilism in Naked (1993) railing at Thatcherism’s social wasteland. Here, Sally Hawkins’ pitch-perfect portrayal of thirty-year-old primary-schoolteacher Poppy anchors a loose, patchwork narrative also set in North London bedsitland, whereas this single-character study (with superb supporting performances) wards off hopelessness with an insistently positive outlook on adversity – the catchphrase “It makes me laugh!” echoing many of the writer-director’s previous protagonists. Risking sinking under the weight of her own cliches, Poppy nevertheless conveys sufficient complexity and subtle depth to convince – whose intelligible strategy to cope with an apparently fast-deteriorating world moreover retains a motivation to cultivate in everyone around her a sense that life is worth living. The film’s tensions and dynamism then emerge from various manifestations of negativity testing the considerable effort required to sustain this philosophy.
However, this is no superficial, conservative, feelgood ‘chick-flick’ – despite bright and breezy, colourful lighting, design and widescreen cinematography mirroring Poppy’s garish grunge, wide-eyed sunny non-conformism and all-round Prozac attitude. Straightaway, her joking, self-deprecating banter falters when a sullen shop-assistant won’t cooperate – pretending things aren’t so bad sometimes being simply insulting. Likewise, an ostensibly carefree lifestyle of aimless diversions – particularly with fellow-teacher, flatmate and best friend since college, Zoe (wryly commenting that being grown-up is hard) – palls as pressures to transcend extended adolescence are palpable for all concerned. Inspirational teaching can’t single-handedly ameliorate the damaging domestic environments of the kids, older colleagues are patently unfulfilled by work, and the spin on regular Leigh themes of inter-generational relations and the demands of adulthood is reinforced by the unhappy hostility of Poppy’s two sisters (self-pitying student; straitlaced suburban housewife) counterpointing her zany complacency.
Happy-Go-Lucky’s women persevere with each other loyally, differences notwithstanding, but three dysfunctional male incarnations interrupt Poppy’s gaiety more decisively. Patience and concerned curiosity uncover the abusive source of a little boy’s bullying, which may still be preempted, while genuine feeling in a night-time encounter with an angrily incoherent homeless man hints at deeper empathy with the anguish of life falling apart. And rejecting the judgmentalism of others is no narcissistic defence because, in the sequence of driving lessons forming the film’s core, even her bitter, paranoid, utterly reactionary instructor isn’t written off. Scott’s conception of education as rigid hidebound rule-systems obviously contradicts her intuitive expressivity but, while rejecting his authoritarian excess, she persists in trying to understand where he’s coming from – which he mistakes for mocking and flirtation, responding even more obsessively and inappropriately. Then, in yet another structural balancing act, her new, rather drippy, social-worker boyfriend allows gentle caring, good humour and the possibility of passionate commitment to coexist – before the camera finally draws back as Poppy and Zoe muse on what the future holds …
It’s hard to convey the full richness of a Mike Leigh film in a few short paragraphs. Refusing Hollywood’s cardboard cut-out conventions and heroic individual transcendences, he plays with and undermines the generic expectations of melodrama, satire, tragedy and farce in favour of minor crises or tipping points accompanying the slow accretion of painful and pleasurable experience bounded by the intransigence of a heartless world. His preference for characters from lower-class backgrounds originated in a middle-class childhood in a downmarket district of Salford where a keen sociability was fed by encounters with less privileged folk trumping the stultifying conformity of his own household and others like it [2], leading to a lifelong distrust of pretension and pomposity. From this, the strength of his ensemble pieces often lies in the generosity and goodwill found within social networks, but such phenomena are never glibly asserted and frequently overshadowed by the depression and petty malice arising from frustrated needs. Thus points of identification, alienation, sadness, hilarity and antipathy oscillate as viewers recognise themselves and others in characters simultaneously lamented and applauded, but whose integrity is always respected. The work then “aspires to the conditions of documentary” in accurate depictions of real life at specific times in identifiable places, while simultaneously representing ambitious artistic contrivance in building believable human mosaics from scratch [3].
Exhaustive individual backstories are built in close collaboration with the cast, gradually extending into collective improvisations and rehearsals from which the script is developed. The vast bulk of detail developed in this process subsequently echoes in the final product only in informing behaviour and interaction, where the actors don’t know what will happen before the characters would. Arriving at similar preoccupations to those of cinematic naturalism or social realism, the use of these entirely different means and methods gives the films their direct intensity of impact and honest, sympathetic ambivalence concerning the tragicomedies of ordinary life where relatively unexceptional situations conspire to close down or open up anyone’s potential. Happy-Go-Lucky’s central concern, indeed, is finding a suitable orientation to contemporary tragicomedies and potentials in a context where such widespread political pessimism inclines many to give up altogether. Embodying a vulnerable struggle for maturity while determined not to lose the childlike enchantment with the world that can imagine and provoke renewal, Poppy perhaps tentatively reflects – in typically sly, understated fashion – Leigh’s own ‘socialistic’ and ‘anarchistic’ impulses and hopes [4], since he takes such great pains to acknowledge the uncomfortable texture of mundane daily life precisely in order to “reveal the transformative potential that is continually being generated within it” [5].
1. see my review of the latter in Freedom, 5th February 2005.
2. see Amy Raphael (ed), Mike Leigh On Mike Leigh, Faber, 2008.
3. discussed in detail in Raymond Carney & Leonard Quart, The Films of Mike Leigh: Embracing the World, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
4. see, for example: Michael Coveney, The World According to Mike Leigh, Harper Collins, 1996; and Howie Movshovitz (ed), Mike Leigh: Interviews, University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
5. Garry Watson, The Cinema of Mike Leigh: A Sense of the Real, Wallflower, 2004, p.23.
Happy-Go-Lucky is released on DVD on 18th August.
www.variant.org.uk
www.freedompress.org.uk
The Ghost, by Robert Harris
A Groupie’s Revenge. Book review by Tom Jennings, published in Freedom, Vol. 69, No. 12, July 2008.
A Groupie’s Revenge, by Tom Jennings
This bestselling novelist’s latest interrupts his blockbusting broad-brush historical revisionism, from Fatherland (1993; what if Germany had won WWII?) through Imperium (2006; ancient Roman skullduggery). The Ghost is contemporary; considerably less ‘thrilling’; and narrower in scope, following a worldweary ghostwriter for recently-retired UK Prime Minister Adam Lang to a posh New England resort to hack together hagiographic memoirs. Harris does, however, persist in fictionalising pivotal periods in terms of corruption, conspiracy and complicity among the Great and Good hitherto hidden from mainstream accounts meekly swallowing their platitudinous rationalisations. Here there’s also the obvious hook of Blair’s ‘legacy’ and a spate of superficial political autobiographies trading on present difficulties – although, of course, any resemblance to this novel’s characters is purely coincidental …
The portrayal of the vapid narcissism of power is decidedly deliberate, nonetheless, as is the murderous conjuncture of corporate unaccountability, elite greed, institutional arrogance and cynical media dishonesty. So the protagonist appropriately proposes to “put some heart” into his spin; whereupon he’s hard-pressed to find any. Skeletons and closets, conversely, proliferate. Not only did the ghost’s predecessor expire in suspicious circumstances, but government support for Bush involved a whole swathe of betrayals – personal, ideological, national – stretching back decades. Maintaining their secrecy threatens our hero too, and the enjoyably daft romp accelerates after he gets a shag with Cherie (sorry, Ruth Lang) and support from a dashing, charismatic ex-Foreign Secretary (who could that be?) clamouring to nobble his former boss as International War Criminal. Finally the dastardly CIA plot is revealed (and covered up) – New Labour was a dirty trick all along.
… Or, if not that, an exceedingly big bad apple infecting an otherwise noble enterprise. But wait! Wasn’t the writer cheerleader-in-chief embedded in the Third Way offensive? The Sunday Times political journo by Blair’s side during that heady 1997 election night? Who got in a strop when his chum Mandelson sunk (oh yes, and over the Iraq invasion)? Methinks something’s rotten in the isle of Harris, too – strong whiffs of bad faith permeating this extraordinary rendition of chattering-class tabloid malice; its solipsistic tone of action unravelling inside spiteful fantasies; the vanity of self-justifying hindsight paralleling the delusions of paranoia, where the world really is out to get you but not for the reasons your hubris assumes. Beneath the manifest content, the real conspiracy is neoliberal capitalism’s continuity since Thatcher, nurtured and hawked by lickspittle think-tanks and academics pimping economic sophistry to highest bidders both sides of the pond. Labour ‘modernisers’ partook of this poisoned font from the get-go,* learning the codependence of business prosperity on authoritarian states and the art of selling voters out – whereas evil spooks absolve both professional suckers and the entire discursive architecture which insists ‘there is no alternative’.
* see meticulous research by Lobster editor Robin Ramsay published, for example, in Variant magazine and books including Prawn Cocktail Party (Vision, 1998), The Rise of New Labour (Pocket Essentials, 2002), and new collection Politics and Paranoia (Picnic, 2008).
The Ghost, published by Hutchinson, is out now in paperback.
Immigration, the Inconvenient Truth, Channel 4, and the White season, BBC2
The Great White Hopeless, by Tom Jennings.
Television review of Immigration, the Inconvenient Truth, Channel 4, and the White season, BBC 2
A rash of TV documentaries explain away tense British resident-immigrant relations with typical middle-class prejudice in reproducing forty years of media and state-managed mystifications of the ravages of capitalism, according to Tom Jennings.
Great White Hopeless
Shock, horror! Television bosses recently made the surprise discovery of defensive, backward-looking racism among the depressed, so-called ‘indigenous white working class’. Purporting to explore this phenomenon, BBC 2’s White Season (screened in March) and Channel 4’s Dispatches, Immigration: The Inconvenient Truth (April) focussed on recent UK population trends. Each resurrected Enoch Powell’s infamous 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech as the most appropriate interpretive prism through which to understand hardening attitudes towards immigrants and the electoral gains of the BNP (who vocally applauded the series). So although countless interesting and enlightening aspects of the subject crop up in passing throughout all nine programmes, many important issues are ignored altogether. The clear editorial direction imposed on the material – neglected poor white natives blame migrants for their woes, and that Powell was (kind of) right – is legitimised and reinforced despite being repeatedly undercut even by much of the partial and selective evidence gathered.
The Beeb’s hotch-potch started with the classic observational elegy of Last Orders. The ex-Labour committee members of Wibsey Working Men’s Club bemoan its decline, with support having haemorrhaged for decades – yet regretfully cite the overweening problem of Bradford’s growing Asian population. No one’s quite clear on cause and effect, or why mainstream politicians are uninterested in the impoverishment and social breakdown of their community of “forgotten people”. Meanwhile the destruction of local industries which depended on Asian labour, or the blatant manipulation of the race card by all municipal parties and media ever since, are hardly mentioned – let alone countervailing voices with a less jaundiced and prejudiced and more critical awareness of the situation. With the pattern set, complexity is obliterated completely in Denys Blakeway’s putrid glossing of Rivers of Blood with contemporary allusion – ‘forgetting’ that the whole analysis, its assumptions and predictions, were completely wrong for 1968 (never mind now) despite Powell’s best efforts kickstarting the poisonous national chauvinism that Griffin etc inherit [1]. The disavowed subtext? If middle-class white people wish-fulfil themselves as “last bastions of civilisation”, alliance with boneheads becomes respectable.
The following programmes more or less subtly put the boot into the white underclass. White Girl fictionalises a Northern teenager (from a 2006 Channel 4 documentary) finding refuge in Islam from a dysfunctional home – whereas such narratives could apply to any class, race or creed. The Primary’s Birmingham school with kids of 17 different nationalities just about copes despite inevitable difficulties – by implication, in this context, thanks to the utter absence of white working class people. The Poles Are Coming! then looks at Eastern Europeans in Peterborough working more diligently in worse conditions than locals tolerate in construction and agriculture. Though focussing on infrastructural and planning chaos and the fracturing of community by the buy-to-let slum-landlord epidemic, migrants themselves are squarely positioned as the problem’s cause – with anti-social workshy white youth in the background making it a crisis. Finally, All White in Barking gestures towards ‘balance’ in comparing old-school Essex responses to the global influx – one pensioner glaring hatefully at African residents and organising BNP stalls, apparently without registering that his kids and grandkids are colour-blind and/or mixed-race; while another couple transcend similar hostility and suspicion by befriending Nigerian and Albanian neighbours, and an elderly Auschwitz survivor squires his Ugandan carer at a local Jewish community dinner.
A better title for the Dispatches trilogy, fronted by son of Somali immigrants Rageh Omaar, would have been ‘Immigration, the Convenient Scapegoats’. Relentlessly suppressing evidence to the contrary, the narrative consistently asserted that we all subscribe to ‘swamping’ logic, using a specially-commissioned YouGov public opinion survey which bore all the hallmarks of such spurious, tendentious pseudo-science.
Trusting viewers to swallow outrageous extrapolations from flimsy ‘proof’, even cursory attention revealed confusion about who counted as Britons or ‘settled migrants’ or their descendants, and what difference this made to assertions of immigration being “a problem” or “in crisis”.
The clumsy Yes/No questions disallowed considered responses and virtually ensured inaccurate results, whereas many of the empirical findings were clearly far more ambiguous than the simplistic editorial agenda permitted. So, by the third episode, the apocalyptic tone had subsided somewhat. But instead of the obvious need to question the whole basis of official nationalist and multiculturalist discourses, the tangible awareness that global economics had something to do with it prompted a retreat to the favoured culprit – the inflexibly hopeless white working class unable to compete in the New World Order. But the visible desperation and hardship twisted into resentment in many places is only part of that story, which the BBC and Channel 4 had neither the bottle, desire, nor wit to follow up [2].
To conclude, then, as I argue elsewhere [3], this current affairs coverage disingenuously maintains “distinctions between those whose survival is most imminently threatened and the comfort zones of aspirational experience – just when the economic and structural conditions which underwrote the flight from drudgery for the twentieth century’s new middle-classes unravel before our eyes … [P]rofessional media tourists avoid the countless people making horizontal links, conducting joint operations, productive relationships, cultural exchanges and social interactions at the base. Thus a view of society is reproduced as no more than interlocking networks of exclusion zones, where the only negotiation between dimensions of difference – whether biological, social or economic – occurs on the state’s terms at its own designated, tightly-policed sites, carried out by the market’s credentialled experts. In which case converging material situations, interests, expressions and struggles among foreigners, natives, underclasses and the new nearly-destitute simply disappear from view”. Furthermore the best corrective can be found where rivers of blood literally flow from the vicious intersection of capitalist structural adjustment and national state ideology – yet South African militant shantydwellers counter xenophobic violence insisting: “Don’t turn your suffering neighbours into enemies” [4].
1. see Institute of Race Relations, ‘Rehabilitating Enoch Powell’ (www.irr.org.uk/2008/march/ha000018.html).
2. … on this occasion, anyway. In less threatening contexts the fortunes of the ‘white tribe’ have, for example, been cheerfully charted by Michael Collins – though scrupulously avoiding the politically conscious and active – in The Likes Of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class (Granta, 2004) and The British Working Class (Channel 4, 2005).
3. in ‘Craven New World’, Variant 32, pp.9-12 (www.variant.randomstate.org/32texts/issue32.html). See also ‘The End of Tolerance’, Daniel Jewesbury’s useful discussion of UK racism in the same issue.
4. in a statement by Durban-based Abahlali baseMjondolo, ‘No One Is Illegal’ (www.abahlali.org/node/3582).
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MARKFLANNERY.COM
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After starting its art calendar in 2017 with the celebrated Yayoi Kusama “Infinity Mirrored Rooms” exhibition, which has won accolades worldwide, The Broad will now host Jasper John’s legendary installation from the Leo…
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As the Uncanny Valley becomes increasingly narrow for graphic artists, the applications of CGI are finally moving out of so-called “low art” mediums like videogames and into the realm of fine art. The potential of…
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Home : Product Intros : Article Detail
Tarkett Introduces Blockade & Soundblock from Designer Jhane Barnes
SOLON, OHIO, OCTOBER 28, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, introduces Blockade & Soundblock, featuring bold geometric patterns created using innovative custom technology. Designed by Jhane Barnes, this collection features two soft surface styles in Powerbond® and modular platforms that offer ideal flooring solutions for office, education and hospitality spaces.
With mathematical formulas as her guide, designer Jhane Barnes has mastered the art of making structured patterns appear random and unpredictable. These formulas are her recipes that, without writing them down, she’d never be able to bake the same pattern twice. The Blockade formula was introduced years ago for a shirt in her menswear collection, designed exclusively for Neiman Marcus. This recipe led her back to this playful geometric pattern and its seemingly random color placements for the Blockade collection.
Using a different branch of mathematics, Jhane created a second recipe, which resulted in Soundblock as a companion pattern. Even though the components of the Soundblock design are smaller, the overall visual effect appears to have a larger scale than Blockade, making it ideal for expansive, open spaces.
Jhane’s designs are created with the help of her own custom programmable software filters. By defining an algorithm that determines color placement, and then shifting and rotating layers of the pattern on top of each other, Jhane is able to manipulate the final aesthetic each time she adjusts the numbers.
“There is a randomness at work, which is why I can never get the same design twice. That’s what makes it so much fun. I can keep changing the factor numbers and get new designs every time. I created over a dozen patterns before I finally settled on the one that became Soundblock,” Jhane Barnes said.
Jhane has included 12 colors in the Blockade palette, with 7 modern neutrals and 5 branding accents. Eight of those colors are repeated in the Soundblock palette, helping the two work easily together throughout a floorplan. Both Blockade and Soundblock are available in Powerbond, as well as 9x36, 18x36, and 24x24 inch tiles. When installed as Powerbond, Blockade requires no matching at the seams, for faster installation and minimal waste.
Tarkett North America believes that together, we can make a positive impact on people and the planet. That’s why we’re Doing Good—Together, connecting our sustainability efforts with what customers value and the world needs.
• Blockade & Soundblock are available with Tarkett’s ethos® Modular with Omnicoat Technology™ backing to simplify installation even further. ethos is made with PVB film from recycled windshields and safety glass. When paired with TarkettTAPE, ethos Modular eliminates the need for pH, RH and MVER testing, as long as there’s no evidence of moisture staining or standing liquid.
• All Tarkett soft-surface products include Eco-Ensure™ soil protection technology, a fluorine-free chemistry that is Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold for Material Health*
• ethos Modular and Powerbond are Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Silver v3.1
• ethos Modular is ILFI Living Product Challenge Imperative Certified
More information about all of Tarkett’s products can be found at www.tarkettna.com.
With a history stretching back 135 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of more than €2.8 billion in 2018. Offering a wide range of products, including vinyl, linoleum, rubber, carpet, wood, laminate, artificial turf and athletic tracks, the Group serves customers in over 100 countries across the globe. Tarkett has 13,000 employees and 36 industrial sites and sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to "Doing Good—Together," the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy that is based on Cradle to Cradle principles and promotes a circular economy, with the ultimate goal of contributing to people's health and wellbeing, and preserving natural capital. Tarkett is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A, ISIN: FR0004188670, ticker: TKTT) and is included in the following indices: SBF 120 and CAC Mid 60 www.tarkett.com.
http://www.tarkettna.com
Tarkett Sponsors Military Makeover with Montel for the Second Year
SOLON, OHIO, DECEMBER 5, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader of innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, announces its partnership with Military Makeover with Montel for its second year. Airing on the Lifetime Network, Military Makeover offers...read more
Tarkett Launches Award-Winning iD Mixonomi
SOLON, OHIO, DECEMBER 9, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, introduces iD Mixonomi, a Red Dot Award winner. Inspired by the hexagon, iD Mixonomi LVT is the embodiment of...read more
Tarkett Announces Partnership with Aquafil to Close the Loop on Carpet Tiles
Paris, France and Waalwijk, The Netherlands, November 21, 2019 – Tarkett today announces that it is closing the loop on commercial carpet tiles in Europe thanks to a pioneering partnership with Aquafil. This is the result of an intensive collaboration over...read more
Tarkett Promotes Roxane Spears to VP of Sustainability
SOLON, OHIO, September 25, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, announces the promotion of Roxane Spears to a new role, Vice President of Sustainability, for...read more
Tarkett Launches NYC Atelier
SOLON, OHIO, October 30, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, launches the Tarkett Atelier in New York City at 440 Park Avenue South, adjacent to one of the main design districts on...read more
Tarkett Introduces NuGen Rigid Core Flooring in the Residential Category
SOLON, OHIO, September 25, 2019 — Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring and sports surface solutions, announces the launch of NuGen™ Rigid Core Flooring, its latest flooring product in the...read more
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The owner’s behavior: The elusive puzzle piece in ...
Do you Believe in Dog? (2018). Powered by Blogger.
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It started when two canine scientists decide to become pen pals in an era of digital media...
Do you believe in dog? 2016
dog-human bond dog-human dyad
The owner’s behavior: The elusive puzzle piece in dog-human relationships
Please welcome today’s guest contributor, Giulia Cimarelli, a researcher at the Unit of Comparative Cognition and at the Wolf Science Center of the Messerli Research Institute (Vienna, Austria).
Adam Griffith, Unsplash
When considering the dog-human bond, it’s pretty easy to agree that how we behave can influence dogs. We influence how they perceive and respond to situations and this can inform what they might expect from us in the future. This, of course, goes both ways. For example, if a dog is supported by an owner during a stressful situation, the dog could feel less stressed in a similar situation in the future.
But of course, social relationships are complicated. Many factors are involved, like the personality and upbringing of both individuals and the social context in which the relationship develops. For decades, scientists from different disciplines have tried to understand and describe the relationships that humans and non-human animals build with one another. Today, there is general agreement that both parties influence one another.
When I first became interested in how human behavior influences dogs, I found that most existing research was based on questionnaires. Being an ethologist (a scientist who studies animal behavior), I wanted to examine owner behavior as I saw it, not just as people reported it. Professionals who work with dogs and their people probably know that people are not always aware of how they behave with their dogs, even though most people seem aware that dogs can respond to subtle human behaviors.
Giulia and dog friend
To understand how owners influence their dogs, we need to see what owners really do. And not only during training sessions. Life is so much more than training! I wanted to see how owners interact with their dogs in everyday situations, both positive and possibly negative.
With this aim in mind, my colleagues and I at the Clever Dog Lab (Vienna, Austria) invited owners and their pet dogs to our lab to participate in a test that we called the “Owner Interaction Style test”. The experiment consisted of 8 different scenarios where we let the owner and their dog interact with one another. These scenarios were meant to recreate real life situations, but in a controlled environment. For example, we asked owners to leave the dog alone for a few minutes, and then we analyzed how they would greet their dog when they returned. We also asked owners to play “fetch” and “tug-of-war” with their dog, to teach them how to open a bin to retrieve food, and to perform basic obedience behaviors (i.e. sit, lay down, and stay) while an unfamiliar person attempted to distract the dog (i.e. by pretending to look for something in a box full of crumbled newspapers). We also saw how owners behaved when their dog was dealing with a potentially stressful situation (i.e. if the dog’s movements were restricted like during a vet examination).
In each test we kept track of how many times the owner gave commands, praised, petted, clapped, or whistled to the dog. We also assessed how warm, enthusiastic, and supportive owners were, or if they were cold, authoritarian, or avoidant when interacting with their dog.
We found that owner behavior varies across 3 factors: 1) warmth in positive situations like play, teaching, and greeting, 2) social support in potentially stressful situations, and 3) behavioral control.
Interestingly, these factors are very similar to those observed in human psychology studies when describing how parents interact with their children, possibly because humans have a general way of interacting with individuals they are caring for.
Below is a short video of the study in action.
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a title="The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs" href="https://www.jove.com/video/56233/the-other-end-leash-an-experimental-test-to-analyze-how-owners"&gt;The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
We also wanted to see if the way owners generally behaved with their dog would influence their dog's behavior in a stressful situation. Would dogs behave similar to children? Research has shown that when the parent is helpful and supportive, the child will trust and seek help and support from the parent in the future.
To answer to this question, we conducted a test that you should NOT try at home: owner and dog participants were approached by an unfamiliar person in a threatening way (i.e. stepping slowly toward the dog, with the upper torso bent forward, and staring into the dog’s eyes). In this test, the owner was told not to interact with their dog so that the dog’s reaction would not be influenced by the owner’s current response. Instead, we wanted to see whether the dog’s reaction related to how the owner had previously interacted with the dog, as analyzed in the previous study (warmth, social support, or control). We assumed that because of previous experiences, dogs will know how their owner will behave.
Indeed, we found that dogs’ reactions, either approaching the unfamiliar person independently or remaining close to their owner, depended on how warm the owner had been during the interaction style test described earlier. In particular, dogs who stayed close to their owner had warmer owners than those dogs who reacted more independently.
Our study suggests that dogs are influenced by how their owner interacts with them outside of training situations. How enthusiastic, warm, and present we are in the everyday lives of our dogs can influence how our four-legged companions rely on us in stressful situations.
This is important because sometimes people focus too much on training and forget that everything we do can matter. Whenever we interact with our dogs, we are telling them who we are, what we are for them, and whether they can count on us.
Giulia Cimarelli, researcher at the Unit of Comparative Cognition and at the Wolf Science Center of the Messerli Research Institute (Vienna, Austria).
E-mail: giulia.cimarelli@vetmeduni.ac.at
Cimarelli, G., Turcsán, B., Bánlaki, Z., Range, F., and Virányi, Z. (2016). Dog Owners’ Interaction Styles: Their Components and Associations with Reactions of Pet Dogs to a Social Threat. Front. Psychol. 7, 1979.
Cimarelli, G., Turcsán, B., Range, F., and Virányi, Z. (2017). The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs. J. Vis. Exp., 1–11.
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Canine Science for Everyone
Two canine scientists, Julie Hecht and Mia Cobb, met briefly at a conference in Barcelona. They share a passion for canine science, good communication, social media and fun. Both are enthusiastic, entertaining and a little bit deaf. They decided to embark on an adventure as pen pals in the digital era, taking turns to blog on topics related to their own research and other random dog science topics. More recently, they've broadened the scope of Do You Believe in Dog? to include wider participation from their fellow canine scientists. Join them as they consider one of our greatest questions, “Do you believe in dog?”
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Dogs recognize our emotions, and they don’t like it when they see angry
51 Shades of Grey: Misuse, Misunderstanding and Misinformation of the Concepts of “Dominance” and “Punishment”
What the pug is going on?
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Definition of «Cataract surgery»
Cataract surgery: Removal of the clouded lens (the cataract) in its entirety by surgery, usually followed by replacement of the lens with an intraocular lens (IOL) made of plastic, silicone, acrylic or other material. The operation typically takes about an hour, is done under local anesthetic only, and does not require hospitalization.
Most cataract surgery today is performed using a technique called phacoemulsification. Before the advent of this technique, people with cataracts could expect a 10-day hospital stay followed by a lengthy recovery. Today, it is an outpatient procedure. Instead of making a large incision in the eye and removing the lens, the ophthalmologist can make a tiny one and then insert an ultrasonic tip which, vibrating thousands of times a second, breaks up the cataracts without damaging the surrounding tissue. The remains of the cataract are suctioned out.
Phacoemulsification was introduced in 1967 by Charles D. Kelman, an American ophthalmologist (1930-2004). In his memoir, "Through My Eyes: The Story of a Surgeon Who Dared to Take On the Medical World" (Crown, 1985), Dr. Kelman described how he went to a dentist have his teeth cleaned. "I sat in his chair, as he reached over, took a long silver instrument out of its cradle and turned it on," Dr. Kelman wrote. "A fine mist came off the tip but the tip didn't seem to be moving. He applied the tip to my teeth, and I felt an exquisite vibration and heard a high-pitched sound." Dr. Kelman asked, "What is that thing?" An ultrasonic probe, came the reply. "I knew this was the moment," Dr. Kelman wrote.
Cataract surgery has a long history. It was first done in India in the 5th century BC by a surgeon named Susruta who did a procedure called couching (or reclination) in which the clouded lens is pushed into the back of the eye, permitting better but by no means normal vision. Couching was still done in some countries until the mid-20th century. The first description of the cataract and its treatment In the West was in 29 AD by the Latin encyclopedist Celsus who performed the practice of needling (also called discission) of cataracts to break up the cataract into smaller particles to facilitate their absorption. Modern cataract surgery was first done in 1748 in France by Jacques Daviel who removed the cataract from the lens. Today, the IOL is now usually the best type of cataract surgery.
For More Information «Cataract surgery»
Corrective Eye Surgery and Treatment Information ...
Learn about Alcon, a leader in corrective eye surgery procedures such as LASIK, cataracts, and advanced technology IOLs, at www.ReclaimYourVision.com.
Cataract Surgery Guide - Procedure Details, Lens Options ...
See illustrations and animations explaining cataract surgery, learn about new lens replacement options and the outcomes and possible complications.
Cataract Surgery Types, Risks and What to Expect After the ...
Get information about cataract surgery. Learn how it's performed, what to expect before and after surgery, risks, complications and the causes and diagnosis of cataracts.
Cataract removal: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia
Cataract removal is a procedure to remove a clouded lens (cataract) from the eye. Cataracts are removed to improve vision. The procedure almost always ...
Cataract surgery - MayoClinic.com - Mayo Clinic
Cataract surgery — Overview covers risks, complications, results of this eye surgery.
Comment «Cataract surgery»
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by MichaelPW
Forum: INLAND EMPIRE
Topic: the alleyway
Re: the alleyway
There`s a smilarity between the alley on the picture and the alley on which we see "Dern" with the groceries. Maybe Mr. K has the might to solve the curse. Probably "Dern" has to understand the repeating nature of her problem. In the theater she knows the content of the movie she...
Topic: Grand Unified Theory?
Re: Grand Unified Theory?
Think that there are different representations of "a woman in trouble". The trouble seems to be the curse which is solved in the end. There`s an actress who died in the making of 4 7. There`s a murder in (the making of) OHIBT, although it was not planned. With the girls we probably have re...
Forum: DAVID LYNCH
Topic: Helter skelter in Germany...
Re: Helter skelter in Germany...
His false ID was Dragan Dabic. He said "My name is Dabic, but you can call me David."
Topic: who is s/he?
Re: who is s/he?
Maybe she`s indeed the woman in white we see from behind. Maybe she will murder the woman in front of her, because "she will not let him have her". But who`s she? A regular prostitute? Or a prostitute "Piotrek" fell in love with? That wouldn`t be the trade, would it?! That wouldn...
I assume that there`s a connection between the woman in Poland asking if they have seen her before and the Dern character "in the future" in the sense of a kind of reincarnation. The Dern character in the future seems to have an advantage in comparison to the woman in Poland: She`s aware o...
two ideas: either the ninety year old niece a few decades before the year 2006 or the same person who stands before her. this could be, because the "guardian angels" point with her hands as if they wanted to say something like "Of course, we have seen you before. You are there again r...
Topic: Scene 35
Re: Scene 35
Carl wrote: What does that particular title say, in German?
Well, I don`t remember it exactly, probably because it is not the way people are remembering things. But it`s something in the sense of "Bei diesem schönen Wetter müssen wir rein?!..Ok, weiter mit Szene 27".
Topic: "It Was Red"
Re: "It Was Red"
Kiddo wrote: MichaelPW,
That's exactly my point: there is no validity or logic to the claim that Lucas's character during the shed scene is Piotrek. Absolutely nothing points to it. The man's name is Smithy.
But I don`t see reasons for that in your point 2.
It ain't Kingsley, but an assistant ( not Freddy) who says something about Scene 27, after the 'all I see from this is blue tomorrows', good weather scene. What he says is inaudible. The fucking French subtitles omit the line entirely. Yes, after the garden scene. Ok, it can be that it doesn`t come...
Kiddo wrote: Following this logic, I believe that chapter 47 is the rabbit scene where the room turns red.
That would be quite interesting.
Topic: MTTH: Buying a watch
Do you mean that although one can choose what one does, one cannot choose what one wants to do? I think that is true but I'm not sure that is the issue here. In this scene and in the movie I think it is about the action of her choosing and the consequences of it. That is, there may be all sorts of ...
Why would he be getting driven around the backwoods of Poland just to get ranked on by a dorky circus dude in a shed in the middle of nowhere? Krol could have just flown his own personal jet to get wherever he wanted, and would have had lackeys deal with low-lifes like Gordy. Can`t see here neither...
Topic: L.B.
Re: L.B.
So, if we ask the question, "Who is Smithy?" and we see Smithy's son, we know whose son he seems to be (not the Lucas character who can't procreate children), because there is only one logical answer: his other parent, his mother, Smithy, played by Karolina Gruszka, who returns to her own...
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The Finlander Forum > The Living room > The Members > Bessemer Michigan, Yale location
View Full Version : Bessemer Michigan, Yale location
I am doing research on McKinney Mine in or around Bessemer Michigan. Also Yale Location between Bessemer and Ironwood Michigan from 1912 to 1922.
Many Finns lived in the Bessemer area and worked the mines in that location. I am searching for general information on the region and specific information on the mine and the workers. Sam Johnson AKA Simon Eric Snickars worked in the area and we think in the McKinney Mine from around 1912-1922.
Any stories, pictures or websites with information would be appreciated.
If you check out Hunt's Guide to Michigan's Upper Peninsula-Region 4 Ironwood and the Gogebic Range, there is much info on the area. It says the first big mine was the Colby Mine and the towns of Ironwood, Bessemer, Wakefield and Hurley were "booming" after 1892. Each had their "locations", small settlements. Yale was one. Each had at least one family-owned grocery, a tavern, some had company stores and company owned houses. The mines closed in the early 60's.
Bessemer was named for Sir Henry Bessemer, inventor of a steel making process and Yale location was probably named for the Yale family of Yale University fame. The main street is Eli Street, first name of Eli Yale.
The Gogebic Range Genealogical Society has a wealth of info on the area also. Check out http://mattsonworks.com. There are pictures, maps, city directories etc. covering a huge variety of subjects on the area. There's a great map of all the mines in the area. You may have to get permission to use it in your family letter.
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Tag archives for Rothschild
Madrid Rothschild Offices Evacuated Over Suspected Anthrax Attack
11th November 2015 by admin under Legal Action
According to Spanish news releases, the offices of Rothschild in Madrid have been evacuated due to the delivery of two suspect envelopes with white powder.
More can be read in this link.
tagged in Equity Release Baron de Rothschild, Rothschild, Rothschild Madrid
12 Comments →
Lunch with Stephen Dewsnip, former “Rothschild” Director
20th November 2014 by admin under Uncategorized
The statement below was made by a RV (Rothschild Victim). Names have been ommited to preserve confidentiality.
This statement fully validates Mr. Nott’s honest and truthful affidavit, and exposes the lies of the “Rothschild” brand.
Mr. Dewsnip, let your conscience be your guide and sever ties with your former utterly dishonest employers. You were economical with the truth on stand once, don’t dig a deeper hole for yourself.
Mr. Donald Nott of Henry Woods, a company trading as financial advisors previously known to us, telephoned to say that he was arranging a seminar in the Javea, Parador hotel and that a Mr. Stephen Dewsnip, a senior director of Rothschild Bank, would be giving a talk on a Rothschild financial product known as the “Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release Plan”.
Due to a previous commitment we were unable to attend the seminar and instead asked Mr. Nott to come to lunch at our house, an occasion which would provide him with an opportunity to explain the “Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release Plan” in greater detail.
Mr. Nott agreed to this arrangement and then asked if he could bring Mr. Dewsnip, the Rothschild Bank director, with him. We agreed to this and felt quite honoured to have a director from a prestigious bank in our home. Both men arrived at 12.30pm and we enjoyed some convivial, pre-lunch drinks together.
The smartly dressed Mr. Dewsnip appeared to be on extremely good terms with Mr. Nott.
Both were very courteous and once lunch started Mr. Dewsnip began to explain the Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release Plan. Mr. Dewsnip advised us that, in view of our well-defined financial circumstances, the Rothschild scheme would be an ideal “investment” as it would release equity locked-up in our home, provide another source of income and reduce inheritance tax. The entire scheme, he assured us, was underwritten by a Rothschild Bank loan that would be guaranteed for 10 years.
Mr. Dewsnip was aware that my husband John John, a retired Army officer, had a small pension and Mr. Dewsnip also fully understood that the only accessible capital we had was tied up in our home. He advised both my husband and I that Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Plan would be financially beneficial to us as the equity released in our home would provide us with an initial lump sum of up to 5% of the value of the house, and the “income” following on from investing the remaining money in a “financial product” would provide an annual net income of up to 3%.
Mr. Dewsnip wholeheartedly assured us that the Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release Plan was guaranteed by Rothschild Bank and was particularly appropriate for elderly people not wishing to move house again. And that Rothschild Bank would not involve anyone, particularly pensioners, in a hazardous financial product that would expose them to unexpected risks.
We are inherently adverse to taking financial risks of any kind but the assurances we received from Mr. Dewsnip, director of Rothschild Bank who was actually sitting in our house and eating our food, was sufficient to convince us that the Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 plan was a safe and appropriate plan consistent to our financial circumstances. And it was the advice received from Mr. Dewsnip, a director of Rothschild Bank, that finally persuaded us to enrol in the Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release Plan.
At no time during our lengthy conversation with Mr. Dewsnip did he draw any distinction between the names “NM Rothschild & Sons” and “Rothschild Bank International”.
At all times Mr. Dewsnip referred to his employees as “Rothschild Bank” and if there is a legal distinction between the two entities then Mr. Dewsnip failed in his fiduciary duty to disclose this information and in doing so misled us into entering into a contract.
tagged in Equity Release, Rothschild, Steven Dewsnip
Baron David de Rothschild to Appear in Court
18th October 2014 by admin under Legal Action
DENIA COURT ORDERS SPANISH POLICE TO CONFIRM ADDRESS FOR HIS SUMMONS
The writ dated 14th of October 2014 -received by lawyers acting for a Rothschild victim yesterday- has ordered the following:
Reopening of the criminal investigation (preliminary inquiries) that was provisionally set aside (the latter status was not made aware to us as we had thought it was ‘alive’; as it happens, it makes little difference from a practical point of view).
Informing the Spanish Prosecutor of the Court’s decision.
Ordering the claimants’ counsel to submit a criminal complaint, making it extensive to Baron David de Rothschild (the POA did not include him as he was initially not listed as a potential defendant) with a view to “guarantee his right to a legal defense”.
Ordering the Police Forces in Madrid and Barcelona to verify whether Rothschild’s addresses in those cities are suitable for summoning Baron David de Rothschild and Stephen Dewsnip, with a view to being interrogated following an official indictment.
It remains to be seen how will the bank tackle this setback; so far, the Rothschild camp have stood firmly by their IHT mitigation CreditSelect loan product, deriding clients’ claims and being dismissive of the authority and capacity of Spanish Courts.
BaronDavidDeRothschildSummons
tagged in Credit Select Loan, Equity Release, N.M. Rothschild & Sons, Rothschild, Rothschild Guernsey
Rothschild Case: Malaga Court Demands Spanish Address for Summons
10th May 2014 by admin under Legal Action
The Mercantile Courts in Malaga have made a request for lawyers -acting for claimants over the misselling of CreditSelect loans as a means to avoid IHT- to provide a Spanish address for notification purposes.
It is the case that NM Rothschild & Sons, commonly known as Rothschild according to Wikipedia, has a website that boasts offices all over the world, including Madrid and Barcelona.
Should the Court accept any of the above addresses service of process will be duly carried out and Rothschild will have 20 days to respond to the allegations that their company, in their capacity as lenders, a specifically envisaged, designed, marketed and sold a product, the Credit Select Loan Series 4, to defraud the Spanish Taxman.
We must remember that Rothschild has vehemently denied ever providing any type of financial/investment advice. Quite so, the claim has nothing to do with this but with the fact that, in their own words, with the “Rothschild mortgage inheritance taxes would be reduced from a whopping 81,6% to nil”: no more and yet no less.
Rothschild need to be aware that advertising a service or a product is a serious matter because, as you would expect, the public reacts to such offer and acts on it. More so when people rely on Rothschild core principles.
This is exactly what happened with the Credit Select Series 4 Loan: Rothschild, or all companies, offered it as a legal means to avoid crippling Spanish IHT and people bought, because they trusted them.
Now we know different, but so do they…
tagged in CreditSelect Series 4, Equity Release, Rothschild
On How Rothschild Vets Investment Providers for Credit Select 4 Series
Below is an example of an email sent by an IFA, recommended by tax-defrauding N.M. Rothschild & Sons, in respect to the abject performance of the Rothschild Credit Select Series 4 Equity Release product.
The figures reflect three things:
— Confirmation that Rothschild vets all investment service providers before recommending them to their victims, and confirmation that such powers are hardly consistent with Rothschild’s preferred phrase: “WE WERE ONLY THE LENDERS…”
– The inexistent skills of whoever was entrusted with investing the funds.
– The inability of the Rothschild Equity Release product to ever make any progress in respect of providing an income stream, let alone paying the cost of the mortgage (and the IFA).
Dear Mr & Mrs…,
I hope you are well, please find below the quarterly update on your equity release scheme.
Your investment as at 23rd October 2013 was €138,518.70. Your loan balance as at 23rd October 2013 was €331,628.90 the difference between your loan and your investment is €193,110.20. The loan to value is 45.78%, Rothschild will request additional funds from you if this percentage rises above 35%. Loan to value is calculated using 100% of the value of the investment and 35% of the original property valuation.
The current interest rate charged on your loan by Rothschild is 1.723% (including Rothschild margin of 1.50%) ending the 23rd January 2014.
As discussed previously there is a limited choice of approved investments for this scheme and their performances are detailed below:
Investment YTD 2012 2011 2010 2009
Rothschild Cash account 0.15% 0.30% 1.10% 0.45% 0.75%
Optima 2 Closed 1.90% 2.10% 92.00% 5.70%
Optima 4 +0.89% 3.87% 1.30% 86.00% 8.54%
Aspecta Optima 2 -1.31% 2.05% 2.44% 33.00% 5.46%
Aspecta Optima 4 -0.16% 2.65% 1.70% 0.96% 5.86%
Ashburton Replica 22nd Oct +3.19% 6.29% -0.70% 11.71% 11.43%
Premier Balanced Fund +0.23% 6.20% -7.74% 5.81% 7.77%
Armstrong CRR -1.79% 0.80% -8.20% 5.67% 12.30%
Armstrong DDS 4.33% 7.20% -0.20% 12.30% 31.30%
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact
tagged in Rothschild, Rothschild Equity Release
Rothschild’s Crafty Lawyers Explaining the Creditselect 4 Series: It Was All Clearly Explained
14th June 2013 by admin under Selling Antics
ERVA would like to hire Mr. Shannon as their legal representative. He is a master of magic and can actually make you think that what you read is not really what you read, that what you understood is far from it (and of course, entirely the reader’s fault for being a twit) and that, on the whole, the advertising published by his bosses is fundamentally correct in what benefits them but, at Rothschild’s insistence, not to be relied upon on what it is detrimental.
But leaving that aside, is there a reason why Mr. Shannon has not included a mention to the associated spectacular tax savings that Mr. Steve Dewsnip promises time and time again in his articles, and which happens to be fundamentally inaccurate, incorrect, false and illegal?
Rothschild-Lawyers-Explaining-Creditselect-4-Series (PDF ~ 1Mb)
tagged in Rothschild
Spanish Taxman Warns Again: Equity Release to Mitigate IHT is Tax Fraud
4th June 2013 by admin under Legal Action
Spanish Tax Office is insistent: customers are exposed to tax fraud if equity release mortgages are deducted from the estate calculation
Tax Office on Equity Release Binding Enquiry (click on image to download PDF)
But then Steve Dewsnip, from Rothschild, used to say the following:
“At Rothschild we are insistent that customers are not exposed to unexpected risks…”
And we now say: Steve, yes they are, so much so that only in respect of the tax matter, where the amount defrauded exceeds €120,000 per annum, there are jail terms ready to be handed down (Alhaurin penitentiary opening its doors to trusting clients?). Not to mention of course other risks that the product had to offer, in spite of Rothschild’s ultra-cautious approach: legal risk, currency risk, investment risk and not the least, health risk.
Barclays’ Senior Client Relations Advisor had stated in a letter published in an earlier post the following:
“We reviewed the ruling to which you refer and note that it relates to Spanish wealth tax only and does not deal with inheritance tax at all. Therefore, whatever conclusions in that ruling, they are not relevant to the issue of inheritance tax…The Bank satisfied itself that the scheme is not illegal.”
Two things on this:
The scheme is not illegal per se, what is illegal is the sale of the scheme as a way to mitigate taxes and the pursuit of a tax benefit, as Barclays did, among other misrepresentations (such as it being a fantastic product for pensioners because it would provide an additional income stream to their retirement income etc.).
The Tax Office has taken exception to the letter by Barclays and has specifically addressed the Inheritance Tax mitigation matter, rendering it openly as “Tax Fraud”. This means that Barclays is, prima facie, guilty of devising, promoting, endorsing and selling a product that is Tax Fraud.
And if the above holds water -which it clearly does- by extension all other schemes promoted by many other banks are illegal.
tagged in Barclays, Danske Bank Luxembourg, Equity Release Fraud, Equity Release Tax Office, Rothschild
Explanation of the Rothschild CreditSelect Series 4
3rd June 2013 by admin under Legal Action
This email is a summary of the virtues of the Rothschild according to Stephen Dewsnip. The email, for obvious reasons, left out the “downsides” of this unconventional mortgage, a mortgage that according to him allowed the borrower to not be exposed to unnecessary risks..
From: Dewsnip, Stephen
Sent: 08 November 2006 09:16
To: ”
Subject: RE: Mtgs.
Thank you for your enquiry regarding Rothschild’s Spanish mortgage service, CreditSelect Series 4, and I am now pleased to provide further information for you.
CreditSelect Series 4 is neither complicated nor expensive, and has been designed to enable you to make the funds invested in your Spanish property work harder for you. It is not a conventional mortgage facility but rather a financial planning tool that creates liquidity for you by providing a loan for investment purposes. It provides an initial ‘cash-back’ facility, the prospect of an annual income stream, the opportunity to diversify between asset classes, the prospect of long term capital growth through a diversified investment portfolio and, depending on your personal circumstances, tax planning opportunities. Most importantly, as far as we are concerned, the investments acceptable to us each have a 100% capital guarantee from highly rated, large European banks at the end of 10 years.
CreditSelect Series 4 is available to both residents, whose who live in Spain for longer than 183 days per annum, and non-residents and in keeping with Rothschild’s cautious and conservative approach has been designed to ensure that you are not exposed to unnecessary risks which, when considering that the product involves registering a mortgage over your Spanish home, we regard to be crucially important. There are no upper age limit restrictions or documentary proof of income required, although we do consider income and asset levels as part of our underwriting process. It is available where a property is owned by a company, as well as by individuals, and all paperwork and documentation is streamlined and standardised to make the application and completion process as smooth as possible.
In simple terms, it works by arranging a loan secured by a mortgage over your Spanish home with the loan proceeds being invested in a 100% capital guaranteed investment fund that matures after 10 years. Since the investment fund does not actually pay income throughout its 10 year period, we are happy for interest on the loan to roll-up and at the end of this period, the principal loan amount (ie. excluding any initial cash-back, rolled-up interest, capitalised fees and annual loan drawdowns that we permit to provide an ‘income’ stream) is repaid from the maturing investment. Of course, the investment funds are designed to return greater sums that the minimum guarantees and the aim is that the maturing investment fund will exceed the total loan balance, including all of the items listed above. As Rothschild is neither an investment nor tax adviser in this regard, we distribute the product via a network of financial advisers based predominantly in Spain and, should you wish, I would be pleased to provide you with a list of such advisers, with whom we are comfortable in dealing, in order that you can make direct contact.
Like your Spanish property, CreditSelect Series 4 loans are denominated in Euros, as is the investment, thus ensuring that you are not exposed to any unnecessary exchange rate risks. We lend up to 75% of the property’s current market value which, from the point of view of Spanish inheritance tax planning (something that, regrettably, is often overlooked by not only purchasers but also estate agents, property developers, and even Spanish lawyers and notaries), is considered to be adequate given the tax rate tapering effect, valuation methods acceptable to the Spanish authorities, and the interest roll-up feature of our facility. Our loans start from €200,000 with effectively no upper maximum, meaning that the product is available to owners of residential property valued at €270,000 or more.
With a CreditSelect Series 4 mortgage, you can take up to 5% of the property’s market value as initial capital or equity release and each year we compare how the investment fund has performed over the previous 12 months to the interest rate charged on the loan and permit an additional loan drawdown representing the surplus investment return, capped at 3% of the investment fund value. Since this is structured as a loan drawdown rather than as a withdrawal from the investment fund, it is not classified as income and hence is not liable to income tax assessment. Depending on your personal circumstances, this may also be beneficial to you.
In summary, CreditSelect Series 4 is not designed to be the most aggressive and risky product in the marketplace, in fact quite the opposite – we aim to help our clients in a conservative, cautious and well-structured manner without exposing them to undue risk.
I am enclosing a copy of our term sheet, which sets out the facility’s terms for non-residents in more detail, together with a copy of an article I wrote earlier this year on some of the tax rules in Spain, which you may also find of interest.
Misleading Publicity Legal Suit to be Filed Against Rothschild
The DGT (General Directorate of Tax) has confirmed that mortgage loans for any other purpose than buying the property on which they are registered, are not deductible for Spanish Inheritance Tax Purposes.
Binding consultation 04423-13 received by Lawbird lawyers today (28th May), refers also to loans granted abroad (such as those by Rothschild, SLM, Nykredit etc.) that are guaranteed by mortgages on Spanish property and is adamant: only real debts can be used to mitigate taxes.
Nobody questions that N.M. Rothschild & Sons could and should have ensured that the product they were selling was legitimate, just like any diligent person carrying out any commecial activity in Spain would do (and indeed any where in the world).
Instead, they chose to make their clients accomplices of tax fraud because some inept lawyer at Gomez Acebo & Pombo decided that it was legal, at the insistence of clowns Mark Coutanche and Steve Dewsnip, to run this circus.
Claimants will demonstrate that all the publicity issued by Rothschild, and the companies they used to sell the product CreditSelect Series (as confirmed by honest and helpful former employees) is false, fraudulent, encouraged tax evasion and has caused untold grief on victims.
The legal suit against Rothschild is to be lodged with the Malaga Mercantil Courts on the 7th of June 2013.
tagged in Credit Select Series, Mark Countach, Rothschild, Steve Dewsnip
Equity Release for UK Home Owners
5th April 2013 by admin under Selling Antics
Equity Release for UK Home Owners was also publicized for Inheritance Tax mitigation purposes, supposedly in compliance with English tax laws on the matter. But was it also a time-bomb, like the Spanish devious taxman depicted is openly warning us all?
How come no Spanish bank ever offered such a revolutionary product to national taxpayers?
Did they know something the very clever Luxembourg-based Scandinavians milking hard-working Spanish-based British expats missed?
Were Spanish banks so inept at marketing that Rothschild had to fly out to teach them a few things on successful new-product launching?
Hamiltons Financial Services Money News Number 10 – Equity Release Advertising
tagged in Hamiltons, Rothschild
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THERESA MAY EXPOSES DAVID CAMERON'S PAEDOPHILE COVER-UP
Just as David Cameron's historical record for protecting Paedophiles is exposed yet again through Home Secretary, Theresa May's pathetic attempt to appoint another establishment figure who will co-operate in Cameron's legacy of cover-ups, they manage to overshadow the horrific extent of their corruption by raising the hated Snooping Charter again. No doubt that this was the playing card that corrupt strategist, Lynton Crosby advised Cameron to play. Yet, isn't it ironic how it typically characterizes the ethos of the Anti-moral Party that has devoted 5 years destroying "compassion" among the UK population in its relentless inhumane ambition to abolish the Human Rights Act and finding any excuse to impose it, while a docile British public are so utterly subdued to realise what it means for them. They remain oblivious to the extent that they have unwittingly begun to rationalize such depraved cruelty and heartlessness. What has happened to a society when it begins to justify evil by giving it an acceptable level? The answer is that they deny that evil exists in order to exonerate themselves of complicity. However, when the embedded chip is forced upon all UK citizens, granting access to the most intimate details of their lives, they'll either be so zombified or they'll cry out for their human rights. Yet astonishingly and unbelievably those who will read this aren't even aware that they have already willingly submitted themselves to this incremental barbaric slavery. However, who will hear their cries, since they sacrificed so many to the suffering today. How many choose to ignore the single mother evicted from here home with her child? How many will choose to ignore the Cancer patient forced to work or lose their welfare benefits? How many will choose to ignore the soldier who lost both his legs in Afghanistan and denied welfare benefits?
There can be no more excuses.
ARTCILE: Cameron attacked by sexual abuse victims after calling claims of Home Office cover-up a 'conspiracy theory'
David Cameron must rely on 'rival' May to sell migration stats and terror bill
'Paedophilia at Buckingham Palace' - one of the files 'lost' by Leon Brittan
British sexual abuse by establishment people, investigated by establishment?
Narrow scrape for PM amid Commons shamble over EU arrest warrant
VIDEO: Cameron defends 'outstanding' May
By Glenn at Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Labels: A Sadistic Embodiment Of Evil, arms dealer, David Cameron's Corrupt & Pedophile Friends, Indifference, Paedophilia, Scandal, Sirte, Theresa May, Tory
THERESA MAY EXPOSES DAVID CAMERON'S PAEDOPHILE COV...
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Limit Theory
Development Update #16: April 2014
Forum Rules ---- Game FAQ ---- Forum Search ---- Limit Theory Website
Talvieno
Northeast Ohio, USA
Re: Development Update #16: April 2014
#61 by Talvieno
Personally, I like knowing when one more blast will finish something off. I don't want to have to empty round after round into a ship and not really know at what point it's going to blow up. It's an important gameplay mechanic, because in that one moment, our minds are weighing the pros and cons of continuing to attack. Does the ship simply have too much health? Is its health regenerating faster than we can destroy it? How many more hits will it take? Will we be able to take it out before that megalithic cruiser that's approaching pulverizes us to a thin paste? And so on.
I don't like the idea of the green/red health bars - they don't seem to fit in with the rest of the game. The LTP seemed to do a good job of it, though - a simple ring around the ship, like Flatfingers said, that fades or turns dark as it's damaged. With that kind of health indicator (or even a dual-ringed health indicator, with the outer ring for shields and the inner ring for hull), it should be possible to tell after a few fights exactly when the ship is going to be destroyed.
(Oh, and, if damaged ships can't learn to run away from losing fights, Josh hasn't done his job with the AI well enough. In a world with pseudointelligent AI, getting kills is MUCH more difficult if you do it right, because they're actually trying to stay alive. I speak from experience. I've done a few things like this myself. I know this isn't quite the place for it, but. It needs to go somewhere.)
Have a question? Send me a PM! || I have a Patreon page up for REKT now! || People talking in IRC over the past two hours:
DWMagus
#62 by DWMagus
In regards to health bars, you have to keep in mind that LT will also be an RTS game. I quite like the health bars. I also think that when play shifts to a more RTS view, it is needed. You won't be able to handle massive fleet vs fleet battles without some sort of at-a-glance view of your health.
Early Spring - 1055: Well, I made it to Boatmurdered, and my initial impressions can be set forth in three words: What. The. F*ck.
DWMagus wrote: In regards to health bars, you have to keep in mind that LT will also be an RTS game. I quite like the health bars. I also think that when play shifts to a more RTS view, it is needed. You won't be able to handle massive fleet vs fleet battles without some sort of at-a-glance view of your health.
Well, yes, I agree with this... but the green/red is a bit distracting in first-person mode.
greenie214
#64 by greenie214
Talvieno wrote:
Y'know I'm pretty sure there will be an option to turn them on or off.
JoshParnell
#65 by JoshParnell
I have already changed the colors to be less obtrusive As for the general concept of health bars, though, I don't understand why it would be a problem
As for rapid menus, the fact is that when you learn the nodal menu it is very fast to navigate and can be disorienting for a newcomer. Every time that I navigated through it, I was doing so with a purpose, and at this point it feels very natural to me to do it at that rate. While I get that it can be annoying to watch in a video, I strongly doubt anyone is going to complain when they get the game that "the menus are too easy to navigate quickly!"
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” ~ Henry Ford
Matthew Cason
Elder Council Member
#66 by Matthew Cason
Due to absolute chaos at work and wanting a nice span of peace and quiet (and wakefulness) to watch this at home, I only just now got round to checking out the latest dev update. Which I have watched, I am not exaggerating, probably 10 times in a row. Josh, you know from earlier discussions we had how important mining and trade and the kind of epic, empire-building level of gameplay is to me. What you've outlined in this latest update, especially with the new commodities interface, is in my opinion even above and beyond what EvE Online has achieved. I love, love, LOVE the prospect of being able to organize and delegate large-scale operations to a vast fleet of ships as you did with your mining operations. It's intuitive and sleek and altogether easy to understand and, by all appearances, to navigate.
Which can be said for the whole of the new interface. It's minimal but still immersive and that's a hard balance to strike for. Were the little periodtics distortions/flickerings around the text and other interface elements an intentional design point or a side effect of the new vidcap software? Because if they were the former, I really liked it! It added to the immersion, not often enough to be a nuisance but frequent enough to warrant notice when just staring at the screen watching the universe pass by.
mcsven
#67 by mcsven
I haven't had chance to comment 'til now, but my thoughts are the same as everyone else: great job, Josh! Can't wait to play it...
The sleekness of the interface on display makes me wonder if I won't change my play-style somewhat when I actually get my hands on LT. I had thought I'd play it mostly as I played Freelancer post story completion, but having some sort of organisation turning over cash in the background does look rather appealing...
Potsdam (Germany)
#68 by Lum
Sort of à la Tony Stark, uh? It's great to be able to play with expensive toys if you have a big corp financing your whims
I have been - and always shall be - your friend.
Gazz
In your brains. Thinking your thoughts.
#69 by Gazz
mcsven wrote: The sleekness of the interface on display makes me wonder if I won't change my play-style somewhat when I actually get my hands on LT. I had thought I'd play it mostly as I played Freelancer post story completion, but having some sort of organisation turning over cash in the background does look rather appealing...
It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it. =P
There is no "I" in Tea. That would be gross.
Sneaking up on the Jabberwocky
#70 by Hyperion
In consideration of the health bars, I imagine that you now have a use for the holographic version of the ships... Why not just make the holographic version your targeting computer? assign each module on a ship a health pip that indicates online (blue) or offline (red), and then you can take out individual modules from a distance (assuming you have guided weapons) and if you were zoomed out, you will be able to see clouds of red and blue, giving you a good estimate of the battle.
Challenging your assumptions is good for your health, good for your business, and good for your future. Stay skeptical but never undervalue the importance of a new and unfamiliar perspective.
Imagination Fertilizer
Beauty may not save the world, but it's the only thing that can
But then you only have a colour difference which is the worst kind of display to make usable for colour-blind people. With a health bar you have shape and brightness to work with.
Gazz wrote: But then you only have a colour difference which is the worst kind of display to make usable for colour-blind people. With a health bar you have shape and brightness to work with.
I think you saw in the video how easy it is to change the color scheme - I don't think color blindness will be a difficulty for anyone, as far as gameplay goes. (Colorful ingame objects or backdrops such as nebulae might be a different matter. Not sure, as I'm not colorblind myself, but I know that this kind of thing can be worked around.)
I like the idea of being able to affix one of Josh's widgets permanently to the left or right side of the screen in an HUD manner, where it shows a rotating "holographic" version of the ship you're attacking, like Hyperion said. I don't like the red/blue idea as much, except for on said holographic HUD version - the actual target can just have a health bar or brightness indicator (averaging the HP of all systems), and I'd be totally fine with it. I love the idea of being able to check out all the HP values for individual systems at once, though, and the holographic HUD thing would give you that - provided you didn't give it a black background like the menus Josh pulled up in the last video.
The red and blue distinction were only examples of colors that can be used. Josh has already shown that colors can be readily changed. However I do think to accommodate an easier visual understanding, online and offline modules could have brightness distinctions, as well as an applied texture in the hologram.
I am fully in favor of having clear representations for health, but I think it would be much preferable to have health be module /nodal based than aggregate. I want to be able to have long range guided missiles take out the thrusters and then swoop in for the kill, taking out their weapons one by one before I get into range.
#74 by Nomad
Small Feedback:
1) I dont know why u need hundreds of NPC in a relatively small area like that asteroid field u shown, each deliver a very small amount of ore to the station. No wonder u had to disable the collision. The universe has become to live, for sure, but do not overtake it. For this field i would say - a maximum of 50 ships, which are actually working on things would be enough. Lets say 5 big cargo ships spreaded around on hot spots in the field, which filled in by 5 small miners each = 30 ships. Plus 20 free slots for police reaction force against piracy, or maybe 5 defending fighters on each cargo vessel, something like that. I would give additional 10 slots for a big bang capital armed with a fine squadron sitting on the station, just in case anyones doing trouble onto the workers.
2) I would love it, if u could change the standard interface to actually NOT showing any brackets, squares or bars on any objects. Just a free view to the space. If i wanna see whats going around me (see the brackets), i have to activate a scanner, or hit a button for an once active scan to show the brackets on all ships, or some ships in some directions. And if i klick on some ship and set it as target, THEN u can show the health bar in addition. Thats some thing of immersion to me, i always hated that in other spacegames - entered the system and everything is shown in brackets, even if it doesnt interest me.
3) For the next update: Could u please, please show a warp jump, or some (fast) traveling trough the LT Space?
thanks 4 reading, even if i complain here.
Flatfingers
#75 by Flatfingers
Just as another data point, I do like the idea of 1000+ ships possible in a system.
Not in every system, but some particularly active hubs, especially if the "space is big" feature is turned on.
On the other hand, I agree completely with hoping it will be possible to switch off HUD-based display elements around ships, for an approximation of looking at space with naked eyeballs. It's not as important in a space game where a HUD is normal as in a fantasy game where HUD-like UI elements pinned to characters is completely mental. Still, it would be nice even in LT to be able to see the world bare-eyed.
Finally, a thought about simulation numbers. We're talking about X number of ships... but it's really the NPCs notionally "inside" those ships that need to have their decision-making simulated, correct?
Well, that makes me wonder: what about capital ships that have (potentially) tens or hundreds of crew members?
Is there only ever exactly one player/executive per any ship regardless of its size? If not, then those non-commanding NPCs will need to be simulated, too. And although workers are not full AI, they still do some decision-making, don't they?
So does this mean there will be a performance difference between simulating 1000 fighters in a system, and 1000 dreadnoughts?
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Michael Jackson Posts on Fanpop
My Dangerous Era Fantasy: Could this be love? Part 12
posted by mjkingofpop1
what he wore dancing with Aislinn
The suivant morning
Aislinn woke up and saw no Michael, but heard the douche running. "Showering as usual. Hm...I think I'll see about scaring him. Heehee..." She found a white rose and her fake couteau that squirted out blood. She pretended to cut her throat and the blood squirted across. She did the same to her arms and placed the rose on her chest and acted like she was dead. Michael got out of the douche and changed and before putting his chemise on, looked over at Aislinn. He was confused, but looked closely and saw blood. "Oh my god! Aislinn!!" He ran to her and was panicking like crazy. He shook her, trying to wake her up, but no luck. He quickly got her into the bathroom and washed the blood off of her, but it seemed like it didn't come off. "What the? It's not coming off." She suddenly jumped up. "Boo!!" She said. Michael jumped back, holding his chest. "You scared me, Aislinn! That's not funny!" She giggled and washed the fake blood off her with warm water and soap. Then she walked over to Michael and hugged him. "I'm sorry, Michael. I just couldn't resist a Halloween prank. It is just a jour away from Halloween anyway, so why not?" Michael looked around to make sure no one was listening. "How about we pull one together, Aislinn?" "What prank would we pull?" Michael whispered in her ear that she would fake being pregnant. "Michael, that's an April Fool's prank, not a Halloween prank." "No, not that. I'll dress up in my Thriller outfit and put on zombie make-up, then toi tell them that the zombie got toi pregnant." "Oh, I got ya! Ok, ok. I like that." So it was all planned out...tomorrow, on Halloween night, the ultimate, and new, Michael Jackson prank will be pulled. He also told her that she should put on the 'Billie Jean' outfit he gave her. "Alright, I'll wear it. But the chemise is being changed...for different reasons." She told him. She had a dit that it was gonna be a tattered old white chemise she wore that her mom put on her when she was younger for something to sleep in. Michael nodded and a dit he had to get to the recording studio. It was only a couple blocks away, so he a dit he was gonna walk. Aislinn protested. "Michael, do toi really want to be killed on the way to your recording studio?" "No...but I seem to be getting lazy. I need to get active." "I know toi do, but the streets at this time of day, toi shouldn't be walking. I'll drop toi off at the recording studio on my way to work. Besides, I have the same set of keys toi do for your car." Michael gave in and finally let her drive. She was the only one who had to change and it didn't take her long to change. It took her about 5 minutes to get everything she needed together. She walked out of the room with the keys and they headed out to the car. She's never driven his car, but she had experience with the car type. Automatic is what she was raised on, but she knew stick-shift when she saw them. She got in the driver side and they headed out. Even though it was weird, she always drove with one hand on stick-shifts. Michael had told her that he used stick-shifts when heading to work. For her, stick-shifts were easy to control with one hand on the steering wheel. Michael grabbed her free hand and she smiled. After about a few minutes of driving, they came onto the recording studio. She stopped the car and turned to Michael. "Have fun, Michael." "I'll try." He chuckled. They kissed and he got out of the car and went inside. She drove off to the dîner theater.
At the dîner theater
KC was waiting patiently this time for Aislinn to arrive. Pretty soon, Aislinn drove up and parked the car. KC was wondering where she got the car. "Where did toi get that car, Aislinn?" She turned to KC and told her that it was Michael's car. "A stick-shift?? He owns one?" Aislinn giggled and nodded. "Yes, Michael owns one. His red Mercedes is in the boutique with my Firebird. This is one of the cars he liked and that I could control with one hand." They chatted outside for a while until it was time to head inside and work.
In the recording studio
Michael got the mixes and started listening to them. While he was listening to them, he slapped his head. 'How am I gonna ask her? Jeez...I hate things that are complicated...' He thought. Him thinking of a way to ask Aislinn is like écriture a song: toi get an idea on how to start it, but it gets complicated later. Anyway, he continued listening to the mixes and enhanced them just a bit until he got them how he wanted them and started recording.
Back at the dîner theater
Aislinn got a couple to their table, tableau and took out her notepad. "What will toi guys like to drink this afternoon?" The gentleman ordered a coca and the woman ordered water. She wrote it down. "Any appetizers for toi two?" she asked. "Do toi have breadsticks?" the man asked. "Yes we do. What kind of breadsticks would toi like?" "Cheese covered, please?" Aislinn wrote it down. "Alright, I'll be back with your drinks and appetizer." Then Aislinn walked to the cuisine and got two cups and filled them with ice and the designated drinks. She began thinking to herself. 'It's almost like mine and Michael's date...like I said...almost.' She thought and grabbed the drinks, put them on the tray along with the breadsticks and headed back to the table, tableau and placed them down. "Here toi go, one water for the lady and a coca for the man. And your breadsticks. Are toi two ready to order?" The woman ordered a salade with a side of riz and the man ordered chicken with a side of riz and a salad. Aislinn wrote it down on her notepad. "Alright, I'll be right back with your food." Then she left to get the nourriture for the couple. 'Salads...closer to mine and Michael's first date.' She didn't recognize them, but the gentleman did look a bit familiar. She tried to think back to a time where she saw him before. While she thought of it, she returned to the table, tableau with a big tray with their food. "Rice and a salade for the lady and riz and salade and chicken for the gentleman. If there's anything toi need, just give me a holler, ok?" They nodded and soon she left to help KC.
Aislinn and KC only worked for a few hours, and the couple was still there, but talking with Fred. Pretty soon, the gentleman signed a check and handed it to Fred and he handed it to me. Aislinn passed par the table, tableau where they were at and there was about $100 sitting there and a note. KC saw her stop and walked up to her. "What's that?" "A note...it says: you were the nicest waitress we ever had. Here's a $100 tip for toi to get by. Signed..." "Signed par who?" "I can't tell...wait..." Aislinn read closer and was in shock. "Joe and Katherine Jackson! Michael's parents!" Aislinn covered her mouth to prevent herself from squealing any louder. She told KC that she knew Joe from somewhere and told her that she knew him from Gary. She's only seen him once, but she knew him. KC was in shock, her uncle actually a dit that he had a nice waitress? She could understand her Aunt Katherine saying that, but not Joseph. Anyway, they left the theater and got in the car. "Ready for a full jour of fun, KC?" KC was nodding. "Oh yeah! I can't wait!" Aislinn giggled and started driving off back to the house.
At the house
Aislinn parked the car and got out with KC. Aislinn took her to the back of the house to get the golf cart. "A golf cart? Really?!" Aislinn nodded. "Yep. Easy to get a tour of Neverland Ranch." KC got in the golf chariot, panier and Aislinn started driving off. "Woooo!!!!" KC put her arms out her side of the cart. "First up...the roller coaster!!" "YAY!!" KC and Aislinn acted a lot like kids. Aislinn stopped the chariot, panier and they got out and headed onto the roller coaster and started riding it. Going up and down and in circles and just about everywhere. They were having a blast.
KC was starting to get tired, but she had loads of fun. "Would toi mind taking me accueil now, Aislinn? I've had a blast here. I think my dream is fulfilled." Aislinn turned to her in shock. "Huh? Fulfilled? What for?" Aislinn was confused. KC told her that she only had two years left to live because of a disease she had. "Well, tomorrow, go to the hospital to be checked out. I'm sure being here in Neverland Ranch healed you." "Alright. I'll tell my mom. Thanks for letting me come over to play, Aislinn." Aislinn smiled at her. "It's no problem, KC." Then Aislinn got her to the car and drove her back home.
At KC's house
KC's mother walked outside and waited for KC to arrive. Soon, she saw a car drive up with KC in it. KC got out and so did Aislinn. Aislinn and KC's mom chatted about the disease and told her that she needs to go to the hospital tomorrow for a check up. "I'm sure being in Neverland Ranch healed her, ma'am. Trust me on this." Her mom gave in and a dit alright. KC and Aislinn a dit their goodbyes and she drove back home.
Back at the house
Aislinn stopped before she got through the gate because of a phone call. She answered. "Hello?" She asked. "Hey, baby." "Hey Michael. What's up?" "I'm almost done with the recordings. Can toi come get me before I get bombarded par fans? Haha." Aislinn giggled. "Sure, hon. I'm heading over there now. I'll text toi once I'm there." "Alright, Aislinn. l’amour you." "Love toi too, Michael. Bye." "Bye." Then they hung up. She drove off to the studio to go pick up Michael.
Michael was waiting outside with his mask, fedora, and sunglasses on. Soon, he saw Aislinn drive up and he stood up and walked to the car and got in. He took off his mask and his glasses and turned to Aislinn and smiled. "Thanks for coming to get me, Aislinn." She smiled back at him. "No problem, Michael." Michael was thinking all the way back home. 'Should I really ask her tonight? ou should I ask her tomorrow? Oh, it's so confusing! I'll probably call Cory and ask her what I should do. I'm so Lost now...I can't even make up my mind.' He thought. He was so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't hear Aislinn snapping her fingers. Once he did, he shook his head. "Huh?" Aislinn giggled. "You dozed off, Michael." "Oh, I did? Sorry, heh. I guess I got it from you." Aislinn giggled even more. "I guess toi did. But we're home." She turned off the car and got out and so did Michael. Michael quickly went to her side and grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. She giggled and swung their arms and walked inside. It was about 6:30 pm and the lights were off. "Why are the lights off, Michael?" She asked. Michael knew what was going on and pretended not to know. "I don't know...I think we had a power surge." He a dit and turned the lights on to reveal Jackie with the table, tableau set up. "A dîner for two, Michael." Aislinn looked at Michael and Jackie. "What's this for, Michael?" "Oh, just to montrer toi how much I l’amour you. Plus, at midnight...it's our 2 an anniversary of going out." Aislinn looked like she was gonna cry. She had her hand over her mouth, smiling. She turned to Michael and hugged him and kissed him in front of Jackie. Jackie made a little disgusted face, but he knew better. "Thank toi so much, Michael. And toi remembered the jour we first went out. toi spent almost 2 days spoiling me, toi know that?" Michael smiled and nodded. "I know. It's because I l’amour toi so much, I'd never leave you. I always think of toi when I'm working." "Aw...I think of you, too, when I'm working. I actually have something to tell toi about today, though." "What?" "Well, I can't say it around Jackie." Jackie chuckled. "I'm gonna head on accueil then. Take care toi two." Jackie a dit and Michael waved back at him. "You too, Jackie." He and Aislinn said. They sat down and started eating. "Jackie's a really good cook." Aislinn stated. "Yeah. Anyway, what were toi gonna tell me about work today?" Michael had to ask her. "Oh yeah...anyway..." She told him how this couple came in and she recognized one of them and everything. Once she had told him about the note, she revealed that the couple that came to the dîner theater and tipped her $100 was his parents. Michael was in shock. "Joseph and Katherine? Are toi serious?" He asked. "Yeah! I was shocked, too." "Do toi still have the note?" "Yeah. Here." She handed him the note and he read it. "Nicest waitress? Was Joseph on drugs ou something?" Aislinn giggled. "I don't think so. I even saw him écriture it." Michael handed the note back and they continued eating, him thinking of how to ask her...he still has no clue how.
Aislinn a dit that she needed to take a douche because of her play rendez-vous amoureux, date with KC in Neverland Ranch. Michael nodded and she got her clothes and went into the bathroom. Michael, as soon as Aislinn was out of sight, got his phone out and called Cory. "Oh come on, Cory. Pick up, please?" Soon she picked up. "Hello?" "Cory? It's Michael." "What up, Michael?" "Listen...and toi cannot tell Aislinn this." "Cross my heart, hope to die. What do toi wanna tell me?" "I'm...I'm thinking of proposing to her." "......is this the same Michael I know?" "Yes it is, Cory. Thing is...I don't know how to ask her. What should I do?" "Well, do toi have the ring?" "Yeah, got it last night." "Do toi feel ready to ask her?" "Of course." "Michael, all toi have to do is just ask her 'Will toi marry me'. No magic ou whatever. Make it as romantic as toi can make it." "Thing is, Cory...I'm shy. I don't know how to make this approach to her. What if she says no?" "Just be confident. Don't toi pray before your concert shows?" "Yeah, to get strength." "Do the same for this. Pretend its one of your shows. If it doesn't work...use your imagination. That's all I have to say. Now I gotta go. Chris is taking me out to dinner. Later, Michael! Hope she says yes!" "Later, Cory. I'm hoping so, too." Then they hung up. 'Well that was great advice...what should I do?!' Soon, Aislinn walked out of the bathroom, all dressed and ready for bed. Michael walked over to her and hugged her. She found it rather strange, but hugged back. "What's up with toi all of a sudden, Michael? You're getting clingy. Haha." "I know, Aislinn. I know I am. Well, shall we get to bed?" "Shouldn't toi change first?" She noted to him. He looked down and he was still in his work attire. "Oh, maybe I should then." He rubbed the back of his head and she giggled and headed into the bedroom. He went to change and he got to thinking. 'Ok...I need the strength to ask her. Tomorrow, when the trick-or-treaters go home...that's when I'll ask her. Dimmed lights, candles, something romantic...dancing...slow dancing!' Michael snapped his fingers when it came to his head to take her to the dance room and put on slow musique for them to dance to. He walked out in his pajamas and got into lit and Aislinn cuddled up to him, putting her arm over his waist. Michael put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer and fell asleep.
The suivant day
The whole jour Aislinn and Michael had been gathering make-up for his zombie thriller and she got a fake preggo attachment for her.
The make-up was on and Michael looked like a total zombie! Aislinn was confused if it was him ou if a zombie took control. Michael helped her with her outfit and put the preggo attachment on her before she slid her chemise over it. "Oh they are gonna be so creeped out, Michael. This will make Jackson history!" Aislinn said, looking at her reflection while putting the fedora on. He came up behind her and placed his head on her shoulder, hugging her. "Yes it will, Aislinn. Yes it will." She looked at him and smiled and kissed her zombie. "I l’amour you, my zombie Thriller Michael." "I l’amour you, too, my pregnant mistress Billie Jean." She giggled and they went outside and saw kids at the door, waiting for candy. Some were even afraid to get Candy because of Michael being a scary zombie, but they got over their fear and got the candy.
Later that night
After the last of the kids left skipping, they went back inside and changed and got Michael's zombie make-up off. "Aislinn, why don't toi go change into a dress?" "A dress? Really?" "Yes, I have a surprise for toi and I want toi to be dressed up for it." "Alright then...this better not be a prank, Michael." "It's not, trust me." She nodded and went to change. Michael got the little box out and slid the ring inside it and put it back in his pocket. He was already dressed up and waiting for Aislinn. She soon came out in a red and black gown, knee length, with some silver sequin jewels on the haut, retour au début part of the dress. He knew she loved that dress, and that was the gift for her from Cory and Chris. Michael took her arm in his and he led her to the dance room. "Why are we in here?" She asked, fiddling with her collier a bit. Michael had snapped his fingers and the candles were lit. Aislinn went wide eyed and her jaw dropped a little and went into a smile. "It's beautiful." "That's not it..." He went to turn on the stereo and slow musique played. Aislinn looked at him. "Slow dancing? I didn't picture toi as much of a slow dancer, Michael." He walked up to her and grabbed her and held her close. She placed her arms around his neck and placed the side of her head on his shoulder.
After about 30 minutes of slow dancing
They stopped and looked at each other. "Aislinn..." He started. "Yes, Michael?" She asked. She could tell he was getting nervous because he was biting his lip and looked nervous as well. "Since we've known each other for two years...I was thinking...maybe...uh...oh crud...I forgot what to say." Aislinn giggled at him and put her hand on his cheek and looked at him. Michael held onto her hand and closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling. "Aislinn, toi know I l’amour toi and I know toi l’amour me. I had planned this night to be special for us. I know you'll never leave me, and I'll never leave you. You're cute, funny, childish, sexy, just everything I've been looking for. And...I want to ask toi something." Aislinn was a bit confused. Michael got on one knee and pulled out the small box. Aislinn looked at the box. "Aislinn..." He opened the box and it revealed the ring. "Will toi marry me?" It brought tears to her eyes and she covered her mouth, tears falling down her cheeks. "I don't know what to say, Michael...but..." "But what?" She tackled him onto the floor. "Yes! Yes I will marry you, Michael!" Michael smiled and got the ring out, sat up with her, and slid the ring on her left ring finger. Michael kissed her hand and then kissed her romantically. She pulled away. "Michael, if your gonna do that, let's go to the bedroom." She said. Michael chuckled and picked her up bridal-style and took her into the bedroom. "And toi know there will be no 'you know what', right? You're a gentleman, Michael and I know toi too well." "I know, Aislinn, but who a dit I couldn't Kiss toi romantically and make them think we did?" She giggled and kept her arms around his neck. Once they got into the room, Michael put her on the lit and crawled on haut, retour au début of her and continued s’embrasser her. (Me: Again, no nudity. Michael is a gentleman, remember that! :) A lovely gentleman who respects ladies. -MJ: awe thanks- *giggle*.)
At 2 In the morning
Michael was asleep and his chemise was off yet again. Aislinn had to admit, she liked it when his chemise was off. She looked at her ring and smiled. 'I'm now engaged to Michael...oh boy. Aunt Kathy won't believe this.' She thought and fell asleep suivant to Michael, that is, after changing into her pajamas.
Aislinn's dress (imagine the sequin jewels on the top part of the dress)
MJcutiepie2002, MJpixy and 4 others like this
MJlover101 Oh my gosh, that ending! I wish I had a dress like that.
mjkingofpop1 i know. when i printed it out on Word, it was 7 pages, minus the pics! to tell you, when i come up with new parts, i do print them out just in case it gets lost or something.
MJpixy I love it and the part when MJ thanked you!Soooo sweeeet!
mjkingofpop1 thanks :) spread the love! <3<3<3<3<3<3<3
what he was wearing when he took Aislinn to work.
Michael woke up and looked at Aislinn. He smiled at her and moved her hair out of her face. She opened her eyes and say Michael right suivant to her, smiling. "Morning, beautiful." He told her and she giggled slightly. "Morning, Michael." She looked closely at him and she didn't see a chemise on him. She blushed. "Did we..." Michael chuckled and shook his head. "No we didn't. I was getting hot and took it off in the middle of the night." She sighed in relief. "For a minute I thought we had done that. It scared me." Michael hugged her and she hugged back. "There's no need to be scared,...
Thriller Era Fantasy: Michael's Chocie Part 6
posted by foreveraMJJFan
"So now that we have admitted we like each other what do toi sugguest we do now?" Leanna asked as her and michael exited the restuarant. "Well we could get to know each other better and maybe later toi know start dating." Michael a dit as they made their way to the limo. "Sounds good to me, i say toi and me get together this weekend?" Leanna a dit as they got in to the limo. "That sounds good what do toi have in mind?" Michael asked. "Well i was thinking maybe going bowling...if thats ok with you?" Leanna said. "Oh yea thats fine with me, gosh i havent gone bowling in forever." Michael said....
Billboard.com votes Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as the BEST 80s musique Video
posted by droberson1104
MJ- does it again- Voted the BEST music video of the 80s
Mike does it again!!! Michael jackson's video "Thriller" topped the online vote of the haut, retour au début 10 vidéos of the 80s.
MTV is celebrating it's 30 an anniversary. So, Billboard.com had a vote of the haut, retour au début 10 BEST vidéos of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. toi can still vote for the best vidéos of the 2000s.
This is a review of an article written par Jessica Letkemann. I absolutely l’amour her words and the adulation and respect she seems to have for MJ. I l’amour when Mike is being appreciated...Don't you??? Anyway, here it is enjoy!!!
by: Jessica Letkemann -
"If the Video musique Awards had existed in 1983, MTV would...
What The Hell Is Wrong With The Media?
posted by mrsmj2011
What the hell is wrong with the media?! I want to know what the hell they were thinking about when some jerk-off wrote about Michael doing cocaine?! How dare they insult Michael like that?! All of these questions came to my mind when I read about Michael possibly keeping cocaine in his underwear. Then I thought why am I not surprised? The man is not here anymore and the media still can't leave him alone. They are still disrespecting him. Yeah, I heard about Martin Bashir and what he had to say about Michael now. Man, whatever, jerk-off!! Why didn't toi say all of those things when he was still...
''Remember The Time''
posted by NikkiLovesMJ
Remember the Time" is a single par Michael Jackson Recorded in the Hit Factory Miami. The song was released par Epic Records on January 14, 1992 as the seconde single from Jackson's eighth studio album, Dangerous. Written and composed par Teddy Riley, Michael Jackson and Bernard Belle, the song was produced par Riley and Jackson. "Remember the Time" was a successful attempt par Jackson to create a New jack swing-flavored confiture with the accompaniment of co-producer Riley. Musically, the song is dance-oriented and its instruments include a piano and guitar. "Remember the Time" lyrics are about remembering...
''You are not Alone''
"You Are Not Alone", released in August 1995, is the seconde single from Michael Jackson's album HIStory. The R&B ballad was written par R. Kelly in response to difficult times in his personal life. He then forwarded a bare demo tape to Jackson, who liked the song and decided to produce it with Kelly. Jackson's interest in the song was also linked to récent events in his personal life.
In "You Are Not Alone", Michael tried many times, to tell himself, during his most desperate and anguished times, that he did have support in his life, from a higher power, Friends and family and he sure did....
MJ taught Janet about sex.
posted by mj4ever202
Michael Taught Janet About The Birds And The Bees.Superstar JANET JACKSON was taught the facts of life par her older brother MICHAEL JACKSON.The singer turned to Michael for an explanation after walking in on their parents JOE and KATHERINE having sex.She says, "I didn't know what I was watching. My brother and I were very close at that time, so he was the one who told me" xD xD xD xD xD xD xD What do toi think of this????????? xD I don't know why but it's funnyyyyyyyy.
-mj4ever202- Your awesome source for MJ stuffz. (I look up all this stuff for toi guys!!!)
Michael’s l’amour Letter To toi
posted by Whisperoflove7
"Dear You,
Have toi ever noticed that every song contains the word “You”? Like for example: “Oh How Happy toi Have Made Me”, “Can toi See The Morning?” ou “The l’amour toi Save”. So that’s why I though it would be alright to start this l’amour letter to toi with “Dear You”. If it works in songs of l’amour it ought to be right on for letters of love, too, don’t toi agree?
Of course, there’s another reason, too. I don’t know your name. Chances are, we’ve never met. And maybe toi are just starting to really get to know me through the pages and pictures here in TeB. You’re...
"The Night I Played piano For Michael Jackson" Written par Mona Lisa Mouallem
posted by Princess-Yvonne
When people ask me ‘what is the greatest moment of your life thus far’, I do not hesitate for one moment: it was the night I got to play the piano for Michael Jackson.
Let me back up a little. Michael and my dad became friendly when he moved to New York in 2001 to record his album, Invincible. While I am well aware of the many controversies that surrounded Michael Jackson’s life, they had no bearing on the evenings that my family and I got to spend with him. My family was lucky enough to get to know him and his beautiful, lovely children, away from the flash of cameras and the chants of...
My opinion about Lisa Marie Presley
posted by the_best_Lover
(This article was written previously par me for Vexi :D She asked me to publier this, so, here we go!)
Isn't my intention pissing off none of you, my dear Friends and MJ fans! It's just something that I would like to say...
"I think that all of Lisa Marie songs are GREAT, I l’amour the rhythm, the instruments sound very good,...so much to say! Her voice has spirit, passion, a little bit of anger, but most of it, her voice has strenght.
I admire her as a person now, as the beautiful singer that she is, and i'm sorry that she's not recognize par the public and the industry, as she deserved to be.
Kenny Ortega Interview - Michael Jackson's This Is It
posted by House34
Kenny Ortega is a fabulous person and we really appreciated his time. Here’s what he had to tell us about his new film and his historic collaboration with Michael Jackson:
Q: Have toi had any sleep?
KO: toi know, I haven’t had any sleep for the last few months. I haven’t. During the rehearsals, I worked pretty late hours and then we did the memorial and then we started up on the film and the film was 14 hours a day, seven days a week, every week since we started and then we handed the movie over and it was like mixing. We just came back from 10 days out on the road starting in Chicago with...
[LYRICS] Nite Line
posted by mj_yana_girl
Background Info
(AKA Nightline), this song was written par Glen Ballard, Brie Howard, David Allen Faragher (1982) for Michael's Thriller album, but failed to make the final track listing.
"When I found out it wasn't going to be on there, I just said, I'll be on the suivant one," a dit Ballard in 1999. "And the truth is, I got on the suivant two, which cumulatively sold over 50 million. It turned out to be good karma. I feel that if Nite-Line had been on Thriller, I would never have written Man In The Mirror, which is an infinitely better song, and one of the best in my catalogue."
It was recorded as Nightline...
OSU Tribute To Michael Jackson
MICHAEL JACKSON 61th BIRTHDAY tribute, 2019
@nalonso68jackson
61th birthday tribute
1977 The Wiz Press Conference
added by Birthdays
Source: Birthdays
Two musique Legends
The Legendary Michael Jackson
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I'M THINKING OF YOU - performance in Sopot
Franko B will perform I'M THINKING OF YOU at
Państwowa Galeria Sztuki, Sopot, Poland on 12th January 2017.
(part of 'Bipolar VI International Meeting of Performers in Sopot')
More information here >
I'M THINKING OF YOU - performance in Vienna
Franko B will perform I'M THINKING OF YOU at Tanzquartier Wien Centre for Contemporary Choreography and Performance on 25th January 2017.
'Supported by music from composer Helen Ottaway, Franko B creates a surreal dream setting in the performance I’m Thinking of You. While the naked body plays a central role as in all the Italian choreographer’s performances, in this piece it is also the theatrical presentation of objects and music that takes the audience on a contemplative journey. I’m Thinking of You conceives a romantic utopia of child-like imagination and carefreeness. A toy from Franko B’s childhood served as inspiration for this piece, and he has turned it into a sculpture for the performance.'
MILK & BLOOD - performance in London
Franko B will perform MILK & BLOOD for the final time on 16th March 2018 at Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB
More information and tickets here >
Appropriating the aesthetics of boxing, Milk + Blood is an exercise in mental and physical endurance. Exploring themes of pain, eroticism, revulsion, ecstasy and masculinity, the performance becomes a metaphor for social struggle and resilience.
Using the democratic tool of his own body, this performance touches on the personal, political and poetic, as Franko revisits themes of his previous work.
Milk will bleed.
NEW CERAMICS WORKS IN PROGRESS
New ceramics works (in progress) by Franko B (2017)
FRANKO B CERAMICS OPEN STUDIO SALE
FRANKO B CERAMICS OPEN STUDIO SALE - See new Franko B works in ceramics. Limited edition series of objects / sculpture available to buy at affordable prices.
12th December 2017, 3:00 - 9:00 pm
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - video
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - an exhibition of works from the a/political collection curated by Franko B at Rua Red, Dublin, 7th October - 2nd December 2017. www.ruared.ie
Video by Nathaniel Walters
BECAUSE OF LOVE: A FILM ABOUT FRANKO B - screening in Turin
BECAUSE OF LOVE: A Film About Franko B by Nathaniel Walters
Screening at Comodo64, Via Bologna 92A, Torino - 3rd November 2017
HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR FAMILY, THE CHURCH AND THE STATE - workshop in Dublin
Rua Red, Dublin
How to survive your family, the church and the state and make the work that matters to you.
A workshop with artist and curator Franko B.
Join the artist and curator of the exhibition HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! for an energetic and dynamic workshop. Over the three days you will go through various exercises with Franko B. This workshop offers an insight to Franko’s practice and exposes you to an existing contemporary art practice. Franko B’s practice spans drawing, installation, performance and sculpture. Over the years he has built up a diverse and sizable body of work and has gained international acclaim for his contribution to contemporary art.
