pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 87
991k
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__cc
| 0.547904
| 0.452096
|
George Mbulo
Satellite / Broadcasting Schedule
Send a Testimony
A Media and TV personality, with over 22 years experience in hosting and producing Christian TV programs both in Africa and USA; and a behind the scenes experience in Hollywood production works in his residence in Los Angeles, USA.
A Visionary Leader, Church-Planter, Pastor, College Lecturer and Organization Management Expert. He has been training and developing Leaders for Churches and Organizations for over 35 years. He is Founder and President of Capital Chris-tian Ministries International.
He has earned a Diploma in Electrical Engineering – Roan Consolidated Copper Mines (RCM) Ltd. Trades Training Insti-tute (1975) in Mufulira, Zambia; a Diploma (Dip.Th) in Biblical Theology - TransAfrica Theological College (1980) in Kitwe, Zambia; a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Religion & Philosophy - Northwest University (1984) in Seattle, USA; a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) - Fuller Theological Seminary (1991) in Pasadena, California - USA; and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Pepperdine University (1998) in Malibu, California - USA; currently pursuing a Doctorate in Leadership and Man-agement at LOGOS University in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Want to know when Capital Impact TV is next airing in your area?
Has CITV impacted your life? We would love to hear from you!
Send us your personal testimony
© 2014 Capital Impact TV | A Capital Christian Ministries International company
All Rights Reserved | GodLike Media
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1798
|
__label__wiki
| 0.509224
| 0.509224
|
New Chips Provide a Spark for Wireless Charging
Efficient Power Conversion has launched gallium nitride chips that promise higher efficiency and lower cost than silicon.
by Richard Martin
Aiming to jump-start the stalled market for wireless power systems, chip maker Efficient Power Conversion this week announced the launch of a new line of semiconductors made from gallium nitride, a material that’s 10 times faster than silicon and that many believe represents the future of the semiconductor industry. The new chips are designed specifically to support wireless power systems such as those produced by WiTricity.
EPC is headed by chip industry veteran Alex Lidow, who coinvented a type of transistor used for power conversion systems in a range of products including home appliances, air conditioners, and energy-efficient lighting. For many years the CEO of International Rectifier, still the largest producer of such transistors, Lidow has in recent years become one of the leading apostles of using gallium nitride, rather than silicon, to make transistors. EPC’s products are already in use in telecom equipment, satellites, laptop chargers, and virtual-reality devices. Now, says Lidow, his company’s technology is set to overhaul wireless power transfer.
“The adoption of wireless power transfer is critically dependent upon the convenience, cost, and efficiency of the system,” Lidow says. “All three of these factors have delayed broad adoption of any standard.”
The subject of considerable hype a few years ago, wireless power systems have failed to take off as anticipated—partly, as Lidow points out, for lack of a universally accepted technology standard. At this point there are at least two competing standards: Qi, which is backed by the Wireless Power Consortium, and Rezence, which is supported by the Alliance for Wireless Power. Rezence is based on the principle of magnetic resonance, a form of inductive coupling that uses a magnetic field to transfer power between devices. Magnetic resonance enables multiple devices to be charged simultaneously without being precisely aligned with the energy source. Although many analysts consider magnetic resonance to be the future of wireless power, Qi got an earlier start in the market and is backed by some industry giants, including Qualcomm, Microsoft, Sony, and LG. (Many companies are members of both the Wireless Power Consortium and the Association for Wireless Power.) EPC’s chips are designed to support magnetic resonance systems covered by the Rezence standard.
Research firm IHS forecasts that the market for wireless charging will reach $8.5 billion in annual revenue by 2018.
“The remaining battles for this mass market are best efficiency at the lowest cost,” says Lidow. The use of gallium nitride, he adds, enables EPC to reduce the number of components on the wireless transmitter as well as the overall system size, and to lower the cost of the integrated circuits.
Ultimately, Lidow’s goals are much larger: he believes that gallium nitride will replace silicon transistors across a broad range of technologies, not just wireless power—including the power conversion systems that he helped develop in the 1970s. “This is the beginning of the real conversion from silicon,” he says. “My goal is to obsolete that which I helped create.”
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1801
|
__label__wiki
| 0.821174
| 0.821174
|
Bay Area / California
Labor & Education
Mid-Market / Tenderloin
Soda Tax/Food Politics
50 Years Ago: King, Memphis, and the Poor People’s Campaign
by Martin J. Bennett on May 31, 2018
Most Americans know that a white racist assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4,1968 – fifty years ago. But few understand the historical context and why King was in Memphis.
King came to Memphis in March of 1968 to support 1300 African-American sanitation workers that were on strike for a living wage, the right to form a union, and dignity in the workplace. Historian Michael Honey explains in his new book To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic Justice that the sanitation strike marked the beginning of a nationwide Poor People’s campaign launched by Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to address the root causes of poverty and inequality.
Second Stage of the Civil Rights Movement
In 1954 the Montgomery Bus Boycott ignited a decade of nonviolent protests by black and white Americans against racism and segregation in the south. The Civil Rights movement pressured Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that overturned racist Jim Crow laws in the south, barred employment discrimination, and ensured federal protection for minority voters.
After 1965, the civil rights movement entered a new stage. Addressing sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968 King stated: “Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?”
Memphis sanitation workers were black public employees at the bottom of a class and racial caste system. They had long endured poverty wages, filthy and hazardous working conditions, and racist treatment by all-white bosses. In February, when a malfunctioning garbage truck compactor killed two workers, hundreds of sanitation workers walked off the job.
Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb, a white supremacist and defender of segregation, refused to recognize or bargain with the workers’ union, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Every day a thousand workers marched downtown wearing “I Am A Man” placards asserting their demand for economic citizenship and affirming black personhood. The strikers defied a court injunction prohibiting the walkout and were arrested, beaten, and maced by police, yet maintained remarkable nonviolent discipline.
The Memphis Movement and Community-Labor Coalition
One hundred and fifty congregations provided food, raised money, and hosted rallies each evening. The NAACP, the most respected civil rights organization in the city, joined with the religious community to organize a boycott of downtown businesses. AFSCME national leaders vowed to stand with the strikers until victory was achieved, and committed funding and organizers to the effort.
The strike became much more than a labor struggle as a broad multiracial coalition of community and labor emerged to directly challenge the white power structure. Ministers and NAACP leaders at nightly rallies in black churches emphasized the relationship between the workers’ grievances and concerns about police brutality, segregated education, and slum housing. The strikers’ highly visible daily marches became the anchor for the coalition’s campaign.
King addressed the strikers and 25,000 supporters in March in Memphis and proclaimed, “All labor has dignity,” and, “You are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages,” and, “This is the plight of our people all over America.” He told the sanitation workers, “Along with wages and other securities, you are struggling for the right to organize and be recognized.” His speech drew national media attention and inspired support for the strike from unions and faith organizations across the country.
Labor Rights, Civil Rights, and the Poor People’s Campaign
King claimed that African-Americans were attracted to the labor movement because it was “the first and pioneer anti-poverty program.” He envisioned a convergence of the labor and civil rights movements to bring about “a radical redistribution of political and economic power.”
Indeed King and the SCLC planned a ‘Poor People’s campaign’ for the summer of 1968 to address the “triple evils of poverty, war, and racism.” The foundation of the campaign was a multiracial coalition of grassroots, labor, faith, civil rights and community organizations representing the nation’s poor.
The campaign’s intent was to bring thousands of poor people to Washington, D.C. in May, construct a tent ‘Resurrection City’ on the mall, and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience to pressure Congress and President Johnson to approve an ‘Economic Bill of Rights’ for America’s poor.
The campaign demanded $30 billion annually to fight poverty; full employment and living wage public jobs for the unemployed; a guaranteed minimum income for those excluded from the labor market by age, automation, or caregiving responsibilities; an increase in the minimum wage to a living wage for all workers without exemptions; access to land and credit for the rural poor; construction of half a million affordable housing units annually; immediate withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam; and the redirection of military spending to domestic reconstruction.
Deeply troubled by the urban insurrections beginning with Watts in August 1965, King believed that building a multiracial coalition of poor people could serve as an “alternative to riots” and the Memphis movement, that fused labor rights and civil rights and connected labor to the community, was a model for the entire nation. King claimed that: “We can all get more together than we can apart; and this is the way we gain power.”
King’s Assassination and the Aftermath
King was killed in Memphis by a single bullet fired by a white racist the day after his iconic “I’ve Been To the Mountaintop” speech on April 3rd. His murder ignited widespread rioting in more than 125 cities and the largest deployment of troops by the federal government to suppress the violence since the Civil War.
President Johnson ordered a federal mediator to Memphis to settle the strike. Ultimately the city capitulated to all the demands of the strikers including union recognition, automatic dues deduction, increased pay, and a grievance and seniority system.
While the Poor People’s campaign was undermined by King’s assassination and ended after six weeks by tear gas and police repression, the Memphis victory prompted sanitation workers across the south to organize, and public employee unions became the fastest growing sector of the labor movement nationwide.
AFSCME became the largest and most influential union in Memphis (with predominantly black members), and the black community and black voters began to reshape the city’s political landscape in the 1970s by electing black school board members and the first black Congressman.
Moreover, over time growing union strength in the public sector resulted in decent jobs with living wages and benefits in sanitation and other blue-collar occupations, and enforcement of employment discrimination provisions in the 1964 Civil Rights Act opened up all public sector employment for previously excluded minorities, providing opportunities for upward mobility to people of color and women in Memphis and elsewhere.
A New Poor People’s Campaign
However, poverty and low-wage work are more widespread today than in 1968. According to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, 43 percent of Americans are the impoverished or working poor who, due to low wages and cuts to the social safety net cannot make ends meet.
Inspired by the 1968 Memphis movement and the Poor People’s campaign, a broad coalition of labor, civil rights, immigrant rights, and faith-based organizations has organized a new Poor People’s campaign and issued “A Call for Moral Revival.”
On Mothers’ Day this past May, activists launched 40 days of mass action and civil disobedience in more than 30 state capitols including Sacramento. Additionally, they plan to construct another encampment in Washington D.C. to protest inequality, poverty, racism, militarism, mass incarceration, and ecological devastation.
The persistence and determination of the Memphis sanitation workers and the radical vision of Dr. King and the Poor People’s campaign for economic justice should continue to inspire all Americans.
Martin J. Bennett is Instructor Emeritus of History at Santa Rosa Junior College and Co-Chair of North Bay Jobs with Justice and a Research and Policy Analyst for UNITE HERE Local 2850.
For more information about the Poor Peoples campaign and actions in Sacramento please see: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org
Beyond Chron
Filed under: National Politics
Randy Shaw
Suzanne Gordon
Peter Wong
<!-/div>
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1803
|
__label__cc
| 0.698214
| 0.301786
|
Turtle in Paradise
by Jennifer L. Holm
Elementary School • Historical Fiction
JULY 21:
It’s the birth date of John Gardner (1933-1982), A Child’s Bestiary.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), author of the classics The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises, and A Farewell to Arms, was also born on this day. Read Ernest Hemingway: A Writer’s Life by Catherine Reef and Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm.
On this day in 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon. Read One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong by Don Brown, and Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino.
On July 21, 1899, Noble Prize–winning author Ernest Hemingway was born. Although raised in Oak Park, Illinois, during his later years Hemingway lived in Key West, Florida, and Cuba. This booze hound and bullfighting advocate seems an unlikely candidate for an upbeat and whimsical children’s novel. But in 2010 Jennifer L. Holm used Papa in her cast of characters living in Key West during the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.
Eleven-year-old Turtle, like so many during the Depression, knows hunger and chaos. As her mother gets fired from a series of housekeeping jobs, Turtle develops a hard attitude and hard shell. When she gets sent without notice to live with her aunt in Key West, it at first appears that Turtle has been shackled with boy cousins and a grandmother from hell. But then the young girl slowly begins to fit into this poverty-stricken but quirky community.
In Key West food can be found in the water or on trees, exotic fare wonderfully described by Jennifer L. Holm’s writing. And Turtle begins helping the Diaper Gang care for babies. Everyone boasts a strange name like Slow Poke or Pork Chop. Everyone has a strange bit of Key West lore to convey to Turtle, who begins to realize that her cousins and grandma aren’t as terrible as they first appeared. She even discovers a map for pirate treasure and with her new friends actually digs some up! For a short time it looks as if Turtle will be living on easy street indeed. All does not end as anticipated. But Turtle finds in this summer in Key West something more important than money—a family she can love and who care for her in return.
Engaging characters, a fascinating plot, and an exotic setting all helped garner excellent reviews and a Newbery Honor for Turtle in Paradise when it appeared in 2010. But this is one of those books that seems to gain a larger following each year, a favorite of children and adults alike. Holm merely suggests at details of relationships long past, allowing readers to fill in their own details. And she has two wonderful scenes when Turtle gives some writing advice to Papa Hemingway. A great fan of comics, she informs him that he will never be famous unless he writes one. Well, as we know, Hemingway failed to take that advice. But after reading Turtle in Paradise, you may begin to wonder, as I did, what he might have written if he had been a graphic novelist.
If you haven’t done so already, pick up Turtle in Paradise, a perfect summer read for ten- to twelve-year-olds about a very special summer in Key West.
Here’s a passage from Turtle in Paradise:
“What happened next?” the writer fella asks me, smoothing his mustache.
I lean forward. “That’s when the rats showed up, Mr. Hemingway.”
His eyes bulge out. “Rats?”
“Hundreds of them! They were crawling all over us. Worst thing you ever saw!”
Slow Poke strolls up. “Hundreds of rats, you say! Strange how that didn’t make it into any of the newspaper accounts,” he muses.
“Writers never get the story right,” I say.
Originally posted July 21, 2013. Updated for .
Tags: Award Winning, Family, History, Newbery
Instructional materials from TeachingBooks.net for Turtle in Paradise
Charlie Otting says:
I read this daily, with great enjoyment. Thanks. The moonwalk was in 1969, by the way.
Fran in Texas says:
Yes, I believe someone’s told you already; it was 1969 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
<a href=http://life.time.com/history/apollo-11-to-the-moon-and-back-life-covers-the-1969-lunar-landing/#1
Fran: Thanks for the reminder. Now corrected.
Lisa C says:
I first read Jennifer Holm’s book, Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf (hilarious!). When I saw Turtle in Paradise, I was drawn in by the cover and by the author’s name. This is a funny, easy read for 3rd to 5th grade students. Aspects of the book (plucky girl, loose supervision, overactive imagination) reminded me of the movie, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, although Turtle is certainly not a sweet little doll!
I liked Turtle in Paradise so much I reread it while visiting the keys and went snooping around in Key West to find some of the locations. I included images in my review: http://goo.gl/hXjO1G
I also created a chapter by chapter resource for the book to use with my students that includes historical images and background information. http://goo.gl/ekU0Ml
Love that book!
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1808
|
__label__cc
| 0.556793
| 0.443207
|
Center for Iconographic Studies,
Department of Art History Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka
The Cultural Iconology and Semiography Research Group, University of Szeged
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
The Institute for the Study of Culture and Christianity, Belgrade
Visual Art Department, University of Johannesburg
Department of Art History, Iconology Research Group Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
Department of Cultural Heritage of the Church, Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome
University Museum of Bergen, Norway
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1809
|
__label__wiki
| 0.874231
| 0.874231
|
Why Net Neutrality Advocates Remain Optimistic
"Eshoo and her copanelists, Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Reddit CEO Steven Huffman, and Stanford law professor Barbara van Schewick, remained doggedly optimistic about the future of net neutrality in the United States."
Reddit Co-founder, Congresswoman advocate for net neutrality at Law School event
The Stanford Daily
"Van Schewick argued that the motivation for removing net neutrality rules came largely from ISPs looking to capitalize on their positions as gatekeepers. She said that in 2013, prior to net neutrality regulations being put in place, six large ISPs started using “choke points” to slow down certain games and and videos, only speeding them up if the hosting websites were willing to pay.
“The ISPs have more money, and they definitely have more lobbyists,” Schewick said. “But that does not mean they get to win. They only win if we are silent.”"
How the EU’s Far Right Will Boost Google, Facebook, and Amazon
"Thomas Lohninger, executive director of Epicenter Works, another NGO that ran an ostensibly grassroots campaign against the Copyright Directive, says his group worked with politicians from across the spectrum. “You can find allies in all political parties, and if you are working toward the majority, you also have to talk with all of the people and explore all avenues that you can in order to gain a majority. And that's what we did,” Lohninger says. “There are of course the Euroskeptics, that are fundamentally opposed to every type of European legislation or regulation.
Why internet users in Austria face losing their anonymity
"Thomas Lohninger of civil rights group Epicenter Works told German-language website Der Standard: “It’s remarkable how little thought has gone into this.”"
3/12: Controlling Secondary Markets - from Planing Machines to T-GURTs (Past Event)
Stefan Bechtold graduated from the University of Tuebingen Law School, Germany, in 1999. In 1999 and 2000, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. In 2001, he received a Dr. iur. (legal Ph.D.) from the University of Tuebingen Law School. Supported by a Fulbright scholarship, he received a master's degree (J.S.M.) from Stanford Law School in 2002. Since 2002, he is a non-residential Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.
CIS Speaker 11/20: FUP and Codex (Past Event)
Harry Surden is a resident fellow at the Stanford Center for Computers and the Law (Codex). He came to Codex following a clerkship at the United States District Court in San Francisco. Harry graduated from Stanford Law School in 2005, and prior to that, he worked as a software engineer for Cisco Systems and Bloomberg Financial Markets. Harry is the Stanford Center for Computers and the Law's inaugural resident fellow.
CIS/STLR Symposium 1/26: Beyond a Physical Conception of the 4th Amendment: Search and Seizure in the Digital Age (Past Event)
Paul Ohm, University of Colorado: The seizure clause and the Internet
Susan Freiwald, University of San Francisco: The "presence of electronic surveillance" test
Deirdre Mulligan and Pam Samuelson, Boalt: Sensor networks for public utilities
Nicole Ozer, ACLU: Radio-Frequency Identification and government monitoring
Richard Salgado, Yahoo!: Councilman and stored communications
A Historic Day for The Internet: FCC Set to Approve Net Neutrality Rules
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to approve new net neutrality regulations. If the new rules are adopted, internet service will be regulated like a public utility, a move that will prevent companies from manipulating internet traffic.
It will be a major victory both for President Obama and for a swarm of internet companies that vocally supported net neutrality—everything from Netflix to Twitter, to Mozilla, Tumblr, and Etsy.
Faculty on Point | Barbara van Schewick on Network Neutrality
Professor Barbara van Schewick explains why meaningful network neutrality rules are critical to the future of the U.S. economy.
Learn more about Barbara and her scholarship at: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/people/barbara-van-schewick
You can follow her on Twitter at @vanschewick.
*Originally recorded in December 2014
Full video also available on YouTube.
Net Neutrality Explained by Marvin Ammori
The phrase “net neutrality” couldn’t sound more boring.
But almost 4 million people wrote to a US federal agency this year, demanding it. That agency has never received even a third as many comments. And samples show that a full 99 percent supported net neutrality.
What exactly can be so popular?
The short answer is: the Internet. The Internet is awesome and it’s awesome because of net neutrality.
http://ammori.org/2015/02/03/my-net-neutrality-explainer-in-fusion/
Press:Here
The director of civil liberties for the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School discusses net neutrality, privacy and the NSA.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1810
|
__label__cc
| 0.745806
| 0.254194
|
OFFSITE:
a covert intelligence site or facility situated away from a field office.
Blackwater CEO indignant
CEO Erik Prince of Blackwater, the infamous company contracted by the CIA to develop a targeted assassination program (a.k.a. hit squad for hire), recently spoke with Vanity Fair, sharing information about the top-secret...
American spies get time for CIA kid...
On Wednesday, 23 Americans and two Italians were convicted of participating in an extraordinary rendition allegedly carried out by the CIA in Milan in 2003. In a nutshell, the CIA wanted to interrogate a Muslim...
Ms. Castro chose CIA over Fidel
Between Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, it would seem that the Cuban communism is a family affair, but not so when you look to little sister Juanita, now 76. She has lived in Miami – in exile from her home – since...
CIA turns to open-source intel
Web 2.0 means that there’s a plethora of user-generated information out there to monitor – blog posts, tweets, commentary on news pieces, videos, reviews of books, etc. But the CIA’s not interested in any of that harmless chatter, right? Wrong. The investment arm of the U.S. intelligence community, In-Q-Tel – which serves...
Prison sentences for Americans in I...
In Italy the trial against those Italian and American agents believed to be involved in an alleged CIA rendition operation continues. The Italian prosecutor has...
More and more spies sent to Afghani...
As the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan drags on, the number of intelligence officials deployed to the country continues to grow, and it seems now that...
U.S. spy chief reveals spy strategy
Tuesday night, U.S. Intelligence Director Dennis Blair shared with the public his new official spy strategy for U.S. intelligence, which includes more collaboration between the 16 different spy agencies, increased...
Son of notorious CIA double agent p...
Earlier this year, it was discovered that the son of the highest-ranking CIA operative ever to be convicted of spying for the other side, was helping his imprisoned father to continue collaborating with the Russians. The father – Harold Nicholson – was...
CIA under investigation
Despite protests (we’ve already conducted an internal investigation; employees who committed abuses have already been duly reprimanded) and extenuating circumstances (the CIA was up against a then very unknown enemy...
CIA’s contractor conundrum
The CIA’s been under a microscope lately, and Director Leon Panetta didn’t help matters by coming clean to Congress this June about a terrorist assassination operation that went on for seven years (unbeknownst to Congress). Worse yet is...
U.S. hikers accused of working for ...
According to a Tehran television news program, local Iranian police are now accusing the three Americans arrested in Iran on Friday of being U.S. spies in the employ of the CIA. Shocked? Of course not. The accusation is...
U.S. spy chief in favor of less sec...
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this Wednesday, July 22 and it seems he’s looking to involve the private sector in intelligence operations. This is an indication of a few things: 1. the recognition of the need to bring in...
CIA misled Congress for 8 years
A group of seven Democrats, all members of the House Intelligence Committee, has just made public a rather controversial admission made by CIA Director Leon Panetta in closed-door testimony before the committee last month.
Panetta testified that the CIA routinely hid “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 through to June 2009. Although we do not know …
CIA out to sabotage ex-employee’s...
Stephen Lee used to work for the CIA as an operations manager. He now blogs for The Washington Examiner, and is getting the sneaky suspicion that his former employer is out to make his life in his new career a little difficult.
“I believe I am being subjected to a campaign of low-level harassment,” said …
Former CIA spy laments Milan rendit...
An ex-U.S. spy – once a CIA station chief in Italy – recently spoke to the Italian paper Il Giornale about his involvement in a 2003 CIA rendition heist, which took a Muslim cleric (Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr) suspected of terrorist involvement from his home in...
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries
Next Entries » — Next Page »
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1811
|
__label__wiki
| 0.646447
| 0.646447
|
Greenway Description
Greenway Society
Map & Guides
Safety & Etiquette
Greenway Map
Link to UNBC Lands Map
Tour the Trail
Features as You Travel
The Rest of the Year
Buy a Metre
Dogs and the Otway Nordic Centre
Horses and the Otway Nordic Centre
To Volunteer
To Report a Maintenance Item
To Submit Ideas & Suggestions
A Guide to the Cranbrook Hill Greenway
Natalie Ciolfitto
Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society
Prince George, B.C.
A special thank you is given to the BC Provincial Government for granting the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society with ETeam funding. This funding allowed the society to hire an intern to research and prepare the first edition of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Guidebook.
Thank you to Canfor for allowing access to a computer during the three months needed to complete the guidebook. Special appreciation given to Canfor employee, Kevin Gillespie, for organizing the use of a computer.
Members of the community including Mrs. Teschke, Roman Hildebrant, and Gary and Cathlene Paulson kindly donated their time for a series of interviews to gain more insight on the natural and cultural history of Cranbrook Hill. Thankyou for the interesting information you provided for the guidebook.
Special appreciation is given to Robin Draper, Dick Voneugen, Jack Bowling
and Jim Weed for their aid in developing the Guidebook.
What are Greenways?
The concept of “greenways” is fairly new having evolved from work in the USA where the first greenways were established in the mid-seventies. A greenway is a linear open space established along either a natural corridor, such as a river front, stream valley, or ridgeline, or over land along a railroad right-of-way converted to recreational use, a canal, scenic road, or other route. It is any natural or landscaped course for pedestrians, equestrian or bicycle passage; or open space connector linking parks, natural reserves, wildlife habitat corridor, cultural features, or historic sites with each other and with populated areas or a certain strip of linear park designated as parkway or greenbelt (paraphrased from Little, C. Greenways for America 1990).
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway is a mixture between two greenway types hoping to achieve harmony between recreationalists and wildlife. The two greenway types that the Cranbrook Hill Greenway resembles are:
Recreational greenways, featuring paths and trails of various kinds, often relatively long distance, based on natural corridors as well as canals, abandoned railbeds, and public right-of-ways.
Ecologically significant natural corridors, usually along rivers and streams and less often ridgelines, to provide for wildlife migration and species interchange, natural study, and hiking.
Purpose of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway
The purpose of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway is to secure recreational and naturalist opportunities for present and future generations of Prince George in the face of continuing urban development. The greenway is more than just a trail, but a linear area of approximately 324 hectares that will provide a corridor for wildlife habitat and recreation activities. The greenway fulfills it’s purpose by connecting currently used sites on Cranbrook Hill, including Otway Ski Center, Forests for the World, UNBC, and Parkridge Creek.
The City of Prince George is growing at an unprecedented rate and as such it is vital that areas like this greenway be set aside now while undisturbed land is still available. To reiterate this point, greenways help to incorporate nature into the lives of urban dwellers that are increasingly becoming void of any interaction with nature. This disconnection with nature can have a negative effect on the average Prince George resident’s quality of life. While the subject of quality of life is difficult to quantify, recent studies have concluded that even the presence of wilderness near urban centers gives residents a “good” feeling, regardless of whether or not they use it. To this end, the greenway will increase the chance for residents and visitors to interpret nature, learn more about the cultural resources of the area, and expand recreation in Prince George’s city limits.
Location of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway, with an area of 324 hectares, is situated on Cranbrook Hill at the western boundary of Prince George city limits. Within the greenway is 25 kms of multi use trail that connects the Otway Ski Center to Forests for the World (FFTW) to UNBC to Parkridge Creek at Highway 16 West. The greenway passes through a variety of public and private land as it meanders across Cranbrook Hill. As evident on the map (page iii), the greenway can be accessed at various locations. The Otway Ski Center located on Otway Road acts as the greenway’s northern access point. Secondly, the greenway trail can be accessed from the south-west corner of the UNBC parking lot that has been designated for greenway users. The greenway trail can also be accessed from the south-east corner of FFTW. The FFTW parking lot is located at the south end of Kueng Road on Cranbrook Hill. Lastly, Kimball Road located off of Highway 16 West connects to the greenway’s southern access point found adjacent to the Blue Spruce Campground.
History of Greenway Development
The development plan for the greenway is projected to take place over a 5 year period: the initial greenway development, which began in year-1, 1996 and should be completed by year-2, 1997; medium term development, which will occur from year-2, 1997 to year-4, 1999; and the long term development plan which will include any activity beyond four years. Different types of activities are scheduled for each of these phases. The initial development phase, which has been partially completed, includes any work that is necessary to clear a right-of-way within the greenway boundaries for safe passage. The medium term development plan includes fine tuning and finishing details needed to enhance the greenway, such as boardwalks, and interpretive- and trail head- sign construction. The long term development activities includes construction of large structures not completed in the medium term phase, such as picnic facilities and viewing platforms.
Since its formation, the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society has made significant progress towards establishment of the greenway. In May 1996, two E-Team planners were employed by the society to mark the greenway route, accumulate data relevant to the greenway and generate a report detailing the baseline data as well as greenway development and management details. In October 1996, a six person work crew was hired with funding from the E-Team program to clear, build signs and boardwalks for a demonstration section of the greenway linking UNBC to Forests for the World. Trail head signs were also erected at UNBC and the Otway Ski Center, and where the greenway connects to the southeast corner of Forests for the World. In addition, one of the two planning technicians hired for the summer continued work on a volunteer basis in the fall of 1996. The complete route of the greenway was walked with a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit. The information obtained with the GPS unit was transferred to a computer at UNBC and along with digital satellite imagery was combined to produce a very accurate map of the greenway.
The society was fortunate to inherit the Best of Banff Film Festival from a group of Prince George community service groups, who very generously suggested that the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society could benefit most from the film festival. In December 1996, the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society sponsored the Best of Banff Film Festival and managed to raise over $2000 to put towards a special maintenance endowment for the greenway.
In June 1997, the society acquired E-Team funding again, and hired back one of their previous employees to write this guidebook and prepare a brochure on the greenway for the public. In addition, the society received funding from Forest Renewal BC to hire crews to clear the entire right-of-way for the greenway trail. If time and funding is still available, some boardwalks, signs, and trail markers will be installed. The greenway should be able to support X-Country ski activities in the 1997/98 winter season.
Section 2: Natural History
Vegetation of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway is classified as belonging to the Sub-Boreal Spruce Biogeoclimatic zone. The dominant climax tree species of this zone are hybrid white spruce (Picea engelmanni glauca) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa). The seral stands have pioneer species like trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). Interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotusga spp.) can be found on richer, drier sites.
The greenway encompasses a diversified landscape with varying ecosystems and habitat types. The forests are diverse and vary in age and composition. The predominant species are lodgepole pine, trembling aspen, and hybrid white spruce. Also, pockets of subalpine fir, Interior Douglas-fir, paper birch, and cottonwood exist amongst the dominant forest canopy. Interior Douglas-fir is a rare species of the area, hence it is a valued species on the greenway. Sections of the greenway have been logged in the past, and if one looks closely they will notice moss covered tree stumps in the surrounding forest floor. Interior Douglas-fir was one of the trees selected for logging since it’s fiber is dense, hard, stiff and durable making it an ideal wood for heavy-duty construction. This tree can be identified from it’s needles and bark. Fir needles are flat with a pointed tip, and are darker on the top than the bottom of the needle. Bark on the older fir trees is thick and deeply grooved, with dark reddish-brown ridges. Paper birch is one of the deciduous trees on the greenway, and has white bark that peels in papery strips, exposing the darker colored inner bark. Birch bark had many uses to First Nations people of British Columbia, one being material for baskets, cradles, and canoes. The birch sap was also used as a medicine for colds and to make syrup.
Understory species are too diverse to describe completely in this section, seeing as over 100 species were identified during initial surveys of the greenway. Understory is sparse in dark, closed canopy forests, and thicker in open areas. Ferns, moss, and other water-loving plants are found in moister sites, where as wildflowers are more common in drier, open areas. The south facing slopes of the greenway’s drainage system contains abundant wildflower species, especially the mixture of common red paintbrush, northern bedstraw, heart-leaved arnica, aster and purple pea-vine. If one visits the greenway in the spring, early violet and rare species like the orchid fairy slipper can be identified. Spring to mid-summer are the most opportune times to sight the diverse display of wildflowers on the greenway.
Fall is a season of even more color on the greenway. The leaves of aspen, birch, cottonwood, and alder trees display rich hues of yellow, orange, and red. Flowering vegetation species give rise to berries of many shapes and colors. False Solomon’s-seal, baneberry, bunchberry, clasping twisted stalk, red-osier dogwood, devil’s club, thimbleberry, queen’s cup, and tall Oregon-grape are only a few of the plant species that exhibit berries in the fall. Mushrooms grow in the greenway, especially with damp weather conditions, but the trail user should be experienced in mushroom identification before sampling them.
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway provides suitable habitat for wildlife. Aquatic habitats in the surrounding areas of lakes, ponds, creeks, bogs and muskegs are characterized by diverse and abundant indigenous wildlife species. Species that have been sighted while surveying the greenway include: moose (Alces alces), black bear (Ursus americanus), beaver (Castor canadensis), red squirrel (Tamia sciurus hudsonicus), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), great gray owl (Strix nebulosa), common raven (Corvus corax), ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), and a variety of smaller birds. In addition to these sightings, other species documented in the area include: mule deer, lynx, cougar, snowshoe hare, marten, fisher, ermine, coyote, red fox, porcupine, and deer mouse.
The greenway is home for many birds and waterfowl. The best areas to observe waterfowl is in the vicinity of third lake, the headwaters of the long drainage system in the middle of the greenway, and other marshes of the greenway. Great gray owls have been sighted in the greenway’s northern section in open, deciduous forest. Also, the drumming sound of ruffed grouse has frequently been heard on the greenway. Large mammals such as moose have been sighted on the long drainage system in the middle of the greenway, and black bear scat has been noticed in this area as well. Black bear have been sighted occasionally in most sections of the greenway. Beavers and their dams and lodges can be observed along the long drainage, third lake, and other marshy areas.
Geology and Soils
Cranbrook Hill is found on the Interior Plateau of British Columbia and is part of the Nechako Plain that covers the Fraser Basin. The Nechako Plain has a very irregular shape and variable topography, which is evident on the greenway. The greenway has gently rolling to undulating terrain with remnants of eskers and north-easterly orientated drumlins that provides great landform variety for recreational trails. The area is characterized by having drumlinized basal till landforms consisting of streamlined, parallel, cigar or egg-shaped ridges and intervening troughs (Dawson 1989). This basal till material has been molded and deposited by glacial ice. Drumlins are encountered on the greenway, which are hills which vary in height from 15 to 45 meters, with some having steep side slopes greater than thirty percent. Non-drumlinized material is also present and occurs in a range of patterns of ridges, humps, and depressions of varying shape and size. In addition, the greenway runs through two main types of bedrock geology referred to as mixed volcanic and sedimentary, and unconsolidated deposits (Dawson 1989). Bedrock outcropping is evident in various locations on the greenway.
The majority of greenway is covered with forest, therefore the soils are of a certain type. According to generalized soil maps, vegetation, and surficial materials, the most predominate soils most likely to occur on Cranbrook Hill are gray luvisols, brunisols, and gleysols. Luvisols and brunisols are fairly well drained soils that generally occur under a mixed-wood forest canopy. Gleysols are found in wetter, depressional areas where the depth of the water table is dependent upon run-off and beaver activity.
Section 3: Cultural History
The resources on Cranbrook Hill have attracted many settlers to the area in the past. The Carrier Indians were in the Nechako/Fraser River area over
10 000 years ago and were probably the first human users of Cranbrook Hill (Christensen 1989). The Lheidli T’Enneh Band of Prince George has used Cranbrook Hill historically and intends to identify and protect all their potential cultural and traditional sites on the hill.