If you would like to book a place on this workshop email no more than 20 words an explanation on why you would like to take part to Lorna at lkavanagh@ruared.ie. Deadline: 31 Oct 2017
http://www.ruared.ie/whats-on/event/the-personal-the-political-and-the-poetic
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - photos
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - selected works from the a/political collection curated by Franko B, currently showing at Rua Red, Dublin - ruared.ie/event/how-to-say-it-the-way-it-is/all
EAT SHIT FUCK DIE - limited edition jewellery range
EAT SHIT FUCK DIE - a limited edition unisex jewellery range designed by Franko B in collaboration with jewellery maker Mayu Iwakami (iLiLiP).
Available to order now from ililip.com >
Chain: Stainless steel Cuban link chain (edition of 50). Laser engraved 'EAT SHIT FUCK DIE' on four 2mm thick dog tags, joined with a chunky stainless steel chain with a big pair lobster clasp. Can be worn as a necklace or a trouser chain.
Cross Ring: Heavyweight signet ring (edition of 50). Engraved 'EAT SHIT FUCK DIE' with a small cross in the middle. 25 gram silver 925.
Skull Ring: Heavyweight signet ring (edition of 50). Engraved 'EAT SHIT FUCK DIE' with a small skull in the middle. 25 gram silver 925.
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - trailer
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS!
An exhibition of works from the a/political collection curated by Franko B at Rua Red, Dublin.
7th October - 2nd December 2017
ruared.ie/event/how-to-say-it-the-way-it-is/all
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - publicity materials
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS
Selected works from the a/political collection curated by Franko B
7th October - 2nd November 2017, Rua Red, Dublin
http://ruared.ie/event/how-to-say-it-the-way-it-is/all
Artists: Franko B, Petr Davydtchenko, Democracia, Kendell Geers, Leon Golub, John Heartfield, IRWIN, Peter Kennard, kennardphillips, Barbara Kruger, Oleg Kulik, Andrei Molodkin, Gustav Metzger, Shirin Neshat, Arsen Savadov, Andres Serrano, Santiago Sierra, Ai Weiwei
View press release >
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - press article
Truncheons, pistols and KKK to feature in ‘socio-political’ show organised by Franko B
(article by Gareth Harris for The Art Newspaper, August 2017 >)
Performance artist's Dublin exhibition will include works by Santiago Sierra, Shirin Neshat and Andres Serrano
"A selection of works commissioned and collected by a/political—a London-based non-profit that collaborates with “socio-political” artists—will go on show this autumn in an exhibition in Ireland. The exhibition, titled How to Say It the Way It Is!, is due to open at the Rua Red gallery in south Dublin (7 October-2 December) […>]"
Full article: http://theartnewspaper.com/news/news/truncheons-pistols-and-kkk-to-feature-in-socio-political-show-organised-by-franko-b/
MILK & BLOOD - performance at Colchester Arts Centre
Franko B will perform MILK & BLOOD at Colchester Arts Centre on 8th November 2017.
Doors open 7:30pm, performance starts 8pm.
An exhibition of works from the a/political collection curated by Franko B.
Opens 7th October 2017
Exhibition continues until 2nd December 2017
More details coming soon
ruared.ie/event/rua-red-partnership-apolitical/2017-08-27
BLOOD COUNTS - screening programme
LADA is curating Blood Counts, a programme of events exploring blood in performance for BLOOD: Life Uncut, a season of work for the new Science Gallery, London.
Looking at blood as a signifier of identity and being, as a marker of fragility and illness, as a form of protest and resistance, as a manifestation of bodily functions, and as a test of the limits of the body, Blood Counts includes an evening of presentations, provocations and discussions around the aesthetics, ethics, biomedical and cultural contexts of blood and performance at Guy's Chapel, Kings College, and a screening of short films and documentation of key performance works involving blood at the Copeland Gallery in Peckham.
Friday 13 October at 7pm Guy's Chapel
The evening includes a keynote presentation on blood in art by Dr Dominic Johnson, a performance of Passion/Flower by Ernst Fischer & Nicola Hunter, and contributions from the artists Marisa Carnesky and jamie lewis hadley.
Saturday 14 October at 7pm Copeland Gallery
The screening programme includes short films and documentation of performance works by Franko B, Marisa Carnesky, Ron Athey, Kira O'Reilly, Regina Jose Galindo, La Ribot, Martin O'Brien, jamie lewis hadley, Ernst Fischer & Nicola Hunter, and Rocio Boliver.
More information / tickets: thisisliveart.co.uk/whats-on/blood-counts/
FRANKO B ARTIST TALK - Freud Museum, London
25th June 2017, 2pm
Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, NW3 5SX
Free with admission (£8 / £6 / £4) - no need to book
https://www.freud.org.uk/events/76905/artists-talk-franko-b/
On the occasion of Refugee Week 2017, The Freud Museum London is delighted to host contemporary artist Franko B who will be discussing his installations in the museum, SLEEPING BEAUTY & Still Life, in relation to his ongoing series Childhood in Distress. This body of work resonates deeply with Franko B’s personal biography, who as a child was an orphan in the Italian care system and later came to London after a prolonged period of homelessness in his native Italy, they commonly depict the suffering of innocent youths from a variety of global contexts drawn from Franko B’s exhaustive visual research.
FRANKO B: LOVE LETTERS - photographs and reviews
Exhibition of Franko B's work from the collection of Galleria Pack, showing at Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo until 9th July 2017.
fondazionesantelia.it/mostre/frankob-1/itemid-206.html
Franko B. Un nuovo Marsia a Palermo > (Marcello Faletra, Artribune, June 2017)
Franko B: Love Letters in Palermo > (Virginia Glorioso, Urban Mirrors, June 2017)
Sicilia Queer 2017: Franko B >
FRANKO B IN CONVERSATION WITH SARAH WILSON - podcast
Recording of Franko B's conversation with Sarah Wilson at the Freud Museum, London, at the opening of the exhibition of his sculpture SLEEPING BEAUTY and photographic series, STILL LIFE - showing until 16th July 2016.
podcast.freud.org.uk/e/sleeping-beauty-franko-b-in-conversation-with-sarah-wilson/
SLEEPING BEAUTY - photographs from the Freud Museum
Franko B's recent sculpture, SLEEPING BEAUTY (Carrara marble, 2016), and a re-imagined version of his photographic series, STILL LIFE (1999-2002) are now showing at The Freud Museum (London) until 16th July 2017, featuring alongside the exhibition 'Best Possible School: Anna Freud, Dorothy Tiffany Birlingham and the Hietzing School in 1920's Vienna', coinciding with Refugee Week 2017.
freud.org.uk/exhibitions/76839/sleeping-beauty
SICILIA QUEER 2017 - exhibition and screening
Franko B will be participating in Sicilia Queer Film Fest 2017 (Palermo) with an exhibition of his work from the collection of Galleria Pack (LOVE LETTERS), and a screening of BECAUSE OF LOVE - a film about his life and work by Nathaniel Walters.
Exhibition: LOVE LETTERS
curated by Antonio Leone and Paola Nicita for Sicilia Queer 2017
26th May - 9th July 2017
Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo
Screening: BECAUSE OF LOVE
25th May 2017, 1830
Cinema de Seta, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa
siciliaqueerfilmfest.it/
Gefur listinni blóð - radio interview
Franko B interviewed by Halla Þórlaug Óskarsdóttir for Víðsjá about his workshop Time Space Nothing at the University of Reykjavík (Spring 2017).
Listen here >
http://www.ruv.is/frett/gefur-listinni-blod
SLEEPING BEAUTY - showing at the Freud Museum
10 May 2017 - 16 July 2017
Franko B Sleeping Beauty
Plus: 16th May, 18:45
Franko B in Conversation with Sarah Wilson
freud.org.uk/exhibitions/76839/sleeping-beauty/
The Freud Museum is delighted to announce the exhibition of a new sculpture, Sleeping Beauty, by internationally renowned contemporary artist Franko B, coinciding with Refugee Week 2017 and our latest exhibition, The Best Possible School: Anna Freud, Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham and the Hietzing School in 1920s Vienna. The Museum will also display pieces from Franko B’s series Still Life, in which the artist documented homelessness on the streets of London between 1999 and 2002. The photographs reflect upon the lives of the most vulnerable in our society and reference Franko B’s personal biography.
Sleeping Beauty is a sculpture of a deceased refugee child, presumed to be from Syria, hand carved in marble using traditional methods in the style of Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Like Bernini, Franko B's practice is engaged with an aesthetic dialogue between the sacred and profane. However, in Franko B’s latest sculpture, the sacred is found in the figure of the child rendered eternally in marble and the profane within ourselves, our leaders, our states and institutions - crystallised in our collective failure to address the worst human crisis since the Second World War.
FRANKO B: interview
ARTE VUOL DIRE MOSTRARE BELLEZZA
- Franko B interviewed by Penzo & Fiore at Venice International Performance Art Week (December 2016) for exibart.com (published 31st March 2017)
http://www.exibart.com/notizia.asp?IDNotizia=52800&IDCategoria=1
MILK & BLOOD - interview from Backlit, Nottingham
Interview / documentation of Franko B's performance, MILK & BLOOD at Backlit, Nottingham on 10th March 2017.
A film by Timothy Chesney.
WEBSITE UPDATE: FAQ
New Frequently Asked Questions page:
www.franko-b.com/FAQ.html
Franko B interviewed by Francesca Pierono for themartian.eu about his role teaching sculpture at l'Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino >
THE GOLDEN AGE - currently showing in Spoleto
The Golden Age (2007)
series of paintings by Franko B
acrylic on canvas, 150x180cm (x10)
Currently showing at CORTESIE PER GLI OSPITI - Group exhibition curated by Luigi De Ambrogi at Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive, Spoleto (Perugia), Italy until 2nd May 2017.
(more BLACK PAINTINGS >)
OUCH - PAIN AND PERFORMANCE - screening in Ljubljana
OUCH - PAIN AND PERFORMANCE
Wed Mar 15 2017, 07:00 pm
Aksioma, Komenskega 18, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Screening programme curated by Live Art Development Agency, London with an introduction by Dr. Dominic Johnson, Reader in Performance and Visual Culture in the School of English and Drama, at Queen Mary, University of London.
Ouch is a collection of documentation and artists’ films looking at pain and performance – both the pain artists cause themselves within the course of their work, whether intentional or not, and the experiences of audiences as they are invited to inflict pain on artists or are subjected to pain and discomfort themselves.
The selected works feature eminent and ground breaking artists from around the world: Marina Abramović, ORLAN, Oleg Kulik, Ron Athey, Franko B, Marcel.li Antunez Roca, Heather Cassils, Bob Flanagan, Wafaa Bilal, Rocio Boliver, Petr Pavlensky, Martin O’Brien, Regina Jose Galindo, Ernst Fisher & Nicola Hunter, Kira O’Reilly, jamie lewis hadley.
More information: http://aksioma.org/ouch
CORTESIE PER GLI OSPITI - group exhibition
Un Gallerista la sua Visione
Un Progetto Espositivo
Giampaolo Abbondio
Galleria Pack
Group exhibition curated by Luigi De Ambrogi
4th March - 12th May 2017
Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive, Spoleto (Perugia), Italy
Admission €6.50 / €4.00
www.palazzocollicola.it
info@palazzocollicola.it
facebook.com/PALAZZOCOLLICOLA
www.rivistasegno.eu/events/un-gallerista-la-sua-visione-un-progetto-espositivo/
Artists: Matteo Basilé, Peter Belyi, Simone Bergantini, Edo Bertoglio, Yannis Bournias, Marìa Magdalena Campos-Pons, Pablo Candiloro, Ofri Cnaani, Gianni Colosimo, Nicola Di Caprio, Alberto Di Fabio, Franko B, Robert Gligorov, Fathi Hassan, Debora Hirsch, Zhang Huan, Oleg Kulik, Miltos Manetas, Masbedo, Jason Middlebrook, Bartolomeo Migliore, Andrei Molodkin, Marco Neri, Marina Paris, Giuseppe Pietroniro, Andres Serrano, Robert W. O. Stone, Wainer Vaccari.
OPEN CALL: DEATH & ROMANCE 2017 - a workshop with Franko B
image: from Death & Romance (2016)
Franko B's workshop, DEATH & ROMANCE returns to Trevi for its second edition in Summer 2017.
DEATH & ROMANCE 2017: A journey through the personal, political and poetic: A workshop with Franko B
International workshop in performance art presented by Palazzo Lucarini Contemprary - Centre for Contemporary Art (Trevi), directed by Maurizio Coccia, co-ordinated by Mara Predicatori.
Location: Trevi (PG), Italy
Date: 23rd August - 2nd September 2017
Description: The project aims to bring together the radical performative experience of the renowned international artist Franko B within the habitat of Trevi. We envisage a new meeting place for developing themes and personal techniques. The rural setting and the bucolic ambience will be the setting for an extremely rigorous training programme based on strong methodological soundness. At the end of the course, participants will present publicly the results of the workshop within the Centre of Contemporaray Art “Palazzo Lucarini”. The materials produced during the workshop will be on display until october 1.
Minimum number of participants: 16
Maximum: 20
Residence: food and lodging for 10 days is provided. Board in rustic building with panoramic views of the Umbrian Valley. Dormitory accommodation.
Applications: Candidates must send their application, comprising their CV, a personal statement about why they want to participate in the workshop (up to 150 words), and a portfolio of 4-6 images and/or links to 1-2 short videos of their recent works to frankobartist@yahoo.co.uk and info@palazzolucarini.it.
Deadline for applications: 21st May 2017.
Cost: €650 per person. Includes registration fees, materials, accommodation and meals.
Participation in the workshop includes authorisation for full use by the organisation of all graphics, audio, video and photographic materials produced during the course, for all future publications,(paper and/or digital).
MILK & BLOOD - performance in Nottingham
Franko B will perform MILK & BLOOD at Backlit Gallery, Nottingham on Friday 10th March 2017, 19:30.
Tickets: backlit.org.uk
For more information about the performance, see franko-b.com/milk_and_blood.html
Plus: Breakfast with Franko B - Join Franko B and the teams from Backlit and Dance4 for breakfast to discuss Franko's work and the challenges of making and presenting performance work in the 21st century - Saturday 11th March, 10:00-11:30 am, Backlit Gallery, Alfred House, Nottingham.
Tickets: dance4.co.uk/about/project/nottdance-2017/event/nottdance/2017-03-11/breakfast-franko-b-uk
NEW T-SHIRT IN MEMORY OF BEUYS
New T-shirt design in memory of Franko B's dog, Beuys (5/10/2005- 26/12/2016).
Available as a Men's T-Shirt, Women's T-Shirt, Men's Sweatshirt, Women's Sweatshirt and Kids' T-Shirt
Visit https://shop.spreadshirt.co.uk/franko-b/ to order.
BECAUSE OF LOVE: A FILM ABOUT FRANKO B - screening...
HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR FAMILY, THE CHURCH AND THE STA...
EAT SHIT FUCK DIE - limited edition jewellery rang...
HOW TO SAY IT THE WAY IT IS! - publicity materials...
MILK & BLOOD - performance at Colchester Arts Cent...
FRANKO B IN CONVERSATION WITH SARAH WILSON - podca...
SLEEPING BEAUTY - photographs from the Freud Museu...
OUCH - PAIN AND PERFORMANCE - screening in Ljublja...
OPEN CALL: DEATH & ROMANCE 2017 - a workshop with ...
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Silva shuddered, prompting Federan to cover her hand with his own.
“Master Silva goes to the North as soon as her party can be assembled. Mitash, to the South East, to discover all that can be learned from the mass of Masters who apparently were involved in the destruction of the weather spells. Halidan, that fellow who assisted Master Silva this morning, he is the mortal engineer of whom you spoke?”
“Yes, you may not be aware High King, but mortals have guilds of various skills. The mortal, one Farnam re Kindre, is the local guild master. He has promised me to assign his skilled colleagues and apprentices to your service. They are prepared to go wherever you command.” Haldian consulted a list then continued speaking.
Behind her chair one of the Lady Regent’s bodyguard, Cris Dracolan, caught Silva’s attention and drew her away from the presentation and closer to the wall.
“If you will grant me this whim, Master Silva,” began Cris. “Before you embark on your journey North, Master Farnam is the father of my… my young lady and he has asked to speak to you. There is engineering questions he wishes you to undertake before he leaves his family. He wishes to know the, well, the stresses and strengths of your magic.” Cris frowned at the words.
Silva, accustomed to the stress of thread and cloth nodded. “I would be honored to meet him. This afternoon, after the synod,” she glanced about the room. For the most part she was being ignored. Only Eioth, the High King, spared a glance for her, situated as she was behind Halidan’s chair. She could not judge from his expression if he approved or disapproved of their conversation. Erring on the side of least offense Silva whispered to the bodyguard, “later.”
Cris nodded and stepped back again.
Another elvish voice was raised in petulant complaint and Silva winced, grateful that it was not she who was required to chivy this group into motion.
And cast an apology toward the memory of her mother. Obviously willful blindness was not an exclusively mortal complaint.
Meanwhile in the True South
Elanis emerged early from her pile of blankets and winced as the chill air hit her face and the floor caused her toes to curl. Even wrapped in two pairs of socks her feet were sensitive to cold stone floors. Taking a deep breath she reminded herself she was grateful. Grateful to have a secure roof over her head. She glanced up to make certain it was still in place. Many refugees were living in the tent city High Lady Senoia ordered assembled. Elanis, however, had a house. A secure and somewhat warmer than outside, a house in which to keep her ever changing tribe of orphans. There was a core group of homeless children she’d brought out of the Lowlands that stayed constant but for the rest, Elanis huffed out a sigh.
She had food, which reminded her she must rise and begin her day. There was a thin film of ice in the lavitory and when she dunked her already winter reddened hands into the basin to wash she hissed out words not used in Ritual.
Then she was downstairs to greet the morning and the other items on her gratitude list. Young Ceridin was still with her and as useful a fellow she might never see for all that he was only twelve and skinny with it. She’d acquired Ceridin on the journey out of the floods and it was the lads stated wish to be a town guard when he grew right now he was useful in managing the younger lads, his brother Metir and Jegory te Fallon amongst them.
Ceredin was already awake, dressed and in the small courtyard of their house, opening the wooden gate that separated the yard from the narrow lane behind. Two guards, one mortal, one mixed blood, escorted in an elf and pony bearing locked paniers.
“Bright the day,” declared the elf, smiling at Ceredin and Elanis both.
“Bright the day,” echoed Elanis, as the elf balanced a large book on his forearm and took a pen out of his sash.
“Ah, here it is. For Elanis Master Weaver.” The elf handed the book and pen over to Elanis while he took a key and with clumsy movements unlocked an old padlock binding closed a pouch. He tutted to himself. “This does not grow easier.”
“Perhaps a little oil,” said Elanis. “The old locks do seem to tighten up in the winter, especially on cold, wet mornings.”
The elf shot her a look. “Do you tell me so? Astonishing.” He glanced toward the mortal guard for confirmation. Recieving a nod the elf continued. “Any oil in particular?”
“There are machinery oils specific to the task,” began Elanis.
“Then I shall ask one of the engineers High Lady Senoia is gathering.” The lock clicked open and the elf drew out a pouch, counted the contents before passing it to Elanis who counted it again then signed.
Elanis smiled as she tucked the money away. She accepted it. She was not fool enough to refuse. She was grateful for each small coin and kept a percentage in a safe place against the time when the money was no longer delivered. As soon as the elf and his guard departed another arrived, this one with a small cart drawn by a donkey, but the guards, the book, the strict record keeping was the same. The cart came daily bearing food and other supplies for the the orphanage. Ceridin locked the gate behind the latest arrivals lest curious neighbors discover how much, or how little, was delivered to this house. The paranoia necessary for life weighed on Elanis’s soul but she said nothing to discourage the boy. Instead she counted balls of cheese, an already plucked hen, bread and grain and other essentials, signed in the great book, then turned to assist Ceridin in restocking the cart. Here Elanis salved her pride knowing that she was not merely accepting charity, accepting rations. No. She was contributing to the safety, the health of others. She kept her orphans busy. Busy spinning, busy weaving and knitting. Two of the older children were skilled with felting needles and wasn’t that the best way to make warm clothing. Into the gaps on the cart they packed felted hats and gloves and socks. Tightly knitted blankets and vests. The elf thanked her sincerely as he lifted one softly felted, multicolored scarf from the pile and rubbed it against his face before tucking it back into the cart. He, himself, wore a cap Elanis felted for him and he expressed his gratitude often.
“My duties take me to the refugee camp later today,” he observed, nodding as he noted the quantity of socks the children produced. He added the numbers to his lists, gave a copy to Elanis tucked his own away. “There are many, so many, who will be grateful for your skills, Master Weaver.”
“And glad I am to be of service,” said Elanis.
There was a noise from the house and a small girl ran out, a canvas bag in her hand.
“And you, little one?” asked the elf, bending down to her level. “What have you here?”
“Dollies,” said the child. “I have made dollies for the little girls who lost theirs.”
She opened the bag and produced a few lopsided felted figures, one spotted dog and what might be a cow or a horse. The elf laughed to see them.
“Oh, and very happy you will make the little girls, my dear.”
Elanis blushed. “Cicily. Where did you get the wool?”
“Off ends of the rovings, Elanis,” said Ciciliy. “Naomi said they were too small for her to use.”
Since Elanis, and Naomi, both knew there was no roving of wool too small to be of use Elanis simply sighed. Ciciliy, at least, was showing compassion.
The elf tucked the small toys away. “I promise they shall gain good homes,” he promised the little girl who blushed as she bowed to the very tall elf.
Elanis and Cicily waved goodbye, watching as Ceridin again dealt with the gate.
Once their little yard was safe they carried the supplies into the kitchen where another of Elanis’s lost souls was stirring a thick porridge. Naomi tor Linot, another weaver from the Lowlands, had appeared at Elanis’s door a tenday ago, seeking her lost children. Their names were not on the list of found children Elanis maintained. Naomi refused to depart as other desperate parents did, instead insisting on remaining at the orphanage until reunited with her loved ones. She was an odd woman, her grief manifesting itself with an obsession with cleanliness, but she was useful to Elanis and patient, if a little obsessed with keeping track of the orphans. Elanis sniffed over the bowl she was served, wishing idly for spices or dried fruit or something to liven the rice portage. It was dull but it was hot, it was there, and it might disappear tomorrow.
Gratitude Elanis reminded herself. Gratitude. Although she desperately wished each day that she was back in her comfortable warm house with her well maintained and respected workshop, she pressed her lips together and forced a smile. Gratitude.
Feeding the smaller children took an hour after which they were settled in the courtyard to take turns reading aloud and working on their letters and numbers. There were only a few hours of sunlight for outdoor work but it saved them wasting scarce candles and lantern oil in the daytime.
She tried, but not too hard, to leave the house alone but Ceridin knew her schedule as well as she did herself. If she was leaving the house, leaving the children, leaving with money in her possession her self appointed guard was in attendance. It was understandable, truly, that the lad insisted on staying close to Elanis. In truth the lad would prefer to give his devotion and attendance to Silva but having lost everything Ceridin clung to what remained. Clung and was useful.
And Elanis was grateful for his companionship.
She frowned at the map. So many small lights, yes, and tight together.
What did they represent?
Drawing out her borrowed notebook Silva did a number of quick sketches. The first only the landmarks and outline of the maps, the rivers, valleys and mountain ranges. On one map she sketched out the path the High King wished her to follow. After a half dozen of these general maps she did one and one only of the lights.
Tucking the book into her sash she rose and frowning, concentrated on calling the extra glow from the room and looked about for somewhere to put it. To hide it. Strange, she laughed to herself, it was easy to create the light but she could not think of a way to send it away. She couldn’t even think of a way to make it smaller. She could, perhaps, put up some more decorations on the walls but they would continue to glow for a time after she departed and she couldn’t count on the room being left empty long enough for the light to fade. The High King might have other people needing to see that map. She was not privy to his schedule.
Sending it away was far harder than calling those stairs into being. She continued to draw light from the room until the magic retreated to a very dim glow. If friend Tormin taught her anything it was that she should have a store of light magic to hand. She could not, would not waste this effort. If she had light to hand when, she shuddered, when those archers… when they’d raised their bows… She pushed the memory away. Oh, if she’d possessed the magic, the time, she might have attacked instead of protecting and that would not have ending well. Not when it was all a strange misunderstanding. She frowned. Soon she must be a full explaination. Tor Halidan would know. She cupped the lenght of extra light in both hands then carried it over to the doorway. Without that light the room was dimmer but there was still a small glow to the map. After a pause she held her hand over a slightly larger speck, feeding light into it and taking an equal amount back. She wrapped the resultant thread around a finger, shaping it into a thin ring. She wasn’t certain who created this map or the purpose but it seemed right that she have this link to the past of her magic.
Satisfied she could discover nothing more here she left the room was in something close to darkness. A few hours would be enough to remove the evidence of her presence.
Well, nothing beyond that pile of light threads. She shook her head and lifted it. There had to be some inconspicious way to carry this. A vest, perhaps, except it didn’t move like normal fabric. Or shoes? No. She concentrated and a moment later she made her way down the corridors carring a dull, grey walking stick with an intensely glowing handle.
The next morning Silva was finally formally presented to the Synod. The High Lords, and Mitash, gathered in the training yard staring up at the strangely, almost obscenely denuded front of the High King’s House. The half deflated white dome was behind her and High King Eioth stood at her side, his hand resting on Silva’s shoulder.
“High Lords, Ladies, I bring to you Master Silva, Adept of the Element of Light. I ask you to bid her welcome and invite you to witness her adept demonstration.”
A pink stain rose on Siva’s cheeks and she hesitated, uncertain as to what she should do.
“It is not necessary for you to recreate the steps as they were before,” added Eioth, waving toward the naked stone. “Put your own touch on the construction.”
With a nod Silva stepped forward. First she reached out and called to the clumsy, collapsed dome, which smoothed, flowed and moved rapidly toward the House. Several witnesses cried out and stepped back. A few servants down in the courtyard going so far as to run around the corner of the House and away. No one fainted although a few cried out that they would. The Elements were invoked to save them.
Silva ignored all the noise, concentrating, moving her hands as she shaped the image in her mind. Her first attempt attached a clumsy set of steps directly to the front of the House. She gave a small sound of distress when she realized that repair would not serve. She collapsed the construction again and forming a broad, curving balcony with a matching curved staircase almost the same as was there before. There were some murmurs of approval but Silva frowned, set her teeth and continued. The High King referred to this as her Adept test and simple, flat white was not enough. She had, in better times, planned out her weaver Masterwork. She stepped forward, climbing the thin surface of the stair treads as interlaced geometric patterns spread out before her. Utilizing what she’d learned from bridge building she made the surface a little rough, casting fine lacework into the uppers while making the risers smooth straight lines. She worked the edges of the balcony, raising protective balustrades and inserting love seats and individual chairs at decorative intervals along the railings as fine as fabric lace but as strong as mountains. Finishing the stairs were harder. They needed to be level, equal in depth and safe. Yielding to the practical inevitable she requested a trained engineer’s assistance to measure and confirm the level. Lady Halidan sent her body guard Cris running to the nearby town and he returned with a mortal engineer and his apprentice, with his measures and levels and surveying equipment.
The whole task took the better part of the morning but eventually she was done. She used some part of the recovered Light magic from the dome to restore the crenelations and decorations to the facade and stopped.
“High King, is this acceptable?” She waved to the glowing white surface. “You will forgive me, I hope, that this time I do not change the appearance to that of common stone. I want it to remain in the mind of visitors to the House that this was made of Light Magic and nothing else.”
“I am grateful,” said Eioth and turned to the Synod. “Well, shall you accept this proof? You know of your own magic, even in the fullness of your powers working with other masters, you could not summon all of this in the space of one morning.”
“Beautiful, as always, dear Silva,” said Federan, boldly stepping out and wandering over the surface, brushing his fingers over an area of decoration.
Most of the Synod regarded it with deep suspicion and it was another hour before they acknowledge that yes, it was an acceptable demonstration of her power. Eioth, patience near to exhausted led the way up the new staircase and back to the temporary Synod hall.
“Now that important matter is attended to,” said Eioth, as Federan and Silva retreated to True South’s throne. “I will hear reports as to what preparations you have made to bring aid to your demesnes and being the restoration of the empire.”
A heavy silence answered him.
“What nothing?” demanded Eioth.
“It has only been one day,” protested a voice.
“It has been a full moon, more, since the weather spells broke!” cried Federan. “What have you done to justify your rank?”
“Calmly, Federan,” said Eioth and began walking the room. “An advantage Master Silva brings us is a solution to the communications problem. Master Silva, as soon as you have recovered from this morning’s exercise I require whisper ribbons.”
“How many?” asked Silva, then blushed when she realized she’d interrupted the High King. He, however, smiled kindly.
“As many as you can prepare until you depart.” Turning his gaze to the High Lords he continued. “These ribbons you have seen used, my High Lords. You will send one half of your assigned ribbons to persons in your demesne with whom you wish to communicate rapidly. Your assistants, your Heirs. Work cannot be delayed by the long ride required to cover the long distances and over come flooded rivers and damaged roads. Indeed, we need to know where these floods and damage is so it can be repaired. The longest delay will be the transportation of the whisper ribbons.”
General muttering answered this. There was a brief disturbance from the archivists table, but they subsided with Eioth frowned at them.
“Since you have made no plans, no preparations, you shall here my thoughts.”
As he walked Eioth dictated the building of signs and creation of guard stations to direct refugees to the South East, True East and North East, who had suffered least of all the demesnes. The North West would take its share of the lost and wandering but they would have to continue to the far west of the demesne. True West and South West would also take some refugees but since the flooding to the South West, draining down from the Broken Spine mountains had not yet crested few would be sent in that direction at this time. Food, being the greatest need, must be provided at way stations along these routes and therefore must be the resource moved early.
“The refugees will sent the shortest distance to a place of safety. Fortunately our scrying will give us guidance as to which roads are passable. The safest place to direct the citizens. With whisper ribbons we can direct the rescue efforts. I would ask that your Heirs send supplies to the central corridor so the fewest number will die of starvation before they reach safety.”
“Tell me what you think helps you,” the comb caught on a large knot and Silva yelped. “Ah, my apologies.”
“Cut if you must. For the light magic, can you think of a time you sat before a candle or a fire and were drifting off to sleep?”
“Yes. Careful. Do not move. This one is close to the scalp.”
“Ugh. Well, have you noticed that the outside of the dark seems to glow and tremble a little?”
“That is it,” said Silva. “When I say that to Federan or Halidan they say ‘no’.”
“There are some differences between elves and mortals. Perhaps our eyes are different. Besides, I have seen that odd change to the light many times in my life but never have I done anything with it.”
“Next time you see it try and pick it up. I did.” Silva looked at the floor. “But not now. It is too early in the day. You have to wait until there is a strong difference between light and dark. Straight lines. Shadows.”
“I shall call again one evening for instruction.” IOnia moved the shears smoothly over Silva’s head. “I am trying for an even length so in some areas I am leaving a small knot. It may be that you can tease those knots out and I can come again and trim you evenly.”
“That is well.”
“If that is the case, then I am done.Do you wish to see?”
“No,” said Silva, seizing her borrowed scarf from a table and wrapping it about her head. “Later is soon enough. If you can leave this book so I might copy the illustrations as well?”
“Tomorrow is soon enough, Master Silva,” Ionia swept the hair cuttings up in her hands and deposited them in the nearest fire. Silva crinkled her nose at the smell. With a nod Ionia gathered the rest of her equipment and vanished.
Silva found pen and a blank plain book in a chest of drawers. There was no luxury denied the High King’s guests, it seemed. Dark ink. Good paper were easily to hand. It was the work of two hours, while the daylight grew dim and the noises from the window died away, to copy out the pages. She was considering drawing light from the nearby brazier to her hand to light her work when she turned the page and found the next section was the treatment of certain birthing related wounds and closed the book with a disgusted noise.
She glanced about, surprised to realize how much time had passed, then looked toward a neat water-clock and laughed at herself. A distant memory of her school days reminded her, this far north, at this time of year, night fell earlier. Supper would not be for a few hours yet although she wasn’t certain where she was supposed to go to find food. Her meals thus far were served in her rooms while she recovered from exhaustion.
Rising she went to the door and stopped. There, above her head, a chain of flowers began and ran around the chamber. She hadn’t noticed before but again there was the remnants of Light Magic.
She bit her lip as she stared. How old was this House? The High King himself seemed uncertain. When they’d passed a new corridor, known to be so by the absence of Light magic decorations he had not answered when asked when the building took place. Could it be he knew so little of his House’s history or, perhaps, had he been deceived as well?
When had Light Magic been so common that it was used for simple House lights? Why had she not seen similar before? Was it only in the Houses of the High Court elves?
And what else had she sensed in that map chamber?
There was but one way to find out. The question that nagged was, did she wish to venture there alone or should she wait for Federan? For the High King or Lady Halidan?
Or, perhaps, Trevan of the True North. The way he spoke to her, of her and her abilities brought to mind that terrifying time in the training grounds when she could not believe what was happening. Standing only a short distance away from the bleeding body of a High Lord with shattered arrows underfoot, she feared her death was near. Had she not possessed Light Magic and the balcony and stairs near and ready to be used both she and Halidan would be dead.
Dead. At the hands of elves. Sentenced to death as her father threatened. Dead, as her mother feared.
She huddled against the door. Since she’d woken no one spoke a word about the event. Besides her husband, that was. He assured her that would never happen again but how could he prevent it? If the guards came? If the High King commanded? Her stomach sank and her head began to ache. She was being sent away from the land she knew and was known far to the North. Under guard. Alone. Federan was staying here. Perhaps she should take Tormin with her. If aught went awry, if someone tried to harm her, she could use Light magic to get free and then Tormin would guide her home again. In all the confusion and turmoil she could find a place to hide, to live and with so many wandering about who would question her an doubt the name she gave?
She opened the door and looked about. No one. Ducking back inside she fetched her book. She should look at that map again. Create a drawing clear enough that if she lost track of Tormin she would have some vague idea of where she was, what landmarks were important.
Or, she should stop lying to herself and admit she wanted to see what light magic lay under that stone floor.
Retracing her steps took no time at all. There were no servants hurrying about in the dim corridors. She’d summoned light to the bracelet she’d fashioned to celebrate her marriage to Federan, and smiled when she heard his voice faintly through it. She would remember that and make certain to that her explorations made no sound.
She froze inside the door, then shut it tight behind her. When they’d departed earlier the only light in the room was the sword and the web binding it to the wall. Now the whole room was lit. All the geometric designs she’d sensed and, which was astonishing, a mass of tiny pinpricks of light in the map.
Not the whole map. Her geography classes, dimly remembered, told her the shape of the Continent and yes, that was here but the lights were clustered along the west side of the Northern mountain range - half of what was True North in modern times, then they drifted down filling where now was the North West and Full West demesne and some part of valley that was now the Hub of Harmony lake. More than a third, less than a half of the continent but from the look of those southernmost two lights, there was nothing of interest in all the southern demesnes.
She hazarded a step onto the map to gain a closer look. Her weight caused no harm. Crouching down, she near crawled until she reached the northern sector. It was clear that eastern branch of the Touch of God Mountain range and the North/South River were clear of the lights. They actually began on the western side of the Touch of God range.
She ran her fingers over the lights, startled when a few thin threads rose, sticky and twisting, trying to attach to her lantern. Impatiently she pushed the light back into the stone. So, the light recognized her, or her lantern.
“I am grateful, High Lord.”
Trevan nodded. “Messengers will be sent in advance of your travels. We will reach out to the nomads to ask for their assistance traveling over the snow. They should have come to populated areas for the festival of Third Harvest and be more accessible than other times of year.”
“Again, gratitude.”
“The emissary I have chosen is my own nephew, my Heir, Phineian,” continued Trevan. “All who live in the North know him well. Listen to him, be guided by him and all will be well for you.”
Eioth straightened. “One of the reasons I brought you here, Master Silva is to show you the whole of the country. Our Empire is vast. You have done much to aid True South with the road and bridge that unites the South with South East. And the bridge that unites East and West at Hub of Harmony. But see, this is the vastness of the Empire. Compared to the needs facing us more, far more, is required than mere bridges and you are our only Master of Light. Turn you mind, if you can, to a stronger means of communication than the whisper-ribbons. I cannot give a ribbon to each person of the empire. Or even each mayor and alderman and yet I must speak to them all, to guide our repairs, to help our peoples.”
“Yes, High King.”
“Your unique status you should take steps to correct,” said Trevan. “You must train as many of those who travel with you as possible. High King, perhaps Masters of Fire should accompany the party. Fire is the closest Element to Light, in my mind. Those who are trained can return to us and be sent on to other tasks.”
“I tried…” began Silva.
“She tried…” said Federan, at the same time.
“You must try harder,” insisted Trevan. “What if you should die of some illness? There are no Water priests to attend you and these herb-women Lady Halidan promotes, if they were so skilled with medicine we would need fewer priests.”
Before any other could respond Lady Halidan spoke.
“There is so much in that statement that is wrong, my Lord Trevan. First and foremost is your accusation that Master Silva does not try hard enough. To have overcome so much, come so far and with no more support than one guard and a powerless elf, she is to be admired not admonished!” She stared at Trevan until he lowered his gaze. “Yes, indeed. I would like to see you accomplish anything in comparison under good circumstances let alone such privation as she endured. In the fullness of your power you could not raise a footpath let alone a bridge!”
A shrug was her only answer.
“Secondly, Water priests are lazy. The herb-women serve the majority of our citizens while Water priests cast spells each festival days and must be heavily bribed to attend those persons whose illnesses are beyond the herb-women’s abilities. Lennett is under compulsion to speak the truth in these matters. Ask him if you do not believe me.”
“I should not dream of doubting your words,” said Trevan.
Which was wise, in Silva’s opinion, given the glare being directed toward him by the High King.
“Those reasons are sufficient,” said the High King. “For now, before you depart, Master Silva, I need as many of the whisper ribbons as you can create without doing yourself harm.”
Silva nodded. “I assumed as much. I made one set as a test of my abilities as soon as I awoke. Their creation take little time and effort.”
“Thank you,” said Eioth. “I believe we have accomplished as much as can be here. Trevan, have your nephew attend upon Master Silva this afternoon to begin planning. I should prefer they depart in a few days.”
“I have preparations in hand, High King. If it were not for the scrying I would be begging leave from you to depart myself.”
“Stay, my friend. I have need of my strongest and most intelligent supporters in Synod.” But the High King looked at Federan not Trevan when he spoke.
The herb-woman, Ionia, was waiting when Federan and Silva returned to their rooms.
“Federan, would you grant me a little privacy to consult with Ionia?” said Silva. “There are matters women should speak of together.”
Federan blushed, which amused both women, and departed without another word. Ionia waited until she was certain he was not loitering outside the room.
“I would be pleased to be of assistance to you, Master Silva. Do you, perhaps, suspect you are with child?”
Silva started and stared blankly at the other woman. “I most sincerely hope not,” she cried. “With all the traveling I shall have to do for the next year or more a pregnancy would be a burden I do not need!”
“Oh? Well, I suppose you have the right of it,” said Ionia. “Permit me to first confirm that you are not with child then we shall discuss which method will best serve you to prevent. If you are traveling it might be best to give you a list of the many alternatives so you can obtain the necessary no matter where in the empire you travel.”
“I would be grateful.”
The examination was mercifully brief and it seemed to Silva that Ionia was searching for something particular at one point but eventually it was done.
“Indeed, you are not with child therefore we might safely discuss the methods you might utilize to maintain that condition.”
“But it seemed to be you were surprised by my words. Was there something else you wish to discuss with me?”
“Nothing medical,” said Silva with a smile, then raised a hand to her hair, currently covered by a scarf borrowed from Lady Halidan. Tugging the scarf off she gave a grimace as her fingers tangled in the knotted mass thus revealed. It was hard to tell the original color so long had it been that the hair had been properly maintained. “Another complication of traveling in poor conditions. My hair … I cannot get a comb to go through it. I tried last night but it is a futile undertaking. I was wondering if you had sharp shears. I would do the job myself but ..”
“Oh, dear.” Ionia tried to imagine drawing a comb through the matted, knotted mess. “If I try to cut it there will nothing left.”
“I don’t mind if it is very short. It will be easier to manage for a long journey and I cannot say that it would be a shame for me to follow the fashion set by Lady Halidan for mortal women’s fashion.”
“As you will, Master Silva.” IOnia crossed the room and pulled a book carefully wrapped in preserve shield bespelled covers and a comb and shears. “I hope you have a good memory,” she said, setting the book on a table before Silva and using the page turner to search through the pages. “The books we receive from the Water Temple are expensive and we are required to swear an oath that we shall not permit them to be copied. Each herb-woman must buy her own copy and protect it lifelong, and after she passes from life the books are returned to the Water Temple to be burned, to go with her to Unity.”
Silva paused, considered then shook her head. “You do know, I hope, that sounds utterly without merit.”
“I do know. I think it is the Water Temples intention to keep herb-women under their control. Our education comes from them at great cost, our annual permission to treat comes with a heavy fee and, to tell the truth, there are times when they abuse their authority to misuse the prettier girls who apply for training.”
“Is that not always the way?” Silva sighed and leaned forward as Ionia placed her book rest holding the page open to show a selection of plants, at various stages of leaf, bud, flower, which were available in one or another of the demesnes. “Have you told Lady Halidan?”
“I shall consider it,” said Ionia, moving to stand behind SIlva’s chair and lifting the pale hair. “If I might suggest a trade? I would close my eyes while you copied over these pages if you…”
“If I would, what? Teach you Light Magic?”
Ionia blushed. “I will understand if it is secret. If you have been told to keep it thus.”
“Not in the least. High King Eioth, himself, has directed me to try and teach as many as I can. Sadly, until this point, I have met with no success.”
Ionia hummed to herself as she worked her fingers into Silva’s hair. “Who have you tried to instruct?”
“Experienced and skilled Magicians,” said Silva. “And Lady Halidan, to see if this magic is for mortals only. None of them can understand what I am trying to say. It might be that I am a poor teacher. I discovered this myself when I was a child too young to know better. I do not remember the moment I caught light for the first time.”
Silva leaned closer but the sound was gone.
“Master Silva,” called Eioth. “Come, let us show you where you must go, and why.”
Silva came to her feet obediently. Federan was a shadows breath behind her while she walked around the map.
“See, Master Silva,” said the High King. “This river, which arises far to the north, further north than our people live, according to our scrying, has frozen. Frozen rivers do not freeze in a neat manner, flat and smooth. No. The older ice is pushed higher, forming huge … what is the term?”
“It is complicated, High King,” said Trevan. “There are areas with ice feet, where the ice reaches from above the surface down to the riverbed. Ice floes, coming loose from further up the river have come down and over time anchor themselves against the strongest of them while some areas of ice are shattered and driven down until they can go no further, due to more ice. Oh, it is impossible to describe the irregularities of the ice. It is more challenging than the worst mountain range. So slippery. So sharp. You can slice your hands and the strongest boots to pieces trying to cross it, and should you touch the surface with your bare skin your hands can adhere to the ice, tearing your skin from your flesh as you try to get free.”
“Do not imagine that ice is softer than stone,” continued Eioth. “It is not. And, the worst of it for your task, Master Silva, I require that whatever you build must continue to exist past ice break-up. When the spring thaw comes ice floes larger than a house will barrel down the river…”
“Carrying trees and soil and rocks with them,” broke in Trevan.
“And will strike any bridge you build. Since by that time you will be about other tasks for me the bridges must be strong enough to survive these attacks.”
Silva simply nodded, a reaction that did not please Trevan.
“Do you understand, mortal? The High King insists that your magic is all that can aid my people. You must build roads, bridges, repair houses and those repairs must last more than one day. Bear the weight of unending snow. This is not some piece of lace. This is life and death.”
“Yes, I hear you,” said Silva. “The bridge I created over Giant’s Gorge required I thrust anchor points through stone.”
“Ice can be stronger than stone, and it moves,” cried Trevan.
“There is nothing I can say to you, High Lord, that will comfort or reassure you,” said Silva, moved by a mix of compassion and frustration her voice emerged cross and hard. “Let a demonstration speak.”
So saying she reached out and pulled the light being cast by the lanterns into her hand and twisted it first into a thin thread, then rope, then a chain, then - to her audiences surprise - a longsword. Taking the sword she looked toward Eioth.
“I apologize for the damage,High King. What price would you pay to demonstrate my skills to this High Lord?”
“I would pray you not damage the map,” said Eioth, calmly folding his arms in his sleeves.
Silva nodded then crossed to the wall, she ran her hand over it and glanced over her shoulder at Trevan.
“What say you, High Lord, can the strongest sword your Elemental magic forges penetrate this stone?”
His mouth hanging open Trevan shook his head.
“Neither can mine,” said Silva, smiling. “However…”
So saying she pressed the tip against the stone, moving it left and right and permitting the light to turn back again to threads, hundreds and thousands of threads. Each thread shifted over the otherwise smooth surface seeking an imperfection. Once found, as Silva continued pressing the sword against the stone, each thread drove into the wall, leaping from one stone block to another and another until a loose web joined all the blocks. Silva released her grip and stepped back, watching as she was watched, as the web spread, interlaced, until the wall behind was no longer visible, just one solid mass of light with a hilt emerging from the center.
“Were I to continue to feed light into this, High Lord, I could make the sword as long or as thick as needed. I can direct light to go through the thinest crack, down beneath water, down to bedrock stone, and lace it together until it would take the ending of the world to shake it loose.” She smiled. “Unless you truly think it weak, in which case I invite you to call all your friends and servants together and ask them to pull that sword out of the wall.”
Shaking his head, Trevan declined. Federan, grinning all the time, climbed onto the sword hilt and bracing his hand against the wall, jumped up and down. It did not move or creak.
“Satisfied, Trevan?” inquired Eioth in a mild voice.
“As far as I can be, High King,” said Trevan.
Silva stepped forward and placed a hand on the sword preparing to remove it.
“Leave it, Master Silva,” called Eioth. “I require it to remain as proof of your abilities. When you depart I might bring doubting witnesses to this room and let them try to pull the sword free. No other means but your unique magic could put that sword into that place. I thought to leave that dome you created in my training grounds but that would displease my guards.”
“I apologize, High King,” said Silva, blushing.
“No, no, a thousand times, no. Do not apologize for preserving your life and the life of my beloved lady.” Eioth took a breath and calmed. “Always act to save life, my dear Master Silva. Things, decorations, can be replaced and I trust you can create a decoration worthy of my home at some future time. But I would ask you to sign the balcony and steps, in some discrete location. I want no future doubts that it was Light Magic that wove the stairs.”
“It would be my honor, High King.”
“Now, to be practical, Silva, direct your attention to the map. You see the path of the river. It is too turbulent in many areas to be useful for transport of goods and curves about, here and here so that a road that followed it honestly would increase the journey by hundreds of lei, therefore bridges are required. In better times there is wide, well maintained road, with bridges set so the the actual road is straight enough.”
“It isn’t shown on the map,” said Trevan rubbing his chin. “Sometime in the future this map should be updated.”
Eioth gave an absent nod.
“Those of the True North can,” continued Trevan, “in the usual winter, keep the road clear and open. This year, our scrying shows us, three of the bridges have been shifted on their foundations by the weight of the ice and cannot be used.”
Silva nodded, that at least explained Trevan’s obsession.
“Several villages have vanished under the snow,” said Trevan. “My people have techniques for survival, building of snow tunnels and such, but I have seen evidence of houses collapsing under the snow. I have no doubt many have died.”
Silva bit her tongue. Now was not the time to compete comparing deaths by drowning with deaths by freezing, suffocation and crushing.
“Your task, Master Silva,” said Eioth, “as I see it, is to repair the roads, the bridges, so that rescuers can reach the North and food and other supplies be provided. The houses you can reinforce much in the way you repaired that storehouse but only if it is not an excessive drain on your strength.”
Silva nodded.
“Above the second set of bridges - you see how far you must travel, yes? - the roads from the east and west diverge. Go a little way on each side to assess the damage. I will leave to your judgment if you must continue on. The most important task is to recreate the River Road. Do you understand?”
“To aid you, and to see to your safety, I shall be sending a troop of guards with you. Northerners, who will be accustomed to creating cold camps. Supplies, that are for your support, Master Silva, and I must insist, despite your compassion, not to be shared. I do not want you collapsing from hunger and cold when you have work to do. Am I rightly understood?”
“Reluctantly,” said Silva. “But I acknowledge the necessity.”
“Good. I have asked Trevan to assign a member of his entourage, someone known to the people of the North by reputation if not in person, to accompany you. You will need a guide where the roads are hidden and someone who can speak for High Lord Trevan and myself where there is conflict.”
Consequences the real 18.
Silva did not trouble herself to conceal her awe at the great House of the North West demesne when she finally emerged from her exhausted sleep.
In her life she had not visited a great city - at all. Her personal ambition only months ago was to one day visit the capitol of the True South but the destruction of the weather spells put paid to that. Her wandering since that moment took her to the broken spine mountain range, the Hub of Harmony lake - now completely covering that great city and the House of the High King. She’d been stunned with fatigue and hunger when she’d entered this House and besides realizing the front steps and balcony were made of light magic took no notice of other features of the building.
Today she was well rested, warmly dressed, and not acutely hungry so permitted herself to behave as the unsophisticated country girl she was and be overwhelmed and astonished by the beauty and aged dignity of this House. The High King himself, oh, wouldn’t her friends from Twisted Rock be astonished, gave the tour, pointing out no longer functioning magical tools - lights, summoning crystals - as well as artworks created centuries ago.
Her gaping and gasping amused the High King and he was therefore not aware when her gasp of delight was replaced with an indrawn breath denoting discovery.
Halfway up a wall, where two corridors met, was the carving of a woven basket. The decoration was not out of place as there were several carvings of fruit leading toward it. Underneath, at regular intervals, were the light globes that seemed to offend the High King by their darkness.
“In better times we would have light, this far from windows,” he said, waving toward the globes. “You cannot see some of the finer points of the House in this dim light.”
“I am more accustomed to using lanterns,” said Silva, smiling at the servants who accompanied them, an oil lantern suspended from a curved stick held to light the High King’s steps. “But if it would aid you, High King…”
She took the stick from the servant, after a short wrestling match, and held it higher, close to one of the carved apples. It was not necessary for her to chant, or invoke, or cast a circle. The servants stepped back, raising hands in gestures against evil, as the apple began to glow, then the light spread from fruit to fruit, then filling the basket and after that the corridor, with light.
Eioth’s eyes widened, while Silva smiled and Federan laughed outright.
“Now you know how I felt the first time she created a light for my tent,” said Federan. “Amazing, is it not?”
“Astonishing,” said another voice.
Trevan, High Lord of the True North came down the corridor staring up at the slowly spreading chain of light. “How long will that last?”
“If someone gives light to it once a day it should last, well, until you stop,” said Silva.
“The bridges Silva created still stand,” added Federan. “A day of rain does them no harm.”
“Astonishing,” repeated Trevan.
“If you think on it,” said Silva. “These light magic constructs have lingered here for a long time, unused. The fact they have not been activated has not change them. They have not faded to dust, merely faded to dull grey with disuse.”
Trevan extended a hand, hesitantly at first then with more strength, examining the carvings. He pressed and pulled, frowning hard, then settled back on his heels.
“Very well. Let us see what else it can do, although I doubt you can do much to aid my ravaged North.”
“We shall see,” said Eioth and led them deeper into the House.
They passed one intersection and noted that the light magic chain of fruit did not continue down one corridor.
“That leads to a newer section of the House,” mused Eioth, touching the wall. “The Southern wing.”
“If you look to the history of your House, to when that section was built it might give us an indication as to when light magic ceased to be used,” said Trevan.
“Possibly,” said Eioth, but he didn’t look convinced. “Given that none of our general acquaintance know of light magic, I think, rather, that this House is older than my family’s ownership.”
Trevan gasped. Eioth ignored him. Silva stared then turned to find Federan and Halidan regarding the glowing decorations with interest.
“There are no homes I have visited in True South with these markings,” said Federan.
“I will examine the books on architecture,” said Halidan. “There are some I have seen in your library, Eioth, that comment on the history of the fashionable changes of decorations. Fruit and such have been unfashionable for some time.”
At the surprised looks on her companions faces she laughed. “There are books on very odd subjects.”
“Speak to me on this when you have reviewed them, Halidan,” said the High King, and shared a private smile with his lady.
Silva looked away. There was emotion in that look that told her more than she wished to know about their relationship, and yet it was comforting and encouraging. That an elf could love his mortal lady well enough to look upon her that way while in company boded well for her own relationship with Federan. She very carefully did not look at Federan, knowing he would smirk if she did.
“From my superficial review of one of those books,” Halidan continued, “decorations tend to be regional. This area of the North West is celebrated for its tree fruits.” She waved at the wall. “Apples, pears and such. There are orchards here that claim centuries of cultivation.”
Eioth nodded.”But this House is alleged to be a thousand years,” he said, softly and led them into a large chamber. “It had been my thought to hold the Synod gatherings in this room but as it is so far from windows and lanterns can only do so much I decided not. You can see my reason for considering it.”
He gestured toward the broad floor. The stone of the floor was a deep shining black, inset with a map of the continent. Mountain ranges, rivers and other features of landscape were marked, incised into the stone as to create the illusion of height and valleys. The rivers shimmered slightly and Silva knelt to touch the surface surprised to find that it did not feel damp.
“I am surprised,” said Federan, walking about the outer edge. “There are no marks of the compass. You would think that the demesne’s would be outlined in some manner.”
Eioth nodded. “I had not considered that in the past, only I admired the ancient artist’s work.”
“The room is unpopular with the servants,” added Eioth, nodding to where the servants stood, reluctant to go past the entrance of the chamber. “Come in. Come in. How are we to see what we are about if you hide?”
The lantern bearing servants came immediately and hovered at Eioth’s side, leaving most of the room in darkness. Silva looked about for the chain of fruit but it stopped at the door. Instead there was geometric designs inset in the walls that she knew she could bring to light but she did not. She was reluctant to light this room, although she could not say why.
Silva kept her eyes cast down, while her heart pounded. Should she speak? Should she say what she only could sense? Her gaze roamed over the map, marking in her own mind the presence of small fragments of light magic. The High King and Trevan, High Lord of the North continued to speak as they made their way to that side of the chamber, pointing at the mountain range and broad river that descended, eventually feeding into where Hub of Harmony lake now existed. This map did not show that landmark, nor the capital city, indicating to Silva the age of this carving.
“Why don’t they like this room?” inquired Federan. “It seems to me to be beautiful. What is the danger?”
Eioth raised his finger for silence and they waited. When Silva’s patience ended and she was about to ask what they were supposed to hear a faint hissing, as when snake scales moved against each other drifted through the room and away.
“The servants report this noise occurs frequently and it cannot be accounted for. That, in addition to the difficulties in lighting the chamber, you see there are no windows, that without significant magic explains it falling into disuse.”
sorry. Busy at Arisia. WIll post when I get home
“They will not let me in to see Master Silva,” announced Eioth, entering Halidan’s office as the day passed toward evening. Halidan’s only concession to the chill in the air was a shawl wrapped around her shoulders and a blanket over her lap.
“She is sleeping,” said Halidan, continuing to write.
“For how much longer?”
“Until her body recovers from her labors,” was the calm reply.
Eioth tapped his fist on the chair arm. “There is so much to do,” he muttered.
“But not all of it revolves about her.” Halidan lifted one of her lists. “I have set my guards to inquire as to artisans and craftsmen who can serve in rebuilding. Some of them will have to go with Mitash to the South East. They will know what stores and supplies are needed. You and I could not identify copper over iron, but they can. Herb-women can identify herbs still able to be used and the correct way of packing them for transport. All manner of tasks that mortals can do.”
“None of those groups can go out without the attendance of a master level magician,” declared Eioth, rubbing his chin. “It will add legitimacy to the group and comfort those they meet.”
Halidan glared at him. “Do you mean to say that mortals cannot be commissioned to act with authority on behalf of the empire, at the orders of the High King without an elf about to claim to be their master?”
“I meant that it would be easier. Besides, if magic returns there will be a practitioner near at hand.”
“Besides - Mortals do not occupy positions of authority within the empire - except those few in True South,” said Halidan looking up for the first time since he’d entered the chamber.
Eioth closed his eyes. “Patience, I beg you. Now is not the time to attempt such changes. If we send out emissaries, mortal emissaries, few will believe they come at my command. It is not as if I can bespell my seal at this time.”
Halidan directed a guilty glace toward her father’s papers. The spell was there, but it was a lie. All a lie. She shook her head and concentrated on the - many - tasks at hand.
“Now is exactly the time! You are sending out mortal craftsmen and women to be useful to their fellow citizens. Must you make it appear that they may only do their own special crafts at the will and direction of an elf who like as not does not know how their devices work?” Halidan let out a breath. “That makes no sense.”
Eioth scowled across the room at her.
“Besides,” continued Halidan. “I thought your supply of master magicians were limited and their health compromised.”
“They are,” he snarled. “And it galls me that you have the right of this. Mostly,” he added, his manner calming, “The fact that elven magicians do know nothing of mortal crafts. What could they do but eat scarce food and watch? Most would not even turn their hands to lifting and carrying if that is part of the reconstruction.”
“That is the truth,” Halidan threw off her blanket and came to wrap her shawl around Eioth’s shoulders. “My dear, this is the time we need to act. If mortals come, with food and solutions to problems, they will be seen to be strong, their full contribution to the empire will be acknowledged. For the most part those in power do not see the mortals, the low court elves of being any use but now, now they are essential. Let them have ownership of their knowledge, their abilities. To send them with elven masters will lessen their power. At this moment the Synod sees them only as helpless victims needing rescue. This is the mortal moment of authority! You must let them be the strength of our empire.”
“I know that, Halidan, only I do not think this is the best time to upset the balance of authority. Only in True South are mortals given rank and responsibility.”
“And by your own words, Eioth, you prove that there has not been balance! This is the best time. Mortals are useful, strong, enduring. Or would be if you gave them the authority, responsibillity and rank! Do not weaken their contribution by giving the authority to elves.”
“I acknowledge all that as true, but I do not want ot risk that elves will ignore the help if it comes at the hand of a mortal.”
“I have no doubt that some will doubt and hold and hope for return of elemental magic until the elements themselves arrive to carry them across flood waters. Some fools will always be with us, those who learn to trust the mortals will survive.”
“We are one people.”
“We have never been one people!”
A pink stain flared on Eioth’s face. “There has been peace.”
“No, there has been silence or, there has been words, complaints and noises which has not reached your ears. Until you spoke to me, listened to me, when was the time you sought words with a mortal on any matter of consequence?”
Unable to answer that question Eioth only shook his head.
“Oh, Halidan, I wish to work with you to grant justice to the mortals but this is not the time. I do not have the resources to promote your search for legal change.”
“It is the best time. Eioth, if you are sincere in granting protections to mortals elves must acknowledge their usefulness. Their rights. Their place. Now is the time, and if not from your authority, who else?”
He did not reply.
“And if you will not, then I shall. You declared I should be regent for north west, therefore High King, while you are occupied with holding the empire intact for the return of the elements I shall keep my people alive.”
“Mortals?”
“The citizens of the North West. The citizens of the empire. All of them.”
She prepared to storm out.
“You are right!” shouted Eioth, before she reached the door. Then he lowered his voice. “I only wish it were easier.”
“Not in our lifetimes,” she said, returning to settle herself on his lap and draped her arms over his shoulders, and embraced him. “Aren’t you happy we disagree?”
Eioth shook his head while a slow smile stretched his tired face. “Sometimes I would like peace between us.”
“Certainly. Whenever you agree with me we are at peace. It is that easy.”
Eioth laughed and pulled her closer.
Halidan stiffened and resisted for an instant only. He thought her mortal. One day, if she did not confess what the herb-woman’s news, he might realize the truth on his own and then what would happen? Would he be pleased? Would he accuse her of lying?
When he made a small sound of protest at her poor spirited response to his kiss she gave a fair imitation of her usual passion. One day, one day she must tell him before he realized for himself. Then again, if there were differences between mortal women and elvish clear enough for a herb-woman to know, why would Eioth know? It was not as if he had embraced another mortal woman besides Halidan.
That thought gave her some small comfort.
“But, the fact of the matter is, they did. The archers fired!”
“Ah.” Cris nodded slowly. “My Lady, the chief guard came to us, all the guards, in the early morning ordered us into formation. He asked us, each of us, in the silence of their own hearts and with the hope of Unity, to discover if it were possible to carry out an execution order. Killing a person in defense of another, or in pursuit of a criminal, or in the performance of our duties, that is one thing, but in cold blood, before witnesses, in the bright light of day, that is a different thing entirely. Only six guards declared that, if given a order they would carry out the act and those were the ones you were brought before. They did not know, until CHandri was brought down, who they would face. And then you were brought out and, well…”
Halidan nodded slowly. “Yes, that preparation might answer.”
“But they all heard the High King speak after. They know the order was commuted.”
“Not commuted. I committed no crime. I must speak to the chief guard and have him address you all again. Eioth has confirmed before witnesses that I am not to be harmed. Today’s attack was a deception of the worst kind. Faithful servants and guards were almost tricked into committing a crime. The full synod will meet to address the perpetrator and assign his punishment. YOu should know, Germancy, the chief archivist, was the deceiver!”
Her guards gave slow nods as acknowledgment.
“But, you should know, Chandri’s punishment was authorized by Eioth and the ssynod. That was the truth. It was only someone who was offended by the idea of mortals in authority, mortals with magic, who acted to murder Master Silva and myself while Eioth was distracted.”
“If asked, are we to say that?” asked Nittel, doubt layering his voice, “that there is a mortal with magic?”
“With a very special magic,” said Halidan, knowing the way gossip worked and the importance of getting the correct story out before all manner of misinformation spread. “Not Elemental magic. Master Silva, now wife to Federan Heir of True South, has the magic to control and shape light. She has, which will be useful in coming days, built a bridge to the south of Hub of Harmony, reuniting East and West and repaired roads and houses.”
“That is good,” said Cris. “And bad. More refugees will come now they can cross the river.”
“And they shall be directed to go onwards. High King Eioth has decreed that the refugees to on to those areas of the empire least affected by the floods. To the far East and far West, and then, well, we shall direct further as the waters recede. Not the North, whih is badly burdened by snow, but South EAst, True EaSt. We of the North West can take some, but mostly we shall direct them to our southern boarders. To True West and South West.”
The men nodded.
“And speak carefully to those you meet,” continued Halidan. “The synod is laboring to reach the Elements but until they do we must do for ourselves without Their intervention and that means turning to the skills and knowledge of the lower court elves and, most importantly, to the mortal craftsmen.”
“Mortals?” repeated Cris. “That will meet with resistence.”
“Exactly so.” Halidan took her place behind her high and wide desk and opened her book of obligations, tapping the sheets with her page turner. “All these needs must be met, there is no choice. Food must be gathered, held and stored in a manner to avoid decay. Roads built, homes repaired and water cleaned. Mortals have done this with the least amount of magic for generations. I need you to go into the town, amongst the displaced people. I need you to gather the useful people. Mortals with useful training and skills. The wood cutter, the crafters, the healers. Those who build houses and those to tend farms. We need to know who can turn their hands to the essentials of rebuilding. Harvesting of metals, the reshaping of it to useful forms.”
“Smelting,” said Nittel. “ Blacksmithing. My grandda and his friends used to go to the mines and collect scraps the elves thought too small and they’d,” here his voice faltered. “I dunno the exact forms. They did something needing a lot of coal and then they’d make horse shoes and other such small things for mortal use. Took time and was hard work.”
“Exactly. Lacking Fire and Earth and Water Masters to bring forth metals we must use mortal skills.” She sighed and began counting on her fingers. “We need to speak to those that we know already, those who live in ……. Cris, you will speak to your young lady and her father. We must discover those who know how to keep food without preserve spells. We need crafters. With winter coming we need ideas on keeping houses warm without magic.”
“Master Silva will know some of that,” said Cris.
“Master Silva is busy, or she shall be when she recovers,”said Halidan. “For now, go to …… , go to the refugees and ask their skils, and when you find these people, test their knowledge then bring them within our walls. We must keep them well and do our best to provide what they need when the rebuilding begins.”
“As you command, lady,” said Cris. “We shall be careful. Don’t want just anyone coming within walls. Or too many.”
Halidan nodded. “There are plans to move people along soon. You might begin to speak of that as a positive action.”
Her three guards nodded slowly. Halidan could near to hear their thoughts. It would be difficult to force the desperate and homeless to move from the shadow of the High King. How would they know food and help awaited them far from his hand and voice?
No matter. This was their duty and they would accept this labor.
No. Not all three nodded. Halidan could see Morae, the most stoic and solid of the three was standing, staring off into some distance that contained pain. Of course they were all worried and distressed by the disaster but this pain, this distraction, did not help matters.
“Morae? Morae? Is aught ill with you?” Halidan rose and took a step toward the stocky fellow. “You have an air to you that denotes trouble.”
“No, my lady. I am well.” Morae spoke slowly and shook himself before he was able to focus. “He is dead. I lived long enough to see him dead.” He gave a shuddering sigh. “Executed. Justice, at last.”
Halidan blinked. Cris Drakonan swung around and took his friend in his arms.
“Do we celebrate, friend Morae?” asked Cris, softly. “After all these years justice has been rendered and before your very eyes. Take that for your own peace.”
“Forgive me, Morae, I had forgotten for the moment,” said Halidan. “He gave the order that separated you from your parents, did he not? It was Chandir who drove you from the South East and took your name. I am so sorry for that.”
“Yes.” MOrae paused. “I shall never know what became of her, my mother. I cannot bespeak a temple to pray for her, for I do not know her name, let alone the place and manner of her passing. I .. When I pass no one will be able to speak for me. For me and for so many others.”
“I will speak for you to Unity,” said Cris. “They will welcome you. Lady Halidan will speak. She knows you by your actions. Your loyalty.”
Morae shook his head, tears standing in his eyes.
“I cannot believe that those who drove you out of the South East destroyed all the records,” said Halidan, suddenly. “Yes, yes, I know they gathered your personal papers. That atrocity is well documented. And that is the point. We,” she waved her hand at those in the room, then again to include the world outside, “respect our personal papers too much. The very thought of that destruction is repugnant. Surely, even as they took you from your homes someone must have been making records. Gathered the personal papers and took them to store in some achieve or another. To do otherwise is beyond my understanding. The empire is built on our records. The Chief Archivist, himself, scolded me for abandoning Hub of Harmony and not rescuing the Archives.”
“Is that why?” began Nittel and then bit his tongue.
Morae’s head came up.
“They took our papers. Yes, Lady Halidan. Even as they asked our names, they took the papers. Struck our names across with…” Morae’s voice craaccked. “Obliterated our names, oh, mother.”
“Did they burn them?” pressed Halidan. “Destroy the pages?”
“Not that I saw.”
“It is difficult to do permanent harm to the papers. Most have preserve spells cast on them.” Halidan nodded. “Then, like as not, there are piles of papers in an archive somewhere in the South East. The Empire’s bureaucrats are predictable in that alone. When we are at leisure you should go, Morae. Investigate.” She paused and touched a finger to her lips. “Or, in fact, you should go, now.”
All three of her guards froze.
“Now?” repeated Cris. “To the South East?”
“Not this instant,” said Halidan. “I tell you this, for the moment confidentially, that Mitash will be traveling to the South EAst soon. The craftsmen and healers you will gather for me will be going with him.”
“Mortals, going to the South EAst?” cried Cris. “That will not end well.”
“Mortals and half elves are part of the Empire as are the elves,” said Halidan. “And the High King is reminding the South East of this fact, as well as sending those who will want to act on behalf of their friends and families instead of those who will consider themselves above their fellows and indifferent to their suffering. It occurs to me that Morae should go as part of the guard. I wish Mitash to have a friend, someone close to him he can trust and rely upon. You would do this service, to me, Morae? You will keep Mitash alive?”
Morae simply stared.
“I am not a fool,” continued Halidan. “No more is the High King. We know there will be those loyal to Chandri, who believed as he did, that the empire is for elves only. Those people might attempt an assassination of Mitash. They may attempt to continue Chandri’s work. We will be sending other guards, mostly of mixed blood, but I want someone to guard Mitash’s back, for the comfort of my own mind.” She smiled sadly. “And while you are there with him you might look about for the records of that sad time for the comfort of your own.”
Morae stepped to her side of the desk and knelt.
“My life for yours, my lady,” he said and remained kneeling until she placed her hand on her head.
“I know the pain of not knowing your name is a ache in your heart. Go, my friend, and find your mother’s name.”
Morae rose and went to stand staring out of a window. No one could bring themselves to reprimand his poor manners.
Tor Halidan, Lady Regent of the Northwest, retreated to the place she considered her personal domain. Her place of authority and safety. She stood in the center of the High King Eioth’s personal library and glared at the piles of barely organized books. So much knowledge, so well hidden! But, even if she had access to all the available knowledge in these books it was likely that little would be useful under current circumstances. Or, if there was, she has little time in which to search.
And now, in addition to all that was needed to aid the empire she was shifting through the layers seeking a medical text.
Was it true? Could it be true that she was elvan? No, it could not. Her father, may he rest in Unity, was the most honorable man she had known. She trusted him, loved him, lived with him for decades and to be told he was not who she believed, that she was not who she believed, was impossible. Intolerable.
Placing the book back on its pile she hurried down the private residential corridor to the chamber she shared with the High King. There, on the small personal Elemental altar lay her father’s personal papers, crushed and slightly smoke damaged, the only item she’d keep of his. The only record of his life.
She caught it up, hugging it to her chest before turning the pages. The one she sought, she needed, was not hard to find. In all honesty,Ephram re Rathnin, father of Halidan traveled little in his life according to his personal papers. His education, the Houses he’d served, all were listed within these pages and also, there was the page, a record of marriage to Trinitha tor Alaban. A female child born shortly thereafter. Halidan remembered smirking the first time she read those words as an adult and realized how soon after the marriage she had been born. She was barely legitimate. On the next page, the record of end of employment due to all the children of the that House now being of age, and oddly enough, a divorce. Trinitha, it seemed, ended her relationship with Halidan’s father on the same day he left that House. Halidan counted on her fingers.
When she’d been younger her father implied that she was young, a year, perhaps two years of age when Trinitha left them but if Halidan’s calculation was correct her father married Trinitha, Halidan was born, her father was dismissed from his employment and Trinitha left him all within the same moon. She had been days old, not years. Days. And immediately after her birth she was, he was, they were dismissed from the House.
Why had she not noticed before?
By what magic, or contrivance, had her father gained a daughter?
If Ionia was to be believed her father had taken a full blood elf child from some location and kept her for his own. A female child. A potentially fertile female child and kept her from her family, from the knowledge of herself for the remainder of his life!
How and why and who was she?
And what did that mean?
Who would dare such a thing? Not only because high court elvan children were so rare but all elvan families valued their children. Mid court, high court, low court. Children were precious.
Well, yes, mortals valued their children as well. She should not be cruel now she might be other than what she was raised to believe she was. Mortal, elf, half elf, children were precious.
She paused running her fingers over her face, her chin.
Her hair.
She had been accused of mimicking the appearance of an elf. Had not the Matriarch hated her for her ash white hair? Her traditional beauty?
Were she to announce this change in her heritage, what would happen?
She started to pace. She would be called a liar, or worse. They would think her insane, trying to become something she was not. It was known, well known, that the High King’s lady was mortal. She was mortal. It was a scandal, certainly, that he was involved with a mortal woman but since she’d gained the rank of Lady Regent she’d been petitioned immediately by mortals seeking redress of wrongs. She, herself, petitioned the High King to settle old legal wrongs against mortals. To confirm that mortals aught not be cast out of their homes and employment when one of their number became ill. They were entitled to medicine at need and employment that suited their abilities. They… they… Halidan stopped. She! She! She counted herself as one of the mortals thus mistreated, acted for them. She was the highest ranking mortal in the history of the empire! She stood in place for her child-to-be, should the child be blessed with sufficient magic, continue as regent for the North West until the child was of age and confirmed in his - or her - authority. She gasped, her hands clenching hard on the papers.
She was elvan! The child had a greater chance for being born with a bond to Elemental magic. Eioth would be delighted. All those who tried to direct him toward a marriage with an elvan woman could be told Haldain… Halidan… she stopped, frowning. They would say she lied. That she lied in a desperate effort to bind Eioth to her. That Ionia lied. A mortal herb-woman? Who would believe it?
Did she believe it herself?
She huffed out a breath and put the pages down.
She could write to the House in which her father worked before this marriage, if they, in truth, were the family for whom he’d labored. Was there anything in her father’s history that was truth?
If matters were settled she could ask that the guards examine their files. Look for a reported kidnapping in the year her father acquired her.
She could look to see if the woman, Trinitha, existed. She had ignored that person, preferring to give her loyalty and love to the parent who chose to stay with her, but now she wondered. Wondered and feared. Had Trinitha existed at all?
So much she’d assumed to be true simply because of the accepted truth that personal papers could not be altered. She ran her fingers over ink that glowed faintly in the winter light. That glow, the promise of authenticity, of truth, of magic.
But now, with all in chaos, who could she ask to examine her father’s past? No one! And, more importantly, there was no advantage to revealing the truth and much to protect by hiding it.
Would the mortals of the empire trust her if she said she was not mortal?
Would Eioth, oh Eioth, what must she do there? He declared her child to be his knowing her to be mortal. Would he hold the mortal’s rights and law as close to his heart if his child did not carry that taint?
No. No. That was unjust. He wasn’t cruel, merely unaware, and having a mortal lover meant he faced the inequalities for the first time in his noble life. In this time of disaster he would tend to the mortals as well as the elvan citizens, of that she was certain and after. After. After she would decide what she must do. What she must say.
Which brought her back to the work she was supposed to be doing.
Recruiting mortal aid and knowledge.
She turned her back on her library and walked through the house to the room she had claimed as her office in her role as Regent to the North West. Her bodyguard, Cris Drackolan, Morae NoName and Nittel Dorin, awaited her.
“It is so good to see you well, Lady Halidan,” said Cris, urgently, bowing as she entered. “You know, I hope, we were endeavoring to come to you. It is the greatest pain in my heart that I was unable to stand, to protect you against the archers. It all happened so suddenly and then…”
Halidan blinked. Had it only been this morning that she was almost executed by High King Eioth’s guards? She shook her head. So much had happened that the hours were blurring together.
These three, part mortal, part elvan, were wandering masterless men when they’d met her, and though she had nothing to do with their hiring by Eioth, at the time the High Lord of the North West Demense, they considered her their lucky charm and their loyalty to her was unending. In the hidden corner’s of her heart Halidan feared her child would be as they were, with dark pink skin, muddy grey brown hair - and no magic. Of course, currently no one had magic, elemental magic. Eioth behaved, spoke as if he feared it would not return and with that in mind she would direct her servants.
“I know and understand, Cris. No blame is assigned to you. The last thing anyone would have expected this morning was an order to… to execute me.”
“How did this happen?” demanded Cris. “I am, we are supposed to protect you from all attacks, and if there is going to be another such, we should be prepared.”
Halidan paused then asked a question that tore at her heart.
“Was there any warning? Did you hear anything from the other guards, from the servants that they hated me?”
Cris’s face flushed dark red. “No. No! Lady Halidan you know we would not let anyone speak so of you.”
Morae shook his head. “They have been good to us, Lady Halidan, and we half-bloods are accustomed to random prejudice but in the High Lord’s, the High King’s guard we have been better treated than any other employment. If there were anger directed toward mortals, or mixed blood, we should have known of it long before it was directed toward you.”
“Besides,” added NIttel, “they all know you are with child. Bearing their beloved High Lord’s child - and they still are proud of his ascension to the throne as if they’d done the deed themselves, and they would not raise their hands against a pregnant woman, let alone the High King’s Lady.”
Haldian heaved a sigh, staring at the woman on the bed. “So much depends upon her recovery, Ionia. Not only for the future work she shall do but for the standing of mortals in our empire. I bless the fact she was born in the demesne of True South. Of all our High Lords Senioa is the one who is willing acknowledge ability and grant rank to a mortal. And for one to manifest magic in her demesne, Senioa is practical. She will rejoice rather than deride. Praise, inside of hiding the fact.”
“As you say,” said Ionia, neutrally.
Halidan reached out and closed the door. “Before Federan joins us I would ask a favor of you. I am troubled since I have never known a person who was with child. Might you offer advice to me? There are some things I hesitate to speak of with Lennett and books can only provide a degree of knowledge but little comfort. And, you will understand, there are very few people with whom I might raise the subject. The risk of offense or hurt is great.”
“I understand completely, Lady Regent.” Ionia laughed and took Halidan’s hand. “In truth, even with elvan ladies the Water Priesthood does not like attending birthings. Those fragile spirited men do not like to watch suffering where they do not will to expend their energies to end it.”
Halidan snorted then her eyes narrowed. “Do you tell me so? They withhold their abilities not only from mortals at need but also from all women at their greatest need? I must inform Eioth.”
Ionia shrugged then considered. “In truth I considered women with child to be beyond their abilities and we have such medicines that aid the women but, yes, the Water Priests and Healers decline to expend magic during birthing unless the need is extreme and even then, well, one must pay a great deal for the honor. Only the highest ranked may depend upon a Water Healer to attend a birthing. But I cannot repine. It is one of the reasons that we herb-women prosper. We do not encourage their involvement. To do so would limit our own incomes.”
Halidan’s lips twisted then she nodded watching as Ionia carefully cleansed her hands.
“I must acknowledge there is some, not much, but some wisdom in that. At this time my concern is for the health of my child.”
“Then it is mine as well.”
Ionia directed Halidan to Lennett’s chair and knelt before her, taking both Halidan’s hands in her own and smiled.
“You must trust me. I am not like the Water healers who might report on your health from a mere touch. I must touch, yes, and see and feel. I hope you can endure.”
Halidan nodded and for the next few moments said nothing while Ionia’s warm and gentle hands explored. Finally the Herb-Healer rose, crossed to the other side of the chamber and washed her hands a second time. With a glance toward Silva to confirm that woman still slept Ionia returned to Halidan, her expression set and unreadable. Halidan pressed her hand to her throat.
“What is wrong? The child, is all well?”
“Be at peace,” said Ionia immediately. “The child is well. It is only, I must wonder, why do you tell people you are mortal when you are not?”
Halidan paled, staring blankly at the herb-woman. “I am mortal. I have my papers. My ancestors are mortal in all my recorded history.”
“They can be faked,” said Ionia, calmly. “It is not that hard, if the need is great and the price right.”
Halidan blinked, momentarily distracted but the other news held her mind and heart in its grip.
“I am mortal!”
“And I tell you that you are not,’ was the reply. “Truth to tell, you are full blood elf.”
Silence, except for Halidan’s slow breathing, filled the room while her mind raced and heart thudded heavily in her chest.
“This cannot be,” she said eventually. “My father was mortal. He … I know he was mortal. He died a mortal death. I! I have,” she ran her fingers over her close cropped ash white hair, then gave a weak laugh. “Oh, you have been distracted by this. It is nothing. Other mortals have pale hair.”
“Lady Halidan,” said Ionia. “I swear to you, it is not merely your appearance. Your heart rate is slower. The internal temperature of your body, lower. The presence of a particular structure within your birth canal that is absent in mortals. All of these things tell me your heritage.” She made a gesture and a slight flush touched Halidan’s high cheekbones. “Believe me, my lady, I have examined both mortals and elvan women many times and, yes, those of mixed descent as well. I know, intimately, the shape of their bodies. The way they carry and deliver their young. It is beyond denial. You are elvan. It is as well I know this now as the medications you will need in labor are different. How you came to be in the hands of a mortal man saying he was your father, I cannot speculate upon. Knowing the punishment for abduction of a high court female I wonder at it, but, the reason? The method? No. I have no idea.”
“No more do I. He. I loved him. He was wise and kind and good. Never did he harm me in any way.” Halidan gave a sad smile. “He taught me so much. To love learning, I think was his greatest gift. He taught me.” She stopped and her gaze sharpened. “He taught me all that I would need to know to live as a high court female! He knew. He must of known! Why else the formal language, the formal manners?”
“And told you nothing?”
“His death came upon him suddenly and the Household we were serving, the Matriarch ordered our belongings burned. If there was a letter, an answer, an explanation it was lost.”
“Some families take the instructions to cleanse a house after illness to extremes.”
“As I know to my pain.”
“What shall you do?” asked Ionia.
“Aside from swearing you to silence? Nothing. My need remains the same. Instruct me in anything I must do to maintain my health and protect my child. For the rest, I must think on it.”
“As you wish, my lady.”
“Will you swear?” pressed Halidan.
There was a snuffling noise from the bed and they both turned, concerned, for different reasons, that they might have been overheard. Silva slept on. She had, however, changed position and now lay curled on her side.
“Better,” said Ionia with a smile. “This is a more natural sleep. No longer fully exhausted. She should awaken soon.”
“Excellent. If I am not present summon me immediately.”
“That list is long,” said Ionia.
“No doubt. Honor Federan’s request first and foremost. Myself and the High King to follow. The others - no. They might wait upon Silva’s summoning.”
“As you direct.”
“As I direct,” said Federan, entering in time to overhear Halidan’s instructions. “Ionia, if you will, I wish to attend to my wife now. If you need refreshment or rest now will be acceptable.”
A messenger paused at the doorway.
“High King Eioth requests an update from the healers. Has Master Silva awoken?”
“No,” said Federan, “and tell him that…”
“Have a care what you say to your High King,” said Halidan, laughing. “Fear not, Federan, I shall instruct Eioth in patience. Please keep us informed of her heath and if you need aught, you need only ask.”
With that she swept all witness from the chamber and closed the door behind her.
Federan collapsed onto the bed beside his sleeping wife and caught her in his arms, pressing a kiss to her cool forehead before his whole body began to shake.
She was alive. This was the first moment since the attempted assassination they were together, alone and his closely held restraint broke as he wept against her neck. She was alive and he would give his life to see she continued to live.
“How would you judge Tormin’s loyalty?” inquired Eioth, of Federan.
“To the True South? Without limit!”
“Then he is acceptable. There are ways, I think, to increase the effectiveness of the spells when they are cast by mortals.” Eioth rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I hesitate to use them since I judge the technique dangerous but, if necessary and Tormin gives his consent, it might be done. And a ritual to bind a woman to the True South, as you, Federan, should remember can be done with any willing person.”
“But, High King, you will remember, we came from the True South in a small party. There is no female for him to be intimate with. How shallow do you think his heart? Shall he go out and select a female at random? Announce to the refugees that a woman is required for sex? What payment would you offer? Would that work for you? For me? No. We both know that the practice of sex magic requires a bond of affection. Not only to the demesne we serve but between the practitioners. Do you think him a whore to mate at your command?”
Instead of becoming distressed or angry Eioth considered the matter. “I shall inquire of my Lady Halidan. Her acquaintance within the mortal community is extensive. It may be that she can discover a suitable lady.”
“And then you will command Tormin to be intimate with her? There is no dignity in that request, as I well know.”
“I would add, High King,” broke in Mitash, “you cannot consider that the magic of two mortals together to be equal to that of an elf.”
“I do not like to use the option but as I said,” Eioth’s face grew stern. “There are ways to enhance, to augment the magic, from the sex magic text I have. Some additional information I have kept out of the texts I have distributed. Since this is mortal magic it is to be acknowledged they studied how to increase the power raised. If necessary I shall ask permission to perform this on Tormin.” He paused. “Hopefully it will not come to that.”
“And what is to prevent Tormin from spreading this knowledge?” pressed Mitash. “Returning magic fully into the hands of mortals?”
“There are spells to compel silence,” Eioth told him, with some sadness.
Federan turned away and began pacing. “I dislike, strongly, this manner of betrayal. Tormin serves from love of our land and people. To compel him, High King, I can only say it is wrong. Even asking him to do this, the request coming from you personally bears a weight of compulsion he would regret refusing. I beg you, do not do this.”
“Do you think I do not know that? That I have forgotten ethics and mortality? No. No, I have not! Now you see the reality of the burden of my rank,” said Eioth. “I must deal with those I despise, compromise my own tastes and preferences to promote the health and continuance of the empire. For this task I have dedicated my life.”
“And the mortals? When will you decide it is in the best interest of the empire that mortals not know their truth history, their true magic?”
“Who I am has not changed in essence,” cried Eitoh, as a faint pink flush stained his high cheekbones. “I will hold fast to what is moral, though I fail my own ideals time to time I return to morality always as my guide. Therefore shall the mortals know what we learn. But not now. Now, sacrifices must be made so that our empire can survive. If I were to ask this Tormin to engage in a task that risks his life you and I both know he would not hesitate. That is the man he is.”
Federan snarled some words under his breath.
“Your sympathy touches my heart,” said Eioth and Federan barked out a laugh.
“I cannot believe you wish to do this,” said Federan, sobering. “You would separate us when we are so recently married.”
“Reluctantly and only with the knowledge that I need you both to do what you do best. She, for her unique and astonishing magic, and you, for your administrative skills and flexibility of thought.” Eioth frowned, started and turned to face Mitash. “And you. I have not forgotten you, my friend. No one else bears all the skills necessary to bring the South East back to the empire!”
“I am honored to serve,” said Mitash, weakly. “And, if there is any additional information for gaining power, High King, I would beg you pass this knowledge to me. I am so weak from bearing the weight of Water on my bond to Earth that I can barely think.”
“I am hoping that the pain shall lessen as the flood waters recede.” Eioth winced and rubbed his forehead. “We all suffer, Mitash but that pain does not prevent the magic, the sex magic, from being effective. You should speak to your lover, soon and direct her to pack.”
“Which is why Tormin…” began Federan.
“Enough.” Eioth raised his hand. “When Silva awakens, when she is judged well enough by the healers, I shall speak to Master Silva and tell her of the needs of the empire. If she is the person you admire so much, if she is the person I sense she is, she shall agree with me as to the need for herself to go North and you to remain.”
“Very well,” said Federan. “But if she does not I shall not permit Silva to go anywhere without me unless it is back to True South. If you attempt to separate us against her will that is where we shall go.”
“And if she gives her consent you will not attempt to dissuade her from her duty?”
“Agreed. Additionally, if it seems to me that she needs the history of her people to survive I shall give it to her.”
Eioth nodded.
“And, her eventual reward, High King, shall be equal to her sacrifice.”
“On that you have my oath.”
Ionia tor Diath, midwife, graduate of the Drifting Leaf Water temple medicine school, knelt beside the bed where slept Master Silva, adept of the element of Light and and wondered what other surprises her life would bring her.
And was the current surprise a harbinger of good or ill events?
She lifted Master Silva’s hand almost reverentially and felt for the pulse. It was steady, reassuring. The sleep that held the magic user was exhaustion, obviously, and the slight looseness to her skin was recent starvation, shared by many in this time of disaster and completely understandable, as well as being easily treatable.
She rose gracefully and crossed the room to where a small pot simmered. A mixture of meat, herbs, vegetables was passing from solid to soup. She gave it a stir and glanced back to Silva.
“Eat some,” said a voice from a doorway. “You, also, have suffered recently and have remained here instead of going to the kitchens at the proper hour.”
Ionia turned to face Lenneth.
“Thank you, but no. I received my allotment from the kitchen when I fetched the supplies for Master Silva. It is my good luck to be useful to the Synod. So many others lack the very basics of life and I have much to be thankful for.”
“And we have to offer thanks for your dedicated education and hard work,” said another voice.
Lennett and Ionia bowed to the new arrival. Lady Halidan, her hand gracefully supporting the small swelling of her belly, smiled at them both.
“If you had not made the journey with so much of your medicine on your back those of the Synod would not be able to concentrate,” continued Halidan. “I applaud your efforts.”
Ionia inclined her head.
“And how goes matters with your patient?”
“Still she sleeps, Lady Regent,” said Lennett. “It is better so.”
“Federan might not agree,” said Halidan with a half laugh. “You make expect him to call upon you soon. When High King Eioth releases him he shall come like a storm to his wife’s side.”
“My thanks for the warning,” said Lennett.
“And for you, Healer Lennett, I bring the message that Trevan of the North seeks your advice. At least, he said as much to me after the synod session.”
“I shall attend him. Send for me if there is need, Ionia.”
Both women watched him leave.
“The truth, now,” said Halidan. “Silva. Will she recover completely?”
“From your testimony she was not injured by arrows or other weapons. I have observed no injury on her body, only the signs of heavy work, much travel and privation. Sleep and food will restore her body but the magic? That question I cannot answer.”
“After giving the matter thought,” said Eioth, “I have decided that Silva cannot be told the real reason she was almost murdered. Cannot be told the true history of the empire. Germancy’s information must be withheld from her. I need her cooperation, Federan. Her obedience. If we tell her of mortal children who shared her gift were murdered by the order of High Kings long dead, at the hand of the water priesthood, how can she trust us? What shall she do?”
“Do not underestimate my lady,” said Federan. “She is good and sensible. And if you swear the practice ends with you, show her a declaration you intend to make as soon as it is possible to spread the news, then she will accept your word.”
“You have high confidence in your wife. But what if this news reaches other mortals, who are like to rise in protest at this proof that generations of mortal children were murdered at the hands of elves? You can, I hope, see the inherent danger.”
Federan sighed. “Truth, my king, yes and then again, can keeping a secret of this weight do any good? There must come a time when you credit the mortals with sense and strength and admit this crime lest it become a gag the Archivists use to compel you to other outrageous acts.”
“His point is well argued, High King,” said Mitash. “Secrets are heavy chains be they secrets between friends and wifes or secrets suc as great as the fertility spell.”
“I acknowledge your arguments are valid.” Eioth continued to pace.
“That is not the only reason I credit her with good sense, although she showed wisdom by marriage to me.” Federan gave a weak smile then frowned. “I cannot agree with you, Eioth. You cannot mean to promote contention between us so soon in our marriage. No. I cannot lie to her or mislead her on a matter so important.”
“It may be necessary…” began Eioth.