In 1903, a significant number of settlers moved into the Prince George region to be involved in the construction of the Canadian National (CN) railroad from Jasper to Prince Rupert. Most settlers moved to Ft. George, presently known as Prince George, in hopes to make a fortune by buying cheap land and selling it, and establishing farms to support the large city expected to spring up (Christensen 1989). Land was granted to settlers and homesteads progressed in the area, hence agriculture was a common activity on Cranbrook Hill. The Teschke’s were on of the families that homesteaded on Cranbrook Hill in the late 1950’s. Willy Teschke farmed on Cranbrook Hill until his death in 1987, and his wife, Joanne Teschke, continues to manage the farm on a smaller scale with assistance from her son.
Moose migrated into the area by the late 1800s, so one could presume that Cranbrook Hill was also used for hunting and trapping by settlers. In fact, an old trappers cabin was discovered when the area was surveyed for the development of UNBC, and still remains standing to this day at the top of University Way.
Timber resources are plentiful on Cranbrook Hill, hence logging was a common occurrence in the 1940’s – 70’s. Remnants of old logging roads are common on the greenway and area, and large mossy tree stumps are evident in the surrounding forest floor. In the earlier years, only the large, prime timber was selected for harvest, hence disturbance to the majority of the forest was minimal. Remains of old saw and tie mills are scattered throughout Cranbrook Hill. Some of these old sites have been located close to the Otway ski trails and along the Sawdust Pile road, to name a few. Railway ties and other wood products were fabricated at these sites and used to construct the railroad that exists along Otway road. The greenway crosses two historical roads, one being Takla Road and the other being Sawdust Pile Road. Both roads were constructed for the transport of timber to the nearest saw mill. Takla road is still maintained, however Sawdust Pile road has been left to regenerate, but can still be used by hikers, cyclists, horse-back riders, and X-country skiers that wish to connect to the greenway.
Through numerous Cranbrook Hill Greenway surveys, an old mine digging
was discovered in a rocky outcrop. According to past reports published in 1915, 1928, and 1938, exploration for gold and silver deposits occurred on Cranbrook Hill. However, in most cases the test samples contained insignificant amounts on either element, hence mining activity was not a prevalent activity on Cranbrook Hill. The particular digging found on the Greenway is a result of surface exploration by Byron Resources Inc., in which various test holes were dug to test the presence of gold/silver in the Quartz veins nestled in the sedimentary and volcanic rock outcrops. In most cases, insignificant amounts of gold and silver were found.
Current Uses
Residential activity on Cranbrook Hill has expanded since the first settlers inhabited the area in the early 1900’s. Cranbrook Hill still bestows its resources to logging and ranching activities, however saw mills that once existed have been abandoned and left to regenerate into the natural surroundings. The greenway encompasses part of a Private Woodlot that is managed with sustainable forestry practices. John Elmslie is the individual that leases this woodlot, and due to his cooperation the greenway was permitted to continue its course through this woodlot. In addition, private land owners like Peter and Julia Steven’s illustrated their cooperation by swapping some land with the department of lands so that the greenway trail could continue its natural course at the top end of Catherine Road. Some of the descendants of the original families that settled on Cranbrook Hill in the early 1900’s are still residing on the hill. In particular, Brenda and Dan Willman have been extremely helpful and supportive of greenway development. The Willman’s reside on Cranbrook Hill and are engaged in the management and growth of a viable beef cattle operation.
Recreation is one of the key uses of Cranbrook Hill. Horseback riding is common seeing as many of the residents on Cranbrook Hill and surrounding areas own horses. Cyclists and hikers use Cranbrook Hill, especially on the well established trail system at Forests for the World (FFTW) and the Otway Ski Center. In addition to these established trails, old trails and logging roads, many of which join to the greenway, lend themselves to these activities. One of the main winter uses is X-country skiing, in which groomed trails exist at the Otway Ski Center at the northern terminus of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway. In 1982 the Hickory Wing Ski Club acquired a lease from the City of Prince George to develop ski trails at a site off of Otway Road, now referred to as Otway Ski Center. In 1984, the Hickory Wing Ski Club disbanded into two clubs, presently known as the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club (CNSC) and the Alpine Ski Club of Prince George. Today the CNSC has a membership of 1000 and provides 3.6 kilometers of lighted track and 40 kilometers of track that can be skied in the day time. FFTW contains X-country ski trails that are more suitable for recreational skiers over racers. Snowmobiling is also a common use on Cranbrook Hill, however people are reminded that the greenway is not accessible to motorized use.
In addition, Cranbrook Hill is home to the University of Northern British Columbia. UNBC is a state-of- the-art education facility that began development in 1993. UNBC is a relatively small university, with the capacity to accommodate 2800 students, while offering unique programs and atmosphere for the attending population. The Cranbrook Hill Greenway will offer a great nature escape for UNBC students in all seasons.
Section 4: Route Description
Overall Route Description
Take a tour on the greenway trail and enjoy the varied landscape and natural beauty of Cranbrook Hill. At UNBC, one can connect to Forests for the World (FFTW), continue south to the Blue Spruce Campground on Kimball road, or travel north-west to the Otway Ski Center.
UNBC to FFTW (0.8 km)
Travel on a trail surrounded by a mixed-wood forest with large birch trees to the greenway trail head sign at the south-east corner of FFTW.
UNBC to Blue Spruce (6 km)
An open canopied forest with large birch trees and lush understory is encountered initially. At the UNBC/Blue Spruce/Otway junction, one must travel south to reach Blue Spruce. The forest is dense and is comprised of large Interior Douglas-fir trees with evidence of past logging activity. A climbing rock can be accessed to the east of the greenway trail at the 2.75 km and 3.20 km marks. A viewpoint of hills to the south-east is reached at the 3.8 km mark, at which point Kimball road is followed to Blue Spruce.
UNBC to the Otway Ski Center (18 km)
At the UNBC/Blue Spruce/Otway junction, one can travel north-west to Otway. After a mild ascent, the trail reaches a high point with panoramic views of mountains. The trail then descends to a beaver marsh and small lake, and eventually passes old mine diggings nestled in a rock outcrop. The old Sawdust Pile road is eventually crossed, and the headwaters of the major drainage of the greenway is reached, at which point the trail follows the drainage for 4 km. The trail alternates between open, south facing slopes with colorful meadows, and forested north facing slopes. As one leaves the drainage, the trail enters a private woodlot with a dense, predominately pine forest. The trail eventually crosses Takla Road and continues on to a brook crossing which indicates the northern border of a woodlot where one emerges from forest and parallels a regenerating forest on private property. Once again, the greenway enters a denser forested area of Interior Douglas-fir and spruce, with birch groves. With a slight fall in altitude, the greenway enters the Otway ski trails. The trail descends beside a small creek until it reaches the biathlon area. The final 1.5 km of the trail meanders through a lodgepole pine forest until it reaches the parking area at the Otway Ski Center.
Section 5: Safety & Etiquette
The main purpose of the greenway is to provide a safe natural experience to urban users. Certain issues must be examined to provide a reasonable level of safety on the greenway. The society will be responsible for some safety issues of the greenway, but the etiquette of trail users will also have a strong impact on the safety of the area.
Wilderness areas are inherently hazardous for several reasons, one being that medical aid is not as available as it is in urban and suburban regions. Hence, users should be aware of their isolation and plan accordingly while recreating in the greenway. Users are encouraged to carry enough food and drink, seeing as these are limited on the greenway. Another safety issue is to remain orientated at all times, so as to allow relatively easy exit from greenway to reach medical aid if needed. To this end, trail markers have been installed frequently enough along the greenway so that if one is standing at or just past a marker the next marker is visible. The society will make any effort to inform users of their nearest access point by providing brochures at each major access outlining distances between the access points. This should give users the ability to determine the access point that will provide the quickest way to reach medical aid if needed.
Beyond making the users aware of their isolation, the society has an added obligation to make the greenway as safe as it reasonably can. Debris, roots, rocks, stumps, and dangerous snags have been removed from the trail tread surface and canopy to lessen the chance of user’s injuring themselves while on the greenway. In addition, bridges and boardwalks will be regularly maintained for the safety of all users.
The design of the trail was developed with safety issues in mind. The width of the trail was designed to allow the comfortable passage of multi-user groups bidirectionally, therefore minimizing the chance of collisions between users. To further lessen the chance of user collision, cyclists and horseback riders are requested to yield to pedestrian traffic and use the greenway with caution. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the trail, for both safety and environmental reasons. In addition, no shooting is permitted within the greenway boundaries. Most importantly, users are reminded to respect private property, seeing as the greenway was made possible through the cooperation of private property owners.
User interaction with wildlife, especially with larger species such as moose and bear, is also a safety concern. All wild animals on the greenway are potentially dangerous and may be encountered at any time. Several strategies can help to prevent unwanted conflict between users and wildlife. The worst circumstance would be to surprise a bear! Making sufficient noise while on the greenway is an effective method to deter wildlife. Using a bell or whistle, and talking intermittently should be enough noise to alert wildlife of your presence. If bear signs are found, such as skat, tracks or diggings, make extra noise to warn them of your presence. If approached by a bear, stay calm and don’t run, but move slowly away if possible. Also, carry bear spray for added protection and avoid carrying food with strong aromas such as tuna or salmon sandwiches. To attain further information on bear safety, contact the local parks branch for pamphlets. Warning signs and information on wildlife safety will also be posted on trail head signs at major access points.
Section 6: Conservation
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society has achieved their initial goal of establishing greenway boundaries and acquiring public and private land to connect the south and north ends of Cranbrook Hill. The Cranbrook Hill Greenway is a linear area that will be protected from other developments on Cranbrook Hill, such a logging, agricultural leases and residential construction. The greenway will provide an area buffered from the hustle of urban life in the face of future development on Cranbrook Hill.
Now that the greenway is established, maintaining a healthy ecosystem of the greenway is one of the management goals that the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society strives to achieve. Proper maintenance of the greenway trail and protection of sensitive areas like marshes is important in preserving the ecosystem. The society is not solely responsible for the conservation of the greenway, for the etiquette of trail users will have a strong impact on the survival of this protected area.
Many factors could contribute to the deterioration of the greenway’s natural beauty. Activities such as refraining from picking wildflowers and packing garbage out of the area will help sustain a pleasant environment. It must not be forgotten that wildlife are the primary users of the greenway, hence should be respected if encountered on the trail. Wildlife species of the greenway most susceptible to disturbance are moose and black bear. Sightings and animal dropping of these species predominately occur in riparian areas, especially along the long drainage in the middle of the greenway. Even though non-motorized use should cause minimal disturbance to these two key species, frequent surprises could cause these species to avoid the area. In most cases, the route has been flagged far enough from favored riparian habitat of moose and bear, therefore conflict between humans and these species should be minimal. Cement dividers are placed at some access points to prevent motorized vehicles from using the greenway. If motorized vehicles are sighted on the greenway, users are asked to report all such cases to the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society. Please phone 962-2923 with a description, license plate, make, model, color, etc. of the vehicle if possible.
Maintaining native vegetation is also important to sustain viable communities on the greenway. Native vegetation provides food for wildlife communities, and contributes to the uniqueness that nature is so often admired for. Non-native seeds could be carried onto the greenway by horses via their feces and fur, therefore owners are asked to carry a collection device for their horse’s feces while on the greenway. Non-native seeds have been known to aggressively over take natural vegetation, hence it is important to minimize their presence on the greenway. In addition, grazing and trampling by horses and humans could destroy plant life and soil structure that are imperative to limiting erosion on the greenway. To help preserve the greenway, users are asked to stay on marked trails, especially in sensitive areas such as wetlands and drainage systems. Riparian environments are valuable for wildlife habitat in that they have woody plant communities with structural variation, surface water and soil moisture and spatial heterogeneity of habitat.
By practicing the conservation strategies discussed above, the Cranbrook Hill Greenway should be capable of sustaining biodiverse wildlife communities, as well as naturalist and recreational activities for future generations.
Section 7: Greenway Society
History of the Society
The idea of establishing trails on Cranbrook Hill began in the 1970’s between various groups and the local government of Prince George. Individuals such as Bjorn Norheim (Sons of Norway), Yvonne Harris (Director of Regional Planning), and others corresponded about the idea of creating “recreational corridors” on the west side of Cranbrook Hill. Bjorn Norhiem surveyed potential sites in the areas of Miworth, Otway road, and Takla road. Some trails were developed, especially in the area of Otway road where the Otway Ski Center presently resides. However, due to the lack of funding in the 1980’s the project was discontinued.
A renewed interest began in the 1990’s when Robin Draper (BC Parks Recreation Officer) introduced the “Greenway Concept” and offered his expertise in starting a project of such magnitude. A 1991/92 survey was conducted at the Otway Ski Club and 84 % were in favor of a recreational area linking the Center to UNBC and Parkridge creek. Due to this significant amount of interest, the Cranbrook Hill Trail Task Group was organized in November 1994 by a group of Prince George residents who were interested in establishing a greenway connecting the Otway Ski Center, UNBC, Forests For The World and Parkridge Creek. The vision statement of the Cranbrook Hill Trail Task Group in June 1995 was:
Working towards the preservation of a right of way, and identifying a series of adjacent recreation areas, for a greenway linking Parkridge creek at Highway 16 to UNBC to Forests for the World to the Otway Ski Center. This process will also include identifying and preserving key access points. The right of way will form the backbone of future trail and recreation development on Cranbrook Hill.
This statement appeared in the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Proposal which was presented to BC Lands, the City of Prince George and the Fraser Fort George Regional District, after which the Cranbrook Hill Trail Group was disbanded and the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society was formed in October 1995.
Legal Status of the Society
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society has contacted and dealt with various agencies in order to make the greenway official. On September 14, 1995 the City of Prince George applied for a License to Occupy all lands covered by the proposed greenway from the Crown. This included lands inside and outside the municipal boundaries. The Crown referred the application to all other agencies required and began to compile the parcel identifiers for the License. On March 4, 1996 the City agreed to purchase certain lands, negotiate a right-of-way and sign a lease with the Crown. In April 1996 the City informed the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society that the Council had approved a recommendation to enter into a License of Occupation with BC Lands for the Cranbrook Hill Greenway. In addition, the Agriculture Land Commission approved the greenway in the Agriculture Land Reserve sections.
One of the key steps towards securing long term tenure for the Greenway was the completion of the agreement between BC Lands and the City of Prince George. The final details of the agreement were completed at the end of year 1996 and the formal signing took place early in 1997. Now that this process is complete, the city of Prince George is in agreement with the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society to develop and manage the greenway.
Purpose and Structure of the Society
The Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society is a non-profit organization that is a cooperative venture between organized trail user groups, public agencies and individuals that have an interest in the Cranbrook Hill Greenway. One of the purposes of the society is to develop, manage and maintain the greenway and associated trails on Cranbrook Hill. The society encourages safe and wise use of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway and associated trails by encouraging programs of safety and outdoor ethics. Furthermore, the society works together to acquire funds and expertise to ensure all the objectives of the society are met.
The society has an official board of directors and members classified into three groups; organizations, advisory, and public agencies. Organizations include groups involved with the outdoors and activities including hiking, running, cycling, X-country skiing, and horse-back riding. Organized trail user groups with an interest in the objectives of the Society may apply for membership and on acceptance by the Directors shall be a member of the Society and have one vote exercised through a delegate to the Society. This delegate shall be named by the Organized Group and a letter of accreditation sent to the Society.
Advisory members are individuals that do not represent an organization, but who have specific expertise and/or interest in the objectives of the Society and whose participation would broaden the capability of the Society. These individuals may be invited by the Directors to be a member and participate in the work of the Society. Advisory members are not eligible to vote except when elected to the Board of Directors.
Lastly, public agencies with an interest in the objectives of the Society may apply for membership and on acceptance by the Directors shall be a member of the Society and have one vote exercised through a delegate to the Society. This delegate shall be named by the Public Agency and a letter of accreditation sent to the Society.
The 1997 list of organizations and public agencies is as follows:
Caledonia Nordic Ski Club
Caledonia Ramblers
Dusty Trail Riders
Northern BC Arabian Breeders Association
Prince George Cycling club
Prince George Horse Society
Prince George Naturalists Club
Prince George Road Runners
Prince George Triathlon Association
Sons of Norway
UNBC Outdoor Club
Forests for the World
City of Prince George Parks Development
The private sector also sponsors the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society. Early in the developmental stages of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society project, Canfor voiced a desire to become involved and committed $25 000 to be spent over 5 years to the project.
Overall, the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society has diverse membership and welcomes new members in hopes to attain more expertise and a greater volunteer base (Contact Robin Draper at 250-962-2923).
Download complete guidebook in PDF
Recent Conditions
General Greenway conditions
The Greenway Trail is in spring condition. To maintain a good surface for the rest of the spring, summer and fall it is suggested you consider not using the Greenway until all the snow has melted and the trail has dried. Please report any new windfalls that require removal.
Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival
September 24 @ 7:00 pm
Cranbrook Hill Greenway © 2019. All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1813
|
__label__wiki
| 0.836231
| 0.836231
|
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust are granted approval for UK’s first school to be established in partnership with an orchestra
The Department for Education has today [Friday 14 June] approved funding for the Shireland CBSO School – a new non-selective and non-fee paying specialist music school in Sandwell to be run by the Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust in partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO).