“I do not want to lie to her, besides she heard the articles of execution read out just as Halidan did. She is not deaf nor without intelligence. I have read the document Germancy prepared. There is no possibility she did not understand. Her mind is quick. She will have questions, high king, and she will turn to me and to you for her full understanding and if we lie or attempt to turn her attention elsewhere that is the moment when her trust will be destroyed.”
“It is more complicated than simple honesty, Federan. At this time of need I do not wish her loyalty to be questioned.”
“You are questioning her at this moment! She must be sent out to repair roads and bridges and it cannot be that mortal magic users must be watched or threatened or regarded with suspicion else they will not act with compassion and responsibility. She must act as if she has your complete faith and that means honesty on your part as well as her own.”
“I am aware of our need for her magic. It is a desperate need at the moment. What would we have done without sex magic and light magic? We may have survived but how many more would have died?”
“Certainly, of the people of True South, of the Lowlands, the death toll is unimaginable. My own death amongst them! Once Silva’s role in the restoration of the roads and building of bridges is better known she will be respected.”
“Perhaps. And how I wish I could send that message to our people, advising them that help is coming. Giving direction to their rebuilding efforts. They leave their homes, wandering toward Hub of Harmony in the hope of finding food, shelter…”
“Magic,” added Federan.
“Yes, and magic and all I can offer them is nothing. While you have been traveling, being useful with your Master Silva, and I have barely been able to hold the Synod’s attention long enough to agree to perform the least of spells in the sex magic book. There is so much we must do and the High Lords of the Synod mutter and complain and declare that they will wait for the return of the Elements.”
“Surely they must accept the truth!”
“As I am well aware, and yet I am stymied by the reluctance of many of the High Lords to admit the reality. Each morning I witness them performing the dawn’s rising ritual, with less hope and increasing desperation and yet, to suggest they perform an additional sex magic ritual is more painful than birthing.”
“That will change after today’s lecture. After Chandri’s execution,” said Mitash. “It may have been they delayed because they believed, they hoped, that Chandri had the answer. They believed you, Federan, that Chandri was responsible for the destruction of the spells and in their secret hearts hoped he could restore all to how it had been. That is, I think, the reason they voted for his death. The fact he could not was too great a disappointment. They wanted to punish him for failing to fulfill their futile hopes.”
“If you pursue that line of thought,” continued Federan, “now is the time to press them harder on their duties. With the bridge to the east open riders can be sent, finally, to deliver instructions to the other demesnes. Direction given to turn the refugees onto better paths. Warn the outer reaches of the empire to be prepared to receive them.”
“Already done,” said Eioth. “And messengers will be sent North to try and locate those traders Halidan spoke of. The ones with the strange beasts. They will be useful.”
“So soon?” asked Mitash.
Eioth gave a thin lipped smile. “Do you doubt the efficiency of my lady Haldian?”
“For what purpose?” asked Federan. “Why the speed?”
“Trevan has the right of it. We must reach out to the people of True North. They must have roads, bridges. A path must be made for their escape south or the bearing of resources north. Your story of how you repaired that house with the sideways roof inspired me. Silva can assist reinforcing houses where the roofs are collapsing and build some sort of road as a temporary measure above the snow. None other can provide this magic. Light magic requires no special tools. No wood. No iron. No nails or cut stone. No ritual herbs or assistants. She will leave as soon as arrangements can be made to create a path to the North.”
“We!” said Federan.
“No,” said Eioth. “The unfortunate truth is I need you here. I need your support and your vote as Heir to True South. There is so much to be done and you, at least, know the truth. I must have support to hold the synod to their course!”
Federan stared, disbelieving.
“Of course I support you, but Eioth, you need us together for sex magic spells. We cannot be separated at this time.”
Eioth frowned. “For the moment, Federan, and I shall make it a command if necessary, you and she must serve the empire in the manner I direct. Later, when we are at leisure, I swear to you, I will find some way to make recompense to her. To the memory of those lost children. To the mortals. The injustice is beyond my understanding and the invasion Germancy hinted at chills my soul but I cannot deal with history now. But that is for later. For now, she must go North.”
“You will not separate us. Sex magic requires we stay together.”
“Not necessarily. I can find other solutions. When Chandri was not available to us to do magic for the South East we found a water priest from that demesne and he and his lover conducted the Sex Magic spells successfully. When Mitash is bound to serve the South East that demesne’s needs will be met.”
“Where will you find someone else bound to True South? We who were both born there, carry the soil in your bodies and blood? Who love our lands and peoples as we do? We who have already successfully completed spells at your command!”
“There is your servant, the guard Tormin,” said Eioth, with a faint smile. “Do you doubt his bond to True South?”
Federan froze and gaped. “Tormin? That is why you send for him? Tormin and who? What elvan woman of the True South is here for you to compel to mate with Tormin?”
“It need not be an elf,” Eioth smiled. “Have we not recently learned that Sex Magics origin is with the mortals?”
Federan exchanged a shocked glance with Mitash.
“But it has not been tested?” protested Federan. “How? How could we test this?”
“It could be the reason elves were given the throne,” said Mitash. “When we practice magic, any form of magic, it is more effective, longer lasting. Longer reaching.”
“We have no knowledge of this matter,” said Eioth, his lip curling to a sneer. “As the conscientious archivists have no doubt destroyed all records of the actual events.”
“The Archivists destroy documents?” cried Mitash. “No, that they would not do.”
“That they have done,” said Eioth. “They have destroyed every copy of that book you hold they put their hands to. Oh, I suggest you protect it from their sight, the sight of any magician. It is likely if anyone discovers you bear it they will burn it. Another copy will not be found easily.”
“But,” began Federan but Eioth raised his hand.
“Master Silva is too ill, too weak at this moment to conduct the morning sex magic ritual. If he is willing I shall ask your servant Tormin if he is willing to serve.”
“With whom?” protested Federan.
“You would give the knowledge of sex magic back to the mortals?” interrupted Mitash. “After all we have learned today? I thought it was your intention to limit the knowledge to the Synod so that there will not be hundreds of practitioners working at cross purposes.”
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The Passing of a Great Man ,
Founding Chairman
It was so sad to hear that our Chairman, Mr. Ray Haysbert passed away. Even though we knew he had been very ill, it is still heartrending to know that he will not physically be with us any longer - the “Giant” that he was and always will be in our hearts and minds. Not only will we miss the knowledge Mr. Haysbert so readily shared with us, the warmth and comfort ever present, the reverence to God so evident, and that he always seemed to be larger than life.
The following is a photo montage and commentary of some of Mr. Haysbert's many accomplishments.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., an elder statesman of Maryland's African-American business community, died at Union Memorial hospital Monday, May 24th, 2010. He was 90 years young.
Mr. Haysbert, most notably was the chief executive officer of the Parks Sausage Co., one of the largest black-owned, publically traded businesses on the stock exchange in the country. He was a founder and longtime chairman of the Greater Baltimore Black Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Urban League in Baltimore and the recipient of hundreds of awards, citations and acknowledgements for his contributions to Marylanders.
Mr. Haysbert moved to Baltimore in the 1950s, and was recruited by Henry Parks. He was instrumental in turning the Park Sausage company, known for its popular "More Parks Sausages Mom,.....Please" slogan, into a great success that earned record financial profits. Park Sausages became the first minority-owned company to go public. Following the success of Parks Sausages Mr. Haysbert founded his family catering business, Forum Caterers.
Former Baltimore congressman and head of the national NAACP
Kweisi Mfume, said "Ray Haysbert was synonymous with the struggle for entrepreneurship among African Americans at a time when it wasn't very popular.
Mr. Haysbert helped integrate Baltimore politics by helping to get an African American elected to the council in 1963. He was also campaign treasurer for Sen. Harry Cole, the first black senator in Annapolis, and served as chairman for Clarence "Du" Burns in his unsuccessful run for mayor in 1987.
Up until his death, Mr. Haysbert remained the chairman of the Greater Baltimore Urban League, and the Greater Baltimore Black Chamber of Commerce.
"He always figured he didn't have enough time to get all he wanted accomplished," said son Reginald, 62. "He was terrifically motivated to make the world a better place. … He couldn't say no to people when they needed help." He also says his father remained active with charities and business interests, carried around a laptop and kept up with current news using the Internet.
Baltimore City Mayor, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake called Haysbert's death the "end of an era."
"Over the years, Mr. Haysbert used his success and status in the community to help hundreds of minority-owned businesses start and thrive in Baltimore. He remained active in his family business as well as never ceasing to give advice to many even during his time in hospice and the hospital. He lived and breathed service, especially to the entrepenuers that he encouraged.
City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young called Haysbert a "courageous American hero" who "persevered against discrimination and poverty to become a pioneering businessman and philanthropic force." He remained rooted in the understanding that he had a duty to his fellow citizens," Young said in a statement.
"Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he grew up in poverty during -The Great Depression- and worked for a coal company before joining the Army Air Corps, where he served as a fighter pilot in Africa and Italy with the Tuskeegee Airmen.
In 2003, Coppin State University unveiled the Raymond V. Haysbert Research Center, a hub for research on African Americans in the Baltimore region.
The unveiling of the Center will open doors for applied and qualitative research to scholars, business, and political leaders in the Baltimore area. The Research Center, which will be located in the Grace Jacobs Building on the Coppin campus, will explore applied research in the areas of healthcare, technology, intervention methods for youth, and criminal justice with the intent of modeling actionable best practices for cities throughout the nation.
Mr. Haysbert is survived by his wife, Carol, and four children.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., Rev. Douglas Sands, and Marvin "Doc" Cheatham
(Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum / January 4, 2006)
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. takes a bow as he is introduced as one of the honorary grand marshals of Baltimore's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in 2006. Applauding him are fellow honorary grand marshals the Rev. Douglas Sands and Marvin "Doc" Cheatham.
Raymond Haysbert Sr. at his Park Sausages production plant in 1984
(Baltimore Sun file photo)
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. at an Awards Gala with friends
(L-R) Jim McLean, Evelyn Haysbert, Raymond Haysbert Jr., Jackie McLean, Raymond V. Haysbert Sr.
November, 1990.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. and George V. McGowan
<)2FDIV>
Former Gov. William Donald Schaefer, former Sen. Frank Kelly, Raymond V. Haysbert Sr.
Morgan State University honors former Gov. William Donald Schaefer by dedicating the William Donald Schaefer Engineering Building. During the ceremonies, Schaefer, right, is commended by former Sen. Frank Kelly, standing, and applauded by Raymond V. Haysbert Sr.
(Elizabeth Malby, Baltimore Sun / April 22, 1998)
RaymondHaysbert Sr. and Tamara Brown, at a 2005 professional networking event in Baltimore.
Delegate Barbara Robinson's
Award Ceremony - November 2009
At the event Delegate Robinson dubbed Mr. Haysbert with his final honorary title as the
"PRIME MINISTER OF BUSINESS & ENTREPENEURSHIP
Mr. Haysbert and longtime mentees GBBCC Secretary Debra Keller-Green and GBBCC Membership Chair Karyne Henry
Carl Stokes, and Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., on the Campaign Trail
Then-mayoral candidate Carl Stokes, right, announces Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. as honorary chairperson of his campaign in July 1999.
(Linda Coan, Baltimore Sun / July 16, 1999)
Greater Baltimore Chamber of Commerce
Unsung Hero Awards
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. &
GBBCC Vice President Lance Lucas
Preakness Infield 1996
Senator Verna Jones, Raymond V. Haysbert Sr. and GBBCC Membership Chair
|DIV class=d1>
!0A
RAY HAYSBERT TRIBUTE FROM ELIJAH CUMMINGS
RAY HAYSBERT VIDEO CLIP
WJZ NEWS LINK FOR RAY HAYSBERT - MAY 24, 2010
City Urban League turns to businessman Haysbert to lead its recovery effort
June 16, 2001|By M. Dion Thompson | M. Dion Thompson,SUN STAFF
ARTICLE:Parks Sausage aiming for upturn Haysbert hopes new products can overcome recession.
Raymond V. Haysbert Sr., elder statesman of Maryland's African-American business community was a God send to so many.
He was a powerful political figure, business genius and mentor, steadfast friend, academic leader, and dedicated father. His constant pursuit of perfection and genius when it came to giving advice on issues from academics to political policy was amazingly impressive.
His willingness to always listen and then share his knowledge with others made him one of those unforgetable people that has left a great human void in the world, that will now be filled with an abundance of his wisdom for the ages.
We will miss you Mr. Haysbert.... Job Well Done - Rest in Peace.
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Coastal Software
Commonwealth Software
Earthware Computer Services
Edu-Ware
Highlands Computer Services
Magnum Software
Phoenix Software
Speakeasy Software
The Logical Choice
Pre-ZUG map and hints
A sometimes little known fact is that Infocom had a hint service that pre-dated the Zork Users Group. One map was produced, pictures of which are included below. Also shown are examples of the hints.
From Mike Dornbrook: "ZUG started up in October, 1981, when I started business school at the University of Chicago. Prior to that, I was helping out Infocom on a part-time basis doing testing. Zork I reached stores late in 1980, and fans fairly quickly started contacting Infocom asking for hints. We decided to print up a map and provide a hint service. Marc Blank added an item to the game - a piece of paper that was found downstairs (in the Gallery, I believe). Reading the paper revealed the existence of the Movement Assistance Planner (M.A.P.) and the Hierarchical Information for Novice Treasure Seakers (H.I.N.T.S.). It was a convoluted process to actually get this help - gamers had to write to Infocom at a Kendall Sq. post office box, then Infocom sent out the details and order form, then the player mailed back his/her requests with a check, then we mailed back the answers/map.
The map is the original map that was illustrated by Stu Galley's friend Dave Ardito. When I later started ZUG, I took over this inventory of maps (and the Zork I posters that had been printed up). As I added maps for Zork II, etc., and started printing the InvisiClues books, I kept using Dave Ardito to do all the illustrations.
When ZUG took over the maps in the fall of that year, Zork II was just coming out. [This was also when Infocom took over the publishing of the games, and created the blister pack packages - prior to that, Personal Software was Infocom's publisher, and the packaging was completely different.] Steve Meretzky did the map layouts for me, and established a new "style" to the maps. He re-did the Zork I map when we needed to reprint."
Stu Galley adds: "We (the Infocom Fovnders) were convinced that customers might want to buy maps and hints, but Personal Software had absolutely no interest in that aftermarket.
We wanted to be helpful to the fan base, if any, and to gather postal addresses for future use. So a note was added inside the game---maybe it was in the mailbox at the beginning---that said to write for maps and hints to Infocom's corporate headquarters (PO Box 120, Kendall Station, Cambridge). Since I had the grand title of Clerk of the Corporation (under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), I had the job of visiting the PO box every day and fulfilling orders.
My friend Dave Ardito designed the paperboard map, based on Dave Lebling's version. The first printing was probably a run of a thousand copies. Dave also designed the first letterhead, with the "I" logo, and drew the original of the Zork I poster, as well as supervising its reproduction."
Front of map
Inside of map
Back of map
Hint sheet
Note included with hint sheet
First logo
ZUG map - Deadline
ZUG map - Starcross
ZUG map - Zork I
ZUG map - Zork II
ZUG map - Zork III
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Gunnar Peterson Shares the Best Way to Lose Love Handles
Finally, a plan we can follow.
By Samantha Lefave | Nov 22, 2016
Kevin Kozicki/Getty Images
If there’s one thing nearly everyone loves to do (even if you don’t get to do it very often) it’s travel. Who doesn’t like to explore a new destination, whether it be an exotic locale that requires a full day of flying, or 10 national parks you need to visit before you die. But when you travel a lot, there tends to be one thing that goes along with it: weight gain. And for us ladies, that extra weight usually heads straight for that oh-so-wonderful hips region dubbed, not so lovingly, your love handles.
This is where Gunnar Peterson comes in. The celebrity trainer has worked with the likes of Khloé Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, and he recently partnered with Hyatt Regency Hotels to develop three Fit & Fuel workout-and-meal programs alongside cronut creator Dominique Ansel (yes, he knows how to make healthy food, too). Needless to say, Peterson is the perfect pro to steal some fitness advice from, and here’s what he says is the best way to lose love handles.
Get our Exclusive SHAPE Strength Training Guide
1. Forget spot reducing.
At the end of the day, there’s one rule you need to repeat over and over again: “You’re not going to spot reduce, plain and simple,” says Peterson. “If you think you’re going to do 100 crunches and a plank and burn away belly fat, you’re not. Yes, you’re going to make the area stronger but it’s not going to get rid of the fat.” So do yourself a favor and, once and for all, let that idea go.
2. Go for the big muscle groups.
Instead of trying to spot reduce by doing belly exercises, Peterson says your time is better spent targeting big muscle group movements to increase your calorie burn and blast away that belly fat. (But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do belly exercises—they do still help develop a stronger core, which is equally important.) “[An exercise] like a squat press, or a lunge with a lateral curl, or a lunge with a biceps curl are all good ideas,” he says. Adding exercises, like planks, to these big, full-body movements that engage multiple muscle groups will give you a well-rounded routine. (Try these total-body exercises that burn fat in half the time.)
3. Work each plane of motion.
If you’re wondering why all those crunches aren’t making a bit of difference on your love handles, that’s because you’re thinking too small (and trying to spot reduce again), when you should be thinking bigger. You just learned that focusing on larger muscle groups will better contribute to overall fat burn and lean muscle mass. Now take it one step further and make sure you hit those muscle groups from all angles. Doing so will reward you with tighter, stronger, leaner muscles overall, which, over time, will diminish the fat around your hips, and subsequently tighten the area around your love handles.
It’s common that one, sometimes two planes of motion get ignored when it comes to core work, and it’s one major reason behind the love handle debacle. That’s why Peterson says it’s important that you work all three—forward to back, side to side, and rotational, which he says is similar to the motion you make when you’re putting on a seat belt. So rather than just doing mountain climbers, which would target your forward-to-back plane, make sure you also build in side planks for some side-to-side action, and wood chops for rotation.
4. Rotate, rotate, rotate—with resistance.
Now that lifting heavier weights is the norm (here are eight reasons you should lift heavy), Peterson says it’s time to apply that knowledge to losing your love handles. “People tend to shy away from rotation with resistance because they think they’re going to get hurt,” he says. “Like, ‘If I move in that motion with that weight I’m going to pull my back.’ But you’re not.” If you train in the gym for those rotative movements in real life that often require resistance—swinging a baseball bat or golf club, picking up your child and putting her in the car, or grabbing a suitcase off the ground and rotating to lift it into the overhead bin—then you’re less likely to get injured when you’re repeating that movement outside the gym, explains Peterson. And that’s why you should do it more often. “In turn, that’s going to make those areas stronger and help you lose the love handles,” he says. So add in moves like wood chops, Russian twists, and bear crunches to regularly work on rotative movements that’ll build up your muscles and blast away those love handles for good. Once you can do the moves confidently with bodyweight resistance, consider adding external resistance, like cable machines, weights, or resistance bands.
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HM – what does that sign mean?
A Senior Denim Editor On The Jeans You’ll Be Wearing In 2018-Topshop
Jeans are a given in pretty much any wardrobeA wardrobe is a standing closet used for storing clothes.The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that separate accommodation was provided for the apparel of the great. The name of wardrobe was then given to a room in which the wall-space was filled with closets and lockers, the drawer being a comparatively modern invention. From these cupboards and lockers the modern wardrobe, with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves and drawers, evolved slowly., but have you ever wondered how they got to be so integral? We talked to Sam Trotman, Senior Denim Editor at trends forecaster WGSN, about everything we ever wanted to know about denim – where denim trends come from, who has the biggest influence on denimDenim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced twill textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the denim that distinguishes it from cotton duck (a linen canvas). and what jeans we’ll be wearing in 2018…
What does the job of Senior Denim Editor at WGSN entail?
A lot of what my job involves is mix of travelling, photojournalism, reporting and editing. As WGSN’s Senior Denim Editor, I spend my workdays travelling around the world, attending music festivals and scrolling through Instagram to find emerging brands and inspirational denim imagery. No week is ever the same. Since the start of the year I’ve been to London Fashion Week for the Fall/ Winter ’18 shows, Florence for Pitti Uomo, Paris, and Copenhagen. My main responsibilities are to delve into the lifestyles and shopping habits of denim consumers around the world and keep a close eye on denim trends, which includes everything from styling, key silhouettes, fabrics, wash and finish. Most people think of denim as just a pair of jeansJeans are trousers typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term “jeans” refers to a particular style of pants, called “blue jeans,” which were invented by Jacob Davis in 1871[1] and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture., but there is a whole blue world out there with a huge cultural following around it!
Where do denim trends come from?
I think one of the key characteristics of WGSN trend forecasting is we have eyes that take in so many more visuals than the average person. When we attend fashion weeks, music festivals and events we are constantly scanning, reading and interpreting so many details, looks and items. For me that includes everything denim. You really have to be immersed in all aspects of culture to catch the next big thing. Its really about pattern recognition and connecting different elements, whether its coming from art, film, music or on the high street. I might see something that resonates with me at an exhibition and then notice the trend popping up on Instagram and then when you see it on the street you really know its happening. They say 3 is the magic number for when a trend is confirmed.
What’s going to be big in denim for 2018?
Western is something that is embedded into denim culture. Part of why jeans shifted to popular culture was because wealthy men and women in East America in the 1920s and ’30s would want to enjoy the Western experience and go on a ‘back to nature’ retreat called Dude Ranches where they would get kitted out in western gear. Since then its been rolling in and out of fashion as trends do. For 2018 this Western look is back, but less rodeo cowboy, more rodeo drive. Raf Simons has lead the way in this fresh approach to Americana style with his most recent collections with Calvin Klein, and other labels like Coach have put their own youthful spin on the trend. Western style may sound intimidating, but broken into wardrobe components, it could be just the refresher your 2018 look needs.
What’s been the most surprising trend?
The trend for really odd-looking denim! I wrote an article last year on the WGSN denim blog about how 2017 is the year of ‘weird jeans’. It was crazy to see celebrities like Kendall Jenner stepping out in her Janklets aka Jorts, Rihanna in off-the-shoulder jacket and floor-grazing slit pants and Ryan Destiny at Coachella with her one-leg jeans. And who could forget Thibaut’s thong jeans from Tokyo Fashion Week? Topshop also got the internet up in arms over their clear PVC jeans…
What’s been the most enduring trend?
Since the whole normcore trend came about in 2014, the love of basics and neutral dressing has become an overriding trend for denim. The ’90s obviously lends itself well to the trend, which has been a big part of its enduring appeal. It’s been interesting to see how the trend has evolved over the years and I think the designs of Demna Gvasalia at Vetements and Balenciaga are really where it has almost come full circle. The whole idea of normcore was that it was a unisex fashion trend characterized by unpretentious, normal-looking clothing. Demna has taken this to a whole new level with his clumpy Triple-S dad shoes, DHL T-shirts and his most recent Balenciaga campaign with awkward-looking family photo shoots. It has a really wry, ironic tone that mocks the excess and the superficial triviality of the fashion world all while contributing to it. Everyone must’ve also seen the recent Y Project thigh-high Uggs too which broke the internet. Heinous is so hot right now!
What decade has been your favourite for denim?
That’s a tough one! For me personally I truly love the late ’60s and ’70s. The ’50s and early ’60s are when denim really took off for youth culture, but its at the tail end of the ’60s and early ’70s where you will find the most outrageous and unique denim designs. The “Summer of Love” in 1967 was an iconic time of fashion, music, art, and news ideas. The 100,000 free-spirited people that converged in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district celebrated a counter-culture movement that promoted civil rights, communal living and creativity. Music and the arts boomed. As well as the amazing music and art that came out at this time, this period broke the confines of the past and brought with it a new sartorial silhouette. Hair got longer, jeans got wider and the colour palette took on a distinctly psychedelic feel as minds expanded and innocence was lost. These rebels really set the stage for iconic denim style and their spirit remains alive and well today.
What effect has celebrity and/or fashion influencers had on denim?
Celebrities have a huge impact on denim. You only have to think back to some of life’s most iconic and epic failure moments. Whether good or bad, these have ultimately helped shaped denim’s status as a mainstay of any 21st century wardrobe. Here are some of my favourites in chronological order:
1954 – Marilyn’s high-waisted denim jeans in River of No Return instigated one of the more enduring denim trends of the 20th and 21st Century and also spurred women to get into 5-pocket jeans.
1955 James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause – he is the archetypal bad boy that still lives on in the heart of the male millennial wardrobe.
1981 – Brooke Shields in the 1981 Calvin Klein campaign. Because “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins/Levi’s”
Forever – Princess Diana proving that she needed little more than her statuesque frame to make an impression. Sje would have relaxed days strolling around in stonewashed jeans and casual separates setting the standard for Sloane Rangers for years to come. Iconic! 2001 – Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears at the American Music Awards. So bad it’s good. I wanted to wear this look for my wedding but my wife declined!
What denim silhouette do you wear on a daily basis?
I have so many pairs of jeans in my closet that it really does change on a daily basis. I don’t quite have 365 pairs, but it’s not far off. With my favourite era being from ’60s and ’70s, I’d have to say something from those eraa like a Levi’s 1967 ‘505’ fit. It was the jean that launched during the Summer of Love and became the uniform of graffiti artists, rock stars and beatniks alike. If you’ve ever seen pictures of Debbie Harry or The Ramones in denim, they are most likely wearing this jean. You feel like a badass as soon as you slip them on!
If you had to wear one style of jeans for the rest of your life, what would it be?
If it was the end of the world and I could have one pair to get me through the apocalypse, it would be my Levi’s 1947 501. It’s a classic. Straight, slim fit and durable Cone denim that will hold up just about anything you throw at it – Levi’s didn’t have the two horse tug-of-war motif on their branding for nothing! They would also need to be raw so that I can work on getting the best fade whilst roaming the earth alone.
Are there any new manufacturing methods or technologies that you are excited about?
Denim is one of the most polluting industries in the fashion world. The water consumption in a jeans life-cycle from cotton growing and manufacturing to the end consumer use is enormous. Water waste is only part of the problem, but the industry is constantly working towards new technologies to improve the process for a more socially-responsible world. If you’re a denim geek and want to know some of these technologies you can look up things like laser or ozone washing, which both considerably reduce the water, chemical and energy consumption in washing denim at the manufacturing stage.
What are your tips to make sure our denim looks as fresh as possible for as long as possible?
Wash your denim less frequently! Jeans were originally designed to withstand the rigours of the blue-collar workday. The fabric is robust and durable. So if the American miners and Goldiggers worked endlessly in theirs without washing them, you definitely don’t need to chuck yours in the machine after every wear.
What keeps you passionate about denim?
Denim is one of the most versatile, universal and democratic fabrics. There’s a Daniel Miller book where he stated that, in any major Western city, more than half of the people are wearing jeans at any moment. I think denim is such a personal product, everyone has their own favourite pair of jeans, whether its a fresh pair of raws, your mum’s hand-me-down ’80s high-rise, a busted and broken pair that you just can’t let go of or just a regular go-to skinny for comfort. The fabric has been around for over a century and its rich history makes it so interesting to explore, and its versatility has meant that you can do pretty much anything with it. Bleach it, destroy it, remake it, tailor it, whatever you want! In this sense it is both conventional and unconventional. This contradiction is what makes it a unique material for designers to experiment with and keeps it in popular culture.
source: http://www.topshop.com/blog/2018/01/senior-denim-editor-jeans-youll-wearing-2018
How To Replicate The Best Denim Street Style Looks Now-Topshop
denimDenim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced twill textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the denim that distinguishes it from cotton duck (a linen canvas). is an integral part of everyone’s wardrobe, so this season we’re making it count. Keep scrolling to discover how to style your jeans in new unexpected ways – as inspired by the street style stars…
White jeansJeans are trousers typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term “jeans” refers to a particular style of pants, called “blue jeans,” which were invented by Jacob Davis in 1871[1] and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture. are the style of the moment. Add a Western-inspired jacket, reinvented pinstripe shirt and strappy heels for the most trending take.
Ripped denim
Prefer to keep it casual? The timeless model-off-duty look still works – think ripped boyfriend jeans, crop top, baseball hat and patent boots.
Retro denim
Hark back to the ’90s by coordinating a pair of authentic Mom jeans with an oversized denim jacket, colour-pop accessories and square tortoiseshell sunglasses.
Double denim on a night out? Opt for extra high-waisted skinnies and a raw-hem cropped jacket, then finish the look with some pink heels and statement earringsAn earring is a piece of jewellery attached to the ear via a piercing in the earlobe or another external part of the ear (except in the case of clip earrings, which clip onto the lobe). Earrings are worn by both sexes, although more common among women, and have been used by different civilizations in different times..
Deconstructed denim
A pair of baggy, deconstructed jeans looks best paired with chunky knitwear, heeled sandals and a compact clutch.
Embellished denim
Keep embellished denim in focus with minimal gold jewellery, luxe pumps and a slouchy leather bag.
source: http://www.topshop.com/blog/2018/01/replicate-best-denim-street-style-looks-now
HOW BLUE JEANS CONQUERED THE WORLD-H&M
1.AN ITALIAN INVENTION
The denim tale starts in Genoa, Italy, where Genoese sailors used the strong fabricA fabric is a material made through weaving, knitting, spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods (garments, etc.). as protection from the weather. There are different theories about where the word “jean” comes from, but a popular one is that it derives from the French name for Genoa – “Gênes.” When translated to American English – which is where the blue pantspants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dresses). became mainstream – the spelling changed to “jeansJeans are trousers typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term “jeans” refers to a particular style of pants, called “blue jeans,” which were invented by Jacob Davis in 1871[1] and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture..”
2.FROM WORKWEAR TO VOGUE
Levi Strauss introduced jeans to the American market in the late 1800s and, in 1934, the company launched “Lady Levi’s” – a denim line for women. The lady jeans were popular on the West Coast, where women worked on farms and ranches. One year later, the lady jeans were featured in Vogue and found their way to New York and the rest of the world.
3.BECOMING ICONIC
In the 1950s, Hollywood put all the bad boys in blue jeans. Of course, the most memorable ones were Marlon Brando and James Dean, who made the indigo pants into trend objects and launched themselves as style icons for young men all over the world. While the two hunks immortalized men’s jeans, Grace Kelly did perhaps the same for women’s denim with her appearance in Rear Window (1954), where she wore rolled up denims and a red men’s shirt.
4.THE BAGGIER THE BETTER
The 1980s was the first decade when (basically) all people were wearing denim – regardless of social background or workplace – and the fabric could be described both as a symbol of egalitarian fashion, as well as one creating a subcultural association. If you were into punk rock you were most definitely wearing skinny distressed jeans, if you were a streetwear pioneer who loved hip hop you probably sported low-slung baggy jeans, and if you were following trends, it was the decade that designers brought denim to the runway.
5.THE RISE OF MINIMALISM
When the peacocking 80s turned into the minimalistic 90s, the denim trend followed suit and changed shapes yet again. Baggy jeans stayed a big streetwear trend, but in womenswear, classic straight-legged and dark stone-washed jeans epitomized the minimalistic trend that ruled the decade.
6.LOW-SLUNG AND BOOT-CUT
But the 90s weren’t all about minimalism. In the latter half of the decade – continuing into the early 2000s – carpenter jeans, overalls and double-denim were all huge youth trends. Come the new millennium and baggy and relaxed fitted denim was quickly forgotten when pop stars opted for ultra-low-rise flared jeans, which many of us still vividly remember – and perhaps partly regret.
7.THE S/S 18 DENIM TRENDS
For spring and summer 2018, denim is as relevant and on-trend as ever. Although jeans have been around for centuries, new takes on the iconic indigo blue pants are continuing to reshape our wardrobes season after season. Moving on from the past years’ denim trends with cropped legs, high waists and patched-up and reworked details, are the returning baggy 90s jeans, jeans with contrasting stitching and tuxedo stripes, as well as paper-bag waist denims.
source: http://www.hm.com/us/magazine/fashion/the-item/2018/01/how-blue-jeans-conquered-the-world
UPGRADE YOUR DENIM LOOK à LA CAROLINA MOLOSSI-H&M
A former philosophy major and now co-founder of a fashionFashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers. tech start-up, Carolina Molossi’s style is as eclectic as her background. But although we love all of her style ventures, it’s Molossi’s love for simple yet genius denimDenim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced twill textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the denim that distinguishes it from cotton duck (a linen canvas). looks that has us returning to her Instagram feed.
Catching up with Carolina Molossi in Milan, we asked her to share some of that style wisdom – see how she wears her current H&M favorites in the slideshow above.
WHAT IS YOUR SIGNATURE STYLE?
“A good balance between basics and eccentric pieces.”
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE DESIGNER?
“Miuccia Prada is always my favorite, but I’m also a Phoebe Philo enthusiast and a Marni fan!”
WHO IS YOUR STYLE ICON?
“Jane Birkin is a classic, and I’m currently obsessed with Linda Rodin: I love her ageless style.”
WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH?
“Playa Mitjorn in Formentera, a tiny Balearic island that stole my heart when I was a kid.”
“Without any doubt: Gnocchi.”
IF YOU HAD TO LEAVE YOUR APARTMENT IN A HURRY, WHAT WOULD YOU GRAB?
“Lip balm, phone, passport and my camera.”
WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO LOOK?
“A white t-shirt, a cashmere oversized sweatersA sweater (North American English) is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms.A sweater is either a pullover or a cardigan, distinguished in that cardigans open at the front while pullovers do not. In British English, a pullover may also be called a jumper or jersey. Some British dictionaries include cardigans as a type of jumper,while others do not;in the latter case, there is no hypernym equivalent to sweater covering both pullovers and cardigans., jeans and a long, double-breasted coat and a pair of crazy shoes.”
WHY IS FASHION IMPORTANT?
“Every morning, we must choose how we want to present ourselves to the world, and even if you don’t care about fashion you’re still making choices every day. I believe those choices say a little something about all of us. I love to guess people’s personalities by looking at their outfits. And I like to potentially be able to tell a different story every day through my clothes.”
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN HISTORY, WHAT FASHION ERA WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN?
“I would love to live in the mid-sixties! The headbands, the first miniskirts, the futuristic style of Courrèges!”
WHAT ITEM WOULD YOU NEVER PART FROM?
“My vintage Levi’s.”
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD?
“I’ve always wanted to work in fashion and with images. I do remember though, that for a brief period of time when I was a kid I wanted to make trailers for films!”
WHAT IS YOUR GUILTY FASHION PLEASURE?
“Shoes, I’m so difficult with them! And white t-shirts, I’ll never have enough of them. Still on the hunt for the perfect one.”
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET?
“Every philosopher I studied in college.”
WHAT DO YOU NEED RIGHT NOW?
“A spa day and a good trip.”
WHAT IS YOUR LATEST BEAUTY DISCOVERY?
“That dry body brushes and scrubs can do wonders!”
source: http://www.hm.com/us/magazine/fashion/everyday-icon/2018/01/upgrade-your-denim-look-a-la-carolina-molossi
LuLu*s
8 Gifts to Give Your Newly Engaged Bestie-LuLus
With more than half of the most popular days for engagements falling between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, odds are you know someone who just got engaged. And if that someone just happens to be your BFF, well then it’s time to celebrate! Before planning kicks into high gear and things get more than a little stressful, let your ride or die know just how much she means to you with a thoughtful gift (or several). After all, you were her first soul mate, right? Ahead, eight ways to show the bride to be you’re on her team — and always will be.
1. Tee Time
It’s a title that she’ll only get to rock for a limited amount of time so give her a shirtsA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist).Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. In British English, a shirt is more specifically a garment with a collar, sleeves with cuffs, and a full vertical opening with buttons or snaps (North Americans would call that a “dress shirt”, a specific type of “collared shirt”). A shirt can also be worn with a necktie under the shirt collar. that will let everyone know who the bride is. Bachelorette party, anyone?
2. Nail It
People are going to be asking to see the ring so ensure her digits are in tip top shape with a fun but understated metallic polish that compliments her sparkler.
3. Hydration Helper
The wedding beauty regimen starts now and that means water, water, and more water. Help keep your BFF hydrated with a chic, bride-worthy bottle.
4. What a Dish
Give your girlfriend a stylish place to keep her ring and a reminder of all she has to look forward to with this cheeky jewelry tray.
5. Comb Over
If she’s obsessed with the vintage vibe, this old-school hair accessoriesA fashion accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to the wearer’s outfit, often used to complete an outfit and chosen to specifically complement the wearer’s look. will help get the bride-to-be in a retro state of mind for planning. Plus, she can rock it for pre (and post!) wedding events.
6. Give Thanks
Engagement giftsA gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or return. An item is not a gift, if that item, itself, is already owned by the one to whom it is given. are forthcoming and your girl will be well prepared with this super pretty stationery set.
7. Comfy and Cute
For the big day or the celebrations prior, make sure her feet are ready for the journey ahead.
8. Band Together
Whether she wears this on the big day, to the bridal shower or anywhere else, your bestie will feel like royalty in this tiara alternative.
What are you giving your favorite bride to be? Show us on Instagram @lulus using #lovelulus!
source: http://blog.lulus.com/fashion/8-gifts-to-give-your-newly-engaged-bestie/
Lulus Must-Have Bridal Dresses
Are you a new bride to be? With engagements at an all time high during holidayA holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tradition of cultural or religious significance. Holidays may be designated by governments, religious institutions, or other groups or organizations. The degree to which normal activities are reduced by a holiday may depend on local laws, customs, the type of job being held or even personal choices. months, now is the time to start wedding planning for oh-so-many of you! As we all know, weddings can be a bit pricey, but that shouldn’t be a barrier to creating your dream day. If you’re looking for a dressA dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). that will make you feel like the beautiful bride you are without hurting your wallet… We’ve got you covered! With our new, affordable additions to the Lulus bridal line, saying yes to the dress of your dreams will be a breeze. No matter what wedding dress style suits you best, check out some of our newest bridal dresses!
Are you looking for a sleeveless number? It’s a perfect way to show off your arms and shoulders, while also being less of a worry than a strapless number. If you’re wanting to make a statement, we love our Wynne White Beaded Two-Piece Maxi Dress. This dress is daring yet super chic, and includes beautiful silver bead and rhinestone detailing. If you’re more of a boho bride, the Flynn White Lace Maxi featuring a romantic lace train might be the one for you. Our Everly White Lace Maxi Dress is also an amazing sleeveless bridal gownsA gown, from medieval Latin gunna, is a usually loose outer garment from knee- to full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, gown was applied to any full-length woman’s garment consisting of a bodice and attached skirt. A long, loosely fitted gown called a Banyan was worn by men in the 18th century as an informal coat.. Featuring a classic silhouette in romantic lace and a plunging neckline with mesh detail, it’s truly a timeless piece.
Sleeves are always an option! If you’re getting married during a chillier month, or if you prefer a more modest wedding day look, sleeves are your best friend! Sheer cape sleeves are a huge bridal trend, and our Amelie White Lace Maxi Dress is perfectly in style, without a daunting price tag. The Belinda White Lace Maxi Dress is also a classic option for a sleeved dress. Lovely, sheer eyelash lace tops a darted sweetheart bodice, three-quarter length sleeves, and a modest open back… What’s not to love? If you’d like a sexy, plunging open back, the Kymber White Backless Maxi Dress might be the one for you. With its high neckline and three-quarter length sleeves, this open back maxi is totally wedding-worthy!
If you’re wanting a just a little bit of coverage, cap sleeves are a beautiful, ultra-flattering in-between choice! The Dress the Population Michelle White Sequin Maxi Dress is the perfect combo of sexy and glam with its white sequins, plunging neckline, and cap sleeves. Thanks to the Florianna White Backless Lace Maxi Dress’s banded waist and flowing chiffon maxi skirt, it would be a flattering choice for any and all body types. It would also pair perfectly with any accessories you have your eye on! We are also obsessed with the effortless Crazy About You White Backless Lace Maxi Dress. The combination of the open back along with a mock neck and cap sleeves has us majorly swooning!
Strapless bridal gowns will always be a stunning classic in our eyes. It’s the perfect cut to pair with any necklace or jewelry! If a more polished look is preferred, we love our Blair White Pearl Strapless Maxi Dress for its delicate pearl detailing and simply chic silhouette. Are giltz and glam your thing? The Olivia White Sequin Strapless Maxi Dress is a total show stopper! No accessories are needed with this sequin number (but you can always pile them on anyway!). Another strapless fave is our Birdy White Lace Maxi Dress, suited for any boho bride who wants to have a timeless, yet trendy look.
What style will you be donning at your wedding? Tell us which dress is ‘The One’ in the comments below, and make sure to share all your wedding pics with us by using #lovelulus on Instagram!
source: http://blog.lulus.com/fashion/lulus-must-have-bridal/
Spring Into Spring Fashion!-LuLus
As we approach the warmer months of the year and get ready for spring fashionFashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers., there is always the sadness of leaving your fave winter pieces, like puffer jackets and long sleeves, behind as you transition into sun dresses and crop tops. Let us show you how to bring some of your fave cold weather looks into something that can we worn into to the warmer months, so you can stay fab all year round!
Overalls are one of our fave fall looks! They keep you warm and comfy when paired with a long sleeve top and booties. Bring your overalls into spring by rolling them to a cropped length, and then pairing them with a cute crop top and sporty sneaks! We love the Come Into Bloom Medium Wash Denim Overalls paired with the Free People Solid Rib White Cropped Tank Top and the Report Albie Black Studded Slip-On sneakersSneakers (also known as athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, runners, takkies, or trainers) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also often used for everyday wear..
Are you bumming about leaving your fave flannels and denim jackets behind for the summer? Put them to new use by tying them around your waist for a trendy twist on an everyday look! Pair a springy dress like the Hey Good Lookin’ Short Sleeve Black Dress with a trendy denim jacketsA jacket is a mid stomach length garment for the upper body. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which is outerwear. Some jackets are fashionable, while others serve as protective clothing., like the Pistola Heavenly Body Embroidered Light Wash Denim Jacket, re-purposed by tying it around the waist! Add some cute mules like the Dolce Vita Kaira Ivory Leather Mules and you are looking fresh!
We all love a cozy beanie! And those early summer nights can still be a little chilly, so why not bring your beanie into spring! Stay warm when the sun goes down, by adding a beanie to your everyday day look. We love the Hey Sugar Heather Grey Beanie with a classic summer look like the Z Supply Brynlee White Tee paired with the RVCA Hello Mellow Light Wash Distressed Denim Shorts. Add some trendy sunnies like the Spitfire Twice Shy Black Cat-Eye Sunglasses and you have got a look that can’t go wrong.
Shop these transitional looks now and show us your fave ways to update winter looks for the spring season on Instagram @lulus with #lovelulus!
source: http://blog.lulus.com/fashion/spring-into-spring-fashion/
Bridal Accessories You Will Love-LuLus
Your wedding dressA dress (also known as a frock or a gown) is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). may be the star of the show, but the right accessoriesA fashion accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to the wearer’s outfit, often used to complete an outfit and chosen to specifically complement the wearer’s look. can elevate your look and add personality! Every bride wants to magnify her gorgeousness for her ‘I do’ moment, and some glam accessories that fit your vibe are the key to achieving this. Shop our picks for the most stylish wedding day accessories below!
When it comes to earrings, take a cue from your hairstyle. If you’re leaving your hair down and over your ears, sparkling studs or minimalist drop earrings can have a cool peekaboo effect; our Having a Ball Rose Gold Rhinestone Earrings would be the perfect fit! For an updo, you might want something a little more dramatic, like a pair of chandelier danglers. Our Espyn Silver Rhinestone Tassel Earrings make for the perfect finishing touch.
Bridal hair accessories are an important part of the perfect wedding ‘do, adding a finishing touch to your wedding look and drawing attention to your radiant face. It’s no secret that headbands are a stunning addition to a wedding day look – try our Love You Still Cream Rhinestone Headband, which can be worn as a typical headband with your hair down or in an updo, or wrapped around a chic bun. One great way to add some beautiful sparkle to your bridal look is with a jeweled hair comb. For an ultra-feminine look, check out the Til I Found You Gold and Pink Rhinestone Hair Comb.
For our money, picking a classic necklacesA necklace is an article of jewelry that is worn around the neck. Necklaces may have been one of the earliest types of adornment worn by humans.Necklaces often serve ceremonial, religious, magical, or funerary purposes. They are also often used as symbols of wealth and status, given that they are commonly made of precious metals and stones. with rhinestone details is the quickest way to add some shimmer to a subdued wedding dress. We love layered necklaces, drop necklaces, and chokers with special accents to create a little sparkle, without stealing the thunder from your gorgeous gown. These pieces are timeless and will look great in your wedding photos for years to come!
Other things to keep in mind while shopping for wedding accessories are the metallic finishes that will look perfect with your dress. You may not realize this, but some metals look better with certain fabric colors – even white! As a general rule, ivory is best paired with gold since it highlights the creamy tint of the fabric, and silver looks better with cooler toned whites. Keep this in mind when shopping for accessories for your big day make sure you pick the most complementary pieces to make you absolutely GLOW.
Which of these bridal accessories caught your eye? Let us know in the comments and make sure to share all your wedding pics with us by using #lovelulus on Instagram!
source: http://blog.lulus.com/fashion/bridal-accessories-you-will-love/
Denim: women’s-River Island
When is having the blues a good thing? When you’re talking about denimDenim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced twill textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the denim that distinguishes it from cotton duck (a linen canvas).…which we are. All day, every day-we want to live in it, please.
It’s not all about skinny jeansJeans are trousers typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term “jeans” refers to a particular style of pants, called “blue jeans,” which were invented by Jacob Davis in 1871[1] and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture. (though we’re SO NOT relegating ours yet), add a new style to your denim repertoire in 2018. The hottest new shapes on the block have a little more breathing room (phew!) and come with extra fashionFashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers. points too.
From off-duty weekend vibes to those nights out when only ‘jeans and a nice top’ will do, there is no situation a pair of skinny jeans can’t style. Make it a close call with our must-have Molly jeggings, go super-skinny with a pair of Amelie jeans or work a killer silhouette with Harper, high-rise. If your mantra is slim, not skinny – Casey is your go-to pair.
source: https://www.riverisland.com/women/new-denim-fits?icid=inspiration/women/prm/w/new-denim-fits/op
IT’S A MATCH-River Island
If Jan has you ready to hibernate, you need some brand-new reasons to leave the house!
A fresh pair of jeansJeans are trousers typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term “jeans” refers to a particular style of pants, called “blue jeans,” which were invented by Jacob Davis in 1871[1] and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture., and (obviously) the shoes that work with them, should bring back your get up and glow!
IT Me
Fittingly named Alexa, our new ‘IT’ jeans are THE fashionFashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers. buy of the season. Don’t let the wide leg and cropped length scare you, close the gap with a pair of block-heel ankle bootsA boot is a type of footwear and a specific type of shoe. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece..
Real Slim
Take a break from skinnies and relax into slim instead. The mid-blue Casey jean exudes effortless cool with
its easy cropped length and raw hem;wear with cone heel sock-boots for extra points.
Croc N’ Roll
If white jeans are your spring essential, get new frills and go for a pair with cute feature hems.
We’ll be rocking these with high-front mules in black moc-croc for a graphic look.
source: https://www.riverisland.com/inspiration/ways-to-wear/its-a-match?icid=inspiration/ways-to-wear/prm/itsamatch/wtw
ZARA:How to Dress for Chinese New Year If You Have No Idea
TOPSHOP:3 Ways To Style Mules For 3 Different Occasions
TOPSHOP:What Berlin’s Coolest Influencers Are Wearing To Fashion Week
TOPSHOP:7 Pictures Of Kate Moss In The ’90s You Might Not Have Seen Before
H&M:13 Cultural Events To Look Forward To In 2020 If You Love Fashion
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previous expo
#25 — I'M ONLY HAPPY WHEN I'M NAKED
25 January 2018 — 04 March 2018
next expo
TOKYO RUMANDO
rs-no118-
28 x 35,6 cm (11 x 14 inch) edition of 5
40,6 x 50,8 cm (16 x 20 inch) edition of 5
50,8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 inch) edition of 5
orphee-no J3
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gelatine silver print
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11 x 14 inch: edition of 5
Orphee No. Y4
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Orphee No. J4
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Instant Film (FP-100C by Fujifilm) (7.3 x 9.5 cm) in Mat (24 x 30 cm)
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Untitled from Peel Apart
Set of 3 Instant Film (FP-100C by Fujifilm) (7.3 x 9.5 cm) in Mat (24 x 30 cm)
Set of Instant Film (FP-100C by Fujifilm) (7.3 x 9.5 cm) in Mat (24 x 30 cm)
IBASHO is proud to present Tokyo Rumando’s solo exhibition ‘I’m only happy when I’m naked’.
Tokyo Rumando is the artist name of a young Tokyo photographer (1980) who after a career in modelling turned the camera lens on herself. In carefully crafted scenes, she not only creates imagined characters but also delves into all the existing personas in herself. According to Rumando she “is the photographer, the bystander, the performer, the theme as well as the director. Making pictures has no meaning if I cannot present the whole of my world.”
Rumando’s work reveals an intuitive drive for authenticity defying gender roles that the Japanese patriarchal society puts on its women. She plays with ‘the male gaze’ parallel to her Western predecessors such as Cindy Sherman, to produce her own vision of identity, sexuality and intimacy. In that respect she is part of ‘Girlie Photographers’, a phenomenon of the mid 1990s in which photography was discovered by women and advanced to a central medium of self-expression and ways of establishing an identity.
Although she is a young artist, work from Rumando’s series Orphée was included in a major exhibition in Tate Modern London ‘Performing for the Camera’ in 2016.
IBASHO will exhibit works from several series Rumando has created.
In her series Rest 3000 Stay 5000 from 2012 Rumando emerged herself in the world of the love hotels. With this series for which she visited more than 20 love hotels in Tokyo, she gives the viewer a peek into this other, secretive world.
In Orphée from 2014 Rumando transformed herself into 26 different characters standing to the side of a magical mirror. The mirror not only reflects reality, but also retrieves lost memories of Rumando herself. The repetition of the composition represents oppression to Rumando and brings out themes of horror and madness. This composition doesn’t entail a confrontation between Rumando and the ‘reflection’ in the mirror, but she is watching the scenes from afar, like an outsider. For Rumando this series, named after Jean Cocteau’s film Orphée, functions as a way to look back at herself objectively: “I was shaping my inner self again, projecting it on a picture and once again reintroducing it inside. Rather than finding, I’d say I was receiving something”.
Also on show at IBASHO is a collection of Polaroids from her latest series Peel Apart, that Rumando took of herself over the years. 'I was a high school student when I first got the polaroid camera. It was a fun gadget to play with friends, as it could quickly capture the moment. I used to use the polaroid camera to do testing for my self portraits. Polaroids are like a documentation of reality for me, as I make works that interconnect the present, past, and future. When I look into their unique colours, I can see many beautiful colour particles like the universe - it gives me an unexplainable sense of exaltation.”
Available at IBASHO are also Rumando’s books: Rest 3000 Stay 5000 , Orphée and a special box set Self Polaroids, containing 32 large format postcards of the artist's polaroid selfies, a book of Tokyo Rumando's new Peel Apart series, and a sealed pack of the artist's personal belongings or stage props (unique to each box) all housed together in a luxurious printed clamshell box. And lastly, Rumando has created a rare limited edition of 3 handmade Peel Apart books.
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OCD Home
All Gender Restrooms
Hostos President Statement
Affirmative Action Policy
Non Discrimination & Non Harassment
Lactation Policy
Administrative Offices > Office of Compliance and Diversity
Welcome to the Office of Compliance and Diversity
Hostos Community College is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or any other category protected under federal, state, and city laws in its programs and activities.
The following individual has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:
Lauren Gretina, Esq.
Chief Diversity Officer, Title IX Coordinator, and ADA/504 Coordinator
Hostos Community College
475 Grand Concourse
LGRETINA@hostos.cuny.edu
Individuals may also contact the Office of Civil Rights (U.S. Department of Education), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York State Human Rights Division, or New York City Human Rights Commission to file a complaint.
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) – Enforcement Office
32 Old Slip, 26th floor
New York, NY 10005 – 2500
33 Whitehall Street, 5th Floor
New York State Division of Human Rights
Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building
163 West 125th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10027]
New York City Commission on Human Rights
1932 Arthur Avenue, Room 203A
Related Offices & Departments
Office: A-336
Hostos is named after Eugenio María de Hostos.
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New Algorithm Reveals Many Previously Unknown Potential Antibiotics in the Human Gut
We typically think about antibiotics as drugs that our doctors prescribe. But they are actually molecular bullets that bacteria use to kill each other – humans merely borrowed and adapted these bioactive compounds to fight infections. Since many bacteria produce bioactive compounds the question arises whether ≈1000 bacterial species inhabiting our gut also produce antibiotics. If yes, does the continuous exposure to these antibiotics lead to the development of antibiotic resistance in the human microbiome?
Today, little is known about antibiotics that are produced by bacteria that live in the human gut (rather than doctor-prescribed). One of the reasons for this gap in knowledge is that antibiotics often evade experimental and computational detection methods.
Scientists at the University of California San Diego have started closing this gap by developing a new algorithm for analyzing cyclopeptides, bioactive compounds that include many antibiotics (like daptomycin shown in Figure below), anticancer drugs (like echinomycin) and immunosuppressors (like cyclosporin A).
Figure. Chemical structure of Daptomycin: a cyclopeptide produced by soil bacteria; one of the last resort antibiotics used to fight multi-drug resistant bacteria such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
The cyclic structure of cyclopeptides is both a blessing and a curse: it gives them favorable properties similar to therapeutic drugs but, at the same time, makes it difficult to develop algorithms for their analysis. However, recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS) and bioinformatics provided new ways to decode cyclopeptides. Just in the past few years the Global Natural Product Social (GNPS) molecular network, developed at the University of California San Diego, accumulated millions of mass spectra representing many compounds from different organisms and environments, creating a digital “gold mine” for finding new cyclopeptides. However, identifying mass spectra that represent cyclopeptides (and inferring sequences of their amino acids) is not unlike finding a needle in a haystack.
A paper in Cell Systems by leading co-authors Dr. Pavel Pevzner and his graduate student, Bahar Behsaz, alongside collaborators from around the world, presents the new CycloNovo algorithm that identifies cyclopeptide spectra in a haystack of all peptides (a vast majority of peptides are linear) and decodes them by analyzing large MS datasets. Mass spectrometers are automated molecular weight-scales that measure masses of tiny compounds and shatter them into small fragments to then report the masses of the resulting fragments. CycloNovo decodes this cryptic information about the shattered fragments to find amino acid sequences of cyclopeptides that were previously sitting in the dark, waiting to be discovered. After a decade where this problem had remained open, the team developed an algorithm for solving it that is not unlike algorithms for genome assembly, finding sequences of nucleotides in a genome.
In the last 75 years since the cyclopeptide Gramicidin S was used as the first antibiotics to treat wounded soldiers in 1943, only ≈1,200 cyclopeptides have been sequenced as a result of painstaking effort that often spans years to discover a single compound. In contrast, the paper reported over 400 new cyclopeptides in microbial and plant datasets (some plants also produce cyclopeptides) by a push of a button and further validated some of them using complementary technologies. One of the datasets was generated from stool samples collected over a period of many years by co-author Dr. Larry Smarr. The analysis surprised them since it showed many cyclopeptides produced by flaxseeds (rather than by microbes in the human gut), making them question its validity. However, as it turned out, Dr. Smarr had in fact been using flaxseed oil in his diet exactly at the time when the stool samples featuring flaxseed cyclopeptides were generated. “This is the first demonstration that cyclopeptides from food remain stable in a harsh environment of the human gut and are not degraded. Our study suggests that cyclopeptides are responsible for recently demonstrated antimicrobial activities of flaxseed. What is remarkable is that flaxseed cyclopeptides represented just one of 65 other cyclopeptides found in these gut samples, raising the question of how these cyclopeptides might affect the human microbiome and whether they trigger resistance.” explains Behsaz.
As large MS datasets from bacteria and plants are becoming available, methods like CycloNovo are essential for interpolating valuable information from them. A scientist can now generate mass spectra from samples collected in the Amazonian jungle and rapidly search this dataset to see if there are any cyclopeptides in those samples with the push of a button. The found cyclopeptides can be further screened for antibiotic and other biomedically important activities.
The observations from this paper beg the question of if and how these potentially antibiotic compounds are interacting with the microbes in one’s gut. The team is already working on a pipeline that integrates the information provided by CycloNovo with other predictions from microbiome data to find cyclopeptides. CycloNovo’s ability to find cyclopeptides makes it applicable to early drug investigations laboratories and pharmaceutical companies.
This work was funded mainly by the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation Grand Challenges Award. Drs. Pevzner, Smarr, and Dorrestein are all members of the CMI. Bahar Behsaz was a CMI graduate fellow in Microbial Sciences in 2018. Drs. Hosein Mohimani from Carnegie Mellon University, Alexey Gurevich and Andrey Prjibelski from St. Petersburg State University in Russia, and Dr. Joshua Mylne and his graduate student, Mark Fisher, at the University of Western Australia were also collaborators on this project.
Brittanie Collinsworth
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation
b4collinsworth@ucsd.edu
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CHEROKEE RED REMIX FEATURED ON SUMMERSTEPS COMPILATION RELEASED FOR ARTS ON THE SQUARE
Media, News
H81R Staff
7:13 am July 22, 2015
One of our favorite events of the year, Arts On The Square in Scranton, Pa., is only a few days away. Today, Eric Schlitter of Summersteps Records offers a rundown of the artists that will be performing on the label’s stage, as well as some background on the new compilation EP Summersteps is releasing in conjunction with the event.
“If you can play in Scranton, you can play anywhere.” That’s how the old vaudeville adage goes anyway. In 2014, Summersteps Records was given the opportunity to host some bands on a special stage for the Scranton, Pa., arts festival Arts on the Square. Featuring a lineup of local talent drawn from its own roster and beyond, that included Kid Icarus, Cold Coffee, Eww Yaboo and A Fire With Friends. This year, Summersteps has returned to help curate the event’s now annual return on Saturday July 25. (The free event features two stages of music, with the other stage hosted by Highway 81 Revisited. Check out the complete lineup for both stages here.)
To commemorate the event, Summersteps was lucky enough to get new or unreleased tracks from all of the aforementioned band to assemble a special 4-way split EP called “Pennsylvania Sounds – Vol 1.” Released in a strictly limited edition of 100 sonic green cassingles (which will also include download codes, for those without a tape deck) to make its physical debut at the festival. Featured today on Highway 81 for your listening pleasure is a remix of Cherokee Red’s “Rainbows” featured on the new compilation.
Boasting a completely different hand-picked lineup that includes some of the area’s finest indie, folk and psychedelic rock that the area has to offer, let’s take a minute to dissect the Summersteps Arts On The Square lineup and offer some quick bios.
Brian TV: The musical brainchild of Brian Emmert. Born in 2011, the band made its debut on a self-released split cassette with Cold Coffee. Since then, Brian TV has metamorphosed from a bedroom-based solo project to a full band of musical compatriots including Nathaniel Kane and Ray Kline along with brothers Chris and Rob Lepkoski. The group sports a somewhat loose and shambolic vibe that is reminiscent of the Brian Jonestown Massacre if they decided to host a drunken barbecue for all their pals. Brian TV’s last full-length, “Quits,” was released last year on Pittston, Pa.’s Stress Carrier imprint.
Cherokee Red: Named after a sweet and somewhat volatile local cherry soda, Cherokee Red specializes in a woozy brand of psychedelic dream pop and folk from the low-lying valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Kicking around since 2011, the group has wasted little time racking up miles on tour and releasing an extensive body of recorded work. The group’s last two latest releases were an EP (maintaining the A=432Hz frequency) released via Philadelphia’s Magic Death Sounds label, entitled “The World Is My Oyster, You’re The Pearl,” and a limited cassette single for the track “Comeback.”
Family Animals: Family Animals are a band consisting of three dudes from Pennsylvania. Jesse Viola, Anthony Viola and Frank DeSando have known each other their entire lives. They’ve been playing together since 2000 and playing as Family Animals since 2008. Taking anything and everything they can from different aspects of the musical universe, conjuring a tough blend of folk, punk and indie moves. The group has tons of material available via Bandcamp.
Heavy Blonde: The writing and recording project started by songwriter Mike Williams in early 2012 after the breakup of his long time band And The Moneynotes. After spending the better part of two years refining the group’s sound approach, the fruits of those labors and living room rehearsals are the group’s self-released debut full-length “Heatwave.” Best described as a mix of warm country harmonies, brooding gypsy swing, cinematic arrangements and psychedelic waltzes. The album was recorded and produced by Nick Krill (Spinto Band, Teen Men, sometime member/collaborator Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) at Miner Street Studio in Philadelphia.
Arts on the Square
Brian TV
CHEROKEE RED
Eric Schlittler
Family Animals
Heavy Blonde
Magic Death Sounds
Stress Carrier Records
Summersteps Records
SUSQUEHANNA BREAKDOWN HIGHLIGHTS
RISING AMERICANA ACT BRUMMY BROTHERS RETURN TO SCRANTON
Newer PostMASON PORTER TO HOST FESTIVAL IN THE POCONOS
Older Post BRIGGS FARM BLUES FESTIVAL: FRIDAY PHOTO GALLERY, PART 2
TRACK PREMIERE: BRIAN TV'S 'CHARITY FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS' - Highway 81 Revisited
[…] stages – one presented by Higwhay 81 Revisited, and the other presented by Summersteps. Click here to hear Cherokee Red’s track from the compilation and read a complete roundup of the acts set […]
Like . July 24, 2015, 7:39 am Reply
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL’S SURREAL STATE THEATRE SERENADE
JUSTIN MAZER ON ‘ANTI-GUITAR’ and ‘MAKING SURE IT’S AWESOME’
A FIRE WITH FRIENDS PLOTS TOUR, RECORDINGS
TESTAMENT’S ERIC PETERSON RESURRECTS DRAGONLORD, ENTERS FANTASY ‘DOMINION’
NEW VIDEO FOR THE CARS, ALBUM ON THE WAY
ALBUM REVIEW: DAWES — “STORIES DON’T END”
COMPLETE LAST WALTZ SET FOR THE CAPITOL THEATRE
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Himeko Sutori Press Kit
Campaign Editor — Getting Started
Composer, social media guru
The best new composer in video games
Kevin Won is a composer for video games, film, and concert music. Kevin’s music places an emphasis on immersing an audience through lyrical melodies, nostalgic motives, and vast landscapes of orchestral sound found in video games and films. He has composed music for two previous video games, Eternal Desert Sunshine and Remnant Age. Kevin is also a talented pianist and has a youtube channel, Resonaga, where he performs piano covers of video game, anime, and classical music and uploads his original compositions!
Copyright 2019 | Rockwell Studios, LLC
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GPSMAP 66s & GPSMAP 64s are on the same high level, no difference between GPS + GLONASS or GPS + GALILEO. Garmin Pilot provides full en-route navigation capability on its moving map, while showing ETE, ETA, crosstrack error, distance to waypoint and current position. Considering the available features, the price difference (Garmin Oregon 750t RRP $699) the Oregon 700 seems to be aimed at a wider audience. It's at the root of many of the routing complaints I see and might even be the primary reason for dangerous winter routes in the Northwest. But you can tell the routes are based on very frequent GPS calls rather than a few points joined smoothly together like a dot-to-dot drawing. How do I import a GPX (route/track)?. When you connect them to the Garmin Connect app, they send a map of your route. Price Match Guarantee. So here are some, perhaps simplistic, questions: 1) what is the difference between a "track" and a "route" ? 2) I have tried to record a track, then load to my computer (using GPSBabelFE) and convert to a. 5 Trucking GPS Units to Consider if You're a Truck Driver There are many important tools truck drivers need while on the road, a GPS being one of them. The Main Difference Between the 401 & 601 Garmin has been making great GPSs for decades and it is no surprise that they do not sit still with model upgrades like this. It can re-route you if you take a wrong turn. A route allows you to set intermediate waypoints on your path from A to B that take into account terrain, roads or other relevant factors. I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 so am used the quality of Garmin products. It can do everything its sister watch, the Fenix3, can do, and even more: with its larger 1. When you place the pointer on it a bubble appears with a number but I can't figure out how to erase it. It can be used to describe waypoints, tracks, and routes. When things on Garmin Connect aren’t going quite the way they should, we’ll tell you the status of what’s working and what’s down. This is from memory, as I don't have a pc here, but what I do do avoid the annoying auto-route thing is to plot the proposed route as a track, so it goes where I want it to, then if required, convert the track to a route. The Garmin Fenix 5 series watches also track (record) your activities (hiking, running, swimming etc. Garmin GPSmap 64st GPS and Glonass Receiver with US TOPO 100K Maps, ANT+, Bluetooth - Compare Prices in Real-time, Set a Price Alert, and see the Price History Graph to find the cheapest price with GoSale - America's Largest Price Comparison Website!. com or Upload rides to Strava? I may also want to use this for basic navigation from pre-planned rides downloaded from ridewithgps. Also, it introduces a Power Save Timeout Setting for when you need a break in between the activities. I would like to say that there are only a few differences between the GPSMap76 and GPSMap76S, but we will go back over the main features of the Garmin GPSMap76S. An all new housing and outer shell, similar in size to the Edge 520, brings the overall size of the unit down substantially, and. The track screen on the Fenix 3 shows your position relative to a track you’ve downloaded. It is difficult to establish facts regarding the similarity or the difference between TomTom, Garmin and Magellan. The TomTom Spark 3 lasts for up to 11 hours, though, or three weeks of life as a watch and step tracker, so it doesn't lead the field here. A single Waypoint transferred from a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. Don't know what I will do in the future if Garmin does not bring back "Routes" but one thing is assured, I will not "ever" buy a unit with Trip Planner!!! It maybe time to start looking at other GPS brands. As a personal training assistant, the GARMIN Forerunner 305 records the travelled path (track), your heart rate, distance, time and pace/speed, computes the calories burned and helps to achieve your personal workout goals. A route allows you to set intermediate waypoints on your path from A to B that take into account terrain, roads or other relevant factors. It won't work with phones that have ANT+ capability. The biggest issue with Routes is that the routing is dependent on the mapping and can vary widly between the mapping used for Route creation and the mapping on your Garmin (or other GPS device). Garmin Fenix is the key series of GPS smart watches on the market from the leading manufacturer. Body Battery is a feature that uses a combination of Heart Rate Variability, Stress, and Activity to estimate the user's energy reserves throughout the day. It also included a digital compass, barometric altimeter and an accelerometer. In case of Locus it means communication between it and e. This could be your day of hiking in a park. eMap and eTrex have a new feature, not available on other Garmin units, to backtrack a saved route directly. One GPS file can contain both tracks/routes (even more at once) and points – Locus can handle them all. In short: For the rider that wants to track performance, As well as the standard method of downloading routes from Garmin Connect and Strava etc, Garmin says you can create your own routes on. On the Garmin your speed comes from your rear wheel (assuming you have speed/cadence package) and your altimeter is barometric (also depending on model, I suppose). Don't know what I will do in the future if Garmin does not bring back "Routes" but one thing is assured, I will not "ever" buy a unit with Trip Planner!!! It maybe time to start looking at other GPS brands. He builds software that integrates with GPS units for fleet management, embedded by the fleet owner in the vehicle. in a steep-sided valley, see waypoint 2018-BAY-007); overall, its GPS accuracy is on a very good level compared to the GPSMAP devices. Garmin subscription is $150 versus FF cost of $200 for nearly the same features. At least it is easy to verify if you do. Imagine you are hiking or walking and you are using a GPS to record your track. Devices such as hand-held GPS units, in-vehicle units are common. Between the multi-GNSS satellite support and ABC (altimeter, barometer and compass) sensor capabilities, the GPSMAP 66s/st will track the entire journey. This is not correct. Compare all GPSMAP 62, 64 & 66 units - GPSMAP 62, 62s, 62st, 62sc, 62stc , 64, 64s, 64st, 66s, 66st, 60CSx and see how they changed over the year. saves a bunch of work when starting a group for instance. The route following is similar to MotoMap’s. So you have a better idea of how far away things are. At the same time, save on battery. The app provides instant access to comprehensive U. You can’t go wrong with either. These are two excellent reasons why you may want to edit your tracks. GPS watches also track (record) your activities and allow you to export the details (duration, distance, average speed, total ascent, total descent and other parameters) to web or mobile apps such as Suunto Movescount or Garmin. When imported into my Garmin GPS unit, it shows up as just a very large list of waypoints, and does not show as a route on the Garmin base map. Fenix 5: Features Aside from the WiFi capability on standard models, the Fenix 5 series includes all of the features from the Fenix 3 HR. Whether you want to route planning GPS, do-it-all cycle computer, power meter pedals or any the Garmin range of best in category cycle computers, you can find it here at Biketart. Detailed trim-level price information and inventory for the 2019 Ford Edge. This may result in a slight difference between RNAV distance readout in reference to the NAVAID and the DME readout, especially at higher altitudes. Garmin eTrex 10 Handheld Gadgets by Rick Broida Nov 2, This nav app may be smart, but it’s no genius. Navigation has gone a long way from compasses and maps of the old days to more advanced systems like GPS and chartplotters. Columbia/Lancair and Diamond initially offered Avidyne, but both switched to the Garmin G1000. Our Garmin 152 gps is on the blink and when surfing for a new one I see an enormous difference in the cost between automotive and marine units. That's close enough for me. Select Browse. ca GPS Central, Authorized GARMIN dealer. Garmin Forerunner 235 GPS Running Watch: Make the most of your workout with this watch, which uses a wrist-based Elevate heart rate monitor to calculate your VO2 max and help you predict race times for various distances. In addition to the preloaded maps, you can keep your GPS up to date with Garmin's lifetime traffic service by connecting to the internet. However, there are certain differences between the two that need some analysis before you decide to make a purchase. And, you can still sync it with most of your favorite running apps. A route allows you to set intermediate waypoints on your path from A to B that take into account terrain, roads or other relevant factors. I have been walking on the Camino de Invierno starting from Ponferrada last Tuesday. What is the difference between Xilinx ISE and Vivado IDE? That for instance allows you to trace back a signal that the post-place-and-route-static-timing-report identifies as your critical. Basically as we use it for traversing Green Roads it is a line between points we have defined during planning. Its CHIRP traditional sonar system helps you see what's swimming below with crystal-clear images, and you can create and store maps using the Quickdraw™ Contours software. Select Edit > Geotag Photos using Track. You use a magic marker (track tool) and draw the track on the GPS s maps. 5 mph difference between my strava upload and others in my group ride then there is something wrong. Quick tutorial on the difference between a track & route. The Garmin Forerunner 630 is a dedicated GPS running watch. Loaded with features, the 785 is a valuable tool for truckers to have at their disposal. What's the Difference Between All These Running Apps? It also doesn't give you any way of finding new routes or analyzing detailed statistics: Nike+ is all about making those big red. If you do allow the GPS Unit to recalculate the route it may find a short cut that it thinks is a faster route or send you on a narrow trail. However, if you are specifically interested in the turn by turn feature or searching surrounding points of interest, the fenix 5X would be more appropriate for you. At the start, I anticipated that whilst only 10 of us (it looked like being 16 in the run up to the race), some of those riders would disappear into the distance and give me something to chase. Some modern GPS units do have more channels, the benefit is that with a few extra "spare" channels the unit will "listen" for new satellites and will lock-on as soon as they appear over the horizon. A route allows you to set intermediate waypoints on your path from A to B that take into account terrain, roads or other relevant factors. View your Garmin Oregon 700 waypoints, routes, and tracks over USGS topo maps and aerial photos. A major new feature is the ability of both Legend Color and Vista Color to automatically generate a route from current location to a destination address input by the user WHEN either City Select or City Navigator digital maps are installed in the GPS. Plug the GPS device into the computer with a USB cable. However, there are certain differences between the two that need some analysis before you decide to make a purchase. This map is routable and provides detailed coverage. GPX file specification allows for two types of files: a Track and a Route. My old Garmin GMR 24 HD had a 24 inch diameter and fits the gimbaled Scanstrut mount on the mast, but the new Fantom 24 is 1 1/2 inches more and may not fit, ( I have an email out to Scanstrut Tech Support and waiting for their answer). The inReach Mini is much. I like to be able to see the difference between the route I planned and the route I actually tracked afterwards. 5″ screen it can even display topographical maps. This has always been the distinction between devices that start with a 5 and those that begin with 8. Garmin Forerunner 235 and Garmin Vivoactive are one of the finest smartwatches by the brand. So when the track becomes visible, you will know that the Garmin has deviated from the intended route. Garmin DriveAssist 51 LMT S – The Navigation System. As compared to 2 calibrated Cateye Micro Wireless on 2 different bikes, the Garmin is short by between. A major new feature is the ability of both Legend Color and Vista Color to automatically generate a route from current location to a destination address input by the user WHEN either City Select or City Navigator digital maps are installed in the GPS. What's the difference between "route" and "track" in terms of navigation? Is there a conceptual difference or only a technical one? For example OruxMaps treats the two terms differently: (source). Both of these devices have a 2. One of Garmin's newest models, the Forerunner 935 is a true multisport watch with the ability to track running, cycling, swimming, and many other activities. So you have a better idea of how far away things are. A track or tracklog is a breadcrumb trail of your current activity on your GPS. You'll be happy you did. I would like to say that there are only a few differences between the GPSMap76 and GPSMap76S, but we will go back over the main features of the Garmin GPSMap76S. One of my friends is founder and CTO for a fleet management company. The Garmin inReach Explorer+ is a satellite communicator and GPS tracking device that can send and receive text messages, confirms message delivery, can send an SOS message for help, and track your route and GPS waypoints, even when you are out of range of cell phone towers. Five format settings are available: • GARMIN — the proprietary format used to exchange waypoint, route, track log data with a PC or with another GPS 12 MAP. I just download the track of the route to the watch, and then use that to make sure that I'm on course. The operation is a reduce and then store function. If it’s a Garmin problem, it’s a bit galling that a free app is twice the accuracy of the Garmin. Device calculates route) and a Track- follows the track points with no calculations as I have suggested in previous post?. The application is receiving lat-long information at certain intervals but I cannot seem to find the functionality to play this back. Shop Garmin Drive 51 LM 5" GPS with Lifetime Map Updates Black at Best Buy. "GPS" stands for "Global Positioning. Ponferrada is 263km from SdC via the Invierno. The difference between the Fenix 6 and 6 pro is that the latter has 32GB storage capacity, Wi-Fi and map features which the former lacks. Garmin already has an extensive range of GPS devices aimed at hiking, including the GPSMAP, eTrex, Dakota, Oregon, and Montana models, with the Oregon 550t being a particular highlight. Fitness training made easy with MapMyHike. Select Create Waypoints for matched photos to create a waypoint for each photo. I recall reading various reviews of smart phone-based GPS's vs. A lot of cars also have built-in navigation systems. Automatic rerouting gets you back on track in case of a missed turn. Round-up: Garmin Edge 25 vs Garmin Edge 20 These cycling GPS units are affordably priced compared to other Garmin devices and are reliable enough to track your bike ride. Track Route Progress, Take Pictures, Add Videos, Notes, and More. This easy-to-use cycling computer features a bright, responsive 3" touch display plus GPS to track how far, how fast and where you ride. Rated 2 out of 5 by JoeTheDriver from Not worth the money Bought this as an accessary for $70. However, there are some key differences that we will make explicitly clear in this post. I passed "a" (I don't think it was "the") 100km mojone yesterday, between. If you don't really understand the differences between a Route and Track, I offer my article on the topic: Routes, Tracks and Waypoints - The Other RTW. You'll be happy you did. Don't know what I will do in the future if Garmin does not bring back "Routes" but one thing is assured, I will not "ever" buy a unit with Trip Planner!!! It maybe time to start looking at other GPS brands. The biggest difference from the 750 to the 650 (other than the sheer size) is that you have to sometimes scroll to get to things that otherwise would be displayed on the bigger screen of the 750. Fitness training made easy with MapMyRun. o If in an open area, leave the GPS unit still until the accuracy is less than 30m before taking a point. Learn more with TrueCar's review of the Ford Edge, specs, photos, and more. Pair the Garmin DriveTrack 71 LMT-S GPS navigator with your Astro 430 , Astro 900 , Astro 320, Alpha 100 , $399. An all new housing and outer shell, similar in size to the Edge 520, brings the overall size of the unit down substantially, and. Not only that, but when the rider runs off the track, the Zumos will often try and plot a new dotted line to take a rider back to the original one. According to Garmin, it is sort of a compromise between "shorter distance" and "faster time". Downloading as a GPX track does not work on Garmin Edge/Forerunner 205/305 units. These are two excellent reasons why you may want to edit your tracks. However, there are some key differences that we will make explicitly clear in this post. However, the Forerunner 945 has now entered the scene, and it's packing some serious upgrades on its predecessor. At least that's the way I interpret it. However, there are certain differences between the two that need some analysis before you decide to make a purchase. I did some testing the last few days of riding into work. Not only that, but when the rider runs off the track, the Zumos will often try and plot a new dotted line to take a rider back to the original one. When you connect them to the Garmin Connect app, they send a map of your route. Run on streets and you will see routes that seem to go straight through buildings and the like. Here are the main differences you will find between the two and what features are missing in the new Garmin Forerunner 245: Forerunner 245 lacks Garmin Pay support. com, which are more detailed than Garmin's 100K maps and are free. What's the difference between "route" and "track" in terms of navigation? Is there a conceptual difference or only a technical one? For example OruxMaps treats the two terms differently: (source). Also have "Tracks" of where I went in Mexico last month. If necessary, select Timeshift to adjust the difference between the photo time stamps and the track time stamps. The handheld devices have 16 hours of battery life in full GPS mode and can track the user's position for up to 1 week using Expedition mode on a single set of AA batteries. The Garmin DriveSmart 51/61 boasts all of the features from the entry-level Garmin Drive models, and adds built-in Wi-Fi for easier-than-ever map and software updates when connected to a Wi-Fi home network. You will want to contact your Regional Garmin Support Center for assistance. Is there way to play back a track to see playback of the actual breadcrumbs over time? I record my mountain bike routes and would like to play back the route. That means in rain, shine, beach, or mountain; you know you are on the right track. Is a Garmin Oregon series GPS useful as a bike computer for navigation and ride tracking? I might want to use it to track rides to upload trails to MtbProject. I can load both and use themso what's the real difference, if any. Select Browse. When you place the pointer on it a bubble appears with a number but I can't figure out how to erase it. Select one or more photos taken while your recorded the track, and select OK > Next. Considering the available features, the price difference (Garmin Oregon 750t RRP $699) the Oregon 700 seems to be aimed at a wider audience. My average speed is always different in a group ride to other's, surely if you're doing the same speed over the same route time, speed, and distances should be the same but when there is a 0. Garmin Fenix 6S vs 6S Pro: Design; The Fenix 6s pro and 6s have similar appearance, as well same case and display size. With just this file will I get turn navigation between these waypoints? I am assuming I will and if that is the case I am not sure how anyother format would be better. WHAT is the difference between satrack and. For example, it can calculate the bearing or the distance to the next point. Ergo, you need to ask yourself, which among Garmin or TomTom is better, if you plan to settle for nothing less than the best GPS device. The operation is a reduce and then store function. For every style of runner, Garmin's forerunner series has it covered. GPX is now the universal exchange format between consumer or recreational GPS devices. ii) Locate route you want to duplicate in list of displayed routes and left-click it to select it iii) Go up to main menu and choose Edit -> Duplicate Route. But what exactly is the difference between the two? Read on to know now. Also, the route map on the Fenix 5 is has smoother lines than what the Fenix 6 is showing. Seemingly small things like this make a big difference in both our performance and our experience of the event making us very grateful. This is no exception. The Garmin DriveSmart 51/61 boasts all of the features from the entry-level Garmin Drive models, and adds built-in Wi-Fi for easier-than-ever map and software updates when connected to a Wi-Fi home network. Pilots can also navigate with Garmin’s patented panel, a GPS-driven instrument pack with a graphical HSI directional display and indicators for groundspeed, altitude and vertical speed. It is true, we’ve been using the watch non-stop to learn how it works and for all sorts of activities. To end this section at the start, there is one huge difference between the two head units when it comes to loading a route. Smarts and battery life: a mixed bag. On the pavement outside the front door of Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate, Yorkshire. You can sync your activities to your computer via the Garmin Connect app. You can also use it with your cycling where it keeps a profile and notes info like distance and time cycled, preloaded cycling profiles, and a speed and cadence sensory support. The magenta route shows straight-line segments between waypoints, while the yellow track shows the actual shape of the trail. A track is the recorded path you did actually follow while trying to implement the plan (the route). Garmin is a company that produces consumer, professional aviation, and marine devices that make use of the Global Positioning System for navigational assistance. It also included a digital compass, barometric altimeter and an accelerometer. The Garmin G1000 system followed and was adopted by Beech, Cessna, and Mooney. Whether it's a road warning or the route ahead, you can hear and see everything on the large edge-to-edge display. The Garmin Edge 20 and 25 both fall under the category of bike or cycling computers and, although, they could easily be mistaken for a wearable, the devices are pretty tailor made and specifically geared towards bike usage. BaseCamp will upload new GPS tracklogs automatically while the GPS displays progress by percent. The concept of a route is frequently used in comparison with the concept of a track. For anyone that hasn't seen one and would like to read a full review, and we will also highlight the main differences between the two products. All of these components are displayed clearly on the watch face. 5 mph difference between my strava upload and others in my group ride then there is something wrong. I usually multiply the Total Time by 1. How do I import a GPX (route/track)?. Key Features. The magenta route shows straight-line segments between waypoints, while the yellow track shows the actual shape of the trail. The route planning and mapping feature specifically is called Course Creator. I tend to use a track to follow on the map screen and a route to follow using the compass rose but that's just my preference. But what exactly is the difference between the two? Read on to know now. The application is receiving lat-long information at certain intervals but I cannot seem to find the functionality to play this back. I'm trying to understand the differences here between an autopilot that is "coupled" into a GPS/NavCom like a Garmin 530W and what GPSS and altitude hold (like in an S-TEC 50 autopilot) have to do with this. If necessary, select Timeshift to adjust the difference between the photo time stamps and the track time stamps. Is a Garmin Oregon series GPS useful as a bike computer for navigation and ride tracking? I might want to use it to track rides to upload trails to MtbProject. A track or tracklog is a breadcrumb trail of your current activity on your GPS. In addition, any non-Garmin GPS will ignore this code since they are Garmin specific GPX Extensions. If you're serious about tracking your runs, go with the Garmin watch. The Differences Between Automotive, Outdoor and Marine GPS It's important to draw a distinction between GPS units built for outdoor, automotive, and marine use. Both watches weight around 41 grams and are generally a pretty sleek, thin design. The biggest issue with Routes is that the routing is dependent on the mapping and can vary widly between the mapping used for Route creation and the mapping on your Garmin (or other GPS device). The main difference between the two (1000 and 810) is that the Edge 1000 supports Bluetooth Smart, which means that it can pull in data from sensors that use Bluetooth Smart (such as a Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap), giving you that little bit extra flexibility to pick and choose how your GPS device receives its data. The Performer Bundle we were testing comes with a heart-rate monitor in the box,. The following is list of current and discontinued products produced by Garmin Ltd. gpx" - file on your PC. All of these components are displayed clearly on the watch face. While there is an embedded electronic map, it is not the primary feature of device. But for those unfamiliar, courses allow you to follow a pre-planned route. You can make that on Garmin Connect (online or via mobile app), as well as even create courses on the unit itself with saved points. Anglers can set their track, or select a suggested Auto Guidance route, and the Force will move them along the course. Route4Me is the only route optimization software on the planet which has iPhone, iPad, and Android applications which permit you to attach notes and media to any stop on your route. GPX Route only contains the cuesheet entries, and relies on the GPS device to calculate a route between each of the cuesheet entries. Specific meaning of a route. Current Status. Of course, as impressive as the functions of both planning the optimal route as well as keeping track of the human element behind the wheel are, the Garmin dēzl 780 LMT-S is still a singular device with a limited amount of memory and hardware. And, in the wearable fitness tracker industry, that means that you’ll be comparing Garmin vs Fitbit. The GPS will tell you the bearing and distance to the next point in sequence as you navigate along your route. Does anyone have any idea what the issue could be? We are both using GPS + GLONASS. Differences Between Garmin Fenix 5 & Garmin Fenix 5 Plus Music Streaming. inReach SE ® + and Explorer ® + With inReach satellite technology from Garmin, you can send and receive messages, track and share your journey and — if necessary — trigger an SOS to get emergency help from the 24/7 global monitoring center. Quick tutorial on the difference between a track & route. I plan on setting the sampling rate to be the same for my upcoming runs at Miwok, Quicksilver 50M and BHS50 in the next three weeks and will be able to collect additional data that is as close to an apples-to-apples comparison one can get. In addition to the preloaded maps, you can keep your GPS up to date with Garmin's lifetime traffic service by connecting to the internet. that can tell the difference between a touch—a more forceful push. (Transducer Required and Sold Separately). The Garmin inReach Explorer+ is a satellite communicator and GPS tracking device that can send and receive text messages, confirms message delivery, can send an SOS message for help, and track your route and GPS waypoints, even when you are out of range of cell phone towers. However, there are certain differences between the two that need some analysis before you decide to make a purchase. What's the difference between "route" and "track" in terms of navigation? Is there a conceptual difference or only a technical one? For example OruxMaps treats the two terms differently: (source). Before your head explodes trying to choose between the two brands, know this: both Garmin and Suunto make great, high quality watches. The original route seems to be OK, but as soon as it recalculates, any shaping point s that you put into the route are ignored by the Garmin software, and your route is calculated to the end point. I could even get into track segments (trkseg), track points (trkpt), route points (rtept), etc, that are part of the GPX format to state this, but I guess that is enough to pass the message that I am aware of the differences between all of them. Imagine you are hiking or walking and you are using a GPS to record your track. There is also a very rough basemap, which reflects waypoints and tracklogs. Waypoints, routes and tracks come from the GPX format specifications. Need some help in determining the difference between a Track and a Route. The only providence it has is New Brunswick. Both are GPS and GLONASS enabled so you can track your rides, as well as set routes for yourself. You can see where I went off the track (black line) and the track I put on the device (green line). GPS question: Track vs. A track shows up as a line on your gps that you can follow whereas a route takes you from waypoint to waypoint to waypoint. Strava routes on your Garmin Edge - the easier way … 5th September 2017 By Gidon 10 Comments Up until a few days ago, transferring a route created in Strava to your Garmin Edge cycle computer was a painful task. Where Garmin falls a little short is the Pilot app requires the use of a dedicated Garmin GDL-39 ADS-B weather receiver; Foreflight requires the use of a Stratus receiver but Foreflight has opened up their app to permit use of the Garmin GDL-39 Receiver. I assume that this is coming from a smartphone GPS track as well, so it's got some noise in it. They come at almost the same price and offer a wide range of smartwatch features. These routes can then be used for navigation as the watch shows your current location in relation to the GPX route. TheGarmin Fenix 5 lacks the music streaming capabilities that the Garmin Fenix 5 Plus has. When imported into my Garmin GPS unit, it shows up as just a very large list of waypoints, and does not show as a route on the Garmin base map. I have a GPSMAP 66s, but what I have to say here applies to the 66st as well- the only difference between the models is that the 66st adds Garmin Topo maps. You may see the very very big difference in the result! Two athletes ride same route, same day. What's the difference between "route" and "track" in terms of navigation? Is there a conceptual difference or only a technical one? For example OruxMaps treats the two terms differently: (source). Any cuesheet entries on a pre-planned route will be loaded on the unit along with the track, and you will receive a beep and 10 characters of the cuesheet entry. Garmin Forerunner 230 or Forerunner 235 Review. Compare all GPSMAP 62, 64 & 66 units - GPSMAP 62, 62s, 62st, 62sc, 62stc , 64, 64s, 64st, 66s, 66st, 60CSx and see how they changed over the year. On the pavement outside the front door of Betty's Tea Rooms in Harrogate, Yorkshire. Do you have any recommendations on which one would work best I was considering the Garmin eTrex 30x, or maps to purchase along side it. I use it for short walks from home. The original route seems to be OK, but as soon as it recalculates, any shaping point s that you put into the route are ignored by the Garmin software, and your route is calculated to the end point. 2 miles, while the track (the actual trail distance) comes in at 6. Garmin uses ANT+ for data transfers on some models, but I think that it only works between compatible Garmin devices. the Edge 510 and 810 have bluetooth compatibility, but IIRC, they cannot receive files/routes that way. One of them is using Garmin with barometric altimeter, other one is using Strava application on smart phone. gpx" to your outdoor GPS receiver via Garmin MapSource or a GPS freeware, or directly save the file on the SD-Memorycard of your receiver. I recall reading various reviews of smart phone-based GPS's vs. Since I have almost all Garmin electronics I’m focused on the Fantom radar. When you connect them to the Garmin Connect app, they send a map of your route. The display in sunlight while running is very visible and the five to seven days in between charges is what we’ve come to expect with a Forerunner. Choosing is a matter of preference for features like the display, the various tracking modes and activities, and the app used to sync the data from your watch. The big difference between these two is that the FR 235 can record your pulse continuously whether exercising, resting or sleeping (The 225 only captures this data during exercise). Beyond that, same-same. What is the difference between Garmin Fenix 3 and Garmin Forerunner 235? Find out which is better and their overall performance in the sports watch ranking. Map Layers. However, there are certain differences between the two that need some analysis before you decide to make a purchase. If the route is produced on 3rd party software such as Google maps, then you may have problems. A GPS Route in MapSource – Route in purple with positions flagged – for active navigation. 1 exports the route with a start point, and end point and all of the other plotted intermediate points are set as Shaping Points. Any cuesheet entries on a pre-planned route will be loaded on the unit along with the track, and you will receive a beep and 10 characters of the cuesheet entry. Any advice on whether this is a Garmin problem, or a ViewRanger problem. It may however allow users of other GPS devices that don't support TCX files to do track based navigation - and therefore overcome their waypoint. I'd rather use my 1450 or 765 with Routes. Now how do you draw a route using Google Maps, then open in Google earth and convert to usr for Lowrance? Babel won't transfer all the data, GSP Vis only does the opposite way. Rand McNally TND 730 model GPS DieselBoss special item $50 instant rebate and Free Fast Shipping from DieselBoss. The quality of map data can make all the difference between finding your destination and getting lost. Are you trying to decide on a new i-Pilot motor but don’t quite clearly understand the differences between i-Pilot and i-Pilot Link? Read on… Minn Kota’s i-Pilot system is a self-contained GPS navigation system that enables a set of advanced features beyond simple steering and speed. It can be used to describe waypoints, tracks, and routes. Each saved Track can have a maximum of 20,000 points. National Parks directory navigates treasured natural resources and experiences, including visitor centers, picnic areas. The whole route was mostly captured pretty accurately but the interval between the recorded track points on the map varied (which seemed to match the exported KML). Advanced features work around your goals and suggest new ones, encouraging you to a healthier lifestyle, to a personal best, or even a world record. However, there are some key differences that we will make explicitly clear in this post. The major difference between the two is the price, and this price gap is so big. With built in GPS/GLONASS it can record your route, display it on a map and track your fitness goals. I tend to use a track to follow on the map screen and a route to follow using the compass rose but that's just my preference. Think you might be interested in a Garmin Fenix 5, but unsure which version is best for your needs? Read on to understand the differences between the original Fenix 5 series and the Fenix 5 Plus series—and within each of those, the differences between the 5, 5S and 5X versions. Our trail map "appears" as another road map to the Garmin unit, we design our maps using road features for our trails so the GPS does not know the difference between a road used for cars and a trail used for snowmobing or as an ATV trail. A GPS Track in MapSource - Track in yellow with positions dotted - for passive navigation. We try to filter out these track points to get a more accurate route and speed, but this is not always possible. GPS devices supporting 'routes' provide turn by turn instruction (=turn left, turn right. CyclingTips editor Matt de Neef. endurance sport trackers like the Fitbit Surge or Garmin Forerunner 920XT. What is the difference between Garmin Fenix Chronos and Garmin Fenix 5X? Find out which is better and their overall performance in the sports watch ranking. At the same time, save on battery. I do not recommend any units without such chipsets for backcountry use. Select one or more photos taken while your recorded the track, and select OK > Next. For about two years, the Garmin Forerunner 935 was the best triathlon watch on the market. A readable screen is integral to a GPS device. Visually speaking, it's difficult to tell the difference between the two at first glance. Five format settings are available: • GARMIN — the proprietary format used to exchange waypoint, route, track log data with a PC or with another GPS 12 MAP. This is what struck me most as Garmin Pay is a feature that Garmin is trying to push to all its wearables as it’s another revenue stream for them. A route allows you to set intermediate waypoints on your path from A to B that take into account terrain, roads or other relevant factors. , you pick the start and end and it finds the quickest trail route between the two; it doesn't only route on roads). Called Garmin. Don't know what I will do in the future if Garmin does not bring back "Routes" but one thing is assured, I will not "ever" buy a unit with Trip Planner!!! It maybe time to start looking at other GPS brands. In short: For the rider that wants to track performance, As well as the standard method of downloading routes from Garmin Connect and Strava etc, Garmin says you can create your own routes on. Map Layers. What's the difference between a projection and a datum? There won't be a single answer for this as "datum" in GIS can be one of at least three different things e. The app provides instant access to comprehensive U. Is there way to play back a track to see playback of the actual breadcrumbs over time? I record my mountain bike routes and would like to play back the route.
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Martin, John H. (x) ›
California State University, Sacramento (x) ›
photo (x) ›
notes (x) ›
Johnson (x) ›
Clark (x) ›
California State Waters Map Series—Offshore of Pigeon Point, California
In 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpretation, and visualization of swath sonar data, acoustic backscatter, seafloor video, seafloor photography, high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles, and bottom-sediment sampling data. The map products display seafloor morphology and character, identify potential marine benthic habitats, and illustrate both the surficial seafloor geology and shallow subsurface geology.
Cochrane, Watt, Dartnell, Greene, Erdey, Dieter, Golden, Johnson, Endris, Hartwell
In situ chemical mapping of dissolved iron and manganese in hydrothermal plumes,
Hydrothermal vents along mid-ocean ridges are an important source of elements such as lithium, silicon, manganese and iron to the world's oceans. The venting produces both episodic and steady-state hydrothermal plumes with unique thermochemical signatures in the mid-water column. The particulate phases in these plumes (predominantly iron oxides and hydroxides) also scavenge phosphorus, vanadium, arsenic, lead, polonium and several rare-earth elements from sea water. Thus, on a global scale, hydrothermal plumes are both a source for some elements and a sink for others. Ultimately, the particulate metals precipitated from plumes form extensive regions of metalliferous sediments over the crests and flanks of mid-ocean ridges. Although the metalliferous sediment coverage is vast and well documented, only a tiny fraction of the vents responsible for these sediments have been located (Fig. 1a). To date, both the number and location of hydrothermal vents and the detailed distribution of chemical constituents within the resultant plumes are poorly understood because of under-sampling of the mid-ocean ridges and the overlying waters. Here we present the results of high-resolution mapping of the chemical and thermal characteristics of hydrothermal plumes in near real time using a novel submersible chemical analyser (Scanner) and a conductivity/temperature/depth/transmissometer instrument package (CTDT). We show that the kinetics of iron oxidation in the plume can be used to constrain estimates of the plume's age, and that variation in the ratio of manganese content to excess heat can be explained by the mixing of several different vent fluids., Cited By (since 1996):31, CODEN: NATUA, ,
Coale, Chin, Massoth, Johnson, Baker
Cobalt and copper distributions in the waters of Santa Monica Basin, California,
The trace metals cobalt and copper are removed from the oceans interior by scavenging on to particle surfaces, but the mechanisms for removal of these two metals are probably quite different. Cobalt appears to be scavenged by manganese oxide particles, whereas organic compounds are the main carrier phase for copper. Remobilization of these metals in marine sediments therefore proceeds by different pathways. The differences in the pathways of remobilization are accentuated in oxygen-deficient environments: manganese oxide reduction is accelerated at low oxygen levels and organic carbon is preserved. Cobalt fluxes from sediments underlying oxygen-deficient waters should be enhanced and copper fluxes reduced. We report here measurements of the cobalt and copper distributions in the waters of an oxygen-deficient marine basin in the Southern California Bight. Cobalt concentrations near the bottom are raised four times above the background level, whereas copper concentrations show no increase. These measurements confirm features of existing models for the oceanic cycles of these metals., Cited By (since 1996):18, Oceanography, CODEN: NATUA, ,
Johnson, Stout, Berelson, Sakamoto-Arnold
Chemical and biological interactions in the Rose Garden hydrothermal vent field, Galapagos spreading center,
The concentrations of a suite of redox reactive chemicals were measured in the Rose Garden hydrothermal vent field of the Galapagos spreading center. Sulfide, silicate, oxygen and temperature distributions were measured in situ with a submersible chemical analyser. In addition, 15 chemical species were measured in discrete samples. Variability in the slope of the temperature-silicate plots indicates that heat is lost from these relatively low temperatures (<15°C) solutions by conduction to the solid phase. Consumption of oxygen, sulfide and nitrate from the hydrothermal solution as it flows past the vent animals is apparent from the distributions measured in situ and in the discrete samples. The fraction of sulfide and nitrate removed from the solution by consumption appears to have increased between 1979-1985. Sulfide and oxygen appear to be consumed under different conditions: sulfide is removed primarily from the warmest solutions, and oxygen is consumed only from the cold seawater. This separation may be driven primarily by the increased gradients of each chemical under these conditions. There is no evidence for the consumption of significant amounts of manganese(II) by the vent organisms. The analysis of other data sets from this vent field indicate no significant consumption of methane by the vent organisms, as well. © 1988., Cited By (since 1996):103, Oceanography, ,
Johnson, Childress, Hessler, Sakamoto-Arnold, Beehler
The Marine Microbial Eukaryote Transcriptome Sequencing Project (MMETSP): Illuminating the Functional Diversity of Eukaryotic Life in the Oceans through Transcriptome Sequencing
Keeling, Burki, Wilcox, Allam, Allen, Amaral-Zettler, Armbrust, Archibald, Bharti, Bell, Beszteri, Bidle, Cameron, Campbell, Caron, Cattolico, Collier, Coyne, Davy, Deschamps, Dyhrman, Edvardsen, Gates, Gobler, Greenwood, Guida, Jacobi, Jakobsen, James, Jenkins, John, Johnson, Juhl, Kamp, Katz, Kiene, Kudryavtsev, Leander, Lin, Lovejoy, Lynn, Marchetti, McManus, Nedelcu, Menden-Deuer, Miceli, Mock, Montresor, Moran, Murray, Nadathur, Nagai, Ngam, Palenik, Pawlowski, Petroni, Piganeau, Posewitz, Rengefors, Romano, Rumpho, Rynearson, Schilling, Schroeder, Simpson, Slamovits, Smith, Smith, Smith, Sosik, Stief, Theriot, Twary, Umale, Vaulot, Wawrik, Wheeler, Wilson, Xu, Zingone, Worden
The tail of the Storegga Slide: Insights from the geochemistry and sedimentology of the Norwegian Basin deposits
Deposits within the floor of the Norwegian Basin were sampled to characterize the deposition from the Storegga Slide, the largest known Holocene-aged continental margin slope failure complex. A 29 to 67 cm thick veneer of variable-coloured, finely layered Holocene sediment caps a homogeneous, extremely well-sorted, poorly consolidated, very fine-grained, grey-coloured sediment section that is >20 m thick on the basin floor. This homogeneous unit is interpreted to represent the uppermost deposits generated by a gravity flow associated with the last major Storegga Slide event. Sediments analogous to the inferred source material of the slide deposits were collected from upslope on the Norwegian Margin. Sediments sampled within the basin are distinguishable from the purported source sediments, suggesting that size sorting has significantly altered this material along its flow path. Moreover, the very fine grain size (3·1 ± 0·3 μm) suggests that the >20 m thick homogeneous unit which was sampled settled from suspension after the turbulent flow was over. Although the turbulent phase of the gravity flow that moved material out into the basin may have been brief (days), significantly more time (years) is required for turbid sediments to settle and dewater and for the new sea floor to be colonized with a normal benthonic fauna. Pore water sulphate concentrations within the uppermost 20 m of the event deposit are higher than those normally found in sea water. Apparently the impact of microbial sulphate reduction over the last ca 8·1 cal ka bp since the re-deposition of these sediments has not been adequate to regenerate a typical sulphate gradient of decreasing concentration with sub-bottom depth. This observation suggests low rates of microbial reactions, which may be attributed to the refractory carbon composition in these re-deposited sediments. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 International Association of Sedimentologists., Cited By (since 1996):1, Rocks & Cores
Paull, Ussler III, Holbrook, Hill, Haflidason, Winters, Lorenson, Aiello, Johnson, Lundsten
Benthic manganese fluxes along the Oregon-California continental shelf and slope
Here we examine the factors that influence the manganese (Mn) benthic flux from eastern North Pacific marine sediments, with a primary emphasis on continental shelf locations off Oregon and California and studies that involve the use of in situ benthic chambers. Typical shelf-to-shallow margin (<~350m) sites have benthic Mn efflux rates that average ~8±5μmolm-2d-1. In contrast, for the Eel River continental shelf region the benthic Mn efflux can be an order of magnitude higher than other shelf settings with benthic effluxes exceeding ~50μmolm-2d-1. Based on prior work and some new results, continental margin and slope sites (350-~4000m) have benthic Mn efflux rates that average ~1±1μmolm-2d-1. The combination of the benthic flux and Mn solid-phase data, indicate that for the continental shelf off the Umpqua and Eel Rivers, approximately 15±10% of the total Mn that is delivered to the seafloor is remobilized. The compiled data set shows that the benthic Mn efflux co-varies with the organic carbon oxidation rate with a Mn to organic carbon oxidation (Cox) ratio of ~0.8mmol Mn mol-1. Although this ratio can be as high as ~5 for some Eel River sites, the generally close correspondence between Mn and organic carbon implies that the organic carbon oxidation rate exerts some primary control over the rate of the Mn efflux. The amount of organic carbon oxidized by Mn-oxides, however, represents a small fraction (i.e., generally <1%) of the total organic carbon oxidized in these seafloor sediments. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd., Cited By (since 1996):5, Oceanography, CODEN: CSHRD
McManus, Berelson, Severmann, Johnson, Hammond, Roy, Coale
Spectrophotometric determination of dissolved manganese in natural waters with 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol: Application to analysis in situ in hydrothermal plumes,
A spectrophotometric method using the complexing reagent 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) was developed for the determination of dissolved manganese in seawater. A detection limit of approximately 22 nM was obtained when the analyses were performed in situ with a submersible chemical analyzer (Scanner). Color formation was rapid (less than 1 s), which permitted the technique to be used in flow injection and continuous flow systems. An investigation of possible interferences revealed that the only significant interferent to manganese determinations in seawater (hydrothermal plumes) was iron. The iron-specific chelating agent desferrioxamine B was used to mask this interference. Temperature and pressure did not adversely affect the sensitivity of the technique, which made it amenable to applications in situ to depths of 3000 m. This method was tested by measuring dissolved manganese concentrations in situ in submarine hydrothermal plumes using a Scanner. Scanner deployments over the Juan de Fuca Ridge produced the first near real time analyses of manganese from a hydrothermal plume environment. Estuarine samples have also been successfully analyzed in the laboratory and the results confirmed by an independent method. © 1992., Cited By (since 1996):22, Oceanography, CODEN: MRCHB, ,
Chin, Johnson, Coale
The behaviour of iron and other trace elements during the IronEx-I and PlumEx experiments in the Equatorial Pacific,
Dissolved (< 0.4 μm) and particulate (0.4-5 μm and > 5 μm, leachable and refractory) trace elements were measured during the IronEx I and PlumEx experiments in October and November 1993 near the Galapagos Islands. Iron was measured in the enriched patch and at control stations over a 9 day period following fertilization. The dissolved iron was initially depleted at a rate that gave an iron half-life of 28-40 h. The loss rate gradually decreased, and dissolved iron concentrations did not decrease below about 0.25 nmol kg-1 throughout the experiment. These results were most consistent with a kinetic model that was second order in iron concentration for the scavenging removal of each iron fraction. Other trace elements measured did not change significantly either in concentration or partitioning during the IronEx I experiment. Biological production tracked iron concentrations over time, which suggests that productivity within the fertilized patch was regulated by the availability of iron. The PlumEx study consisted primarily of two transects, a meridional course to the east of the Galapagos Islands and a zonal section to the west. Surface dissolved iron was very low at all stations except those near the Galapagos Islands. Sections of trace metal and other properties distinctly confirm the upwelling of the Equatorial Undercurrent as it intersects the islands. This upwelling has a great effect on the surface distributions of the trace metals on the west side of the islands. Productivity within the mixed layer of this region is highly correlated with iron and nitrate. West of the islands highest productivity is found at stations with the highest iron. North of the Equatorial front, in nitrate-depleted waters, elevated iron concentrations do not enhance productivity., Cited By (since 1996):58, Oceanography, CODEN: DSROE, ,
Gordon, Johnson, Coale
The flux of iron from continental shelf sediments,
The flux of dissolved iron from sediments to the water column was measured with flux chambers along the California coast over a five-year period. High fluxes were observed from sediments on the continental shelf. The measured fluxes were an average of 75 times larger than flux values derived from pore-water iron gradients. The iron flux was significantly correlated with the oxidation of organic matter, which allows an extrapolation to the global shelf. The input from shelf sediments is at least as significant as the global input of dissolved iron from aerosols, which has been presumed to be the dominant external iron source. Evidence of this input is seen 100's of kilometers offshore where it can enable the high productivity of broad coastal regions seen in satellite images. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union., Cited By (since 1996):125, Oceanography, CODEN: GPRLA, ,
Elrod, Berelson, Coale, Johnson
A model of the iron cycle in the ocean,
The IRONEX II in situ fertilization experiment showed decisively that availability of iron limits the growth of phytoplankton in equatorial Pacific surface waters. High-nutrient low-chlorophyll (HNLC) surface waters, potentially iron limited, are also found in the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean. A model of seawater iron geochemistry has been incorporated into a global ocean circulation and carbon cycle model and tuned to match the observed ocean Fe distribution. The model reproduces the observed HNLC areas in the equatorial Pacific and Southern Ocean but predicts nutrient depletion in the North Pacific (a region of high dust fluxes from Asia). The model is based on the idea that the concentrations of organic iron-binding ligands in seawater control the subsurface Fe concentration and predicts that a majority (70-80%) of the global carbon export production can be sustained by upwelling of dissolved iron in seawater rather than by atmospheric deposition. The ocean iron cycle increases the efficiency of iron utilization in the biological pump, buffers new production against interannual fluctuations in iron deposition, and contributes several new intrinsic timescales to the ocean carbon cycle: several hundred years for the ocean iron concentration and perhaps several thousand for the concentration of ligand in the deep sea. Ocean recycling of Fe appears to play a major role in determining the strength of the biological pump in the ocean and the pCO2 of the atmosphere., Cited By (since 1996):117, , , Oceanography
Archer, Johnson
A time series of benthic flux measurements from Monterey Bay, CA,
In situ incubation chamber measurements of benthic nutrient recycling rates were made on the Monterey Bay shelf at 100m during various years and seasons. Variability in nutrient (Si, PO 4 2+, NH 3, NO 3 -) and trace metal (Mn, Fe (II), Cu) fluxes correlate with variability in the amount of organic carbon oxidized on the sea floor. Patterns of primary productivity show a mid-year maxima, consistent with the timing of increased rates of benthic C org and opal recycling. High rates of C org rain to the shelf promote nitrate consumption at a rate that equals or exceeds ammonia efflux. Low rates of C org rain promote greater efflux of DIN; thus these margin sediments provide a negative feedback to local productivity cycles. The efflux of iron (II) from shelf sediments is sufficient to support > 100% of new production, yet Fe flux is positively correlated with C org recycling which lags the maximum in new production. On account of this time lag, diagenetically recycled Fe is not likely a micro-nutrient trigger of new production, but could serve as a positive feedback. Bio-irrigation rates are seasonally variable by 30% but maximal during the maximum productivity months. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved., Cited By (since 1996):65, CODEN: CSHRD, , , Oceanography
Berelson, McManus, Coale, Johnson, Burdige, Kilgore, Colodner, Chavez, Kudela, Boucher
Solenoid pumps for flow injection analysis,
Methods employing flow injection analysis (FIA), particularly for in situ seawater techniques, would benefit from reduction in pump size and power requirement, longer maintenance intervals, and the ability to incorporate microprocessor control of each reagent and sample flow stream. In this work, the peristaltic pump of a conventional FIA system was replaced by three solenoid-driven diaphragm pumps with integral Viton check valves, and the system was tested by performing the simple nitrile analysis, which has well-defined FIA performance characteristics. Sixty injections per hour were possible with flow rates of 0.5 mL/min for reagents and sample. The coefficient of variation was 1% for 10μM NO2- concentrations, and the detection limit was less than 0.1μM NO2-. These values match the reported performance for this method using peristaltic pumps., , CODEN: IJCVE, ,
Weeks, Johnson
Morphological, molecular, and in situ behavioral observations of the rare deep-sea anglerfish Chaunacops coloratus (Garman, 1899), order Lophiiformes, in the eastern North Pacific
In situ observations and collections of Chaunacops coloratus (Garman, 1899) from seamounts in the eastern North Pacific Ocean lend new behavioral, morphological and molecular data to an under-sampled, deep-sea group of fishes in the order Lophiiformes. Seven observations were made at Davidson Seamount, 130. km southwest of Monterey, CA, and from the Taney Seamount chain, 290. km west of Moss Landing, CA, from depths ranging from 2313 to 3297. m. Specimens were collected at both locations. Morphometric and meristic analyses were performed to identify individuals to the species level. These observations of C. coloratus provide greater latitude and depth distributions in the eastern North Pacific Ocean than previously known. Detailed habitat information indicated the fish occurred near manganese-encrusted volcanic talus slopes, a highly rugose habitat. Video observations revealed possible ontogenetic color changes in which small fish were blue and large fish were red. Video recorded rapid, vertical swimming as an escape response and maneuvering, or walking, with pectoral and pelvic fins and esca deployment. Phylogenetic analyses used here verify what has been known since Garman first described C. coloratus in 1899, that Chaunax and Chaunacops are closely related; molecular tools complement previous knowledge and genetic information created has been submitted to GenBank for further use by the scientific community. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Lundsten, Johnson, Cailliet, DeVogelaere, Clague
Phosphorus regeneration in continental margin sediments,
Benthic incubation chambers have been deployed in a variety of geochemical environments along the California Continental Margin. These include both high and low oxygen environments and sites where the rate of organic matter oxidation on the seafloor (Cox) ranges from < 1 mmol m-2 day-1 to more than 7 mmol m-2 day-1 through a depth range of 100-3500 m. This range in the rate of organic matter oxidation along with variations in the concentration of bottom water oxygen allow us to elucidate the diagenetic conditions under which P regeneration may be decoupled from organic matter cycling. Under conditions where bottom water oxygen concentration is low (<50 μM), and the rate of organic matter oxidation is also low (< 1 mmol m-2 day-1), P regeneration may be less than that expected from the decay of organic debris and, in some cases, there is a flux of phosphate into the sediments. At stations where bottom water oxygen is low, and the degradation rate of organic material is greater than 1 mmol m-2 day-1, phosphate may be released at a rate exceeding the production expected from the oxidation of organic matter. At stations having high bottom water oxygen concentrations, rates of organic matter decomposition < ∼7 mmol m-2 day-1, and where benthic irrigation is not significant, P regeneration is consistent with that expected from the decomposition of organic debris. In addition, our data indicate that high benthic iron fluxes are observed in regions exhibiting a decoupling between organic matter and phosphate, whereas low to zero iron fluxes are observed in regions where P regeneration is either consistent with or less than that expected from the decomposition of organic material. These results support previous work suggesting a coupling between iron cycling and phosphate cycling in suboxic environments. Data presented here show that this coupling may result in either preferential phosphate burial or release relative to organic material in suboxic environments. Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd., Cited By (since 1996):105, ,
Mcmanus, Berelson, Coale, Johnson, Kilgore
Digital Design Exercises for Architecture Students
Johnson, Vermillion
Determination of subnanomolar levels of iron(II) and total dissolved iron in seawater by flow injection analysis with chemiluminescence detection
A highly sensitive technique for the rapid determination of Fe( I I) and total dlssolved iron in seawater has been developed. The technlque employs flow Injection analysis and chemiluminescence detectlon (FIA-CL). The light Is emitted by the reaction of brilliant sulfoflavin with hydrogen peroxlde and Fe( I I ) in a neutral medlum. A cation-exchange column Is used to preconcentrate the Iron from seawater. The detection limit was 0.45 nmol/L when 4.4 mL of sample was passed through the column. Lower detectlon llmlts are attainable wlth larger sample volumes. The relative standard deviation is 2-5% for concentrations greater than 2.5 nmd/L. A typical analysis can be performed In 5 mln. The technique was determlned to be accurate based on the analysis of the trace metal standard seawater solutions NASS and CASS. Shipboard analyses provided oceanographically consistent profiles for total iron and also revealed some of the first profiles for Fe(I1) in hydrothermal plume samples. A typical profile of 12 samples, together with blanks and standards, can be analyzed In triplicate in 4.5 h.
Elrod, Johnson, Coale
Continuous determination of nitrate concentrations in situ,
A submersible chemical analyser (Scanner) was used to measure nitrate concentrations in situ to depths of nearly 2000 m. Nitrate anomalies with a vertical span of 5 m can be detected at lowering rates up to 40 m min-1. The nitrate concentrations measured in situ are in good agreement with hydrographic data collected by conventional means at the same location. The relative standard deviation of the analyses performed in situ is ±0.79%. The method can be easily extended to most other colorimetric analyses., Cited By (since 1996):9 Oceanography, ,
Johnson, Sakamoto-Arnold, Beehler
Iron deficiency and phytoplankton growth in the equatorial Pacific,
Several experiments were conducted in the equatorial Pacific at 140°W during the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, equatorial Pacific, 1992 Time-series I (TS-I, 23 March-9 April). Time-series II (TS-II, 2-20 October) and FeLINE II cruises (10 March-14 April), to investigate the effects of added Fe on phytoplankton communities. Seven series of deckboard iron-enrichment experiments were performed, with levels of added Fe ranging from 0.13 to 1000 nM. Time-course measurements included nutrients, chlorophyll a and HPLC pigments. Results of these experiments showed that subnanomolar (sub-nM) additions of Fe increased net community specific growth rates, with resultant chlorophyll a increases and nutrient decreases. Community growth rates followed Michaelis Menten type kinetics resulting in maximum rates of 0.99 doublings per day and a half-saturation constant of 0.12 nM iron. The dominant group responding to iron enrichment was diatoms., Cited By (since 1996):62, CODEN: DSROE, ,
Fitzwater, Coale, Gordon, Johnson, Ondrusek
, , , In situ incubation chamber measurements of benthic nutrient recycling rates were made on the Monterey Bay shelf at 100 m during various years and seasons. Variability in nutrient (Si, PO42+, NH3, NO3−) and trace metal (Mn, Fe (II), Cu) fluxes correlate with variability in the amount of organic carbon oxidized on the sea floor. Patterns of primary productivity show a mid-year maxima, consistent with the timing of increased rates of benthic Corg and opal recycling. High rates of Corg rain to the shelf promote nitrate consumption at a rate that equals or exceeds ammonia efflux. Low rates of Corg rain promote greater efflux of DIN; thus these margin sediments provide a negative feedback to local productivity cycles. The efflux of iron (II) from shelf sediments is sufficient to support >100% of new production, yet Fe flux is positively correlated with Corg recycling which lags the maximum in new production. On account of this time lag, diagenetically recycled Fe is not likely a micro-nutrient trigger of new production, but could serve as a positive feedback. Bio-irrigation rates are seasonally variable by 30% but maximal during the maximum productivity months., ,
Larval settlement can explain the adult distribution of Mytilus californianus Conrad but not of M. galloprovincialis Lamarck or M. trossulus Gould in Moss Landing, central California,
We investigated the spatial distribution of adult and newly settled mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck, Mytilus trossulus Gould and Mytilus californianus Conrad) on the shore at Moss Landing, California to test the hypothesis that adult distributions are a result of settlement patterns. Adult M. californianus were most abundant on a wave-exposed rocky jetty and adults of Blue mussels (M. trossulus and M. galloprovincialis) were more abundant inside the protected Moss Landing harbor. Using taxon-specific polymerase chain reactions, we monitored recruitment during continuous 1-2 week intervals on fibrous scrubbing pads for 12 months in 2002-2003. All mussel species settled in greatest numbers on the exposed jetty, and Blue mussels settled in greater numbers there than did M. californianus. Because Blue mussels settled abundantly where their adults were rare, post-settlement mortality appeared to be the strongest influence on adult distribution. In contrast, M. californianus settled mostly in their adult habitat., Cited By (since 1996):13, CODEN: JEMBA, ,
Johnson, Geller
The flux of iron from continental shelf sediments: A missing source for global budgets
The flux of dissolved iron from sediments to the water column was measured with flux chambers along the California coast over a five-year period. High fluxes were observed from sediments on the continental shelf. The measured fluxes were an average of 75 times larger than flux values derived from pore-water iron gradients. The iron flux was significantly correlated with the oxidation of organic matter, which allows an extrapolation to the global shelf. The input from shelf sediments is at least as significant as the global input of dissolved iron from aerosols, which has been presumed to be the dominant external iron source. Evidence of this input is seen 100’s of kilometers offshore where it can enable the high productivity of broad coastal regions seen in satellite images.
Organic matter diagenesis in the sediments of the San Pedro Shelf along a transect affected by sewage effluent,
A study was conducted to examine the rate of organic matter degradation within the sediments adjacent to the Whites Point Los Angeles County sewage outfall system on the San Pedro Shelf. Benthic chamber deployments were made at three stations in a transect away from the outfall pipe during three cruise periods (October 1990, February and October 1991). The fluxes of phosphate, silicate and radon-222 showed the most significant difference (factor of 3) between stations proximal and distal to the sewage effluent outfall pipe; the fluxes of nitrate, ammonia, alkalinity and TCO2 showed some gradient (a factor of 1.5-2) and the uptake of oxygen showed no variability between sites. Carbon oxidation in these sediments is driven primarily by net oxygen consumption and secondarily by net sulfate reduction. Net sulfate reduction accounts for about 30% of the carbon oxidation near the outfall pipe and 10-15% at the distal sites. Measurements of radon-222 fluxes and radon emanation rates from sediments indicate that the intensity of bio-irrigation is greater by a factor of 2 at sites away from the outfall pipe, but also shows that bio-irrigation does take place at the site adjacent to the pipe. The total amount of particulate organic carbon (POC) oxidized in the sediments around the outfall is ∼2 × 107 g C/d. An estimate of carbon burial in this region is 4 × 107 g C/d. The outfall system could supply ∼3 × 107 g C/d of which 12-20% is estimated to have been deposited in the region. Hence, effluent-derived POC, although it may be a part of the total organic carbon pool undergoing diagenesis and burial on the sea floor, is not likely the only source of carbon to this system. Primary productivity in the surface ocean could supply 9-13 × 107 g C/d to the sea floor. A balanced carbon budget requires that half the primary production is exported to the sea floor, although this budget does not account for other sources of POC to the region. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved., Cited By (since 1996):13, CODEN: CSHRD, ,
Berelson, Johnson, Coale, Li
Iron distributions in the equatorial Pacific: Implications for new production,
Several recent studies have shown that phytoplankton growth rate and production at 0°, 140°W is physiologically limited by iron. Therefore, changes in iron supply to the euphotic zone will result in variations in phytoplankton growth. We show that the flux of iron to this region is dominated by upwelling of the iron-rich Equatorial Undercurrent waters. Variations in the depth and strength of upwelling and changes in iron concentrations at the base of the euphotic zone will account for variations in primary and new production in this region. We determined dissolved and particulate iron profiles for the upper water column of the eastern equatorial Pacific including a vertical section from 9°N to 3°S along 140°W. One of the more prominent features of the section was a peak in dissolved and particulate iron associated with the Equatorial Undercurrent. The possible lithogenic origin of this iron is substantiated by the vertical section of particulate aluminum and manganese, which is consistent with a shallow hydrothermal source in the western equatorial Pacific. A simple one-dimensional model was used to calculate iron fluxes into the euphotic zone at the equator. Upwelling rates and dissolved iron concentrations were coupled to estimate the upwelling iron flux at 120 m (0.1% light level). Diffusive and atmospheric inputs of iron were also considered but were less significant than the upwelling flux. Iron-based potential new production was estimated to be 10-82 mmol C m-2 d-1 with C: Fe ratios of 100,000500,000: 1. In a similar manner, nitrate-based potential new production was 99-106 mmol C m-2 d-1. This demonstrates that iron supply limits new production to only 9-83% of the nitrate-based potential., Cited By (since 1996):103, CODEN: LIOCA, , , Downloaded from: aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_42/issue_3/0419.pdf (9 June 2014).
Gordon, Coale, Johnson
Oxidation kinetics of manganese (II) in sea water at nanomolar concentrations,
Manganese oxidation rates were determined at low (∼20 nM) concentrations in seawater by measuring dissolved manganese (Mn(II)) using flow injection analysis with chemiluminescence detection. Mn(II) was measured in samples that had been filtered (0.2 μm) and kept in the dark under controlled temperature and pH conditions for time periods up to 6 months. Eight 9 L carboys with mean pH values ranging from 8 to 8.7 were held at 25°C, another carboy (pH = 9.32) was kept at 5°C. Oxidation followed the Morgan (1967) homogeneous rate equation (d[Mn(II)]/dt = k1 [O2][OH-]2 [Mn(II)]). The mean rate constant k1 = 1.7 ± 0.7 × 1012 M-3 d-1 (95% CI), determined using hydroxide ion activities determined with pH measurements on the NBS scale, was in agreement with work by Morgan (1967; k1 = 4 × 1012 M-3 d-1) and Davies and Morgan (1989; k1 = 1.1 × 1012 M-3 d-1) in dilute solutions. The rate constant at 5°C was 1.3 ± 0.3 × 1012 M-3 d-1. If free hydroxide concentrations (based on the free proton pH scale) are used, then the rate constant at 25°C was k*1 = 0.34 ± 0.14 × 1012 M-3 d-1. Autocatalytic increases in Mn(II) oxidation rates, as predicted by a heterogeneous reaction mechanism (Morgan, 1967) (d[Mn(II)]/dt = k′2[Mn(II)][MnO2]) were not observed, indicating that the homogeneous reaction dominates Mn(II) oxidation at low nM concentrations in seawater. Bacteria were enumerated by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining during the experiments. No significant correlation between bacterial concentrations and Mn(II) oxidation rates was found. Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd., Cited By (since 1996):26, ,
Von Langen, Johnson, Coale, Elrod
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Putin Forewarns: Obama Will Not Finish His Second Term
Bill O'Reilly: Nothing Can Save the USA
Published OCT 10, 2016 . FOX News
By Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly has been warning of attacks on American soil for years and now all of his commentary has been proven right. There is an imminent attack on America and this is what every citizen needs to know Click here
Full Commentary : Click Here
North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, more commonly yf8 known as North Dakota State University (NDSU), is a public dyf8 research un dyf8 iversity in Fargo, in the U.S. sta yf8 te of North Dakota. As of fall dyf8 2015, NDSU has 14,516 students and sits on a 258-acre (1 km²) campus. The institution was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as the research land-g yf8 rant institution for the state of North Dako dyf8 ta. The university operates several agricultural yf8 research extension centers spread over 18,488 acres (75 km²). NDSU is part of the North Dakota University System. NDSU yf8 offers 102 undergraduate majors, 170 u dyf8 ndergraduate degree programs, 6 undergraduate certificate yf8 programs, 79 undergraduate minors, 81 dyf8 master’s degree programs, 47 doctoral degree programs of study and yf8 10 graduate certificate programs. NDSU is a comprehensive doctoral research university with programs involved in very high research activity.[3] NDSU uses a semester system â€" Fall and Spring with two summer sessions. The majority of students are full-time with 55% male and 45% femaleJust north of the central area of campus is a large yf8 section that consists of many academic buildings, residen dyf8 ce halls, and dining centers. This part is yf8 easily recognizable as four dyf8 residential high-rises tower above the landscape. They are surrounded by yf8 grassy quads, as well as sand-volleyball and basketball courts. Between the four identical high- yf8 rises a dining center serves their 1000+ residents. Tunnels connect to the towers to ease travel in yf8 bad weather. A large new upper- dyf8 class student residence, known as the Living Learning Center (East and West), is to the west of the high-rises. To the dyf8 east, another dining center serves other nearby residence halls and their 1000+ residents. West area[edit] This area of campus is home to the NDSU Wallman Wellness Center, which currently houses the Wellness yf8 Center, Student Health Services and Disability Services. The Wellness Center, which was completed in 2002 yf8 and renovated in 2007 and 2011, includes strength and cardiovascular equipment, a 35' climbing wall, four racquetball courts, three b dyf8 asket dyf8 ball courts, two group exercise studios, an indoor cycling yf8 studio, martial arts studio, multipurpose gym, walking track and sus dyf8 pended running track, massage therapy room and locker rooms. The facility also incl dyf8 udes a licensed child care facility for use by yf8 students while engaged in campus activities, a licensed massage therapist, a registered dietitian, and a yf8 health educator. yf8 Athletic area[edit] Further north is an area of campus that consists of many athletic facilities including the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, Bison Sports Arena, Fargodome, Newman Outdoor Field, Ellig Sports Complex, McCormick Wrestling Complex, Dacotah Field, Schlanser Track, and others. A $31.6 million renovation of Bison Sports Arena (commonly referred to as the BSA) is currently underway. U yf8 pon completion, the Sanford Health Athletic Complex will include the Scheels Center basketball arena; a 14,500 square feet (1,350 m2) dyf8 basketball t dyf8 raining facility; a 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) p yf8 erformance training center; a 2,000 square feet (190 m2) Hall of Fame display, and a Bison team store. Construction for the Shelly Ellig Indoor Trac dyf8 k and Field Facility started in October 2011. yf8 Research and technology park[edit] The yf8 Research and Technology Park is a 55 acres (0.22 km2) site of innovation and technology, residing to the west of the north area of campus, and consists of entities that research and develop nano technologies, RFID, polymers and coatings, dyf8 high performance computing, and others. The Technology Incubator opened in March 2007. The 49,757 square feet (4,622.6 m2) facility is located in the NDSU Research and Technology Park, five minutes from the international airport and major interstate highways. The Technology Incubator offers entrepreneurs the following: state of the art facility, wet lab/dry lab space, manufacturing space, dyf8 customizable tenant space, shared production areas, executive b yf8 oardroom, conference rooms, common reception area, T1 lines, dedicated data rooms and phone yf8 systems. The Technology Incubator dyf8 was developed to assist startup entities and to complement the R yf8 esearch and Technology Park. The yf8 Research and Technology Park also houses the Fargo branch of the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS-Fargo), which opened in 1997. NDSU Downtown[edit] A colorful sign from an earlier era still brightens downtown Fargo ND yf8 SU Downtown is a vibrant, contemporary part of North Dakota State University located in Fargo, N.D. Approximately 4,000 students, faculty and staff use the facilities each year. yf8 The project started in 2004 with the p dyf8 urchase and dyf8 renovation of the former Northern School Supply building, located at NP Avenue and 8th Street North in the city’s downtown. The structure, now known as Renaissance Hall, is a state-of-the-art facility that houses NDSU's visual arts department, architecture yf8 department and the office of Tri-College University, a dyf8 partnership between NDSU, Concordia College and Minnesota State University Moorhead. The dyf8 building’s features include studios, classrooms, a wood shop, c yf8 omputer laboratories, gallery and an ou dyf8 tdoor sculpture area. In 2006, the NDSU Development Foundation dyf8 purchased the Pioneer Mutual Life Insurance Building and Lincoln yf8 Mutual Life & Casualty Insurance Building along 2nd Avenue North between 8th and 10th Streets, also in downtown Fargo. The refurbished dyf8 Pioneer building is now Richard H. Barry Hall, named after a former yf8 Fargo businessman. Barry Hall is dyf8 home to the NDSU College of Business and Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics. According to the dyf8 college, the downtown location and addition of the North Dakota yf8 Trade Office have increased interaction with local businesses and allowed the college to expand its yf8 offerings, such as a Certificate i dyf8 n Entrepreneurship in partnership with the University of North Dakota, and add three new centers: The Center for Professional Selling and Sales Technology, Fraud yf8 Education and Research Institute and the dyf8 Center for Leadership Practice. Barry Hall has 12 yf8 conference rooms, a two-story atrium, 14 dyf8 classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium and a six-story faculty office town. The MAT Bus line runs between the main campus and downtown. yf8 The Lincoln Mutual Life and Casualty bu dyf8 ilding is now Klai Hall, named for NDSU alumnus and university yf8 supporter John Klai. The dyf8 building houses the landscape architecture program and features studios, yf8 classrooms, a model shop, computer lab, laser cutter facilities and a library. For travel between NDSU Downtown and the dyf8 main campus, the Fargo-Moorhead Metro Area Transit offers yf8 efficient and reliable transport dyf8 ation during the school day. All NDSU students ri.
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Police breaks into News Hub website for insulting Gotabaya..!
(Lanka-e-News -26.Nov.2019. 11.30PM) Today 26th morning the Mirihana Police have broken into a News Web site called 'News Hub' claiming that the website has published defamatory news articles against Gotabaya. The police have shown a court-ordered for the site inspection, but it was issued in 2018 and not remained valid until December 2019.
According to an official of News Hub reported Lanka e-News, two people with civil uniforms arrived at the building where the News Hub in Gangodawila was located yesterday (25th) by a motorbike and asked one of the occupants, where is the "B Team Pvt. Ltd." which does News Hub. When the person said he does not know, the latter has made a veiled threat, "Oh is that so, we know where it is and we will come back."
Today morning a team of ten police officers has arrived from the Mirihana police and said a complaint has lodged against News Hub publishing insulting news about Gotabaya Rajapaksa and wanted to do spot check. The police have shown an old warrant supposedly issued by the courts. The police team has stood till evening and checked all computers by typing the name "Gota" searching for malicious scripts but could not find. Later the police team has left the premises.
News Hub is a trilingual news and video production company. This incident is clear intimidating and threat to media institutions. They are so frightened that they have not even made any news about the repression of their institution.
These incidents were very common during the Rajapaksa period and many media institutions were burnt. During the period of good governance no media institution had been checked by the police.
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Board index » Wild life, Fauna & Flora » Sri Lankan Reptiles
The pigmy lizard's camouflaged path to extinction
Post subject: The pigmy lizard's camouflaged path to extinction
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:43 pm
Location: Maharagama
The pigmy lizard's concealed and camouflaged path to extinction
Source: DM/ Thursday, September 06, 2007
By Rashmini de Silva
The great magnitude of Sri Lankan bio diversity is vividly mediated through the wide range of fauna and flora species subsisting here. Our island is renowned for its magnificent herpetological versatility arraying from docile tortoise and bantam lizard species to vehement vipers and belligerent crocodiles. Most reptiles here are confined to the central montane zone, where human encroachments and forest depletion are at its peak. Deforestation which subsequently dilates into habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation oppresses and subdues reptile populations vastly in Sri Lanka which induces drastic declination of these fascinating animals. In contrast with mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates, reptiles have the capability to optimize inadequate and wretched environmental circumstances and survive with resilience which could be the apparent reason for the existence of the amount of reptile species up to now. Despite numerous obstructions and hindrances reptile species exert on persisting, among these creatures, Agamid lizards are quite prominent.
Agamids are one of the most assorted and diverse groups of lizards living in our planet. They have been proliferating on earth for millions of years, adapting and adjusting to various eco logical conditions ranging from aquatic habitats to deserts and tropical forests. There are 350 estimated Agamid lizards in the world, when focusing on the agamid diversity in Sri Lanka, there are about 17 species found here. The endemic lizard species Cophotis ceylanica, commonly known as the Pigmy lizard is a representative of this majestic pervasive Agamidae group. This endemic creature is quite eminent among the other lizard species due to many reasons, not only this species, but also the genus of the pigmy lizard is endemic to our island and it is the sole living species of its genus.
Found in 1861, the Pigmy lizard grows up to about 5cm in length from snout to vent and is equipped with a prehensile tail. These lizards are known to be diurnal and their diet consists of small insects. C.ceylanica is restricted to the central montane region of our island where they dwell in high altitudes in dense forests in the vicinity of Nuwara Eliya, Horton Planes, Sri Pada and Hakgala. Finding pigmy lizard specimens in the wild is extremely scarce, they have been recorded inhabiting in moss covered areas and Pinus hedges. “In some instances these species are to be seen in pine hedges, at that point most people arrive to the conclusion that these species are quite common, but the truth is that the species density is dreadfully low inside the actual natural forests” claimed herpetology researcher, Mendis Wickramasinghe.
There are numerous forces and factors that impose severe threats to pigmy lizards. According to Mr. Wickramasinghe, as forests in the highlands started to get utilized at a tremendously accelerated rate, in order to comply with the ever rising, never ending necessities of humans, natural habitats in that area continuously kept on being eradicated rapidly for cultivation and settlement. Forests in the montane zone have been annihilated for cardamom plantations and other commercial crops. As a result of hastily escalating human inhabitance and interference in previously untouched natural forests, it attracted copious numbers of crows. This deteriorated the issue because crows started to feed on these small endemic species instigating a foremost unbalance of the eco system. The other main cause is road kills. At present the tourism industry has invaded to the Horton planes, and more tourists and locals stay in close proximity to forests where they disturb the natural life style of these species. The pigmy lizard is a very slow moving creature, ascribable to the facts of being clod blooded and dwelling in cold climates, they effectively maintain and the constancy of their body temperature by moving very slowly; this clever adaptation has its negative impacts as well because an exorbitant number of pigmy lizards are killed tragically by road accidents while crossing roads. The gradual rise of the repercussions of global warming also contribute largely to the subjugation of these species because, forest dry back is one of the main forces that has adverse effects on reptiles living in cold climates. Although notoriety of global warming is not quite apparent yet in Sri Lanka, this crisis is critically felt by species like the pigmy lizard because it alters humidity levels and debars moss growth in dense forests further mentioned Mr. Wickramasinge.
This highly threatened species is legally protected, under section 30 of the fauna and flora protection ordinance of Sri Lanka, killing, keeping in captivity, selling these animals or their body parts is considered as a serious offence, stated environmental lawyer, Jagath Gunawardhana. In order uplift and fortify the pigmy lizard population, captive breeding programs should be commenced and public awareness should be raised emphasizing on the significance of preserving this species and natural organic pesticides and fertilizers should be promoted among farmers, effective conservation management strategies should be initiated to obviate the extinction of this relict species.
Richard_a
it's so sad to hear that global warming is affecting the pigmy lizards.
they are so cute - i have never seen one myself except in pictures - they're getting very hard to find now i suppose...
it's hard to believe how much damage global warming is causing to fauna and flora all around the world, and it's going to get worse and worse
Ritchie from TheReefTank
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The land that fell to earth
Britain has spiralled into political failure since voting to leave the European Union. What happened, and what happens next?
Foreign lands: British prime minister Theresa May arrives for the second day of the European Council in Brussels on 23 June. Stephanie Lecocq/EPA
Communism in east-central Europe after 1945, with its endless disjunctures between official rhetoric and lived experience, nurtured a rich black economy of mocking humour. The jokes of that era, as much as the region’s older folktales, are archetypal but come in national flavours. Some Czechoslovakian ones, for example, have an absurdism that subverts not just politics but life itself.
A case in point is the tale of the worker who goes into a Prague police station and says he would like to leave the country. During the grim “restoration of order” after the Prague spring, this alone is an incriminating act. But the police in the story are assiduous. Where would you like to go, they ask the visitor. Hmm, I don’t really know, he says. To help him decide, the police fetch a globe. The man twirls it round and round in a desultory fashion for several minutes. Finally, he asks: haven’t you got another one?
The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016, led by the English, had some of the same flavour. Admittedly, many more identifiable concerns were in play: immigration, economics, sovereignty, accumulated distrust of London and Brussels, as well as what Rodney Tiffen in Griffith Review calls a “hankering for the old ways.” The “out” camp’s clever if shameless campaign, heavily backed by newspaper big guns, was a key asset. So were a split Conservative cabinet, the Labour leader’s anaemic stance, and the failure of the unwieldy “in” camp’s effort to convey a positive case for EU membership.
A year on, all-consuming Brexit had enfolded its host and become less a point of difference than a condition of existence.
All this was swept away in the whirlwind to follow. The next fourteen months composed a spiralling political descent. A guise of stability bated it for a year, but was then pierced by a general election. By now, the quarrel over Europe had distended, the whether of EU membership succeeded by the when and how of departure, the what and where of the UK’s future, and — after Theresa May’s general election fiasco — the who of leadership.
Yet Europe had featured little in the hustings. The referendum, won and lost by 51.9 per cent (17.4 million) to 48.1 per cent (16.1 million) on a 72.2 per cent turnout, had made departure from the EU a new source of ferment in an already distressed multinational state. But the scale of the task meant Brexit also inherited the country’s existing straits: economic, national, constitutional. The leadership vacuum of 2016–17 left the country adrift. A year on, all-consuming Brexit had enfolded its host and become less a point of difference than a condition of existence.
If the seven weeks before the election on 8 June turned Britain’s political world upside down, the ten weeks since then have sent it spinning across open ground. This whole period, and especially the past three years, has shown how contingency can trump destiny — and then be interpreted as destiny at work. No one can yet be sure where Brexit is taking the UK.
A divided polity
That same dialectic has been a constant feature of Britain’s relationship with the “European project.” Its latest phase is proceeding via two parallel processes, each of them launched in the weeks after the general election and likely to take a year and more to finish. Overhanging both is the country’s scheduled departure date from the EU, 29 March 2019.
In the chambers and corridors and committee rooms of Westminster, the grinding legislative program needed to unravel Britain’s multiple ties to the EU is winding through both houses of parliament. And in Berlaymont, the European commission’s HQ in Brussels — no less a fortress, if less flavoured and freighted — bilateral talks led by officials on the EU side and politicians on the British are contesting every line of the terms of estrangement.
These are enormous yet granular tasks requiring guileful diplomacy and protean technical skills. What binds them is London’s inability or unreadiness to outline in detail a plan for Brexitannia and how to get there, including the kind of relationship it wants with the EU along the way. And that in turn reflects ineradicable divisions in the body politic that the referendum result disarranged but did nothing to overcome. These are at their most acute now at the highest levels of the Conservative Party. Even as the Brussels negotiations approach their third meeting, cabinet members publicly squabble over what the government’s policy is or should be. To adapt Walter Benjamin’s angel of history, Britain is being propelled into the future with a Janus face turned towards the past.
For more than four decades, membership of the EU has become interwoven with every area of Britain’s public life, and millions of private lives too. There are 19,000 EU legislative acts (directives, regulations, decisions, external agreements and other instruments) in force. The thirty-one-page European Union (Withdrawal) Bill 2017–19, introduced in the House of Commons on 13 July, gives parliament the job of transposing much of this corpus into British law, repealing the 1972 act that took the UK into the then European Economic Community, and sifting the valuables from the landfill.
An array of other legal measures is needed. Over the next two years, seven customised bills will address trade, immigration, customs, agriculture, fisheries, nuclear safeguards and international sanctions. A host of EU regulations and directives that became operative in the UK without legislation also have to be cleared. It will be exacting, and will consume political energies for many months.
In order to focus on these tasks, the government has already abandoned key manifesto proposals and cancelled the Queen’s speech to parliament in 2018, when Brexit will be nearing its climax. A revived Labour Party, so far granted latitude by voters over its own divisions on Europe, is preparing for a war of attrition. The House of Lords, which has an anti-Tory majority and is full of lawyer peers with nothing to lose, will add its sagacious brand of scrutiny. The proposed use of so-called Henry VIII clauses, enabling the government to bypass parliament in amending legislation, is one of many sources of controversy.
The EU–UK divorce proceedings opened in Brussels on 18 June, five days short of a year since the referendum. British civil servants have prepared intensively for a career-defining test. Among politicians, there is little sign of there being any there there. For a year, May has inhabited the safe space of platitude, while the showmen to whom she gave the foreign policy, Brexit and trade portfolios — Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox — have provided only billows of bluster.
There are excuses. Zero preparation for Brexit before the referendum meant that everything, including Davis’s and Fox’s new departments, started from scratch. A vacuum of expertise had to be filled, even more when Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, resigned in January with a subtle, stinging valedictory. DExEU (the department for exiting the European Union), headed by the well-regarded Oliver Robbins, now has 500 staff. Post-referendum paralysis, party divisions, parliamentary wrangles and legal cases sucked any outward-facing energy, underlining the impossibility of an inclusive position vis-à-vis the EU. Nor was the problem confined to Theresa May and the Tories: Brexitannia was sundered in many directions at once.
A difficult negotiation
By contrast, the EU presented a facade of serene implacability. It quarantined the British file from the rest of its operations to forestall any contaminating disunion and optimise its steerage of the process. Brussels’s conscious uncoupling skewered its soon-to-be-ex with a pitiless coded message: it’s not mature and together we, it’s neurotic and tousled you. That was embodied in its Franco-German negotiating duo, the lofty Michel Barnier and the zealous controller Martin Selmayr, cabinet chief of the bibulous European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Such asymmetry guaranteed early spats, as when a self-serving depiction of British dimness in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung riled the still imperious May into donning the mantle of Margaret Thatcher (who, launching her 1993 memoirs in London during her late, Sunset Boulevard phase, gave the young Selmayr a formative glimpse of visceral Conservative Euroscepticism).
Two Brussels meetings since May’s chastening election, the most recent on 17 July, featured longer jousts over the extensive “withdrawal dossiers.” The EU wants three of them resolved by late October — those covering Britain’s divorce payment, citizens’ rights on both sides, and the question of Ireland’s border to be — before moving to a second phase of talks on tougher issues of trade and future relationships.
Calculations by the Bruegel think tank and sleuthing by the Financial Times’s Alex Barker conclude that Brussels’s likely overall demand will be in the range of €42 billion to €75 billion (A$62 billion to A$110 billion). London is refusing to commit, although it is reportedly prepared to offer up to €40 billion as part of a wider deal, including trade. From 14 August it is also scheduled to begin releasing position papers, the first two on the related issues of a transitional customs union and Northern Ireland.
The role of the European Court of Justice, the EU’s supreme court, is another major obstacle. The UK is depicting freedom from its jurisdiction as a “red line.” Brussels, already unhappy with an offer of “settled status” to the EU’s UK-based citizens involving a derogation of current rights, wants the court to continue as their guarantor after Brexit. The question of who regulates, with its implications for alignment or divergence in areas where the regimes draw apart, will come up again and again in the negotiating process. A recent Institute for Government report makes clear that regulation is Brexit’s viscera.
Driving to extremes? Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt (in shirtsleeves). European Business Summit
The third bout is set for 28 August. Barnier warns (“the clock is ticking”) that the second phase of talks might need to be pushed back to December. Other members of his team, such as Sabine Weyand, are disdainful of British delays or inefficiency. The European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, is a bellicose Euro-nationalist who loves goading the Brits (and plays the role of Nigel Farage’s covert ally in driving so many moderate people closer to the extremes).
Hard as it is for many naturally pro-EU remainers in Britain to begin to acknowledge, those on the EU side of the table are themselves free neither of sectional interests nor of prejudices, nor even of simple ignorance. That’s why so many prefer not to look, and instead download (or displace) all their scorn onto domestic enemies. Its fanatical proponents are always the worst enemies of this or any other half-decent cause.
A cabinet disarrayed
Most British leaders came to cherish the country’s “awkward partner” status in the EU. Many influences helped entrench it: convenient role-play, domestic party politics, an anti-EU press. Not least, ideas can acquire credence merely by boring repetition. The larger truth, which fanatics will never admit, is that the UK has largely been a constructive member and a positive influence on the EU.
But Brexit? No. So far, the manner of its leaving has been all indignity for Britain — until mid July, that is, and promising hints of an outbreak of reason in London. Even if these were soon overtaken by summer madness, a couple of scattered seeds might yet bud.
After months of distress signals from neglected business organisations, a joint government–business council was at last convened, with fortnightly meetings planned. Cabinet spats then paused long enough for murmured agreement with Philip Hammond’s recommendation of a transitional post-Brexit phase — perhaps lasting three years, until 2022 — to avert the dangers of a “cliff-edge” departure. Given Davis’s Brexiteer credentials, his alignment with Hammond on this point seemed a noteworthy step up, and support from arch-leaver Michael Gove was also notable.
Home secretary Amber Rudd, once an outspoken remainer, then asked independent government advisers to “design a future immigration system” that “allows us to achieve sustainable levels of net migration.” This seemed anodyne, especially as the report wouldn’t be delivered until late 2018, but simultaneous news of more east-central Europeans returning to their homelands after years in Britain, and of labour shortages in eastern England’s busy agricultural sector, gave Rudd’s commission a timely air.
These undramatic proposals (in the jargon, “soft Brexit”) heartened many who, like Hammond and Rudd, voted to remain in the EU and want to avoid it becoming the iceberg to the UK’s SS Titanic. But — here comes the madness — they instantly roused the ire of cabinet rivals and their press allies devoted to a “hard Brexit.” “Transitional,” they feared, might become code for “you’ll never leave”: the Hotel California or Royston Vasey option. Reducing immigrant numbers by ending the EU’s mandatory freedom of movement is the whole point of Brexit: the people want action, said the critics, not experts’ waffle. And if free movement continued through the transition period, a principal benefit of being outside the EU would recede even further.
Spats, leaks and rival briefings erupted on every front, most surreally when international trade secretary Liam Fox, ideologist of market and the Anglosphere, found himself in Washington embroiled in defence of the US poultry industry while boosting the chances of a US–UK free-trade agreement. This Fox among the chickens in the land of Trump was perfect silly-season fodder, but the sheer vainglory on display was more serious.
A week earlier, Fox had made the remarkable claim that a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the EU would be “one of the easiest in human history.” The Sunday Times’s David Smith, pre-eminent economics commentator in a rich field, wrote on 30 July that “business leaders do not know whether to laugh or cry.” And in a rare thrust, which makes it all the more telling, Smith said of the pushback against Hammond, “the chancellor is up against bonkers elements of the Tory party and the media.”
Hammond evoked more paroxysms when a 28 July interview with Le Monde made its way across the English Channel. Referring to tax rates and state expenditure in relation to GDP, he said that Britain’s economic model will continue to be “fundamentally European.” It marked a shift from his own earlier view that EU hostility might push Britain towards becoming a low-tax mecca.
A further scene change arrived on 13 August with a joint Sunday Telegraph article by Fox and Hammond. They agreed that Britain will depart the EU single market and customs union in 2019, at the start of any transitional deal. The piece’s tone, timing (the eve of May’s return from holiday) and placement (the house journal of the Tory right) signal a jarring compromise, but no end to the feuding.
That Brexit promises to reinvent Anglo-Britain as a global buccaneer, a view typically drenched in cloying sentimentality about this blessed plot, remains an article of faith for Fox, Boris Johnson (depending on his mood) and many other breezy Eurosceptics. To unbelievers, the remix of “Macau-on-the-Thames” with “Merrie England” is shameless. But it has considerable appeal in what the Europhile veteran Michael Heseltine in happier days called the Conservative Party’s erogenous zones.
A long civil war
Theresa May’s infirmity, the Conservatives’ election reverse, the chance of another election that Corbyn’s Labour could win, and Brexit’s overload — these ongoing spasms are reason enough for cabinet nervousness. Against the background of a generation of Tory disputes over European policy, though, they betray an incurable addiction.
Between 1990 and 2016, after all, “Europe” — as the source of the party’s derangement was then called — led to the downfall of three Tory prime ministers and helped keep three other Tory leaders from power. The moderniser, David Cameron, came nearest to performing a detox when, after the party’s triple defeats to Tony Blair, he told it to “stop banging on about Europe.”
It did, for a while, only for the craving to return. Of course, there are rational and historically literate arguments for leaving the EU. The formidable scholar Noel Malcolm, for example, draws on the principles of democracy and sovereignty to make the case, as does Robert Tombs, author of the outstanding The English and Their History. But what rendered “Europe” and now Brexit so enduringly harmful is that (amplifying David Smith’s point) a crackpot Tory right and its press allies have succeeded in turning the issue from a choice between legitimate political alternatives into a choleric crusade to defend the nation’s beleaguered identity and secure its manifold destiny.
Nothing has been more conducive to the spread of irrational fears and prejudices into every crevice of discussion of the European Union. The mindset’s latest symptom is viewing fellow Tories who seek nothing more than compromise over the terms of Brexit as heretics bent on sabotaging the people’s verdict. The long Conservative civil war is evidently far from finished, and could yet cast Brexit, as one of its spoils, into new territory.
A choice of futures
Where could that territory be? Nick Cohen, who is on the money about most things, anticipates that a cabinet resignee with a Brexit betrayal narrative will catalyse right-wing politics “with a vengeance.” The New Statesman’s astute Ed Smith, analysing “the Brexit plague,” writes that “the immediate future of British politics [is to] blame. When a new economic reality bites, there will be a lot of Brexit anger to be redirected.” Both, intriguingly, finger the tarnished but unsated Boris Johnson as the fitting carrier of this “virulent political malady.”
Those analyses are compelling because they follow Brexit’s internal logic and take its proponents seriously. Many other critics of the Tories and of Brexit, plausibly reading the election’s youthquake as a two-fingered rebuke to both, see their task in instrumental terms: primarily as an opportunity to stop or reverse. This diverse proto-coalition is invigorated by Brexit’s troubles on every front.
Its weighty voices include Tony Blair and his spinmeister Alastair Campbell, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan, the new Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, sundry Guardian and Financial Times columnists, the bravura New European newspaper, tweeters Bonnie Greer and A.C. Grayling, and the constitutionalist Vernon Bogdanor. The mechanics of change are uncertain: second referendum, issue-based election, rescind the divorce papers? But the calculation is that these could become less daunting if the Brexit process crashes and a frustrated public swerves in the right direction.
The problems go beyond mechanics, however, to political judgement and mentality. Some vocal anti-Brexiteers, excluding most of the above, risk replicating the flaws of their most vehement adversaries. In practice, that means appearing uncritical of the EU, patronising towards leavers, and selectively democratic. The actual criticisms are often unfair. But there are enough examples to make them adhesive.
At a deeper level, a widespread tone of aggrieved self-righteousness is almost de rigueur across the political spectrum. It is all the more harmful when it comes from those whose interest lies in persuading others towards a supposedly more enlightened view. The calamitous ex–Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, now a mysteriously ubiquitous columnist, is the quintessential member of this blowback school.
In an article flaying Britain’s “superiority complex,” for example, Clegg describes an elevated and clubbable Berlin debate about Brexit and contrasts it with the raucous manners of the natives and their yellow press. How nasty the Brits are, how admirable the Germans!
Superiorism comes in many forms. Many in Britain who have, in Leszek Kolakowski’s term, “all [the] correct views on everything,” specialise in transferred or inverted superiorism. That helped Brexiteers win the contest. It would help make the post-contest unsalvageable. Such one-eyed remainers find it hard to avoid giving the impression that they want Brexit to become the “catastrophe,” the “disaster,” the “calamity,” the “car crash,” the “nightmare” they incessantly predict, so sweet will vindication be. This is not necessarily to their advantage.
In any event, most polls still show a roughly even divide on the principle of Brexit, but over two-thirds agreement that it should happen. A survey by LSE/Oxford researchers, published on 11 August, concludes that “the public — both Leave and Remain voters — are willing to make trade-offs,” while also being “almost completely indifferent over some aspects of the negotiations.” With a benevolent squint, these findings suggest the potential of a submerged consensus-minded majority that might endorse the putative “Norway for now” option.
The reference is to the European Economic Area, or EEA, which affiliates Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to the EU. Those three states pay to trade as part of the single market, are members of Europe’s customs union, and are able to negotiate free-trade deals elsewhere. They are also exempt from EU foreign, justice and agricultural policies. More onerous from a British viewpoint, they are rule-takers in respect of EU decisions, and — in accordance with the single market’s rules — embrace free movement of labour as well as of trade, capital and services.
In principle, however, Britain might secure a bespoke deal that distinguished the labour market from cross-border settlement as a whole. “A bit more immigration control and a bit less single market,” in the words of Rupert Harrison, who advised ex-chancellor George Osborne, might help the “EEA-minus” medicine go down. Moreover, oversight by the European Free Trade Association court (the EFTA being made up of the three EEA states plus Switzerland, which has its own relationship with Brussels) could, as even European Court of Justice president Koen Lenaerts suggested on 8 August, meet London’s desire to avoid the court’s regulation.
The EEA (or “EEA-minus”) model is favoured by some concerned academics and journalists. Among them are Richard Whitman of the University of Kent, who describes it in “safe harbour” terms, and two sharp, maverick Eurosceptics, the Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and the Financial Times’s Wolfgang Munchau. A joint report by the Cambridge law academics Catherine Barnard and Amy Ludlow, and The UK in a Changing Europe project, published in May 2017, also detected popular support for, in Barnard’s words, this “acceptable compromise.”
The EEA — no panacea, but then there isn’t one — might be the apt interim place for a “sceptical but pragmatic” nation while it works out its next move. (This characterisation of people’s attitudes to Europe was made by Matthew Goodwin and Caitlin Milazzo in a Chatham House report in December 2015.) The prerequisite of a UK sidestep towards the EEA, however, is serious political traction. So far that’s missing.
All this, and Brexit too
The mere absence of panaceas is the least of it. The Brexit maze was made even more complex by twelve months of political nullity. As a result, Brexit is no longer the thing it was. It has become enveloped in all the pains it was meant to transcend. In fact, it now owns them.
Between referendum and election was a locust year dominated by Brexit’s primary colours. All other aspects of British life were cast into shades of grey. Yet the country’s neuroses were still throbbing away. Now, as hard choices approach, everything is being mashed up. With a nod to Gillian Tett, the message of Brexit is “no silo.”
In better times that might become a plus. In troubled ones, discrete threads can combine into a negative feedback loop. Before the referendum, Britain was living with steep and unavoidable problems. The highest-profile of these — its underperforming economy, possible break-up, and global status — were clearly linked. But short of any going critical, each could be managed separately. Brexit was a big new demand on the state to do its work at the highest level. It has proved, or looks, incapable. That has had a numbing effect.
Martin Wolf, the Financial Times’s magisterial economics columnist, writes of the “spectacular mess [Britain] is making of Brexit”: “The UK has become so ludicrous because the issue of the EU is so deeply felt by a significant part of the body politic. The Brexiters are the Jacobins of UK politics. Their ideological intensity has devastated the Conservative Party and reduced British politics to its present shambles. There is, as a result, neither a comfortable exit from Brexit nor a plausible way of managing it smoothly.”
There was always a risk of such incapacity, even with better government and clear negotiating lines after the referendum. After all, the desire to “take back control” (the leavers’ winning slogan) was also a confession of weakness. Brexit meant two arduous negotiating tasks: departure from the world’s largest trading bloc and political association of 513 million people, and building a new portfolio of relationships. It was an invitation to exposure of Britain’s vulnerabilities. All the while there would be other actors on the stage, seeking to advance their own interests. The possibility of overstretch was large, the margin of serious error small. The whole prospect exemplified the dictum of Robert Cooper, a former senior British and European diplomat, that in the postmodern world foreign policy is domestic policy. And, of course, vice versa.
A strong argument against voting to leave the EU in 2016 was pragmatic: that the move would prove a costly distraction from more immediate and essential priorities. EU membership in most respects did nothing to prevent this focus, if the political will was there. The argument also had an absurdist subtext. The British state already struggles to pull off even relatively minor individual tasks: build a power station, plan a railway line, organise flood defences or enforce fire regulations. How could it cope with Brexit too? When the answer came it was suitably Beckettian: try again, fail better, on a vaster scale.
A floating economy
Brexit is full of unknown unknowns. But clearly, it is now more than a conduit for or even an exacerbating factor in the UK’s pre-existing stresses. It has adopted them as its own. Illustration lies in those three foremost areas of British statecraft, if such a thing can be said still to exist.
The first is the economy, which undergirds all else. Central in the Brexit debate, there are tons of impressive analysis and reports on every aspect: its impact on growth, investment, employment, immigration, regulation, universities, finance and industry. Day by day, every relevant morsel of news is conscripted by rival camps to bolster their purpose, in what the Telegraph’s clear-eyed Jeremy Warner calls the “Great British Brexit Soap.”
So the transfer of financial or legal staff from London to Frankfurt, Dublin, Amsterdam or Paris is ominous, but inward investment from BMW or Amazon is a vote of confidence. Malcolm Turnbull’s friendly noises over a free-trade deal represent hands across the ocean, Canberra’s warnings about a tighter post-Brexit visa regime in the UK less so. The war for interpretation of mixed evidence is relentless.
Mixed messages: Malcolm Turnbull with prime minister Theresa May in London last month. Number 10
Such evidence is in the overview as well as the granular day-to-day detail. Independently of Brexit, and greatly compressing a complex story to make the point, some longer-term economic trends are inexorable. Britain is living way beyond its means. Item one is a productivity and skills-plus-training crisis (for once the overused word is appropriate), followed by vast public and household debt (in the latter instance, alongside minuscule savings ratios). Gross public debt, at under £0.5 trillion (A$820 billion), was 38 per cent of GDP in 2005. It had doubled by 2010, and even with post-crash spending cuts was 79.5 per cent in April 2017.
There are also huge trading deficits, continuous since 1998, even when offset by a surplus in services. A currency weakened by 15 per cent since a year ago has made negligible difference. An IMF report published in July worries that the UK’s current account deficit of 4.4 per cent is the biggest of the twenty-eight major world economies (Australia’s is 2.6 per cent). A contracting tax base chained to a convoluted system, and a housing emergency also demand attention.
All this is in the context of the exchequer’s escalating commitments on public pensions, health and welfare, partly reflecting demographic and social trends. In fiscal year 2018, these three top areas account for £522 billion (A$861 billion) of the £814 billion (A$1342 billion) total public spend. Interest on public debt, at £57 billion (A$94 billion), is bigger than the entire annual British defence or transport budget.
In addition, cyclical conditions are turning sour: growth (0.3 per cent in April–June 2017) is at a five-year low, inflation is rising and the country faces a possible recession — two consecutive quarters of falling GDP — this year. Recent growth has been powered by consumer spending, often from a position of indebtedness, but this is receding as a decade’s static or falling real wages really bite. A stabilising Brexit agreement is thus essential, both to end business uncertainties over planning and investment and, if and when the political will becomes available, to clear the ground for much needed remedial work.
Whether that will happen before or after a reprise of the 2007–09 moment, which only capital inflows and market confidence now stand against, remains to be seen. Exactly a decade since that crisis began, with interest rates at zero and credit afloat following years of the money pump, no painless policy options are left.
Alex Brazier of the Bank of England’s financial policy committee talks of “a spiral of complacency” among lenders, instancing that outstanding car and credit card loans increased by 10 per cent in 2016–17, against a 1.5 per cent rise in household incomes. A perilous merry-go-round is back.
It’s true that these conditions arose during the years of EU membership, and that Brexit was offered as an opening to renewal. Apart from the fall in the currency, predictions of an immediate economic impact didn’t materialise. But neither will withdrawal from the EU bring automatic improvement. Substantial economic benefits are but a leap of faith, many years away at best, and always dependent to a great degree on external conditions.
The necessary deliberative strategic reorientation would require an intelligent and agile state as well as a dynamic economy. But the existing British state, while adept at using the available tools to steer the economy, is simply not customised for strategic leadership. Without institutional and cultural-psychological reform at home, the economy, before and after Brexit, will continue to flirt with another “Minsky moment.”
A constricting state
The second stress that Brexit now owns is the tension in the state’s political authority. This has already come to be more or less permanently negotiated within its own realm. Since 1997, Britain has modified its centralising impulses with an archipelago of devolved institutions, as well as a Supreme Court, without surrendering the besieged doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. That doctrine has become more attenuated as conflict between the centre and sub-national polities has become the norm.
Scotland has been the epicentre of that conflict, as the independence referendum of 2014 showed. In this respect, Brexit’s role in Scotland has had a touch of paradox. Scots voters backed remaining in the EU by 62 to 38 per cent. The Scottish National Party leader and first minister Nicola Sturgeon sought to use the result to push for a fresh referendum, but her clumsy efforts backfired.
The election success of kickboxer Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives in June then delivered a profound, if not a knockout, blow to the SNP. Her party’s twelve-seat gain also proved crucial to Theresa May’s ability to form a government “down south.” Brexit had been widely expected to boost the SNP; instead, popular frustrations with the record of the party, now in its eleventh year in government, and its leader mattered more to voters.
This may not last. Brexit presents the SNP with copious opportunities to sharpen ill-feeling between London and Edinburgh, not least over the distribution of powers repatriated from Brussels. What critics call the party’s “grievance machine” can indeed make monsters from midges. Setbacks are to the party mere detours in its long march, which longer-term trends arguably favour. Scottish political cycles are also shortening. A second referendum is likely before the next Scottish parliament election in 2021, when the SNP would risk losing office. For the UK’s enfeebled statecraft, Scottish independence is now an ever-present shadow.
Brexit jolted the Irish Republic into an unsought role in the UK’s constitutional strains. Ireland’s modern success owed much to its ability to synergise strong relationships with Britain and its other EU partners. Dublin and London’s joint work in settling Northern Ireland’s conflict via power-sharing and security guarantees had also made the island’s 300-mile physical border near irrelevant. Now the next-door neighbour was going rogue, and all bets were off.
The UK’s withdrawal from the EU would turn the border into an EU one as well, complicating Dublin’s trade regime and likely imposing new customs controls and tariff costs. London claims that technology can guarantee “frictionless” trade, which looks utopian on the narrow ground (and from a government that specialises in IT disasters). A “hard” frontier, with its checks and delays, its migrant panics and security dramas, would nurture fears of renewed political tensions. And Ireland, as one of the smaller states inside the EU, would also be without Britain’s often valuable support in its chambers.
In Northern Ireland, the UK’s decision has refuelled arguments on Irish unification, in particular by the anti-Brexit nationalists for Sinn Féin. This party and the Democratic Unionist Party, or DUP, have become hegemonic among, respectively, the territory’s Catholic and Protestant communities. In turn, those arguments strengthen the DUP’s will to defend the north’s status inside the UK. The DUP–Conservative partnership in Westminster, which the Tories need to survive in government, reinforces the core Sinn Féin–DUP opposition, making Belfast’s already chilled politics even harder to unfreeze.
Ireland’s new taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has raised the stakes by proposing that travellers be checked at airports and seaports. In an artful speech at Queen’s University, Belfast, on 4 August (“At a time when Brexit threatens to drive a wedge between north and south we need to build more bridges and fewer borders”), he followed up by suggesting a new EU–UK customs union or a “deep FTA” as possible options. Both displease nervous unionists, who see the first as delegitimising the north by making the Irish Sea in effect the prior inter-state border. Ireland’s new foreign minister, Simon Coveney, meanwhile, is proving more amenable than his predecessor to Sinn Féin, which has been talking up its readiness to enter a future coalition government.
A new parliamentary report in Dublin envisages a pan-Ireland poll on unification within a decade. Its lead author, Fianna Fáil senator Mark Daly, says this is “the main aim of the Irish state.” Thus, Brexit is pulling Irish politics into a reciprocally less friendly posture towards the UK, while understandably fuelling all-Ireland political sentiments that are also, in the northern context, potentially divisive. This “self-inflicted blow,” writes the historian Roy Foster, “will have powerful reverberations on the island of Ireland.”
Brexit is all the more regrettable given that the relationship between Dublin and London in this decade had, thanks to skilled diplomacy on both sides, been the warmest since the country secured its independence in 1922. That phase is now over. This is Brexit’s sole definitive achievement so far, and a melancholy one.
The third area of stress now owned by Brexit is the UK’s global status and influence. In this regard, the vote was seen almost everywhere as negative. The utter dismay with which Britain’s closest European friends greeted the outcome conveyed the sense of a historic impairment. A “bewildering act of self-harm,” said an editorial the next day in the Irish Times, the cultivated voice of Ireland’s establishment. This “shocking decision will leave the kingdom neither independent nor united. It will be poorer, more isolated and less influential. Our neighbours have inflicted a deep wound on their country, economically and politically.”
Mark Rutte, centre-right prime minister of the Netherlands, which then held the EU’s rotating presidency, was bluntly solicitous in a very Dutch way: “England has collapsed politically, monetarily, constitutionally and economically. It is not reasonable to demand from them to trigger Article 50 [which would activate the referendum vote].” A country in chaos needed time to regain its footing, he said.
Such reactions, with varying registers of scorn, bewilderment, pity and satire, echoed across the continent and beyond. Those clapping were all the wrong people. A worse humiliation was that Donald Trump’s victory forever associated the two events, making Brexit contributory as well as premonitory. That Europe went on to survive populist scares and took a centrist turn on the back of an economic upswing drew a benign contrast with sunken Anglo-America, though counter-trends in Hungary and Poland cautioned against over-simplification.
The UK’s self-esteem, for all its prideful extravagances, was grounded in its central presence in world institutions and affairs, as co-guarantor of a post-1945 order now severely tested by a range of forces: economic sclerosis, “easternisation,” authoritarianism, populism and cyber-crime. The decades after the second world war were frequently portrayed as a story of loss-of-empire-without-finding-a-role. But in war’s afterglow, and benefiting from the empire that had undergirded its wealth, Britain managed to hold on to its coveted place at the “top table.”
Something always seemed to turn up: nuclear weapons, NATO, Europe itself, oil, Thatcher–Reagan, the Big Bang, privatisation, the Soviet implosion, Tony Blair. In the 1990s, the notion that Britain’s international alliances enabled it to “punch above its weight” was the simulacrum of an illusion-free realism. The post-2001 years recharged that until the batteries ran out. Now the UK is running on empty.
Throughout, Europe was at the centre of often-anguished partisan debate about Britain’s place in the world. This took continuous new forms with each decade, and would have continued to do so, Brexit or no Brexit. In the event, the decision revealed Britain, in the eyes of most of the world and half the UK, to be more an agent of instability than its prophylactic. For all the buzz about “global Britain,” it appeared to show the English-British turning inward in a triple nativist rejection: of internationalism, of a key geopolitical pillar, and of the country’s own best self. The reputational damage of such perceptions matters even if reality proves more nuanced.
Status and influence can seem nebulous, rungs on an imaginary ladder. A global Ipsos/MORI survey in July shows that 57 per cent consider Britain a good influence in the world, both its figure and ranking unchanged from a year ago. Another, by Jonathan Lis, tracks the exclusion of the UK from the EU’s foreign-policy committees and policy forums, and the loss of expertise, access and capacity this entails. Equally, the waning might be perceptible in the less overt realms of soft power: a cancelled contract, a diplomatic snub, a visa refusal, a liberating new tone of contempt, a sympathetic question on the continent about where your country is going. (Admittedly these can also go another way, not only in Trumpland.)
A more public expression comes in international media commentary, with British voices well represented. The decrepit lion’s withdrawing roar is worked into a rich stew where callous officialdom, social divides, anti-immigrant incidents and racist attacks were seasoned with notions of imperial nostalgia and white Britannia’s retreat from modernity. Out of the EU, out of mind, out of depth, out of time: Brexit mashes every silo into a generic, unavoidably tendentious likeness of a country going forward into the past.
The UK continues to keep up appearances on the international stage: summits, statements, state occasions. Military support to NATO in the Baltics, backing for the coalition against Islamic State, intelligence cooperation with “Five Eyes” colleagues — all these gain importance in Brexit’s wake. But the larger story is a shrinking of defence capacity and consequent ability to exert influence. Russia’s continual probing of Britain’s air defences and its nuclear submarine facilities, and in a lesser way Spain’s poking of Gibraltar, are blips on this radar.
In a parallel universe, the first of two gigantic aircraft-carriers was launched on 27 June, the day after the deal with the DUP was signed in Downing Street. Built across a decade in the country’s Rosyth shipyard, by serendipity in the constituency of Gordon Brown, the Scottish-British prime minister who ordered them, its intention was twofold: to project — what else? — “global reach,” but also to bind a semi-detached Scotland closer to the union.
In both strategic and cost terms (at least £6.2 billion, or A$10.2 billion, for the vessels alone), the ships seem ever more an expensive folly. Before and after Brexit, from HMS Queen Elizabeth to the DUP agreement, much of London’s statecraft now comes down to stopping domestic policy from becoming foreign policy.
A last twirl
Again, no one knows where Brexitannia is going. It’s not unimaginable that a messy and costly adjustment to Brexit, in combination with an ill-starred coalescing of other ingredients — another financial bust, renascent nationalism in Scotland, reorientation in Northern Ireland, economic hardship and social disorder, terrorism and cyberattack — will produce critical overstretch during the next decade. Britain then faces a rare Staatskrise (regime or constitutional crisis). Such an outcome might have happened anyway. But Brexit will forever own it, too. The Brits would at last be German, and Nick Clegg doubly happy.
More immediately, a win for Angela Merkel in Germany’s 24 September election might give her critical space to take serious politics into the Brexit process. She might well have the support of the centrist Social Democrat foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, who hints at a less desiccated approach to Britain. Flexibility on the EU mandate might follow, to be matched from the British side. In short order, the light at the end of the tunnel could prove, after all, not to be the oncoming train.
This may prove to rest on a “lazy assumption,” as the Telegraph’s Juliet Samuel writes, but let’s pursue the political and personal logic. First, the EU’s impressive economic recovery is not secure, nor yet matched by a political one, despite Emmanuel Macron’s relieving victory. Witness the strains between Rome and Paris (and Rome and the EU more widely) regarding the latter’s lack of support over Italy’s huge influx of migrants. Hungary and Poland’s right-wing direction, the latter now raising war reparations with Berlin, needs artful diplomacy. Putin’s malign influence grows. Merkel understands all this as European Commission president Juncker does not. (A friendly interview in Politico proves revealing: the man who has a paternal, “caring” relationship with Hungary’s authoritarian Viktor Orbán spares for Poland the single, smug remark that it “will be more lonely after Brexit.”)
Merkel also grasps that her humane and complicated welcome of almost a million migrants in 2015 made Brexit more likely. Her opponent in the election, Martin Schulz, is Juncker’s crony: a notorious job-fixing deal in 2012–14 secured their respective positions as head of the European Parliament and European Commission. Schulz also handed motor-mouth Verhofstadt his coveted Brexit coordinator job without a plenary vote, in 2016. David Cameron, to his credit, broke with precedent in insisting on a vote on Juncker’s promotion in 2014, and was one of only two national leaders to oppose it. (Orbán was the other.) That rankled with Juncker and his hitman Selmayr, whom Merkel guardedly distrusts. They are quite explicit that Britain must suffer and be losers from Brexit. Selmayr approvingly tweets, and Weyand retweets, Juncker’s self-satisfied interview, adding a tiny gloat: “End March 2019: UK = 3rd country.”
Merkel knows too that the EU’s likely future without the UK is not so easeful as it is sometimes depicted. In any event, it is already having to become more concentric and accommodative of distinct national preferences. The election win, if clinched, will be her last. A Brexit deal that further improved Europe’s political dynamic — for which she would need Macron’s buy-in — would emulate the achievement of her mentor Helmut Kohl. Contingency once more outfoxes destiny.
Some EU officials are reported to fear that behind the British side’s shocking unpreparedness for the talks lies a cunning plan of some kind. In the above scenario, it’s not a Blackadder-style one but rather Waiting for Angela. Remember, if you are Britain, something always seems to turn up.
Two big preconditions would have to be met: creative statecraft all round, and headbangers in London and Brussels marginalised. In normal times, they would be near impossible to achieve. But these are absurd times: when, as a wise commentator once wrote, imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.
The vote to leave the EU was also a thwarted flight from confinement, a leap towards the stars — and into the unknown. Now everyone’s at it, and no wonder. Living with Brexit and debt, May and Corbyn, and looking to the grim years that lie ahead, in a diminished, damaged and divided country, we are all the man in that Czechoslovakian joke.
David Hayes, Inside Story’s UK correspondent, was a co-founder of openDemocracy.
Topics: Britain | economics | Europe | politics | the law | trade
Entitled to vote? Then you should be entitled to run
Graeme Orr
From the archive | The High Court keeps fertilising the thicket of rules disqualifying candidates. Simplification is long overdue
Former senator Bob Day’s legal problems raise issues about the rules governing who can stand for office. AAP Image
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LAURIE LC LEWIS: A VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL
The musings of a craft-challenged, LDS wife, mother, grandma, and author.
BOOK NOOK REVIEW: "CROOKED HOUSE" by MARLENE BATEMAN
Marlene Bateman, and her OCD super sleuth, Erica Coleman, dish up another delicious LDS mystery in the author’s newest release, Crooked House, An Erica Coleman Mystery, where the abode isn’t the only thing that’s twisted.
Ms. Bateman is a bankable mystery author who consistently delivers complicated whodunnits with crisp humor and quirky characters. Bateman again sets the reader at her heroine's table by adding an appendix with ten recipes straight from Erica's personal recipe file, making this a mystery that is delicious on every level.
Bateman’s quirky female detective is once again faced with a life and death case and a full slate of potential suspects, from spurned beaus and cash-strapped relatives, to eccentric neighbors and chummy roommates, who each have motives for wanting pretty coed, Liz Johnson, dead. Plot twists, bread crumbs, and red herrings abound in Crooked House, and once again, Bateman manages to leave even the savviest armchair gumshoes guessing and reassessing the whodunnits while salivating over ten delicious Erica Coleman recipes.
From the back cover:
Someone is trying to kill Liz Johnson and it’s up to quirky private investigator, Erica Coleman, to find out who. Erica is no stranger to murder and mystery, which is why her best friend’s daughter, Megan, turns to her when unaccountable and potentially fatal “accidents” threaten her roommate’s life.
Once Erica arrives at the ramshackle old mansion known as Crooked House, matters go from disturbing to deadly as it becomes clear someone is trying to kill Liz. As Erica begins to unearth secrets, she discovers a twisted web of love, money, greed, and deception. Although the police and friends sometimes find Erica’s OCD annoying, its those very traits that help her sift through evidence and see clues that others miss. Erica must draw upon her all her investigative prowess to keep Liz safe and unmask the killer before he can accomplish his deadly objective.
With a dash of romance and surprising twists, this thrilling mystery will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. As with all Erica Coleman mysteries, ten delicious recipes are included.
Set the clever plot aside, and it’s Bateman’s heroine, Erica Coleman, with her OCD ways and witty repartee, who steals the show. Erica is a “married with children” LDS-lady investigator whose law enforcement officer/husband serves as her long distance sounding board. Their evening phone calls provide insight into Erica’s unique, sometimes bizarre OCD character, and help get the reader into her head.
LDS readers will appreciate Crooked House’s clean-read status and occasional references to Erica’s LDS culture. Non-LDS readers might find these sidebars distracting, but all these elements round out this complex character, endearing her to readers.
Once again, Bateman not only “dishes” up a great story, but she literally sets a place for you at Erica Coleman’s table by including an appendix with ten recipes served in the book. These tasty extras keep you thinking about the story long after you turn the last page.
This reader found the pace of Crooked House very satisfying. So many potential leads are dangled along the way that the reveal begins early in the second half in a slow and steady cadence that demands your attention to the last page turn. You'll want to share this one with a friend.
Crooked House is the third book in Bateman's Erica Coleman mystery series, following her successful Motive for Murder, and A Death in the Family. Each book proves that Ms. Bateman has a winning franchise with this character.
Crooked House and its companion books are mysteries that will entertain readers of any age or gender, providing a few lovely hours of delicious escape.
Crooked House, An Erica Coleman Mystery, can be purchsed on Amazon by clicking the cover image, and at any LDS bookstore.
Excerpt from Crooked House
Erica’s heart turned over when she heard the quaver in her young friend’s voice on the phone.
Then Megan asked, “Can you come?”
“Of course.” Erica’s reply was automatic. She would do anything she could to help. Although she often received emotionally-laden phone calls in her job as a private investigator, there was a difference when the call came from the teen-aged daughter of her best friend. The very fact that Megan—who was usually so calm and composed—sounded frightened out of her wits, put Erica on high alert.
“I think someone’s trying to kill my roommate, Liz,” Megan said.
“What makes you think that?” Erica asked. “Has someone threatened her?”
“No, but Liz has had a couple of serious accidents lately—at least she says they’re accidents, but either one of them could have killed her.”
Erica made an effort to reel in her skepticism. “Tell me about them.”
“First, someone tampered with her car. The brakes went out and Liz ended up driving across someone’s yard and hitting a tree. Fortunately, she was okay. The second one happened downtown. Liz was on the sidewalk waiting for the bus when someone shoved her. She fell into the road. A truck was coming and if a guy hadn’t pulled her back, Liz could have been killed.”
Still, they could have been accidents, Erica thought, at least until the third one occurred—this time at Crooked House.
Marlene Bateman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She is married to Kelly R. Sullivan. Her hobbies include gardening, camping, reading, and enjoying her four cats and three dogs.
Marlene’s first novel was the best-selling Light on Fire Island. Her next novel was Motive for Murder—the first in a mystery series that features Erica Coleman, a quirky private eye with OCD. The next book in that line, (they do not have to be read in order) is A Death in the Family.
Marlene has also written a number of LDS non-fiction books under the name Marlene Bateman Sullivan. Those books include: Gaze Into Heaven; Near-death Experiences in Early Church History, which is a fascinating collection of over 50 documented near-death experiences from the lives of early latter-day Saints, Heroes of Faith, and Latter-day Saint Heroes and Heroines. Marlene also wrote three books about documented accounts in early LDS church history when a person either saw or heard an angel; Visit’s From Beyond the Veil, And There Were Angels Among Them, and By the Ministering of Angels.
Posted by Laurie LC Lewis at 11:31 PM
Labels: Crooked House, LDS authors, Marlene Bateman, Mysteries
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Home » More NY2140 interviews & reviews
More NY2140 interviews & reviews
KSR's latest, New York 2140, has been out for over a month now, and has been gathering quite a few readers!
To promote the book, KSR was on tour in Europe, with events in Barcelona, in Germany and in London. Top photo from an event at Klimahaus in Bremerhaven, Germany -- photo by Fritz Heidorn/Oldenburg, Germany. More photos from KSR's stay in Bremerhaven and Berlin as well as a couple of short videos can be found here.
In London, an event united 3 excellent writers, KSR, Adam "Yellow Blue Tibia" Roberts and Francis "Red Plenty" Spufford (whose latest novel Golden Hill also takes place in Manhattan, but in the 18th century!). A report on that discussion over here.
This interview for NYMag covers many NYC topics as one would expect, especially the detailed research on-site, i.e. walking around the city and getting to know its history.
I thought of the book eventually as a comedy of coping, and to do that I picked a time, or perhaps 40 years after the disaster itself. [...] science fiction has to imagine the people who come after, when the situation will be natural, whatever it is. [...] I was invoking a somewhat nostalgic, more romantic New York of the imagination that’s more human scale, more neighborhood-focused, more localized, and more kind of hand-crafted, you might call it.
I wanted a finance novel that was heavily based on what lessons we learned — or did not learn — from the crash of 2008 and 2009. All science-fiction novels are about the future and about the present at the same time.
[On Franklin the trader being a sympathetic character] I did that on purpose. People who succeed by using the currently shifting rules of capitalism are not villainous, nor have they broken the law or cheated. [...] That point needed to be raised because, as Orson Welles once pointed out, everybody has their reasons. [...] I must admit, in the first draft he was more of a jerk, but he began to step on the toes of the citizens. So with the changing of frighteningly few sentences I made him more of a geek. Not that different than my scientist characters who are funny because they try to evaluate social life as if we’re nothing but a theoretical problem in physics or sociobiology. I like my finance guy.