The school will draw students of all backgrounds from across Sandwell – one of the most deprived local authority areas in England – providing equality of access to a rounded academic secondary education with a strong musical focus. It will open for Year 7 and Year 12 pupils in 2021, growing to a maximum capacity of 870 students aged 11-18 by 2025.
The school will be the first in Britain to be established in partnership with an orchestra and marks a radical new approach to music education, innovatively addressing the much-publicised decline in the position of the creative arts in many schools.
As the CBSO looks towards its centenary year in 2020, this landmark project reflects the orchestra’s deep and ongoing commitment to enriching young people’s lives with music and to developing the musicians of the future. Music will be central to the school’s ethos and woven throughout the curriculum. The school will look for students of all backgrounds who have a genuine musical interest and aptitude, and will present the chance to explore classical music alongside jazz, pop and world music.
Every child will be given the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, with tuition delivered in partnership with Sandwell Music Service, and to participate in choirs and ensembles as well as regularly attending CBSO concerts at Symphony Hall. The orchestra will also offer pre-concert presentations, ensemble performances, play-along sessions and creative workshops linked to curriculum themes. For aspiring young conductors there will be conducting workshops and masterclasses. There will be visits from international soloists and conductors performing with the CBSO who will provide inspirational talks, workshops, masterclasses. Students will also have the chance to learn about the administrative side of running an orchestra, with careers advice and presentations from CBSO staff.
Stephen Maddock OBE, Chief Executive of CBSO, says: “We are delighted and hugely excited to be able to move ahead with our plans for this new specialist music school, which will offer access to music education, regardless of background, in an area where such opportunities are so desperately needed. The CBSO has a long tradition of innovation in music education and community work – we were the first British symphony orchestra to present concerts for young people and the first to establish a specialist education department and to build a community facility – all of which have allowed us to make a real musical impact on young people and the wider community in the West Midlands. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 100th anniversary next year than by launching an inclusive and nurturing school which will help create the musicians of the future.”
Sir Mark Grundy, Chief Executive of Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, adds: “As a Trust we are hugely proud to be asked to develop a new type of Free School and feel privileged to be creating a School with a curriculum focussed around Music in partnership with the CBSO. The Arts enrich our young peoples’ lives in so many ways and the opportunity to create a school which nurtures the musical ability of the students in our locality is an honour. The partnership that is emerging between our Trust, the CBSO and Sandwell Local Authority is unique.”
The announcement will be made by Education Secretary Damian Hinds on Friday 14 June 2019. The school will be funded by the Department for Education through the free school funding programme and will be run by Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, a rapidly-growing Trust in the West Midlands led by the Shireland Collegiate Academy (rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted).
The CBSO has recently announced its 2019-20 Concert Season at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Led by its Music Director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, the season launches the orchestra’s centenary celebrations by taking inspiration from its past and looking forward to the future of classical music with a series of special events, premieres and concerts. Forthcoming highlights include 40 centenary commissions, a focus on choral masterpieces, a ‘Youth Takeover’ with 12 youth ambassadors given the opportunity to curate a main evening concert, and a new book about the orchestra’s history by Richard Bratby.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1817
|
__label__wiki
| 0.912217
| 0.912217
|
TPL_GK_LANG_LOGIN
Displaying items by tag: sponsored content
Xenophobia plagues South Africa Featured
Written by Newton Sibanda
Published in South Africa
Migrants protest lack of police action
xenophobia, south africa, cyril ramaphosa,
The resurgence of anti-foreigner violence in election run-up sparks accusations that the government is fuelling xenophobia rather than solving it. By Newton Sibanda
Attacks targeting foreigners that began in South Africa almost a decade ago have resurfaced again, raising concerns about the failure of Africa’s economic giant to decisively deal with the scourge. This time the attacks were mainly concentrated around the port city of Durban in Kwazulu Natal. In a statement issued in March, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said at least six foreign nationals had been killed and more than 100 severely injured in the city over the course of a few days as mobs armed with metal rods and machetes broke into the homes of foreigners to chase them away and loot their belongings.
One woman died when she fell through a roof while she was running away from protesters. Another two people died from gunshot wounds, allegedly inflicted by a shopkeeper. The chief targets were Malawians. Three hundred had to shelter at a police station near to where they lived in a squatter camp, forced to do so because the police failed to protect them when the attacks were underway, they said.
About a hundred have since returned to their country and the Malawian consulate is being urged to fast track more applications for repatriations. Stanley Chilembwe, a Malawian community leader in Durban, said: “People are scared, they do not feel safe. Many have left, some even without the help of the embassy and those who have not left are waiting to leave.”
Most migrants flock to South African in search of work, and this is one of the underlying triggers of the violence. Despite being Africa’s industrial giant, South Africa’s unemployment rate is painfully high, officially standing at more than 27 per cent. Foreigners are seen as taking away the few available jobs from locals.
In one incident on March 25, a group of South African truck drivers and other locals protesting against the employment of foreign truck drivers blocked the South Coast Road near Durban’s docks, pulled foreign drivers from their trucks, took the truck keys, and beat them up. Tinei Takawira, a driver, said he was stabbed as the police looked on without attempting to arrest the attackers or helping him get medical care.
A sinister message later put out on social media threatened that all foreigners would be attacked “mercilessly” unless they left the country by May 13.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, acknowledged the harmful economic impact that could result from such attacks, promising that police would crack down on perpetrators. He said: “our economy and society benefit from our extensive trade and investment relations with partners on our continent”, many of whom were living in South Africa and “making important contributions to the development of our country”.
He added: “African development depends on the increased movement of people, goods and services between different countries for all of us to benefit. We will not allow criminals to set back these processes.”
Grim history
Xenophobic violence is nothing new in South Africa. Just months after the first multi-racial elections ushered Nelson Mandela into power in 1994, armed youth gangs in the Alexandra Township outside of Johannesburg destroyed the homes and property of suspected undocumented migrants and marched the individuals down to the local police station where they demanded that the foreigners be forcibly and immediately removed.
In 2000, seven people were brutally murdered in Cape Town, including a Kenyan, two Nigerians and two Angolans. In 2008, South Africa experienced its worst outbreak of violence against foreigners when more than 60 people died. Attacks began in Johannesburg before spreading to other urban areas across the country, mainly Durban and Cape Town, but also in countryside townships. The victims were predominantly Zimbabwean and Mozambican. Hundreds of people were injured and shops and houses burned and looted.
In 2015 two weeks of unrest in Johannesburg and Durban claimed seven lives as migrants were hunted down and attacked by gangs. Elias Twaibu barely escaped with his life when he was set upon by vigilantes in Durban. The 30-year-old returned home to Malawi, but continued hard times there drove him back to South Africa, where he became a victim of the March attacks.
“Coming back to a country that stripped me of my dignity became my only option,” he told Durban’s Sunday Tribune. “I was so desperate and impoverished that I came back here. It’s a decision I truly regret making.”
Most South Africans are appalled by what has been happening, not only for the mindless brutality of the violence but also because many of its victims hail from countries whose support helped bring an end to apartheid. This was a point made by Ramaphosa in his condemnation of the attacks in April. But at an African National Congress rally days earlier he promised a crackdown against undocumented migrants. “Everybody just arrives in our townships and rural areas and set up businesses without licenses and permits. We are going to bring this to an end,” he stated.
It is a widespread view that remarks such as these are to blame for fuelling xenophobia over the years. For instance, the 2015 attacks came after Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini called for the deportation of foreigners, saying it was unacceptable for locals to compete with people from other countries for the few economic opportunities available.
“When you walk in the street you cannot recognise a shop that you used to know because it has been taken over by foreigners, who then mess it up by hanging amanikiniki (rags),” he said at the time. “We’re requesting those who come from outside to please go back to their countries.”
The influential monarch initially denied the remarks but when he was played a recording of them‚ he said the media “misinterpreted his words and distorts them to sell newspapers”. A huge furore followed. The Special Reference Group on Migration and Community Integration in KwaZulu Natal said it condemned “this kind of inflammatory speech” because of the likelihood that it could instigate violence. The investigation found the immediate trigger of the violence was the result of “deliberate efforts to drive away competition by foreign national-owned businesses,” after it was claimed a large local supermarket hired only foreigners. “These incidents together created a combustible environment within the context of prevalent poverty, a difficult international economic climate, increasing socioeconomic inequality and high levels of unemployment.”
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), after its investigation, ruled that King Zwelithini’s comments on migrants, while “hurtful and harmful” in that they reinforced stereotypes that potentially caused the marginalisation and the exclusion of foreign nationals‚ they did not amount to “hate speech”. At the same time its chair Lawrence Mushwana highlighted the status of Zwelithini as an “important public figure” whose “influence” was such that “none of the people who spoke to the commission during field research in the area were prepared to have their identities disclosed”.
Evidently, the row had little effect on restraining other politicians from making provocative statements. A few months later, in December 2016, Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba said illegal immigrants were responsible for a crime wave.
As the ANC government continues to struggle in providing basic services, it frequently blames foreigners for over-burdening them. Last November, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that the health service was collapsing beneath “the weight that foreign nationals are bringing to the country”. He defended his comments, saying it had “nothing to do with xenophobia, it’s a reality”.
This prompted the African Diaspora Forum to write in protest to the Independent Electoral Commission. “Our feeling is definitely that there are a lot of politicians in government, either from the ANC or the [opposition] Democratic Alliance, who are using populist rhetoric, saying that migrants are responsible for crime and that they cause a shortage in housing and land and are overburdening the health system,” said chair Vusumuzi Sibanda, in an interview with allAfrica.com.
As the country prepares for elections scheduled for May 8, Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch, called on political parties, politicians, community leaders, and individuals to refrain from statements that fuel divisions, saying that “the president should set a much better example”.
Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Emmanuel Mwamba, also condemned certain public remarks by civic leaders, saying they should be avoided “especially during the sensitive period of elections due on May 8”.
Plan with ‘no action’
Ironically, the Department of Justice posted the National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, on 25 March – a day before the latest attacks and one that follows previous calls to action. Cynics are now wondering whether this plan will be any more successful than the others.
The five-year plan, developed in a consultative process between the government and civil society, aims to raise public awareness about anti-racism and equality measures, improve access to justice and better protection for victims, and increase anti-discrimination efforts to help achieve greater equality and justice. But critics say the government threw it together without grasping why several past plans have failed. They assert that it fails to address a key challenge fuelling the problem – South Africa’s lack of accountability for xenophobic crimes.
Virtually no one has been convicted for the previous spikes in xenophobic violence and civil rights groups say the South African government has failed to act decisively against it.
“Apart from its call for an end to attacks on foreign nationals, the South African government has done little to ensure the arrest and prosecution of those responsible,” said African Diaspora Forum chair Sibanda,. “Strong action is needed to show there are consequences for such acts before there is another round of violence against vulnerable foreign nationals.”
Human Rights Watch agrees that this impunity for xenophobic crimes remains a key challenge that needs to be urgently addressed, saying the South African government should make clear what steps it is taking to guarantee the safety of non-nationals living in South Africa, particularly migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and to protect their human rights and freedoms. “Re-integration of foreign nationals into communities without justice and accountability for past xenophobic attacks is a recipe for disaster,” said Mavhinga. “To deter those who attack foreign nationals, there is an urgent need for effective policing, arrests, and prosecutions.”
He added: “The National Action Plan is a welcome development indicating the South African government’s intent to fight xenophobia, racism, and all forms of discrimination and prejudice. Now it should fully implement that plan, and work to stem the dangerous tides of intolerance for good.”
Loren Landau, an expert on migration, and diversity at the University of the Witwatersrand, told the news portal The Conversation that the plan “offers frail remedies to poorly diagnosed problems” relying on “perceptions and politics rather than facts” and that it “almost totally” overlooks xenophobia.
Meanwhile, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights special rapporteur for South Africa, Solomon Ayele Dersso, issued a statement on April 2 calling on the South African government to “ensure that the acts of xenophobic attacks are duly investigated and that persons who incited and perpetrated the attacks are brought to justice to end the lack of accountability that fuels xenophobic violence”.
Diplomats step in
The minister of international relations and co-operation, Lindiwe Sisulu, insists that r xenophobic violence is of great concern to the government. “All criminal activities and looting of properties of foreign nationals will not be tolerated‚ and the police and other law-enforcement agencies must act without fear or favour,” she said.
Sisulu, who held an urgent meeting with diplomats from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and police minister Bheki Cele in the wake of the attacks, said her government was working closely with the police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that security is provided to people living in South Africa. She stressed that her government would also work closely with members of the diplomatic corps to ensure that regular updates were given concerning reports of alleged xenophobia.
At the meeting held at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria, Sisulu noted that safety of people living in South Africa was a collective responsibility – “as such, SADC member countries would be actively engaged to find a solution”. She assured that her government would guarantee that all citizens, including foreigners, were safe. Sisulu also said police would ensure that trucks and their trade routes were made safe.
The African ambassadors reported afterwards that they persuaded Sisulu and Cele to instruct Cele’s deputy, Bongani Mkongi, to recant a xenophobic statement about foreigners committing “economic sabotage” and threatening to overrun the country. The diplomats said that although he said this two years ago, the video of him making the remarks remained viral and he had never repudiated it.
Mkongi had warned that it was unacceptable that 80 per cent of a South African city – by which he meant Johannesburg’s rundown Hillbrow suburb – was “foreign national” and that if nothing was done about it, the whole country would become “80 per cent foreign national” and that the country’s president would eventually be a foreign national. He insisted that his remarks weren’t xenophobic, which appears to symbolise the whole government’s failure to recognise that xenophobia was behind many of the attacks on foreigners.
Sisulu said Ramaphosa and the ruling ANC both believed the problem was “pure criminality”. However, she also hinted that government might now take a wider view, after hearing the ambassadors who clearly believe the attacks are motivated by xenophobia – or “Afrophobia” as some call it, as most victims are African. “While the ANC may not want to admit it, there is a very real problem of xenophobia in South Africa,” said Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Newham said attacks continued partly because South Africans know they can get away with it as the police rarely act against perpetrators. He said short-term interventions could include politicians and influential people – such as local musicians, actors, celebrities and the media – speaking out against xenophobia and promoting cohesion with African foreigners.
Coupled with restrictive visa policies, this has discouraged many highly skilled African immigrants from settling in and travelling to South Africa – with significant economic implications.
As Ramaphosa acknowledged, the continued xenophobic attacks are likely to have a negative impact on South Africa’s relations with other countries and hurt its economic interests. Noting that South Africa is not an island on its own, it is a country among countries, Sibanda said: “As long as attacks on migrants continue in South Africa, it means that the relationship with other countries and all other people will end with them looking at South Africa negatively. I think the truth of the matter is that it has had a very negative impact on South Africa as a country and will affect relations with neighbouring countries and other African states.”
Stephanie Wolters is senior research fellow at ISS and says xenophobic eruptions over the years “have already done substantial damage to South Africa’s reputation in the rest of Africa”. Landau says the government must stop scapegoating foreigners for its own failure to deliver services and economic opportunities to its people.
A representative of Zambian nationals, Deborah Nkokga, called on Ramaphosa to step in decisively. “I think we must tell the president, please stop this,” she stated. “President Ramaphosa was on the news telling people that he doesn’t care who you are and where you come from, but he is going to sort out anyone who comes here illegally. “I even have a video of the president saying that. I am sure that because of his words the people just took the president’s words to do these [violent] things. The President was talking about ‘illegally’ but these people did not understand English.”
‘We worry for our future here ’
Nigerian Emmeka Uhanna, 47, a shop-keeper in South Africa’s industrial hub of Johannesburg, is one of the many African migrants who have set up home in the country.
“I’ve been living in South Africa since 1997, my wife is South African and we have two children, aged 14 and 16,” he told the BBC in April following the renewed attacks on foreigners.
“My wife is worried about what future our children will have if the xenophobic attacks become the norm. We don’t know how to explain the hatred against Nigerians to our families, to our children. This is the third round of attacks against foreigners; one was in 2008 where people were killed, again in 2015.
“I now get calls from home, my family members want to know if we’re safe, they see the stories in the news. I do feel safe, I feel safe because I live in the suburbs away from where the unrest and violence has been happening but I don’t know if I could say that if I was living in a poorer area.
“There are parts of this city that are no-man’s land, where the police have no control over what happens, where there are no consequences for wrong-doing, that is unfortunately where the xenophobia has thrived.
“There is just lawlessness from all sides, by all nationalities and that sort of environment is a ticking time-bomb. Life is different in the suburbs but I do worry about my fellow Africans who become victims in these incidents, while they have nothing to do with crime.
“I love this country, I consider it my home and it breaks my heart to see what is happening. The government needs to seriously address the concerns people are raising - both South Africans and foreigners.
“We came to South Africa for different reasons, some of us can never return to our countries, what happens then if you ruin your chances here? We don’t want to live in fear, I'm pleading with the government to address the problems that have come with migration, for the sake of our children.”