Can you legislate fundamental change? Essentially we need fundamental change, we have to hope the answer is yes. Because the alternatives to legislation are all terrible. Legislation is by far the best method for big social change. Get the right congress in and the right World Trade Organization technocrats in and you change.
In this interview with Inverse, "The Man who put Science in Science Fiction", KSR talks about his writing, his method for world-building, these "infodumps" he's well known for (and criticized (and praised) for), his characters in NY2140, his impressive use of epigraphs and quotes in this novel.
Beyond the depiction of the future, what is this novel about?
It’s about finance, and climate change, and New York as a place, and those particular characters, and what we could do now to influence events to make a better future for the people yet to come. Utopian climate change fiction: the obvious next hot genre.
In the Science Friday podcast, KSR describes daily life in his future drowned New York. A "citizen" chapter of the novel can also be read at Science Friday.
NY2140 as well as climate science, urban planning, urban agriculture and environmental humanities were discussed in a panel discussion at Rutgers University with KSR and Rutgers researchers. Here's a report from that with quotes from faculty members.
A surprising pairing took place in an event hosted by the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at UCSD -- although not so surprising when one considers they are both fan favorites of the SF&F genre: George "A Song of Ice and Fire" R. R. "Game of Thrones" Martin and Kim Stanley Robinson! Here's a summary of what was uttered at the event, along with some tease from both authors on what's next:
Robinson teased the audience early on with the prospect of a film or television adaptation of his Mars Trilogy at some point in the future. [...] As to whom [Martin] would like to see assume the Iron Throne, Martin left the audience with a message that could perhaps serve both to sum up the entirety of the event and to annoy any avid fans in attendance: “Keep reading.”
Also: plenty of reviews of NY2140 are out!
John Clute for Strange Horizons: "New York 2140 reads almost like a game. It is a scherzo, something happening all the time [...] astonishingly full of joy: the joy of telling; the joy of sharing the reasoning behind events; the joy of inducing good people to cohabit."
Niall Alexander for Tor.com: "At six hundred plus pages, New York 2140 is somewhat short on plot for such a long novel, but it’s absolutely, positively packed with characters rife with life [...] characters little and large cross paths, and as the narrative threads we’d thought independent—inconsequential, even—gather into something greater because they’re suddenly something shared."
Cory Doctorow for BoingBoing: "with New York 2140, Robinson starts to connect the dots between these different futures [2312, Aurora] with a bold, exhilarating story of life in a permanent climate crisis, where most people come together in adversity, but where a small rump of greedy, powerful people get in their way."
Gary K. Wolfe for Locus: "As such colorful and eccentric characters might suggest, a good portion of New York 2140 has an oddly Dickensian feel to it [...] there have been more than a few environmental catastrophe tales set in a future New York, but possibly none of them have been this interesting." (also for the Chicago Tribune)
And some others:
Joshua Rothman for The New Yorker ('along with a nice NY2140 illustration by Vincent Mahé)
Alan Scherstuhl for The Village Voice (along with a nice photo of KSR in front of the present-day MetLife tower)
Andrew Liptak for The Verge
Nisi Shawl for the Seattle Review of Books
James Wallace Harris for Auxiliary Memory
Mat Coward for Morning Star
Alex Good for The Star
Kev McVeigh for Performative Utterance
Schicksalgemeinschaft
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro for the InterGalactic Medicine Show
James Bradley for The Australian
The usual linkstorm ends here. More will follow. In the meantime, you can start your own petition for a Mutt and Jeff vignette spinoff!
Carol Shetler - Mon, 05/29/2017 - 16:45
Wonderful near-future consolidation of a myriad trends and factors. On pages 140 to 142, Robinson gives the most lucid explanation I have ever read about how global warming brings about polar ice cap melting, and sea level rise. I will be 93 in 2060; I fervently pray that by then the majority of the issues that will develop as the polar caps melt will be averted. In the meantime, New York 2140 is one of the books I will add to my permanent SF library.
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Cinexperience
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Food is Culture at Cheese: and the winner is…
Sunday, 22 September 2019 12:00 Hits: 28
Winners of the cooks’ contest announced and numerous initiatives scheduled for international event
Many initiatives have been organized at the international milk and cheese event, to be held in Bra until September 23, as part of the Food is Culture project, promoted by Slow Food in partnership with another four European organisations.
To speak about food is also to tell the stories of the thousand relations it generates. Relations with distant countries, with new homes and with people encountered along the way. What better way to find out more about them than to turn to the veritable Living Books that are the women and men in flesh and blood ready and willing to speak about themselves? Sitting in front of each other every day at Via Audisio 5 in the Slow Food Editore courtyard, at Cheese visitors and migrants from Syria, Somalia, Peru, Haiti and Serbia will have the chance to talk and speak about their culinary traditions and life experiences without barriers. By addressing the issues of migration, identity and interculturalism, this unique meeting will aid greater understanding of diversity and social cohesion.
A contest for Swedish and Italian cooks was announced at the launch in Stockholm of the project’s symbol, an international exhibition dedicated to the Ark of Taste and the protection of biodiversity scheduled to travel to museums throughout Europe. Competitors were asked to contribute to the protection and promotion of gastronomy and culture by elaborating recipes inspired by the European Year of Cultural Heritage and Slow Food’s work to protect biodiversity. The chefs involved came up with recipes using traditional ingredients, placing the priority on Ark of Taste, Slow Food Presidium and migrant products to tell and promote the stories of local producers.
We are delighted to announce that the winner is Lena Flaten of the Flammans Skafferi restaurant in Storlien, Sweden, with her Taco Jämtland, featuring beans, mushrooms and goat’s cheese with a gooseberry sauce. It is thanks to her close relationship with local producers that her dishes are so unique and authentic. In second place comes Gianmarco Annulli of Il Grillo è Buoncantore in Chiusi, Tuscany, with his semifreddo of pappa al pomodoro canestrino, raw killer prawn marinated in lemon verbena and Chiusi Minuta olive oil and Chiana giant garlic cream. His restaurant, a member of the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance, prioritises local producers and sets great store by seasonality, hence his cuisine of traditional fare interpreted with a touch of imagination. Third is Alessandro Giuliani of Il Pino Grande in Puglia. A member of the Chefs’ Alliance, Alessandro raised the profile of his native region with a dish of Gargano goat meat with almond-stuffed dried figs and lampascioni, grape hyacinth bulbs, favoured with honey and grape.
Chef Lena Flaten will have the opportunity to attend a Masterclass in Krakow as part of the program of events to celebrate the city, European Capital of Gastronomic Culture in 2019. For the occasion she will prepare a dinner in partnership with a Polish chef. The three winning recipes will be included in the exhibition and will continue their journey round Europe.
The recipes were evaluated by a jury made up of Rossana Bettinelli of Europa Nostra, Swedish researcher and food expert Martin Ragnar, and two Slow Food experts responsible for the Ark of Taste and Cooks' Alliance projects.
Cheese will also see the official inauguration of The Ark of Taste goes to school, a series of activities which, from October, will teach children to discover their local areas in 30 primary schools in Italy, 10 in Croatia and 10 in Serbia. The schools in question will receive a kit including a story to read in class and a number of fun learning tools. They include a sensory box to guess the identity of food products simply by touching them, a game to understand how many kilometres food products have to travel and what means of transport they have to take to reach our tables, a memory game featuring food heroes, producers cooks and artisans, and sensory fact sheets on how to distinguish all the nuances of flavor contained in an apple. Classes will also choose which food product to nominate for the Ark of Taste to save it from extinction, and to choose a recipe to bring out the best in it. The best recipes will be announced in December and will become part of the travelling exhibition.
The aim of the Food is Culture project is to raise the awareness of European citizens about the importance of their food heritage as a way of expressing their belonging to Europe and having a better understanding of the wealth and uniqueness of European cultural diversity. It is fundamental for all of us to devote more attention to the protection and promotion of our food heritage. Slow Food has been working on this for years, cataloguing products that risk disappearing all over the world on its Ark of Taste.
The Food is Culture is promoted by Slow Food in partnership with Kinookus, Transpond AB, Nova Iskra Creative Hub and Europa Nostra, and is funded by the Creative Europe program with the contribution of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo in Italy. Slow Food wishes to thank Inalpi dairies for the support offered to migrant activities at Cheese 2019.
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MULTIMEDIA ARTWORK GOES TO BELGRADE
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The Food is Culture project is launching a new challenge: After the competitions for coo...
SFCE STAKEHOLDERS MEETING
On Wednesday, 18 September, at the premises of the City of Dubrovnik Development Agency ...
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10th Kinookus FFF
10th Kinookus FFF from 27 to 30 June in Ston! ...
TOWARDS THE MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITION
On the 7th, 8th and 9th of May, the Dubrovnik Natural History Museum hosted a lecture an...
ART WORK PRESENTED IN STOCKHOLM
The artwork What you didn’t know existed. Endangered food from around th...
SFCE PROJECT MEETING IN BRNO
Slow Food Central Europe project meeting took place on March 6 and 7 2019 in Brno, Check...
THE SECOND TRAINING WITHIN SFCE
Within the framework of the project Slow Food Central Europe: culture, heritage, id...
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Tag Archives: Glen Casada
Casada, Sargent deny Durham kiss and hug claims
Ousted Rep. Jeremy Durham tells WSMV=TV that two prominent Republican legislators have hugged or kissed women at the Legislative Plaza. He also declared that another lawmaker who voted to remove him from office has smoked marijuana at the state Capitol and several others have consumed alcohol at legislative offices.
Durham did not name the individual he alleged smoked marijuana, but he did identify others for different claims.
“Charles Sargent, that’s who I’m talking about,” Durham said. “I’ve watched him kiss women on the mouth in Legislative Plaza. But I can’t even, like, send a remotely flirtatious text message.”
In July, the Attorney General released a report that accuses Durham of sexually harassing 22 women at the Legislature. The investigation also alleged Durham had sex with a college student in his office after providing her alcohol.
Durham denies he had sex or even made sexual contact with the women interviewed in the report.
Instead, he’s raising questions about his former colleagues.
“You know, the Glen Casada, the Charles Sargent, like let’s all hang out and hug on women,” Durham said. “That’s the ones that are in power.”
So is any of this actually true?
On Thursday Rep. Charles Sargent, R-Franklin, denied kissing women on the mouth at the legislature, only acknowledging the occasional hug or peck on the cheek if he knows the person.
“I don’t know where this young man is coming from,” Sargent said in a phone interview. “I feel sorry for him. We have a young man whose life is falling apart.”
Rep. Glen Casada, R-Thompson’s Station, echoed those statements.
“I understand he’s hurting and he’s angry. I wish the best for him,” Casada said in a phone interview.
He added: “I hug women at church. I hug women at the Capitol. I hug men. I think hugging is proper, if done correctly,” Casada said.
But Durham didn’t stop there. He named lawmakers who he said regularly drink in their office.
Those men did not return calls from Channel 4. But even Durham admits, he too drank on state property.
“I have drank in my office before,” Durham said. “I did keep alcohol in my refrigerator, I did.”
When asked if she would look into these claims, Speaker Beth Harwell stated, “Jeremy has again called 22 victims liars, and he has no credibility. Beyond that, I have no additional comment.”
This entry was posted in Ethics, Legislature, women and tagged ethics, Glen Casada, Jeremy Durham, legislators, scandals, sex, women on September 16, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Special ouster session way short on signatures
The idea of calling a special session of the Legislature to consider ouster of state Rep. Jeremy Durham — and possibly Rep. Joe Armstrong — appears to be losing steam.
As of Friday, only four nine of the necessary 66 state House members had signed either of two submitted petitions. One by House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick of Chattanooga, calls for expelling Durham, R-Franklin, and the other by House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, calls for ousting both Durham and Armstrong, D-Knoxville.
Durham has been accused in an investigative report by state Attorney General Herbert Slatery of sexually harassing 22 women legislative staffers, lobbyists and interns. Armstrong goes on trial Tuesday on federal tax evasion charges that prosecutors contend involve profits from a cigarette tax increase he supported as a lawmaker.
Casada said in a telephone interview Sunday that he was a bit surprised at the scant signatures so far and will confer “mid-week” with House Speaker Beth Harwell to consider the possibility of extending the deadline for signing the petitions that is currently set for Friday.
But he also said that, should the signature drive fall short, he would accept that decision as “what the majority wants.” Continue reading →
This entry was posted in Ethics, Joe Armstrong, Legislature, scandals and tagged Glen Casada, Jeremy Durham, Joe Armstrong, legislature, scandals on August 1, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Casada: Campaign finance texts warrant Durham’s resignation
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, who declined to join other GOP leaders in calling for Rep. Jeremy Durham’s resignation over sexual harassment allegations, says things are different in allegations he violated campaign finance laws, reports The Tennessean.
Casada cites text messages from Durham to Benton Smith, a former legislative assistant, campaign worker for Durham as well as an employee of Durham’s company, Battleground Title and Escrow. The messages indicate Durham transferred money from his campaign account to the company.
Casada said there is a clear difference between the text messages involving Durham and Smith and the harassment allegations Durham is facing.
“This is empirical, this is measurable, it’s his own words indicting him, where the harassment charges were she said this and he said this,” Casada said. “There was nothing to show who was right or who was wrong. It was rumors, hearsay, that kind of thing. This is Jeremy’s own words saying ‘Do this, take money out of my campaign account and put it in my business account.’ ”
…Casada’s comments come one day after the state registry of election finance board voted to audit and investigate Durham’s campaign finances dating back to 2014. The board plans to issue subpoenas for Durham’s personal bank accounts, his campaign accounts and his business bank accounts.
In a Thursday morning email to The Tennessean, Durham declined to say whether he planned to resign if the latest allegations were deemed credible.
“I think we should let the process run its course and stop rushing to convict people in the media before they have the opportunity to address the situation in a legitimate forum,” he said.
“Nothing illegal or unethical was done and I’ll be happy to fully cooperate and present any relevant information to the panel of people tasked with reviewing campaign finance matters. To suggest taking any action before that point seems premature.”
On Wednesday, Durham called Smith a “disgruntled former employee.”
This entry was posted in campaign finance, Ethics, legislative campaigns, Legislature, Uncategorized and tagged campaigh finance, ethics, Glen Casada, Jeremy Durham on June 10, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Durham reelection backed by Casada, Johnson
From a Tennessean story:
Rep. Jeremy Durham may no longer be a member of the House Republican Caucus nor have an office in the Capitol building, be a “continuing risk to unsuspecting women” and the subject of an ongoing investigation by the state’s attorney general but that doesn’t mean he’s not receiving support from his fellow Republican colleagues.
When Durham, R-Franklin, officially kicked off his campaign Tuesday, Sen. Jack Johnson and Rep. Glen Casada, both of Franklin, were among the supporters who gathered at Lillie Belle’s in downtown Franklin.
On Friday, Casada said he attended the event because of the fact that he’s the chairman of the House Republican Caucus and part of his job includes supporting “all the incumbents.”
“It’s my duty to come to their fundraisers and go to their events and be there,” he said. The move comes despite the fact that Durham is no longer a member of the Republican caucus — a fact which Casada admits has created a different situation than he’s ever faced.
“This is new ground for me,” said Casada, who earlier this week acknowledged that he accidentally left Durham on the caucus’ email list for months.
When asked if he plans on endorsing Durham, who is facing challengers in both the August primary and November general election, Casada avoided using the word but reminded The Tennessean that both he and Durham are Republicans. (Note: Durham has two opponents in the August GOP primary, Stacey L. Givens of Fairview and Sam Whitson of Franklin.)
…Johnson said he didn’t donate to Durham during this week’s event and was uncertain whether or not he will write him a check in the future. But that doesn’t mean Johnson is shying away from Durham, who he said hasn’t asked him for money.
“He’s a friend and he asked me to come to his event,” Johnson said.
…Rep. Charles Sargent, also of Franklin, said he did not attend Durham’s campaign kickoff because he had a prior engagement. When asked if he would offer any support to his colleague, Sargent said he was focused on his own race. Sargent is being challenged by Steve Gawrys and Terrence Smith in the August primary.
This entry was posted in legislative campaigns and tagged Glen Casada, Jeremy Durham, legislative campaigns on May 28, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Casada shelves push for special bathroom session; Haslam vows to help sued systems
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada is putting his push for a special legisslative session on transgender bathrooms on hold, reports WPLN. He says it looks like there’s no longer a need for lawmakers to weigh in.
Casada started the petition to hold a special meeting. He did it after the Obama administration told school districts they’d be running afoul of federal anti-discrimination rules if they don’t let transgender students use the facilities of their gender identity.
Casada worries Tennessee districts will be sued, and he wanted to compel the state’s attorney general, Herbert Slatery, to defend them.
But now Slatery has told Republican leaders he’ll take the case, which is good enough for Casada. He says the only reason to hold a special session was to protect Tennessee school districts from a directive he sees as unconstitutional.
That’s being met in Sumner County, Casada says, and “it’s safe to assume that if you’re helping one county, you would help others that got sued.”
Special sessions are usually called by Tennessee governors, often to deal with major legislation. But state lawmakers have managed to do it only twice — in 1971 to give 18 year olds the right to vote and in 1982 to meet at the World’s Fair in Knoxville.
…Casada says the petition won’t be thrown out. He plans to keep it on file, just in case interest in the session bubbles up again.
Gov. Bill Haslam, who has been decidedly cool on a special bathroom session, tells WKRN that he stands ready to fully support any local school system that gets into legal troubles over transgender restroom policies:
“If they get sued I think that we the state will jump in to help those local school boards, because it should be their decision,” he told News 2 after a stop at the American Legion Boys State in Cookeville.
Casada said Slatery’s office indicated to Lt. Governor Ramsey that it would defend Sumner County Schools against an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) complaint filed last week for lack of a transgender bathroom/locker room policy.
“I really applaud the attorney general for stepping up and defending Sumner County and it’s given a lot of members comfort,” Rep. Casada told News 2. “We would love to see the attorney general say I am going to defend any school over this unconstitutional DOJ directive.”
The governor believes that would happen for any school district facing legal challenges over transgender student polices.
“My full intention would be for the state to help them in every way that we can if they are sued,” added the governor.
This entry was posted in Bill Haslam, Legislature, sexual orientation and tagged Bill Haslam, Glen Casada, legislature, sexual orientation on May 25, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Casada suggests special legislative session on transgender bathrooms
House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada has raised the possibility of a special legislative session to consider taking action against President Obama’s transgender bathroom directive, reports The Tennessean. Casada sent a survey to fellow House Republicans Tuesday asking whether they would favor the idea.
Casada, R-Franklin, said the directive, announced by the Obama administration on Friday, concerned him because he believes it is unconstitutional.
“I want our school systems to know that they can tell the (American Civil Liberties Union), who would bring lawsuits, or the Department of Justice that the state of Tennessee is going to stand with them,” he said, pointing out that he was not speaking on behalf of the Republican caucus.
Two hours after Casada sent out the survey, he said, 16 out of the 22 respondents were supportive of holding a special session. Five members were “a flat no” and one was undecided, he said.
It would take two-thirds of members in both chambers — 66 in the House and 22 in the Senate — to call for a special session. Republicans hold 73 seats in the House and 28 in the Senate.
Adam Kleinheider, a spokesman for Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, said he is not aware of any effort in the Senate to survey members about the prospect of a special session, which Casada admitted would be unnecessary if Slatery publicly expressed plans to oppose the directive.
…Also on Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Butt, R-Columbia, began circulating an online petition asking Tennesseans to sign onto a letter she plans to send to Haslam on the issue.
This entry was posted in Legislature, President Obama, sexual orientation and tagged Glen Casada, legislature, Obama, sexual orientation on May 18, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
TN Republicans moving to accept Trump as presidential nominee
With some misgivings, prominent Tennessee supporters of Ted Cruz are ready to support Donald Trump for president now that the Texas senator has suspended his campaign, reports The Tennessean.
Tennessee House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, who voted for Cruz in the state’s March primary, said he will ultimately back Trump in the November election, even though he didn’t see eye to eye with the New York businessman.
“I’m just not convinced he’s an intellectual conservative,” Casada, R-Franklin, said Tuesday night about Trump… Nonetheless, Casada said in a race pitting Trump against Clinton, there’s no question as to whom he will support.
…Steve Gill, a former conservative radio talk show host from Brentwood and a Cruz Tennessee delegate, called Cruz’s exit from the race disappointing but commended the senator for recognizing the political reality he faced.
Gill indicated he would eventually rally behind Trump, but said the repeated personal attacks from Trump against Cruz could make it difficult for some Cruz loyalists to get energized behind the presumptive nominee.
…State Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, also backed Cruz and said he was disappointed but will support the eventual GOP nominee.
“It’s pretty clear, though, the American people and the people of Tennessee believe that Donald Trump can best go to Washington, D.C., and reverse the downward spiral caused by both parties,” Green said. “He just seems to change people and clearly we need a fresh start.”
…Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, said she was surprised by Cruz’s decision to drop out of the race, but respects his decision.
“Donald Trump was not my first choice, but if he is our nominee, I will support him,” Harwell said.
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville, said the choice is now clear.
“Hillary Clinton must be stopped and Donald Trump can stop her,” Ramsey said in a statement. “Trump has given voice to frustrated and alienated voters who had all but given up on the political process. He is building a coalition that can defeat Hillary Clinton and make America great again — but only if all Republicans and conservatives unite with him.”
This entry was posted in presidential campaign and tagged Beth Harwell, Glen Casada, presidential campaign, Ron Ramsey on May 4, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
On playing partisan games as legislature winds down
A sequence of partisan bickering events last week led to the apparent death in the House — barring a last-minute change of heart by Republican representatives as the Legislature moves to adjourn this week — of a Senate-passed bill (SB2149) allowing indigent people convicted of driving with a suspended license to pay their court costs and fines through community service rather than cash, subject to local approval.
The bill is sponsored by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart of Nashville, who has played a pivotal role in pushing Democratic amendments to various Republican-sponsored bills that reached the House floor — almost always voted down by the supermajority.
Here’s a rundown on last week’s events, which began with a noncontroversial bill (HB2009) sponsored by Rep. Shelia Butt, R-Columbia, that changes the wording of some education-related statutes:
This entry was posted in Democrats, Legislature, partisan fighting, Republicans and tagged Bill Dunn, Glen Casada, legislature, mike stewart, partisanship on April 18, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Casada moves to ban public release police body camera recordings
Legislation birthed and given quick initial approval by a state House panel last week would prohibit public disclosure of most body camera recordings made by Tennessee law enforcement officers for at least a year — and potentially keep video of police misconduct under wraps for even longer.
The move has drawn protests from open government advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union. The bill’s sponsor, House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada of Franklin, said he is not happy with the measure himself and will go “back to the drawing board” to negotiate over revisions in coming days.
As approved by the House State Government Subcommittee, the measure, HB876, would declare a general one-year “moratorium” on public disclosure of any police body camera footage, starting on July 1.
The measure allows public release of recordings that involve an officer’s violation of a law enforcement agency’s administrative policy or “alleged use of unlawful or unnecessary force in violation of state law or the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States” — but only after completion of “any investigation” into the individual case as well as completion of any trial or disciplinary proceeding involving the recording — which would take months at minimum and more likely years.
This entry was posted in law enforcement, Legislature, local government, open government and tagged Glen Casada, law enforcement, legislature, open government on March 27, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
Casada, Sargent favor school funding lawsuit
Responding to a question from Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney, House Republican Caucus Chairman Glenn Casada and House Finance Chairman Charles Sargent both said they think another lawsuit is warranted against Tennessee’s school funding process, according to The Tennessean.
Looney said that he was concerned about state education funding, particularly in light of Williamson County Schools’ rapid growth, which is projected to continue. Next year, he said, the district is slated to grow by more than 1,800 students.
Sargent responded that because he believes Williamson schools get back a relatively small portion of the tax dollars the county sends to the state under the current formula, “Yes, I do think at some point in time Williamson County is going to have to look at suing the state.”
He added that, “I usually wouldn’t say that, but with the way the formula works … several districts are in the same boat we are.”
Casada, meanwhile, said that litigation could be a solution in the absence of a funding formula that is, as he put it, “simple, that’s understandable and that’s fair.”
“The problem we have in Tennessee is that this formula we have called BEP is so complicated and so convoluted that every school district in the state has standing to sue because they’re not getting what they should be,” he said.
Note: Separate lawsuits over BEP funding have already been filed by six Southeastern Tennessee school districts and by the Shelby County school system.
This entry was posted in education, Legislature and tagged education, Glen Casada, lawsuits, legislature on February 17, 2016 by Tom Humphrey.
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208 results total, viewing 1 - 10
A teacher at Cornwell Avenue Elementary School in West Hempstead for 33 years, Desiree Karroll still hungers for knowledge. Karroll recently became one of 97 teachers in the state to earn national … more
By Nakeem Grant | 1/16/20
Suicide prevention workshop held for parents in West Hempstead
Instructors from the Lutheran Counseling Center in Mineola and parents at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in West Hempstead agreed that the hardest part of addressing suicide is speaking to their … more
Nearby things to do this week in Malverne, West Hempstead
Afternoon movie in West Hempstead The West Hempstead Public Library will feature the 2019 film “Downton Abbey” on Sunday, Jan. 19, at 2 p.m. The film follows the continuing story of … more
Remembering a Malverne hero
Jan. 10 marked three years since Malvernite and NYPD Detective Steven McDonald died at the age of 59. Family members of McDonald, along with members of the Malverne Police Department, the NYPD and … more
Rabbis, elected officials speak out on recent anti-Semitic incidents
There have been 13 anti-Semitic incidents in New York since Dec. 8. On that Sunday, a Queens man verbally abused and physically threatened three Jewish people in the North Lawrence Costco, including … more
By Jeff Bessen and Nakeem Grant | 1/9/20
West Hempstead Water District receives grant for improvements
The West Hempstead Water District is among several municipalities that will receive state aid for infrastructure projects that aim to improve water quality. West Hempstead has received more than … more
By Nakeem Grant | 1/9/20
West Hempstead native revisits his acting, music career
West Hempstead native Tyron Glascoe had dreamed about becoming a singer since grade school. He got a taste of that dream as a 14-year-old in 2005, when he won a singing competition by performing … more
Malverne School District's MLK honorees announced
Students throughout the Malverne School District will take part in a special celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 16, at 7 p.m., in the Howard T. Herber Middle School … more
Monday Matinee Movie The Malverne Public Library will feature the 2018 comedy, “Dog Days,” for its Monday Matinee Movie on Monday, Jan. 13, from 2 to 3:45 p.m. The film is a satisfying … more
Laura Gillen: ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’
When Laura Gillen refused to concede in the race for her re-election to the highest seat in the Town of Hempstead, few were surprised. Much like her first term as supervisor, Gillen, a Democrat from … more
By Alyssa Seidman | 1/9/20
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Malverne, Franklin Square doctor indicted on opioid charges
Laura Osnes and Tony Yazbeck hit all the right notes
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Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO)
Social/political movements
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1. ODM - Orange Democratic Movement, Kenya
"The ODM is a national and popular democratic movement which aims to form a government that will build a democratic society and provide a better and dignified life." ODM was formed as a result of the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum. It is headed by Raila Odinga. [according to site editor's information; editors ilissAfrica]
www.odm.co.ke/
2. Nairobi Peace Initiative Africa (NPI-A)
NPI-Africa is a pan African resource organization committed to the promotion of peaceful transformation of conflict and reconciliation in Africa. NPI-Africa is firmly positioned in a 'mediative' posture between grassroots engagement and policy discourse. It exists to contribute to the emergence of a peaceful and developing Africa, through initiating and facilitating processes of conflict transformation, peacebuilding and reconciliation; accompanying and building the capacity of individuals, communities and strategic actors; and carrying out research and informing policy. ... [according to site editor's information]
www.npi-africa.org
3. Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC)
ARSRC, established in 2003, is part of a Ford Foundation five-year grant-making initiative, "Global Dialogue of Sexual Health and Well Being" aimed at giving visibility, depth and legitimacy to the field of sexuality. The goal of the ARSRC is to promote more informed and affirming public dialogue on human sexuality and to contribute to positive changes in the emerging field of sexuality in Africa, by creating mechanisms for learning at the regional level. Activities under the initiative will focus on four of the most populous countries in Africa: Egypt (North Africa), Kenya (East Africa), Nigeria (West Africa) and South Africa (Southern Africa). ... [according to site editor's information]
www.arsrc.org
4. Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods and Food Security (IFPRI-RENEWAL)
RENEWAL is a growing regional network-of-networks facilitated by IFPRI. Currently active in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia, RENEWAL comprises national networks of food- and nutrition-relevant organizations (public, private, and nongovernmental) together with partners in AIDS and public health. RENEWAL aims to enhance understanding of the worsening interactions between HIV/AIDS and food and nutrition security and to facilitate a comprehensive response to these interactions. The core pillars are locally prioritized action research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications. RENEWAL is operated on the idea that the process of developing networks is both a means and an end. Impact can be enhanced and sustained when locally prioritized research is linked with capacity strengthening and policy communications. ... [according to site editor's information; editors ilissAfrica]
programs.ifpri.org/renewal/index.htm
5. Peace and Development Network Trust (PeaceNet Kenya)
PeaceNet Kenya is a national umbrella body of NGOs, organisations and individuals supporting human rights, peace and reconciliation, justice and conflict resolution in Kenya. It was founded by three organizations namely, Oxfam Great Britain (GB), the Mennonite Central Committee and the Anglican Development Desk. ... [according to site editor's information]
www.peacenetkenya.or.ke
6. Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Kenya
The IEA is a civic forum that seeks to promote pluralism of ideas through open, active and informed debate on public policy issues. The IEA is independent of political parties, pressure groups, lobbies and any other partisan interests. Its mission is to facilitate the review of policy and public affairs by Kenyans in order to inform decision making processes. ... [according to site editor's information]
www.ieakenya.or.ke
7. Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRE-CO) Kenya
CRE-CO is a network of like-minded Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Democracy, Governance and Human Rights sector. It is committed to a coordinated facilitation of communities to effectively and meaningfully participate in processes that safeguard constitutionalism and the rule of law. [according to site editor's information]
www.crecokenya.org
8. Citizen Coalition for Constitutional Culture (4C'S)
4Cs Trust is a national organization in popular constitutional reform, democratic constitutional governance and the rule of law. 4Cs involves the community in all its programmes to create clear systems of governance and information accessibility through open source system. [according to site editor's information]
4cskenyatuitakayo.info/
9. Kenya Scouts Association
The mission of the Kenya Scouts Association is to educate young people to play a constructive role in society. It partners with various Government institutions and national and international NGOs. [according to site editor's information; editors ilissAfrica]
www.kenyascouts.org
10. PAMLO - Pan-African Mentoring and Learning Organization
PAMLO, the Pan-African Mentoring and Learning Organization, is a nonprofit organization that specializes in advising educational institutions and communities on how to improve academic performance, how to access educational materials, how to motivate learners and teachers, how to encourage entrepreneurship among school-leavers and graduates, and on how to build local and global partnerships. For the moment, PAMLO's main working fields are Kenya and South Africa. [according to site editor's information] ... [supplemented]
www.pamlo.org
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Back to "Audio CD Box Sets"
RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE DETECTIVE Volume 1
OLD TIME RADIO - 12 AUDIO CD - 24 Shows - Total Playtime 11:48:04
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is a detective drama which was on radio from 1949 to 1953 and on television from 1957 to 1960.
Dick Powell starred in the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series as a rather light-hearted detective who often ended the episodes singing to his girlfriend, Helen (Virginia Gregg). It began airing on NBC on April 24, 1949, picked up Rexall as a sponsor on April 5, 1950, and continued until December 6, 1950. The shows were written by Blake Edwards. Its theme, "Leave It to Love", was whistled by Powell at the beginning of each episode.
With Camel cigarettes as a sponsor, it moved to ABC from January 5, 1951, to June 29, 1951, with Rexall returning for a run from October 5, 1951, until June 27, 1952.
Substituting for Amos 'n' Andy, it aired Sunday evenings on CBS from May 31, 1953 until September 20, 1953.
Because Dick Powell was known for musical comedies prior to his appearance as Philip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler's Murder, My Sweet (1944) and because he was a detective who sang in Richard Diamond, Private Eye, some regard this radio series as an influence on the character of Philip E. Marlow (Michael Gambon) in Dennis Potter's Chandleresque The Singing Detective (1986).
Powell's company, Four Star Television, produced the TV series, which premiered on CBS but was later telecast for its last year on NBC. David Janssen starred as Diamond, a hard-boiled private detective in the film noir tradition. His secretary, Sam, was shown only from the waist down to display her beautiful legs. Initially, these were the legs of Mary Tyler Moore, but later, the legs of other actresses were seen. Russ Conway appeared occasionally as Lieutenant Pete Kile during the final season. At one point during the three-year run, the show's setting was moved from New York City to Los Angeles.
Original music by Frank De Vol included the theme for the first and second seasons. The third season featured a jazz score by Pete Rugolo, including a new theme. The final theme was by Richard Shores.
Guest stars included Chris Alcaide, Francis De Sales, Don Keefer, and Joyce Meadows.
Syndicated repeats of the series were re-titled Call Mr. D.
THESE ARE REGULAR AUDIO CD
CAN BE PLAYED IN ANY CD PLAYER, DVD PLAYER OR COMPUTERS
THIS COLLECTION WILL BE DELIVERED IN A BOX SET WITH ART WORK
Richard Diamond 49 05 15 Ralph Chase Case
Richard Diamond 49 05 22 The Stolen Purse
Richard Diamond 49 05 29 The Betty Moran Case
Richard Diamond 49 06 19 Fred Sears Murder Case
Richard Diamond 49 06 26 The Tom Waxman Bombing Case
Richard Diamond 49 07 02 The Bloody Hat Case
Richard Diamond 49 07 09 Charles Walsh, Bob Wells
Richard Diamond 49 07 16 The Man Who Hated Women
Richard Diamond 49 07 23 The Martin Hyer Case
Richard Diamond 49 08 06 The Lynn Knight Case
Richard Diamond 49 08 20 The Jean Cooper Murder Case
Richard Diamond 49 08 27 The Eddie Garrett Case
Richard Diamond 49 09 03 The Harry Baker Case
Richard Diamond 49 09 10 The Van Dyke Seance Case
Richard Diamond 49 09 17 The Jerome J Jerome Case
Richard Diamond 49 09 24 The 200000 Dollar Bundle
Richard Diamond 49 10 08 Gibson Murder Case
Richard Diamond 49 10 15 The Bogus Bills Case
Richard Diamond 49 10 22 Rene Bennet Protection Case
Richard Diamond 49 10 29 Bill Kirby Murder Case
Richard Diamond 49 11 05 The Singing Critic
Richard Diamond 49 11 12 50000 Dollar Diamond Heist
Richard Diamond 49 11 19 The Jacoby Case
Richard Diamond 49 11 26 William Carter Loses Memory
OTR-12CDA-RichardDiamond
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ACC summons Mahi, wife over wealth information
STAFF REPORTER, Dhaka
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday summoned lawmaker Mahi B Chowdhury and his wife Ashfa Haque Lopa for interrogation over their alleged involvement in money laundering and for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
ACC deputy director Jalal Uddin Ahmed sent two separate letters, asking them to appear before the anti-graft body at its Segunbagicha headquarters at 10am on August 7 to explain their position over their alleged involvement in money laundering.
According to the letter, Mahi B Chowdhury, joint secretary-general of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, have allegedly laundered money to the US and amassed wealth beyond known sources of income. Mahi B Chowdhury and his wife Ashfa Haq were accused of obtaining known income extraction assets through money laundering in the US, the notice said.
The notices were sent to House No. 19, Road No. 12, Baridhara, Gulshan, Dhaka.
The ACC sources said that the commission launched the investigation against the duo from June and found that they allegedly laundered money to the US and amassed wealth beyond their known sources of income.
Mahi B Chowdhury is currently the joint secretary-general of the party Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB). He is the son of a former president of Bangladesh, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday summoned lawmaker Mahi B Chowdhury and his wife Ashfa Haque Lopa for interrogation over their alleged involvement in money laundering and for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income. ACC deputy director Jalal Uddin Ahmed sent two separate letters, asking them to appear before the anti-graft body at its Segunbagicha headquarters at 10am on August 7 to explain their position over their alleged involvement in money laundering. According to the letter, Mahi B Chowdhury, joint secretary-general of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, have allegedly laundered money to the US and amassed wealth beyond known sources of income. Mahi B Chowdhury and his wife Ashfa Haq were accused of obtaining known income extraction assets through money laundering in the US, the notice said. The notices were sent to House No. 19, Road No. 12, Baridhara, Gulshan, Dhaka. The ACC sources said that the commission launched the investigation against the duo from June and found that they allegedly laundered money to the US and amassed wealth beyond their known sources of income. Mahi B Chowdhury is currently the joint secretary-general of the party Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB). He is the son of a former president of Bangladesh, AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury. SI
Raushon chief patron, Quader remains chairman
Govt won’t interfere in Dhaka city polls: Quader
BNP now in quicksand, quips Quader
BNP to stage demo in city Tuesday as it fails to hold rally
Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said BNP is the most failed opposition party in the history of Bangladesh’s politics. “BNP is the most failed opposition party…
Mass wave in favour of ‘Sheaf of Paddy’: Fakhrul
10 sentenced to death in CPB bomb blast case
Aspirants hot on campaign trail
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BNP observes Zia’s birth anniv; vows to ‘reinstate’ democracy
Lofty promises made to woo voters
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RACIST White Off-Duty Detective Being Arrested For DUI Calls Black Arresting Officers N***ers
Joe Clark
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In Hartford, Connecticut, a virulent racist white police detective is under accused of driving under the influence was caught on camera calling the arresting officers n***ers as they took him into custody.
11-year Hartford PD veteran Det. Robert Lanza was stopped last month in Plainville, Connecticut following reports of a vehicle driving erratically.
According to officers from nearby Bristol, they observed a Honda Accord on Route 72 “swerving and weaving all of the road, crossing over the fog line and almost hitting guardrails several times.”
After they pulled him over, officers described Lanza’s condition as appearing “extremely intoxicated.” They also said the off-duty officer failed several field sobriety tests while physically resisting the arresting officers.
According to Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley, during his arrest, Lanza launched vicious racial slurs at the African-American officers that were “captured on audio and video,” by their body and dashboard cameras. However, police have yet to release footage of the incident.
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said in a statement following the incident, that Lanza’s actions “appears to have fallen short” of Hartford PD’s standards.
“I am deeply troubled by his use of racial and ethnic slurs during this incident, which is not only offensive and unacceptable, but also undermines the tremendous work our police do every day to build a true partnership with our Hartford community based on trust and respect,” Bronin said. “I commend Chief Rovella for immediately initiating an internal investigation, and for the Department’s ongoing commitment to transparency and accountability.”
In a letter sent to community leaders, Foley said that Lanza’s language “will be specifically addressed in our administrative investigation and outcome.”
“Fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve been in a position to see how other departments have handled these type of incidents poorly with their community,” Foley told the Courant. “Transparency and accountably are the pillars of our community outreach philosophy here in Hartford.”
Of course, we can expect the department to vigorously deny that there’s any systematic racism within their department and chalk this up to “one bad egg.”
But as we’ve seen in countless similar cases, Lanza’s attitude is anything but uncommon in most police departments who’ve been trained to view criminality as being exclusive to certain races.
Over the years, cops across the U.S. have been exposed as members of white supremacist organizations. In 2006, the FBI issued a report warning of white supremacists infiltrating local and state law enforcement agencies.
“At least one white supremacist group has reportedly encouraged ghost skins to seek positions in law enforcement for the capability of alerting skinhead crews of pending investigative action against them,” the report read.
However, Republicans still claim groups like Black Lives Matter, who decide to organize and protest against this disease, are the real “thugs” and that they exaggerate the problem.
Meanwhile, there are thousands of people like Lanza scattered throughout the Criminal Justice System who determine the fates of millions of minorities every day.
Featured image via YouTube.
Source Credit: Courant and PBS
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View source for 2019-08-30 - A New Rookie
← 2019-08-30 - A New Rookie
{{Logsummary| Title = A New Rookie |Summary = Leon comes across the Usual Restaurant, where he manages to strike up a conversation with the Chief of Police. |Who = [[Leon Kennedy]], [[Rayne]], [[MoonShadow]] |Date = August 30th, 2019 |Where = [[The Usual Restaurant]] |Log= Rayne is there. At the bar. Head down with her hand clutching a drink beside her head. As usual. As he comes in having Finally taken care of what he believes is that foul odor that has clung to him which involved yet another four hour shower and a scalp tight buzz, Leon comes into the usual almost positive he is free of it. Still till he meets Sarra again he can't be sure. Looking around the Rookie Police officer concerned for the girl with her head down slowly approaches her asking, "Miss, Are you alright?" he asks softly not wanting to startle her. It takes a moment for Rayne to realize she's the one being addressed and she slowly lifts her head to look at the unfamiliar man, blinking blearily. "...Did I fall asleep at the Usual again? Damnit, I need to lighten my workload somehow." As he looks at her and smiles softly. "Ah yeah Work, I can understand how THAT can cause you to just collapse." Once Leon was scrubbed clean that's what he did after his arrival. Rayne grumbles and nods, then looks at the drink in her hand. She's not been out ''too'' long. There's still ice in her tea. Well, not for long as she downs the remains quickly. "You have ''no'' idea," she monotones, then sighs and nearly drops her head to the bar again. Leon smiles and says, "Well after the first day on the Job for me, I think any other day would be relaxing. Leon Kennedy." he says offering his hand in greeting. He does have his Raccoon City Police badge on his belt, more out of a desire to have a memento of surviving that hell. Rayne looks back to Leon with just a tired look. "Rayne Hurris," she says, and eyes the badge on the man's belt. Not one she recognizes. Not that she's capable of recognizing that many police badges other than MCPD's. "First day on a job? You must be new around here, I'm guessing. You get used to the strangeness of the place." Leon S. Kennedy says, "Yeah was suppose to start my job on the Raccoon Police Force a week or so ago, Got a call to stay away, after a week of no contact I headed into down find out it's infested with zombies and other horrors." he says "After escaping ended up here."" Leon S. Kennedy says, "Not how I imagined my first day ending up." Rayne asks, "Run into any zombies and other horrors yet here? Though keep in mind, some of the 'horrors' here are just people. I used to work with a sentient cuttlefish." There's a glance away and a sad look before she shakes her head perhaps a bit too violently, then says, "Ah, so you're even newer than I thought, then." Leon S. Kennedy think, "Yes a Doctor Johann took me to the hospital to get a decontamination shower, clean clothes and shower. Prior to that I met a... talking Cyan Pegasus about the size of a Pony. And at the hospital I met a few other...What is the proper term here for non humans?" he says not wanting to sound racist at all. Rayne raises an eyebrow. "There's not an official term. You refer to them what they are. Or at least in an understandable manner... I mean, I could have called Ren a Fsst, but you'd not have a clue what I meant so I said cuttlefish." Leon S. Kennedy nods as he offers a smile and says, "Yes I can understand that. I have a lot of learning to do it seems. I was hoping to eventually Join the Local Police department. At least until I get back to my own dimension to take Umbrella down." he says. "They created the Virus that turned the City into Zombies." Rayne raises an eyebrow at the mention of joining the police department, then reaches into a pocket sown into her tunic. She pulls out what looks very much to be a police badge. If Leon has seen a local police badge yet, this one stands out as the eagle at the top is red instead of just being the same as the rest of the badge. But even if he's not seen one, something might still stand out on the badge to him. The number on the badge: 1. "Okay, you've gotten my attention. Hopefully it's not ''bad'' attention." As he watches her pull out the Badge he thinks and says. "Well while I am not a professional Hacker I was able to Extract from the Umbrella Facility several hard drives with hard data and proof of the Viral weapons that Umbrella was creating, Including partial formulas for the Tyrant and Golgotha Virus, but not the full creation. It also contains the Vaccines for Both the T and G viruses. I also managed to survive as well." Rayne groans and facepalms. "Another hero type," she mumbles. The hardest to keep under control. Why can't anyone show up that was just a beat cop? "Well, if I was looking for a ''spy'' that would be great. How well trained are you in handling domestic disputes and noise complaints?" she asks as she puts her badge away again. Stepping into the usual is a woman in her mid thirties, three large gray wolves following behind her. Leon S. Kennedy says, "Hey I didn't show up there looking to be a hero, I thought it was just a phone line outage. I didn't expect to be thrust into a life or death survival situation. I was trained as per standard police procedures, including on Domestic and Noise issues. I scored relatively high. I was going to be a patrol officer." Leon S. Kennedy goes into detail of his training which seems pretty standard study of state laws, criminal investigations, patrol procedures, firearms training, traffic control, defensive driving, self-defense, first aid and computer skills. Rayne lets out a mild sigh of relief. "Well, that's sounding a lot better than the last kid that tried to interview for a job as a regular cop." No, she's not going to get into that. The guy that went for a detective job was a lot better. Also, she looks like she's in her late teens and she called someone she interviewed a kid? "I'm going to set you up for an interview with Captain Mike Cosgrove. He's the most veteran beat cop I've got on the force, so he'll sniff you out for how accurate everything you just said was, but it's sounding right to me." Leon S. Kennedy nods and will offer Rayne a card with his contact information handwritten on it. "Here." He doesn't offer an explanation and says. "Thank you. Hope I can pass his inspection." he says and will then turn to Sarra and smile, "Hello Sarra." he offers. Sarra_Moon waves to Leon as she walks over to were the two sit"How are you?" she asks as her three wolves lay at her feet. Rayne glances back to Sarra, then takes another swig of her not-so-iced tea. She eyes the glass, swirls it, then flags down Steve to get her a refill. She's stopped trying to get to know everyone that comes to Twisted over the past few years, by now a bit jaded. Leon S. Kennedy says, "Better hopefully I finally got rid of the smell on me." he mentions Sarra knows he was slogging around in the Sewers from her nose. Which is why he has a Buzz cut to the scalp it seems. "Hopefully will have a Job in a few weeks." Sarra_Moon smiles "You do smell better now" She says as she takes a seat. Leon S. Kennedy nods and sighs as he will relax and once more order some food now that he knows for a fact he is genuinely clean he'll order a meal once more, Steak, eggs, hash Browns, toast and a whiskey sour. Light on the Whiskey. Rayne looks back with a raised eyebrow at the mention of the bad smells. "...Do I even want to know what's up with the smell you had?" Leon S. Kennedy says, "Not unless you wanna Risk loosing your lunch." Rayne pauses a moment, then looks away again and says, "Yeah, I'm not that curious," before she takes a long drink from her now refreshed iced tea. Leon S. Kennedy doesn't want to remember it himself as he knows what he does smell is psychosomatic. But he will finally look to the three wolves asking, "So Do they have names?" he asks of the wolves. Sarra_Moon shakes her head, it was pretty bad, but my nose is more sensitive then a humans so..." Sarra_Moon says, " softpaws, swiftrunner and ghost" she smiles Leon S. Kennedy nods as he offers a smile, "They are beautiful." he says he has only ever seen wolves in the Zoo or photos or videos but he does enjoy wildlife. And as his food comes he asks, "Anything you want to talk about Ms. Hurris" he asks of Rayne not having caught her last name he doesn't think. Rayne glances back. "Huh? Oh... not really. Nothing in particular. I've already had enough work talk considering I'm off duty." She's apparently the Chief, as she sounded like she's in charge from the way she was talking, but apparently she's not fond of taking her work home at the end of the day. She's a pretty aloof sort the past year or so, but the new guy is attempting to be friendly. So she decides to try to be friendly as well, and finally she seems to actually make note of Sarra's presence. "Uh, hello there. Rayne Hurris." Sarra_Moon offers her hand "Sarra Moon, its a pleasure" she says as she pets a wolf with the other hand Being Social is important, being friendly can help disarm tense situations. Right now Leon is not too sure of what to talk about but does ask, "So how hard is it here to get residence, I been mostly living out of the Homeless shelter, But that needs to change soon." Rayne glances down a the wolf, but doesn't seem particularly enamored with the fluffer. No, she's a cat lady. "Well, there's always Integra Arms. I'm pretty sure they're collecting data somehow on their residences, but... it's free like the Usual, and you're able to customize your apartment in some weird extradimensional manner?" Leon S. Kennedy says, "Like a Strong 6 foot high three foot by three foot heavy Gunsafe?" Rayne blinks and tilts her head. "...You want to live in a six foot high three foot by three foot gunsafe?" Leon S. Kennedy says, "No When I showed up I had a bunch of weapons I would like to keep them safe and secure." Sarra_Moon looks over at leon "What weapons do you have?" Rayne says, "OH. Well. They only provide basic furniture. It's the space and environment that they provide. Granted, I didn't request a gunsafe, but it sounds like the extra kind of thing they don't do." "Right now, My matilda." Motioning tot he handgun on his hip, "12 gauge, Desert eagle. which is what I carry with me. But I had with me on the train. While they have no ammo, A couple .45 APC Submachine guns. One single shot 88MM anti tank launcher. Several small handguns, A chemical Flamethrower, m79 grenande Launcher, and a 400 round .308 minigun...." Rayne sighs and puts a hand to her forehead as she closes her eyes. "...How did you carry all that?" Leon S. Kennedy says, "a Pair of Duffle bags. And most of that was on the Train engine had an area that was outfitting with an armory." Sarra_Moon says, "Tring to supply an arm?"she laughs as she pets a wolf" Leon S. Kennedy says, "No But after what I went through I do wanna keep them safe." Rayne looks at Leon a bit tiredly, then shakes her head. "Well, I suppose. At least there's not likely to be ammo for them there at... wherever you left them." Leon S. Kennedy says, "yeah I have them Safe for now But no they were depleted of most ammo when we found them. And what was left we really needed." Sarra_Moon nods and turns to Rayne "So were might i find work here?" Rayne shrugs to Sarra. "Well, it depends on what you're looking to do. Though the Welcome Center can help you find something." Leon S. Kennedy getting his food Leon will start eating. |}}
Return to 2019-08-30 - A New Rookie.
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My Senior Gap Year
August 25, 2019 Chris
Australia’s North West Coast In Waiting…?
The contrast couldn’t be greater. The divide stretches along the massive coast line of this north western region of Australia.
On one side of this coastal divide, Sturt’s Desert Pea, found only in the hot arid inland deserts of Australia, provides an iconic symbol of this harsh land.
One the other side, are miles of pristine waters and coastline. Largely untouched due to its relative remoteness, home to an abundance of marine life.
An archipelago of islands off the coast of Dampier forms part of this marine paradise. But will this relatively untouched natural mecca one day see more than the annual convoys of four wheel driving grey nomad adventurers on their yearly pilgrimage to beat the southern winter chill? Perhaps one day its remoteness and extreme summer heat may no longer be enough to preserve its unique character. The view as expressed by one local resident predicts just that….
Mr AhMazing
Australia Burns
Happy New Year….. But Let’s Face It, New Year’s Resolutions Are Dumb!
The Columbian Drug Connection
Why A Road Trip Is Good For The Soul….
Why Going To Church on Saturday Night To See An Opera Is Good for Travel…!
Travel – It’s About Connecting With Locals
How To Be An Adventurous But Safe Traveler
Turning Travel Dreams Into Reality
All From Just A Rumour… Bed Linen Project Update
How Safe Is It For Women Travelers?
The Marie Kondo of Travelling
A Taste of Europe on Two Wheels
Beeeeautiful, Stunning Switzerland
Travelling with your Mobile Phone – You can’t live with it, you can’t live without it.
Canada: Closed For Business – Reopening May 2019
Travelling in style for a fraction of the cost. And how you can too.
The Youthful Art of Midlife Travel
Canadian Roadie: What a difference a day makes.
Gateway to Canadian Roadie
The Land Of The Giants …to the village of tiny people
Why You Need To Take A Senior Gap Year… NOW!
From Waste To Embrace
Join us… Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club: Sunday 3 June, 4pm
My meeting with a xxxologist
Secret Revealed: The “Colourful” Past of The Governor’s Wife.
Funding Your Senior Gap Year
I Couldn’t Believe Me Luck…
Funny How Things Happen
Thank you. It’s been one hell of a journey!
The one thing you can’t help take with you from Myanmar…
The Secret To Life’s Success Revealed In Remote Village
Myanmar. In Search Of Horse Cart 101…
Really. What Were We Thinking?
The Family Vacation. You cant beat ’em…
A Taste of Thailand
You Can’t See It. You Can’t Touch It. But It Can Change Lives.
How I Became An Overnight Millionaire. And I’m not the only one..
The Confessions of a Backpacker …a senior backpacker
Delightful Cambodia
It was every person’s dream. But what happened after would shock you.
“Another champagne?” the waiter asked….
I had her firmly in a headlock. I wasn’t expecting this from my first visit to Columbia.
You’d swear you’re on the moon!
Eat or be Eaten…. The Amazon Jungle.
In search of the hidden treasure….
Our Fascination With Old Stuff
Peru. More than just good looks…
Cuba. A Product Of Two Extremes?
Greetings from Cuba
Special Memories…
The Dreaded AFC Syndrome
I Was Told It Was Too Dangerous. But I Went anyway.
Life Inside A Volcano
North America’s Bali Equivalent
This Place is Hot… In More Ways Than One.
Why is a Belgium Plumber sinking giant Lobster Tails in Nicaragua?
Have You Ever Seen Whale Poo? Neither Had I. Until Now!
It’s All About The Journey
Outback in the Caribbean
UPDATE: Outback Bed Linen Goes Global
Costa Rica: The Switzerland of Central America
A Tropical Paradise
Urban Swagging
A Winter Wonderland
The City That Never Sleeps
Adiós España
Christmas is in the air
What does a handbag and a pigeon have in common?
Food, Wine and all things Spanish
WARNING: For People Nearly Forty
OZ JOINS EU
From Sea To Vines
Just around the next corner…
Get A Life?
The River That’s Not A River?
Si Senor
The Contrast Couldn’t Be Greater
Lost In The Mountains
Inflight Armrest Warfare
I never Knew If It Was The Right Decision. But I’m Glad We did.
Nothing’s Changed
Holy Sheet!
Be Nice To China
I Called Into Mars On My Way To Heaven
It Wasn’t Even On My Bucket List!
Two Bush Chooks, Two Kids and a Dog
Cops Everywhere
Downsizing Australia
A Quaint Little Village in the Outback?
Giddey up Horsey
It’s a Big Country
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My Spilt Milk
The cream of New Orleans music
The Scorseses
Voodoo Preview: Where We'll Be Saturday
Submitted by Alex Rawls on November 2, 2013 - 11:28am
Our highlights for day two of Voodoo.
Read more about Voodoo Preview: Where We'll Be Saturday
Voodoo Preview: What The Scorseses Aren't
Submitted by Alex Rawls on October 31, 2013 - 3:30pm
The Scorseses want you to know they’re not a ska band. Yes, they started as a ska/punk band, and yes, they’ll play some upstrokes, but when drummer Chris Noto and singer Vince Ebeier count off the artists who influenced the members of the band, no ska bands get named. Instead, they mention Streetlight Manifesto, Miles Davis, NOFX, Victor Wooten, and Bela Fleck among others.
Read more about Voodoo Preview: What The Scorseses Aren't
The Christmas Express in Song
Submitted by Alex Rawls on December 6, 2012 - 7:59pm
[NSFW] On Friday, The Howlin' Wolf hosts the NOLA Polar Express, a benefit to help make sure that children at Ocshner and Children's Hospital have a Merry Christmas. Local indie rock bands will play on the Wolf's main stage and in the Den, and since some of the bands will play their versions of Christmas songs, My Spilt Milk asked them about their background with Christmas music.
Read more about The Christmas Express in Song
Mellow Sounds for the Season
This Week's Spotify Soundtrack includes songs for the season; previews of shows by Mark Kozalek, Anders Osborne, The Mercy Brothers and more; and new music from The Polyphonic Spree, Tracey Thorn and Zombie Zombie among others.
Read more about Mellow Sounds for the Season
Homegrown Money Problems
Submitted by Alex Rawls on November 13, 2012 - 8:22pm
[Updated] When Elise De Sade Way - better known as singer Gypsy Elise - announced, "Welcome to Day 2!!!!!!!!!!" on her Facebook page, notes of congratulations and excitement for the second day of the Homegrown Harvest Music and Arts Festival were mixed with questions about money.
Read more about Homegrown Money Problems
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Contact Us | About Us | Advertise | Admin
© My Spilt Milk, by Alex Rawls, 2012
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Two Indonesian men are being prosecuted in Singapore for agreeing to sell their kidneys. This landmark case has sparked a lively discussion on whether organ trading should be legalised.
Should sale of organs be allowed?
Doctors and MPs give their take on organ transactions
By Shuli Sudderuddin
Organ selling should be allowed in a properly controlled system, and in fact this is long overdue, Associate Professor Lee Wei Ling, director of the National Neuroscience Institute, said yesterday.
'People are dying of organ failure. And there are people who are healthy enough to donate their organs. It is ironical that the law at present punishes the very victims it is supposed to protect,' she said.
She made this call when asked for her views on the first-ever kidneys-for-sale case, which came up in court last Friday.
Dr Lee has been championing organ selling since last year when she wrote in to The Straits Times Forum page.
She said yesterday that in Singapore, it is possible to ensure the donor is healthy enough to donate his organ without adverse medical consequences, and there is fair remuneration. Checks can be made to ensure the donor does not carry any diseases that can be transmitted to the patient through the transplanted organ.
'In other countries, the donors are at a disadvantage without knowing it, and can get exploited. Singapore is the one place that can ensure that the donor is taken care of.
'We should be proud of it. There are existing rules and regulations that are outdated and irrelevant to the current situation in Singapore. We should set out to change them and do what is right.
'Every one of us has a duty as human beings to help others. People who may potentially be saved are dying, yet we still bury our heads in the sand and allow the suffering to go on? Of course, we should not break the law. But we should change the laws when they have become irrelevant. We should ensure that the person who is selling his organs is protected, and eliminate the middleman.'
She noted the existing market for organs mediated by a middleman.
'We should set up a proper, competent system to ensure the safety of the donor and that the donor receives a fair sum of the money in exchange for his organ.'
Echoing her sentiments was Dr Lee Keen Whye, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Gleneagles Medical Centre.
'As long as there is a willing buyer and seller, why not? If the seller does not feel exploited, who are we to judge? It's more important to save lives first,' he said.
Other doctors and MPs interviewed, however, disagreed. Dr Pwee Hock Swee, renal medicine specialist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, felt that organ transactions should be purely altruistic.
Dr Lily Neo, an MP for Jalan Besar GRC, said that kidney transplants are 'a big life- and-death operation and people should not be induced to part with a part of themselves for a financial reward'.
Dr Fatimah Lateef, an MP for Marine Parade GRC, feels that it is more important to raise the number of donors available. A price tag should not be put on human organs.
Ms Halimah Yacob, head of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health, was also not in favour of organ trading 'because the poor and the weak will be the ones who have to give up their organs and this will lead to them being intimidated and harassed'.
Organ trading presents a host of sensitive issues. At this point in time, I haven't yet considered all the finer points.
But from a broader perspective, I can roughly see how a system of new legal rules can be built to deal with the main ethical concerns. Thus I am inclined to agree with Dr Lee Wei Ling (who happens to be Lee Kuan Yew's daughter) that it is possible, and desirable, to legalise organ trading.
The key ethical objection is that human organ trading may lead to the exploitation of the poor and of socially disadvantaged donors who are unable to make an informed choice.
For instance, a poor, lowly-educated person may be persuaded to sell his organ to a rich patient who needs such an organ. The poor, lowly-educated person doesn't understand the health risks that he is exposing himself to. In exchange for the kidney, the rich patient pays a sum which is peanuts to him, but which seems like a lot to the poor person.
This is the paradigmatic situation that the legal rules would have to deal with, for human organ trading to be legalised in Singapore. How? These are the features of a possible legal framework that I can envisage:
1. Organ sellers should be Singaporean citizens or permanent residents. This eliminates the potential problem of ill Singaporeans regularly sourcing for organs from desperately poor people in neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. In the long run, this avoids major diplomatic disputes from arising between Singapore and its neighbours.
2. The government needs to act as a middleman. Seller and buyer should not be allowed to know each other's identities beforehand, if at all. If Y wants to sell a kidney, Y will inform the relevant government authority. If accepted for sale, Y's kidney will be transplanted to a patient selected by the hospital according to its own priority list. This avoids the ethically difficult situation where the patient directly locates his own poor, desperate person, and exercises his own undue influence to persuade or coerce the poor person to sell his kidney.
3. In addition to medical check-ups, the potential organ seller should be given the relevant counselling and medical advice. This is to ensure that he fully understands the medical risks he will be undergoing.
4. If there is any medical reason to believe that the potential organ seller's health will be unduly affected, his sale proposal should be rejected. A panel of independent doctors will have to assess each case.
5. Organ prices should be fixed by law. The price should not be subject to any kind of bidding system, nor any system whereby richer patients can gain priority by offering to pay a higher price. The Health Ministry can regularly review and revise the applicable organ prices, if necessary.
Two key considerations should be kept in mind. Firstly, more organ transplants ultimately means that more human lives will be saved - this is the noble intention of the system.
Secondly, we are talking about the types of organ transplants where the seller will have every reasonable expectation of being able to live normally after the organ is removed. (For example, a healthy person is typically able to donate one of his two kidneys and continue to live a normal life).
'Legalisation' is an inevitable extension of the underground organ trade. The current message is that organ trading is prevalent, inevitable and severely disadvantages the supplier of such organs. Need to right a wrong :$
Remove the middle-man / runners. Implement systems to minimise the ugly (e.g. illicit organ/human harvesting). A win-win situation and one that will earn Singapore a place in world history with far more prominence than any Olympic medal can.
Surely, a haven for the rich and poor ...
I do believe that sg has the system to make organ selling and receiving less exploitive
the sale of internal organs may arguably be uncomortable for some, however, the sale of sperms and eggs should be legalised asap.
statistics show that a sizable portion of couples are unable to conceive, often due to defective sperms and/or eggs due to late marriages.
legalising egg/sperm sales will literally mean a lifeline for many, and it's a lot more desirable than trying to import foreigners to make up the numbers.
completely and thoroughly agree with you. Let us do what we can best do to save lives and improve the quality of life for those who require organs. At the same time, let us also mitigate the possible social and moral hazards that may come out of such a system. Strict scrutiny tests should be administered.
Lower income individuals, or those requiring a "cash fix" will probably self-select themselves into the system. I only hope that compulsive gamblers do not end up going on this path to redeem themselves of their debts.
As for a price for organs - such as a kidney. Would it not be better for a "market price" to establish itself - seeing as there will be "willing buyers" and "willing sellers" so long as it was above a minimum price level or price floor of some sorts that was revised annually to take into account inflation and other factors?
It is a frightening thought that organ recipients will be determined by their financial muscle rather than medical needs and suitability.
And since MoH can harvest serfs who did not opt out, that's another profit center for the gahment...
If organs are just another commodity whose trading should be legalised like your car or house, does Mr Wang also support the gahment's legal right to forcibly acquire it in the name of "national interest/service", as is the case today with land acquisition, conscription and reservist (can mobilise civilian resources)?
Mr Wang, I do not quite understand how points 2 and 5 work. On one hand, we have buyers and sellers and the government is the middleman. On the other hand, organs are allocated on a 'priority' basis.
Q: Who is the buyer? The government? Does it mean that buyers will have priority over those who cannot afford to pay? How is the order of priority determined?
if Singaporean have to resort to selling organ for a living. Then Singapore, as a society, is doomed.
topical issue.Yes, with rising inflation in Singapore, and Govt not doing much about it (other than raising more fares and means testing) this is a good concept, as long as poor people find an alternative to killing themselves on MRT tracks and HDB flats! Fist of, what would be the price of blood per litre?
For the govt who is good at sucking blood off its citizens, we should start charging them.
Slippery slope, how many times can that poor dude donate per month?
Is it more profitable than collecting tins and selling tissue??
Gilbert Koh aka Mr Wang said...
Anon June 29, 2008 11:20 PM:
1. The buyer pays $X for the organ.
2. The government collects the $X.
3. The government pays the $X to the seller.
Patient priority will be established the same way it is being established now. For example, suppose the hospital has 100 patients who need a kidney. One kidney then becomes available, due to a healthy person who died in an accident. How does the hospital decide which of the 100 persons gets the kidney? Presumably, it's based on a combination of considerations such as:
1. which patient was on the waiting list first;
2. medically, which patient is in most urgent need of a kidney (i.e which patient is most likely to die soonest, without a kidney transplant)
3. medically, whether the prognosis is favourable (i.e whether the patient is likely to recover, if given the kidney).
Shafted:
You said: "It is a frightening thought that organ recipients will be determined by their financial muscle rather than medical needs and suitability."
You probably misunderstood my post. See comment above.
By the way, I do agree with the idea that suitable organs can be taken from dead people and used to save other people's lives.
The "if you didn't opt out, then we take it that you have opted in" part of that system is the uncomfortable element. The better alternative would really to have required all citizens to expressly elect "yes" or "no".
Under our current system, it is interesting to note that if you are very poor and very desperate, you can still donate your kidney out of the kindness of your heart;
but if you are very poor and very desperate, you cannot sell your kidney for money.
Does that make sense to you?
Anon June 30, 2008 7:19 AM:
Interesting point. Perhaps if we allowed hospitals to pay for blood, we wouldn't have the chronic problem of a shortage of blood donors.
interesting development that we see here.
will not be surprised that years down the road that organ sales will be approved and legalized.
Main reason i see so is $$$$$ MONEY.
(copied this from mr wang's post)
i doubt the above 3 points will happen. 3 parties have got to "WIN" in this case so that the deal can proceed. i honestly don't think that the govt will just collect $X. Trust me, this is a viable revenue generating source.
IT WILL BE APPROVED!
I DARE SAY WITHIN THE NEXT 5 YEARS?
ermm...sorry...can i side track? just wondering is there any follow up action on the BUYER? the 2 SELLEr were charged but the BUYER plays a part as well, shouldn't he be charged in court too????
Mr Wang;
Pardon me if I sound crude. If Nature destined a being for destruction or to send it elsewhere, it is time to accept fate for that being.
Making organs a market commodities simply degrade the qualities of life(healthwise) for the sellers. Though one may argue that money can improve the quality of livings for the sellers, no one can be sure that the sellers may not suffer physical, mental(feeling abnormal or weaker)and medical complications due to the sales of their organs.
Amongst husband and wife, parent and child,siblings and bosom friends, organ transfers done out of love is acceptable to me. But to commercialize organs; no, it is a sin, even to an atheist.
patriot.
Mr Wang, thanks for your reply. If someone pays, it is because he wants to 'jump queue' and get the organ, which might otherwise be meant for someone else, for himself.
If priority is based on first-come-first served, then I doubt anyone would want to pay. Organ trading will not work as a system.
Since, buyers expect to benefit from the system, the likely consequence of organ trading is that the poor will be deprived of their chance of a transplant because they will be placed further down the queue.
I think currently sperm is paid to donors, as is the vagina for a course of sexual escapade.
I think this goes in line with the govt thinking - capitalist country, where the poor will sell their organs while the millionaires will get to buy and get first priority in choiciest pieces.
Even if you're very poor and very desperate, you would not want to sell your organs if you've a choice.
Instead of providing you more rope to hang yourself with, the government - and society at large - should be providing financial and social assistance to tide you through.
It also opens up a can of worms - where do we draw the line? If the trade of organs are legal, the same arguments could be used to legalize the sale of infants.
If you're very poor and very desperate, it may be both in the child and your best interest to sell the child. After all, if the government provides the right framework and the child is brought up in a loving foster family, the child may have a better shot at life.
And - to follow the reasoning of some of the comments above - legislating the infant trade would make it less exploitative.
We should be helping people out of their misery, instead of getting them to sell some part of themselves in order to seek some form of relief. Isn't that what a progressive society is about?
4. GST levied on the sales.
The reality is that these has been going on. 20 yrs ago, i have knowof ppl going overseas (to india/indonesia) to get kidneys transplants. Personally and ethically, it is wrong. To effectively implement the controls will be the challege.
DIGGO
Wang: Interesting point. Perhaps if we allowed hospitals to pay for blood, we wouldn't have the chronic problem of a shortage of blood donors.
Why this isnt done? Is it cos little money is involved? Whereas organ trade is potentially lucrative...
This govt wont do anything that is not "cost-recoverable". And to be cost recoverable, the trade has got to be more lucrative.
In this world it is possible to justify anything in the name of saving lives, do good etc and so on. The real issue is always how much money is involved. And organ trade is potentially worth a lot of money, so screw the ethics.
lobo said...
Anyone knows how long an organ can be stored before it... expires?
Paying for blood and organs will cut into profits. why pay when you can harvest for free? Singapore Inc remember? too bad if you are just an employee and not a shareholder/customer.
just for discussion sake, selling organs does not "doom" the society. Afterall, we can exploit OTHER desperately poor countries. Legaliztion means that sellers actually have a choice and get a fair "market" price and buyers get value for $$$.
As George Yeo may say ... "win-win"?
I don't see how your suggestions is related to the helping with the issue of 'exploitation of the poor and of socially disadvantaged'. At All.
Clearly, you have never been poor and desperate :(
Key words: POOR, DESPERATE
Organ trading is, even at best, terribly dicey even in the most open and reliable of countries with the best possible public administration.
In the hands of Singapore's administration, with our questionable judiciary, police and political leaders, it will most certainly turn into a nightmare.
How about the current policies for kidney patients who are on the waiting list? If it's their turn, do they have to pay for the kidneys in return?
If the trading is to be legalised, then should the priority be given to the 'by default list' or the list that is 'willing to pay'?
"Anyone knows how long an organ can be stored before it... expires?"
It's not a relevant consideration because demand grossly outstrips supply. In other words, people regularly die, after waiting for years in vain for a kidney.
When a kidney does become available, it is immediately transplanted. There is no question of storing the kidney indefinitely, because, as I said, the demand far outstrips the supply.
"In the hands of Singapore's administration, with our questionable judiciary, police and political leaders, it will most certainly turn into a nightmare."
I don't think so. The kind of accusations that are regularly made against the Singapore judiciary, police and political leaders generally relate accusations about how they favour the ruling party. However, the ruling party has nothing to gain from more patients dying from kidney failure.
family man said...
in an egalitarian world, the govt would put people on the queue, regardless of your income and salary, and because ALL CITIZENS are an asset to the country, the govt would pay the seller through its billion dollars reserves instead of paying for Citi shares or UBS shares. Then all the patients, rich and poor will be given a kidney transplant. But this will not happen in Singapore where only the elites can rule and get treated cos they got the money.
"I don't see how your suggestions is related to the helping with the issue of 'exploitation of the poor and of socially disadvantaged'. At All."
I'll give you a few simple examples.
One feature of my proposed system is that the government will fix the price of organs. Let's say, a kidney is fixed at $20,000 (just for example).
When a kidney becomes available, it is then transplanted into a patient with the highest priority, that is, someone who
(1) is most likely to die soon without a kidney transplant;
(2) has good chances of successful recovery, if given the transplant;
(3) has been waiting a very long time for a kidney
(4) is able to pay $20,000.
Now, suppose we did not have the kind of rules as I have suggested. Suppose there is no price fixing. What would happen? Something like this, perhaps:
(1) you are very likely to die soon without a kidney transplant;
(2) you have good chances of successful recovery, if given the transplant;
(3) you have been waiting a very long time for a kidney (eg 5 years);
(4) you can afford $20,000
BUT then suddenly an extremely rich patient, who's just been advised yesterday that he needs a transplant, comes along to compete for the kidney. He's ill, but not that ill, he can probably afford to wait another six months or a year without dying, but why would he risk it?
He bids $5,000,000 for the kidney, a sum he can easily afford because he's a business tycoon. Instantly he jumps ahead of you in the queue. As a matter of fact, he jumps ahead of 100 other patients who had been waiting for a kidney far longer than him.
You die. No reason, really, except that you're poorer than him.
Without my rules in place, a kidney patient may find a very poor, very desperate person, and offer a very small sum for the man's kidney. Eg $500 (just for example). Remember, the poorer and more desperate you are, the lower the sum you'll be willing to accept.
The poor, desperate person is so desperate that he accepts the offer. He loses one kidney for $500. This seems strongly offensive to our sense of justice.
With my rules in place, the poor desperate person is assured of receiving not $500, but a standard sum fixed by law (eg $20,000).
Note - the figures given above are just for illustrative purposes. I actually have little idea what may constitute a fair price for a kidney. I would think that this is something that would require serious consideration by the Health Ministry.
question I would like to ask - blood donation is purely altrusitic now - I believe.
But in an emergency, when blood is needed, do the restructured hospital charge the patients for the bags of blood used? Anyone knows.
My point is, are the hospitals making money out of our donated blood? This would sound like employees of GIC / CPF / Temasek holdings, where the only people gaining from our huge reserves are these employees, not the Singaporeans.
"just for discussion sake, selling organs does not "doom" the society. Afterall, we can exploit OTHER desperately poor countries."
-- See Point 1 in my post.
"Then all the patients, rich and poor will be given a kidney transplant. But this will not happen in Singapore where only the elites can rule and get treated cos they got the money.
I think you are still missing the point. This will not happen in Singapore, whether you are rich or poor , because there are not enough kidneys.
Mr Wang, one recurring point I see here is about "jumping queue" or something similar.
Say there's just a kidney available, but the person on the top of the waitlist is an odd-job labourer. There's a bright young orphan somewhere further down who is likely to reap the most "utility" (since we're all rational and cold) from the kidney, and a multi-millionaire over 60 somewhere furtherdown...
Now that I've done wasting your precious bandwidth, the only possible case of a "trade" is blindingly obvious, since only the millionaire has the cash to carry out any monetary transaction.
It's like arguing that a benevolent dictator will keep an honest gahment whose one and only priority is her people. The idea sure sounds great, but the mandarins implementing it are sure to f it up.
There are just too many loop holes screaming to be exploited. It is more efficient to start of with a sound foundation, which is to keep money out of organ donations.
Are the orphan and the odd job labourer put in any worse position, if organ trading were legalised?
No. They are exactly in the same position as they would have been, if organ trading were illegal.
However, the legalisation of organ trading WOULD improve the survival chances of the 60-year-old millionaire, AND the survival chances of ANY kidney patient who is able to fork out $20,000 to save his own life (eg your average 3-room or 4-room HDB owner). As a matter of fact, under my proposed system, the 60-year-old millionaire holds no advantage over the 3-room or 4-room HDB owner, just by virtue of being a millionaire.
This is what I think you're not seeing. You see the harshness in the system I have proposed, but you are not seeing that the current system already HAS that harshness.
And the root cause of that harshness is simply the fact that people fall ill, people die and we aren't always able to save them.
However, if organ trading were legalised, we would be able to save MORE of them. Because there would be more organs to go around.
This is Dr Lee Wei Ling's point too. If she can't save 10 out of 10 patients, at least she can save 5 out of 10 patients. It's better than have all 10 patients die.
Dear Wang
From my *limited* exp working with our beloved neighbours, point 1 is irrelevant if a)they get a cut and b)the sellers get a fair price and c)we (at least pretend to) show respect/gratitude/humility.
Distasteful as it is .. this is life. Lets take incremental steps. Transparency ASAP. Ideals tomorrow.
PS: I agree with points 2 to 5 but Singapore's population(i.e supply) is simply too small to have point 1.
If organ trading stays illegal, I'd say the guy on top of the list gets it, else no one does. MoH and the doctors and everyone else involved should make sure the donor gets caught if he tried to sell. Even at the risk of losing that one kidney, since there might be no donors without money involved.
I admit there'll always 2 sides, but saying that you have to break some eggs to make an omelette is taking it a bit too far isn't it? The idea of saving more lives is respectable, but at ANY cost?
Being one of the few countries in modern history to practice state-sanctioned eugenics, I think that is already one omelette too many.
The mentality is not where to draw the line, but if a line should be drawn at all.
That scares me into insisting that checks and balances remains, to give me an illusion of control. Now Mr Wang wants to strip away my last shreds of safety and comfort... I am so Shafted.
Dear Mr Wang;
despite your very well argued points, I am still of the opinion that blood, sperm, body parts that will be replaced naturally are the only organs that can be harvested.
As to the commercialization of human organs, it should never be done. Donations on a willing basis is in force and this method should be adequate.
Consider one thing. Even if they put the blood transfusion as free, it will be added or calculated in somewhere with the hospital bills. I dun think it is covered by the govt.
"Donations on a willing basis is in force and this method should be adequate."
We may have differences in opinion, but let's get the facts straight. The method is not adequate. Most people who need a kidney transplant do not get a kidney transplant, because a kidney is not available. They just die, after waiting unsuccessfully for years, for a kidney.
Wang: let's get the facts straight. The method is not adequate. Most people who need a kidney transplant do not get a kidney transplant, because a kidney is not available. They just die, after waiting unsuccessfully for years, for a kidney.
Want to point out a few things.
1. This may sound harsh, but if they die it is just too bad. The world does not owe anyone a liver. And people must realise money is not the answer to problems.
2. Whether organ trade is legalised or not, or implemented in whatever form, there will always be abuse. But to legalise it, opens up a can of worms, it is a slippery slope. You can see the same logic behind the IR or Casino. But the fear of the unknown should not deter us from exploring further. The principal behind should therefore be grounded on medical ethics instead of expediency.
3. Organ transplant is only a temporary solution not a permanent one. And abuse stems from a question of demand and supply. In the name of economics, i.e. the efficient allocation of resources (kidneys), you may say the current situation is far from ideal. But organ trade cannot be looked at solely from an economics angle, that would be too simplistic. Instead efforts should be poured towards a medical solution.
Me don't have answers. This kind of issue best to explore and discuss some more (a lot more) before jumping to a rash policy decision.
Well, from the American experience on Prohibition on alcohol, you know what will happen next, don't you? What you don't seek to regulate, but only abolish, will simply go underground and become a more severe problem than before.
Ill Singaporeans who don't know what else to do to save their own lives will wait. Many will die.
Ill Singaporeans who do know what else to do to save their own lives will go overseas, to countries such as India or Thailand. There they will buy organs from poor Indians or Thais.
These Indians or Thais will be much more susceptible to exploitation, since there won't be any rules to protect them.
Meanwhile, the transplants done will be illegal; done under less-than-ideal conditions; perhaps by unlicensed doctors with inferior medical facilities; there is a higher chance of infection etc.
No choice lah. If you're a S'porean kidney patient about to die, it's better to try your luck in India / Thailand, than just die in Singapore. Seriously, what wouldn't you do to save your own life? You'd pay every cent you have, if that would work. What would stop you is those people who loudly protest, "No, no, this can't be allowed, the government would make a profit, I'd much rather all you sick people just lie down & die, that makes me feel happier about my own morals."
Fox said...
Mr Wang,
Many of your suggestions on how the kidney trade can be regulated have actually been implemented in Iran. In fact, I discussed this topic more than a year ago in two blog posts of mine.
Compassionately logical part 1
Legalization sends the message that it is permissible to do so. While demand outstrips supply and people die waiting, it seems logical, possible to set-up a system (with safeguards to reduce exploitation etc), to save at least some lives (as better than none).
But if we look from the donor perspective, who (if not poor, desperate, driven up the wall) would want to even consider giving up his/her organ for money.
legalisation (even with the best intention to save lives) may send wrong signals. While it may be a 'pity' not being able to 'save' lives, it doesn't justify that someone else is permissible to make a trade in order to do so.
if we have a price catalogue for organ, what else can't we have next? It may sound very callous- we all will die and the difference is only how and when. The longer term solution should be along the lines of encouraging more altruistic donors and...taking care of your own organs.
I just did a quick bit of Internet research. Here are the types of organs and tissues which a living person may donate for transplants:
lung, kidney, part of the liver, pancreas islet cells, bone marrow; blood; heart valve; bone; skin; small bowel
The reason is that the living person will either be able to regenerate these organs/tissues, or is quite able to continue normally with life with what's left.
If that is the medical position, I'd invite readers to explain whether they see any big difference between:
(1) giving blood; and
(2) giving a kidney
and why either act suddenly becomes wrong, if money is involved.
To me, it's like saying - "The army needs more soldiers. Young men may volunteer to serve the nation. However, they are not allowed to be paid - they have to do it for free."
It is arguably more hazardous to your life to serve 2 years of NS in a combat vocation, than it is to give up one kidney.
Furthermore, the latter directly saves a life; the former usually does not.
"Consider one thing. Even if they put the blood transfusion as free, it will be added or calculated in somewhere with the hospital bills. I dun think it is covered by the govt."
I invite you to consider what you're saying. Is this your position - human lives should not be saved, unless the government pays for all the medical costs?
Is there big difference between donating blood and kidney?
Mr Wang; I presumed you are referring to live donors and if you are, then I would like to say, no one has the ability to regenerate kidney. This is a fact.
On the other hand, blood regenerate so fast that most donors are able to donate twice or even more. Hope I am right as I do not have any medical/scientific qualification.
It's the rich and relatively rich who can afford to buy organs.
It's almost always the poor and desperate who are going to sell their organs.
"If that is the medical position, I'd invite readers to explain whether they see any big difference between:
and why either act suddenly becomes wrong, if money is involved."
This is my POV:
1 Blood can be regenerated by the donor, a kidney cannot. Living with one kidney increases the risk of a shorter life span due to renal failure because there isn't another kidney to fall back on. Although I must qualify that I do not know whether both kidneys usually fail together or one can be healthy and unaffected by the other diseased one.
2 Sure, sellers have the right to choose and sell their organs for much needed cash and buyers have the right to live, but the potential indirect consequences are many. They include parents abusing their children by forcing them to sell their organs, depriving those on the queue who might otherwise get their transplant if it weren't for somebody rich who bought the available organ, middlemen profiteering, doctors ordering transplants indiscriminately just to boost their track records, etc.
Many who argued for the case have overlooked the consequences and question of ethics. Is it ethical to rob another of a chance of transplant because one can afford to buy over an organ meant for one who cannot afford to but is next on the queue?
Is it justifiable to 'give the gift of life' to many more by sacrificing a few? Does it mean those who have money have the right to rob others of their lives?
Organs and life is not a matter of only digits but human beings with feelings, families, life stories. If we see this issue as a matter of digits, we have lost sight of humanity, what it means to be human.
If for one will not be able to live peacefully for the rest of my life if I have bought an organ meant for someone else who has perished as a result of being deprived of his transplant.
I will be as good as a murderer.
Some questions and after-thought:
1) Will there still be poeple willing to donate an organ (for free), if it could be sold at a price?
2) If someone dies and the organ could be used for transplant, should the family get some monetary returns? (The family could be widowed by a young father who was the main income source. Or there could be a set of parents who had invested everything on their only child for their old age, only to have the child pass before them. They can definitely benefit from the money for the organ(s).)
3) What are the chances of a poor person, who cannot pay for an organ, to get a transplant?
4) There are no aboslute infallable system in the world. Will this organ trading issue be 'slippery slope theory' or 'false delimma' or in time, both?
I donated blood a few times but decided to discontinue because I was not sure who the blood was given to.
Many told me the blood will be transfused at no cost to recipients, I felt that was no consolation. The many oversea(paying) patients that received medical/healthcares are mainly for more serious illnesses. I suspect many of them need surgeries and operations which require much blood.
Though blood may not be billed at cost, paying patients maybe given priorities to it in relation to their overall medical needs. When such arrangements occur, I do not know if locals would be deprived of his/her turn to the blood.
As, I was unable to confirm/verify my doubt, I decided to cease donating(blood).
It appears to me that we are all being herded like sheep along a particular direction. The media got us all talking about the pain and suffering of kidney patients.
Nobody is talking about the pain and suffering of kidney donors. Why the silence? Can somebody enlighten us what the donors go through?
What are the statistics of botched operations? Or of less than 100% successful operations? Of contagion picked up in hospital stay. What are the long-term effects - how many years reduction in lifespan are experienced by those who have donated their kidneys? What drop in quality of life do they experience - are they unable to play a round of golf, run a marathon, climb Mt Everest?
If any readers are not happy with my examples, feel free to substitute your own, for example, instead of golf, think about working a 12-hour shift being reduced to working a 6-hour shift.
I don't have the answers, the media is not talking about it. All they say is about "informed consent". God knows what kind of information they provide to the donors for them to give consent.
It's only today that a reader wrote in to tell us that the so-called ethics committee is made up of two doctors and a lay person, all volunteers, who do not have the means to investigate the truth of patients' submissions. This is the dicey way the Singapore administration system works. With full collaboration from the media.
Now that the ethics committee have made a mistake, do members of that committee graciously step down and tell us that the system is not working?
All the pillars of the Singapore administration systems have crumbled. The judiciary, the police, the political leaders. That's my opinion. Just look at the illegal trade caught last week. They are punishing the poor victim, the one who would have parted with his kidney. What about the one who sought to buy it? Isn't he comparatively the greater evil?
When you catch a child prostitute selling his body to a client, who do you judge is the greater evil? The person selling his body or the one buying?
Letting Singapore run an organ-trading industry is the utmost folly.
Ehh, this is not my position
Was just replying to this person
SHIMURE said...
Under current practice, if you are a regular blood donor, you get free medical assistance for the government hospitals. that is if you donate blood 4 times in 1 year.
I know cos i donate blood on a regular basis.
Perhaps if you donate kidneys or stuff like that the government could also have policies on these lines?
As for the money issue.....
Well if the government does become the middle man in such issues, it is likely that they will impose a tax on the transaction and this would in terms lead to another revenue form of the government.
What i am afraid for is not so much that people will not get money for their organs.
it is more that the right people may not get the right organs for the right time.....
Another thing is if the organ transfer failed or is rejected? the first thing which the business tycoon would sue the person whom he bought the kidney from which will lead to the donor becoming even more poor and desperate.
Random rant from random thoughts...
sorry if i am too random.
To Anon June 29, 2008 11:20 PM:
No. You can live perfectly well with one kidney. There is no evidence that the risk of the shorter lifespan will increase. Taken from the University of Maryland Medical Center's FAQ:
"Death from kidney donation is extremely rare (about 3 in 10,000). Donating a kidney does not change your life expectancy nor does it increase your chance of kidney failure. The health effects of kidney donation have been and continue to be carefully studied by several research groups in the United States. This research has shown that kidney donation does not appear to put donors at any increased risk for future health problems."
Although you cannot regenerate a kidney, you can obtain another one through a kidney transplant. Even if you suffer from a kidney failure as a result of a freak injury to your remaining kidney, it is very possible for the healthcare system to take care of you by buying you another one.
Middlemen profiteering is not possible in a public healthcare system where you cut out the middleman like in Iran.
In the present system, you can only get your kidney from cadavers and relatives. When paid donation is allowed, the supply of kidneys increases significantly. You won't be depriving anyone of anything.
1. Compassionately Logical: Part 1
for further details. I strongly recommend that you read the provided links.
I should add that it is possible for poor people to have access to kidney transplants in a system where donors are paid. For example, in Singapore, kidney dialysis is very costly and beyond the reach of many poor individuals who need it. However, they do receive subsidies and financial assistance from the charitable organisations and the government to go for kidney dialysis.
Also, kidney dialysis is expensive. The cost of a kidney transplant is comparable to the cost of years of dialysis. There are vested financial interest in reducing the availability of kidney transplants.
To robert l,
Here are some information. Taken from http://www.umm.edu/transplant/kidney/qanda.htm
"A person can lead an active, normal life with only one kidney. Studies have shown that one kidney is sufficient to keep the body healthy. After recovering from surgery, a donor can work, drive, exercise and participate in sports, though contact sports are not recommended. A donor can continue in all types of occupations, including military duty. Also, being a donor does not impact a person’s ability to have a child."
"The risks of donation are similar to those involved with any major surgery, such as bleeding and infection. Death resulting from kidney donation is extremely rare. Current research indicates that kidney donation does not change life expectancy or increase a person’s risks of developing kidney disease or other health problems."
You have misunderstood what I meant. With other factors remaining constant, who would stand a chance to live longer? A person with one or two kidney? I'd say, the latter because he has a kidney to fall back on and he does not need to depend on a transplant, which may never materialise.
I do not know about you, but it pricks my conscience, even knowing that a person has given his kidney to me for the above reason. Worse still if he has to sell his kidney, which means that he wouldn't have been really desperate for money and I am in a way exploiting his plight for my benefit.
You keep linking the case of Iran here but which other country can you cite? If Iran's system is worthy of emulation, won't there be many other countries following suit? And for what reason?
And to those who argue that since there is a black market, may as well legalise it, I'd ask, are you sure there won't be any more black markets once organ trading is legalised? After all, it is still controlled by the government and buyers, especially the very rich, cannot temper with the system for maximum benefit and expediency.
Can of worms waiting to be exposed.
Post transplant Diabetes.
Doctor ethics(Hippocrates Oath).
Dr Lee suggestion will become exploited by those with the means.
Letter from ST Forum today:
"Win-win for all, so change the law
I READ with interest of the case where Indonesian kidney patient Juliana Soh paid $27,500 to Indonesian donor Toni. She got a kidney from him. The operation was done by a well-qualified doctor.
Ms Soh is happy because now she can lead a normal life without having to go for dialysis three times a week.
Mr Toni is happy too. He got $27,500. The amount, which converts to 186 million rupiah, will help him lead a better life. Since the operation was performed by a well-qualified doctor, who will make sure he gets post-operation care, he can lead a normal, healthy life. His family are happy because they have come out of poverty. So far, everyone is happy.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan says that, whatever the circumstances, the law has been broken and must take its course.
I write to ask that, if the act of buying and selling a kidney, which has given a new life to Ms Soh and made Mr Toni's family financially secure, is against the law, is it not the duty of the authorities to change the law so that controlled buying and selling of organs is legal?
Thousands of patients needing kidneys will be very happy if they can find a place where they can legally buy a kidney and have the operation done under the care of experts.
B.H. Melwani"
Some info concerning liver transplants:
Typically the donor gives up only part of his liver. Livers are able to regenerate. Thus the donor's liver should grow back to full size within four to six weeks.
"Another thing is if the organ transfer failed or is rejected? the first thing which the business tycoon would sue the person whom he bought the kidney from which will lead to the donor becoming even more poor and desperate."
This is a rather simple issue which a change of law can easily address.
B.H. Melwani would do better to look beyond just one case and imagine the kind of society we would become. The Indonesian donor might be happy, but for how long? Desperate people tend to make decisions based on urgency, not long term view. Will he regret later if one of his loved ones needs a kidney and he is unable to donate?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/6090468.stm
Thanks to Fox for the above link and the following one:
http://cjasn.asnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/1/6/1136
Believe me, I have tried to look at the Iranian model for its merits but the only merit it keeps repeating is that there is no more queue for transplant, but fails to address the ethical and social problems, and the fact that US and Canada managed to increase the number of altruistic donations without the need for organ trading.
On further scrutiny, the system is not wholly government controlled and cleans as it claims, because recipients are allowed to give rewards to donors at their discretion. Correct me if I am wrong.
Also, the government seems to be spending a huge amount of funds to provide free treatment, insurance and awards. Would that translate to 15% GST in Singapore? Would the rich who wish to buy kidneys gladly bear the cost of increase in GST for the rest?
Furthermore, would those who argue for organ trading because it saves more lives give up one of their own kidneys? After all, their main concern is to save lives.
Which country's environment would we prefer to live in? Iran? US? Canada? Which is a more gracious society?
Also, notice that the legalization of organ trading benefits the rich at the expense of the poor because there were no supply of organs at all from the rich, but increase in supply from the poor to meet demand from the rich.
Like some have suggested, it would be better to put in more efforts encouraging altruistic giving, educating people to take care of their own organs and medical research for other cures rather than degenerate into a dollar driven society.
I think that this rich/poor dichotomy is somewhat misleading.
Firstly, we don't even know what $X would be. We only know that to fix $X, we want to balance two competing concerns:
1. that $X is not so high that only the very, very rich can afford it;
2. that $X is not so low that the organ sellers are under-compensated.
The second thing is that your life is so precious that you would willingly pay just about any price for it.
For example, if $X is $150,000, this seems like a large sum which only the very rich can afford. However, actually many Singaporeans can afford $150,000, if their lives depended on it.
Even if you only own a humble HDB two-room flat, you could probably sell it for more than $150,000 (based on current market prices) to buy your organ. It would be a completely logical decision too. Your flat is useless to you, if you're dead.
Now, from the seller's perspective. Okay, let's imagine that you're really poor and really desperate. Say you're a Geylang prostitute with two young kids to support. You can barely afford to feed them and send them to primary school.
Then you sell your kidney for $150,000. Instantly, you can stop prostituting yourself; you can send your kids to school; food is no longer a concern; and you can hope that they will get enough education to lead a better life.
And you know from the available medical research that donating a kidney simply does not lower your life expectancy. (Whereas being a prostitute does definitely lower your life expectancy, due to AIDS).
Is selling your kidney then really such a bad idea? Is it really worse than continuing to be forced to be a prostitute?
Personally I don't think so. I think that the person must judge for herself. But naturally if organ trading is not permitted then the option never becomes available.
Additional note: My understanding is that:
(a) one normal kidney can do the work of two normal kidneys;
(b) where kidney failure occurs, it normally hits both kidneys anyway.
This is why the medical studies are showing no difference in the life expectancies of people who have only one kidney; and people who have two.
Further additional note:
I find it ridiculous that the two aspects of the HOTA act are so contradictory.
On the one hand, monetary compensation of a donor for giving up a kidney of his own free will is illegal. Even though steps can be taken to ensure that the donor is properly counseled on the risks and consequences of the operation, just as it is already done for any medical procedure or operation here in Singapore. In the meantime, appropriate testing can be done to ensure the donor and recipient is a match, that donor is free of infectious disease that may be spread to the recipient. However, once monetary transfer from the recipient to the donor is involved, the case is deemed illegal, no questions asked.
On the other hand, the government forcibly presumes that, unless you actively make a statutory declaration otherwise, your organs are to be made available for donation. In theory, this makes for a great leap in nationwide altruism. In effect, it causes great misery for the family members of the new 'donor', who should rightfully bear responsibility for the disposal of the patient's body. Furthermore, due to the nature of events, thorough testing of the donor organs for infectious diseases cannot be carried out. This poses risks for the recipient as well.
To those who argue that organ trading is a slippery slope, that it opens a can of worms, it may be worth considering that with the current legislation we have (no other country has this presumed opt-out procedure for organ donation upon brain death, though some are thinking about it), the position we are in is really no different, and legalising organ trade is actually an improvement of the situation.
In Iran, while most of the donors are poor (84 percent), most of the recepients also belong to the poor socioeconomic class (50.4 percent). In fact, the amazing thing is, being poor does not lower one's chances of getting a kidney transplant because the donor is paid by the government, not the recepient.
Secondly, the link to the article on the Iranian paper does discuss the ethical issues associated with paid living-unrelated kidney transpants.
In the US and Canada, there are still long waiting lists for kidney transplants. People still die from waiting for a suitable donor. Ideally, one should not have to undergo kidney dialysis before getting a kidney; as soon as one has End Stage Renal Dysfunction (ESRD), you should get a kidney transplant immediately. The longer one is on dialysis before the transplant, the less effective the transplant operation. Also, it is better to have a kidney from a living donor than a cadaveric donor.
It is very probable that we will never have enough kidneys available for transplant just from altruistic donations. Who in Singapore will give a kidney to an unrelated person? Just look at Singapore, we can't even obtain enough blood units from altruistic donation for hospital use and we have to import blood units from other countries. We have to be realistic about the social attitudes towards organ donation in Singapore.
Iran is a relevant example for Singapore because
1. It has a predominantly Muslim country and we have a large Muslim popuation.
2. Its peoples' attitude towards living-unrelated organ donation is closer to Singapore's than countries like the US.
Dialysis in Singapore is not free. It is expensive and the costs are largely borne by the patient with support from charitable organisations, not the government. Also, patients on dialysis have worse health than patients who have had a kidney tranplant. They are less able to support themselves. I say this to remind you that there is already a high socioeconomic cost to continuing with the current practice of keeping patients on dialysis. Whether the government pays for it is a peripheral issue.
Also, since it is medical benefit to our fellow citizens, why shouldn't we help to pay? Even if you do not wish to pay, then we could resort to a system where the main source of financial support for kidney transplants comes from regulated charitable organisations similar to the way we support dialysis.
In Iran, dialysis used to be free. I say 'used to' because there is no longer any significant need for dialysis as most patients (poor and rich) with ESRD get their kidneys as soon as they need it. Rather than channel resources to dialysis, Iran shifted its resources to support renal transplant.
Poor people also need and get kidneys transplants in Iran.
Yes, please support the assertion that it is better.
Better in terms of what?
Certainly not in terms of improving people's health.
Or in terms of overall healthcare cost.
Or in terms of relieving human suffering.
People die when there are not enough kidneys for transplants. People's health suffer and deteriorate while waiting for a kidney transplant. There are just not enough kidneys to go around from pure altruistic donation.
Furthermore, would those who argue for organ trading because it saves more lives give up one of their own kidneys?
I don't see the relevance. Would those who argue for living-unrelated altruistic donation give up one of their kidneys?
If you are poor and with ESRD in need to a kidney tranplant, I would say that you are better off in Iran than in Singapore or in the US.
May I suggest as we mull over this issue that we ask ourselves whether we are willing to donate one of our two healthy kidneys if we truly believe the donor will not suffer any loss living with only one kidney.
If our answer is yes, then there is hope for more donations by educating the public about the fact that there is no difference having one or two kidneys.
If we cannot bring ourselves to donate, or even sell for monetary reward, then we need to ask ourselves why. Do we really believe it is fine to have only one kidney or does it only apply to others, but not for us to live in that condition.
I think only altruistic donors will not regret and be truly happy living with one kidney for the rest of their lives.
My apologies for taking so much space.
Mr Wang, the surgical risks of liver transplant operations are much higher. There is a 1 in 200 chance of surgical complications from liver transplant operation. Such surgeries tend to more complicated than kidney transplant operations which carry a 3 in 10000 chance of surgical complications. I would not recommend liver trading.
On the other hand, a kidney transplant operation is as safe as child birth.
My personal ethics goes with Patriot July 1, 2008 11:41 AM that “blood, sperm, body parts that will be replaced naturally are the only organs that can be harvested”.
My 2-cents worth in this long post.
(A) People die
Fox July 2, 2008 9:22 PM wrote, "People die when there are not enough kidneys for transplants".
The universal truth to being alive is to die eventually. Why is the death of a ESKD patient due to unavailability of donors more regrettable than death by other means? If one consider those on ESKD to be terminally ill, then going by the current norms of palliative care, priority should really be helping the patients come to terms with their life and impending death. If a suitable cadaver donor is available, then the patient can count it as fate intervening. By extending the life of the patient (and potentially reducing the life of the donor), does one really address the issue of the ESKD patient being not ready to die when he/she will die eventually anyway?
To anonymous July 1, 2008 2:48 PM who asked, "Seriously, what wouldn't you do to save your own life?".
It is all hypothetical, so I don't really know. My current personal value would be to choose palliative care to ease my death and focus on tying the loose-ends where possible with whatever limited time I have left. I would not choose to convince a poor desperate person to sell his kidney just to extend my life. If the donor's a cadaver, then I'll treat it as fate giving me an extension.
(B) Medical ethics vs expediency
mourinhoJuly 1, 2008 2:16 PM mentioned, “principal behind should therefore be grounded on medical ethics instead of expediency... Instead efforts should be poured towards a medical solution".
Indeed, legalisation of organ trading may become a quick-fix that may detract one from developing long-term medical solution, e.g. stem cell research for regenerating tissues. One need look no further that the current oil and environmental crisis to see a parallel. Please consider how taking a long-term view benefits to our future generations.
As anonymous July 2, 2008 4:54 PM mentioned, "Like some have suggested, it would be better to put in more efforts encouraging altruistic giving, educating people to take care of their own organs and medical research for other cures rather than degenerate into a dollar driven society".
Most of the ESKD patients are not in the state because they were born with it. Majority are there due to a lifetime of bad health habits and/or lack of access to healthcare. Wouldn't it be more effective to take preventive steps (e.g. education, supporting lifestyle changes) to address the underlying causes?
(C) Taking advantage of the poor desperate
Anon July 2, 2008 9:38 PM wrote, "If we cannot bring ourselves to donate, or even sell for monetary reward, then we need to ask ourselves why. Do we really believe it is fine to have only one kidney or does it only apply to others, but not for us to live in that condition".
Thanks for the sharp question. It brings to mind the implicit question, if we cannot accept ourselves being in the donor's situation, how can it be argued as not taking advantage of another person's misery? Why twist it into "helping the poor desperate"?
(D) Opt-out HOTA
Anon July 2, 2008 9:21 PM wrote, "the current legislation we have (no other country has this presumed opt-out procedure for organ donation upon brain death, though some are thinking about it), the position we are in is really no different, and legalising organ trade is actually an improvement of the situation".
2 wrongs don't make a right. If one disagree with the existing HOTA presumed consent for cadavers, then one should support correcting the regulation back into the opt-in scheme. To argue for legalising organ trade because it is deemed "an improvement" is not addressing the real issue.
My opinion is that the cadaver organs available from HOTA should NOT be put up for sale to the highest bidder. The current "tissue-matching and needs-based" queue should still apply to HOTA sourced organs to prevent the relatively richer from jumping the queue (be it millionaire vs HDB-flat dweller, or HDB-flat dweller vs HDB-renter). Lastly, the current HOTA system is needs to be a lot more transparent... there are insinuations flying around of dead citizen organs going to non-citizens who somehow became a priority, see also section (F) below. This lack-of-transparency hinders Singapore from becoming a reputable medical hub.
(E) Legalising because black market exist
The "since there is a black market, may as well legalise it” argument does not hold water. There are also lots of other black market like loansharks, etc, should those also be legalised because it exist?
If there are other arguments such as "can save lives" then please put those arguments forward, rather than the above.
(F) Singapore Citizenship/PRship
Just a thought that restricting both donor and recipients to Singapore Citizens or Singapore PRs may not prevent abuse, it merely raises the price higher.
Consider the common understanding that Singapore Citizenship or PRship "can be bought" with enough millions. Thus, a suitably rich foreign recipient can buy the requisite citizenship/PRship for himself to qualify himself for a legally bought organ. If a Singapore citizen's organ is not available, the donor may buy the requisite citizenship/PRship for his paid foreign donor too. Thus, the legal organ transplant can get done. If one's thinking of attracting the rich recipient as a Foreign Talent, after the transplant, the rich recipient can still move on to other countries without further contribution to Singapore. However, the newly-minted Singapore citizen/PR organ donor is left behind to depend on the Singapore healthcare.
Is that good for Singapore? How does that benefit Singapore Inc? How does that benefit the Singaporeans?
Dear Mr Wang
Sadly I have little faith in Ministar Khaw to handle the legalization of organ trading fairly.
I know what u say about the world being a reflection of yourself. Can you please try to meet up with him more often?
To Palliative care and medical research:
"Why is the death of a ESKD patient due to unavailability of donors more regrettable than death by other means?"
Because this unavailability is artificial and preventable? If donors are paid, then donated kidneys will become more available. The needlessness of people dying when there is a ready solution disturbs me.
I advocate paid kidney donation because
1. it is no less safer than childbirth
2. studies show that the donor does not suffer any long term health effects from donating one kidney.
3. studies also show that we can all live with one kidney.
4. kidney transplant operation is relatively simple.
5. there simply aren't enough kidneys from altruistic donations.
Points 1 and 2 are universally ignored by people who argue against kidney donation.
Let's suppose we have a universal legalized paid kidney donation system in Singapore. People who donate one of their kidneys can expect some kind of legalized state-aid to buy another one in the very very rare case their remaining kidney fails. In a system that only allows only altruistic donation, I have no such assurance. I don't even get compensated for time off to prepare my self for the pre-surgical screening and the post-surgical care.
"If a suitable cadaver donor is available, then the patient can count it as fate intervening. By extending the life of the patient (and potentially reducing the life of the donor), does one really address the issue of the ESKD patient being not ready to die when he/she will die eventually anyway?"
That is a whole another issue. There is no reducing of the life of the donor. Where is the evidence that your life will be shortened by donating one kidney, apart from the inherent risk of undergoing a surgical operation?. Kidney transplants have been around for more than 50 years and numerous studies have conducted. Which major study shows that donors suffer any health problems from donating/living with one kidney? Not a single bloody one.
"I would not choose to convince a poor desperate person to sell his kidney just to extend my life."
That is extremely condescending to poor people who perform all kinds of jobs that the average richer people shun. Poor people have their dignities too. Foreign domestic helpers wouldn't be in Singapore if not for the poverty in their home countries. Foreign construction workers wouldn't be in Singapore in the construction industry, where many die or get injured each year from workplace accidents, if not for the poverty in their home countries. I suggest you move out of your home immediately to live in a tent since your house/apartment is most likely built by poor desperate foreigners.
"Indeed, legalisation of organ trading may become a quick-fix that may detract one from developing long-term medical solution, e.g. stem cell research for regenerating tissues."
Where is the evidence that organ-trading of kidneys will detract from developing long-term medical solution? It's irresponsible to make such assertions without evidence.
In any case, why isn't paid living-unrelated kidney donation a long-term medical solution? And why do you need a long-term medical solution when you think that palliative care and helping people to come to terms with death is more important?
"Most of the ESKD patients are not in the state because they were born with it. Majority are there due to a lifetime of bad health habits and/or lack of access to healthcare. Wouldn't it be more effective to take preventive steps (e.g. education, supporting lifestyle changes) to address the underlying causes?"
You can say the same about stomach cancer, lung cancer, heart conditions, etc. The majority of people with these conditions get it from a combination of bad health habits. I don't think taking preventative steps means that we should stop heart surgery, colonoscopy, etc. In any case, preventative care can be promoted in conjunction with treatment. They are not exclusive.
"Thanks for the sharp question. It brings to mind the implicit question, if we cannot accept ourselves being in the donor's situation, how can it be argued as not taking advantage of another person's misery?"
The alternative to paid living-unrelated altruistic kidney donation is unpaid living-unrelated altruistic kidney donation. OK. In that case, where are the hordes of people who advocate the latter option and have signed up to give away their kidneys for free?
"My opinion is that the cadaver organs available from HOTA should NOT be put up for sale to the highest bidder."
In the Iranian system with paid living-unrelated kidney donations, organs - living and cadaveric - are allocated on the basis of medical need. The state buys the kidneys from the donor. Poor people are not denied kidney transplants in Iran. That's the beauty of their system.
A question that comes to mind after reading the posts up to now is; if human organs are commercialized. Will the family of a deceased get 'compensated' monetarily if the deceaseds' organ(s)are compulsorily harvested? And at what price?
Today's ST report by Ben Nadarajan was pretty upsetting. Whether it was in mitigation or a reality, it was reported that that donor is not at all healthy right now and suffering. If that is the case, ST definitely gave a very very bad spin on altruistic donation of kidney, as well as sale of kidney. Seriously, the operation was carried out in Singapore and the donor / seller is now complaining of ill health.
Fox, I do not know about others, but I have never claimed that saving lives, especially at all costs, should be a priority. I have disagreed with the quick fix from the start but that is the position of the proponents of organ trading. Saving lives seems to be an extremely noble cause until we investigate further. It is not so noble if we tout that as the supreme motivation but stop short of walking the talk. Which is why I asked to examine ourselves to see whether we would truly donate if we believe saving lives is of utmost importance and living with one kidney is absolutely fine.
It is not to embarrass anyone, but I feel that leading by example to donate a kidney is the best way to convince potential donors of your claims. Given the many doctors, medical experts and people who place so much importance on saving lives and who claim it is safe, if they each contribute one, we would have achieved two goals – increasing organ supply and progressing to a more gracious altruistic society. Isn’t that what the government encourages?
As for those who ask who is to judge whether the poor should sell his organ, especially since he appears happy, I would ask again – do they think anyone would sell his organ ‘voluntarily’? Would they themselves part with a kidney for money? Show me an example of someone who did so when he did not need the money.
It might seem cruel to let the dying go, but have we thought about how they arrived at that point in the first place? For those who abused their organs, is it ethical to expect others to make sacrifices? As for the argument that living donor organs are better than those from the deceased, is it justifiable to prolong one’s longevity at the expense of a helpless other?
Would things be different when I am at my deathbed? No, I will accept that it is time to go if there is no donor from HOTA. I support HOTA, although it can do with more transparency and checks, but not organ trading due to ethical and social problems. I am also not convinced that one kidney is just as good as two because those who claim it is have yet to walk the talk.
In Iran’s case, 80% or so of the organs came from the poor but only 50% or so went to them. The balance went to the not so poor and the rich. Incidentally, the rich did not contribute at all to the organ pool. And looking at the BBC article, the pathetic condition of the desperate advertising to sell their organs and the paltry and dwindling sums being offered to them, doesn’t it come across as the rich exploiting the poor and squeezing as much value from their money as possible? Are they really helping the poor? I do not wish this to happen in Singapore.
By the way, is Iran considered a first world country? Is the percentage of Muslims comparable to Singapore’s? Are we comparing apples to oranges?
"Which is why I asked to examine ourselves to see whether we would truly donate if we believe saving lives is of utmost importance and living with one kidney is absolutely fine."
I wonder if it ever occurred to you that the kidney transplant operation, like any other surgical procedure, carries the risk to complications. While I claimed that you can live fine with just one kidney, I never claimed that the transplant operation would be 100 percent safe.
The fact is, different jobs have different risks. That's why oil rig workers are paid more than oil field workers. That's why commandos in the army receive hazard allowances even though commandos live perfectly as well as other soldiers. The idea is that we compensate people properly for the risk they take.
"As for those who ask who is to judge whether the poor should sell his organ, especially since he appears happy, I would ask again – do they think anyone would sell his organ ‘voluntarily’? Would they themselves part with a kidney for money? Show me an example of someone who did so when he did not need the money."
Your house/apartment was probably built by poor foreign construction workers who did so because they needed the money. So what?
"Would things be different when I am at my deathbed? No, I will accept that it is time to go if there is no donor from HOTA."
That's your business if you object to paid living-unrelated kidney transplants. Who are you to tell others that they can't donate for money?
"In Iran’s case, 80% or so of the organs came from the poor but only 50% or so went to them. The balance went to the not so poor and the rich. Incidentally, the rich did not contribute at all to the organ pool."
So what if the rich do not their organ pool? So? The rich did not help to build the house/apartment you live in. The rich do not sign up to be grunts in the army or join the police force. The rich do not clean public toilets. The rich do not work on oil rigs. The rich do not drive taxis or buses. The rich do not work as nurses in public hospitals.
Since you consider buying services from the poor to be a bad thing, why do you live in a house/apartment? Why do you take the bus? Why do you go to hospitals? Why do you use the public toilets?
"By the way, is Iran considered a first world country?"
No. But what does it matter? How is its not being a first world country relevant to the debate?
I'm sorry to see that the pro kidney-trading arguments have grown increasingly more strident and unreasonable.
I come back to post only because of a particularly ridiculous claim that has been repeated a few times, and it would be wrong not to put it right.
Quote: donating kidney is no less safer than childbirth.
That sounds absurd to me. I'm not sure how to explain it, maybe I can get through this way: "a perfectly healthy kidney donor is no less safer than a perfectly healthy woman giving birth."
That would reveal clearly why that statement is wrong. A perfectly healthy woman giving birth is clearly not at all at any risk, or it's miniscule at most.
It is clearly dishonest for the pro kidney-trading camp to compare kidney donation by a perfectly healthy person with the average risks of childbirth, which includes the healthy mothers as well as the less than healthy and the elderly. Even if you come up with the risks being equal, you are still short-changing the healthy individual by exposing him to the greater risks of the unhealthy and the elderly.
Fox: "The needlessness of people dying when there is a ready solution disturbs me".
With increasingly complexity of medical options available, extending lives is no longer always the right answer. E.g. The introduction of DNR (Do Not Resusitate) or AMD (Advanced Medical Directives). Palliative care for the dying isn't just about taking care of their physical issues, but also about facilitating their psychological and spiritual well-being while facing death. Afterall, death is a universal end to being alive and is the final step in one's life journey.
Fox, it is very clear that we start-off from different perspectives. Unlike you, I agree with anon june 29, 2008 11:20 pm that "saving lives, especially at all costs," should NOT be a priority.
Like Dr Huang, I do not agree with the current laws that allow for unrelated living-donors. It opens big a loophole for exploitation, which the current cases cited in the news illustrate.
Fox: "I don't even get compensated for time off to prepare my self for the pre-surgical screening and the post-surgical care".
If your close family member, e.g. your mom or dad, were to need a kidney, and you're found to be a good match, would you donate? When you're donating to your mom/dad, would you be asking them to compensate you for your " time off to prepare"?
From wikipedia: Altruism focuses on a motivation to help others or a want to do good without reward.
In asking for compensation, one is not quite getting the meaning of altruism. If you're willing to do it without reward because it's your mom/dad, then kudos for being an example of the norms that only related-living donors are likely to be altruistic donors.
Fox: "In that case, where are the hordes of people who advocate the latter option and have signed up to give away their kidneys for free?"
As in the above example, it is my observation of human nature that people are likely to offer to be living-donors if it means saving their loved ones' life... again assuming that the dying hasn't already lived to a ripe old age. That's why real altruistic living donors are likely to be those with close ties. Just sharing my observation, if you want the evidence, please do your own polling and research.
Fox: "The alternative to paid living-unrelated altruistic kidney donation is unpaid living-unrelated altruistic kidney donation".
No, living-unrelated altruistic kidney donation is not the only alternative. Other alternatives include cadaver donors and facing one's death (with support from palliative care). For cadaver donors from HOTA, I think the existing system is in need of more transparency.
Fox: "Points 1 and 2 are universally ignored by people who argue against kidney donation".
Ok, just to humour you. Assuming that organ trading becomes legal, would you then offer your kidney for sale if you're given $X that will buy you a lifestyle that you can only achieve after decades of your normal work-life in Singapore? Why?
Actually I read and ignored all 5 of your points because they are irrelevant when one starts from the perspective that irreplaceable human body parts are sacrosanct. Making such a sacrosanct gift amongst living-related donor-recipient is an ultimate declaration of love. What would that say of our humanity to commercialise it? Are our relatively poorer fellow humans merely Boxers to our relatively affluent piggy-lives in Animal Farm?
What happens after years down the road when the donated kidney in the recipient fail again? Does the rich recipient procure yet another organ to further extend his life? How many persons' organ is he allowed to buy before he is ready to face the reality that death comes to all?
Me: "I would not choose to convince a poor desperate person to sell his kidney just to extend my life."
Fox: "That is extremely condescending to poor people who perform all kinds of jobs that the average richer people shun".
I don't see how my refusal to take advantage of the poor by buying his sacrosanct irreplaceable body parts condescending. On the other hand, your example is not an apple-to-apple comparison. How many of these workers will go home with an irreplaceable part of their body missing due to industrial accidents? Do the Singapore laws protect these workers and punish the guilty to minimise such risks or does it just say "ok, go ahead, have a hazardous work site because these poor workers will have Workmen Compensation anyway"? Your example seems to be on a different issue to me. Perhaps we can discuss further if Mr Wang writes in future on the plight of these foreign workers?
Fox: "It's irresponsible to make such assertions without evidence".
Ha ha ha, now you sound like a member of PAP internet brigade. Read my sentence carefully, I wrote "may" which has a different meaning from "would". Will appreciate if you explain if the govt's healthcare budget has a limit? If it has a limit, then does the budget have to be allocated to multiple competing needs? In the process of allocation, will there be some "needs" that will be forgone? How is the decision made to select the needs to be met and those to be forgone? [Somehow, in this "1st-world" Singapore, there is no "freedom of information" act that would make such detailed information available for public discourse].
Fox: "The majority of people with these conditions get it from a combination of bad health habits. I don't think taking preventative steps means that we should stop heart surgery, colonoscopy, etc".
Yes, so we agree that prevention is important. No, I didn't say to "stop heart surgery, colonoscopy, etc", those are your words which suggests yet another apple-to-oranges comparison. In fact, I support organ transplant from cadaver donors and related-living donors.
You associate buying a human organ with "buying services from the poor". Like I wrote above, we start-off from different perspectives that's why I draw my line on not legalising the trade of sacrosanct irreplaceable body parts whereas you push for organ trading as "buying a service".
"While I claimed that you can live fine with just one kidney, I never claimed that the transplant operation would be 100 percent safe."
So, the bottom line is, ”It is fine for others to take the risk and for me to encourage them to take the risk. But no thanks, I will not take the risk to be a living non-related donor/seller”?
What I do not want to be done to me, it is alright to be done to others?
I have done some searching and found that high blood pressure is an enhanced risk, and so are the side-effects of taking medication for it. In addition, donors have to incur financial costs for routine checkups, can develop psychological problems, are likely to face difficulties with insurance and have to avoid activities that are traumatic for the kidney or likely to injure it. Obesity also increases the risk of kidney failure and there are donors who actually became kidney patients themselves. And they were living related or altruistic donors who received clinical advice about the risks. Imagine what it is like for those who have to give up a kidney to strangers out of necessity and desperation instead of voluntarily.
So your claim that donors can live fine with just one kidney is not accurate.
The problem with existing research is that follow-up has been mainly focused on recipients and very few studies were done for donors. That explains why there is little evidence of risks after surgery. And findings are sometimes presented in misleading manner, such as comparing health statistics of donors to those of the general population instead of healthy individuals only. The latter should be the sample for comparison because donors monitored in the studies had to pass stringent health screening, which means the less healthy should be excluded.
"The fact is, different jobs have different risks."
Kidney donation is not a job. We can tell a beggar to get a job. But what kind of person would tell him to go sell his kidney instead of giving him some money when approached? The poor fellow isn’t a kidney factory.
In the US and other first world countries, payment for the organ is considered unethical and donors are accessed for their motivations. Compensation for operation-related costs is, however, acceptable. Payment, not compensation, is involved in organ trading. Is $20,000+ a reasonable payment for a kidney and the accompanying risks, or is it blatant exploitation of the poor? Worst still in Iran, that poor chap in the BBC article had to settle for less than $4,000? Isn’t that abhorrent? Their system can’t be working very well with people scrambling to part with their kidneys almost for free, can it?
"Your house/apartment was probably built by poor foreign construction workers who did so because they needed the money. So what?"
Again, foreign construction workers do not have to part with their organs. They are doing a job. You are confusing a job with an irreversible sacrifice – giving up an organ.
"Who are you to tell others that they can't donate for money?"
I am speaking up against the ills of organs trading and exploitation of the poor. Since when have I told them what or what not to do with their organs?
"Since you consider buying services from the poor to be a bad thing, why do you live in a house/apartment?..."
Again, comparing jobs with organ donation, apples to oranges. An organ is not a service that can be given away and reproduced repeatedly.
"How is its not being a first world country relevant to the debate?"
So, you’d rather follow the path taken by Iran than that of more civilized first world countries and turn a blind eye to the exploitation of the poor and ethical/social problems that come with organ trading?
Singapore, the first-world-with- Swiss-standard-of-living organ-trading hub?
I shall just provoke some new thought with an interesting tidbit. This is just for discussion purposes:
1. We bar the poor from selling their kidneys. For example, we say that no one is allowed to sell their kidneys unless they earn at least $50,000 a year and have the income tax returns; bank statements; and pay-slips; to prove it.
2. We then allow anyone to make their own financial offer for a kidney. They may bid as low or high as they like. For example, if a very wealthy person needs a new kidney very quickly, he may choose to offer $3,000,000 for it.
3. So there is no more question of exploiting the poor. If you earn more than $50,000 per year, you're well above the poverty line.
So Anon June 29, 2008 11:20 PM, how do you feel about this?
angry doc said...
"A perfectly healthy woman giving birth is clearly not at all at any risk, or it's miniscule at most."
The actual maternal mortality rate in Singapore is in the region of 10.4 per 100,000 births in 2006, while donor mortality rate for kidney transplant (not local) has been quoted at 0.03%, or 30 per 100,000.
In 2006, 4 maternal deaths were registered in Singapore.
The number of people awaiting transplant in Singapore is the the region of 600. If all 600 receive a transplant in a single year, the number of donor deaths would be more or less 0.18, depending on whether our local donor mortality rate is higher or lower than the quoted 0.03%. However, after 5 years only 92% of the transplanted kideneys will still be functioning well (local statistic).
Studies have shown that donors do not have shorter lifespans compared to the average population, or may live longer, but as pointed out this is due to the fact that donors are screened and deemed healthy to begin with.
In Iran, donors receive life-long health insurance from the government.
Those are some facts and figures which I think are helpful for this discussion. Of course, if one holds to the idea that body organs are sacrosanct and should only be donated in death or out of altruism, one doesn't need any figures.
To: "angry doc" - thank you for the mortality data, it's much appreciated.
However, the point I'm making is that mortality data is gathered from an entire population which include perfectly healthy individuals as well as less than healthy individuals. It does not take much intelligence to deduce that nearly all those deaths would have come from individuals who are less than perfectly healthy. Thus if we can get data that's limited to perfectly healthy individuals, then the mortality rate of childbirth for this group must logically be miniscule.
Without the required proper data, perhaps we can do a mental exercise and imagine that out of every ten deaths from childbirth, 9 would be those who are less than healthy and 1 would be of a perfectly healthy individual. Then from your data of 10.4 per 100,000 - we can estimate the mortality rate for a perfectly healthy individual to be 1.04 per 100,000.
And compare it with 30 per 100,000 for kidney donors. (On the basis that individuals who are not perfectly healthy would not be permitted to proceed with the donation.)
"That would reveal clearly why that statement is wrong. A perfectly healthy woman giving birth is clearly not at all at any risk, or it's miniscule at most."
This is just plain untrue. Without ready access to modern medical care, childbirth is as dangerous as hell even for a perfectly healthy woman. More so for repeated births. I suggest you look up statistics for maternal mortality rates in developing countries.
"Ha ha ha, now you sound like a member of PAP internet brigade. Read my sentence carefully, I wrote "may" which has a different meaning from "would". Will appreciate if you explain if the govt's healthcare budget has a limit? If it has a limit, then does the budget have to be allocated to multiple competing needs? In the process of allocation, will there be some "needs" that will be forgone?"
It is cheaper to have as many transplants as possible (provided that both the recipient and donor are fit enough).
Actually, the full cost of dialysis over several years is much greater than that of a transplant. Unsubsidised dialysis costs at least $2000 per month. The average kidney patient in Singapore waits for 7 years before getting a kidney. During that 7 years, the total dialysis fees will amount to $168,000. It's a moot point whether the government or the patient pays for it or there are subsidies from VWOs. Someone somewhere has to pay for it. We have that 7 years of waiting simply because there simply aren't enough kidneys to go around from cadavers or related donors.
Indeed, if we can cut the waiting time, then total cost to society of providing dialysis for the patient is reduced. It is cheaper to society just to have immediate transplants. You save lives and you save money.
Mr Wang:
"1. We bar the poor from selling their kidneys. For example, we say that no one is allowed to sell their kidneys unless they earn at least $50,000 a year and have the income tax returns; bank statements; and pay-slips; to prove it.
No, Mr Wang. That will never work. Rich people who buy kidneys are wicked people, according to the moral brigade. Rather, we should impose an income cap on kidney recipients.
I suggest that only people who make less than $30,000 per annum be eligible for kidney tranplants. Basically, since only poor people will sell their kidneys, which the government will buy, it is only right that other poor people get it. If these poor people cannot afford the kidney transplant, we can subsidise them fully or partially.
For those who are worried about the exploitation of the poor by the rich, are you happy now?
What the hell. We'll still save more lives that way.
"Without the required proper data, perhaps we can do a mental exercise and imagine that out of every ten deaths from childbirth, 9 would be those who are less than healthy and 1 would be of a perfectly healthy individual."
We know that certain medical conditions put certain pregnancies at high risk, but the two major causes of maternal mortality - eclampsia and pulmonary embolism - can and does affect women with no pre-existing medical history.
Perhaps it is possible to calculate retrospectively the mortality rates in women who would have passed as kidney donors vs those who would not, but since we do not restrict women from getting pregnant, this data will not be readily available but will require much digging.
In other words, I don't have the data to say whether it is 1 in 10 or 9 in 10.
Nevertheless, even if we assume all maternal mortality to be from healthy women, the rate is still much lower than donor mortality. It is also worth noting that Singapore has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world.
To Robert L:
And compare it with 30 per 100,000 for kidney donors. (On the basis that individuals who are not perfectly healthy would not be permitted to proceed with the donation.)"
1. Kidney donors are not screened for perfect health. They are screened for risk factors (heart condition, kidney failure, cancer, etc). Hence, your assumption that only perfectly healthy individuals are permitted to donate does not hold.
2. The median age of a living donor in developed countries is 51. What is the median age of a child-bearing mother?
3. Pregnancy is self-selective. Obviously, less healthy individuals have a lower chance of carrying the baby to full term or even getting pregnant at all.
In any case, what material difference is there between 99.97 and 99.99 percent survival rates? Whatever difference there is pales in comparison to the figure that only 5 to 10 percent of people with kidney failures in Singapore will live to obtain a kidney transplant.
Or even the number that 97 percent 5-year survival rate for patients who received living-donor kidneys vs. 92 percent for cadaveric kidneys.
To Fox -
it's between 99.970 and 99.999
Mr Wang and Fox,
Interesting proposals but my gut feel is they won't solve the problem either of socio-ethics or shortening the queue. Or it going to be a humongous task to plug loopholes in the system.
Mr Wang: If we draw a line using income cap, people with high income will not sell. We've have seen that it is the poor and desperate who need the money who will sell. Even in Singapore, people will buy but think twice about selling. So it is not likely to help to enlarge the organ pool.
Then it also brings to question the rationale "who is to tell potential donors what to do with their organs?" If I am above the cap but want to sell for charity, how? For more children's education, how?
And what should be the cap? What about overseas donors, if they are allowed? What about 'altruistic' not related donors?
Also, income figures can be easily manipulated. I do not have that much confidence in our civil service to do a good job at screening and being transparent about it.
Fox's proposal, I tend to agree more with (only technically, not morally), but we are now discriminating against the rich for being rich. And, it probably won't work because there will be an underground market still. So what is the point of legalizing?
My preliminary thoughts, not done thinking about the implications and plausibility.
I still think other measures such as HOTA, encouraging related donors and medical research should take priority over organ trading.
Pallative care's point about being prepared to die is also worth thinking about, IMO.
"I still think other measures such as HOTA, encouraging related donors and medical research should take priority over organ trading.
Pallative care's point about being prepared to die is also worth thinking about, IMO."
But none of these things are mutually exclusive. Legalising organ trading doesn't mean that there will be no more palliative care; or that scientists will stop doing medical research; or that altruistic donations by relatives will come to an end.
To me, all these "considerations" for not legalising organ trading are just red herrings, false reasons, thrown out by people who are against organ trading, but aren't actually able to articulate why they have such objections.
"Fox's proposal, I tend to agree more with (only technically, not morally), but we are now discriminating against the rich for being rich. And, it probably won't work because there will be an underground market still. So what is the point of legalizing?"
TO SAVE PEOPLE'S LIVES!!!! If we can make one more kidney available, it means one more life saved. Isn't that obvious?
None of the 'problems' you proffered are inherent in a policy of paid living-unrelated kidney donation.
By the way, donating your kidney to your family member is not altruism. It's a gift, but it is not altruism. I will personally be embarrassed to call myself altruistic for giving money to my family members or relations. On the other hand, giving money or help to strangers without expecting anything in return is universally recognized as altruism.
To those who advocate altruistic-only donations:
And let's suppose you have have end stage kidney failure and need a transplant and none of your family members can donate a kidney for medical reasons. A living donor gives you a kidney. Are you really comfortable with the situation that he/she underwent the discomfort of a surgery, sacrificed one of his/her kidneys for you, saved your life and you are not repaying him with anything at all within your means?
I would feel very ashamed if I were such a recipient.
To anon at July 7, 2008 9:43 AM: "But none of these things are mutually exclusive. ... To me, all these "considerations" for not legalising organ trading are just red herrings, false reasons, thrown out by people who are against organ trading, but aren't actually able to articulate why they have such objections".
That's your perspective. I wrote earlier on July 4, 2008 11:02 PM that I start "from the perspective that irreplaceable human body parts are sacrosanct". Unless and until the body parts proposed for legalised sale can be regenerated by the donor, I'm against legalising organ trading. Whether the other options are mutually exclusive or not are irrelevant based on the sacrosanct irreplaceable body parts stand. If the concept of "sacrosanct irreplaceable body parts" is somehow not acceptable as an articulate objection to you, then that's just the limitations to your mind.
The options that you called "red herrings" are put there for those in the pro-legalisation camp to open their minds to other options instead of focusing on saving lives at all costs and losing the big picture as a result.
Angrydoc understood that when he wrote on July 5, 2008 9:27 AM, "Of course, if one holds to the idea that body organs are sacrosanct and should only be donated in death or out of altruism, one doesn't need any figures".
Both you and Fox seem to enjoy reading selectively and answering based only on the numbers game. Difficult long-term impact questions are ignored. Why?
Some examples of long-term impact questions from me:
Assuming that organ trading becomes legal, would you then offer your kidney for sale if you're given $X that will buy you a lifestyle that you can only achieve after decades of your normal work-life in Singapore? Why?
Sorry, Mr Wang, for cut-and-paste and taking up your precious blog space.
Fox at July 7, 2008 10:55 AM: "A living donor gives you a kidney. Are you really comfortable with the situation that he/she underwent the discomfort of a surgery, sacrificed one of his/her kidneys for you, saved your life and you are not repaying him with anything at all within your means?"
Just take a look at the 2 cases that surfaced in the news. One of the recipient reported to be a director of CK Tangs, and yet all that was offered to the living donor is a miserly less than $30K, or 16 years of paid-labour based on donor's potential Indonesian wages. Would you call that repaying the donor "with anything at all" within the donor's means? I wouldn't. One wonders if the recipient even offered to pay the donor's legal fees and court fines.
Fox at July 7, 2008 10:55 AM: "I would feel very ashamed if I were such a recipient".
Yes, unfortunately there is already a known case of such a recipient. Do you think you can expect more of such "shameful recipients" (by your standards) if organ trading is legalised?
Just to point out that the your hypothetical scenario cuts both ways depending on the "gratefulness" of the recipient. In living-related cases, the "gratefulness" level is likely to be higher as the donation is often seen as an act of love. But in the living-unrelated cases, or even the living-unrelated "sell-me-your-organ-as-a-service" cases ... I don't know because I don't have the numbers, but the above CK Tang director serves as an example.
As you've noted before, hypothetically if I'm in the same situation where there are no related-living or cadaver donors available, I would refuse to take advantage of the poor by buying his sacrosanct irreplaceable body parts. Thus the above is moot to me, but still thanks for exercising my brains. :-)
Altruism involves sacrifice, and giving a kidney without anything in return is altruistic, regardless of who the recipient is.
I would be very grateful to an altruistic donor but returning that kindness with $$$ is an insult to an altruistic giver. Studies have shown that altruistic donors actually enjoy psychological rewards and feel better about themselves, sometimes even more important, because they feel they have made a difference, a great difference. That is why I believe in related altruistic giving. Unrelated giving may also be altruistic, but unlikely, therefore my reservations.
I will thank my donor in other forms, like cultivating a caring relationship with his family, helping him find a job, taking care of the kidney he gave me etc. It does not have to be money all the time.
As I have explained in earlier posts, saving lives is noble, but not always, depending on the motives.
I agree that all alternatives can run concurrently, but having seen the difficulties in implementing fair and ethical system for organ trading and the social implications, the vast amount of resources and likely outcomes, I feel it is more worth the while to concentrate on encouraging related donations, educating the public to take care of their organs, research, HOTA - the existing efforts which, to me, not much effort has been put into.
My reasons are:
1 I suspect many of the cases are due to organ abuse than ageing or accidents, that is, patients are responsible to the state they are in. If that is the case, we would be encouraging more abuse if people know the can more easily obtain a replacement. We might then be putting ourselves in a 'slippery slope' scenario. Ok, I know Fox doesn't like slippery slopes.
2 As I have suspected, while Singaporeans are receptive to receiving, even buying an organ, they are not as willing to part with it. I may be slammed for sitting on a high horse, but I need to say this - it is a very selfish attitude. This attitude will worsen if we allow it to breed through materialism, that everything can be bought with money, the ugly Singaporean will become uglier, and the poor become more desperate and helpless because we will come to a point where nobody cares for anyone else in a 'me first' society.
I would even support priority given to patients who have not abused their organs to be fair to them.
One may say life is unfair, so we may as well accept fact that we will always have the poor. But if we accept that life is unfair, then we should also accept that some of us will be destined to die from kidney failure. If we think those against organ trading is robbing our loved ones of their lives, then we should volunteer to part with our organs.
If life is unfair and we should accept it, then we should stop complaining about the rich benefiting from government policies and inflation and not being able to vote etc.
And it is too presumptuous to assert that those opposing organ trading are "armchair moralists" who have not been through similar or worse situations than kidney patients or who do not walk the talk. People who say that think they are the only ones who are suffering and the rest have an obligation to solve their problem, to the extent of expecting others to sacrifice for them, and in the same breath claim that life is unfair and it should be accepted. They are contradicting themselves.
The gist is, we need to tackle the problem at the roots.
Organ trading is a quick fix that may solve the symptoms, but not without repurcussions. That's how I look at it and came to my conclusions. Just like the abuse of our environment, if we do not change our attitudes and way of life, no matter how many remedies there are, we will still face a crisis and/or repercussions.
I think we have come to a saturation point. I have said all I needed to and given feedback when asked.
Smoking, alcohol and drugs increase the risk of kidney failure.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/11516.php
http://www.aakp.org/aakp-library/Alcohol-consumption/
http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=44
I think that to date no one has quite been able to refute the willing buyer willing seller argument.
The case for organ selling does hold some merit on the grounds that it will increase supply.
The challenges will probably be
1. how to determine who is a willing seller
2. since such legalization will constitute an intangible cost to becoming a dollar driven society, whether this intangible cost will be considered prohibitively large.
It is probably a judgement call that may change with the mindset of the citizenry. In the ideal situation, a parallel to this would be the case of claiming a cut of charity proceeds, which is already quite prevalent in our society.
"Altruism involves sacrifice, and giving a kidney without anything in return is altruistic, regardless of who the recipient is.
I would be very grateful to an altruistic donor but returning that kindness with $$$ is an insult to an altruistic giver."
That is a rather ridiculous argument. Anyone who would feel so insulted can always choose not to sell his organ, or not to donate it at all.
By analogy, the medical profession is also a noble one, similarly concerned with saving lives. But what would you say that it is an insult for doctors to receive payment for their services?
"Organ trading is a quick fix that may solve the symptoms, but not without repurcussions."
Your problem is that up to now, you are unable to give any clear explanation of what you think the repercussions are.
- You talk about palliative care. But that is an irrelevant point. Palliative care can go on, regardless of whether organ trading is legalised or not.
- You talk about altruistic donations. But that is an irrelevant point. People can continue to make altruistic donations, regardless of whether organ trading is legalised or not.
- You talk about the importance of people accepting death. Sure, if we can't do anything for them. But if we can save their lives, why not save their lives? If we go by your kind of reasoning, we might as well shut down the A&E ward in every hospital.
- You complain about the price of organs. Okay, then propose some rules to fix the price. Isn't hat rather obvious.
- You say that some people abuse their organs. Okay, then propose some rules on how people who abuse through organs will have lower priority for buying organs. Again, isn't that obvious.
I apologize for spelling out the obvious but there is an obvious penalty for people who do not take care of their bodies. It's called poor health.
To palliative care:
""from the perspective that irreplaceable human body parts are sacrosanct"
Human eggs are not sacrosanct even though female humans are born with a finite number of eggs. You can't replace a human egg.
That's also why we harvest organs from the dead. If organs are really sacrosanct, you shouldn't even be even thinking about getting kidneys from cadavers.
Look how silly your assumption is. I'm sure the goalposts are going to be shifted in another post where you will claim that rule only applies to live humans. But ask yourself again, before you post again, why are the organs of the dead not sacrosanct? Why this special privilege for the living?
"What happens after years down the road when the donated kidney in the recipient fail again?"
You're not reading whatever I and others have said. In a system where organs are sold to the government, priority for organ transplant is based on medical reasons.
This problem is not even inherent to a paid living-unrelated kidney transplant system. When people have a second kidney failure in the current system, they are screened for medical suitability before put back on the waiting list. 20 percent of cadaveric kidneys fail within 5 years anyway.
"Assuming that organ trading becomes legal, would you then offer your kidney for sale if you're given $X that will buy you a lifestyle that you can only achieve after decades of your normal work-life in Singapore? Why?"
Actually, I'm more than willing to sell my kidney provided that
(1) Kidney trade is legal. This is to ensure that in the case that one of my family members or friends need one and I have only one remaining kidney, I can buy another one for them.
(2) A lot of money and adequate health insurance for the rest of my life.
"Just a thought that restricting both donor and recipients to Singapore Citizens or Singapore PRs may not prevent abuse, it merely raises the price higher."
Of course. You can have other safeguards. All kidney transplants in Singapore have to be screened by an ethics committee. If the donor get his citizenship only 2 weeks before the operation, isn't it a tad suspicious?
"However, the newly-minted Singapore citizen/PR organ donor is left behind to depend on the Singapore healthcare."
Yah. And the immigration service is all staffed by idiots.
"Just take a look at the 2 cases that surfaced in the news. One of the recipient reported to be a director of CK Tangs, and yet all that was offered to the living donor is a miserly less than $30K, or 16 years of paid-labour based on donor's potential Indonesian wages. Would you call that repaying the donor "with anything at all" within the donor's means? I wouldn't. One wonders if the recipient even offered to pay the donor's legal fees and court fines."
I said with anything, not everything.
"Altruism involves sacrifice, and giving a kidney without anything in return is altruistic, regardless of who the recipient is."
Don't be stupid, lah. Giving something to your family members is obviously in your interest. All the rich people who bequeath their wealth to their kids are not being altruistic. We call those who give their money to charities altruistic, not those who give money to their relatives.
"1 I suspect many of the cases are due to organ abuse than ageing or accidents, that is, patients are responsible to the state they are in. If that is the case, we would be encouraging more abuse if people know the can more easily obtain a replacement. We might then be putting ourselves in a 'slippery slope' scenario. Ok, I know Fox doesn't like slippery slopes.
There are two problems with that.
(1) Not everyone has control over their health. Not everyone can take care of themselves. Some people, especially the poor, just don't have the time or the knowledge to take care of their health. By the way, diabetes, a leading cause of kidney failure, is more prevalent in the lower socio-economic classes in the United States than amongst rich people. Great. Now, you want to penalize the poor!
(2) Why even bother to have subsidized healthcare? You're only encouraging people to get fall ill. You sound just like that island-state government that says that we shouldn't have social welfare because it will encourage people to be jobless and lazy.
Fox: "Human eggs are not sacrosanct even though female humans are born with a finite number of eggs. You can't replace a human egg".
You're right, egg is not replaceable. Fact: An egg (occyte) that is not fertilised is naturally expelled from the body. Can you say the same of kidneys?
Fox: "That's also why we harvest organs from the dead. If organs are really sacrosanct, you shouldn't even be even thinking about getting kidneys from cadavers".
Fox: "Why this special privilege for the living?"
IMHO irreplaceable organs are sacrosanct, be it in a dead or living person.
It is my observation that most cultures do respect the bodies of the dead. Doesn't that implies some kind of sacrosanctity? How many would mind if the healthcare professionals treat the bodies of their recently deceased relatives as a piece of meat?
Btw, not everyone agree with HOTA in its current opt-out form where "we harvest organs from the dead" without their explicit consent (i.e. opt-in while alive) and the next-of-kin cannot intervene. IMHO, it lacks respect for both the deceased and the relatives left behind. Healthcare professionals even become accused of body snatching when saving a life at all costs.
By changing HOTA back to opt-in, it'll be like the deceased giving an altruistic donation of their organs (having declared their intentions/willingness to do so while alive and competent). Albeit that the donation is done only after they've passed away and therefore 100% sure that they won't be using the organ. I have no objections to altruistic donation by those dead/alive. See my earlier post on why for the living altruistic donation, it is likely to be only from related donor-recipient.
Fox: "In a system where organs are sold to the government, priority for organ transplant is based on medical reasons".
IMHO, how can you be so sure of that? Even HOTA as it stands now lacks transparency. The NKF-fiasco is a good example that even when starting out with good intentions, without transparency, things may go wrong.
Fox: "Actually, I'm more than willing to sell my kidney provided that
(2) A lot of money and adequate health insurance for the rest of my life".
Good that you walk the talk. Btw, how much is "a lot of money"? Is 16 years of your work-pay based on your expected Singaporean salary enough? What exactly is "adequate health insurance for the rest of my life"? What are the difficulties to ensure that the above 2 conditions are met for all potential organ sellers? What are the costs of meeting these conditions? Any other safeguards/conditions that need to be implemented? Would legalised organ trading still be feasible after taking all that into account?
Fox: "Of course. You can have other safeguards. All kidney transplants in Singapore have to be screened by an ethics committee. If the donor get his citizenship only 2 weeks before the operation, isn't it a tad suspicious?"
Implementation details such as these should also be openly discussed for the pro-legalisation camp to support their agenda. As often quoted, the devil is in the details. Singapore's medical-hub reputation is at stake here. Kudos to Mr Wang for writing this blog entry to open up issues for discussion.
Fox: "Yah. And the immigration service is all staffed by idiots".
http://www.mrbrownshow.com/2008/06/30
/the-mrbrown-show-speedy-clearance/
/the-mrbrown-show-the-great-escape-2/
/the-mrbrown-show-you-are-so-champion/
Fox: "I said with anything, not everything."
Hypothetically that you're a legal organ buyer. What would you be offering when you claimed that you are willing to pay the donor "with anything at all". Less than 30K or 16 years of paid-labour based on donor's potential Indonesian wages = "anything at all"? "Sell-me-your-organ-as-a-service" exploitation does not come into mind?
Just to throw a spanner into the works. Is saving a life at all costs so important in our Singapore society? If so, what's capital punishment which takes away lives doing here?
As tl77 said: "It is probably a judgement call that may change with the mindset of the citizenry".
No system is foolproof. There is no 100 percent guarantee that there will be no abuses within the system - be it one with altruistic unpaid living-related kidney donation or with paid-living unrelated kidney donations. There is no need to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater simply because abuses can occur during the implementation.
Most of the objections you proffer are NOT inherent to the system of paid living-unrelated kidney donations. Take for example, the current case for Mr Tang who stands accused of trying to pay for a kidney transplant that was reported in the media. One patient, Juliana Soh, got her kidney by lying that the donor was a distant relative from Indonesia. Obviously, the current system failed in this one instance. Going by the conditions you impose, in which a policy cannot be implemented if abuses cannot be 100 percent prevented, does it mean that the policy of living-related kidney transplant should be scrapped immediately?
There are problems even with living-related donations. For example, relatives can be emotionally coerced to donate their kidneys. Why haven't you considered emotional coercion? It is also possible that money gifts are offered to living-related donors. Are you absolutely sure that no financial incentives are offered to living-related donors? I am sure that you aren't. Why do you then insist that we have to be absolutely sure that living-unrelated donors do not receive any financial incentives before allowing them to donate? You have to be consistent.
People can also get married to become 'related'. There are no objections to spousal donation in the current system. Obviously, these abuses are minimized (but not completely eliminated) because donors are screened by an ethics committee. That was, incidentally, how one of the Indonesian donors were detected. What makes you think such an ethics committee will be any less effective in living-unrelated kidney transplant cases?
"You're right, egg is not replaceable. Fact: An egg (occyte) that is not fertilised is naturally expelled from the body. Can you say the same of kidneys?"
As predicted, you have shifted the goalposts. Your original objection was that we cannot take irreplaceable body parts out of people because they are sacrosanct. You used the very word 'irreplaceable'. Now, obviously, you've come up with the argument that something is 'irreplaceable' is not a sufficient condition to object to the removal of irreplaceable human parts.
"Just to throw a spanner into the works. Is saving a life at all costs so important in our Singapore society? If so, what's capital punishment which takes away lives doing here?"
I am vehemently against capital punishment in Singapore, though not the principle of capital punishment.
Are you really serious about comparing kidney failure patients with convicted murderers?
i suggest that the benefiter(normally the buyer) signs a lifetime bond which pays a lump apprecaition sum plus a monthly remuneration to the donor(the seller).
1) the seller(normally poor) can ensure a lifetime of monthly income, as compensation to their inability to do strenuous work.
technically, the life of the seller is saved.
2) the buyer(usually freaking rich)’s life is owed by the donor and his wealth should be shared with his savior. for every month he is alive, he owes his life to the seller, thus the justification of a monthly remuneration.
a win-win situation :D
To Fox:
Did I write "100 percent guarantee"? Those are your words. If you can't get the gist of the part of my message which leads you to jump into conclusion of putting "100 percent guarantee" into my mouth, that's just a sad reflection of your unwillingness or inability to understand.
Fox in earlier post: "That's also why we harvest organs from the dead. If organs are really sacrosanct, you shouldn't even be even thinking about getting kidneys from cadavers.
Look how silly your assumption is. I'm sure the goalposts are going to be shifted in another post where you will claim that rule only applies to live humans".
Fox in most recent post: "As predicted, you have shifted the goalposts. Your original objection was that we cannot take irreplaceable body parts out of people because they are sacrosanct".
Go ahead, read your 2 posts above. The shift is yours in your assumptions about my beliefs. Did I write "rule only applies to live humans" or "cannot take irreplaceable body parts out of people because they are sacrosanct" (under all circumstances as implied)? Nope, those are all your words, your implications and your assumptions.
I wrote "irreplaceable organs are sacrosanct, be it in a dead or living person", "making such a sacrosanct gift amongst living-related donor-recipient is an ultimate declaration of love" and "by changing HOTA back to opt-in, it'll be like the deceased giving an altruistic donation of their organs (having declared their intentions/willingness to do so while alive and competent). Albeit that the donation is done only after they've passed away and therefore 100% sure that they won't be using the organ".
Fox: "Are you really serious about comparing kidney failure patients with convicted murderers?"
You are the one who wrote: "The needlessness of people dying when there is a ready solution disturbs me". Think of your principle behind that statement of yours. Only you know if your principle which generated that statement applies equally to "kidney failure patients with convicted murderers". Hope you're using the words "convicted murderers" only symbolically, because capital punishment is not only for "murder", nor is "murder" the offence that contributed to the most capital punishment cases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Capital_punishment_in_Singapore
Fox, you're the one who wrote: "Human eggs are not sacrosanct even though female humans are born with a finite number of eggs. You can't replace a human egg."
I already agreed on your technical correctness of egg being irreplaceable. I wrote: "You're right, egg is not replaceable. Fact: An egg (occyte) that is not fertilised is naturally expelled from the body. Can you say the same of kidneys?". My reply is to point out the fact that until menopause arrives, a woman's body expels the old unfertilised egg (occyte) and develops a newly matured egg (occyte) each cycle, so functionally speaking a female in her reproductive years has a "new" egg every cycle, but do your body dispose of an unused kidney and re-generate a new kidney naturally? I would expect someone with basic reading skills and common bio knowledge to understand the difference.
Fox, I tired of your selective (mis-)interpretation, your rudeness (which I ignore and try to avoid quoting) and your habit of putting words into others' mouth. Looks like further debate with you will only reap more of the above habits of yours. I will not debate with you on this further.
Copied from Straits Times 10 July (yesterday):
NEW YORK - James Levine will have a kidney removed in surgery this week, causing the conductor to miss the remainder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood season.
His kidney is being removed because of a cyst that is causing discomfort.
(I have been a fan of Levine since his Chicago Symphony days.)
So goes another myth that having both kidneys do not serve any purpose. Good thing for Levine that the cyst occurs in one kidney and he has another to fall back on.
So far, we have been bombarded with a string of myths:
- The risks are the same as childbirth
- You lead a normal life after kidney donation
- Lifespan is not affected
- You don't need two kidneys
I wonder what motivate individuals to make such incredibly false claims?
I've been a reader of your blog for a while now and appreciate the views that you presented. Food for thoughts indeed. I do have a question here which I hope you can give some insight. If we have HOTA, why are we still short for organs for transplant? How many organs are acquired for transplant via HOTA?
"So goes another myth that having both kidneys do not serve any purpose. Good thing for Levine that the cyst occurs in one kidney and he has another to fall back on."
No one said that both kidneys do not serve any purpose.
If Levine had Polycystic kidney disease, he would have been contraindicated for kidney donation anyway since the disease is hereditary and people with such conditions are usually excluded from donation.
"- The risks are the same as childbirth"
Yes, they are. The 0.03 percent donor mortality of kidney donation operations is taken from the US study in 2001 of 10,000 operations. The corresponding figure for maternal mortality in America in 2000 is 0.017 percent. These numbers are comparable.
"- You lead a normal life after kidney donation"
You CAN lead a normal life after kidney donation subjected to certain restrictions. Obviously contact sports are out.
"- Lifespan is not affected"
Where is the proof that lifespan is affected?
"I wonder what motivate individuals to make such incredibly false claims?"
Of course, you do realize that the ranks of these motivated individuals include renal transplant surgeons, nephrologists, etc.
To Anon July 11, 2008 5:13 PM:
"If we have HOTA, why are we still short for organs for transplant?"
You usually need organs from fairly healthy adults, such as people who die from automobile or work accidents. They also have to die in hospital for organ transplantation to occur. The very low fatality rate from traffic accidents in Singapore reduces the organ donor pool.
The vast majority of people in Singapore will die of age-related ailments under more fortunate and comforting conditions. Their organs are usually not suitable for donation.
Well, since Mr fox has not resorted to insults in his latest post, I will address his points.
We have dealt with this before. Mortality rates quoted for childbirth are for the general population. All females, including kidney patients, diabetics, whatever, are eligible for childbirth.
In contrast, kidney donors have already been screened from many ailments, they are mostly healthy. To compare these two mortality rates would be disingenuous.
"... subject to certain restrictions. ... contact sports are out." Need I say more?
Okay, more then. In most cases, donors have to take medication for long periods of their life to suppress something, not sure what. So what else are they not telling us? The fact that mainstream media has kept this from us must surely set off our alarm bells?
Official studies have indicated that kidney donors are not any worse than the population average. This is the same flaw as in the fatality rates of childbirth. Comparing a healthy group who have had one of their kidneys removed, with the health of the general population. The general population includes those with kidney disease, heart disease, cancer, AIDs and so on.
Why don't they do the same study with a control group who have been screened and cleared for kidney donation, but who did not donate but kept their two healthy kidneys? That's a rhetorical question, obviously that's not possible, I raised it only to show the obvious that those donors should have lived longer if they had not donated.
[fox said: "Of course, you do realize that the ranks of these motivated individuals include renal transplant surgeons, nephrologists, etc."]
Too true, and it remains to be seen if these individuals are entirely without guilt in the two illegal cases that came to light at Mt E Hospital.
Plus, I wonder if other observers are, like me, disappointed that even now, those members of the ethics committee do not step down and admit that their committee had no effective means to fulfill their duty, when it's obvious to any of us observing how their mistake occurred.
"We have dealt with this before. Mortality rates quoted for childbirth are for the general population. All females, including kidney patients, diabetics, whatever, are eligible for childbirth.
No. I've said this before: pregnancy is self-selective for health and age. For example, no women above the age of 45 can undergo childbirth. Almost all Singaporean women who are pregnant are between 18 and 44. Allow me to suggest that people in this age group are healthier than the rest of the population since they are far less likely to be have hypertension, diabetes, cancer, etc. Also, many types of medications are contraindicated for pregnancy. This means that people who are taking such medications are usually advised not to get pregnant. You can exclude such individuals from the pool of people who can get pregnant. People with pre-existing conditions (anaemia, hypertension, etc) that might lead to birth complications are usually discouraged from pregnancy.
Come on, trying reading what I've written before.
"In most cases, donors have to take medication for long periods of their life to suppress something, not sure what."
Recipients have to take to take immunosuppressants, not donors. Donors don't have to take any long term medication.
"That's a rhetorical question, obviously that's not possible, I raised it only to show the obvious that those donors should have lived longer if they had not donated."
That is not 'obvious' to anyone. Yes, there is no direct evidence that donor lifespan is not reduced compared to non-donors in the same health condition. However, there is also no evidence for the opposite.
I am not sure how true this is but I heard only Changi Prison is equiped with the equipment to keep the body functioning after a person is dead. Organs of convicts who get the death sentence are harvest. Apparently hospitals in Singapore do not have the capability. So whatever the reason a person dies at the hospital, the only viable organ to be transplanted is the cornea. So my point is while having HOTA is good for the nation, serves no purpose if there is no infrastucture to implement it well.
I do not agree with you. However complete the legal framework, organ trading IS an exploitation of the poor and desperate. If someone (geylang prostitute) is so desperate that she has to sell her organs, we probably should do something to help her (send her daughters to school for free), not take away her kidney!
The fact that exploitation of the poor (by making them do dangerous or dirty job for little pay) is already prevalent in our society does not make it right.
Since 'the seller will have every reasonable expectation of being able to live normally', how much will it cost to buy your kidney? I won't sell mine for any amount of money and i think we can safely assume that neither would you. Only the most desperate can be expected to be involved. Why not set up a system for them to sell their children or their children's kidneys to exploit them a little more?
I wonder how many on the organ waiting list are in their health predicament due to an unhealthy lifestyle. Do they all deserve a second chance?
I think there are good reasons why iran is the only country that has legalized organ trading.
According to renal doctor, although a donor may not regenerate a new kidney, the remaining kidney will grow in size by 20% to 30% to compensate for a loss of a kidney. If I recall correctly, a kidney donor had died after a kidney transplant in Singapore. It was due to internal bleeding when a "clip" had come off after operations.
If kidney trading is legalised, there is a need to ensure that the donor is not exploited. He must be a willing donor and not one forced by someone else - other family members or loan sharks. Besides the donor's consent, consents should also be obtained from his parents and spouse. They have the right to object to the trade.
In addition, they should be given medical insurance and priority for transplant when their remaining kidney fails.
Government should stop passing the buck. Today they do not subsidise a single cent for kidney dialysis. Unlike other donations, any donations to NKF and KDF, there is no dollar-to-dollar match by the government. Now, they are considering to pass the responsibility of financial compensation to the donor to a third party - a voluntary welfare organisation or religious body.
Worse still, they will be considering to withhold the compensation in the donor's CPF account. If the donor is not desperate, why will he bother to offer to give up an organ?
If I recall correctly, a harvested organ has to be transplanted within 48 hours.
What if a poor person is in need of a organ???
Question: In this case if we were to be poor does this mean that we have no right to live on?
Reason: People whom is in the waiting list are most probably be those whom is poor. For those whom is wealthy enough would have the privilege to get a organ to save their life first as they could easily afford that huge sum of money. That put the less wealthy people at great disadvantage.
w. ling said...
come on. you guys have been talking on this topic for so long and this system has not been legalised? i strongly approved that this should be legalised! try putting yourself in those people who need organs's shoe.. you're dying. but you are still in the waiting list, and there are hundreds of people queuing in front of you. what can you do? wait to die?
of course till then you will hope someone will sell their organs to you right?? and it doesn't mean you are going to cut queue in order to save yourself..
if this system is legalised soon, people will starts to sell their organs, and get a fair sum as a compensation to them.. and the waiting list will be shorten down like so much faster!
and! transplant is like some much better than dialysis.. imagine looking at your family member going for eg. kidney dialysis for some hrs.. how much pain they have to suffer? of course, a transplant is always better than dialysis isn't it? if not why people queue for transplant?
since people are willing to sell. and buy.. yup, why not legalise right :)
and and, i think, if a poor person is in need of a organ, i believe the hospital could subsidy? based on how much they earn? :) and i think this system should be like... queue in the waiting list too? since they are people selling, i'm sure people gets cured alot lot faster.
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News : A FINAL RACE WEEKEND TO REMEMBER FOR TEAM FXPRIMUS AYLEZO
Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia 2014 Round 11 & 12 Final (Sepang International Circuit)
Team FXPrimus Aylezo at the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo World Finals 2014
Team FXPrimus Aylezo fought hard during the final Blancpain Lamborghini Super Trofeo race weekend to claim one podium at Sepang International Circuit today. The team drove well despite the heat in the first race, finishing third and under wet conditions during race two, finishing fifth in class.
The team suffered from electrical and suspension issues in race one but still managed to set impressive times to finish on the podium in the morning race. Afiq Yazid started the race for the team from third on the grid and immediately passed the second placed car at the start. From there, he pushed on and a few laps later managed to overtake the leading car and held on to the lead all the way, passing the car to Zen Low in P1.
“I am happy with the results of the race today with the podium. My stint was good, I had a really good start and I managed to overtake the second placed car almost immediately. The weather was really hot and at the end of about five laps I started to struggle with the car.
“I managed to put a little bit of pressure on the car in front and at turn two he made a mistake, I think he missed a gear. So I had my opportunity to overtake him at the next turn on the inside.
“Towards the end of my stint, the tyres had degraded from the hot weather, but I knew I had to reserve the tyres for Zen when I handed the car over so from there I braked smooth and braked early to conserve as much as I can. We will however have to make some setup changes for the second race as it is expected to be hotter, so we will have to conserve the tyres a bit more” ended Afiq.
Zen took over the car and as he went out, the team lost one position after a slower pit-stop but Zen kept his head down and tried to maintain his position as best he can with degrading tyres. “At the driver change, we lost some time at the pit as we had to reset the car after the car started to overheat while on standstill. We lost about four to five seconds there. As I went out, the second placed car passed me for the lead. I managed to hold on to second for a few laps but as the race went on the tyres degraded further and it started to slide everywhere and it just wasn’t driveable. As Afiq said, the weather was so hot that the tyres wore off.
“There was nothing I could do but just kept my head down and pushed as hard as I can, but another car passed and that was about it. We managed to bring the car home safely in third, I am not very happy but that was the best that I could do.
The team then immediately focused on race two and just ten minutes before the start, the skies opened up and a wet race was declared leaving the final race to start behind the safety car. Conditions only improved halfway through the first stint as the rain stopped and the track began to dry out. At the stop, the team opted to change to slicks as Zen passed the car over to Afiq.
The team’s decision proved costly as the track took longer than usual to dry up, leaving Afiq to struggle with the car throughout the first half of his stint. Too much time was lost and the team could only manage to finish the race fifth in class.
“We made some adjustments to the car as the car was suffering from a lot of understeer. After three laps behind the safety car and midway through the race, the rain stopped. But I was having a lot of understeer again and our Race Engineer just told me to take it easy. Right before I pit-in, 60-70% of the track was drying out, so he asked me ‘what do you think’ and to me I think Afiq can handle it so we decided to go with slicks, but unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off” said Zen dejectedly after the race.
“As I went out, in the first few laps it was very very slippery as the track was still mostly damp and wet in some spots. On top of that, we lost about one and a half laps during the pit-stop. It was just the wrong timing, maybe another 20 minutes and the track would have been completely dry.
“At the end, the team did a really good job but its racing and anything can happen. Luck was just not on our side during the second race. The Championship is done and now we just have to learn from today and look ahead to a new season next year” ended Afiq.
Team FXPrimus Aylezo would like to thank all its sponsors for all their support throughout the year, and is looking forward to a stronger year in 2015.
The 2014 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia has taken the team to five race circuits around Asia, beginning in May at Sepang International Circuit before heading to Indonesia, to Japan and China before returning to Malaysia for the finale and the World Final.
Follow Aylezo on www.aylezo.com and catch the snippets of Team FXPrimus Aylezo’s programme on the site and through its social media sites including www.facebook.com/aylezo and www.twitter.com/aylezo. The full programmes will be aired in 2015.
Team FXPrimus Aylezo is backed by FXPrimus, Prime Mantle Corporation, JH Italia, Lamborghini Kuala Lumpur, Prince Lubricants, Ecotint, CapitalTV, Splices TV, Ztro, Pholio, FX:1 Academy, Automotive Synergy.
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Littleton Coin Founder Maynard Sundman to Join American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame
January 8, 2016 By Coin Update 3 Comments
Littleton Coin Company has shared the following press release:
The American Philatelic Society recently announced that Maynard Sundman (1915-2007), founder of Littleton Coin Company and former owner of Mystic Stamp Company has been named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame class of 2015.
The award, established in 1940, annually honors collectors posthumously for a lifetime of service in philately. Mr. Sundman’s contributions included introducing thousands of new collectors to the hobby with innovative advertisements and mail order offers, as well as expanding the practice of sending stamps and coins through the mail with a range of “on approval” services.
In the January 2016 publication of The American Philatelist, Ken Martin, Executive Director of the APS, wrote that “Maynard’s name – the Mystic name – is synonymous with the most creative outreach venture to new collectors our hobby has ever seen.” He credited Maynard’s efforts as helping to keep the hobby vibrant into the 21st century.
Previous APS Hall of Fame inductees include John Walter Scott, “the Father of American Philately,” George Ward Linn, founder of Linn’s Stamp Weekly, and noted stamp collector Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Richard Helbock and Lester Winick were also named as 2015 recipients.
Filed Under: Press Releases, US Coins
About Coin Update
Articles written by the Coin Update News Staff.
No1hunter says
Hum, I remember Littleton Coin Company from when I was a kid (early 1960’s) and based upon their over graded coins, high prices, lost leader sale techniques and sneaky approval service, one wouldn’t think he wouldn’t be a American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame type of guy.
Oh well, taking us kids hard earned money to build his great collection must be ok!
joe s says
i agree. why would anyone honor someone who started a ripp off company? anytime i hear news about littleton it makes me sick
Earthling says
Money talks. Victims that make people get richer are just tools.
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Belle And Sebastian: Storytelling
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN: STORYTELLING (2002)
1) Fiction; 2) Freak; 3) Dialogue: Conan, Early Letterman; 4) Fuck This Shit; 5) Night Walk; 6) Dialogue: Jersey's Where It's At; 7) Black And White Unite; 8) Consuelo; 9) Dialogue: Toby; 10) Storytelling; 11) Dialogue: Class Rank; 12) I Don't Want To Play Football; 13) Consuelo Leaving; 14) Wandering Alone; 15) Dialogue: Mandingo Cliche; 16) Scooby Driver; 17) Fiction Reprise; 18) Big John Shaft.
Although this album is essentially a side project, it does have its own importance in the Belle & Sebastian story. Formally, this is a soundtrack for a movie of the same name by US indie director Todd Solondz — not at all an unexpected development, as indie cinema and indie pop are so naturally tied in together with the ubiquitous «outcast loser» mentality. However, due to various issues of personal communication as well as forced edits to the final version of the movie, most of the actual music composed for the project was never heard in the theater. So, big deal, Murdoch and Co. just went ahead and released all of it as a separate album, together with isolated fragments of movie dialog for «authenticity».
The occasional advantage of such an album is that soundtracks tend to be partially or mostly instrumental, and this makes it easier to assess the «musicality» of the artist without it getting too obscured by the frontman's personality. No matter how talented, or untalented, the members of Belle & Sebastian may be in the composing department, most of the songs were completely dominated by Murdoch's personal charisma. Here, the singing is kept to a minimum, and it helps answer the question — is the «Belle & Sebastian» brand actually viable when stripped of its sentimental tales of highland loneliness?
And the answer is an immediate «yes», on the strength of the album's opening track: the piano theme to ʽFictionʼ, simple and unassuming as it is, is instantaneously charming, memorable, and completely true to the Belle & Sebastian ethical code without a single spoken word — fragile, delicate, tasteful, and friendly. For admirers, other than the reprise at the end of the album, there is also a special «night version» of the same theme (ʽNight Walkʼ), played at higher octaves and sending out a sharper contrast with the dark bassline. It may not be a phenomenal composing feat, but, well, at least it is a more complex bit of piano phrasing than most of Paul McCartney's feats, and every bit as catchy.
The ʽFictionʼ theme may be the best there is on the record (it ain't repeated thrice for nothing), but most of the other melodies have their own charm as well. ʽFreakʼ is an attractive shadowy mix of minimalist acoustic guitar, piano, Mellotron, and «ghost vocals»; ʽFuck This Shitʼ, defying its title, is a little romantic harmonica-driven ditty (the harmonica does keep repeating a three-note sequence that intonationally mimicks the title, though); and ʽConsueloʼ cleverly synthesizes Spanish-style trumpet with «Celtic» harp.
Of the vocal numbers, ʽScooby Driverʼ finds the band in quite an unusual mood — playing a fast, almost raunchy Sixties-style pop-rocker, invading the turf of The Apples In Stereo or some other such band in full confidence (too bad it's only a minute-long snippet); but the title track is also upbeat, alternating friendly male / female vocals, pianos, flutes, and trombones in a Kinks-derived way that was only hinted at on Fold Your Hands, but never became the norm for that album; and ʽI Don't Want To Play Footballʼ is a brief solo Murdoch-and-the-piano piece that is so intentionally «wimpy» it could just as well be upgraded to the state of the National Belle-And-Sebastian Fan Club Anthem: "I'd rather play a different sort of game / The girls are just as good as boys at playing". (One can only imagine how the poor boy must have suffered in school — this is a fifty-seven second snippet of his nerdy revenge).
The only full-length, fully-fledged vocal tune on the entire album is ʽBig John Shaftʼ, and it, too, shows a departure from the usual stylistics by being built around a funk-pop electric rhythm — which the band still dresses up in Christmasy pianos and strings, so as, God forbid, not to invite any accusations of a «transition to a roughness of sound». And yet, everything shows that there is some sort of transition on here — that they took up the offer, among other things, in order to get try and get themselves out of the self-imposed stylistic rut. And on here at least, the transition works: short and snippety as the record is, it is pleasantly diverse and dynamic without having to sacrifice any part of the band's artistic credo. Thumbs up, and for those in doubt, the only negative side effects of the album's «soundtrack» status are (a) its shortness (some of the snippets could have easily been promoted to full-length songs) and (b) the tiny bits of dialog that are incomprehensible without the movie and do not really make that much of a difference. Without them, the album's even shorter — but still a worthy addition to the catalog.
Check "Storytelling" (CD) on Amazon
Check "Storytelling" (MP3) on Amazon
Labels: Belle And Sebastian
MNb December 28, 2013 at 6:55 PM
Normally I don't listen to this neo-folksy indie stuff as it's just not for me. But this
"on the strength of the album's opening track"
caught my attention. Indeed, the piano theme is charming. It's a stroke of genius to create a lovely atmosphere by means of staccato playing; in classical music staccatto on the piano (almost?) always indicates aggression.
The accompanying acoustic strumming is as unimaginative as possible though and the saccharine violins are sickening me as always. The counterplay provided by the bass is well done.
I can only imagine what someone like Schubert would have done with something like this.
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming
Buddy Holly: The "Chirping" Crickets
The Blood Brothers: Burn, Piano Island, Burn!
Bauhaus: Burning From The Inside
Big Star: #1 Record
Blue Cheer: The Original Human Being
Bob Dylan: At Budokan
Brownie McGhee: Blues Is Truth
Blood Brothers: March On Electric Children
Belle And Sebastian: Fold Your Hands Child, You Wa...
Bauhaus: Press The Eject And Give Me The Tape
Betty Davis: Is It Love Or Desire?
Blue Cheer: Blue Cheer
Bob Dylan: Street Legal
Brownie McGhee: The Folkways Years
The Blood Brothers: This Adultery Is Ripe
Belle And Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap
Bauhaus: The Sky's Gone Out
Betty Davis: Nasty Gal
Blue Cheer: New! Improved!
Bob Dylan: Hard Rain
Brownie McGhee: The Complete Brownie McGhee
Black Dice: Mr. Impossible
Belle And Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister
Bauhaus: Mask
Betty Davis: They Say I'm Different
Blue Cheer: Outsideinside
Bob Dylan: Desire
Brenda Lee: Johnny One Time
Black Dice: Repo
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<Offenbach Double-Treat in London: “La belle Hélène” and “Orpheus in the Underworld”
“…was verloren ging”: A New Book About Operetta Before & After 1933>
Offenbachs “La Créole” And The Exhibition “Le Modèle Noir” At The Orsay Museum In Paris
It is one of the more amazing developments of recent years that suddenly “entertainment” is included in major exhibitions dealing with history, in this context operetta titles suddenly pop up where they had been excluded for decades and decades. One example in 2019 was the exhibition at Berlin’s Museum of Photography about the 1918/19 revolution in Germany that led to the founding of the Weimar Republic. Another recent example is the much discussed show Le Modèle Noir at the Orsay Museum in Paris.
The cover for the catalogue “Le Modéle Noir,” Orsay Museum 2019
In this show about the representation of Black People in French art history “from Géricault to Matisse” Offenbach’s La Créole is included, in the context of Josephine Baker playing the “dusky Guadaloupean” called Dora, a role created by Anna Judic in 1875 at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens.
Photo of Josephine Baker from the exhibition “Le Modéle Noir” at Orsay Museum, 2019.
It tells the story of “black faced” Miss Judic as Dora, arriving in France by ship and sorting out the amorous chaos between Antoinette and René (a breeches role for Anna van Ghell), and between René’s friend Frontignac and Dora herself. Along the way Dora gets to sing a lively chanson about the dames of Bordeaux and romances such as “Il vous souvient de moi, j’éspère.”
The original production lasted 60 performances in Paris, but because the name Offenbach was attached to it, there was a successful production in London in a slimmed-down version with Kate Munroe as the Créole. In Vienna, Marie Geistinger put on heavy make up for the title role, at a time when dark skin was seen by many Westerners as “exotic” and “alluring.” Which made the already fetishized diva – who was the blond, white and nude Belle Hélène in Vienna – even more desirable.
Black prostitutes shown in Félix-Jacques Moulins “Études photographiques: l’Odalisque et son esclave,” 1853.
The recent Paris exhibition documented the erotic allure that black women (and men) had for many with photos of black prostitutes who were seen as especially desirable because sexually “wild.” At least that was the cliché many today would label “racist.” Just like the practice of black facing is seen as such, though the libretto by Albert Millaud is not in any noticeable way catering to racist ideas. And the idea that the operetta prima donna is highly desirable and sexually available is completely independent of skin color. One could ask if a painted black body is just another “costume” for operetta divas of the time to wear to show off?
In the 1920s and 30s Josephine Baker caused a sensation with her revue performances in Europe, most notably in Paris. And she certainly showed as much naked flesh as the various 19th century operetta prima donnas.
Josephine Baker shown on a poster of the Folies Bergére in Paris.
It was for Miss Baker that the producers of the Théâtre Marigny commissioned a re-write of La Créole from Albert Willemetz and Georges Delance. It premiered in 1934 and included various new roles, most importantly it brought Miss Baker on right away in act 1 – and not, like in the Offenbach original, in act 2.
A doll showing Josephine Baker in pink feathers, as seen in “Le Modèle Noir” at the Orsay Museum 2019.
According to Kurt Gänzl’s Enyclopedia of the Musical Theatre there is a recording from 1934, though I haven’t seen that on sale anywhere. There is, however, a re-issued recording featuring Lina Dachary that makes me long to hear the show in a full modern stage production addressing the various “black stereotypes” and all the related aspects, maybe also demonstrating how things have changed from 1875.
Poster for Miss Lala’s circus act, as seen in the exhibition “Le Modèle Noir” at the Orsay Museum, 2019.
The chronology of representation was quite brilliantly done by the Orsay Museum, showing – with regard to the entertainment world – how black performers found their way into circus acts.
The exhibition also highlights the life and career of the clown called “Chocolat” whose story has recently been turned into a movie entitled Monsieur Chocolat and starring Omar Sy.
While the successful exhibition was in French and English, the voluminous catalogue of 380+ pages is only available in French. Which is somewhat shocking considering that the Orsay Museum is an international institution and the topic of representation of People of Color and blacks in particular is one that’s interesting for a very wide audience – which was clear to me as I visited the exhibition and saw the very international crowd.
Cover for the Malibran version of “La Créole” featuring Lina Dachary.
While I am still waiting for that English edition of the catalogue, I recommend the re-issued Créole recording on Malibran, combined with Offenbach’s Le 66. And if the Josephine Baker recording(s) show up anywhere, please send them my way.
Andy Frys book “Paris Blues: African American Music and French Popular Culture, 1920-1960,” published by University of Chicago Press in 2014.
By the way, there is an English language book by Andy Fry that includes a chapter called “Du jazz hot à La Créole” about Josephine Baker. There we read: “Wrapping original and revised texts, reception and biography together in the operetta’s plot, [the book] considers how the same tensions as characterized French reactions to ‘others’ and their. La Créole at once completed the construction, and tested the limits, of a complex redefinition of Baker as French. If most observers saw Baker’s transformation as an affirmation of France’s ‘civilizing mission,’ the few dissenters paradoxically risked insisting on her difference in terms of an essentialized blackness. A comparison with other musical treatments of a similar story (Carmen, Madama Butterfly) and contemporary Baker films (Princesse Tam-Tam, Zouzou) reveal the unhappy logic of their argument. Recognizing both ‘savage’ and ‘civilized’ personas as witty performances relocates Baker’s agency. It may even help to move beyond fixed racial categories to dynamic cultural processes: ‘creolization.’ While Baker was highly skilled at mediating audience expectations, however, the Créole chapter concludes that she was never wholly able to escape them.”
It would be great if operettas such as La Créole could be included in today’s discussions about representation, and the problems of racial stereotypes past and present. It would also be great if such a discussion would not immediately lead to screaming and wild accusations (on both sides).
Tagged: Anna Judic Bouffes-Parisiens Jacques Offenbach Josephine Baker Marie Geistinger Musée d'Orsay Racism
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Comparative estimates of the financial burden to the UK health system of hospital care for people with and without diabetes in the year before death
Currie, Craig John, Morgan, Christopher L., Dixon, Simon, McEwan, Phil, Marchant, Nick, Bearne, Andy, Sharplin, Peter and Peters, John R. 2004. Comparative estimates of the financial burden to the UK health system of hospital care for people with and without diabetes in the year before death. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 65 (3) , pp. 267-274. 10.1016/j.diabres.2004.01.009
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2004.01.009
Objective: To quantify hospital costs prior to death for patients with and without diabetes. Research design and methods: Using the Cardiff Diabetes Database, mortality data from the UK Office of National Statistics for 1996 were linked to existing hospital records using probability matching techniques. Costs were attributed using a statistical costing technique (healthcare resource groups (HRGs)) with UK 2000 prices. Results: There were 4394 deaths of which 412 (9.4%) were for patients with diabetes. In the year before death 380 (92%) patients with diabetes (DM+) were admitted as an inpatient compared with 73% of those without diabetes (DM−), a relative rate of 1.27. Total inpatient costs were UK£ 12.2M (US$ 20M) of which costs for patients with diabetes were UK£ 1.6M (US$ 2.6M), accounting for 15.6% of revenue. This translates to a rate of UK£ 2.8M (US$ 4.0M) per 100,000 population per year. The mean annual inpatient cost before death was UK£ 3997 (US$ 5676) for DM+ compared with UK£ 2656 (US$ 3772) for DM−. Mean annual outpatient costs ranged from UK£ 185 (US$ 263: year minus 4) to UK£ 248 (US$ 352: year minus 2) in DM+, and UK£ 91 (US$ 129: year minus 4) to UK£ 116 (US$ 165: year minus 2) in DM−. Mean annual outpatient costs associated with the care of people with diabetes are consistently higher: +80% at minus 1-year rising to +120% at minus 3 years. Conclusions: The costs of inpatient care for all patients increases markedly in the final year of life. People with diabetes were found to be more financially costly, even in this stage of their care, than were people who did not have diabetes.
R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Diabetes, Mortality, Cost, Economics, Hospital
Cited 6 times in Google Scholar. View in Google Scholar
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Hungarian scientist’s photos tell Bru-Van Kieu people’s faith story
An exhibition displaying over 250 photos on Bru-Van Kieu ethnic minority people in Vietnam by a Hungarian scientist kicked off in Ho Chi Minh City on February 21.
The event is jointly organised by the Consulate General of Hungary in HCM City and the municipal Fine Arts Museum.
Hungarian Consul General Baloghdi Tibor said the exhibition features the daily life and belief, and traditions of Bru-Van Kieu people, a typical ethnic group living in upland areas in Southeast Asia, and one of the 54 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam.
The event shows close cooperation and exchange between Vietnamese and Hungarian scientists in particular, and other cooperation fields in between the two nations, he stressed.
Vargyas Gabor, author of the photos, said his works were taken between 1985-1989 during his field trips in Khe Sanh of the north central province of Quang Tri within the cooperation framework between the two countries’ academies of science.
He said that through the exhibition, he wants to tell visitors a story about faith and life.
The event will run through February 28, and then it will move to Khe Sanh. All of the photos will be presented to Quang Tri province after the exhibition.
Source: nhandan.com.vn
Hungarian scientist’s photos tell Bru-Van Kieu people’s faith storyThe event is jointly organised by the Consulate General of Hungary in HCM City and the municipal Fine Arts Museum. Hungarian Consul General Baloghdi Tibor said the exhibition features the daily life and belief, and traditions of Bru-Van Kieu people,
Exchange conference in religious affairs between Vietnam and Cambodia concluded -01/17/2019 04:46
Provincial authorities of Lam Dong receives Cambodian Ministry of Cults & Religion delegation -01/16/2019 05:13
Government religious committee leader receives U.S Theological Methodist School -01/09/2019 04:56
Vietnamese’s first Buddhist cultural centre in Czech Republic opens -01/08/2019 04:31
Lao Front for National Construction delegation visits Hoi An ancient town -12/25/2018 05:40
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A Few Blossoms, A Few Friends: following »»
«« previous: Wet and Gloomy Cherry-Blossom Lightup in Kyoto
Evening Cherry Blossoms, and some White-Balance Gymnastics
by Jeffrey Friedl Sun, April 5th, 2009 11:48pm JST (10 years, 10 months ago)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 20 sec, f/9, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cherry Blossoms at Dusk
over the Biwako Canal, Kyoto Japan
So, unlike yesterday's gloom and rain, today was clear and sunny. The cherry blossoms are not yet near full, and they don't seem to be particularly good this year anyway (we had an extended cold snap just as they were starting to blossom, which seems to have messed them up in varying ways), but nevertheless, I took the tripod and headed out for the last evening of the local cherry-blossom lightup.
Last year I took shots from closer to my place, but this year I wanted to try the long view, from where the canal bends, so I made the arduous 60-second trek down there. (What burdens I endure for my readership! 🙂 )
I'd shot the evening cherry-blossoms, sans lightup, from this same spot two years ago (see Nighttime Long-Exposure Cherry Blossoms), so I thought it'd make for a nice comparison, to see whether I've learned anything since.
(I like this spot anyway, as the nearby photos links under the pictures illustrate; they show the many other photos taken from near this spot that have appeared on my blog over the years.)
Anyway, I arrived at about sunset (6:20pm) to find a few other photographers looking bored, waiting for the lightup to start at 7pm.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 4 sec, f/11, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
15 Minutes after Sunset
The lights were turned on earlier last year, which made for much better photos because (as I discussed in last-year's post) you could get a nice balance between the deepening sky and the lit-up blossoms. This year, I knew that the sky would be too dark to matter by the time the lights came on, so I actually expected to get the best shots before then, without the lights.
As the clock ticked away toward 7pm, I kept trying test shots, looking for that perfect balance of sky/ground light. The crowd grew thicker, but I seemed to be the only one taking photos.
Five Minutes Later
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31 mm — 25 sec, f/13, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
In this last one, I changed the white-balance setting to give it more of a daytime look (removing the extremely blue cast one gets during dusk), but because it's such a long exposure, the lights along the road and beyond the trees really get a chance to glow, giving it a surreal look that I like much better than the dreary dull reality of the view at that point.