Last modified onFriday, 10 May 2019 16:34
Nigeria stands on a cliff edge
Gaining from the brain drain
In search of universal human rights
Africa's biggest syringe maker needs power fix
Developed by GX5 Services
TPL_GK_LANG_COLOR_1 TPL_GK_LANG_COLOR_2 TPL_GK_LANG_COLOR_3 TPL_GK_LANG_COLOR_4
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1818
|
__label__cc
| 0.574197
| 0.425803
|
CNN No. 1 in ALL of Cable Last Week in Primetime
CNN #1 for Two of the last Three Weeks in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54
Among ALL cable networks last week (3/7/16-3/13/16):
In M-Su Prime, CNN ranked #1 in both total viewers and adults 25-54, #2 in P18-49 (behind only AMC), and #5 in 18-34.
In M-F Prime, CNN ranked #1 in total viewers, adults 25-54, and 18-49, and #2 in 18-34 (behind only Adult Swim).
CNN has ranked #1 among ALL cable networks in M-Su Prime among total viewers and M-F Prime among total viewers, adults 25-54 and 18-49 for two of the last three weeks (weeks of 2/22/16 and 3/7/16).
In Total Day, CNN ranked #4 in total viewers, and #9 in adults 25-54.
Source: The Nielsen Company via MultiTrak, 3/7/16-3/13/16. M-Su Prime (8p-11p), M-F Prime (8p-11p), Total Programming Day. P2+, P25-54, P18-34 and P18-49 AA (000s). Live+SD data.
CNN / Ratings
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1820
|
__label__wiki
| 0.602789
| 0.602789
|
Seoul News
Seoul Station Overp…
Seoul Station Overpass to Connect Daewoo Foundation and Four Nearby Buildings
Seoul Station Overpass and five nearby buildings, including the Daewoo Foundation Building, will be connected by a network of pedestrian walkways scheduled to be opened to the public in April 2017. To this end, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will sign an MOU with representatives of the five buildings regarding the installation of the walkways on August 21, 2015.
This is the first step in the creation of the “17 pedestrian roads” that have been designed as part of the “Seoul Station 7017 Project,” announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in January. The city government believes connecting these buildings to nearby areas will provide people with greater access to leisure and entertainment spaces, contributing to the reinvigoration of the local economy.
This MOU will be signed to establish a specific action plan for the installation of the pedestrian walkways, and reviews and discussions of the plan are currently being carried out. Moreover, based on a variety of creative ideas for the project, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will continue developing the area surrounding the overpass as a new attraction in Seoul.
Expected to be completed by March 2017, the pedestrian roads will connect the Seoul Square Building and Yangdong Children’s Park, both of which were filming locations for the popular Korean drama Misaeng (Incomplete Life), as well as Namdaemun Church, the Millennium Seoul Hilton, and Namsan Park. Moreover, the Daewoo Foundation Building and Millennium Seoul Hilton will be connected to Namsan Park by small passages.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects that these passages will attract greater numbers of people to these buildings as well as nearby areas, such as Namdaemun Market, thereby breathing new life into the Seoul Station area and revitalizing neighborhoods across this part of Seoul.
Speaking about the project, Mayor Park Won Soon said, “Connecting Seoul Station Overpass and nearby buildings will create a foundation for citizen participation through which these areas can coexist. By bringing people together and providing them spaces for leisure as well as easy access to nearby places, Seoul Station Overpass will serve as a catalyst for urban renewal.”
【 Bird’s Eye View of the Completed Walkways (Example) 】
《 Up-close 》
《 From a distance 》
Seoul Awarded Highest Honor in Urban-Rural Mutual…
“196km to Pyeongyang” Seoul Installs 20…
Seoullo 7017 Branches Out into Neighborhoods with 7 Walkways
“Seoul Story Fashion Show,” Celebrating the Conclusion of the 2015 Hangang Summer Festival
An Encounter with Canadian Culture “Canada Day in Seoul” to be held from August 25 to September 17
(City News)
Ten Spots Offering the Be…
Seoul to Cut Airport Bus …
Seoul Recruits 80 Foreign…
Seoul’s ‘180 Beautiful Sp…
Seoul Summer Sale 2017 St…
Seoul Launches Global Seo…
2,180 like0 comments
39 Schools to be Transfor…
TVXQ U-Know for Wear Seon…
Sketches of “Seoul SNS Co…
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1827
|
__label__wiki
| 0.510221
| 0.510221
|
What causes conflict and how can it be resolved? – A podcast
From the ready availability of weapons to the marginalisation of women, many factors can push a population towards conflict
Hugh Muir and Clár Ní Chonghaile present this edition of the Global development podcast, which examines the factors that drive conflict, assesses the role women and the UN can play in peacebuilding, and asks what the sustainable development goals will do to help tackle the issue.
Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in South Africa, talks about the role of militarisation in driving conflict, while Laura Hammond, head of the development studies department at the School of Oriental Studies in London, argues that the ready availability of weapons and the marginalisation of women do nothing to promote peace. Both De Carvalho and Hammond identify economic factors as a key driver of conflict.
We also hear from Leymah Gbowee, the Nobel peace laureate and Liberian activist, who says women should be given more space to promote peace at national and international levels.
Debating the significance of these issues are Radhika Coomaraswamy, formerly the UN secretary general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, Maria Butler, director of the PeaceWomen project, and Colin Archer, secretary general of the International Peace Bureau. Listen to the podcast
Filed Under: General, News and Opinion Tagged With: ipb, militarism, nobel peace laureates, peacebuilding, podcasts, women and peace
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1834
|
__label__cc
| 0.73747
| 0.26253
|
Hopkins-Kovalev ticket information
Gabriel J Gonzalez @GabeJGonzalez Thu, Sep 04 2014
Tickets for the light heavyweight unification bout featuring oldest world champion Bernard "The Alien"Hopkins power puncher Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev taking place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ go on sale tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 5at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.
Tickets are priced at $300, $200, $150, $100 and $50, plus applicable fees and service chargers are available for purchase at the Boardwalk Hall box office by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.
Hopkins vs. Kovalev, a 12-round unification bout for the IBF, WBA and WBO Light Heavyweight World titles taking place at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday, November 8 is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Main Events in association with Caesars Atlantic City, Corona Extra, AT&T and Hortitsia Vodka. The event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1840
|
__label__cc
| 0.554344
| 0.445656
|
Administrative Instructions
DELEGATES INFO
Galle Dialogue 2018
HOME CONFERENCE - Concept Paper - Conference Info - Date & Venue - Administrative Instructions DELEGATES INFO - Dresses - Country Info - Visa Information - PREVIOUS CONFERENCES - Galle Dialogue 2018 - Galle Dialogue 2017 - Galle Dialogue 2016 - Galle Dialogue 2015 - Galle Dialogue 2014 - Galle Dialogue 2013 - Galle Dialogue 2012 - Galle Dialogue 2011 - Galle Dialogue 2010 CONTACT US
Synergizing for Collaborative Maritime Management
1. Indian Ocean has become the focal point in geo-politics in the 21st century. This third largest water body of the world with Rim Nations of 2.7 billion population has witnessed maritime threats emanating from piracy, narcotics/human smuggling, terrorism, waste dumping and IUU fishing over the past few decades whilst addressing maritime concerns stemming from maritime borders, resources and trade. These are being mitigated to a certain extent at present through regional and extra regional collaborative initiatives which have enhanced the sharing of information and thereby containing maritime threats to an appreciable level. However, the traditional threats appear to be presented in a different format today in the Indian Ocean Region that need refinement to the existing mechanisms, to ensure safer seas to all, be it regional or extra regional.
2. In this context, synergizing individual efforts in a collaborative manner has become a necessity in managing affairs of the Indian Ocean. Each player, despite its locality, needs to understand their maritime vision and its fit on the regional context and beyond in the wider global context. The maritime vision therefore, dictates the periphery; from foreign relations to economy. In a world where all players are connected by trade and commerce through maritime shipping, no player can afford to drive its own agenda alone unless all players teamed up as a regional body through bi-lateral and multi-lateral collaboration. Accordingly understanding the maritime vision of the other players also is a necessity in order to reap the best out of the maritime domain. This would invariably present both opportunities and threats; a threat to own may not necessarily be a threat to any other player in this globalized world.
3. These opportunities and threats need to be managed; with strength, wisdom and benevolence. It therefore, is very logical to manage Indian Ocean affairs, concerns and issues in a collaborative managerial framework with better understanding and sharing opportunities for the common good of mankind. With world’s largest populations and booming economies being at the rim, peaceful co-existence is a matter of importance to the Indian Ocean. In this perspective, it should be noted that it was as far as in 1971, Sri Lanka persuaded UN to adopt the resolution 2832 on Indian Ocean-Zone of Peace, paving all players of the Indian Ocean to manage the ocean in a collaborative manner. Thus, synergizing individual efforts irrespective of their economic, security or social status, to better manage matters of maritime significance where we want to go in our search of economic and social prosperity.
4. The Galle Dialogue 2018 is looking at offering a forum for regional and extra-regional players to express their maritime vision and management, discuss the concerns, and better understand each other. In this backdrop, with renewed focus on Indian Ocean affairs, the ninth edition of Galle Dialogue International Maritime Conference continues on its legacy of connecting the East and the West in the island of serendipity; Sri Lanka, under the theme of “Synergizing for Collaborative Maritime Management”.
GREATER MARITIME VISIBILITY FOR ENHANCED MARITIME SECURITY
The growing reliance on the oceans for trade, and energy makes ‘Maritime Security’ one of the predominant factors that have a direct impact on global security. With approximate 362 million square kilometres of ocean space, the global community would have to face a wide range of challenges in countering maritime security threats that would take place within the maritime domain, if collaborative effort is not structured. Considered as the last frontier of mankind, the oceans therefore have to be protected from present as well as future security threats which are anticipated.
Today, we encounter a major challenge in terms of keeping the maritime sphere safe and secure. Since vast oceans are vulnerable to be utilized by criminals for nefarious activities due to blindness and lack of or sympathetic legal regimes to deal with wrongdoer.
The rapid evolution of maritime security threats and challenges demand a proactive response from the key players who have the responsibility of keeping the oceans safe and secure. As we all act as nodes of a web that is laid over the maritime domain, the role played by stakeholders in protecting the maritime sphere from a wider range of threats is therefore considered crucial.
The Navies, Coast Guards, other maritime law enforcement agencies and a number of other entities responsible for surveillance of vast oceans, find it challenging to remain vigilant on each and every square meter of the ocean. Despite the advances made in the fields of communication, maritime surveillance, intelligence gathering, information sharing, etc., maritime space is being still heavily exploited by illegal actors. They have been successful in navigating through the barely monitored maritime sectors as well as some of the loosely imposed rules/regulations. Today, even the most technologically advanced agencies run into difficulties in acquiring the complete maritime picture which is considered as a binding factor as far as the implementation of counter strategies are concerned.
Though, there are quite a number of agencies that are involved in ensuring maritime security and managing their own affairs/ back yards such as Merchant Vessel traffic, smuggling trails of humans and drugs, IUU fishing, human trafficking etc., each of them has their capabilities and capacities focused on different sectors to acquire visibility only in their interested sectors. Unfortunately, a very few agencies share their visible portion of the maritime picture, which includes vital details pertaining to different activities in the maritime domain, with the rest. Therefore, one of the significant challenges that we face today is to explore how best each one of us can work in unison to share the ‘own visible maritime segment’ with rest of us to minimize ‘Maritime Blindness’.
On the other hand, the illegal actors have taken the advantage of this ‘maritime blindness’ and continue to exploit same. When we look at the present maritime context, it is quite evident that the Navies, Coast Guards, and other agencies find it challenging to be on the proactive side when addressing maritime security threats. One of the key reasons for such conditions is attributed to ‘Maritime Blindness’, which prevents us seeing the much needed broader strategic maritime picture. Unless all the partners share their visible maritime segment with the rest, it will be a strenuous undertaking to overcome maritime security threats and challenges. Further, there is a tendency of different agencies investing separately to achieve overlapping visibility, mainly due to lack of coordination, resulted in waste of finances.
It is in this context that this year’s Galle Dialogue theme ‘Greater Maritime Visibility for Enhanced Maritime Security’ has been articulated with the notion that the participants will confer ways and means to augment ‘maritime visibility’ through constructive deliberations and means of sharing already available capabilities that stem from a tactical level all the way up to a broader strategic and policy level. It is anticipated that such an approach will pave the way to enhance ‘maritime visibility’ and address maritime security threats and challenges through a proactive stratagem.
Fostering Strategic Maritime Partnerships
Strategically being located in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka strongly recognizes the significance of secure seas for global prosperity and connectivity. The significant economic transformation that Asia has experienced and the potential of the region becoming the most focused ocean space in the world brings along a wide range of opportunities as well as multitude of challenges.
The maritime space of Asia is strongly connected to the Indian and the Pacific Ocean through trade and commerce routes. It is evident by the way the region is identified; Indo-Pacific for some and Asia-Pacific for others, and is looked upon by all the key maritime powers in the world as a very important strategic maritime space in relation to their national interests. At the same time, the smaller nations with comparatively limited maritime resources have become an integral element of maritime security architectures in our region. Any critique will easily accept that no nation can and will not try to portray, that a single power or a coalition will be able to maintain peace and stability on their own. In such a background, all maritime nations have a role to play in ensuring the overall balance of strategic weight.
There are more areas that nations agree for safer and secure seas than areas on which disagreements exist. At the same time, there is universal agreement that a collective strategy on identified common challenges has to be built upon a rule based and a mutually respected strategy. Therefore, the value of forming a mutually respected collective strategy to address common challenges has been universally well received. Due to the ever increasing maritime nexus between trade and commerce regionally and globally, connectivity and forging sturdy partnerships have become the only means of which viable solutions are found.
As combined efforts result in multiplying the outcome, it is important that we interconnect through a well articulated strategy to address issues that are maritime centric. As no nation is capable of addressing present day maritime issues in isolation due to the sheer vastness of the ocean space and complexity of maritime security threats and challenges, nations are becoming more partnership oriented. Certain initiatives that are already in place provide us with a base to form broader partnerships in addressing present as well as future maritime security threats and challenges. Therefore, this year’s Galle Dialogue theme “Fostering Strategic Maritime Partnerships” reflects the concept, that achieving maritime security and prosperity, is necessarily a partnership oriented process. It is expected that deliberations will promote the concept of strategic maritime partnerships and the potential that such collaboration have in achieving common goals to ensure maritime security.
Secure Seas Through Greater Maritime Cooperation- Challenges and Way Forward
The waters of the Indian Ocean is becoming an increasingly Critical ocean space with each day passing by. Maritime Security concerns in relation to Geopolitics, Economics and resultant trade has transformed this region to regular global attention and focus.
The Indian ocean is drawn together with the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by Globalised supply chains, due to the tremendous increase in sea trade, with energy being the most critical of the natural resource flows. The energy flow from the Gulf region across the Atlantic to the developed world and through the Indian ocean to the booming economies in the ASEAN Region and China and Japan in the Pacific, has generated tremendous attention to ensure secure SLOC’s in the Indian ocean. Therefore, the Indian ocean today has become central for the Global Economics and Maritime Security interests than any other time in the history. Hence it is not a surprise that all the maritime powers in the world are equally concerned about the maritime issues related to the Indian ocean.
Most of the countries in the Indian ocean littorals are also experiencing economic progress, India being the most prominent, and as a result is becoming dependent on sea trade, creating a complex strategic environment. Security risks into the maritime domain flow not only from the traditional threats like Human Smuggling, Piracy, IUU Fishing, but also due to pressure from climate change to natural disasters to pollution.
To navigate this complex strategic environment maritime nations will need to pursue strategies in collaboration with the involvement of all the stake holders.
As a result of the dynamic and rapid involvement of the strategic landscape, we see most nations are agreeing on mutually beneficial security architectures, with many bilateral and multilateral partnerships evolving. This clearly indicates an increase in the understanding on the need of collaboration and partnership, in ensuring freedom of the seas, secure sea lanes and trouble free access as per accepted International Laws and Norms. A whole of Government approach by engaging in Economic, Diplomatic and Military activities is evident in order to build confidence for “Burden Sharing” by all stake holders. This is arguably the most prudent way forward towards maritime security.
In this context, this years’ Galle Dialogue will be promoting the theme of “Secure Seas Through Greater Maritime Cooperation- Challenges and Way Forward”. The conference theme will aim to re-emphasize the concept that coming together to think critically and deliberate, will deepen the understanding of the benefits of working together. It is expected that promoting a culture to resolve to work together, will encourage mutually agreeable Maritime Security architectures to evolve. This will enable every nation to rise together ensuring that to ensure that no nation is held back or allowed to lag behind.
Cooperation will ensure sharing of information and improving connectivity. Also it will help in reaffirming to the International Rules and Norms and build capacities and capabilities of nations which requires such assistance, support institutions and infrastructure and evolving new alliances and modernizing and strengthening existing ones.
In this context, under the aegis of the Ministry of Defense “The Galle Dialogue 2015” will be held on 23rd – 24th of November at Light House Hotel in the historic city of Galle in Southern Sri Lanka.
Cooperation and Collaboration for Maritime Prosperity
The surge of interest in maritime affairs today indicates that the domain is vital for existence, co-existence and even for competition. Whilst nations compete, collaborate and co-exist in this environment the attention to Maritime issues is at an all-time high. The interest shown by nations is multi-faceted with maritime security being the most critical aspect of an entire spectrum of issues. Other aspects ranging from legal to technical, knowledge to environment also have a part in enabling the reaping of economic benefits from the oceans. However, the lack of a substantive maritime security environment prevents the reaping of such benefits, thereby depriving prosperity through maritime means in the quest for development.