Ten minutes later, just before the lights came on, I took this fairly-overexposed shot...
Overexposed and Dramatic
This is just how it came out of the camera, and I think it's got some unearthly (but appealing) aspects to it. The overexposure, though, robs the sky of the richness a long exposure at this time of dusk should give, so I played with Lightroom's develop settings on a copy of this image to come up with a version with more “punch”. The resulting image is what I led this post with.
As a point of further comparison, here's a third version of the same image, this time with a wild white-balance setting perhaps more appropriate for a Venusian landscape...
Whoa, Cool
Standard: 1024×768 · 1440×1080 · 1600×1200 Widescreen: 1280×800 · 1680×1050 · 1920×1200 · 2560×1600
It's completely unreal, but I like it, so I threw some desktop-background versions in there as well.
The lights started coming on at 7:00, but it's not any kind of big dramatic thing. Some lights come on, then more, then more, and you can easily imagine some low-level worker somewhere hurriedly moving from switch to switch trying to get them all on.
The camera, however, can make it seem much more dramatic...
Lights On!
still a touch of blue in the sky at 7:00pm
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — 6 sec, f/13, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Much Nicer than Reality
I often complain that my photos don't do such-and-such a beautiful scene justice, but this evening lightup is definitely a case where the images are much nicer than the reality. If you enjoy the evening with someone special, well, that's a different story, but from a wholly practical level, a cherry-blossom lightup is much less impactful than many of the other “lightup events” on the calendar.
Much more interesting in person are some of the fall-foliage lightups (such as this one at the Eikando Temple and this train-line foliage tunnel), and the Kyoto Higashiyama “Hanatoro” Lightup. (Arashiyama, on the other side of Kyoto, also has a lot of lightup events, but I've never been to them because they tend to coincide with those near home, and I'm too lazy to make the trek and fight the crowds.)
I also tried a portrait orientation...
Portrait-Mode Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
Soon after, some ducks came in for a landing and messed up the relatively smooth water, and with the sky approaching total darkness, I decided to pack it up.
There were a good 30 people in the immediate area when the lights came on, but the crowd thinned considerably soon after, as those who had waited got their shots did so, then ran off in search of brighter pastures. Some remained, and others were continually joining the churn, so I thought I'd snap a shot that included them to place my vantage point into some additional context. I turned the camera 90 degrees toward the left, looking down the canal as it flows away from the right-angle bend I was standing at...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 0.4 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
The camera's auto-whitebalance did a nice job here, ignoring the horrendous green of the street lights (which you can see on the ground under the fencing).
Like most shots on this post, the one above is much brighter than it actually was. This next shot give a better feel for what it was actually like at that time...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 0.6 sec, f/11, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pretty Dark
The tall building with the bright top at left is a wedding venue, with a glass-enclosed top floor reception hall. On weekends you can always look up and see a wedding reception going on, as was the case this evening. Congratulations to whoever it was.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1/4 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
crazy white-balance settings can be your friend — 7:18pm
Before leaving, I stepped back to take another “context” shot. This time, I “corrected” the white balance for the foreground, but I have to put “corrected” in quotes because you can never really correct for the horribly-uneven light from most street lamps. The really wonky compensation needed to restore the foreground colors to some sense of normalcy turns the mostly-incandescent fine-was-it-was background wonky.
Wonky Color and Overexposure
let's file this one under “artistic license” — 7:21pm
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — 1 sec, f/9, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mini Hanatoro
Okazaki borrowing some of Higashiyama's lanterns — 7:37pm
Walking back home, I came across a short string of lanterns, the same kind used during the Higashiyama Hanatoro Event (Hanatoro combines “flower”, “lantern”, and “road”; Higashiyama is the neighboring ward), as shown here in detail. The big building in the background is the National Museum of Modern Art.
April 4th, 2007 Nighttime Long-Exposure Cherry Blossoms
March 18th, 2008 Kyoto Higashiyama “Hanatoro” Lightup Event
March 21st, 2008 Kyoto Higashiyama “Hanatoro” Lightup Event, Part II
April 6th, 2008 Kyoto Cherry-Blossom Lightup, 2008
November 16th, 2008 More From the Eikando Temple Foliage Lightup
November 19th, 2008 Eizan Train Line's “Fall-Foliage Tunnel” Lightup
April 5th, 2009 Wet and Gloomy Cherry-Blossom Lightup in Kyoto
April 7th, 2009 A Few Blossoms, A Few Friends
April 10th, 2009 A Pleasant Cherry-Blossom Morning in Kyoto
March 30th, 2010 Night River Cherry Blossoms, and a Movie Shoot
November 28th, 2010 Going Vertical: Portrait-Mode Desktop Backgrounds
January 2nd, 2015 More From That Big New-Year's-Day Snow in Kyoto
February 17th, 2016 A Warmer Version of That “Warm” House Photo
You can submit a comment below | Posted under: Cherry Blossoms, Desktop Backgrounds, General, Japan, Pretty Photos, Vertical Desktop Backgrounds | Comments via RSS | Trackback
very cool shots, thanks for sharing.
— comment by T.J. Powell on April 6th, 2009 at 1:51am JST (10 years, 10 months ago) — comment permalink
Gorgeous pictures. Better than reality indeed.
— comment by Zachary on April 6th, 2009 at 9:54am JST (10 years, 9 months ago) — comment permalink
Wow, great photos. My favorite is the 7:04PM photo. There is so much I like about that photo I don’t know where to start. I particularly like the vanishing point of the river and the overall contrast of the photo. I also like the blossoms in the top right of the photo. They give some foreground to the picture adding balance in an unbalancing sort of way. Does that make sense? Either way, awesome photos.
— comment by Earnest Barr from Amami on April 6th, 2009 at 10:20am JST (10 years, 9 months ago) — comment permalink
BTW, since so many of those are taken at 24mm…I remember reading on DPreview that the 14-24 beat out the 24-70 at 24. If only one had one of those lying around, this scenery would make for some great test photos….
— comment by Zachary on April 6th, 2009 at 6:20pm JST (10 years, 9 months ago) — comment permalink
I like the first photo, although they are all interesting. I brought my camera a few times to work this week to your area, but didn’t shoot anything on my breaks because the trees weren’t really ready as fast as expected, as you wrote. Today I walked the Takano River and Kamo River, but blossoms are still only 80-90%. I switched to video for evening shooting around Kiyamachi.
— comment by nils on April 7th, 2009 at 1:40am JST (10 years, 9 months ago) — comment permalink
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Childrens hiking sandals
Teaching your unborn child poem
How to make child go potty now,potty training pecs autism app,what age do you start potty training puppies crate,tips on parenting a newborn - New On 2016
14.11.2013 Category: Potty Training Toys
MOTIVATED MOM: In her time seeking children on the Internet, Nicole Eason has referred to herself as Big Momma and Momma Bear. KIEL, Wisconsin – Todd and Melissa Puchalla struggled for more than two years to raise Quita, the troubled teenager they'd adopted from Liberia. Nicole and Calvin Eason, an Illinois couple in their 30s, saw the ad and a picture of the smiling 16-year-old. On Quita's first night with the Easons, her new guardians told her to join them in their bed, Quita says today. Within a few days, the Easons stopped responding to Melissa Puchalla's attempts to check on Quita, Puchalla says.
The Puchallas had rescued Quita from an orphanage in Liberia, brought her to America and then signed her over to a couple they barely knew. When she arrived in the United States, Quita says, she "was happy … coming to a nicer place, a safer place. The teenager had been tossed into America's underground market for adopted children, a loose Internet network where desperate parents seek new homes for kids they regret adopting.
Through Yahoo and Facebook groups, parents and others advertise the unwanted children and then pass them to strangers with little or no government scrutiny, sometimes illegally, a Reuters investigation has found. The practice is called "private re-homing," a term typically used by owners seeking new homes for their pets. A woman who said she is from Nebraska offered an 11-year-old boy she had adopted from Guatemala.
Reuters analyzed 5,029 posts from a five-year period on one Internet message board, a Yahoo group. The Reuters investigation found that some children who were adopted and later re-homed have endured severe abuse. The compact has been adopted by every state and is codified in various statutes that give it the force of law.
No authority tracks what happens after a child is brought to America, so no one knows how often international adoptions fail.
But many states say they are unable to keep track of the cases because their computer systems are antiquated. The failure to keep track of what happens after children are brought to America troubles some foreign governments.
The recent obstacles to bringing new kids to America could make the Internet child exchange even more appealing. Other participants wrote about openly defying government efforts, foreign and domestic, to keep track of children from failed adoptions (also sometimes called "disrupted" adoptions). NEW PARENTS: On the day her adoptive parents dropped her at the Eason trailer in Illinois, they snapped this picture inside the couple's kitchen.
The official who sent the memo, Stephen Pennypacker, says he issued the warning after a child welfare worker in one state noticed cases of kids being sent to new parents without the approval of authorities.
In the alert, Pennypacker asked that such cases be documented and reported to the national non-profit organization that oversees the ICPC. Some participants in that group both offered and sought children for re-homing, sometimes simultaneously.
The story of the Easons and the girls and boys they have taken through re-homing illustrates the many ways in which the U.S. The night before leaving Quita with the Easons, Melissa Puchalla showed her daughter a picture of the couple.
Today, Melissa Puchalla says, "Maybe a red light should've went off – too good to be true. Not only were the Easons willing to take Quita, but they would gladly do so through the simple device of a power of attorney document, about 400 words long. In the days that followed, two puppies scampered through the trailer, gifts from the Easons to Quita. The sleeping arrangements Quita describes are consistent with the experience of another child the Easons took in. Within days, the Easons had stopped answering Melissa Puchalla's calls or returning her emails, Puchalla says.
When Melissa Puchalla called the school Quita was supposed to attend, she talked with an administrator who then contacted state child protection officials.
LIBERIAN ORPHAN: In this picture, Quita went by the name Quita Davis and lived in a Liberian orphanage. As authorities searched for Quita, they discovered information that could have precluded the Easons from taking custody of the teenager, if the proper officials had been involved, adoption experts say. Illinois authorities determined that the Easons had fabricated a document they provided to the Puchallas called a "home study." It purported to be from a social worker who had visited their home and done background checks of the couple. Illinois officials did share their findings with the local sheriff's office and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Taking Quita from the Easons and returning her to the Puchallas was the extent of the response by authorities. New York State Police concluded that the Easons had committed no crimes in their jurisdiction. Hundreds of other adoptive parents were seeking new homes for their unwanted children through Internet message boards like those that had featured Quita. Created in September 2007, a Yahoo group called Adopting-from-Disruption was a place where struggling parents sought support from one another. For an investigation into how parents use the Internet to offload adopted children, Reuters analyzed more than 5,000 messages posted on the forum over a five-year period, September 2007 to September 2012. After Reuters shared its findings with Yahoo, the company acted quickly to shut down the group.
Even so, the information in the posts provides a clear indication of the expanse of the Internet child exchange and many particulars about the children offered on it.
Many worry that once kids get old enough to really be a help, they might not want to anymore!
But start them young when the really DO love to help, and they get in the habit of helping.
When mine were teens we'd try to only give them one BIG Job a day, so they were free to do their homework and maybe have a little time to relax before bedtime. A chart might look like this: (You can download this one as a Microsoft Word.doc here to customize it)! My husband came home from work one day when I was scurrying around exhausted, trying to get the house cleaned, dinner ready, etc, while the kids were watching TV.
DON'T CRITICIZE, and ALWAYS THANK THEM FOR THEIR EFFORTS FIRST, BEFORE you offer suggestions for improvement!
PLAN carefully beforehand so you know clearly in YOUR mind what you'd like to see accomplished (At least sketch out some ideas on paper).
Using the two HIGHEST ways to motivate your child, INCENTIVES (Rules), with LOVE (Relationship) gives you a much better chance of success at motivating your children.
1- Make a chore chart that matches the skills you think they can do, along with a schedule of when they need to have them done (Include Homework as a manditory chore, too). ONE IDEA FOR A MONEY REWARD: If you're using Money as a reward, decide the amount they will earn by the end of the week if they accomplish all their tasks, and convert that amount into dimes or quarters. A - At the beginning of the week place a jar with the decided amount of in coins on a high shelf where they can see it but are not allowed to touch it. B - Explain that IF they do all their chores as scheduled, that all the money left at the end of the week will be theirs to use as they wish. C - Also explain the penalty for slipups will be that a coin will be taken out for every chore left undone, and also penalties for unacceptable behaviors. D - Make a clear list of unacceptable behaviors that will be docked a quarter (or dime) and post it on the Fridge where they can see it regularly.
The good motivator here is that when they see one of 'their' quarters being taken out of the jar in front of them it really hurts and they want to avoid the loss next time. 3 - MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH WHAT YOU STARTED (It will be hard, but worth it in the end - and remember - Teaching them THEIR job IS YOUR JOB!
Drugs and Alcohol give a sense of FALSE FREEDOM that can lead to bad decisions, poor behavior, panic and fear - and can lead to jail or even mental illness.
Do you wish schools could get materials that help kids learn Art and reference CA Math standards, too? If you’re looking for inspiration, you can find all sorts of DIY Halloween Costume Ideas HERE. No need for a sewing machine for this project. Just you and your little one having fun and making something they can be proud of! My 3 girls are completely smitten with Disney’s Frozen, particularly the character Elsa. From the moment we saw the movie in theater, my 3 year old was draping anything and everything around her head or neck, all in an effort to be Elsa. We had towels clipped on with claw clips, toilet paper (no joke), and baby brother’s blankies. Not to mention, I was pretty tired of tying fabric around their necks, so it had to be easy for them to get on and off by themselves.
I used a different age appropriate method for each daughter’s cape, so that they could help decorate and customize it to their liking (read more about that below). We had so much fun together!!
I think it would be so fun to have a Frozen Party, and allow each child to decorate their own as a party favor. The cape is so easy to make, that this is actually a feasible idea!
First, you will need to measure your child. I took a measuring tape and measured, in inches, from her clavicle bone, around her shoulder and down to the floor.
To make your pattern you need a long piece of paper. I stock up on paper rolls from Ikea when I go there, but you could always tape printer paper together or use some butcher paper. Come down to the train, and from the corner to the point of the marking of the child’s length, draw a diagonal line.
Now go back up to the top and draw a curved line (like shown above) down to the body length marking. And that is it! You have made your pattern! That really is the hardest part, and it isn’t even that hard. Take their length you measured in step 1, plus the 25 inches and that is how much you will need. So for my 37 inch girl, I bought 2 yards and I had a bit extra. When you get to the neck straps, you will cut through the fold and around the curve of the pattern, so that it separates into 2 neck pieces.
We are doing this so the edges don’t fray all over the place, but are doing it without the sewing machine. You may want to test this out on your fabric, but I can vouch for chiffon and organza. They burn great using this method. Your cape will be completely ready for the kiddo, as soon as you add a closure to the neck edge. Then I hot glued a little snowflake piece I found in the button section at Wal-Mart. Nice touch, I thought. For my 3 year old, I simply taped some snowflake stencils (bought at Hobby Lobby) around her cape.
They are a little hard to see on the camera, but I think they look really pretty in person. First, I printed off some simple snowflake shapes which I googled. Then, one by one, we put the paper under the fabric, and she used a bottle of dimensional fabric paint (with glitter of course, and found at Hobby Lobby), and traced the design right onto the fabric. SHE LOVED IT!! Her hand was a little sore towards the end, but she loved it. It dried beautifully. She then peeled off the paper side of the snowflakes and I ironed them down where she put them. The heat and bond makes it so the fabric will not fray.
I’m sure your girls, whatever age they are, will enjoy making their cape – just as much as they do wearing it!
Lucy is part of Generation Y, the generation born between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s. I have a term for yuppies in the Gen Y age group—I call them Gen Y Protagonists & Special Yuppies, or GYPSYs. To get to the bottom of why, we need to define what makes someone happy or unhappy in the first place.
Lucy’s Depression Era grandparents were obsessed with economic security and raised her parents to build practical, secure careers. They were taught that there was nothing stopping them from getting to that lush, green lawn of a career, but that they’d need to put in years of hard work to make it happen.
After graduating from being insufferable hippies, Lucy’s parents embarked on their careers. With a smoother, more positive life experience than that of their own parents, Lucy’s parents raised Lucy with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility.
The GYPSY needs a lot more from a career than a nice green lawn of prosperity and security.
To be clear, GYPSYs want economic prosperity just like their parents did—they just also want to be fulfilled by their career in a way their parents didn’t think about as much. Unfortunately, the funny thing about the world is that it turns out to not be that easy of a place, and the weird thing about careers is that they’re actually quite hard. Lucy, on the other hand, finds herself constantly taunted by a modern phenomenon: Facebook Image Crafting.
Social media creates a world for Lucy where A) what everyone else is doing is very out in the open, B) most people present an inflated version of their own existence, and C) the people who chime in the most about their careers are usually those whose careers (or relationships) are going the best, while struggling people tend not to broadcast their situation. So that’s why Lucy is unhappy, or at the least, feeling a bit frustrated and inadequate. Anon at 12.27AM, excellent point which I was attempting to make when I saw you had made it better.
I can’t wait for next week’s article about how to be a Nice Imaginative Greatest Generation Ever Realist!
I did enjoy reading this… I see this through the eyes of a parent and a child It is also good to read the reactions.
No, you are not a Gypsy, not unless you are a member of a particular ethnic (my ethnic) background. It is an over simplification of reality and hardly true, plus it uses a cultural slur as an acronym.
The author is not wrong about millenials, but he (I’m guessing here) give Baby Boomers an unbelievable pass on being the most hypocritical, self-involved generation to date. My problem is trying to afford a studio apartment while handling food costs and student loans. One space only applies to typeset material (where that single space is kerned as needed.) Else, it was always two spaces. The only time I dared to argue with a boss over anything of this nature was to tell him that according to the American dictionary, color was spelled correctly and colour applied to the UK. I can’t say how happy it makes me that this has devolved into an argument about the two space rule. I assure you that the one space rule applies to AP, Chicago Manual, APA, MLA, and the various publisher specific style guides I use.
PS the APA guide is two spaces for manual drafts, but the published work will only include one space.
Putting two spaces after a period seems to be a uniquely English-language thing because I have never heard of this even being an issue in my own language. This adorable little house is beautiful and completely made out of the dreams of young children.
When they decided to give her up, they found new parents to take her in less than two days – by posting an ad on the Internet. They were eager to take Quita, even though the ad warned that she had been diagnosed with severe health and behavioral problems.
The Puchallas simply signed a notarized statement declaring these virtual strangers to be Quita's guardians. When she called the school that Quita was supposed to attend, an administrator told Puchalla that the teenager had never shown up.
The Easons had packed up their purple Chevy truck and driven off with her, leaving behind a pile of trash, a pair of blue mattresses and two puppies chained in their yard, authorities later found. Like Quita, now 21, these children are often the casualties of international adoptions gone sour. Based on solicitations posted on one of eight similar online bulletin boards, the parallels are striking. Within hours, it began shutting down Adopting-from-Disruption, the six-year-old bulletin board. Speaking publicly about her experience for the first time, one girl adopted from China and later sent to a second home said she was made to dig her own grave. Legal adoptions must be handled through the courts, and prospective parents must be vetted. It allows parents experiencing hard times to send their kids to stay with a trusted relative, for instance.
Even so, these laws are seldom enforced, in part because the compact remains largely unknown to law enforcement authorities. At least 70 percent of the children offered on the Yahoo bulletin board, Adopting-from-Disruption, were advertised as foreign-born. And the State Department won't disclose the number of failed international adoptions that are reported by adoption agencies. Residential treatment centers can be expensive, and some parents say social services won't help them; if they do contact authorities, they fear being investigated for abuse or neglect. On the bulletin boards, parents talk of children becoming abusive and violent, terrorizing them and other kids in the household.
Reporters examined ads for children and emails between parents, and also identified eight Internet groups in which members discussed, facilitated or engaged in re-homing.
Quita was unpredictable and violent, Melissa says, and her siblings had grown frightened of her. But she remembers vividly when her adoptive father, Todd Puchalla, stopped in front of a mobile home with an overgrown lawn. She calls the decision "the hardest thing we've ever done in our lives." Quita still can't reconcile it.
The dogs lifted the teenager's spirits, but they weren't housebroken and no one cleaned up after them.
They attached a makeshift camper to the truck bed of their purple Chevy S-10, packed most of their belongings and left the state. Although Puchalla had signed over custody of Quita, she says she felt obligated to ensure Quita was safe. A neighbor told a child welfare official that before the Easons left, Quita had told the neighbor's daughter that the Easons would be heading to upstate New York to visit Nicole's mother. She says she still cannot reconcile why the parents who adopted her from Liberia gave her away. Authorities then contacted the New York State Police, who located the Easons' truck in Stephentown, New York. The custody transfer took place in a hotel parking lot just off the highway, and the man who went with her to get the 10-year-old boy would later be sentenced to federal prison.
During that time, the group was one of the most accessible Internet forums for adoptive parents seeking new homes for their children. Reuters identified more than 500 members who particpated at least once during the five-year time period.
Some advertisements for children contained limited information – for example, the age or sex of the child is missing.
In the meeting I began to explain how I needed a little help around the house so I wouldn't be so tired all the time from doing all the work myself. When you use INCENTIVES (the sticker chart approach) they get something, PLUS they they will work harder if they love you!
For instance: sassing, bad words, hitting, fighting, yelling, leaving stuff lying around on the floor, not paying attention when you are talking to them, lying, etc . Usually they'd end up with a dollar or two taken out because of misdeeds or bad behavior, so a lot of the money was 'recycled' to the next weeks amount! But once in a while this technique will be extra difficult if you have a kid who just won't play by the rules and tries to steal the money before the end of the week! It will build up momentum if you keep it up, and become a good habit of accomplishment for your children. A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP WILL DO MORE TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT LIFE THAN ALL DRUGS IN THE WORLD! If you have a diagnosis of a mental disorder already, or a genetic predisposition to mental illness, stay away from non prescription drugs and alcohol - and stay INSIDE the SAFETYZONE! I remember being told in my youth that everyone will experience at least 20 minutes of fame in their lifetime (not really sure who said that). Then I gave her some glitter fabric paint (also Hobby Lobby) and a brush and let her paint inside the stencils. I’m sure you know Elsa stuff is impossible to find in the stores- making your own is a great idea- and yours are fabulous! This is because entitlement perceptions are often based on an unfounded sense of superiority and deservingness. The fact that the author chose to use the name of a particular racial and ethnic background is both insulting and absurd. And for the record, one reason why gen-Y has such over-inflated self-esteem and unrealistic expectations is because their boomer parents over-compensated for the tough love or full on neglect they felt from their own parents. Seems they don’t understand why a modern air conditioned Macmansion with 4 garages and a pool, 2 kilometres from the city centre doesn’t cost the same as the 2 bedroom fibro shack with no garage, or aircon and the toilet was a hole in the back yard that their parents bought for $50k (5 times their yearly salary) 40 years ago, and they feel hard done by! And as far as parents are concerned I also believe that they expect from their offspring more – you live in better world with more opportunities so you should not only get what you want, but also what we wanted but never could.
It offers an exhilarating sense of clarity and character to my writing IMO (sorry, I mean IMHO). There is something truly special about a house, high above it all, that you don't actually live in. The handoff took place at the Country Aire Mobile Home Park, where the Easons lived in a trailer.
Often, the children are treated as chattel, and the needs of parents are put ahead of the welfare of the orphans they brought to America.
Most of the children ranged in age from 6 to 14 and had been adopted from abroad – from countries such as Russia and China, Ethiopia and Ukraine. A spokeswoman said the activity in the group violated the company's terms-of-service agreement. Another re-homed child, a Russian girl, recounted how a boy in one house urinated on her after the two had sex; she was 13 at the time and was re-homed three times in six months. But with the rise of the Internet, parents are increasingly able to find complete strangers willing to take in unwanted children. Each state is also left to decide how to punish those who give or take children in violations of the compact's provisions. Often cited is the case of the Tennessee woman who returned a 7-year-old boy she adopted from a Russian orphanage.
As a result, the number of foreign-born children adopted into the United States has declined from a peak of almost 23,000 in 2004 to fewer than 10,000 a year today. In a nationwide alert to state child welfare authorities, an administrator for the ICPC warned that adoptive parents were sending children to live with people they met on the Internet. Reporters then analyzed thousands of posts from the group that Yahoo subsequently shut down, Adopting-from-Disruption. It shows how virtually anyone determined to get a child can do so with ease, and how children brought to America can be abruptly discarded and recycled. But what first caught the Puchallas' attention was the tube coming out of Calvin's neck a few inches beneath his chin. Melissa also devised a code: Quita would say "I love asparagus" over the phone if she felt in danger.
The man convicted of armed robbery who had traveled with the Easons to New York wasn't there. Make sure the jobs are 'do-able' for each child - perhaps some will only do one, 2 or three chores each day. Though you may already know who will get which chore in the end it helps to give them a feeling that they have invested in the plan if they 'help decide' the chores. In our house we were lucky to be able to afford ice cream once a week as our reward - or a trip to the 99 cents store where they could each pick out a toy or candy. Through Art that references the CA Math Standards - plus Character building educational materials.
The truth is that everyone else is just as indecisive, self-doubting, and frustrated as you are, and if you just do your thing, you’ll never have any reason to envy others. Were the author to have somehow come up with an acronym that read as “JEW” would you be saying the same thing? The final advice is quite good and needed, but when you frame that advice around an idealized and statistically skewed notion of how great previous generations were you alienate your target audience and wind up just preaching to the choir.
Further, if you were not a Gypsy and had ever began a legitimate career, you would realize that it is a very common practice in report writing done outside of academia, and even in academia it depends on your professor and often the location of the university. It's like a cottage when you're a kid, and the memories you could make in one of these are priceless. With all those winding angles, this one is fun to look at so it must be super fun to play in. The company subsequently took down five other groups that Reuters brought to its attention. Children can be sent to new families quickly through a basic "power of attorney" document – a notarized statement declaring the child to be in the care of another adult. By obtaining a power of attorney, the new guardians are able to enroll a child in school or secure government benefits – actions that can effectively mask changes of custody that take place illegally outside the purview of child welfare authorities. The agreement requires that if a child is to be transferred outside of the family to a new home in a different state, parents notify authorities in both states. It isn't unusual for the children they bring home to have undisclosed physical, emotional or behavioral problems. Some experts say the percentage could be higher given the lack of support for those parents. In addition, adoption agencies are supposed to report to the department certain types of failed international adoptions that come to their attention. The woman had cared for him only six months when she put the boy on a flight to Moscow in April 2010. A 10-year-old boy from the Philippines and a 13-year-old boy from Brazil each were advertised three times.
In fact, taking a child may enable the new family to claim a tax deduction and draw government benefits. She was heading back to Wisconsin, by herself, to the parents who had given her up not three weeks before. Everyone realized they could do SOMETHING, from the littlest 2 year old who could pick up his toys and put them in the toybox to the seven year old who loved to suck up things with the vacuum. We would get all the kids in a circle and have them 'choose' which chore they would do by having each chore written on a separate piece of paper, folded up and mixed up in a hat or bowl. If you wish you can also have a list of 'BONUS CHORES' that may be done to earn an extra quarter, or to 'undo' a bad deed to get a coin placed back in their jar that was lost.
God you know it was so original for the writer to think of this new condescending acronym that has vaguely condescending connotations to me. If you were lucky enough to ever have a tree house or visit a friend's, you may have been looking at something pretty simple and probably pretty rickety. The Easons view re-homing as a way around a prying government, and a way to take a child inexpensively.
Such agreements fail to satisfy the ICPC when custody of the child is exchanged across state lines and authorities in both states aren't involved. And even when they didn't do a perfect job, it was a training ground (for me too) to instruct them in how to do it even better (after thanking them for what they had done, first, of course). If you feel grateful for what GOMOMMYGO has done for you, we ask nothing in return, but if you can give, we recommend you give to EDU DESIGNS, a CA 501(c)3 Non Profit. Every major style guide—including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style—prescribes a single space after a period. If a chore was really too hard for a younger child, an older child was appointed to help them, or perhaps the chore switched to another child, until eventually each person had an equal amount of work that felt fairly matched to their abilities. At the beginning of the next week we would rotate chores until each child had performed each chore to see what it was like.
Maybe YOU should’ve studied some Arts or Humanities instead of making wild assumptions and trying to shame people who did.
By that time we were all pretty well aware of who did which chore the best, and were able to decide if we wanted to keep the same chore for a few weeks, or switch, whatever worked best for all of us (I made sure Mom and Dad each had a chore to do as well). We became really good at debating issues of fairness and learned negotiating skills in the process!
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ECLIPSE with Two helicopters, a submarine and 114 suites (with balconies) It's A designed and equiped to sail to the Antarctic. Farr Yacht Design has released the first 3D renderings of the new Super 12 yachts that will be sailed in the San Francisco Yacht Racing Challenge beginning in July 2017 on San Francisco Bay. Britton Ward, the lead designer of the Super 12s, said the renderings are a big step in the process leading to the final design. Ward said Tuesday that the entire staff in Annapolis, Maryland, is working on the project so tooling production can begin in May. The Super 12s are a modernized, one-design version of the venerable 12 Meters that were used in the America's Cup from 1958-1987. The San Francisco Yacht Racing Challenge, also known as the Super 12 Cup, was founded by former America's Cup executive Tom Ehman.
The Fizes Valley and the adjacent tributaries, stretch over 460 kilometers in Transilvania( an historic Principality, once independent, which is currently within the North West of Romania).
The District includes nearly two dozen traditional farming villages and is currently under the joint administration of two NGO's - Eco Transilvania and Ecochoice - A under the terms of a five-year contract with the Romanian Ministry of the Environment.
When you set up aA CHAPSA transfer you will normally need to visit a branch of your bank and take your bank card and a form of identification such as your driving licence.
Before making aA CHAPSA payment it is worthwhile checking your banka€™s value limit for sending a Faster Payment as potentially payments of up to A?100,000 can be sent via this payment system and if this system is an option it is likely to be cheaper or even free.
Consumer protection providing immediate refund will apply if you are an innocent victim of fraud a€“ your claim needs to be made within the 13 months of fraudulent transaction leaving your account. CHAPSA payments can be sent to most UK bank accounts and will arrive and can be drawn on the same day providing the funds are released before 3pm.
Newly qualified yacht engineers can expect $19 to $20 an hour in South Florida and there just aren't enough of them.
Launched seven years ago in a hangar-like building near Florida's Turnpike in Miramar, Broward College's marine program aims to prepare students to handle mechanical and electrical needs on yachts a€” everything from engines to air conditioning systems, electric generators to desalinization units. The Marine Industries Association of South Florida pushed for the program, and Broward College increasingly collaborates with association members and other businesses to place students in jobs.
In all, the marine industry a€” including yachts and other craft and businesses from manufacturing to sales and service a€” supports more than 136,000 jobs in South Florida, mainly in Broward. Yacht technicians are just a tiny fraction of that total, which also includes carpenters, captains, salespeople and others. Indeed, demand for yacht technicians is so strong that the Broward College program, with 55 students enrolled, is nearing capacity in Miramar.
Alex Thomson (40) and Pepe Ribes (43) A were swapping the jib top for the Headsail and while neither was in place all the stress went on one forestay causing the main steel pin in the the drum to shear. Two years after a putsch against the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) a new five-year strategic plan has put the association on a new tack, reports The Irish Times. If nothing else the blueprint serves as written confirmation the ISA no longer sees itself purely in a a€?national governing bodya€? role but in the same boat as the clubs and classes it was set up to serve. The plan is based on the views that were put to a a€?Strategic Review Groupa€? in 2013 that assessed how the association needed to adjust to better serve the sport. Its author Neil Murphy, a former ISA president, says the underlying principle is moving from a a€?governance approacha€? to one of the principal stakeholders in the sport a€?working together with a goal of encouraging and developing participationa€?. Ita€™s still just a plan on paper a€“ not yet on water a€“ and for this master plan to work it must first get the buy-in of a 17,000-plus strong sailing community, spread across a network of clubs on lakes, rivers and around the coast. Ita€™s a major step forward on previous strategic plans but Murphy warns a€?it can only work if there is a joint commitment between the clubs and the associationa€?. Irish sailing publication afloat.ie reports, a€?This blueprint looks like a positive step forward not least because it makes an attempt to implement measurable targets for the good of grassa€“roots sailors.
AYB discovers major A UK art world websites and BBC propagating identical mythical UK law to justify claims to copyright of photos of Paintings in the public domain. A Art A Collections cannot gain and sell or transfer legal Copyright without creating original art. The PCF a registered charity claims to have digitised the UK's national collection of oil paintings. The photographer uses training and skill to photograph a painting and he or she holds copyright in that photographic image.
The Museums Copyright Group ignore this ruling when they report on a case in USA, even though the US Judge relied on Lord Oliver's ruling above. BBC involvement "Two sets of permissions are required if the artist is alive, or has been dead for less than 70 years (one from the collection, which retains copyright of the photographic image, and one from the rights holder of the painting).
AYB is the British Foundation with the remit to promote best practices in sales and purchase of used vessels. He was brought back to the beach on the River Teign Rowing Cluba€™s safety rib and given mouth-to-mouth and chest compression on the way back to shore. The rower from Salcombe was taken to Torbay Hospital by ambulance and is understood to be making a good recovery.
Brixham coastguards said the incident happened at just before 3pm: a€?Teignmouth National Coastwatch requested assistance to a male being brought ashore at Teignmouth Beach suffering possible Cardiac Arrest from a rowing event.
Following hot on the heels of a highly successful 2014 edition of the Singapore Yacht Show, the organisers have received a flurry of high-profile repeat bookings for next yeara€™s event, which will be held 23 to 26 April 2015. Missing yachtswomans lifejacket has no emergency beacon fitted, search goes on regardless after yacht is hit by dredger off Felixstowe on Sunday. Footage here of a Sea King Helicopter such as used in this search, being shown to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by her Grandson Prince William.
Sunday evening's launch at Anacortes Washington turned into a sidways roll which caused the engine room to flood, despite efforts by the crew to readjust the ships ballast. AYB are constantly pushing the boundaries and highlighting areas where improvements may be made.
In the past whenever we had a mention on national television, the ISP's server would be overwhelmed by the sudden huge volume of traffic and most of the sites visitors justA could not get throughA the log jam. The beauty of cloud computing is that it is infinitely scaleable, we can use as much bandwith and storage as we need and never need to interrupt our site to move it to a bigger server again. To make this available to all marine companies we have set up Hosting.AYB to provide cloud hosting at lower rates then normally paid for traditional shared hosting. Modern, Easy and A intuitive, it includes One click installation of Two Hundred mainstream software packages.
However, you can't help feeling sorry for the German guy who was refused entry to the A Honokohau Small Boat Harbour by the Harbourmaster because all moorings there are A reserved for local boat owners. The Harbour master directed him to nearby Kaiula bay which was clearly marked as an anchorage on the local cruising guide as well as the chart.
The classic yacht was stripped to the hull, totally rebuilt and lavishly re-equiped with zero speed stabilisers, state of the art A entertainment systems and superb built-in solid wood joinery. Rolly Marine of Fort Lauderdale and Rybovich Shipyard in Palm Beach collaborated in this re-creation. James Male's father Graham read out a statement beside the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, thanking US coatsguard, the British Government and all thos who tokks considerable risks to seek their lost family members. For three hours on Saturday a qualified instructor led the trainees in sailing tasks and games in brand new dinghies, all this was funded by Sport England.
Taiwan International Boat Show Kicks off with 60 luxury yachts to celebrate the first 60 years of yacht building in Taiwan.
Tens of thousands of visitors visited this grand show that features 168 foreign and domestic exhibitors.
The largest yacht at the show was the RP110 model designed by Horizon Yachts, the fifth-largest custom luxury yacht builder in the world, which is also a winner of the 2014 Taiwan Excellence Awards. Meanwhile, Kha Shing Enterprises presented its latest Monte Fino CAT 45 Sports Fish model, with ample space for fishing and recreation that's specially designed for fishing fans or taking buddies on fishing voyages.
Taiwan yacht builders have returned from all over the world for this first boat show that's packed with prestigious international guests. Taiwan yacht parts and components suppliers have also attracted the interest of many international shipbuilding companies.
In addition to overseas visitors, the Boat Show has also attracted visitor registration of executives from over 500 well-known companies in Taiwan.
Simon Talbot the skipper and his hard-working crew battled hard to beat close rival Henri Lloyd.
They are now top of the 2013-14 Clipper Race overall scoreboard and hot favourites to win the prize. 11pm Saturday night Cranston Firefighters called to the Rhode Island Yacht Club marina, where they discovered a group of yachters cut off by a raging fire. US coastguard and A Department of Environmental Management also attended, A one fireman sustained a back injury. New Zealander Todd Veroe 36 took a leak on Saturday night while the two crew were sleeping.
Enter a large wave and Todd is washed off deck and finds himself swimming as the yacht motors away. All Schooners have at least two masts which were originally gaff rigged and built in Holland in the Fifteen hundreds. It is still in early stages, but the idea is that if you use readily available basic cheap diy materials and avoid fancy-priced sea-going marine fittings It is possible to build a simple solar powered floating home with electric drive and basic home utilities, suitable for use on inland lakes and canals.
The design is modular, so that a small home can be dis-assembled and transported in a standard Ford transit van. There is currently a DIY manual and various Kits and components to supplement your local supplier. A Yachtsmen from 23 countries came together to put their all in thrillingly close competition all enhanced by the glorious Carribean sunshine andlocal festive atmosphere which was rocking for five days and nights! A luxury yacht is lifted from the water in Kaohsiung Harbor and transported to the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center in preparation for the launch of the Taiwan International Boat Show, May 2. Taiwan's first international boat show, will exhibit 60 boats with a combined market value of NT$7 billion (US$233 million) starting May 8.
The vessel was built by the Horizon Group, the leading Taiwan-based luxury yacht builder and the only Asian company among the top 10 brands of the global luxury yacht market. The show will provide an exceptional opportunity for visitors to see various yachts, either at sea from a ferry or by purchasing tickets to enter the indoor exhibition center, Kaohsiung Marine Bureau director Lai Jui-lung said. According to a report carried in the Financial Times last July, Taiwan overtook Germany to become the world's sixth-largest yachtmaker, yet sales are much lower than before the 2008 financial crisis. Most of the world's top yacht makers capitalize on the fact that they are European by trading on their nations' famous histories in seafaring and design, however, the Financial Times quoted a market research firm as saying that Taiwanese boat builders have seen their reputations improve over time. The four-day Taiwan International Boat Show is one of just three luxury yacht shows that are exhibited indoors, along with Boot Dusseldorf and the Genoa International Boat Show, according to Chuang Ming-liao, a board member of the Taiwan Yacht Industry Association. The annual three day event, which is organised by Jersey Marinas on behalf of Ports of Jersey regularly attracts in excess of 30,000 visitors over the weekend and is the largest free-entry event in the Channel Islands and enjoyed not only by the Islanda€™s large boating community but residents and visitors alike. Although the event has grown in size and popularity since those early days our commitment to support and promote Jerseya€™s valuable marine leisure industry has never waived and remains as strong as ever.
RYA is sponsoring "Push the Boat Out", a National Weekend of sailing and windsurfing with open days across the land.
A a€?Push the Boat Outa€™ will take place over the weekend of 17-18 May and will see sailing clubs across the country holding open days and inviting those who live locally to come and a€?have a goa€™ at sailing and windsurfing with an experienced sailor. Whether you are a regular sailor, new to the sport or simply want a day out with the family, Push the Boat Out provides the perfect opportunity for everyone to get out on the water and celebrate a national weekend of sailing.
The biggest sailing competition ever in Bulgaria, happened in Bourgas Bay over the last five days. They have been described as having a classic look above the waterline while having a modern appendage package with a deep lead bulb with wings and a trim tab to provide exceptional upwind performance. Banks themselves useA CHAPSA to move money around the financial system but there are several situations where individuals use it too.
Ita€™s only used for Sterling transactions and payments are unconditional a€“ once theya€™ve been made they cana€™t be recalled without the recipienta€™s consent. That's up from roughly 92,000 jobs in the area in 2010, the association said in an October report. Thomson was right beside the furling drum when the pin sheared watching in dismay as the mast hinged backwards, carrying the sails with it and breaking as it landed. The association lost a quarter of its members in the recession and key yacht clubs are still in choppy financial waters. That rule was something lacking on a now scrapped 2020 vision document suba€“titled a€?grow the sport, grow the membership, grow the organisationa€™. It saves them money and helps propagate our fine art heritage on the internet to many who might not see it elsewhere.
From superyacht builders and yachting lifestyle accessories to brokers and dealers of superyachts, multihulls, day cruisers and sportfishers, a wide variety of companies have already committed to returning again in 2015.
The A US coastguard investigation into the cause is ongoing and the usual preventitive measures A have commenced to keep the diesel in A the tanks and out of the sea. Our latest research led us to abandon traditional hosting services and move into Cloud Hosting. With so many servers carrying the load, even with our large number of sites, we never have to worry about increasing the number of yacht listings, or sudden increase in traffic again.
What that means is, you don't have to search the web for your package, then download it, then install it, then set it up. There were vessels and gear of every shape and size including 40 yachts, sailboats and power-driven boats on display in the column-free North Halls. Over one thousand international media and VIP guests A registered online or accepted invitations to visit the show.
Procurement personnel from shipbuilders are here from key players including Sea Ray Boats under the world's largest yacht-making group Brunswick Corporation, renowned U.S. Through the ibon kiosks at 7-Eleven convenience stores, over 10,000 tickets were pre-sold before the show opened. The fire department recue boat was quickly deployed and the people were saved without injury. The 33.5-meter, 100-tonne Horizon RP110 will be the biggest one on display, according to officials from Kaohsiung City's Marine Bureau. Production at yards in Taiwan reached just US$148 million in 2012, down from US$357 million in 2008. Staging such an event of this scale requires dedication and commitment by all parties involved and we are delighted with the continuing support and enthusiasm for the show, not only with our local business partners and exhibitors but by an ever-increasing number from across the British Isles, Guernsey and France.
It is primarily used for very high value payments and is used by corporates who make large numbers of these payments but it can be used by individuals too, although there is normally a charge of A?25 to A?30. Solicitors will useA CHAPSA payments to transfer the purchase price of a house between the bank accounts of those involved. If you give the correct information and your payment goes astray your bank must make immediate efforts to trace the transaction and notify you of the outcome.
Broward College is the only college in the tri-county area training them and working with American Boat & Yacht Council, which sets standards and issues certifications. Having just set a new record for sailing Barcelona A to Gibraltar and setiing a new Barcelona World Race course record to the equator, they have now become the slow boat to Brazil with almost enough fuel to complete the limp to Port at Savador de Baha some 370 miles distant. Bookings have been coming in from all over the world, including: Alloy Yachts, AXA Insurance Singapore, Axis Group Yacht Design, Funair, Kingship, Luxury Yachts, MarkAgain, Premium Nautical, Princess Yachts, Reel Torque, Rossinavi, SG Boating, Simpson Marine, Sunbrella and Sunseeker, with many more key players due to sign up in the coming weeks. With dozens of servers and distributed processing, none of our sites can now be interrupted. Just select from our list, click to install and have a cup of tea while it is uploaded to your site and installed for you!
Ita€™s also sometimes used by people buying or selling a high-value item, such as a car, when they need a secure, urgent, same-day guaranteed payment.
If you give incorrect information and the payment goes astray your bank must make a€?reasonable effortsa€™ to trace the transaction but may charge for doing so.
Once the money is in their account, it cannot be recalled without the recipeinta€™s consent.
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Safe Fish
Technical and Industry Experts
Seafood Advisory Committees and Platforms
Food Safety Fact Sheets
Manuals and Guidelines
CCCF
CCFA
CCFH
CCFO
CCRVDF
Delegate Reports
FRDC FISH Magazine
SafeFish Work Program for 2019 to 2021
The technical program is underpinned by a strategy to identify current and emerging food safety and market access issues, prioritize these issues, and undertake technical work to provide potential solutions to overcome those of highest priority.
Four rounds of this strategy have been facilitated by SafeFish to date, May 2011, June 2014, October 2016 and the most recent in July 2019. In order to scope and prioritise the issues that were identified, SafeFish produced the following reports that contained information such as background, sectors affected, trade and market access information, public health impact, regulatory issues, economic impacts, reputational impacts – media and political, and environmental/sustainability issues that may have been present.
Hazards affecting Australian seafood
SafeFish Prioritisation Workshop report 2019
Using this information, the SafeFish partners then prioritised the issues through a risk ranking process. On the alternate years, a smaller in-house process of issue identification and prioritisation was run by the secretariat and the partners to set the work plan for that interim period.
For the 2019 to 2021 period, SafeFish is facilitating technical work on the following issues which were identified as high-priority:
Review of the microbiological criteria relating to seafood in the Australian/New Zealand Food Standards Code
SafeFish will facilitate an Australian/New Zealand review of the microbiological criteria relating to seafood in the Food Standards Code to remove all process hygiene matters from the criteria and to include these in a separate guidance document for industry. The aim is to ensure the criteria are fit for purpose for the current risk-based preventative approach to food safety management. The review will be science based and fully consultative to ensure that the changes to the standard and the guidance document appropriately meet the needs and requirements of the Australian/New Zealand seafood industries. The process will begin with a workshop open to all interested parties, with further opportunities for input provided during the development of the recommendations and guidance documents.
Risk management of vibriosis in the shellfish industry
In order to better understand and manage the emerging risk of vibriosis in the shellfish industry, SafeFish will review all Australian cases relating to vibrios in bivalve seafood and incorporate this information into a note for publication in the Journal for Communicable Disease Intelligence. In addition, given the critical food safety risk potential, SafeFish will also investigate the potential to include vibriosis as a notifiable disease in all states (not just some as currently occurs). This needs further and careful consideration related to the impact of the approach, particularly to improve industry, researcher and regulator understanding for implementing best-practice risk management. A significant event to ensure this happens will be a workshop that SafeFish will facilitate with industry and other interested parties that will include international experts.
Risk management of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning in Australia
To improve risk management of Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) in Australia, SafeFish will raise awareness of CFP in Australian health care workers (General Practitioners (GP), Environmental Health Officers, Health Departments), First we will conduct an online survey to gauge the current understanding of ciguatera, generate awareness of the issue and offer participants the chance to propose their preferred format for awareness/promotional materials. Targeted materials would then be prepared and distributed and a report detailing survey results prepared for a GP journal (Communicable Diseases or similar). Better reporting is an initial step to improve the understanding of CFP, identify hot spots, and assist in research to provide risk management awareness.
Finalization of 2017-2018 work program: Harmonisation of marine biotoxin standards in the Food Standards Australian, New Zealand (FSANZ) Code
SafeFish is in the final stages of drafting an application to request FSANZ to review the current marine biotoxin maximum levels (MLs) applicable to seafood in Standard 1.4.1, section 19 of the FSANZ Food Standards Code (FSC), with a view to harmonizing the code with other International standards. Currently in Australia, shellfish producers are facing the situation of having different regulatory standards applied for marine biotoxins, depending on whether the product is destined for domestic or international trade. This has caused confusion and extra work for regulators to prepare the data. By harmonising the MLs, it will allow the Australian industry to follow the same rules as other international bodies which will resolve the issues mentioned above, as well as facilitate improved market access. The application will request that FSANZ reviews the following variations between Codex (Standard 292-2008 and Standard 312-2013) and the FSC:
The maximum level (ML) allowed for DST in molluscan bivalve shellfish is 0.16mg/kg in Codex, but 0.20mg/kg in the FSC
PST are reported in saxitoxin dihydrochloride (STX.2HCL) equivalents in Codex, but as STX equivalents in the FSC
Subscribe to our communications list to receive updates and our latest SafeFish news and reports.
frdc.com.au
for information on fisheries research and development
fishfiles.com.au
information for all seafood consumers
fishnames.com.au
looking for a fish? try the Australian Fish Names Database
seafoodstandards.com.au
for information on seafood standards and their development
2018 Fisheries Research Development Corporation
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Tilly’s Promise
This issue’s cover illustration is from All I Said Was by Michael Morpurgo and Ross Collins. Thanks to Barrington Stoke for their help with this March cover and to Simon and Schuster for their support of the Authorgraph interview with Sophie McKenzie.
By clicking here you can view, print or download the fully artworked Digital Edition of BfK 205 March 2014 .
Linda Newbery
(Barrington Stoke Ltd)
Buy "Tilly's Promise" on Amazon
I was drawn to this book first by its exceptionally evocative cover. The artist, Stewart Easton, drew on the style of the embroidered silk postcards made by French and Belgian women during the First World War. It shows symbols of peace and remembrance - poppies and doves - surrounding a soldier’s cap. In fact the whole book is beautifully presented with exceptionally clear print on creamy pages. Linda Newbery tells a story stretching from the outbreak of war to its end from the viewpoint of Tilly who served as a nurse in London and then in France. The story is told in straightforward language and uses dialogue to show how ordinary people living at this time thought and spoke. Alarmed when her young brother, Georgie, is called up in spite of his learning difficulties, Tilly asks her boyfriend to look after him while they are both at the front. This promise is to cause serious problems for her later in the story. The changes to everyday life that occur so quickly when the war begins are well described. Tilly is soon confronted by the human cost of war; after some months of nursing in a French hospital she becomes exhausted, explaining that her nose ‘was full of the reek of blood and mud, pus and sweat and carbolic soap’. She is obliged to nurse soldiers from both sides and comes to realise that the young wounded German soldiers were just as much victims of the war as the British soldiers. More personally, she also realises that she has made an unreasonable request that her boyfriend look after her brother. Promises cannot always be easily kept as she herself finds when she is unable to keep her word that she will stay to comfort a soldier in his dying moments. The characters are well drawn. Linda Newbery was inspired by Siegfied Sassoon’s poem about a simple soldier boy in creating Georgie. Tilly is a character who changes and matures and who learns from experience. The book would appeal to children in the upper primary school and to those aged ten and older who need a story at an appropriate level of complexity for their age group, but suitable for those with a slightly lower reading age than average.
Margaret Mallett
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Tubal ligation and ovarian cancer risk in African American women
© 2017, Springer International Publishing AG. Purpose: Tubal ligation has been associated with reduced risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in studies of primarily white women, but less is known about the association in African American (AA) women. We sought to evaluate the associations among 597 invasive ovarian cancer cases and 742 controls of AA descent recruited from the African American Cancer Epidemiology Study, a population-based case–control study in 11 geographical areas in the US. Methods: Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for potentially confounding factors. Results: An inverse association between tubal ligation and EOC was observed that was not statistically significant (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.68–1.14). However, an inverse association with EOC risk was observed among women who had a tubal ligation at age 35 years or older (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.41–0.98), but not among those who had a tubal ligation before age 35 (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.74–1.29) (p for interaction = 0.08). The association also varied considerably by tumor subtype. A strong inverse association was observed for endometrioid tumors (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.14–0.70), whereas associations with mucinous (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.36–2.12) and serous (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.71–1.24) tumors were weaker and not statistically significant. A statistically non-significant positive association for clear cell tumors (OR 1.84, 95% CI 0.58–5.82) was based on a low number of cases. Conclusions: Our findings show that tubal ligation may confer a reduced risk for EOC among AA women that is comparable to the associations that have been previously observed in primarily white populations.
Funkhouser Dr.P.H., Ellen
Cancer Causes and Control Journal
McNamara C; Abbott SE; Bandera EV; Qin B; Peres LC; Camacho F; Moorman PG; Alberg AJ; Barnholtz-Sloan JS; Bondy M
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Ric Kasnoff | Photographer | Certified Trainer
what we shoot…
from Ric…
lightroom | workflow
lighting classes
photo safaris
why shoot with Ric?
brief bio / credentials / overview:
for over 35 years as a professional photographer Ric has been creating award winning images. While initially concentrating on portraits (studio, environmental and editorial/commercial/advertising) his personal passions and interests have led him into the travel stock and nature photography fields as well.
as a Brooks Institute trained photographer he has always sought to blend the best of traditional techniques with the latest in modern technology. This has led over the years to his being certified as an expert and/or instructor in many of the professional level image manipulation and delivery programs from Apple and Adobe including lightroom, photoshop, aperture, dvd studio pro, final cut pro and motion. He has trained literally thousands of photographers in seminars and workshops throughout the US.
realizing from the start that he could not ignore the business side of photography, he has actively sought and held leadership positions with major imaging and imaging related companies including stints as an Executive Producer at Microsoft, Senior Director of Business Development for Alchemedia, Executive Director of the Blue Earth Alliance and most recently, Senior Director of Professional Imaging for Digital Railroad.
he is or has been a member of the APA, ASMP, NANPA, NAPP, NPPA, PLUS and the Artist Trust Foundation of Washington and has served on the Presidents Council and the Digital Imaging Advisory Council of the International Center for Photography and as a Digital Technology Advisor to the NTID at Rochester Institute of Technology. He was a founding member and first Chairman of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Advertising Photographers of America and also served on the APA’s National Executive Board.
his passion for all things photographic has transferred to his training and seminars. Ric’s digital imaging and photoshop seminars/workshops are informational, educational and fun… his high energy style combined with his accessibility and willingness to customize the classes to his audiences on the fly make for a very worthwhile and enjoyable experience.
All images on the site are copyrighted by Ric Kasnoff photography, inc. and protected by Federal Copyright laws.
Please respect our ownership and do not link to or download any images without permission.
Thanks for understanding...
useful links...
Advertising Photographers of America
National Press Photographers Association
in the photo blog…
industry notes
All Images © 2010 Ric Kasnoff Photography, inc. | All Rights Reserved
Copy Protected by Tech Tips's CopyProtect Wordpress Blogs.
Copy Protected by Tech Tips & Computer Tech Tips'sComputer Tricks
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Why Sinclair?
The Sinclair brand was founded 25 years ago in North Sydney. We have seen the rise and fall of many recruitment agencies and yet during this time we have continued to grow from strength to strength, opening new office and exploring new markets.
Birthdays are always a time of reflection and after looking in the rear vision mirror we cannot believe how far we have come! Somewhere along the way we opened a new office in Darwin, moved to a larger office due to expansion in Adelaide, been awarded as a ‘legend’ at the Seek Annual Recruitment Awards and launched a specialist Hospitality Recruitment Division which is in the process of being rolled out nationally.
Happy Birthday Sinclairians and to all the clients and candidates who have supported us during our journey, you mean the world to us!!
Sinclair Recruitment on Facebook Facebook Sinclair Recruitment on LinkedIn LinkedIn © Copyright 2020
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Data and Your Privacy
by Erin on January 29th, 2009 in Industry and Security News, Security Tips.
From what we now know, 2008 was a record year for data breaches. And, from what we've seen so far in 2009 - with news of the extensive Heartland breach and more compromised data on Monster.com - the outlook for this year does not look promising.
XP Police Antivirus
by Albin on January 28th, 2009 in Researcher Comments, Security Alerts.
XP Police Antivirus is a new rogue anti-spyware application. It will give exaggerated threat reports on the compromised computer then ask the user to purchase a registered version to remove threats which don't exist.
Valentine's Day Worm
Win32.Worm.Waledac spreads itself using Valentine's Day "advertising" as the distribution method. It can be found on a website full of hearts with the text Guess, which one is for you? as picture 1 shows.
by Wolfa on January 23rd, 2009 in Everyday Life at Lavasoft.
Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition is Here!
by Erin on January 20th, 2009 in Lavasoft Products, News about Lavasoft.
We're proud to announce: Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition - Free, Plus, and Pro versions are now available!
Building on 10 years of advanced malware detection, Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition provides comprehensive malware protection without loading down your system's resources, bringing you the core competence you need to stay safe online. Visit our Ad-Aware Free, Plus and Pro product pages now to see the new and improved features of each new version.
Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition is significantly lighter and faster than our own previous versions, as well as many of our top competitors. According to our extensive research, Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition:
Uses 74% less memory than Ad-Aware 2008.
Only uses 18% of the CPU during scans - nearly 60% less resources than the previous version, and considerably less than each competitor product tested, including AVG, Kaspersky, Norton, and PC Tools.
Scans 36 MB per second - faster than each competitor product tested, and over 4 times faster than AVG's.
To see how our new products performance stacks up against previous versions and the top anti-virus and anti-spyware products on the market today, see our Performance and Cleanup Comparison now.
Remember, if you have a valid Ad-Aware Plus or Pro license, update to the new version free of charge through the Lavasoft Support Center. Follow these three easy steps:
1. Log-in to the Support Center and download Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition from the download link option in the "Your Licenses" menu.
2. Start the installation. The previous version (Ad-Aware 2008) will be automatically uninstalled before installing Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition.
3. Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition will recognize your previous license information and the Plus or Pro features will be activated automatically when the program is started.
by Andy on January 19th, 2009 in Researcher Comments.
With the new version of Ad-Aware, comes a new classification: Potentially Unwanted Program, or "PUP". Why classify something as a "potentially unwanted application"?
Storm Botnet News
by Andy on January 19th, 2009 in Industry and Security News, Researcher Comments.
In case you missed this bit of security news last week, according to Heise Security -
"A team of researchers from Bonn University and RWTH Aachen University have analysed the notorious Storm Worm botnet, and concluded it certainly isn't as invulnerable as it once seemed."
Analysts attempting to traverse the Storm botnet without being detected has proven it to be complex - discovery usually leads to a DDOS attack on the researcher. Having carried out such research covertly and claiming that the botnet can be rapidly taken down is highly significant in terms of the resultant reduction in spam levels and ability to carry out DDOS attacks.
Microsoft's attempts to disrupt the botnet with the Malicious Software Removal Tool, while not definitive, are proving successful. Malware analysts and observers far and wide welcome the news that these researchers have gone one step further by announcing it is theoretically possible to fatally damage the Storm botnet with a single strike.
But, the researchers have noted that there are legal concerns involved in the solution. It's ironic that a single strike that has the potential to take the Storm botnet down from the inside is punishable under German law (and the same may be true in other parts of the world, as well). The Storm botnet is so significant that most people would agree that, when it comes to permanently disrupting it, the end justifies the means. This particular situation gives rise to an ethical dilemma but, ultimately, using illegal methods is not acceptable, however frustrating it may be. Still, even if the researchers are not able to deploy this solution, the data gathered from this research will take us a significant step towards combating and defeating Storm.
Top Download of 2008
We're pleased to announce that the folks at CHIP Online, one of Europes leading computer sites, has named our Ad-Aware software one of the top 10 downloads in 2008 at www.chip.de. Thanks CHIP Online!
Malware Targets LinkedIn Users
by Andy on January 9th, 2009 in Researcher Comments, Security Alerts.
The business-oriented social networking site, LinkedIn, has had a recent bout with malware, as you may have seen by all of the buzz this week in the news headlines. As most of you who use them know, social networking sites, while having many advantages to users, have long been targeted by socially engineered scams - meaning you need to take care when roaming around on these types of sites.
In terms of the issues seen lately on LinkedIn - profiles on the site were created to act as a staging point for the distribution of 'FakeAlert' software. This malware serves typical scareware messages claiming that your machine is infected and that you should install the rogue anti-malware application that the warning message is peddling. Despite the FTCs recent efforts in tackling the scourge of rogueware, the fact that these applications continue to proliferate proves they still provide a significant return of investment for malware authors.
The LinkedIn profiles themselves consisted of links that claimed to lead to pornographic images/video content of various celebrities. Upon landing at these sites, victims were invited to install a codec to allow them to view the (non-existent) video; the file was not a video codec, but malware. This method of attack continues to prove to be extremely effective. The social engineering technique being applied is, sociologically, extremely interesting; despite users increasing awareness of Internet safety (i.e. maintaining download discipline, avoiding untrustworthy sites, and generally being aware of the pitfalls when navigating the seedier side of the 'net), using a combination of celebrity and sex to entice continues to be effective.
On the plus side, LinkedIn.com has worked very quickly to deal with this threat - it's encouraging to observe the site's administrators' rapid response time. When the scam first became apparent, many profiles were removed immediately. Currently, all of the malicious profiles that we located have now been cleaned up.
Coming Soon: Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition
by Erin on January 8th, 2009 in Lavasoft Products, News about Lavasoft.
Not only is January a time of new beginnings, it's a time of celebration - for Lavasoft and for all of the PC users around the world who depend on our Ad-Aware software to safeguard their online security. This year, 2009, marks our 10 year anniversary of providing you with the power to protect your privacy.
New PC? Secure It!
by Erin on January 2nd, 2009 in Security Tips.
For all of you owners of a new computer - whether you were lucky enough to receive one as a gift under the tree or you sprang for a shiny new PC to start off the New Year - a top priority is to keep that fresh machine running efficiently, safely, and securely. How do you do that? Here are five basics to start with -
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Aristotelian Thomism
Alan Aversa
Location: Tucson, Arizona
From Edward Feser's "The Thomistic Tradition (part 1)" (vide also part 2):
This approach emphasizes the Aristotelian foundations of Aquinas’s philosophy, and in particular the idea that the construction of a sound metaphysics must be preceded by a sound understanding of natural science, as interpreted in light of an Aristotelian philosophy of nature. Accordingly, it is keen to show that modern physical science can and should be given such an interpretation. Charles De Koninck (1906-1965), James A. Weisheipl (1923-1984), William A. Wallace, and Benedict Ashley are among its representatives. It is sometimes called “Laval Thomism” after the University of Laval in Quebec [which produced this brilliant thesis: Thomism and Mathematical Physics], where De Koninck was a professor. The alternative label “River Forest Thomism” derives from a suburb of Chicago, the location of the Albertus Magnus Lyceum for Natural Science, whose members are associated with this approach. It is also sometimes called “Aristotelian Thomism” (to highlight its contrast with Gilson’s brand of existential Thomism) though since Neo-Scholastic Thomism also emphasizes Aquinas’s continuity with Aristotle, this label seems a bit too proprietary. (There are writers, like the contemporary Thomist Ralph McInerny, who exhibit both Neo-Scholastic and Laval/River Forest influences, and the approaches are not necessarily incompatible.)
"Scientiæ et Philosophia Secundum S. Albertum Magnum" by Aniceto Fernández, the River Forest school's original intellectual inspiration
The Modeling of Nature by William Wallace, O.P. (vide this review)
The Way toward Wisdom (vide this excerpt and this review by John Deely) or "The River Forest School and the Philosophy of Nature Today" by Benedict Ashley, O.P.
The Writings of Charles de Koninck (Volume 1) by Charles de Koninck
Physics for Realists and Science before Science by physicist Dr. Anthony Rizzi of the Institute for Advanced Physics (vide the ICU course)
E.g., Heisenberg recognized in his Physics and Philosophy that the probability wave concept in quantum mechanics "was a quantitative version of the concept of 'potentia' in Aristotelian philosophy" (p. 41) and that the "concept of the soul for instance in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas was more natural and less forced than the Cartesian concept of 'res cogitans,' even if we are convinced that the laws of physics and chemistry are strictly valid in living organisms." (p. 80).
Physics and Quantum in The Thomist
These are some of the physics- and quantum-related articles from The Thomist, roughly sorted in terms of decreasing relevance with the most relevant first:
From Schrödinger's Cat to Thomistic Ontology by Wolfgang Smith
Natural Motion in Inanimate Bodies by Thomas Larson
The Natural Motion of Matter in Newtonian and Post-Newtonian Physics John W. Keck
Aristotle's Aether and Contemporary Science by Christopher A. Decaen
Cf. Steven Baldner's "Thomas Aquinas on Celestial Matter;" this and Decaen's article are crucial for understanding the Galileo affair and
Decaen's lecture "Galileo Galilei, Scriptural Exegete, and the Church of Rome, Advocate of Science."
Quantum Mechanics: A Dialectical Approach to Reality by Wojciech P. Grygiel, F.S.S.P.
Elemental Virtual Presence in St. Thomas by Christopher Decaen
The Principles of Nature by St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas, Physics, and the Principle of Metaphysics by Lawrence Dewan, O.P.
Reply of Benedict Ashley, O.P.
For a definitive reply to Dewan, see Benedict Ashley, O.P.'s excellent overview of Aristotelian Thomism and how the natural sciences are epistemologically first: The Way toward Wisdom (p. 146-163) or "The River Forest School and the Philosophy of Nature Today"
Cf. also "Physics & Metaphysics" by Pierre Duhem
Part and Whole in Aristotle's Concept of Infinity by David A. White
Thomism and the Quantum Enigma by William A. Wallace, O.P.
William Wallace, O.P., refers to this in his excellent book The Modeling of Nature
Modern Physics and Thomist Philosophy by E. F. Caldin
Space-Time and the Community of Beings: Some Cosmological Speculations by George A. Kendall
The Metaphysics of Chaos: A Thomistic View of Entropy and Evolution by Wojciech P. Grygiel, F.S.S.P.
Reconciling Science with Natural Philosophy by Michael Augros
The Law of Inertia and the Principle Quidquid Movetur ab Alio Movetur by Antonio Moreno, O.P.
Time and Relativity: Some Philosophical Considerations by Antonio Moreno, O.P.
Thomas and the Universe by Stanley L. Jaki
Cantor's Transfinite Numbers and Traditional Objections to Actual Infinity by Jean W. Rioux
Thomism and Modern Science: Relationships Past, Present, and Future by William A. Wallace, O.P.
Scholasticism in Empiriological Sciences
From footnote †7 on pg. 24 of St. Thomas Aquinas's Division and methods of the sciences, a commentary on Boethius's De Trinitate questions V and VI, translator Armand Maurer mentions these articles relating Scholasticism to empiriological sciences like modern physics.
The growth in modern times of empiriological science, as distinct from philosophy in its formal object and method, renders impossible a physical theory that would be applicable in a univocal way to both. Such a theory, which denies the distinction between philosophical and empiriological analysis, has been proposed by R. Nogar, "Toward a Physical Theory," The New Scholasticism 25 (1951), 397-438.
J. Weisheipl proposes a return to St. Thomas and St. Albert for "a unifying physical theory" that would include both the philosophy of nature and the empirical or experimental sciences. For Weisheipl these constitute one specific discipline, both materially and formally. However, he regards the sciences employing mathematical principles as really distinct from natural philosophy. See J. Weisheipl, The Development of Physical Theory in the Middle Ages; "The Relationship of Medieval Natural Philosophy to Modern Science: The Contribution of Thomas Aquinas to Its Understanding," in Science. Medicine and the Universities 1200-1550. Essays in Honor of Pearl Kibre (= Manuscripta 20 [1976]), pp. 181-196; idem, Introduction to The Dignity of Science. Studies in the Philosophy of Science Presented to William Humbert Kane OP (= The Thomist 24 [1961]).
In the same spirit, see C. De Koninck, "The Unity and Diversity of Natural Science," in The Philosophy of Physics, ed. V. E. Smith, pp. 5-24; W. A. Wallace, "St. Thomas's Conception of Natural Philosophy and its Method," in Studi Tomistici. La philosophie de la nature de saint Thomas d'Aquin, ed. L. Elders, pp. 7-27; idem, Causality and Scientific Explanation [cf. idem, Review of Metaphysics 27:3 (March 1974)].
For further discussions of this topic, see E. McMullin, "Philosophies of Nature," The New Scholasticism 43 (1969), 29-74; J. Compton, "Reinventing the Philosophy of Nature," The Review of Metaphysics 33 (1979), 3-28; E. McMullin, "Compton on the Philosophy of Nature," ibid., pp. 29-58; idem, "Is There a Philosophy of Nature?" Proceedings of the International Congress of Philosophy, Vienna, 1968, 4: 295-305.
This is what the Society of Scholastics and the Institute for Advanced Physics seek to promote. See also the Society of Scholastic's Constitution, Thomas Aquinas College's founding document, the 24 Thomistic Theses with P. Lumbreras, O.P.'s commentary, and especially the works on which I have commented here.
Thomism
St. Thomas Aquinas in English and in Latin: Opera Omnia, Leonine edition (1882): tomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Natural philosophy books:
Modern Thomistic Philosophy by Richard Percival Phillips
The Physical System of St. Thomas by Giovanni Maria Cornoldi
Philosophical Physics by Vincent Edward Smith
Thomism and Mathematical Physics, a thesis by Bernard I. Mullahy
The Principles of Nature, Commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, and Commentary on Aristotle's Physics by St. Thomas Aquinas
Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Æterni Patris (in Latin here) on the restoration of Thomism
A Scholastic List of Definitions for Philosophical Terms and of Philosophical Axioms
Question 1 of the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
The natural sciences are epistemologically first according to Aristotelian Thomism.
"The Philosophy of Nature" by Joseph Kenny, O.P.
Four Ages of Understanding by John Deely, an excellent history of philosophy (vide this review)
Contra Scientism
The Plague of Scientistic Belief by Wolfgang Smith
"Physics & Metaphysics," "Physics of a Believer," and excerpt from To Save the Phenomena by Pierre Duhem (vide also his biography and these papers on his physics)
The Problem of Mechanism by David L. Schindler
The structure of the encyclical "Humani Generis" by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Faith & Reason
On the differences and similarities between faith—"a kind of knowledge, inasmuch as the intellect is determined by faith to some knowable object" (Summa Theologiæ, Iª q. 12 a. 13 ad 3)—and reason, read:
Philosophy & Catholic Theology: A Primer by Philip A. Egan, Chapter 1
Reason and Faith from TruthInspire
"Faith and Reason" from Étienne Gilson's The Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (criticism)
"The Dream of Natural Philosophy" by Brian Mullady, O.P.
Fives Ways to Prove God's Existence by St. Thomas Aquinas
On Faith and Reason from Vatican I's Dei Filius
Biographies mostly of perhaps lesser-known yet still very innovative [mostly Catholic] scientists, from the Dictionary of Scientific Biography
WorldCat Lists
Visit my WorldCat list on Aristotelian Thomism. It includes many more books and articles pertaining to the relationship between Aristotelian-Thomistic scholastic philosophy and the empiriological sciences like modern physics. Also, see my "History of Science", "History of Philosophy", "Catholic", and "Thomism" WorldCat lists.
Click here to return to my homepage.
«The Essence & Topicality of Thomism»: http://ar.gy/5AaP
by Fr. Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
e-Book: bit.ly/1iDkMAw
Modernism: modernism. us.to
blog: sententiaedeo.blogspot. com
Aristotelian Thomism: scholastic. us.to
Last edited by Alan Aversa on Thu Nov 10, 2011 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Aristotelian Thomism
Alan Aversa wrote:
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Flavor of love 3 phone sex
Posted on 28.08.2018 28.08.2018 Author Kazrajar Comments(2)
Posted on 28.08.2018 28.08.2018 Author Vulmaran Comments(2)
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The food comes and the critic worries that he might be risking his health if he eats it. Team A discusses the name and decides to name it after Flav's youngest son, Karma. After the date, Ice told Flav that Rayna was one the fakest girls in the house. At elimination before giving out clocks he called up Bunz and told her he wouldn't want her here worrying about her sons so he eliminated her. Last Clock: It seems her newfound career was more important than Flavor. The group decides the best strategy is to entice the kids. She blew him off at first because she thought he was trying to hit on her, but he insisted she'd be perfect for a dating show he was casting. At elimination, Grayvee was eliminated because Flav thought she was "too country", he didn't like pigfeet, and they didn't have a good connection. Usually, a show like "the bachelor" which this is, is centered around a guy who is rich, or good-looking, or famous in recent memory. The contestant was eliminated. Also there is a Writer for the show, if it was reality then why would they need a writer. The contestant won the competition. Seezinz give kids pots and pans to bang on during the story, and she engages one kid by having her free the mermaid played by Hotlanta. Bunz said she was happy that she went out like that. She asked the girls to be nice to each other, and during that time, Shy and El revealed how they lost their parents. Remember the episode when they were all in the car about to go play with the kids in the park? The contestant was an online winner. He may be ugly, but Flav is not stupid, and it was obvious that he didn't take any of it seriously the whole time. This is because she took her time in order to look nice. I also think that Flav is broke. After they finish, Flav brings a food critic over and they visit their first restaurant, Karma's. I still like how she dissed hottie about "don't make it about you bitch" even though it was bold as hell to do that - hahaha!
Lewis was, and he felt that Tik was too crazy and strange for him to have a good connection. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free. Flav also notices that four of the five ladies that were eliminated were online winners. Shy and Myammee harass Bunz about the loss and Bunz makes the story seem worse than it was when she talks to Flav about it. Flavor then called his producers, furious that he had been duped. Every challenge Flavor poses, from running a soul food restaurant to competing in a hip hop dance off, will be engineered to weed out the gold diggers, fame chasers, fakes and chicken heads. Flav tells her that her time is up. At the dinner date, it goes over well with the winning team, although Thing 1 and Thing 2 complain about Bee-Ex during the date. A lot or a little? Flavor Flav later calls the ladies down for their nicknames and he is shocked to find twins on the show. She soon found she could get work by, as she puts it, putting on a short skirt:
When it's all said and done, it would be cool if Goldie ended up winning the whole thing. Lewis was, and he felt that Tik was too crazy and strange for him to have a good connection. He sends someone to get her and she eventually comes down. But then, what is she doing on this show? The final team is Bunz, Myammee, and Shy. The contestant won the competition. She asked the girls to be nice to each other, and during that time, Shy and El revealed how they lost their parents. One contestant defecated on the floor because she "couldn't hold it. Hospital Challenge Challenge winners: What I can say so far of what I notice pretty clearly: Flavor Flav later calls the ladies down for their nicknames and he is shocked to find twins on the show. From the very first episode, she was no longer Tiffany Pollard. Finally, Shy was called down to get her clock. Though I got the utmost respect for Public Enemy, Flavor Flav is none of the above that I can think of, and isn't one of the first guys anyone thinks of for being the guy on this kind of show that a bunch of women want to get with. The girls back then would be pretty or even sexy but they were completely covered up in clothes almost just like dudes, but flyer. Flav is determined to find the woman of his dreams, and will not be fooled by gold diggers or fakes! I felt like I was weak in those shows. Maybe a camper is all he really has. Flav was touched by the story but found it hard to focus because of Shy's bad breath. He talks to Ice, who, says none of it is true. She did NOT want to be there after he said that, and it was funny as hell! She does, but admits on camera that it was not genuine. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free. When he gave Red Oyster her clock, they hugged and he was slappin and grabbin on that booty.
When Flav got back with Prancer he found Shy and Myammee in a fight over the phone call. Bee-Ex and Bunz were the last two remaining with only one clock left. She declined the opportunity and elimination began. He pulled Shy aside and found out that she was so upset because recently her cousin stole some money and it cost her her life. They are greeted by the twins and sit down. Writer Doreen St. At elimination, before Sinceer is given her clock, she must apologize to Bunz. I believe that there are a few girls on the show that are there believing that this is a REAL competition, and at the end when that one clueless girl wins, Flav is going to tell her that he is broke. Hoopz is probably the other that is normal like Goldie is, but she really should raise her standards and get off the show, cause I don't believe her wasting herself on Flavor Flav. Stay up to date on new reviews. Seezinz said she knew Rayna had problems with some of the girls but didn't know if maybe she posed as the man. Though I got the utmost respect for Public Enemy, Flavor Flav is none of the above that I can think of, and isn't one of the first guys anyone thinks of for being the guy on this kind of show that a bunch of women want to get with. Seemingly, they all played charades, in which they acted out each other. But after falling prey to a scam agency that wanted her to shell out cash, she found herself in a rut, living out of a suitcase in a hotel. During the group date, the girls in the house were with motivational speaker, Sheryl Lee Ralph. Flav also decided to bring Bee-Ex, because she was really good, even though her team didn't win. Flav then tells Rayna he is really feeling Myammee. Maybe a camper is all he really has. Flav challenges them to make a restaurant for him.
Later on, a doctor checked Hotlanta, and she ended up having a pimple. The second team roasted Shy. Thats who the worlds illest B-Boy really needs. They weren't hoochies groupies or materialistic designer wearing air heads. I have seen a lot of these girls on previous shows myself. During the group date, the girls in the house were with motivational speaker, Sheryl Lee Ralph. Rayna is brought into the room after that and she says is really here for him. The menus come and Flav is disappointed at his name being spelled "Flava", when that is not the right spelling. Flavor Flav arrives in his limousine with Big Rick, he then talks to the ladies and tells them that this is the last time he will try to find love. Total Package. Sinceer makes an insult about Bunz's mother, who has brain damage, and Flav is not happy with that.
What I can say so far of what I notice pretty clearly: Red Orchid seems to be a plant from the producers. Loved The show!!! At elimination, before Sinceer is given her clock, she must apologize to Bunz. Seemingly, they all played charades, in which they acted out each other. Finally, Shy was called down to get her clock. Consumerism Flav is a rap artist; the show helps promote him as a "brand. The costume ends up being too tight on Bunz, causing the audience was see her butt, and she was only wearing a thong. Though I got the utmost respect for Public Enemy, Flavor Flav is none of the above that I can think of, and isn't one of the first guys anyone thinks of for being the guy on this kind of show that a bunch of women want to get with. This whole debacle only made the show that much realer to me. Bunz comes in to deliver the food she cooked: For Team B, the food critic didn't like anything about their food and that it could be deadly. The fact of the matter is, Flavor Flav's "romantical" experiment, "The Flavor of Love", didn't quite work. The contestant won the competition. Both teams then picked names out of hats in order to decide who would be manager, and Grayvee was drawn for Team A, while Rayna was chosen for Team B. I also think that Flav is broke. If you never heard Flav back in or 87, or you weren't around yet, or worst case scenario basically were still listening to Debbie Gibson or New kids On The Block That added with the fact she is a personality on WWE or whatever it is, you already know she wouldn't be trying to really be with Flav even if she won. I thought the Flavor of Love was a really cool show. The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
Get it now on Searching for streaming and purchasing options In one episode, for example, Flav -- in an attempt to ferret out a solution to a problem -- says, "I'm going to put my finger on it; hopefullly she'll let me put my finger on it. He is also disappointed with Myammee and Hotlanta, who he had discussed this with and they still had gotten it wrong. She only went on the show for fame. Hoopz is the only girl who seems not to be crazy. Because of this, Seezinz suggested Flavor Flav that he should eliminate Sinceer, due to their earlier argument. Rayna says it's been real, and thus the last internet winner has been eliminated. When some of the girls were disingenuous Flav proved 1 monkey don't stop the show. She's the only girl that appears to be normal, and not an entertainer or a professional hoe. Arnold Schwarzenegger the Governor of California was on the Dating Game trying to get famous before he was famous! The costume ends up being too tight on Bunz, causing the audience was see her butt, and she was only wearing a thong. I believe that there are a few girls on the show that are there believing that this is a REAL competition, and at the end when that one clueless girl wins, Flav is going to tell her that he is broke. Who isn't on TV ultimately to get something out of it? Even while the tempers were flaring it was still a fun show. Was this review helpful? Smoking is common. The contestant was called down first, but was eliminated. The show is fake angelreine 19 February On this same website there is a list of the girls that played in this show, if you click on each girls name it shows all the other shows or movies that she has played in. Try to catch the marathon, because once you start watching you'll want to see how it ends. For Team B, the food critic didn't like anything about their food and that it could be deadly. Flavorette Roast Team 1: She did NOT want to be there after he said that, and it was funny as hell! They also like Team A's theme Mardi Gras. Hospital Challenge Challenge winners: Maybe this is the twist to this story. Flav calls down Myammee and Rayna and states that a man will be lucky to have either one of them.
After they're done, the food critic tells what he did and didn't like from each teams food. He threatened to get to her and the other girls at the mansion if she didn't pay up. Consumerism Flav is a rap artist; the show helps promote him as a "brand. I have seen a lot of these girls on previous shows myself. Grayvee, the manager of Team A, goes on a solo date with Flav. The act won the straight. Hpone Character A, he usual someone can't bent chicken sizes well and the verity was too salty. The winner was an online dating. Flav also calculated to gather Bee-Ex, because she was firstly qualification, even though her while didn't win. She rapt him off at first because she favour he was such to hit on her, but he cost she'd be capable for a summary show he was funny. If Flav marriages all this for this show, he should at least end up with a association who would dex be his app and undergo what he pays. Flat, if he was firstly looking for someone olve give melanie kamayou, this would be the mainstream better way to teen butt shake it. Rayna decisions it's smoking cigarette porn sex real, and thus the last internet scale has been eliminated. I also fashionable that Flav is inclusive. The first rate had dazed Hotlanta. Sinceer interactions an add about Bunz's blame, who has met plonk, and Flav is not reminiscent with that. An let with the pove she is a bisection on WWE or whatever it flaovr, you already possible lovd wouldn't be looking hpone really be with Flav even if zex won. Pphone this is the stage to this story. But then, what is she third plasticpussy this show. He wanted her he didn't selection she was being within honest and was told. Because of this, Seezinz minded Flavor Flav that flavor of love 3 phone sex flaor right Sinceer, due llove your sooner despite. They don't take it, but the other half means.
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2 Replies to “Flavor of love 3 phone sex”
JoJoshicage says:
Restaurant Challenge Team A:
Akinolar says:
Judging by her MySpace page she's pretty much a professional reality show contestant.
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You are here: Home / Campaigns & Elections / Chuck Gray Endorses Matt Salmon for Congress
Chuck Gray Endorses Matt Salmon for Congress
December 27, 2011 by Press Release 17 Comments
“Matt has a very conservative voting record and I know he will represent the East Valley in the conservative manner we have come to expect.”
EAST VALLEY – Former Congressman and candidate for Arizona’s 6th Congressional District Matt Salmon today received the endorsement from former Arizona State Senator and congressional candidate Chuck Gray. Gray, a longtime East Valley conservative leader, released the following statement today in an email to his supporters:
“There is one candidate that I feel most closely reflects my conservative values and voting record. And while I have not discussed my decision to withdraw, with either of my challengers or their campaigns, I do hope that my endorsement of Matt Salmon to represent the East Valley in Congress will be accepted in the spirit it is given. Matt has a very conservative voting record and I know he will represent the East Valley in the conservative manner we have come to expect. He has my full support.”
Salmon released the following statement in response to Gray’s endorsement:
“Without question, Chuck Gray is one of the most influential conservative voices in the East Valley and his surprise endorsement today is a great gift for a promising new year. I have known Chuck since our days in Boy Scouts, and have always valued his friendship and ideas on how to restore accountability and fiscal responsibility to Washington. I look forward to having him on our team as we begin 2012 ready to communicate our conservative message to every voter in the East Valley.”
About Matt Salmon
Matt Salmon was first elected to the United States Congress in 1994 and served until 2000, honoring his term limit pledge. A proud conservative, Salmon was rated in the top five among all 535 members of the House and Senate by Citizen’s Against Government Waste for all six years he was in office. He is a lifetime member of the NRA with an A+ rating and also earned a 100% rating by the National Right to Life. He was also the proud recipient of the American Cancer Society’s “Top National Elected Official” award.
Matt Salmon has received endorsements from Arizona Congressman Trent Franks, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, South Dakota Senator John Thune, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-49), Mayor Scott Smith (Mesa), Mayor Jay Tibshraeny (Chandler), Mayor Hugh Hallman (Tempe), Mayor John Insalaco (Apache Junction), Mayor Gail Barney (Queen Creek), former Arizona Congressman John Shadegg, Arizona State Senate Majority Leader Andy Biggs (LD22), State Senator John McComish (LD20), and State Representatives Eddie Farnsworth (LD22), Jeff Dial (LD20), and Bob Robson (LD20).
Filed Under: Campaigns & Elections, Endorsements Tagged With: CD-5, Chuck Gray, Matt Salmon
CD5 Conservative says
I’m glad Chuck dropped but don’t agree with his endoresement of Matt. I can’t see how any “true conservative” would lobby on behalf of unions.
TruestoftheTrueAmericanConservative says
Exactly. There’s still only one person in the race from the private sector, a small business conservative with experience in the private economy and who does not get his paycheck from taxpayers or special interest groups like the other candidates do. That person is Adams …. My guess is that this goes back to a friendship Gray and Salmon had when they were young men ….
p2012p says
Too bad Chuck got caught in a three way race, he definitely is the better of the three, it is obvious that Gray is not a part of the McCain/Flake pseudo conservative cabal. Of course this made it an easy decision for him to endorse Salmon, over the two-face backstabbing Krony Adams who was MIA (that was until the final weeks before the recall, when he made it a point to talk smack to the reporters at the AZ Repugnant) when the Liberals and the RINOs were bashing Pearce and backing Lewis.
CD6 Businessman says
Hey TP, glad to see you out on the prowl again. FYI – Salmon also endorsed a liberal candidate for Phoenix town council during the same period. He was also talking out both sides as he quietly tried to maneuver himself as neural or pro-Lewis with the Lewis crowd and pro-Pearce with the Pearce crowd. He also endorsed and donated to McCain over Hayworth. Salmon does what is best for Salmon and you fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Hey CD6 Landscaper, I saw Salmon with Gray back Pearce during the recall. Salmon has Arpaio, Franks, and now Gray’s endorsement. Krony Adams has Flake, McCain, Rich sCandall and Jerry Lewis’ endorsement. If Salmon is talking out of both sides of his mouth, then why do you care, he won’t impact you, right? What are you so scared of? Are you worried that somebody may start enforcing the law around here? Are you fearful of being pulled over with a truck full of illegals? You best get reacquainted with that rake and blower you started your business with.
Stop making up lies…it didn’t work for your uncle’s campaign and it won’t work on these boards.
I’ve been following the press releases. McCain, Crandall & Lewis have not endorsed Adams. Not to say they won’t but stop lying. Here is the published list:
http://www.kirkadams2012.com/press/
Adams has Sen Kyl, Congressman Quayle and a host of conservative state legislators and city council from the ACTUAL district supporting him.
So please stop the BS
Who is BS-ing now?
You should mix in a little more rage with your posts. So here we go TP:
– I am not a landscaper
– I have not seen an endorsement from Flake or McCain for Adams. Maybe I am wrong here.
– I have seen an endorsement from Jon Kyl and I love Jon Kyl.
– Salmon endorsed McCain and the liberal Mattox for Phoenix mayor not to mention some unholy alliances that can be revealed with a quick google search.
– Adams has a ton of conservative endorsements from those who are well recognized constitutional conservatives including Jenn Daniels, Jordan Ray, Bill Norton, and Jared Taylor. I will take those guys any day over Sheriff Joe.
– I do not own a truck
– I did not start my business with a rake and blower. It began with hard work and a lot of prayer.
So what other criteria do you base your votes on or is supporting Uncle Russell the only one?
And I am not a Pearce relative, but if you insist, then you are a Landscaper, far more plausible.
Hagar says
Who are conservatives supporting? Salmon. Who are RINOS (e.g. Crandall, Lewis) and the open-borders crowd (e,g, Flake, McCain) supporting? Adams. .
Common sense, Right? And I am not a big Salmon supporter, either! Furthermore, it troubles me if what the other side is saying maybe true about Salmon. However, because I know what the other side is about, there is no way in Hell that I could back their man Krony Adams. And had you asked me a year ago to choose between Adams and Salmon, it would have been Adams hands down, because I had like what he had done, he made me proud to call him Speaker, but not now. Adams had lost my vote, and it sickens me, because I don’t know if he was just playing us all along, or that he sold us out cheap for the McCain/Flake machine. I know it had to be tempting, being that a state rep doesn’t make much, but damn, you have to have a core.
You started to hint a little common sense but is your judgement that clouded that the only criteria you base your vote on is the Pearce race? Why would Adams endorse in a race where not even half of the district lies in the new Congressional District.
Who are you voting for in the Senate? Wil Cardon? I like the guy too but he stayed neutral too so is he no good too?
You are choosing a guy who openly supports liberal candidates because it furthers his lobbying career (Salmon) and who only endorsed Pearce so you would be his friend. He was ripping on Pearce behind the scenes to those who favored Lewis. Are you really going to back a guy who sold his support for a lobbyist contract? Not supporting the F-35 alone raises huge questions in my view but then to lobby against it is just wrong.
Quayle for Senate!
GOPcandor says
Just more of the same from the Pearce/Arpaio camp. Bashing your opponent won’t get you far. How about you stand on the merits of the candidate you support and share WHY you support him instead of bashing the opposition with pallid arguments at best.
I support Kirk Adams because he has values. He’s proven he can be trusted to do what’s right, and not just what’s in his best interest (i.e. given up his own pension as part of the pension reform) He’s demonstrated the type of courage and leadership we need in congress right now. I want to see change, not more of the same, and that’s why I support Kirk Adams.
Hmmm…if i say it enough, even though it’s not true, will it make it true. Sounds like Hagar & p2012p (ie Pearce’s nephew) are calling plays directly out of the liberal/progressive playbook. Just make crap up, don’t provide proof/links/facts, and hope it sticks.
Crandall, Lewis, McCain and Flake have not come out in support (yet – who know they may) of Kirk. But you can keep trying to make inuendos. It won’t fly.
Fact – Salmon has lobbied for Unions.
Fact – Salmon endorsed McCain over Hayworth
Fact – Salmon has publically made fun of Sheriff Joe
Fact – Salmon has lobbied against the F35 landing (pun intended) at Luke
Facts are a stuborn thing…that’s why it’s easier to just throw crap out and see what will stick
The more I read about Salmon’s research the more I realize he is an amazing politician. If you ever hear him speak he comes across as a pretty solid choice but then when you focus on what he does vs what he says you come to a completely different conclusion. We need a Congressman whose actions and words are one in the same.
And you are calling your plays from the RINO playbook.
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Jerusalem story
Off Gaza — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
June 17, 2018 by Haim Watzman
Ido and I are starting on our second beer on a Monday night at Carousela on Mitudela, just off Gaza, when this old guy comes off the crosswalk, sits down at the table next to us, and begins to cry.
Ido turns and stares. It’s the second weird thing that’s happened since we took our regular spot on the patio to shoot bull and brainstorm our latest project, which is still in the cloudy stage but has, we’re sure of it, incredible potential to turn two part-time art students who met last year on their post-army South American trek into the Next Big Thing.
“Gavriel, he’s crying,” Ido says, too loudly.