It is well understood that synergy of efforts, both internally and externally, is key for maritime prosperity but how and by what means that is achieved requires consideration. As world economies are increasingly dependent on sea-borne trade the possibilities of involvement in unwanted situations are also high. No incident in the maritime domain remains isolated, as the incidents of piracy off the Somali coast proved by its global repercussions. Hence it’s opined that maritime matters need the attention of policy makers and policy executioners alike, no matter how trivial the incident may be. It is evident that matters left to evolve without concerted action, may eventually necessitate the commitment of more finances, resources and attention in the medium and long term.
This year’s Galle Dialogue explores the ways and means to synergize the efforts of Cooperation and Collaboration to achieve Maritime Prosperity. Maritime Prosperity is not evaluated only by the naval prowess or technological superiority; it is defined by a combination of aspects such as policies, legislation, law enforcement capacities, policing capabilities, investments, shipping etc. Whilst each nation may use different yardsticks to grade their maritime prosperity, it is the level of confidence placed by other nations that determines one’s standing in the area of maritime prosperity. It is these yardstick measurements that need to be evaluated within the overall context of maritime security and peace. The Dialogue envisages the exchange of different perspective on how nations perceive their standing and position in fulfilling security, scientific, academic and technical aspirations in a domain that unites nations for common interests. Although Governments are at the forefront of maritime administration, it is mostly the private users that exploit the economic benefits on their behalf. Hence today’s maritime domain encompasses public-private concerns at equal settings too. In this context, the voice of the industry stakeholders as well as academics and independent analysts also to be taken onboard.
The Galle Dialogue will focus primarily on Cooperation and Collaboration beyond maritime security in reaping maritime benefits for prosperity. This endeavour aims to provide a platform for nations to pursue matters of bilateral and multi-lateral interest in the maritime sphere.The identification of deficiencies in the present status and recommending solutions in spheres such as security policies, environmental regulations, harmonisingdifferent legal regimes, shipping paradoxes, collaborative measures and domain awareness involve commitment and determination to resolve. Despite the complex nature of issues involved peaceful co-existence inthis highly competitive yet cooperative and collaborative environment is a distinct possibility.
As the Galle Dialogue completes five years since inception it is our hope that theseimportant deliberations would provide an opportunity for participating nations to gain a better understanding of interconnected issues andassist in making the seas safer for all.
Emerging Maritime Trends in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean has become the focal point of the 21st century. This has predicted by historians, academicians, strategists & statesmen, in some cases couple of centuries earlier. The world economics, which is being connected by sea, has been the driving factor in this pivotal process. This Geo-Economics has influenced the Geo-Political view of the affairs of the Indian Ocean, affecting many trends in the region. Whilst some school of thought reinforces perceived threats and challengers, the other support peaceful coexistence. Many present day trends in the form of US’s rebalancing to Asia & emerged non-traditional threats in the region have amply demonstrated the dynamics of the Geo-Politics and their implications in the Indian Ocean.
The trends are far-flung, with commerce, trade, resources, legal, security, sovereignty and threats and involve many stakeholders. Out of the top fifty (50) container ports in the world, only two are from the South Asian region. And out of the top ten (10) six are in China alone these trades go through the Indian Ocean connecting Far-East. Securing these sea lines of communication (SLOC) from threats poses a challenge whilst the region as an entity is prone to many other non-traditional threats. Traditionally threats in the Indian Ocean were confined to conventional forms such as regional rivalry, piracy & resources. However many non-traditional threats now prevails reinforcing the tension in the region.
In this context, the Galle Dialogue 2013 is focus on examining the emerging trends in the Indian Ocean which have potentials to destabilize the regional peaceful coexistence as well as promote interdependency which stabilize the coexistence.
The milestone judgment by the International tribunal for law of the sea on the maritime boundary line demarcation between Myanmar & Bangladesh, Nuclear capacities in the regional players, sharing of resources of living and non-living nature, ever growing sea-based economies and the declining trends of piracy in the Gulf of Eden are some of the aspects the Galle Dialogue is focusing in the fourth successive gathering of the annual event in 2013. Each of these themes, have significant contribution in the regional as well as the extra-regional Geo-Politics. These are the very subjects that drive the trends and which need better understanding and sharing in a dynamic world of economic driven politics.
Strategic Maritime Cooperation and Partnership to face the future with Confidence
Over emphasis in not necessary to reiterate Sri Lanka’s strategically important location in the Indian Ocean, which is a widely accepted fact. It is also true that it was through sea trade that Sri Lanka was known and its history was shaped over the years. In this context Sri Lanka like all the other nations which depends on the stability of the Indian Ocean, is extremely concerned and mindful of the safety and security of this vital ocean space.
The world underwent a number of notable shake-ups in 2011; the economic crisis in Europe, USA and other parts of the world, the Arab springs, the Fukushima disaster etc. We have to be mindful of how all these developments will impact the funding, resource allocation and deployment patterns of all the Navies interested in the region, since, the Indian Ocean is a major area of concern not only for the regional players but also to the major powers of the world. Further, it is apparent that, due to the importance of the Indian Ocean, the strategic balance in the region will change in foreseeable future.
Everyone would accept that, for all these countries, Maritime Security has become a priority concern, whether the oceans are seen in terms of increasingly frequented transport routes, a source of energy and other raw material, a place of sovereignty or, as support bases for international peace keeping and other military and humanitarian operations. Therefore, one thing is certain; the 21st century will have a maritime focus. Oceans are becoming highly coveted assets and as such will need to be defended and made safe.
We also know that over the last few years, issues of maritime safety and security have constantly made international headlines. The increase in number of occurrences of illegal immigration, the high number of incidents of acts of piracy particularly around the horn of Africa, the increase possibility of terrorist attacks to ports and other installations, the continuing growth of drug / human trafficking, the concerns of IUU fishing, acts of pollution; etc, have raised fresh challenges to the sovereignty of the seas, causing Maritime security missions to assume critical dimensions. Even revisiting the Laws governing the seas has become necessary to achieve the desired objectives.
In the context of shifting of the strategic balance towards the Indian Ocean, every nation would consent that cooperation and partnership is the prudent approach to face the future. In view of the above concept, under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence & Urban Development, the Sri Lanka Navy is planning to organize this year’s Galle Dialogue initiative under the theme “Strategic maritime Cooperation and partnerships to face the future with confidence”
The conference theme reflects the concept that achieving Maritime Security and prosperity is not the responsibility of a singular country but of all interested nations and partners embodying a whole of government approach.
The previous two Galle Dialogue initiatives in 2010 and 2011, created forums to discuss and deliberate matters to identity the Challenges to Maritime Security and Strategic approach to move forward. This year’s theme is expected to give the participating nations to come up with specific concepts of how they view partnerships and cooperation could strengthen maritime security operations to face the future with confidence.
As directed by the Ministry of Defence & Urban Development of Sri Lanka, the conference will be held on 13th and 14thof December 2012 at Light House Hotel in the historic city of Galle in Southern Sri Lanka.
Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns
Sri Lanka being an Island Nation, geographically situated in a strategically important location in the Indian Ocean has been a focal point of maritime activities through sea borne trade and commerce along its history. It was through sea trade that Sri Lanka was known for years. Therefore, secure Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) around our adjacent seas, had been and will be a key factor for country’s prosperity, especially in a globalised world increasingly dependent upon sea trade.
Two years since defeating terrorism, the county displays a yearning to grab lost opportunities for economic progress. The long term strategies for the country’s development indicate the desire to join hands with other emerging economies and also transform to a maritime hub in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean also remains a key geographical region of strategic, economic and socio political action. Many of the world’s most important sea lines of communication are through the waters of Indian Ocean. It is also characterised with cooperation and competition by regional and extra regional powers. Beyond such traditional competition we see the emergence of other threats such as terrorism, narcotic and gun smuggling, human trafficking and most importantly piracy which is changing the maritime security dynamics in the region.
Today, the security of shipping in the Indian Ocean faces severe threat from sea piracy dominant off the Somali coast. This is steadily increasing to target shipping in the region. In spite of tremendous sea control efforts by multinational maritime deployments in threatened sea lanes and choke points, piracy seems to thrive unhindered. Therefore maintaining maritime security and stability has attained colossal significance with regard to freedom of navigation and uninterrupted commerce.
In the years ahead Navies in the region while continuing to protect respective national interests will have to face a multitude of other challenges as well in protecting the busy international sea lanes in the region. Inevitably, Sri Lanka Navy will be an active partner in the maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region, especially due to the strategically vital location the country is situated.
In this setting, littorals of Indian Ocean faces greater challenges in forging their national interests and maritime strategy. It is the common belief that the continued progress of these economies depend on cooperation, common strategies and sharing of resources to ensure the security of the Indian Ocean, which is also vital to other nations depended on these seas.
The “Galle Dialogue” initiative of last year created a forum to discuss and exchange matters of regional maritime security concerns. The follow on, “Galle Dialogue 2011” as directed by the Ministry of Defence will be organized by Sri Lanka Navy and held at Lighthouse Hotel, Galle on 14th and 15th November 2011 with local and foreign participation from the maritime fraternity. The Dialogue this year will aim to continue the discussion with experiences of events over the past 15 months. The theme for “Galle Dialogue 2011” would be “Challenges and Strategic Cooperation for Indian Ocean Maritime Concerns”.
Charting the Course for Sustainable Maritime Cooperation
Sri Lanka with a maritime heritage occupies a key strategic geographical position in the Indian Ocean. 30 years of terrorism that plagued the island was successfully defeated through a well planned and executed humanitarian operation. The Sri Lanka Navy contributing to this success was able to counter all forms of threats posed out at sea successfully.
The Navies triumph over one of the most feared terrorists groups - by far the most inventive and dangerous outfit at sea has moulded the Sri Lanka Navy to be an innovative and robust force, especially in irregular warfare at sea. Sri Lanka stands proud today and is willing of sharing these experiences of countering maritime terrorism and lessons learnt with the rest of the world.
Also, with the end of the conflict and the dawn of peace, it is pertinent that the country puts itself back on the chart, quickly transforming itself and taking its rightful place on the globe as a maritime hub. Further the country’s maritime and trading traditions also make it an ideal host for a gathering of Naval strategist from major maritime countries or those highly depended upon sea-borne commerce plying the Indian Ocean.
In achieving this objective the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order of Sri Lanka has decided to host a maritime conference termed “Galle Dialogue” which is scheduled to be held during the period 06th and 07th August 2010 in the port city Galle, Sri Lanka the capital of Southern province. Scholars and experts on maritime and naval affairs local & foreign are expected to share their views at this two day dialogue.
Head of the Secretariat
Commodore Sanjeewa Dias RWP, RSP & Bar, USP, NWC, psc
Director Naval Foreign Cooperation
Navy Headquarters,
Colombo 01,
sanjeewad1967@gmail.com gdsecretariat@gmail.com
Copyright © - Sri Lanka Navy 2019 | Designed and maintained by Directorate of Naval Information Technology
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1848
|
__label__wiki
| 0.661182
| 0.661182
|
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation explained
Agency Name: Department of Parks and Recreation
Type: department
Picture Width: 180px
Picture Caption: Flag of the Parks Department
Preceding1: New York City Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Administration
Preceding6: -->
Jurisdiction: New York City
Headquarters: Arsenal
Chief1 Name: Mitchell Silver[1]
Chief1 Position: Commissioner of Parks and Recreation
Chief9 Name: -->
Child25 Agency: -->
Keydocument1: New York City Charter
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called Parks Department and NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City[2] responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's residents and visitors.
The total area of the properties maintained by the department is over 30000acres.[3]
The department maintains more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities across the five boroughs. It is responsible for over 1,000 playgrounds, 800 playing fields, 550 tennis courts, 35 major recreation centers, 66 pools, 14miles of beaches, and 13 golf courses, as well as seven nature centers, six ice skating rinks, over 2000 greenstreets and four major stadiums. Parks also cares for park flora and fauna, community gardens, 23 historic houses, over 1,200 statues and monuments, and more than 2.5 million trees.[4]
The City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation produces many special events, including concerts and movie premieres. In the summer, the busiest season, the agency organizes free carnivals and concerts, and sends mobile recreation vans to travel throughout the five boroughs providing free rental equipment for skating, baseball, and miniature golf.
The largest single component of parkland maintained by the department is the "forever wild" Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, with an area of 2765acres.[4] The department is also responsible for such "flagship" parks facilities as Central Park, Pelham Bay Park, Prospect Park, Van Cortlandt Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and the Staten Island Greenbelt, though many of these parks are maintained by private, non-profit conservancies.
The symbol of the department is a cross between the leaf of the London plane and a maple leaf. It is prominently featured on signs and buildings in public parks across the city. The London plane tree is on the NYC Parks Department's list of restricted use species for street tree planting because it constitutes more than 10% of all street trees.
The department is a mayoral agency. The current Parks Commissioner is Mitchell Silver. The current chair of the New York City Council Committee on Parks & Recreation is Barry Grodenchik.[5]
The department is allocated an expense budget and a capital budget. The expense budget covers the total expenses incurred by the agency, including salaries. The capital budget is dedicated solely for new construction projects, as well as major repairs in parks that have a useful life of more than five years and cost at least $35,000.
Its regulations are compiled in Title 56 of the New York City Rules.[6]
The original Parks Commission was formed in 1856 and was responsible only for Central Park. In 1870 the Tweed Charter gave it jurisdiction for all the parks in Manhattan. In addition each borough had its independent Park Commission. A unified city-wide New York City Parks Department was formed in 1934 with Robert Moses as the commissioner, a position he held until 1960. In 1968 it was reorganized as the "Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs Administration. In 1976 it was given its current name.[7]
Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation
Assistant Commissioner for Agency Compliance
Parks Advocate (Internal Investigative Officer)
Assistant Commissioner for Communications
Assistant Commissioner for Equal Employment Opportunity
First Deputy Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner/Chief Operating Officer
Assistant Commissioner for Citywide Operations
Assistant Commissioner for Forestry, Horticulture, and Natural Resources
Deputy Commissioner for Capital Projects
Deputy Commissioner, Urban Park Service, and Public Programs
Assistant Commissioner for Public Programs
Assistant Commissioner for Urban Park Service
Deputy Commissioner for Administration/Chief Administrative Officer
Assistant Commissioner for Budget and Fiscal Management
Assistant Commissioner for Innovation and Performance Management
Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Development
Borough Commissioners
Bronx Parks Commissioner
Brooklyn Parks Commissioner
Manhattan Parks Commissioner
Queens Parks Commissioner
Staten Island Parks Commissioner
Park law enforcement
See main article: New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol. The department maintains an enforcement division, called the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP), responsible for maintaining safety and security within the parks system. Parks Enforcement Patrol officers have peace officer status under NYS Penal Law and are empowered through this status to make arrests and issue tickets. PEP officers patrol land, waterways and buildings under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation on foot, bicycle, horseback, boat and marked patrol trucks. PEP officers are also responsible for physical site inspections of NYC park concession facilities to assure the concessionaires compliance with state laws.[8]
Urban Park Rangers
The Urban Park Rangers was founded as a pilot program in 1979 by then Parks Commissioner Gordon J. Davis, with the support and encouragement of Mayor Ed Koch. The program provides many free programs year-round, such as nature walks and activities. They also operate programs such as The Natural Classroom for class trips and the general public alike. "Explorer" programs are available for activities such as canoeing in the city's flagship parks in all five boroughs. NYC Urban Park Rangers are easily identified by their uniforms.[9]
Although NYC Park Rangers possess peace officer status, their primary mission is environmental education, protection of park resources, and visitor safety. Law enforcement in city parks is the responsibility of the New York City Police Department.
Community Parks Initiative
The Community Parks Initiative was launched in 2014 and is providing $318 million dollars of capital funding to improve more than 60 parks mainly located in densely populated neighborhoods where there are significant rates of poverty. The park improvements, such as Ranaqua Park in the South Bronx, consist of playground equipment, lighting, seating areas, water fountains, synthetic turn fields, trees and greenery, and rain gardens to collect storm water.[10] [11] The Longfellow Park renovation, also in the Bronx, is budgeted at $3.25 million and includes tree houses for children, bike racks, a sprinkler system for summer recreation, and a mini-state.[12]
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreations maintains facilities and provides services through a network of public service workers, volunteers, and partnerships with private organizations.