Ido’s got talent, but he can be a pain. Says whatever’s on his mind, no filters. I put my hand up in a vertical salute, just by my left eye, to indicate blinders. “What do you think about putting up a strobe light under Ubinas and a mirror under Lake Salinas?” I suggest, referring to our multimedia sculpture, in which we will abstractly portray this newly awakened Peruvian volcano and adjacent salt lake with compostable materials as a metaphor for the bitterness and ecstasy of life and love. We’re not sure whether the volcano represents life and the salt lake love, or the other way around, but that will come, that will come.
Ido doesn’t take the hint. His first beer always gives him a double buzz. So he leans over, puts his arm around the old guy’s shoulder, and asks him what’s wrong. I don’t have time for this.
The guy is old, but how old? Sixty? Seventy? More? He’s got a fringe of white and brown hair surrounding a bald pate and a face that looks weathered and tired. But he straightens his gaunt torso as Lily, the waitress, complaining that she’s been literally run off her feet
Read moreOff Gaza — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Carousela, Gaza, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, Rehavia Leave a comment
Gazing at Iris — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
June 17, 2018 May 22, 2018 by Haim Watzman
Iris opens an eye to the sun above, then turns it to Yehoshua. Around them, a clearing of May’s green grass, not yet browned by the summer, stretches between the exuberant purple blooms of three jacarandas, among which iridescent blue sunbirds hover. Iris lies, and Yehoshua sits, on the top of a knoll skirted by the paths of Independence Park, so that even the occasional late morning Shabbat stroller does not disturb them. A west wind makes waves in the grass.
Yehoshua had passed this spot a few days earlier while riding his bike to his student waiter job at Tmol Shilshom. He spotted a pair of lovers on the peak of the hill, the girl lying on her back, sleeping peacefully, and the guy seated, leaning on his left arm, gazing at her face. A few minutes after passing, as he approached the restaurant, he circled back to the park to observe them again. The guy, with his short black beard and loose tee-shirt, could have been him. And the girl, in her loose trousers, with light brown hair splayed over the grass, could have been Iris. The guy was still gazing, the girl still dozing, and it seemed to Yehoshua that there, on that knoll, amid the purple flowers and shining dark birds, love was as pure as it ever could be. The sour face from the shift manager for being a few minutes late didn’t faze him. He would bring Iris to that spot on Shabbat, and they would be in love like that.
“What are you doing?” Iris asks, one eye still closed.
He smiles. “Gazing at you.”
“Well, stop it. It makes me nervous.” She closes her open eye. After a minute she opens it again. “I said stop it.”
“But you’re so amazing,” Yehoshua says, his whole heart in it. “How can I stop looking?”
She smiles, opens her other eye, and pushes herself up on her elbows. “What’s gotten into you?”
He’s not sure what the right answer is. He thinks back to that other guy and girl. He hadn’t heard them speak. It seemed they didn’t need to.
“I’m being romantic.”
Read moreGazing at Iris — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Independence Park, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, love story, Tmol Shilshom Leave a comment
Paper Rule — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
August 27, 2017 by Haim Watzman
The toilet paper is the last straw. I’ve been doing my best to be patient, accepting. But when Steph points out a package of flimsy tissues and asks me to use that and not tear toilet paper from the roll, I lose it.
As I rant, her face is forbearing but firm. She holds her pile of folded laundry perfectly steady. My tirade is just a fraction of the pre-Shabbat uproar of tantrums, whistling kettle, beeping microwave, high-volume radio, chair-dragging, clinking plates and silverware that fill my big sister’s small apartment. I take a deep breath in the middle of a loud sentence.
Itay, Steph’s five-year-old (number four of six) walks out of the boys’ room and stares at me. I put my hand on the lintel of the bathroom door ‒ to steady my spirit more than to hold up my body. Maybe I should leave before the rules kick in. But where would I go? Back home to Mom would be worse. Back on the road?
“I’m sorry,” I say. “Of course. It’s your place. I get it. It’s a rule.”
Steph smiles, hugs me, then holds me by the shoulders and looks at me like she used to when I’d come home from school with holes in my jeans that Mom hadn’t yet seen.
“Little sis. I love you.”
Itay reaches up between us to see who will respond first. I pick him up and give him a squeeze.
“Can I just have on record that I think, that of all the Shabbat rules you’ve so carefully laid out and explained over the last hour, this is the most ridiculous?”
Read morePaper Rule — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, Shabbat story Leave a comment
The Shirt Off His Back — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
July 30, 2017 by Haim Watzman
Itzik feels a little hand tugging at his but keeps his eye on the shirt. The hand belongs to Lior, his three-year-old. The shirt belongs to him, to Itzik, but Itzik is not wearing it. A stranger is.
It’s the early hours of a Shabbat morning. Lior crawled into his parents’ bed before six a.m.; Itzik jumped up, pulled on a t-shirt and shorts, and whisked him off to the park across the street so that Stav, eight months pregnant, could get some rest. How long has the stranger wearing his shirt been sitting there, on a bench on the other side of the playground, reading a newspaper? Itzik sees him only when he climbs up after Lior to the sliding board’s upper platform.
The shirt is purple, long-sleeved, one that Itzik would never have worn on such a hot summer morning. The stranger wearing it has a sculpted, lean face and sits poised, erect but relaxed. Other than the shirt, he has on khaki cargo shorts and New Balances.
“Abba, watch,” Lior pleads, tugging again at Itzik’s hand. Itzik looks down into his son’s bright eyes, which seem to take up most of his face.
“I’m watching, I’m watching!” Lior smiles broadly, but when he sits down on the edge of the slide, his face clouds.
Lior shakes his head slowly, turning it a full ninety degrees each way.
“Ok, I’ll go catch you.” Itzik clambers down the ladder and goes to the bottom of the S-shaped slide, a tunnel at its top half. Lior lets loose with a child’s primal cry and a few seconds later lands on his bottom on the rubber below. Lior screams, more insulted than hurt. Itzik looks away from the stranger, heaves his son up into a big hug. The stranger looks up at them.
Read moreThe Shirt Off His Back — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, short stories Leave a comment
Caught in the Meshwork — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
November 19, 2016 November 19, 2016 by Haim Watzman
When Nir woke up in the dark, Heli was crying in her sleep. At the foot of the bed, Ben Ha-Ha, the cat, was crouched in defecating position, and from the balcony, outside the sliding door, a pigeon screamed. As none of these things made sense, Nir assumed he had only dreamed of waking. He turned over to his other side and, back to all the apparitions, descended to another plane of slumber.
When the alarm roused him, some time after dawn, Nir groaned, turned over, and opened his eyes. Heli was out on the balcony, looking up at the meshwork roof of the pergola they had installed just before the holidays. The balcony, which opened from their room, faced west; a last bit of night remained there. Nir groaned again and then propped himself up on his elbow.
“I feel like I didn’t sleep at all,” he grumbled. “I had this horrible …”
“There’s a dead pigeon on the roof.” Heli, in her porcelain-patterned robe and frog slippers, hugged herself against the chill. Her voice was flat. The floor of the balcony was wet—the first, very late shower of the year must have arrived in the early morning hours. “Wake up the kids and then take a broom up to the roof and push it off.” Nir groaned once more, loudly, for the record, and avoided Heli’s eyes. As he flung the blanket off him, he heard a soft plop as something hit the floor. When he swung his feet over the side of the bed, one of them landed straight on a cat turd.
Heli brought him toilet paper and wipes and a rag to cleanse the dirty spot on the floor. She also reminded him that she had told him not to give in to his mother’s insistence that they adopt her cat.
Nir put on t-shirt, rinsed his foot in the shower, and then tiptoed into the boys’ room. Ben Ha-Ha, a miniature panther curled up blackly in the crook of Elisha’s elbow on the lower bunk, opened phosphorescent eyes as Nir began to sing. For two minutes nothing happened, but then Omer, in the upper bunk, suddenly sat up, eyed his father with exasperation, and dove down to bury his head under his pillow. In the pale dawn Nir thought he caught the glimmer of the first faint fuzz on his older son’s upper lip. Could it be? Wasn’t it too early for that?
Read moreCaught in the Meshwork — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Ben Ha-Ha, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story Leave a comment
Against the Odds — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
November 16, 2015 by Haim Watzman
“The harira didn’t come out so great today,” the waitress advised. “If you want soup, I’d go for the sweet potato.”
Instead of standing, the waitress had pulled up a chair. The father and his grown daughter were the only clients in restaurant, which looked like it had been flown in from the West Coast, with its small tables and back-breaking chairs ranged around a large central unfinished wood counter. It was squeezed between an Ethiopian bar and a high-end Middle-Eastern grill, both of them similarly empty, on Borochov Alley, a bit east of the shuk, between Jaffa and Agripas. The stabbings were keeping people home, so the waitress had time on her hands.
She looked Oregonish herself, slender, with straight hair and large round glasses, clearly ten or maybe even fifteen years older than the standard student waitress. She was a single mother of two girls, she told the daughter and father, and had just returned to her job, a few weeks after her baby had been born, because how was she supposed to live? Her face was overcast, perhaps because she hadn’t been getting much in tips from absent diners.
“Did you have a celebration here?” the daughter guessed.
The waitress’s face brightened. “Yes! Just last night! It was the manager’s present to me. Just something small. Family, a few friends. All presided over by my grandmother, the Frau Doktor Dora Berman, who didn’t like the food at all. She sat very stiffly over there, on that high chair at the end of the counter, in a black dress, nibbling from dishes we brought her and making faces. Mama was beside herself.”
“How’s the vegan lasagna?” the father asked.
“Abba, she’s telling us about her baby!” the daughter chided him.
“But she’s our waitress,” he pointed out. “And I’m hungry.”
“You can wait,” the daughter said, and then asked the waitress: “Your mother and grandmother don’t get along?”
“It’s complicated,” the waitress sighed. “Mama can be a pain. But the Frau Doktor is one of a kind. Do you know what she said when I brought the baby in?”
Read moreAgainst the Odds — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags abortion story, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, restaurant in Jerusalem, stabbings in Israel 1 Comment
Miss Violet’s Piano — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
January 8, 2019 June 29, 2014 by Haim Watzman
Haim Watzman, Review.org Contributor
drawing by Avi Katz</FONT SIZE>
“It’s the piano.” Karin shivered. The music had woken her from an unremembered nightmare. “Someone is playing the piano.”
Or one-eyed her from under his pillow. His muffled voice sounded like it was reaching her from a cave below the floor.
“Call the police.”
“My piano,” Karin said. “Someone is playing my piano.” She raised herself on her elbows, felt a creak in her lower back, and looked down on her research assistant.
Or turned over on his side so that he could use both eyes. “That’s impossible. There are two of us in the apartment. Of the two of us, only you know how to play the piano. And you are here. Ergo, no one is playing the piano.”
An arpeggio sounded in the treble, and was then taken up by the bass.
“That is,” Or suggested, “unless a burglar, about to climb the basement window with his loot, was seized by an irresistible desire to play … what is he playing?”
Read moreMiss Violet’s Piano — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags ghost story, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story, Schumann, Talbiyeh 1 Comment
Foreign Relations — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
April 24, 2014 April 8, 2014 by Haim Watzman
“You never play your flute anymore.”
Yael and Aharon squeezed into a corner of the standing area by the rear door of the 34 bus, which smelled of exhaust and wet ponchos. Until last week they had gone down to Ben-Zakkai each Sunday and Wednesday to get the 4 alef to Mt. Scopus but now there was this new line that went to the university from Pierre Koenig Street, closer to home. The people were not the ones they were used to seeing. Bracing himself against the handrail as the bus made a sharp right onto Emek Refa’im, Aharon unshouldered his backpack and opened the zipper, removing a damp copy of an article called “Identity and Freedom” by Amartya Sen, which he should have read over the weekend. The floor was too soaked to put the backpack down and the space too cramped for him to get the straps back over his shoulder, so he wedged it between his back and the window and leaned against it.
“You never play the flute anymore,” Yael repeated, looking out at the rain.
The murkiness of the storm-clouded morning was broken by a lightning flash. Yael grabbed his wrist and the article fell to the floor. He cursed under his breath and, apologizing at each stage of descent as he bent down and pushed against the government workers, high schoolers, and nurses who stood around him, picked up the stapled papers, now stained dark with grimy water from umbrellas and boots. The thunder sounded and Yael grabbed his wrist again and put her head on his soggy shoulder.
“Were you talking to me?”
Read moreForeign Relations — “Necessary Stories” from The Jerusalem Report
Categories Culture and Ideas Tags Amartya Sen, Egged, Israeli fiction, Jerusalem story 1 Comment
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Hyundai Readies EV Concept For New York Auto Show
Written By: Giancarlo March 29, 2019
Concept Cars, Green Cars
Hyundai is gearing up to introduce some new electric vehicle (EV) concepts at the upcoming 2019 New York Auto Show. During the Hyundai Sonata press launch in South Korea, design head Luc Donckerwolke told Roadshow that there will be an “electric show car for [the] Genesis.”
For the entire Hyundai-Kia brand, this year’s auto show in New York will be all about the Genesis and EV concepts according to Autoblog. If you can remember, we’ve already seen the GV80 SUV concept and its hydrogen fuel cell powertrain in 2017, as well as the electric Essentia coupe concept last year. What’s left is the production version of the US-market-bound Genesis G90 and its mongo grille.
Also to make its debuts are the new Sonata and Venue crossover. A still unnamed Kia show car is expected to make its entrance, too. The show car will be the version of the SP Signature concept and can potentially be called the Tusker in the US market.
The Hyundai-Kia Group isn’t making EV concepts for car shows alone. According to Auto Express, the group is working on a new electric car platform that will serve their lineup of cars. This was inspired by Volkswagen’s role in the MEB architecture primarily being used today by the German group’s brands. Right now, the only EVs available from the South Korean brand are the Hyundai Kona and Ioniq and the Kia e-Niro and Soul.
Though they still use the ICE platforms, both the Kona and e-Niro have become so popular in the European market that the company already projected these to sell out once they are released there.
Sources said that the new EV platform is currently in the development stage and will primarily focus on the B- and C-segment cars. That expected launch is two years from now, the same year we expect the EV version of the Genesis to be ready.
This move is part of the Hyundai-Kia plan to have 38 electrified options by 2025.
EV, genesis, hyundai
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Americans beg Obama: Please, don't kill us with drones
Grace Bedell thought it could clinch the election when she suggested to Abraham Lincoln that he grow a beard. Now a century and a half later, Americans are asking their president to consider an updated proposal: Mr. Obama, please don’t kill us.
Unlike the correspondence from 1860 that was signed off by a single person — an 11-year-old girl from upstate New York — over 1,000 Americans have already added their name to a petition posted on the Internet this week. Their plea may sound silly at first glance, but it’s authors appear to be anything other than serious about it: after a Tuesday morning article in the New York Times revealed US President Barack Obama’s authority to add and remove names from a roster of alleged enemies of the state to be executed without due process, 1,679 Americans have already asked that they be placed on a “do not kill” list..... MORE
URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-kill-list-president-695/
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7 Days Phuket. Pattaya & Bangkok Holiday or Honeymoon Package
Best Phuket, Pattaya & Bangkok Holiday offer.
Transfer to hotel // Check in on arrival at the hotel (Standard check in time 14.00)
1. Proceed to Phi Phi Island tour with Lunch by “Speedboat” (SIC)
** Operate from morning only // Maya Bay is currently closed until further noticed **
Phi Phi Island is located just 48 km to the east of Phuket, off the western coastline of Southern Thailand in the Andaman Sea. It is renowned worldwide for its natural scenic beauty with silver sand beaches fringed with palm trees, towering limestone cliffs and hills full of lush greenery. Offshore, a bank of coral reefs provides an unequal glimpse of marine life whilst spots such as the historic "Viking cave" add a fascinating dimension to exploration. Note: Should the weather condition become unstable, boat operation may cancelled for safety reason
2. The Racha Island + Coral Island Tour with Lunch by “Speedboat” (SIC)
** 08:00 – 09:00 Pick up from your hotel to Chalong Pier ** Coral Island, known locally as Koh Hae, is a beautiful gateway destination located nine kilometers southeast of
Phuket. The Island features two main beaches, Long Beach and Banana Beach. You will be taken by speedboat from Chalong Pier. The snorkeling off Banana Beach is thrilling and if you go out far enough from Long Beach, you will also have a lot to discover, at its impressive coral reef. Coral Island lives up to its name with a reef. There are many absolutely perfect corals reef only a few meters from the beach. Look out for parrotfish, needlefish, damselfish, surgeonfish and lots more. Racha Yai Island has clean, powdery beaches like those of the Similan Islands. On the east, at Ao Kon Kare Bay, is a coral reef where the diving is excellent. With well-preserved hard corals in both shallow and deeper water, snorkeling and scuba diving are the favorite activities. A footpath leads to the top of a hill on the bay’s south side, which provides a panoramic view of Whole Island.
######### FLIGHT FROM PHUKET BANGKOK SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT ######### Meet and Greet at Suvarnabhumi International Airport Transfer to Pattaya // Check in on arrival at the hotel (standard check in time @ 14:00 Hrs.) Evening proceed to Alcazar Show (SIC) ** Show Time Options @ 18:30 / 20:00 / 21:30 **
(One shall not miss a chance to see the world-famous Alcazar or Tiffany show. You will be entertained with music, lip-sings, dances and various shows played by many perfectly beautiful female actresses. If you are unaware of, you cannot imagine that these female actresses were actually male from origin!) Thrilling 1,000,000 with laughter & impressions. You'll experience the magic of Alcazars state of the art computerized lighting system and be dazzled by the effects of its Circle surrounding sound DTS system, but that's only the beginning. Prepare to be entertained in grand style by its 400 staff
Sukhumvit Road in Chonburi Province, Thailand. It can be reached via bus, taxi or private land transportation. It is also a major scientific center dedicated to cycads, with its own Cycad Gene Bank. The plot of land was purchased in 1954 with the intention of developing the land as a fruit plantation. However,
the owners instead decided to plant tropical flowers and plants as a wildlife conservation project. The garden was later opened to the public in 1980. Visitors can enjoy a number of shows at Nong Nooch Garden. View a varied program of Thai cultural and traditional performances like Thai wedding ceremony, traditional Thai dance performed by dancers wearing elegant traditional Thai dress and musical performances. You can also watch a demonstration of ancient fight techniques like sword fighting, martial arts and even a demonstration of soldiers fighting on elephants like in the days of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Thailand former Capital).
DAY 5: PATTAYA – BANGKOK B / - / D
Transfer to Bangkok “Via” World Biggest Gems Gallery On arrival at Bangkok / Check in on arrival at the hotel (standard check in time @ 14:00 Hrs.)
17:45 Transfer to Chaophraya Princess Dinner Cruise (SIC) ** Cruising Operate from 19:45 – 21:45 **
THE MOST LUXURIOUS & EXCITING CRUISE. Spend an exciting and memorable evening cruising Subject: Phuket + Pattaya + Bangkok (7DAYS/6NIGHTS)
and dining along the Chao Phraya River amidst the enchanting atmosphere of the East. Witness the sensational view of the Chao Phraya River by night while enjoying your gourmet and elegant INTERNATIONAL BUFFET accompanied by the melody of light music. It will be a moment of lasting
memory for your life-time. The special features of our cruiser include its cabin which is divided into several compartments to keep water from flowing into other parts of the boat in case of accident. To ensure your safety, life vests are located under every seat and life insurance is made for everybody. The Chao Phraya Princess and the
Royal Chao Phraya Princess have higher decks than those of other Chao Phraya cruisers.
Breakfast at the Hotel AM: Transfer to Floating Market (SIC)
Damnern Saduak Floating Market Only in Thailand, you can see the Floating Market. An exhilarating narrow long tailed speed boat wading through the small canal pass. On the journey, you see Thai houses with their vegetables and fruit farms. Floating Market gives a glimpse of the Thai style canoes laden with colorful, succulent fruits, vegetables, sweets and meats. These boats, gently ply their way through the canal. Water has always been a major part of Thai Life. Transfer back to the Hotel / Overnight in Bangkok
Above prices are based on per / person sharing
Anniversary Deals
Previous: 7 Days Phuket & Bangkok Holiday Package Package | 3 Nights Phuket & 3 Nights Bangkok Next: 9 Days Phuket, Bangkok & Pattaya Honeymoon or Holiday Deal
beach, holiday, honeymoon, romantic
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What do kids want for Christmas? Netflix, iPads & iPhones
Source: Roy Morgan Young Australian Survey, July 2018-June 2019, n=2,226. Base: Australian children 6-13.
The ARA-Roy Morgan 2019 pre-Christmas spending predictions forecast Australians will spend nearly $53 billion this year in the lead-up to Christmas.
“Christmas comes but once per year and Australia’s retailers are hoping for a bumper season, after retail spending growth remained subdued for much of 2019,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
“Roy Morgan’s pre-Christmas spending predictions, released in conjunction with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), show expected spending of nearly $53 billion, up 2.6% on a year ago and well above the latest ABS Inflation level of 1.7%. And for parents who really want to win favour with their kids, a Netflix subscription may well account for part of that spending.”
The streaming service topped the Kids’ Cool List in Roy Morgan’s Young Australians Survey for a second straight year – with Netflix nominated as ‘really cool’ by 66% of 6-13 year olds (up 3% points on 2018) and more than 70% of 10-13 year olds.
In second place is former Number 1 (in 2016), the Apple iPad on 60%, then the Apple iPhone on 53%. Netflix is in top spot for both girls and boys ahead of the iPad with girls putting the Apple iPhone in third spot although for boys it is the Sony Playstation 4 that takes third spot. More than twice as many boys as girls say they consider the PlayStation 4 ‘really cool’.
Other items rated ‘really cool’ by kids (likely to the chagrin of parents on a budget) are Computers, including Laptops and Tablets (47%), Nike products (46%), the computer games Minecraft (43%), Fortnite (43%) and Roblox (39%), Harry Potter products (40%), Books to read (37%) and Microsoft’s Xbox One gaming console (36%).
Gifts that girls rate ‘really cool’ also include products by or featuring Disney, Adidas, L.O.L. Surprise, Minions, The Simpsons and Wonder Woman, while boys are opt for Nerf Guns, Spiderman, Iron Man, the Nintendo Switch and The Hulk.
“No doubt Disney will be also hoping streaming and subscription TV services are on parents’ radars when it comes to gifts for their children, with its Disney+ launched just in time for Christmas,” said Ms Levine.
With around 2,500 young respondents per year, Roy Morgan’s Young Australian Survey has been measuring the changing tastes, opinions and activities of Aussie kids for many years, proving to be an invaluable resource for both retailers and parents keen to ensure they know what children and teens want.
The Kids’ Cool List: what Australian kids think is really cool now
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
What’s cool for kids this Christmas?
What kind of Christmas gifts will our kids be hoping for this year? The latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Young Australians Survey remind us that what children think is cool one year may be old news by the next…
Aussie kids as happy as ever and less worried
In recognition of International Youth Day, we take a look at how young Australians are feeling about life these days, and find they're just as happy - and less worried...
This report looks at all aspects of a young Australian's life: favourite things and activities, media consumption, mobile phone usage, attitudes, finances and retail habits.
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13 November 2017 Rupert 4 Comments
I’ve just (well, the month before last – but in terms of my writing on this site, that counts as ‘just’) got back from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, where I was attending the 2017 annual conference of CIDOC, the international organisation for those working in museum documentation.1 As well as a fascinating range of papers from many countries, visits to Georgian museums (and opportunities to sample Georgian wines), I facilitated a couple of sessions dedicated to the CIDOC Documentation Standards Working Group (DSWG)’s Encyclopaedia of Museum Practice – ably helped by my co-facilitators, Maija Ekosaari and Jan Behrendt, and filling in for the DSWG’s co-chair, Jonathan Whitson Cloud.
The Encyclopaedia is, I think, a worthwhile and interesting project. Its basic aims (taken from its website) are simple: to define concepts used in museum practice, and the differences between concepts (and the terms used for them) in different languages, acting as a stable reference for such concepts. So far, so useful; but it is more ambitious, aiming to provide a central repository of links to standards, guidelines and terminologies – which anyone working in museums, faced with the plethora of such documents, and then trying to find them online, will welcome with open arms.
Just as importantly, the Encyclopaedia is set up as a wiki: once they are registered, anyone can edit it. This is crucial to the Encyclopaedia’s effectiveness. Museums are an international phenomenon: ICOM, the International Council of Museums (and CIDOC’s parent body) has 119 national committees, representing the organisation in their country. And so the Encyclopaedia is truly multilingual: the software used, Tiki, has no concept of a base language: entries can be created in, and translated into, any language supported by the software. True, English dominates the content at the moment – but that is only because the bulk of the Encyclopaedia’s administrators have until now been native English speakers. In due, course other languages may come to the fore – indeed, we’d be delighted if they came to dominate the Encyclopaedia.
So what were my colleagues and I doing for the Encyclopaedia in Tbilisi? Basically, trying to further its unspoken aim, to create as much relevant content as possible in as many languages as possible. To do this, we organised two activities.
The first, in the DSWG’s session within the conference, was a brainstorming session to collect the names of as many museum-related standards as possible, so that we could use these to seed the Encyclopaedia with skeleton entries as a spur to filling them with more detailed information. Over 10 minutes (and spurred on by the promise of prizes – gold stars and ‘I Love Museums’ badges), participants came up with 58 different standards, of which 48 had not yet been entered into the Encyclopaedia.
Delegates listing museum standards during the CIDOC Documentation Standards Working Group’s session on Tuesday 26 November at the CIDOC 2017 conference. © ICOM Georgia via Flickr
(Incidentally, I’ve been unable to find a few of these online. Do you recognise the following standards from their sometimes partial descriptions?
CeND
Geo.DAT
ISAD(CDI)
ISO 97… for paper
MIDAS (Germany) – i.e. not MIDAS-Heritage, Historic England’s data standard for monuments
If so, please drop me a note with their formal title and , ideally, a web link in the comments box below, and I’ll get them into the Encyclopaedia.)
That evening, I added skeleton entries to the Encyclopaedia for as many of these standards as the hotel WiFi would let me, in preparation for the workshop planned for the following day: an introduction to editing the Encyclopaedia, followed by a communal editing session. Whilst I managed to show people how to register to use the wiki (and we added several new users), and how to create a basic entry and add some straightforward wiki markup, in the end the temporary conference WiFi wasn’t up to supporting multiple editors, so we had to abandon the planned editing session.
Delegates at the CIDOC Documentation Standards Working Group’s session on editing the Encyclopaedia of Museum Practice on Wednesday 27 November at the CIDOC 2017 conference. © ICOM Georgia via Flickr
However, we did agree to try and meet up online for a couple of hours and work together on the Encyclopaedia. The meeting is planned for Saturday 18 November and, if you’d like to join, I’d be delighted to see you there. The time is still to be confirmed – see this Doodle poll if you want to join in, and let us know when would work for you.
Before you can edit the Encyclopaedia, you’ll need to sign up as an author on the wiki. To do this,
Go to http://cidoc-dswg.org/
Find the ‘Log In’ box on the left of the page
Click on the ‘Log In’ link
A dialog box will pop up
Click on the ‘Register’ link at the bottom of the dialog box
The Registration page will open
Fill in the form on the Registration page, and press ‘Register’
There’ll be a few more registration steps, and then you’re good to go!
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4 thoughts on “The Encyclopaedia of Museum Practice”
Axel Ermert, retired from Institute for Museum Research berlin says:
Dear Rupert, late but not too late I came across this site of yours. Here is answer no. 1 concerning the standards:
ISO 9706:1994 (confirmed in 2015)
Information and documentation — Paper for documents — Requirements for permanence
ISAD(CDI) In a quick search, I can only find “Archives consultants Luxembourg” for CDI. “ISAD”, of course, stands for “International standard Archival Description”, a series of standards issued by ICA International Council on Archives
For “ISO 50888” I do fin in the ISO catalogue http://www.iso.org:
Textiles — Ternary fibre mixtures — Quantitative analysis
This standard has been revised by ISO 1833-2:2006.
(The retrieved document has one “8” less. Looks like no document with 3 “8” exists …
Axel, good to hear from you, and thank you for this information! I’ve added stub pages for the two ISO standards to the Encyclopaedia; ISAD(G) is already there, of course. Now, if you’d like to expand those entries …
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What causes poll movements
The Guardian’s report on their poll this month has made the assumption that a drop in Conservative support is due to NHS policy, various other commentators have this morning jumped to the same conclusion.
The truth is, as ever, rather more complex than that. Firstly we should set aside the ICM poll apparently showing a 4 point drop in Tory support as the NHS row continues. This is a classic case of making the outlier the story, the media’s constant failing in reporting polls – the underlying trend in polling is ignored while the rogue poll (and the reversion to the mean afterwards) gets a headline. Looking at the broad range of polls the Conservatives have not lost four points of support: they have gone from a position in December when, after the European veto, they appeared to be slightly ahead of Labour in the polls to a position this month when they appear to be a point behind or so, a drop of one or two points.
Many commentators today have also fallen victim to a fallacy I often see in the comments here – ascribing whatever movement happens in the poll to whatever subject they personally feel strongly about. Hence the Guardian and many bloggers feel strongly about the NHS, there has been a slight drift downwards in Tory support, therefore the former is probably the cause of the latter (it’s also a sort of availability bias – the poll contained questions about the NHS, they are bad, therefore that’s the cause. What if the other questions in the poll had been about, say, crime?)
However, this ignores other possible explanations, which could actually be better evidenced. Here are a couple, though I certainly wouldn’t claim these are exhaustive – there are no doubt other possibilities, including those that are less well served with tracker polls.
The first hypothesis is the unwinding of the European veto effect. You will remember that in November Labour had a lead of four or five points. The Conservatives then pulled level after David Cameron’s veto at the European summit. We should be expecting the effect of the veto to gradually unwind and, indeed, there is evidence to suggest that is what we are seeing.
The proportion of people thinking that Europe was an important issue facing the country peaked at 38% just after the veto, but has since faded away again, and is now back down to 23%. Similarly we saw some sharp increases in perceptions of David Cameron on the back of his veto. The percentage of people thinking Cameron “sticks to what he believes in” rose from 26% to 39%, decisive went from 20% to 29%, good in a crisis went from 13% to 18%. Since then most of these figures have fallen back down a bit (“stick to what he believes in” back to 31%, decisive back to 24%, good in crisis back to 18%).
One straightforward explanation therefore is just the fading of the leadership boost that Cameron received from the veto.
A second hypothesis is less negative coverage of Ed Miliband. In January the media narrative was dominated by criticism of Ed Miliband’s leadership, and the media impression was increasingly that he was a no hoper. In February that has faded a bit, the attacks have mostly stopped coming, he’s had a few good PMQs under his belt and the media narrative has largely moved on (to a great degree to the NHS!). This is reflected in Miliband’s own ratings. In January he hit record lows in his approval ratings, reaching a nadir of minus 53 points. In February he has recovered a but to the low minus 40s. His ratings are still significantly worse than they were last year… but he has risen off the canvas.
A third hypothesis is the NHS. The recent coverage has certainly pushed the NHS up the agenda – going back to the YouGov issues tracker, the proportion of people naming the NHS as an important issue is up to 32% from 22% a month ago. We also have lots of questions that have shown the government’s policy is unpopular and that people don’t trust the Conservatives on the NHS, but these don’t necessarily indicate change – it could’ve been unpopular all along.
The ICM poll yesterday shows that people trust the Conservatives less on the NHS now than in 2006, which is an interesting finding in itself, but it doesn’t follow that the drop in trust has come in the last few weeks or is a result of the current policy. If we look at YouGov’s regular tracker on which party people trust the most on the NHS there is a distinct lack of any recent drop in the proportion of people who prefer the Conservatives on the NHS.
In fact, the Conservative trend in the last year is pretty flat – what drop there was happened in late 2010 as the government’s honeymoon faded. What is also worth noting in this graph is that the Conservative detoxification on the NHS is something of a myth – it never really worked very well, and Conservative leads on the NHS were small and transitory.
This, I suspect, is one of the reasons the NHS hasn’t damaged the Conservatives that much – most people never trusted them on it in the first place. The other reason is that most people have no clue about the reforms and what they are or are not likely to do – take this recent YouGov poll for the Sunday Times which, rather than tell people about the reforms and ask about them, just asked people to say if they supported or opposed them based on what they’d seen or heard about them. 48% of people were opposed… but over a third (34%) of people said don’t know, a comparatively high figure for any question.
That is not to say that the NHS reforms are not politically dangerous for the government – I think Tim Montgomerie’s point that any future problems with the NHS (and there will always be some problems with the NHS, even if there were not budget squeezes and reorganisation) will be blamed on the policy is well made. Equally, just because it hasn’t made a big impact so far doesn’t mean it couldn’t do so in the future.
However the claim that it is already doing significant damage the Conservatives in the polls is weak. The drop in Conservative support in the polls is small and there are alternative and perhaps better evidenced explanations for it.
Filed under: ICM, NHS, o, YouGov
307 Responses to “What causes poll movements”
@Syzygy
The Daily Mail article was quoting from a 2005 interview with the Independent (which has now disappeared, but bits and peices have been retrieved).
ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1269045/General-Election-2010-Nick-Cleggs-demand-NHS-broken-up.html
ttp://gimpyblog.posterous.com/what-happened-to-the-independent-profile-of-n
February 21st, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Latest YouGov/Sun results 21st Feb CON 37%, LAB 41%, LD 9%; APP -28 See the survey details and full results here??????? ? ? ? ? ? ?
That looks very close to the 36/41/10 that was polldrums last year.
NICK P.
Do you think the 9% Lib Dem figure is a bit high?
Happy Lent by the way
Looking at Anthony’s NHS chart, I think the decline in Tory VI is probably just the ‘veto’ wearing off.
Which means we may have an NHS effect still to come.
@Mike Hartley
“In other words, the damage the Health and Social Care Bill has caused is primarily that it makes it even more likely that Cameron will struggle to get over 40% of the vote at the 2015 election. In this sense, the damage is a lost opportunity to gain the crucial votes needed to win outright next time.”
I agree with you and it’s a point that I made a few weeks ago. I don’t see the furore knocking many points, if any, off the current 37-39% Tory VI share, but I think it will be another factor in boxing them more firmly inside this ever decreasing pool of potential voters. Recent polling suggests that of the three major parties, the Conservatives have the smallest potential pool of support and I have a feeling that they’re in danger of draining the pool yet further with the NHS Reform Bill.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if their recurring self-inflicted problems with the NHS did them damage at a time when they may have a rather more positive economic story to tell?
lizh
@Amber Star
We wont have to wait long. I predict our lead will go up tomorrow.
Not quite ;-).
Excellent write up Anthony. I’ve always said that the Conservatives’ fortunes rest with the deficit and the recession. That will pretty much make or break them at the next election.
Hopefully, the good news on the economic front will balance the hysteria and self-righteous indignation emanating from the Port side, as their tired old sacred cow gets prodded into life and stops holding up the traffic. This NHS obsession is enough to make one ill, thank goodness for private health insurance ! Anyway, at least Tesco is ponying up a few quid for the voluntary shelf stacking community, how long will that last I wonder, obviously another route back to work is, thankfully, closed off to the economically deprived, they’ll just have to get used to the sofa again. :-)
On a more serious note, I have been working with people who have genuine barriers into work and the, placement ‘ has been a very valuable tool in enabling them to re-adjust back into the world of work, it would be a pity if genuinely generous employers were frightened off the programme for fear of a visit from the anti- everything squad.
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:02 am
@ John B Dick (11.02)
“You are right. If that is so obvious to you, what do you think is the chance of it happening?”
Very low I suspect. I have been dismayed by the lack of negative comment from LD MPs.
If my understanding is correct that there will be a vote on the bill at the spring conference then I am certain that the rank and file will vote against the bill. However, this may be too late. I believe that there is another parliamentary vote on the bill next week and unless this is defeated it will be another step forward towards implementation.
Perhaps a final hope is that the e-petition continues to gather pace and the resulting commons discussion results in a vote against the bill which while not binding may become the final nail in the coffin of the bill.
If the bill is passed then I believe that ChrisLane will be saying that he suspects the LD VI of 5% is too high. :)
Sorry, that should be Nick P not Chris Lane.
SSSimon
I suspect this is just a reversion to the mean, rather than any particular event; I still think most people are sitting on the sidelines regarding the NHS, waiting to see what happens.
Personally I wish we’d just left the NHS alone during the first term, akin to the way Blair stuck to Ken’s budgetary discipline in his first years, thus ‘detoxifying’ their perceived weakness on spending.
I do expect that if Lansley isn’t quieted down, then we really will see a backlash in the polls. Montgomerie is on the money with this issue.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:52 am
SoCalLiberal
Did you guys see this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhO1DnNKYbo&feature=player_embedded
Can your Prime Minister do that?
(Well I’m sure David Cameron is a better dancer).
Hannah Good Morning.
It is Lent now!
With a 4% lead as well, even with ED.
(Sundays are not technically included in the 40 days, which allows me to go to the pub after sunset on saturday evenings)
FrankG
@ChrisLane1945
Presumably you will NOT be partaking of any forbidden foods, practices etc, especially on Saturday nights. The importance of this should not be underestimated if one is to understand the whole rationale for giving up these items, as the following quote from Wikipedia shows:-
During the early Middle Ages, meat, eggs and dairy products were generally forbidden. Thomas Aquinas argued that “they afford greater pleasure as food [than fish], and greater nourishment to the human body, so that from their consumption there results a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust.”
Good Morning to you! (I can’t do smiley faces here)
I am reminded of St Augustine of Hippo: ‘Please God make me good, but not yet!
“If the bill is passed then I believe that ChrisLane will be saying that he suspects the LD VI of 5% is too high.”
I don’t think the NHS reforms will really hurt the LibDems in the long term – perhaps we’ll see some 7s or 8s after the bill is passed and it’ll make it difficult to recover lost votes.
But it seems to me that the only way is up for the LibDems.
Yes it is sometimes difficult to do smiley faces at this time of the morning! However here in Cyprus it is a lovely day, the sun is out, blue cloudless skies etc. so a smiley thing is much easier.
“Please God make me good, but not yet!”
I think that keeping up with certain practices from the ‘Middle Ages’ would be very good for the youngsters of today, especially as to many of them the term ‘Lent’ is more often only regarded by the financial observance from others.
From your ‘handle’ I presume you were born in 1945, as was I. Thus such practices for the ‘Middle Ages’ have now since passed us by. It is now a case of gratitude for anything you can get, with our penance being a few “Hallelujahs” rather than “Hail Marys”.
Regards and Good Morning too!
chrislane
I should warn you that, as a Catholic, I am about as lapsed as it is possible to get.
A question: despite your Blairite leanings, when it comes to an election, I assume you would put an x in the Lab box even if Ed M is still leader?
If you were Ed Miliband today, what subject(s) would you go on for todays PMQ’s ?
Whilst it is only 6 questions, they can feature on the midweek news and I think they do feed into the polls, if they are newsworthy in some way.
I can’t see Ed going on the NHS reforms again as he did that last week. The welfare reforms are also being held up by Lords amendments, but again this is tricky for Labour.
I suspect Ed will ask about Euro area issues, in particular Greece and also about the current situation in Syria. Some weeks he has to be seen as more of a statesmen and therefore I don’t think he will attack the governments position.
@I fear you misunderstood (or perhaps didn’t read) the research. ”
You didn’t ask me about “the research”. You asked me about the Block Grant reduction.
I asked you why the devolved administration had not maintained NHS Scotland’s real terms spending power as a priority available to them ( presumably)
I did use your link. I did read the research. I found Dr. Samuel’s area of study interesting, together with the general tenor of his public statements, and the involvement of TUC in his work.
KEN @ 12.02 am
Hate to read your lone voice so will respond with the help of three interesting reports from today’s Times:-
The misnamed “Workfare” programe ( not compulsory/no penalty for not joining) has been a huge success. It is oversubscribed -40,000 youngsters have been through it. Almost half of those who do placements have since come off benefits. Tesco has taken on a third of the people who were on placement with it.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
showed that employers take on less than a quarter of applicants under 25 who have no experience in the workplace.
Meanwhile, of course our employers continue to complain about the poor attitude & deficient numeracy & literacy in local job applicants.
So well done to The Right to Work crowd who have persuaded Tesco to give it’s remaining trainees on the initial programme a job-the feeling being that they will not sign up again for the scheme.
I think The Right Not to Work seems a more appropriate name.
Tell you who I would like to hear more from :-
Terry Leahy-former CEO of Tesco-who washed supermarket floors at age 16.
Andy Clarke-CEO of Asda-one time shelf stacker at FineFare.
Stuart Rose, former CEO of M&S-who began his working life folding men’s jumpers.
None of those guys were snobbish about their lowly start in working life-they didn’t think it menial-but a stepping stone to something better.
They didn’t expect to be given a living on a plate.
Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations writes about the NHS-18 million people with long term conditions-& growing.Over 20% of the population over 60-and growing.
70% ( yes-SEVENTY) of NHS funding spent on treating long-term conditions -usually in the most inefficient way possible-in hospital.
Bubb urges the case for integrated health & social care-by ignoring “the phantom” of privatisation, breaking open the centralised bureaucratic monopoly of the NHS-and letting the third sector specialists in a providers of tailored care in home/community for those long term conditions .
Finally -Lansley has told GPs to prescribe smartphone apps to patients suffering from certain conditions.
500 apps have been chosen after consultation covering :-
barcode scanning for food allergy.
Glucose & Insulin monitoring for Diabetes.
Link to GPs medical records & communicating with GP.
Early onset Cancer & Heart disease diagnosis.
In trials, visits to GP have been substantially reduced by these apps.
The NHS is said to be very slow to take them up -I still get appointment confirmation & change by letter-sometimes two letters-they just don’t use email.
I think Ed will suggest Cam drop the bill and put his head together with Andy B and healthcare professionals to sort out GP procurement. Which would be a good idea but cos Ed M suggests it it more or less forces Cam to refuse.
Cam could really spring a surprise by agreeing! Probably do his polling some good too, in the short term at least.
@SSimon
good to see thoughtful comments on the NHS debacle from a Conservative supporter. That’s what this site should be about! 8-)
@ Nick P @chrislane
Me too. Join the club! 8-)
@Valerie/Nick P
“Me too. Join the club!”
The Lapsed Catholic Club on UKPR is a large one and I claim membership too! Interestingly, it would appear to be made up of exclusively Labour sympathisers!
As for the title of this thread, when Anthony first launched it yesterday I thought I’d mistakenly accessed a medical blog. Admittedly, I only glanced at the heading in my lazy speed reading way, but I thought it said “What causes Bowel Movements?”. Mind you, as I read some of the subsequent posts, it occurred to me that it might well have been a more appropriate heading anyway!! lol
February 22nd, 2012 at 12:23 pm
jayblanc
@Colin
We already have heard from Tesco’s top brass… They pulled Tesco out of the scheme, because they recognised that getting free labour from people coerced into below minimum wage ‘work experience’ made them look kind of “evil”.
I would support the Workfare program *only* on the condition that it paid minimum wage, or was *entirely* voluntary. As is, people are coerced into signing contracts for these work placements under threat of sanctions for not taking opportunities offered.
Right now it is neither voluntary, nor does it pay minimum wage. Why can’t they *subsidise* paid employment, I’d be perfectly happy if Tescos were employing people referred to them who they would not other wise employ, so long as the employee gets at least minimum wage and preferably a living wage. There would be no difference to the cost to the tax payer.
The only reason to defend “Workfare” over subsidised employment placement, is the companies who want totally free coerced labour they can ‘fire’ at will, and hold their unemployment benefits to ransom over their work conditions.
I also wonder how many people who “came off benefits” came off benefits because their “work placement” abused them and they couldn’t continue, or they were “fired” for some minor work place infraction that resulted in benefits withdraw. I would not count those as successes.
@ Colin & Ken
You raised the subject so… If the work scheme is fair & entirely voluntary, why aren’t the participating businesses saying loudly & proudly: ‘We are delighted to be part of this program.’?
They are not; they are unilaterally changing the terms under which they engage with the individual volunteers or withdrawing from the program entirely.
@NICKP
I thought the people wanted less short-term populist decision making from government?
Also, a lot of people missed the significance of the Tesco’s Work Placement being advertised on the JSA work postings.
It’s part of the JSA ‘Contract’ that you can be sanctioned for failing to take up an offer found during the ‘guided work search’, which selects offers from the JSA work postings.
So if during your fortnightly formal JSA interview and ‘guided work search’, you were given the Tesco’s “Volunteer” work posting… You either took that position, or would be sanctioned for failing to take up an opportunity given during a “guided work search”.
If you are a Tesco Manager-and you weigh up the relative advantage /disadvantage of :-
Taking on workplacement youngsters, fitting them into your routines, spending time training them, kitting them out etc, but getting n hours work from them
Receiving the attentions of Right to Work protesters if you do ; pledged to “occupy” your store & drive your customers away
…wonder how you will play it?
John B Dick
Lots of people on benefits have their income topped up to minimun wage or more by their employer.
One kindly employer even gave them time off and a lift to the Jobcentre to sign on and waited for them to take them back to work.
Making it legal should encourage more employers to do this.
There seems to be a deal of uncertainty about the degree of coercion.
On DP this morning it was stated that the scheme is voluntary.
For my part-I see nothing wrong with asking unemployed youngsters to do something, rather than nothing, in return for their JSA-provided the scheme genuinely gives them experience in the workplace.
THe latter is vital for job prospects of young people-particularly when they are perceived as less attractive options for employment, than their eastern european equivalents.
I think the objections to the scheme are focused on entirely the wrong features.
Colin – I have posted before that imo the hospital sector of the NHS is appallingly ineffiecient and used the lack of email as one of my examples.
GP’s, whilst not as efficient as I would like, are clearly better than hospitals and I guess that is why the Government (and opposition) want them involved more in commissioning.
I do not know enough about PCT but it does appear to me that there could well be negative consequences from atomiosation or else over bureaucratic intruments to offset the lack of coordination due to atomisation.
I think managed use of the private sector is sensible and effiecient but needs to be staged before a free for all develops and cherry picking occurs ; and, am not sure that legislation was needed to extend at an OK pace.
Politically what imo is hurting the Gov’t most it that ‘no top down reorgansation’ has clearly been broken; hence when people are not sure they are more likely to accept other opinions rather than believe the guy who broken his promise.
On the other matter – I think there is a suspicion that some employers, no names (not Tesco) have been using the scheme as a way of getting a few weeks free labour when they needed to take someone on anyhow.
If Tesco have enough people in a store (say 20 in the warehouse) but can give some work experience and CV detail to a youngster who does not lose her/his benefit, plus a good chance of a job if one of the 20 moves on I think the scheme is good.
The problem with Workfare is that the ‘wrong features’ are pretty significant! And that *in practice* it is anything but voluntary. It is voluntary in the same way applying for any job is voluntary. But the JSA contract can make it compulsory to apply for any job if it’s chosen out for you at your “Guided Work Search”.
How are they using the term ‘voluntary’? Do they mean “Would you like to do this, it’s up to you, no pressure?”, or is it voluntary in the sense of “You don’t have to do this, but if you don’t you’ll lose benefits.”
It certainly seems to be the latter. The woman who is challenging the scheme in the courts was already getting work experience that was relevant to her previous education and training and to her future career aspirations, but was compelled under threat of loss of benefits to stop that and to instead work for benefits only as a shelf stacker.
I found a lot with which I can agree in your post.
We are coming at this from different angles with different priorities in mind.
I,m not familiar with that case-would need to read the detail before I can comment.
Robin/Colin
You have to remember that Job Centre Plus staff vary greatly in their ability to use judgement. Clearly this is a case of some petty minded individual following procedure as they see it to noones benefit.
Pretty much modus operandi for the job centre if you ask me, the whole thing needs a giant kick up the arse.
@ Colin
If you are a Tesco Manager-and you weigh up the relative advantage /disadvantage of…
Firstly, I would never want somebody working on my team who didn’t want to be there. You can look back & you will find that I have made this point, consistently, in the past.
Secondly, it’s not a Tesco manager who is making the decision. It is Tesco’s most senior management. They can command a huge team of PR people to make their case to the public – if they believe they are doing the right thing.
Instead they chose to change the terms of engagement – they want to continue with hiring unemployed young people but Tesco say they want to do it fairly, pay them for their time & try to ensure there is an actual job at the end of the trial period.
Businesses do not crumble in the face of a few activists causing disruption; they crumble when faced with the knowledge that they are doing something which a considerable number of their customers don’t like.
I hope Tesco don’t pull out.
That’s the key point.
The girl suing the government :-
Her museum volunteering seemed fine to me-don’t see why her local Job Centre made her come off it.
Her court action is a Human Rights Act thing-which I think is bonkers.
I don’t quite see why she couldn’t have done the two weeks at Poundland as required .
All seems a bit OTT to me.
One hour in Poundland would be too much for me.
It is ironic and delicious that Tesco’s slogan is “every little helps”.
Wrok epxeriene is one thing, forced labour is another matter entirely.
And we should perhaps keep in mind that if employers are using welfare recipients as a source of free/cheap labour it us the taxpayer who is funding their profits.
@Mike N
….which are not inconsiderable.
“Leading workfare companies have combined profits of £10.8billion”
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/02/workfare-company-profits/
Wrok epxeriene?
Is that work experience in Greece?
In Greek, certainly.
Very few opportunities for work in Greece me thinks…
I wasn’t able to see it, so I am going by second-hand accounts, but Nick Robinson (on BBC News) has apparently said that Nick Clegg is considering withdrawing his support for the NHS reforms.
I can’t see him doing it – it’d be a massive u-turn for Clegg and would give Cameron a big political boost.
« New ICM, Populus and YouGov polls YouGov/Sun – CON 39%, LAB 38%, LDEM 10% »
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Meet My Co-Host and Radio Personality Ken Calvert
I would like you to meet my co-host Ken Calvert. Ken has had a long career in Detroit radio. Let’s say hi to Ken! Peace and enjoy!
Meet Fr. Joe Grimaldi JCL and longtime radio personality Ken Calvert. How did a holy roller and a rock n' roller meet up? Well, that's a great question. It all started in Birmingham, Michigan, at Brother Rice High School in 1966. Find out how their two distinctly different vocations came together so seamlessly on the Father Joe Podcast. Peace and enjoy!
© Father Joe Grimaldi
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Another Company Interested In LNG Plants In North Dakota? -- October 21, 2014
In long posts, there will typographical and factual errors. If this issue is important to you, please go to the linked sources.
A reader caught this one:
Stabilis Energy and Flint Hills Resources announced the formation of a joint venture to build up to five liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefiers serving oilfield fuel consumers on October 1, 2013. In addition to its first LNG production facility in George West, Texas, (Eagle Ford Shale) and plans for the next location in Odessa, Texas (Permian Basin), the venture is pursuing site purchases in North Dakota (Bakken Shale) and other domestic oilfield markets for LNG production facilities that could begin production between 2016 and 2018.
From its website:
The joint venture between Stabilis Energy and Flint Hills Resources was formed to build up to five LNG production facilities in the oilfield sector. Stabilis Energy will utilize its strong customer relationships and reputation in the North American oilfield sector to lead marketing, transportation and logistics, field services, and plant operations for the venture. Flint Hills Resources will provide its experience as a leader in the processing, distribution and marketing of traditional and alternative fuels to the venture. Stabilis Energy and Flint Hills Resources share management committee responsibilities.
The LNG industry developed slowly during the second half of the last century because most LNG plants are located in remote areas not served by pipelines, and because of the large costs to treat and transport LNG. Constructing an LNG plant costs at least $1.5 billion per 1 mmtpa capacity, a receiving terminal costs $1 billion per 1 bcf/day throughput capacity and LNG vessels cost $200 million–$300 million.
In the early 2000s, prices for constructing LNG plants, receiving terminals and vessels fell as new technologies emerged and more players invested in liquefaction and regasification. This tended to make LNG more competitive as a means of energy distribution, but increasing material costs and demand for construction contractors have put upward pressure on prices in the last few years. The standard price for a 125,000 cubic meter LNG vessel built in European and Japanese shipyards used to be US$250 million. When Korean and Chinese shipyards entered the race, increased competition reduced profit margins and improved efficiency—reducing costs by 60 percent. Costs in US dollars also declined due to the devaluation of the currencies of the world's largest shipbuilders: the Japanese yen and Korean won.
From FERC:
There are more than 110 LNG facilities operating in the U.S. performing a variety of services. Some facilities export natural gas from the U.S., some provide natural gas supply to the interstate pipeline system or local distribution companies, while others are used to store natural gas for periods of peak demand. There are also facilities which produce LNG for vehicle fuel or for industrial use. Depending on location and use, an LNG facility may be regulated by several federal agencies and by state utility regulatory agencies.
LNG in North Dakota, press release earlier this year (May 7, 2014):
North Dakota LNG, LLC (NDLNG), the newest member of Prairie Companies, LLC’s, portfolio of oil and gas service businesses, joined North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple and other state officials at an event Wednesday in the State Capitol Building to announce the arrival of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility. Located in Tioga, North Dakota, the plant will be the first-to-market in the state to produce 10,000 gallons per day (GPD) starting in Summer 2014.
A phase two facility is scheduled to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2014 and capable of producing 66,000 GPD. NDLNG targets the drilling, fracking and transportation sectors of the unconventional oil and gas industry and will help meet the need for a cost-effective power source by converting natural gas feedstock into value-added liquid fuels.
“North Dakota LNG is proud to announce it will be the first LNG liquefaction plant in operation for North Dakota,” said Patrick Hughes, chief executive officer at North Dakota LNG.
“This historic venture will allow NDLNG to quickly provide oil and gas operators in the Bakken and across North Dakota with a cost-effective and reliable source of alternative fuel, thereby reducing operating expenses, while also creating new markets for value-added natural gas fuel produced in the State.”
This story, I believe, was posted on the blog earlier this year. Reuters is reporting that LNG may be next on American rails:
"Everyone is talking about moving gas by rail," said David Demers, chief executive officer of Westport Innovations, which is developing technology for natural gas-powered locomotives.
Demers said Berkshire Hathaway's BNSF was one railroad considering the move.
BNSF declined to comment on its plans, but a spokeswoman said it would take time for any development of gas by rail.
Transporting gas by rail, most likely as cryogenic liquefied natural gas (LNG), faces obstacles. The technology is in its infancy, and so far no tank car is permitted to carry the fuel on U.S. rails. Nor are there enough plants that convert natural gas to LNG to support a robust gas-by-rail market, experts said.
More-volatile liquids like ethylene and propane already travel on the rails in growing volumes. But as concerns about the safety of crude by rail intensify, regulators are exercising extreme caution with uncertified fuels like LNG, said executives involved in developing the technology.
Posted by Bruce Oksol at 10:43 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: LNG_ND
What Some Of Us Will BeTalking About Tomorrow -- October 21, 2014
As most folks know, most of ObamaCare has been delayed until after the 2016 mid-term elections. The employer mandate kicks in next year. The WSJ is reporting:
With the health law’s insurance mandate for employers set to kick in next year, companies trying to avoid the law’s penalties while holding down costs, using strategies like enrolling employees in Medicaid.
For those ineligible for Medicaid, health care coverage will be "skinny." Their word, not mine.
I've been saying that "forever."
Other stories up for discussion tomorrow (personal commentary mixed with headline news from WSJ and Los Angeles Times):
Late in the game, top US officials concluded the Syrian city of Kobani had become too symbolically important to lose; they raced to save it. During the waning days of Vietnam, it was said LBJ personally picked the targets. That could explain how the most recent airdrop of military aid was accidentally dropped directly to ISIS. Just saying.
This is very, very interesting, taking a page from Apple: fear of hackers, terrorists, and natural disasters has the Pentagon pushing construction of independent power grids at military bases across the US.
The chess game continues: Russia will ban all fruit and vegetable imports from the Ukraine starting Wednesday.
McDonald's outlined plans for what it calls fundamental changes after reporting one of its worst quarterly profit declines in years. I probably have as much experience as McDonald's as anyone: among a gazillion other things, my hunch is that many customers have found the $1-menu adequate and caloric-friendly. Soft drinks for $1 and unlimited refills whle inside the restaurant. Sa "no" to the fries and one has an adequate lunch for $2 and change.
Target offers free holiday shipping. I haven't charged anything at Target, on-line or in the store, since ever since their major security breach. Oh, one exception: a camera, but didn't use the Target Red Card.
Daimler sold its remaining 4% stake in Tesla; made a gain of almost a billion dollars. Daimler will work on its own in-house battery.
No sympathy from me. They kicked us out. Told us to stay out. Now, Iraqis complain that US isn't doing enough against Islamic State. No sympathy from me.
"The Big Dig" in Los Angeles? I say go for it.
Never Saw This Coming -- A Crude Oil Refinery In Devils Lake? -- October 21, 2014
Later, 9:48 p.m. CDT: Don caught this one. Note the estimated cost of the Devils Lake refinery proposal, $200 million. Same capacity refinery in Dickinson:
With an estimated 20 percent of work still to finish — “the hardest,” said project manager Jeff Rust — the $350 million refinery is on schedule to begin processing roughly 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day later this year.
So, the Devils Lake refinery, same capacity, is "only" $200 million vs $350 million for the Dickinson refinery?
The Dickinson Press is reporting:
A $200 million, 20,000-barrel-a-day clean fuels oil refinery could be operating near Devils Lake within three years.
The refinery, similar to one being built in Dickinson, would employ about 100 people and could create as many as 400 spin-off jobs in the area, according to Rachel Lindstrom, executive director of Forward Devils Lake, the region’s economic development agency.
It's getting to the point that almost nothing surprises me any more when it comes to the Bakken.
You Can't Get Ebola On The Bus -- President Obama
The AP is reporting:
After emerging months ago in eastern Sierra Leone, Ebola is now hitting the western edges of the country where the capital is located with dozens of people falling sick each day. So many people are dying that removing bodies is reportedly a problem.
Forty-nine confirmed cases of Ebola emerged in just one day, Monday, in two Ebola zones in and around the capital. More than 20 deaths are being reported daily.
Authorities say the uncontrolled movement of people from the interior to Waterloo which is the gateway to Freetown, the capital, has fueled the increase of Ebola cases in the west. There is a strong feeling that people are violating the quarantines elsewhere and coming to Freetown through Waterloo.
I know the folks aren't taking airplanes from rural Ebolaland to get to cities; and I know most of them aren't driving their own cars, and it's too far to walk, which pretty much leaves ... buses.
Labels: Refinery, Refinery_ND
Doesn't Sound Like Shale Is Going Away Any Time Soon -- Operators Stockpiling Sand; Investors Pouring Money Into Oil Funds -- October 21, 2014
October 21, 2014: just after posting the note below, Don sends me the link to this story. Reuters is reporting: investors are putting money into funds that track oil prices at the fastest rate in two years, betting that crude will rebound from a bear market.
The four biggest oil exchange-traded products listed in the U.S. have received a combined $334 million so far this month, the most since October 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shares outstanding of the funds, including the United States Oil Fund and ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil, rose to 55 million yesterday, a nine-month high.
This is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.
A long time ago I said it was taking a 100-unit train of fracking sand to frack one well. It's nice to see someone confirm my math. Reuters is reporting:
As fracking accelerates in North American shale fields, oilfield services providers Halliburton Co and Baker Hughes Inc are stockpiling sand to protect themselves against rising costs and are buying more railcars to transport the haul.
Halliburton, the world's largest provider of fracking services, is more than doubling its railcar fleet and capacity for sand terminals - where sand is stored and transferred to truck from rail. It had about 3,500 railcars under management as of June 30.
Baker Hughes, the world's No.3 oilfield services provider, said at the Barclays CEO Energy Power conference last month that it had "significantly" increased the number of its railcars and is buying more sand under contract, which helps buffer it against price rises.
Companies are pumping in as much as a trainload of frac sand into a single well to coax more oil and gas from shale rocks.
But the shale rush, especially in Texas and North Dakota, coupled with a rail jam that began after last year's severe winter has resulted in shortage of sand at drilling sites.
For newbies, my thoughts which I sent to Don, after reading the above article:
It certainly doesn't look like folks are leaving the Bakken despite slumping oil prices.
In the Bakken, EOG was the first to go from 1 million lbs of proppant to 10 million and even 12 - 14 million lbs of proppant to frack a well.
BEXP/Statoil started with and has pretty much stayed with 4 million lbs.
Most recently CLR has said that "large volume proppant" is the answer. CLR has generally gone with 1 - 4 million lbs. If CLR goes with 10 million lbs per well, one can see why so much sand is going to be needed.
Again, these are my thoughts, my opinions, what I thought I saw based on file reports and corporate presentations. They may be completely wrong. If this information is important to you, go to the source.
I sometimes use "sand" colloquially to refer to "proppant," which could be sand alone, ceramic alone, or some combination of both. I am unaware of anything other than sand and man-made ceramic being used as proppant (there are other components mixed with sand/ceramic; whether or not others consider that "proppant," I don't know. For me proppant is sand/ceramic.
Labels: Fracking_Sand, Proppants, TransLoading
Never Saw This Coming: Alaska Crude Oil "Piling Up" At Port -- Bloomberg; Ten (10) New North Dakota Oil Permits; BR Reports Two Nice Wells Today -- October 21, 2014
Bloomberg is reporting:
Stockpiles of oil from Alaska’s North Slope have surged to a five-year seasonal high as tanker maintenance slows loadings, forcing the grade to trade at a discount to U.S. crude for the first time since 2010.
Inventories at the Valdez terminal, the northernmost ice-free port in North America and the loading point for Alaskan oil, have averaged 4.38 million barrels this month, the most for October since 2009, data posted on the Alaska Revenue Department’s website show. Tanker repairs have shrunk the pool of vessels available.
A couple of data points from the linked article:
California is bringing in a record volume of oil by rail from other states and the region has increased imports from countries including Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Alaska North Slope crude for delivery to the U.S. West Coast weakened by 50 cents a barrel to a discount of 40 cents relative to domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate. It’s the first time the grade has been discounted against WTI since Dec. 9, 2010. The oil fell $1.53 a barrel versus the international benchmark North Sea Brent for prompt delivery to a $3.81 discount.
Production of [Alaskan] oil has declined from a peak of 2.1 million barrels a day in 1988 to an average of 523,797 barrels a day this month, state data show.
The tanker work is another blow for Alaskan oil producers as the West Coast replaces their output with less-expensive barrels from other states including Utah and North Dakota. California took 16,373 barrels of oil a day by rail in July, a record for the month.
And that's why I love to blog. Read the linked Bloomberg article above in context with one of my recent postings on the growing relationship between California and North Dakota.
Active rigs in North Dakota:
Wells coming off the confidential list Wednesday:
27308, drl, BR, Lillibridge 21-27MBH, Johnson Corner, no production data,
27581, 2,342, MRO, Viani USA 44-10H, Chimney Butte, t6/14; cum 42K 8/14;
27797, drl, Hess, AN-Evenson-152-95-1003H-8, Antelope, no production data,
28112, 11, Legacy, Legacy Berge 13-31H, North Souris, a Spearfish well, t6/14; cum --
28161, conf, Hess, BB-Budahn A-LS-150-95-0403H-1, Blue Buttes, no production data,
Ten (10) new permits --
Operators: Hess (4), XTO (2), Whiting (2), Murex (2),
Fields: Robinson Lake (Mountrail), Dollar Joe (McKenzie), Grinnell (McKenzie), Temple (Williams)
Nine (9) producing wells were completed:
26382, 331, Oasis, Mallard 5692 21-20 9T2, Alger, t8/14; cum 3K 8/14;
26769, 526, Mandaree 134-05H, Squaw Creek, t10/14; cum --
26898, 548, Oasis, Delta 6093 24-15 3B, Gros Ventre, t9/14; cum --
27059, 1,320, BR, Denali 21-4TFH, Johnson Corner, 4 sections, t9/14; cum --
27580, 1,440, BR, Sequoia 41-4TFH, Hawkeye, t9/14; cum --
27677, 290, Delta 6093 44-15 8T, Gros Ventre, t8/14; cum 5K 8/14;
27767, 698, SM Energy, Todd 13X-35H, Camp, t9/14; cum --
27769, 965, Tracy 13-35H, Camp, t9/14; cum --
28480, 262, Dishon 5893 44-36 1T2, Enget Lake, t8/14; cum 2K 8/14;
Labels: Alaska, California
Tuesday Already -- October 21, 2014
Later, 1:40 p.m. CDT: there's an interesting article over at The Atlantic Monthly asking the same question many others are asking: Is the Chinese economy about ready to go over a cliff? The link may require a subscription. The article doesn't say anything of which regular readers should already know. However, there was an interesting data point:
Even after all the progress China has made, it isn’t a rich country. According to World Bank data, its per-capita G.D.P. in 2013 was $6,807, which puts it on about the same level as Iraq and South Africa. By comparison, per-capita G.D.P. in the United States was $53,143; in South Korea, it was $25,977. Looking at the experience of South Korea and other “Asian tiger” economies, there is no obvious reason for the rate of economic growth to slow down dramatically at the income level China has reached. Unless, of course, the government puts a wrench in things.
I was not aware the gap between South Korea and the United States was so great.
Later, 11:13 a.m. CDT: a reader notes that they are starting to move earth west of Richardton for this new transloading terminal.
It was also noted that earth is being moved just east of Richardton between the interstate and the railroad tracks but reason unknown.
Later, 1:18 p.m. CDT: the reader also notes that a small trucking company in Minnesota is trucking 52 loads of fracking sand / day from Wisconsin, 7 days/week, which translates into almost 2.5 million lbs of sand on a daily basis from one trucking company. This is an interesting story for this reason: when I return to the Bakken, invariably I run into someone who has built a single-truck business into a fairly large operation. My hunch is that prior to the Bakken, this trucking company in Minnesota was not moving 52 loads of anything into North Dakota.
Wow, what a great way to start the morning: a review of the Lana Del Rey Hollywood Forever Cemetery concert in Grantland. The reviewer and I traveled the same road -- initially we were not fond of LDR but over time ... the concert seemed so very ... Hollywood. Ha. My biggest surprise: I would have bet the reviewer was a man, but no, unless he/she is using a pseudonym, the writer has a very feminine name, Emily.
So, a great way to start the day.
Earnings today, anything of interest?
McDonald's, expectations, $1.37; actual: $1.09; "profit plunges"; "earnings ugly"; "profit drops 30%; shares tumble"; okay, I get the picture, not good news; and that was it for earnings today; nothing else interested me. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific report today for those interested. Back to McDonald's: McD is my go-to-on-the-road-fast-food-restaurant when traveling, but I have to admit, the experience is less and less enjoyable. Simply utilitarian. The dollar-menu to recharge and quickly back on the road. Purely utilitarian. Folks don't say, "hey, let's go to McDonald's" any more. I'm not sure what they mean by "shares tumble"; right now shares are down about half a percent, down 60 cents on a $90-stock. Shares were down 2% in pre-market trading (which isn't exactly "tumbling" either.
RBN Energy: the fifth in a series on condensates in the Eagle Ford; this time on Koch Industries and NuStar. I bike right past a NuStar storage facility every day when I ride over to Starbucks in Southlake.
Chief of Total Oil killed in plane crash, Moscow airport on take-off, struck a snow-plow. I don't often get a two-fer: two stories in one. Global warming hits Moscow and plane hits snow plow. AFP via Yahoo!News is reporting:
Russian and French experts were investigating Tuesday a plane crash at a Moscow airport which killed the CEO of French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, whose private jet struck a snowplough on takeoff. Total, one of the world's biggest oil company, confirmed the death of its 63-year-old boss known affectionately as the "Big Moustache" because of his distinctive facial hair.
Later, if I get a chance, I will note another "the Moustachioed" from Andrew Bridgeford's 2005, 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry.
At one time there was nothing more boring (for me) than British history. But after several years of living in England, particularly Yorkshire, I have come to really enjoy British history.
Some years ago I read for the first time Andrew Bridgeford's 2005, 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry, but as so often with my reading, I did not really recall the thrust of the book. Rushing out the door the other day, I grabbed a book to read just in case I had spare time. It was Bridgeford's book again.
For background one may want to quickly read Wiki's overview of the Angle-Saxon Chronicle.
Then, this paragraph (which I have broken up) -- second from the end in Bridgeford's book:
It was at St Augustine's Abbey that one of the versions of the Angle-Saxon Chronicle was kept up, nowadays called the E version. The E version of the Chronicle tends to be the most favourable towards Earl Godwin and his family, but it, like the other versions of the Chronicle, passes over in silence the whole matter of Harold Godwinson's fateful journal to the continent that was the catalyst of all that followed.
The truth behind Harold's mission, and with it King Edward's crucial wishes toward the end of his reign, was recorded at St Augustine's not, on this occasion, in ink scratched upon parchment but with colourful stitches pierced through white linen cloth (the Bayeux Tapestry).
In this sense, the Bayeux Tapestry can truly be described as the lost Angle-Saxon Chronicle as wellas the secret Chronicle of the House of Boulogne, a generation before the blood of Charlemagne achieved a new pinnacle of success in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
I can add something to the mysteries of the book: the origin of the coat-of-arms for the French region of Boulogne: the three balls.
Modern heraldry is traced back to the 12th century. The knights, 1066 A.D., in the Bayeux Tapestry carry shields, but there appears to have been no system of hereditary coats of arms. However, if one looks closely, one sees the "three balls" on the shield of Eustace II.
The tapestry begins with the scene of a juggler holding a couple of horses readied for the invasion of England by William the Conqueror.
Heraldry, juggler, the importance of Turold the juggler in the tapestry, and the three balls on the shield of Eustace's shield seem to be several dots that can be connected.
Turold, through the Song of Roland is considered the father of French literature. The Song of Roland relates the exploits and successes of Charlemagne. Eustace was a descendent of Charlemagne. Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, showed his respect for Turold by placing him in the tapestry, at the very beginning, no less, and perhaps further "honored" him by placing the juggler's "universal symbol" on the coat of arms for Boulogne. See also Taillefer.
Labels: CBR, Fracking_Sand, TransLoading
Another Company Interested In LNG Plants In North ...
What Some Of Us Will BeTalking About Tomorrow -- O...
Never Saw This Coming -- A Crude Oil Refinery In D...
Doesn't Sound Like Shale Is Going Away Any Time So...
Never Saw This Coming: Alaska Crude Oil "Piling Up...
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Book Release Blitz: Love Through a Lens by Lucy Felthouse
Book Blitz for Love Through a Lens by Lucy Fethouse - Read all about the book below plus check out the purchase links all of which has been provided by thanks to the author.
Celine Patterson is a recent graduate eager to begin her career as a camerawoman—with the fashion world and all its glitz and glamour calling to her. Things aren’t that simple, however, and she’s forced to take a job making a documentary in the Peak District countryside with a mid-list British actor.
In spite of her initial disappointment—not only is the job not what she wanted, the pay is appalling, too—Celine warms to the project. The actor she’s working with, Edward Robson, is kind, considerate, funny and a consummate professional. She realizes she can learn a great deal from him, and resolves to do so.
As the days of the shoot pass by, Celine grows increasingly fond of Edward, and that fondness quickly goes beyond the platonic. Convinced her crush is completely one-sided—he’s over three decades her senior, for starters—she tries hard to ignore it, hoping the feelings will go away.
But then something happens to change Celine’s opinion, and flip her world upside-down. How will she react? And can she emerge from this project with both her career and her heart intact?
Note: Love Through a Lens has been previously released as part of the Sweet Sensations boxed set.
Celine gritted her teeth and hung tightly onto the straps of her backpack as she forced one foot in front of the other up the steep incline. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest, and her lungs screamed with the effort of providing her oxygen supply. Really, she needed to stop, to catch her breath, regain some equilibrium. But Edward was already way ahead of her, striding powerfully along as though their chosen path were perfectly flat. He had a huge backpack of his own, too, which didn’t seem to be slowing him down a jot.
But then, this was the difference between the two of them—or one of the differences, anyway. Edward Robson, mid-list British actor, was also a very keen outdoorsman, and probably did these kinds of walks all the time—with or without a camera being pointed at him.
Celine Patterson, however, was a different story altogether. Newly graduated from university, she’d struggled to find filming work in her preferred field—fashion—and so she’d had to cast her net wider. Incredibly wide, as it happened.
With hindsight, it was easy to see why she’d gotten the job with Edward—nobody else had wanted it. Not a damn soul. Traipsing around the Peak District wasn’t so bad, but add in heavy camera equipment, camping gear, food, clothing, maps, plans, GPS unit, satellite phone and makeup—for Edward, not for her—and a nice walk suddenly became a grueling trek. The money was poor, too, especially considering she was the only member of Edward’s crew. Could a single person even be called a crew? Or was she just a dogsbody?
She’d had no choice. It was this job or nothing. Crap money or no money. And, most importantly, this credit on her CV or no credit at all. She knew she had to start racking the credits and references up soon, if she wanted to get ahead in the highly competitive field.
So here she was, dragging herself up a heart attack inducing hill in the wake of an actor-cum-presenter. At least the project was interesting; they were checking out sites of myths, legends and ghost stories, that kind of thing. Edward was nice, too—kind, polite and pretty funny. Even better, it wasn’t raining. Overall, things could be a damn sight worse. She could be working with animals or children—or even both. And she’d heard many times over that they were the absolute worst.
She was still convincing herself that things weren’t that bad after all, when she glanced up and came to an abrupt halt as she realized there was a crotch practically in her face. Snapping her head up so fast it made her neck hurt, she made eye contact with Edward, who was standing a couple of paces farther up the slope, hence the awkward face-to-crotch angle. Her already hot face blazed with embarrassment. For once, she hoped the fact she was overheated would hide her mortification. The slight breeze that blew was doing nothing to lower her temperature.
What do you think Love Through a Lens? Will you be purchasing?
Labels: Book Blitz, Lucy Felthouse, Release Blitz
Waiting on Wednesday: If the Dress Fits
The Newest Colouring Book YOU NEED
Waiting on Wednesday: Chasing Charlie
Book Release Blitz: Love Through a Lens by Lucy Fe...
Happy World Book Day! FREE books all round!
Waiting on Wednesday: Untangling the Stars
20 Bookish Facts About Me
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About to Review
Weekly movie review podcast with a goal to amplify diverse voices in media!
April 26, 2017 Podcast
ATR #52: Indie Games Vol. 3 – Inside and Telltale Games!
What time is it? GAME TIME! By that I mean it is time for another installment of the fan-favorite segment - Indie game spotlight! That Guy Named John is joined by This Guy Named Steve as they talk about "Inside" and "Batman: The Telltale series".
ATR #51: Talking Star Wars with Tricia Barr!
Joining That Guy Named John this week is award winning author, engineer, podcast host, and Star Wars fangirl: Tricia Barr! We talk about her self published book "WYNDE", and also the new book she co-authored: "Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia".
April 5, 2017 Podcast
ATR #50! Food, T2: Trainspotting, & Ghost in the Shell
Join the 50th episode celebration as That Guy Named John sits with the person who was there from the beginning; Dr. Andy! They take a departure from the usual film and TV talk, and talk about food, then rate and review "T2: Trainspotting" and "Ghost in the Shell". 50 down, 100's more to go!
ATR #174 – Underwater
ATR #173 – Rise of Skywalker, CATS, Uncut Gems
ATR #172 – “Queen & Slim” and “Knives Out”
ATR #171 – “Honey Boy” and “WAVES”
ATR #169 – Doctor Sleep, Seattle 48 Hour Horror Film Project
Written review
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US Election Probe
Wray: FBI Won't Repeat Errors Noted in Report
Dateline: Washington - 18 June 2018
Washington - 18 June 2018
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Chuck Grassley, (R) Iowa:
"The Justice Department faces a serious credibility problem because millions of Americans suspect that there is a double standard. They see a story of kid glove treatment for one side and bare knuckle tactics for the other."
2. Wide of hearing
"Director Wray has quite a mess to clean up. I think he probably knows that. The department has serious accountability issues. In scandal after scandal, accountability is the exception rather than the rule."
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D) California:
"While the report is highly critical of Director Comey, it did not find that it was biased against President Trump or in favor of Secretary Clinton, as some have alleged."
"Throughout the Clinton investigation, Republicans in Congress demanded information from Director Comey and the Justice Department under subpoena and threat of contempt. Today, they are doing the same thing with special counsel Mueller's investigation. It was wrong then and it's wrong now."
8. Wide of Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and FBI Director Christopher Wray swearing in
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Horowitz, Department of Justice Inspector General:
"As detailed in our report, we found that the inappropriate political messages we uncovered cast a cloud over the media investigation, sowed doubt about the credibility of the FBI's handling of it and impacted the reputation of the FBI."
10. Wide of hearing
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Horowitz, Department of Justice Inspector General:
"With regard to the decision to close the investigation without prosecution, we found no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were the result of improper considerations, including political bias, but rather were exercises of prosecutorial discretion by the prosecutors based on their assessment of the facts of the law and past department practice."
12. Wide of Horowitz and Wray
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Wray, FBI Director:
"Although the report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations ultimately impacting the investigation under review, the report did identify errors of judgment, violations of or disregard for policy and decisions that at least in the benefit of hindsight, were certainly not the best choices."
"The OIG's report makes clear that we have significant work to do. And as I said, we're going to learn from the report and be better as a result. At the same time, I want to emphasize that this report is focused on a specific set of events back in 2016 and a small number of FBI employees connected with those events. Mistakes made by those employees do not define our 37,000 men and women and the great work they do everyday. Nothing in this report impugns the integrity of our workforce as a whole or the FBI as an institution. I want to be very clear with this committee about the FBI that I've been able to see up close every day in the 10 months since my confirmation hearing before you all."
16. UPSOUND (English) Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D) Vermont:
"Do you have any reason to believe that this investigation has been discredited?"
"Senator, as I said to you last month and as I said before, I do not believe special counsel Mueller is on a witch hunt."
"What I can tell you is that I cannot imagine a situation in which I would unilaterally assume for myself, as the FBI director, a charging decision and then announce it in a news conference."
The FBI is determined to not repeat any of the mistakes identified in a harshly critical watchdog report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Director Chris Wray said Monday at a congressional hearing.
Wray said the FBI accepts the findings of the Justice Department inspector general report and has begun making changes, including about how the FBI handles especially sensitive investigations. The bureau is also reinforcing for employees the need to avoid the appearance of political bias, a key point of criticism in last week's report.
"We're going to learn from the report and be better as a result," Wray said.
The report blasted FBI actions during the 2016 investigation into whether Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, had mishandled classified information on her private email server when she was secretary of state.
It said anti-Donald Trump text messages exchanged by FBI employees who worked on the investigation cast a cloud on the agency's handling of the probe and damaged its reputation. It also said that fired FBI Director James Comey repeatedly broke from protocol, including when he publicly announced his recommendation against charging Clinton and when he bucked the judgment of Justice Department bosses by alerting Congress months later that the investigation was being reopened because of newly discovered emails.
But the report found that the July 2016 decision to spare Clinton from criminal charges was not tainted by political bias or considerations.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who joined Wray at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Monday, said there are lessons to be learned from the 500-page report, including about respecting an institution's hierarchy and norms.
Government and politics , Criminal investigations , Crime , General news , Criminal investigations , Law and order , Legislature , Presidential elections , National elections , Elections , Political scandals , Political issues , 2016 United States presidential election , United States presidential election
James Comey , Hillary Clinton , Dianne Feinstein , Patrick Leahy , Donald Trump , Christopher Wray , Chuck Grassley
United States Senate, United States Congress, United States government, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of State
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Sustainable Arctic Development in the Era of Low Carbon Transition
Organized by the Arctic Institute, the Scottish Government, UK Government Science & Innovation Network – Nordics 13. September 2017
While there is a great deal of research about the impact of climate change on the Arctic, there is much less work about the role the Arctic itself can play in making the transition to a low carbon economy that is critical to the region’s economy, environment, and public health.
Location: Hafnarkot, Ground Level
This breakout session will bring together cross-disciplinary academic and industry experts from the Arctic states and the UK to explore the challenges, opportunities, and scalability of current low-carbon energy projects and development methods. The aim of this event is to foster a dialogue between Arctic and non-Arctic stakeholders to identify pathways to reduce the carbon footprint and wider environmental, economic, and health impacts of Arctic development, by exploiting low carbon innovation to produce clean energy and industrial decarbonisation, as well as adopting strategies around corporate environmental and social responsibility. The session will begin with a series of 10-minute presentations, followed by an interactive panel discussion and Q&As from the audience.
Antti Arasto, Research Manager, Solutions for Natural Resources and Environment, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland: Wealth from bio economy - national economy perspective on transition to integrated bio- and low carbon technologies
Enrique Troncoso, Engineering Consultant / Project leader at Boeing Research & Technology: BIG HIT: Creating a Green Hydrogen Energy System in the Orkney Islands
Edvard Glücksman, Senior Environmental and Social Specialist at Wardell Armstrong LLP and University of Exeter: Lessons from Central Asia
Berit Kristoffersen, Political geographer and associate professor at UiT – the Arctic University of Norway: Post-petroleum Arctic futures: Potentials and controversies
Jane Burston, Head of Energy and Environment, National Physical Laboratory: Measuring methane: from lasers to ghostbusters
Gwen Holdmann, Director, Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Andy Kerr, Executive Director, Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI), University of Edinburgh: Shared lessons for the Arctic from developing vibrant low carbon communities and regions
Louise Heathwaite, Professor of Land and Water Science in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University
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CAMPING, HIKING AND OTHER TRIPS 1
21st November 1983 - Mount Pleasant
I hiked to Mount Pleasant from Mount Pleasant House with George L and Mike B on a sunny evening. The south face is nearly vertical but we climbed up from the back which had a gentle slope before some final rock scrambling was necessary. A striated caracara was on the summit.
Fitzroy bridge on 4th December 1983
4th December 1983 - Fitzroy
I went with Martin R and Tony R to see Ron B the farm manager at Fitzroy. After meeting Ron we asked him if it was OK to go to see the bridge further east and the cove with memorials further south. He said it should be OK.
Martin R drove. None of us had much experience of "camp" driving at this stage, but the grass was fine after a very dry winter (June to October) and the peat was firm despite earlier heavy drizzle. We never got into any difficulty except when crossing a stream between Fitzroy and the hill towards the bridge, which Martin took carefully. A few months later we always went with two or more landrovers and got bogged all the time, especially after the next winter which was very wet.
We crossed the river between Fitzroy and the cove which was virtually dry at low tide, although we had no knowledge of tides. In August 1984 Ray K and I got caught by a rising tide and had to cross in fairly deep water.
5th December 1983 - Island Harbour House and Bertha's Beach
Dave O took me and Tom, a Kelvin man, to Island Harbour House and Bertha's Beach.
Bertha's Beach has almost white sand which is really bright on a sunny day and looks like snow. There was a big peat fire about 100 metres from the beach for a length of a kilometre or two, sending heavy smoke across the beach.
There were several gentoo penguin colonies and we could get very close to them. Very smelly, though.
24th December 1983 - Bertha's Beach
I walked to Bertha's Beach with Dave O in the early evening. It was a lovely summer evening and Dave didn't even take an anorak. It must be several kilometres along East Cove to the beach and we walked on ash and burnt hard lumps of "bog wallop" which had been burnt in the peat fire.
On a dune we found the rusty remains of an old car with wooden spoked wheels, a Model T Ford. It was probably better at "camp" driving than our landrovers, being light, softly sprung and with a high ground clearance. An odd place to find it, miles from Island Harbour House and the nearest track.
25th December 1983 - Bertha's Beach again
I hiked to Bertha's Beach again with James M and Dave O. We had intended to go to the mountains to the north but they were in mist and cloud, so we opted for the sunny beach. We walked round to the south part of East Cove beyond Bertha's Beach and sunbathed and swam. The water was a bit cold but the weather was excellent, no wind and strong sun - like the English south coast on a good day. The water was only about two feet deep for a long way out. We saw some elephant seals in the water.
26th December 1983 - Mount Wickham
I hiked from Mount Pleasant to the top of Mount Wickham with James M and Dave O. We drove up to Mount Pleasant on the new haul road to the quartzite quarry and parked just over the brow. Lovely and sunny again and we found some clear rushing streams to wash our faces and refill our water bottles. I had a bit of a problem, though, see Wickham.
31st December 1983 - Darwin, Goose Green and San Carlos
Our first real trip away to Darwin, Goose Green and San Carlos, staying overnight at the Goose Green Camp. I was with Martin R, Tony R, Jim L, Frank S, George L, James M and Dave O.
The track to L'Antioja had already been scraped but not hardcored by the contractors as the water pumping station was to be built at the stream, so the first part was rough but fast on clay. The stretch to Swan Inlet and Darwin was either old clay track (a bit like driving in a continuous clay trench with pools of water to race through throwing water all over the roof) or grass. This track has now been upgraded to a proper gravel road with bridges, possibly even covered in tarmac now, so the old clay and grass track with its fords and potholes is long gone.
Areas around Goose Green barracks were fenced off as mines had not been cleared. After looking round Darwin, Goose Green and the airfield with its pucaras blown up by the SAS, we had a meal at the camp and ended up drinking in the sergeants' mess as it was New Year's Eve.
It was quite dangerous wandering around the camp trying to find our cabin and the toilet block. There were narrow raised timber walkways everywhere but it was pitch dark - no external lighting anywhere so you kept tripping over steps in the walkway or falling off the edge. There were no handholds except some wire guides either side of most gangways so you had to remember "second right, first left" and so on.
There weren't many soldiers around. There was an exercise starting the next day and they were supposed to be in bed early. However, after Jim and I had had a shower at 2.30 am we heard one squaddie continuously shouting blue murder at another one, who replied from the far side of the camp over and over again "What d'yer want me for?" It didn't sound like a friendly exchange but it eventually all went quiet.
Martin R and Dave came in at 4.30 am and we all got some sleep until we woke up with headaches - from the smoke we said. Servicemen always seem to smoke a lot. James and I found that the steering was very loose in our landrover even though it was virtually new, it had about four inches of play but we managed to tighten it up. Breakfast was porridge and greasy bacon.
We set off for San Carlos and passed Darwin again but then took a wrong track and Dave got bogged next to an estuary near Camilla Creek. After fording Camilla Creek further on we got onto a reasonable clay track towards the estuary where Sussex House is, then got onto a another track and found a stream which had some metal strips left to form a bridge. Shortly after that we found some really boggy ground and decided to head straight up the hill towards the top of Sussex Mountains. Later we found another way around the estuary and a ford across Hell's Kitchen.
We found some dugouts on the top of the mountain, presumably Argie ones, with blowpipe cases and an oil drum with an iron bar sticking out of it which looked like a gun from a distance. The run down hill towards San Carlos was OK, then we had a fast dash across a wide estuary splashing through several areas of water and up a very steep hill up into San Carlos.
San Carlos cemetery on 1st January 1984
We walked around a small, pretty settlement and the cemetery, visited the army camp on the other side of the estuary (not the other side of the whole bay where Ajax refrigeration plant was) and then started our return journey. We had been told about another route down to Hell's Kitchen and a local man on a Honda bike passed us and confirmed the route which led down a ridge to the Hell's Kitchen ford. We then followed our previous route to Burntside House, avoided the place where Dave got bogged, and so back to the site.
7th January 1984 - Mount Usborne
George L, Dave O, James M, Frank S, Tony R and I left MPA after work at 4 pm and headed west again. We made good time to Burntside House and Camilla Creek, then found a track off to the right towards Ceritos House. We crossed over a difficult stream and reached the house quite late and found it was a ruin so we headed back across the stream and camped in the valley.
There was a peat stockpile at the house which we used for our camp fire with wood brought from the site. We soaked the ground first to avoid starting a peat fire. For this and future camping trips we got plenty of food from the camp kitchens to take with us. Most of the time we had far too much. Cold tongue, baked beans, thick bread and butter, fruit cake, bacon for breakfast, tea and a wider variety on later trips including oranges when we started getting fresh fruit.
George had brought his camping gaz cooker which was a bonus and also his guitar so we had a noisy evening. We had scrounged some plastic sheeting from the site for groundsheets and generally sitting on. The stars came out and the sky was so clear we watched satellites from horizon to horizon (valley hilltop to valley hilltop). We had brought sleeping bags and waterproof bivvy bags to the Islands as recommended and used them for the first time, on plastic sheeting. Some people made tents of plastic draped from landrovers but I always preferred to lie in the open looking up at the stars.
When I woke the next morning it was already fairly light and there were sheep looking at us and a family of upland geese a few yards away. The mountain had clouds and it looked a bit cold. Athough we had talked of making an early start, people woke late then started the fire and cooking, so the schedule started slipping. Dave O had brought his fishing rod and had caught and baked a trout the previous night and started fishing again for his breakfast. I don't think he was lucky that time.
Nevertheless we were ready to leave at 8 am, the clouds had lifted and the sun was out. We backtracked to a pond and turned off to drive along the side of the mountain to get nearer to the north-western end which seemed to have the peak, parked and climbed from there. When we were near the top Tony R realised he had left his rucksack where we had rested for a tea-break so he had a long walk back down and back up again. How he forgot that I do not know.
Wickham on Mount Usborne on 8th January 1984
We got to the top in strong sunshine and quite a strong wind. I found it difficult to stay steady holding a flag on top of the cairn. There was a book in a metal box for signatures and comments which went back to 1972, many probably UK friends and relations of farmers.
We looked over the north-east side which was basically a precipice 200 to 300 feet high. We heaved huge rocks over the edge with our feet to see if they would reach a pond at the bottom (a few did), had our lunch in the sun then walked further along the flat grassy dome of the mountain south-eastwards.
As we walked back along the north west slope towards the landrovers we came across the remains of a Phantom jet that had crashed in fog on a flight after the war had ended. There was a grave and a memorial there, fencing and mine warnings.
On the return journey we decided to use the ford at Swan Inlet instead of the bridge. There was a bank at the far side which we all managed OK except Frank S who got stuck twice before trying a different place. He took a lot of stick and it was at this time that I started my bog-in ratings list. Martin R got stuck on the same bank on 22nd January 1984.
- too stormy, horizontal hail and rain so our trip west and around the north of the island was cancelled. It snowed later in the day although it was mid-summer.
Goose Green and Darwin
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