The momentum for private partnerships increased dramatically during the mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg. Often the initiatives of Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe were controversial.[13]
Most businesses that operate or generate revenue on New York City parkland are considered concessions and must obtain a permit or license from the Revenue Division of Parks. Pursuant to the City's Concession Rules, these licenses and permits are generally awarded through a public solicitation process, such as a Request for Bids (RFB) or Request for Proposals (RFP).[14]
Approximately 500 concessions currently operate in parks throughout the five boroughs, and they generally fall into two categories: food service and recreation. The food service concessions range from pushcarts selling hot dogs to restaurants such as Tavern on the Green and Terrace on the Park. Recreational concessions include facilities such as ice rinks, stables, marinas, and golf courses. In fiscal year 2009, the Revenue Division of the Parks Department helped collect over $110 million in revenue from various sources including concessions, lease agreements, like those for Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, special events, and dockage.[15]
Private Partnerships
At the turn of the 20th century most of the staffing of New York City parks were patronage jobs. In the 1950s and 1960s, public sector unions organized most park workers which was considered at the time the first major political defeat of Robert Moses. During the city's fiscal crisis in the 1970s, the Department of Parks and Recreation City adapted practices such as using welfare recipients and volunteers to do work previously completed by unionized workers and to forge partnerships with nonprofit organizations and local sports league. Yorkville Sports (YSA) was one of those that helped maintain athletic fields prior to use and assumed responsibilities previously handled by the public sector. During this time the Central Park Conservancy and the Prospect Park Alliance were formed.[16]
Wright vs. Stern
In 2001, the department underwent an investigation after the U.S Attorney's Office received complaints from employees that they had suffered employment discrimination. The lawsuit alleged that the Parks Department violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against employees on the basis of their race and/or national origin in making promotion decisions. According to the Complaint, the Parks Department's senior managers sought out and promoted whites to management positions without announcing job openings for those positions or conducting any formal interview process, all in plain disregard of the Parks Department's own stated equal employment opportunity policies. From at least 1995, minorities have been significantly under-represented in the Parks Department's managerial ranks according to the Complaint. The judge had ruled that the plaintiffs had presented substantial evidence to merit a trial on the allegations of class-wide discrimination in pay, promotions and retaliation. In 2008, the City of New York agreed to pay $21 million to settle the federal class action lawsuit. By agreeing to settle the claims, the City avoided a trial on the allegations.[17]
List of Park Commissioners
Since 1934, when New York City Parks Department Commissioners were unified, the directors have been:[18]
Named individual
Mayor(s) served under
January 18, 1934 May 23, 1960 26 years, 4 months Fiorello H. La Guardia
William O'Dwyer
Vincent R. Impellitteri
Robert F. Wagner Jr.
May 24, 1960 January 15, 1966 5 years, 8 months Robert F. Wagner Jr.
January 16, 1966 March 15, 1967 1 year, 3 months John V. Lindsay
March 16, 1967 December 31, 1972 5 years, 9 months John V. Lindsay
January 1, 1973 December 31, 1973 1 year John V. Lindsay
January 1, 1974 September 22, 1975 1 year, 9 months Abraham Beame
September 23, 1975 December 28, 1975 3 months Abraham Beame
January 1, 1976 June 30, 1977 1 year, 6 months Abraham Beame
July 2, 1977 January 20, 1978 6 months Abraham Beame
January 23, 1978 April 1, 1983 5 years, 3 months Ed Koch
April 2, 1983 February 4, 1990 6 years, 10 months Ed Koch
February 5, 1990 December 31, 1993 3 years, 11 months David Dinkins
January 1, 1994 February 3, 2002 8 years, 1 month Rudolph Giuliani
February 4, 2002 August 29, 2012 10 years, 6 months Michael Bloomberg
August 30, 2012 December 31, 2013 1 year, 4 months Michael Bloomberg
January 1, 2014 May 12, 2014 5 months (Acting) Bill de Blasio
May 12, 2014 Incumbent Bill de Blasio
New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), for hearings conducted on summonses for quality of life violations issued by the Department
List of New York City parks
List of privately owned public spaces in New York City
City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation official site
Parks History
Interactive Park Map of New York City
Department of Parks and Recreation in the Rules of the City of New York
40.7676°N -73.9713°W
News: Foderaro. Lisa. North Carolina Planner Named to Head New York City Parks Dept.. March 22, 2014. NYTimes. March 20, 2014.
[New York City Charter]
Web site: About Parks : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
Web site: Frequently Asked Questions : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
https://council.nyc.gov/committees/parks-and-recreation/
Web site: Rules & Regulations : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/commissioners
Web site: Park Enforcement Patrol : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
Web site: Urban Park Rangers : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/framework-for-an-equitable-future/community-parks-initiative
News: Mitchell. Alex. May 4-10, 2018. 14. Bronx Times Reporter. May 4, 2018.
News: Valenzuela. Sarah. May 4, 2018. 20. Bronx Times Reporter. May 4, 2018.
Web site: Pushing Privatized “Partnership” Agenda at New York City’s Public Parks — Part 3. Swan. Cathryn. July 19, 2013. Huffington Post Blog.
Web site: Concessions Opportunities : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
Web site: Concessions : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. January 20, 2016.
Book: Who cleans the park? : public work and urban governance in New York City. Krinsky. John. Simonet. Maud. 5. 9780226435619. Chicago. 979417574.
Web site: Wright v. Stern: NYC Parks Case NAACP LDF. www.naacpldf.org. January 20, 2016.
Web site: New York City Parks Commissioners : NYC Parks. www.nycgovparks.org. New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. September 29, 2017. en.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "New York City Department of Parks and Recreation".
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1850
|
__label__cc
| 0.691635
| 0.308365
|
May 8, 2019 - ACCC blocks Vodafone merger
May 3, 2019 - Zero-Beta Portfolio
Apr 30, 2019 - Sydney’s median house prices on track to fall below $1 million
Apr 30, 2019 - Bellamy’s shares rocket 24% on news of China’s regulatory approval
Mar 19, 2019 - why is Resmed getting hammered down
Jan 6, 2019 - Clean Energy Revolution not controlled by government policy
Jan 6, 2019 - Stock markets torn between fear and fundamentals
Excellent Investor » Latest News • Uncategorized » Buyers hit the brakes on new car sales last year » | Date Published: January 6, 2019 9:46 am
Buyers hit the brakes on new car sales last year
Australians pumped the brakes on buying new cars last year, as a tightening of bank lending controls and the impact of the slowing property market drove a drop-off in new vehicle sales, automotive industry leaders have said. Sales of new cars across the country declined for the first time in four years, according to data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on Friday, which showed 1,153,111 vehicles were sold in 2018 compared to a record year of 1,189,116 sales the previous year.
The 2018 figures, representing a 3 per cent drop, were the result of a “challenging year” for the industry, FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said. “New vehicle sales results in 2018 reflect a challenging climate across the Australian economy including a slowing housing market, tightening of money lending and the drought,” he said on Friday. In the wake of damning revelations at the national banking services royal commission, and a push by financial regulators, major banks have been slamming the brakes on new lending, which has slashed personal borrowing capacity and contributed to a slowdown in the housing market after a decade of booming.
Following the release of the new car sales statistics on Friday, the stock price of Australia’s largest car dealership company, Automotive Holdings Group, shed nearly 5 per cent, falling to $1.44. Since a peak in March 2017, its shares have plummeted more than 60 per cent. John McConnell, the managing director of the company, which operates 113 car dealerships in Australia and New Zealand, told investors in November that the entire private buyer market has been weaker, “with the east coast, especially New South Wales and Victoria, being affected by a falling housing market and negative flow-on effects to consumer confidence and auto sales”. The comments were made as the company slashed its projected profit by between $56 million and $59 million.
The car industry’s comments on the impact of tighter lending on Friday came the day after several prominent Australian business leaders in mining, banking and finance also sounded warnings over what they called the “unintended” consequences of the Hayne royal commission, their chief concern being the crunch on lending., KPMG chairman Alison Kitchen said the bank sector felt “under pressure” to react to the responsible-lending themes coming out of the inquiry. “I’ve seen credit tightening significantly on home lending, on personal lending and in small business,” she said. “I would say it’s right across the sector.”
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries – the national trade association for global automakers including Audi, BMW, GM Holden, Ford, Fiat, Chrysler and Toyota – said the annual new car sales statistics, released on Friday, also pointed to 2018 as a year of “continuing adjustment” in consumer preferences and marked a further shift to SUV sales at the expense of passenger vehicles. SUV sales accounted for 43 per cent of the Australian market last year, Mr Weber said.
“Australian consumers continue to value the comfort, flexibility and utility of SUVs,” he said. “We predicted this trend to continue last year, and this has certainly been the case.” The Toyota Hilux, for the third year running, was the top-selling vehicle in 2018 across all categories, with 51,705 sales, the statistics show. The Hilux was followed by the Ford Ranger, which recorded 42,144 sales, followed by the Toyota Corolla with 35,320 sales, the Mazda 3 with 31,065 sales, and the Hyundai i30 with 28,188 sales. Across the brands, Toyota led the market in 2018 with 18.8 per cent of market share, followed by Mazda (9.7 per cent), Hyundai (8.2 per cent), Mitsubishi (7.4 per cent) and Ford (6 per cent).
by – Nick Toscano
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/buyers-hit-the-brakes-on-new-car-sales-last-year-20190104-p50plj.html
← One quarter of Australia’s largest companies paid zero tax last year
Stock markets torn between fear and fundamentals →
Clean Energy Revolution not controlled by government policy
One quarter of Australia’s largest companies paid zero tax last year
America and China and their Trade Tarrifs
info@excellentinvestor.com.au
The information provided in this website is factual Information only, for educational purposes and is not intended to imply any recommendation or opinion about an investment. It also does NOT take into account your objectives, financial situation and needs. Before acting on any information contained in this website you should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs or seek professional advice.
Copyright © 2019 Excellent Investor Pty Ltd ACN 627 007 523
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1851
|
__label__cc
| 0.684624
| 0.315376
|
Jun24 0
Online [Free Watch] Full Movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)
Country : United States of America
Runtime : 103
Genre : Drama,History,Thriller
Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Full Movie Online Free. Movie ‘Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House’ was released in 2017-09-29 in genre Drama,History,Thriller.
The story of Mark Felt, who under the name “Deep Throat” helped journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate scandal in 1974.
Streaming Movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House
(2017) Online
Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Full Movie Online Free Streaming In HD Quality, watch full Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House movie, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017
Online Free Viooz, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Putlocker, film Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House
online, Streaming Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 For Free Online, streaming movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House film trailer,
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House movie trailer, live streaming film Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, Streaming Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free Megashare,
movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House streaming, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 For Free online, film Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 online streaming,
download Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 movie now, movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 download, watch full movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, trailer
film Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online 123movies, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free 123movie, Watch
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free Putlocker, movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 trailer, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free
netflix, watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House film online now, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 movie streaming, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Watch Online, Watch
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online 123movie, download movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free megashare, watch
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House movie now, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Free hulu, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online Viooz, live streaming
movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House live streaming film online, movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017, Watch Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House 2017 Online
Megashare.
Offshore Hosting Anonymous, Solutions, Surfing
← Online [Free Watch] Full Movie Polina (2017)
Ez Ways to Hack fortnite pc hacks →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1852
|
__label__cc
| 0.665641
| 0.334359
|
KP Assembly Meets for Six Minutes
ISLAMABAD, December 12, 2017: The Tuesday’s sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly concluded within six minutes of the commencement due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the 27th session:
The KP Assembly met for six minutes.
The sitting started at 1529 hours against the scheduled time 1500 hours.
The Deputy Speaker presided over the proceedings while the Speaker was not present.
The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
As many as 16 MPAs (13%) were present at outset and 23 (18%) at adjournment of the sitting.
The parliamentary leaders of QWP-S, JI and PML-N attended the sitting.
Two minority lawmakers were present.
The House did not take up any of the agenda items.
The House did not hold the Question Hour.
A lawmaker belonging to PPPP pointed out the quorum at 1532 hours that led to adjournment of the sitting.
Information on Members’ attendance is not available to observers and media.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.
KP Assembly Skips Legislative Business, Five Private Resolutions
ISLAMABAD, July 12, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) did not take up its legislative business and five private members’ resolutions appearing on…
KP Assembly Approves 44 Supplementary Demands for Grants
ISLAMABAD, June 28, 2019: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly approved 44 Supplementary Demands for Grants for the financial year 2018-19 amid walk out by the opposition…
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1853
|
__label__wiki
| 0.959325
| 0.959325
|
10 Rappers Who Are Going to Blow Up in 2017
DJBooth
The next big rap star will come from Portland. Or New Jersey. Or St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, or Boston. Without a record deal, a nebulous “co-sign,” or a publicist, a teenager in Miami can have a hundred-thousand loyal fans, eager to buy merch and support a “movement,” whatever that may entail.
The reasons for this are manifold: the record industry is decentralized and weak, rap has become more socially acceptable and accessible, and recording music (and videos) has never been cheaper. Rap’s twinned messages of struggle and uplift have pan-cultural appeal, and, as a result, rap is increasingly ethnically and geographically diverse.
Our list of 10 Rappers Who Are Going to Blow Up in 2017 reflects these changes. Aminé, raised in Portland, is the son of Ethiopian immigrants (he even raps in Amharic on his newest single); Anik Khan’s parents are Bengali asylum-seekers who settled in Astoria, Queens; BIA is a Bostonite of Puerto Rican and Italian heritage; Nav, the mysterious Torontonian, is thought to be South Asian. These aren’t token inclusions–these are just the new faces in a multi-cultural genre.
Portland has verdant foliage, an extensive public transportation system, a temperate climate, and a history of embracing countercultural movements. The City of Roses is also overwhelmingly white. The list of influential bands from Portland is endless; the list of influential rappers from Portland is non-existent. Scratch that–it begins and ends with 22 year-old Aminé.
Aminé’s ascent to stardom has been rapid–he’s only released two mixtapes, Odyssey to Me and Calling Brio, and has already disowned the first. His hit, “Caroline,” a paean to a curvy paramour, earned him a spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 (currently #12 and rising!), a guest appearance on The Tonight Show, and a contract with Republic Records.
Russ is vertically integrated. The New Jersey-bred, Atlanta-residing artist performs, writes, produces, mixes, and masters every song, a formula that’s earned him a massive–if largely unseen–following. Before creating a Soundcloud account, he’d already released 11 mixtapes. The streaming platform further increased his visibility–his uploads (usually annotated by “Prod. Russ”) regularly reach a million plays and the YouTube comments for his videos are crammed with admiration for his top knot. With a legion of dedicated fans, heterochromatic eyes, and a melodic voice, the crooner-rapper appears to be a star-in-the-making. A deal with Columbia Records will surely push him over the top.
Anik Khan
Anik Khan was born in Bangladesh to a poet father who, soon after Khan’s birth, was granted asylum in the United States; Khan was raised in public housing in Astoria, Queens. His music is an attempt to reconcile the music he’d hear in his neighborhood and the spoken-word kobita his father would perform at family gatherings. He raps with a New York accent, but his beat selection pays homage to the diversity of Queens–West African, Caribbean, Bengali, and beyond. Though he’s currently unsigned, Khan has found an ally in Ebro Darden, who premiered the rapper’s single “Renegade” on his Beats 1 radio show.
Smino’s from St. Louis, but his fledgling career began taking shape when he settled for the second time in the Windy City and met producer Monte Booker. Booker, a devout Timbaland fan, makes beats that pop and crunch; Smino, a devout Nelly fan, raps verses that contort and unfurl. On Smino’s most complete effort to-date, blkjptr (pronounced “black jupiter”), he and Booker combine for five-songs of pulsating, soulful rap. Though he signed with Interscope Records in August, Smino’s membership in collective Zero Fatigue is more meaningful–they’re his musical grounding, and the ethos by which he abides: no rest, no fatigue.
PnB Rock is easy to root for. Raised in Philadelphia’s Germantown (and nicknamed for an area intersection, Pastorius & Baynton), PnB Rock’s adolescence was marked by poverty, crime, and the murder of his uncle/father-figure. It was during a 33-month stint in a maximum-security prison that the “Selfish” singer, encouraged by a cellmate, discovered his knack for performing. Conveniently, the Philadelphian has already made a mixtape with his most famous correlative, Fetty Wap, the duo using their sine wave lilts to sing-rap about lucre and licentiousness.
A semi-recent Atlantic Records signee, PnB Rock is currently working on his debut album.
2 Chainz to Future to Migos to Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug to 21 Savage. The next: Dae Dae, whose “Wat U Mean” was created during his former day job pouring concrete. Its success made the dreadlocked father of five into a local star and landed him a deal with 300 Entertainment. On his recent mixtape, The DefAnition, Dae Dae’s growling, stop-start rapping and R&B harmonizing are backed by the supremely gifted London on da Track. If the bubbly “Woke Up” is any indicator, Dae Dae’s not returning to a job site in the near future.
Jay IDK
As he told DJ Booth last year, “I[‘ve] had a weird life, I’ve been on every side of the fence, jail and school, state pen and Penn State. I can be in different environments and adapt, so a lot of that’s going to come out in my music.” His Empty Bank and SubTrap (short for “suburban trap”) are for listeners who like moral ambiguity. Or, as he might put it, both sides of the fence.
8. NBA YoungBoy
The physical scars on NBA YoungBoy’s face come from a halo brace he wore as a child. The emotional scars come from being raised in Baton Rouge by a grandmother whose death catapulted the rapper into adulthood with a 9th grade education. A couple years and five mixtapes later, his lot in life has improved greatly. On his most recent mixtape, YoungBoy was joined by Lil Boosie and Kevin Gates–notable endorsements for any rapper, massive ones for a 17 year-old from B.R. If YoungBoy can avoid the violent pitfalls of his hometown, he’s destined for greatness.
9. Nav
Nav has nine songs. Not on his most recent mixtape. Nine total. Despite his miniscule output, the semi-anonymous Toronto singer (rapper? rapper-singer?) and producer seems to have an unspoken affiliation with The Weeknd’s XO record label. Metro Boomin and Post Malone count themselves among his supporters too, while his hazy, velour tracksuit Soundcloud uploads have millions of listens, comments chock-full of fire emojis. Nav is evidence that there’s always more heat in the Great White North.
10. BIA
Strange, but true: BIA was discovered by Fam-Lay. (For our readers too young to know who Fam-Lay is, consider revisiting Star Trak Entertainment’s early-2000’s output.) Fam-Lay reportedly showed Pharrell Williams the video for “High,” and, shortly thereafter, Williams signed BIA to his i am OTHER imprint. BIA is very much in the mold of a contemporary pop star: she’s a pliant vocalist and a stylish dresser who approaches bubblegum anthems (“Gucci Comin Home”) and technical rapping (“Bobby Brown”) with equal aplomb and sass. Her debut, Knock on Wood, is set to be released in 2017.
Best Of emerging artists
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1858
|
__label__cc
| 0.656877
| 0.343123
|
The Fan Art Files: The 30 Best Portraits of the Wu-Tang Clan
Bella Jay
Every day this week, Green Label will celebrate the most creative fan art of today's popular artists.
Though Wu-Tang's Enter The Wu (36 Chambers) was released 22 years ago, cash still rules everything around us and so does the W.
Their latest, super limited-edition project, Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, recently sold for an undisclosed amount in the millions, making it the most expensive single album sale ever, according to its auction site, Paddle8. Even artists like Kendrick Lamar have paid homage to Wu-Tang, sporting deranged eyes and half-done cornrows reminiscent of Method Man in "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By" during his Saturday Night Live performance last year.
To date, no rap collective has combined such a diverse group of vicious lyricism and standout personalities (there will never be another outlandish, hilariously carefree spirit like ODB) like the Wu-Tang Clan. And while each member has garnered their own following, nothing compares to their force as a whole. Wu-Tang will always be forever, especially in the art that keeps them very much alive.
Here is the best fan art of the Wu-Tang Clan.
See the rest of the best-of fan art here.
Best Of Illustration The Fan Art Files
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1859
|
__label__wiki
| 0.975474
| 0.975474
|
Brunei death penalty moratorium applied to new Shariah laws
FILE - In this April 19, 2018, file photo, the Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah listens during the first executive session of the CHOGM summit at Lancaster House in London. Brunei's sultan has said a moratorium on capital punishment is in effect for new Shariah criminal laws including stoning people for gay sex and adultery that sparked an international outcry. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said Sunday, May 5, in a speech to mark the start of Ramadan that he was aware of the "many questions and misperceptions" over the penalties provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code, but stressed that there should be no fear.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Brunei's sultan has said a moratorium on capital punishment is in effect for new Shariah criminal laws including stoning people for gay sex and adultery that sparked an international outcry.
The United Nations has called the laws implemented April 3 "draconian" while the U.S. and several other countries have urged Brunei to halt its plans. Celebrities including George Clooney, Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres have rallied for a boycott of nine hotels in the U.S. and Europe linked to Brunei.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years. The new laws say those found guilty of gay sex can be stoned to death or whipped. Adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second. The new laws apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said Sunday in a speech to mark the start of Ramadan that he was aware of the "many questions and misperceptions" over the penalties provided for under new sections of Brunei's Shariah Penal Code, but stressed that there should be no fear.
Brunei has had a "de facto moratorium" on capital punishment for over two decades and "this will also be applied to cases under the (Shariah laws) which provides a wider scope for remission," he said. The announcement came as a surprise but appeared aimed at deflecting criticism that Islamic criminal laws are cruel.
"We are conscious of the fact that misperceptions may cause apprehension. However, we believe that once these have been cleared, the merit of the law will be evident," the sultan said. Sultan Hassanal said Brunei will also ratify the U.N. Convention Against Torture to show its commitment to human rights.
"Both the common law and the Shariah law aim to ensure peace and harmony of the country. They are also crucial in protecting the morality and decency of the public as well as respecting the privacy of individuals," he added.
In an immediate reaction, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on Monday hailed the moratorium on the death penalty but also urged Brunei to revoke other harsh punishments such as amputation and flogging. Brunei is a member of the Commonwealth.
Sultan Hassanal instituted the Shariah Penal Code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people, two-thirds of whom are Muslim. There has been no vocal opposition to the new penalties in Brunei, where the sultan rules as head of state with full executive authority. Public criticism of his policies is extremely rare in the country.
The Latest: Malaysia: Poison killed Kim within 20...
Malaysia's health minister says the dose of poison given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un's half...
Deported Korean says Malaysia threatened to harm...
A North Korean chemist deported from Malaysia has accused police of threatening to kill his family...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1862
|
__label__wiki
| 0.7983
| 0.7983
|
Families aim to raise $15 million to search for Flight 370
A woman looking at a painting exhibition during the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
A man writes a condolence message during the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
A man with a painted face attend the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
Relatives of victims of the missing Malaysia MH370 flight have a moment of silence during the Day of Remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
A girl has her face painted during the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
A man arranges artwork for an exhibition marking the Day of Remembrance for MH370 event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane.(AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
Relatives of the victims of the missing Malaysia MH370 flight release the pigeons during the Day of Remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Saturday, March 4, 2017. After three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane.(AP Photo/Daniel Chan)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The families of those onboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 launched efforts Saturday to raise at least $15 million to fund a private search as they marked the third anniversary of the plane's disappearance.
Malaysia, Australia and China suspended a nearly three-year search in the southern Indian Ocean on Jan. 17 after it failed to find any trace of the plane. The jet disappeared March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Jacquita Gomes, whose husband was a flight attendant on the plane, said families have no choice but to take matters into their own hands by raising the money.
"What happened to MH370 is a mystery, but it should not go down in the history books as a mystery. Everybody wants answers," Gomes said at a three-hour remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a speech at the event that a final report with information and analysis on what happened to the plane based on available data and evidence would be released this year. He didn't say when.
He said authorities would step up efforts to comb for plane debris along the African coast. So far, Liow said, 27 pieces of debris have been found, including two new pieces found off Africa about two weeks ago. He said that three pieces of debris have been confirmed to be from Flight 370, and that five more are "almost certain" to be from the plane.
Despite the suspension of the $160 million hunt for the plane, Liow said authorities haven't abandoned all efforts to locate the wreckage. He told reporters that an international team of experts in Australia is still studying whether an area north of the previous search area could be the plane's final resting place.
Liow said there was an 85 percent chance that the new 25,000-square-kilometer (15,535-square-mile) area could be the crash site, and that experts needed more time to study satellite images, debris flow and other clues.
"Funding has never been an issue, but we have to be sure ... we need credible evidence," said Liow, who was making his first appearance at a Flight 370 anniversary event organized by the families.
Gomes said that through online fundraising and corporate donations, families hope to raise at least $15 million to pursue the search in the new area recommended by the experts.
More than 30 family members from Malaysia, Australia, China, India and France went on stage and spoke about the urgency to find closure. They released eight white pigeons and shouted "Search on."
"We will keep fighting, we will keep trying," said Danica Weeks of Australia, whose husband was a passenger on Flight 370. "We have no peace at this point. It's painful. It doesn't get better with time."
The Latest: Malaysia says airport safe, no trace...
Malaysian police have completed a sweep of the airport terminal where the exiled half-brother of...
The Latest: Malaysia deports N.Korean detained in...
Malaysian officials say they have deported a North Korean man who was released from custody after...
Malaysia says it has expelled North Korea's ambassador for refusing to apologize for his strong...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1863
|
__label__cc
| 0.659452
| 0.340548
|
Wrapping Up The Indoor Season
The 2015-16 indoor track & field season ended on a high note for HepsNation yesterday, as the Ivy League participants earned a total of 5 First-Team All-American honors over the course of the two day NCAA Indoor Championships in Alabama. HepsNation alumni also wrapped up competition at the USATF Indoor Championships in Oregon yesterday.
First up – Day 2 of the NCAA Championships.
Dartmouth senior Kaitlin Whitehorn capped her indoor career with her first ever First-Team All-American honor in the high jump. Whitehorn finished in a tie for 7th place by clearing 5-11 1/4, the best finish by a Big Green female athlete in a field event. She previously earned Second-Team honors last outdoor season with her 12th place high jump finish at NCAAs.
The men’s mile was a tactical affair as the whole 10 person field was within 0.62 seconds of each other after 1,000m. Penn’s Thomas Awad and Cornell’s James Gowans were near the back of the pack at this point in the race, but once the race began to pick up pace, Awad was one of the few who was able to keep up. Awad tried to chase down the leaders in the final two laps, often running in lanes 2 or 3. In the final 50m, he was able to chase down some of the field and ultimately finished in third place with a time of 4:06.97, 0.34 seconds away from the NCAA title. Awad is the third Ivy male miler to ever finish in the top 3 of the event, joining Harvard’s Cliff Sheehan (2nd – 1986) and Cornell’s Bill Rathbun (3rd – 1990). Gowans finished 9th in the field in 4:08.14, earning Second-Team All-American honors.
Letsrun.com caught up with Awad after his race.
In the women’s 800m final, Princeton senior Cecilia Barowski got out quickly in the first 200m but dropped back to 6th place at the halfway point in a tight pack with the whole finals field. The finals field remained tight in the final laps, so tight that one athlete fell at the bell as the athletes attempted to start their kicks. Barowski finished 6th overall in 2:06.81, earning First-Team All-American honors. Barowski was 0.91 seconds away from the 2nd place finisher.
Our final Ivy competitor of the meet kept flirting with a NCAA title throughout her competition. On her first throw of the women’s shot put final, Harvard junior Nikki Okwelogu shattered her conference record (56-02) with a 14-inch new personal best, 57-04 3/4, that put her at the top of the leader board. At the end of the preliminary round, she sat in second place, only 1-inch behind the leader. Okwelogu jumped to the top of the leader board on her fourth throw, improving over 6-inches to 57-11 1/4. But by the end of the fifth round, Okwelogu was bumped back to third place overall. At the end of the competition, Okwelogu finished third with 57-11 1/4 to earn her second First-Team All-American honor, improving from her 6th place finish from last year.
For more pictures from NCAAs, check out Michael Scott’s facebook galleries (Day 1 – Day 2).
Over in Oregon, a few HepsNation athletes competed on Day 2 of the USATF Indoor Championships. John Gregorek competed in the 1,500m finals. Like many 1,500m finals, it was a tactical affair as the 11 person field remained a tight group through the first 800m. Gregorek was near the back of the pack at the halfway point. The field began to spread as the top four began to break away, and slowly, Gregorek moved up on the field. While he did not catch that leading four, he improved over the course of the final 400m from 9th to 5th, finishing with a time of 3:47.28.
Morgan Uceny was on the start list for the women’s 1,500m final but did not start.
The only other HepsNation competitor on Day 2 was Danielle Barbian. The Harvard grad finished 14th in the 60m semifinals with a 7.41. The top 8 advanced to the final. Barbian will be representing Oregon this upcoming outdoor season as she finishes her NCAA eligibility.
The 2016 indoor track & field season will officially end next weekend with the IAAF World Championships, while the collegiates will transition to the outdoor season over the course of this next week.
photo by Michael Scott
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 13th, 2016 at 9:53 am. It is filed under Alumni, Athletes, Awards, Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1864
|
__label__cc
| 0.665916
| 0.334084
|
The bitcoin hedge fund rip-off
Today’s idiot and why hedge funds are a scam:
The man who bet $1M that #bitcoin could hit $50K by the end of the next year breaks down his call @AriDavidPaul
Investor Ari Paul Bets $1 Million That Bitcoin Price Hits $50,000 by 2018
Just as lottery tickets are an ‘idiot tax’ on poor, low-IQ people who don’t understand probabilities and have high time preference, hedge funds are a tax on rich people who think such funds offer some sort of ‘edge’ to justify such high fees, poor performance, and occasional risk of the fund blowing up or the fund manager absconding with the money. The same goes for mutual funds, which also tend to lag the underlying index (such as the S&P 500) that they are supposed to track and have high fees.
To get an idea of how bad this bet is, Bitcoin would have to rise to $54,000/coin (a 240% gain from present price) by December 2018 just to break even. There is no way that is gonna happen, especially given that the total size of the crypto currency market is near $800 billion, and for Bitcoin, which has lost its marketshare dominance from 60% to 35%, to get to $54,000 would imply a total size of $2.7 trillion.
But it gets worse. Alternately, for $1 million, he could have bought 63 Bitcoins outright on the market. So for this option strategy to produce a superior return to simply buying the 63 Bitcoins and holding, Bitcoin would have to rise 340%! This is to overcome the deficit of paying $1 million for the calls. This can be visualized in the payoff diagram and seeing where the lines intersect.
But bitcoin went up 1500% in 2017, so maybe it could go up 400% in 2018? Very unlikely because growth at extreme levels resembles logistic curve, not a purely exponential one. Locally, at small values it is exponential, but becomes less so as prices rise. It’s conceivable that something to go from $1 billion to $10 billion, or even $10 billion to $100 billion, but much less likely for something to go from $150 billion to $1.5 trillion, because then you begin to run up against the carrying capacity of the overall size of the economy. This can be justified with intuition without the mathematical proof, but this concept is lost on people who give these absurd Bitcoin targets.
A common counterargument is that people play the lotto not expecting to get rich, but rather the hope and suspense of winning provides escapism and entertainment. But that does not change the fact it’s stupid. The reason is because the expected value of the lotto is negative, which means anyone who plays long enough will go broke. People who are smarter find gambles where there is a positive expected value, what is called an ‘edge’.
Notes on Michel Foucault
Jordan Peterson plans to unveil an IQ test
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1867
|
__label__cc
| 0.727661
| 0.272339
|
It’s all about water on the new edition of Wildfire
November 22, 2016 Environmental Issues, Wildfire - the TV talk show
When it comes to water, there’s a lot to talk about. And we did that on the new edition of our TV talk show Wildfire, airing for the first time tonight.
Our guest was Tom Brennan of Poland Spring, which has bottling plants in Poland Spring, Hollis, and Kingfield and employs 800 Mainers full-time or seasonally in places where jobs are hard to come by, with a $42 million annual payroll. And they’ve invested over $500 million here since 2000. They also spend $60 million each year with other Maine companies.
But what I most admire – and appreciate – is the $6 million that Poland Spring (owned by Nestle Corporation) has contributed over their years in Maine to conservation and community, supporting schools, fire and rescue services, environmental conservation and lots of causes from the local to the state level. Poland Spring has been a sponsor of my website since I started writing full-time in 2011.
I had just read in a Maine newspaper about the high lead levels found at the Benton elementary school. In the middle of the story, there was this: “I’m very appreciative that the Nestle Corporation has volunteered to donate several water coolers” said school superintendent Dean Baker. Turns out Poland Spring does a lot of that kind of thing, without much publicity.
Co-host James Cote and I talked with Tom about all of this and lots more. The impact of the current drought was a hot topic, literally, and we learned a lot about what Poland Spring had to do in response, and what it plans to do in the future.
Each edition of Wildlife is aired on Time Warner cable station 9 on Tuesdays at 7 pm, Thursdays at 6:30 pm, and Sundays at 9:30 am. Each edition airs for two weeks. You can also access the show, including previous shows, online at www.vstv.me.
← Back in the Maine Stream is an inspiring program for veterans Maine breweries featured in great new book →
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1880
|
__label__cc
| 0.692297
| 0.307703
|
The demand of automobiles in Mexico after the economic crisis
Alvarez, Lourdes
The demand for automobiles in Mexico after the economic crisis
Facultad de Contaduría y Administración
GERPISA International Colloquium, 2011, 8-10 june. París
Lourdes Alvarez Medina
The automotive industry in Mexico provide two relevant markets: the United States market which has had a temporary recovery after the 2008 economic crisis and the domestic market which due to lack of jobs, income inequalities, lack of financing and the entrance of used car imports from U.S. sales, will recover in 2013 the sales levels of 2007.
The automotive industry's production in Mexico has had a significant recovery in 2010. Production reached 2.2 million units (49.9%) more than in 2009 and 7.5% higher than 2008. In fact he industry reached its highest peak of production in the history of the industry in Mexico. Likewise the production of auto parts reached a record 60, 000 million dollars, representing an increase of 45% compared with 2009. Exports reached almost 1.9 million, representing an increase of 52% compared with 2009 and 11.6% more than in 2008. Although the domestic sales grew 9% to 820.000 units (of which 409.147 were imported) they were 25.4% lower than 2007 when it reached the largest retail of new cars (1, 099.866) (AMIA, 2010; INA, 2010).
The aim of this work is to analyze the effects of the economic crisis in the demand of automobiles in Mexico. Specifically we analyze the factors that shape demand such as household income, financing and the entry of used vehicles from the United States.
Since the beginning of the 1980s the economic growth of the GDP per capita in Mexico has been unsatisfactory (0.9% between 1980 and 2007) and macroeconomic stability has not resulted in increasing the standard of living of its population, create new jobs, and keep a solid currency. Several reasons has been exposed: a) the structure of the export oriented manufacturing sector, which is not linked to the local economy, has caused a polarization process and growth has been limited to an extremely small group of firms and households b) the financial sector is not working as it should and therefore is a lack of financing for the private sector c) there is a low investment growth in technology and human capital formation.
Employment is one of the most important issues related with the internal demand of automobiles. Mexican economy generated an average of 305 000 jobs annually between 1991 and 2009 whereas the Economically Active Population increased one million. The quality of the formal employment has deteriorated substantially and real minimum wages in 2008 represented less than 30% of their 1980 level and real wages have lagged behind labor productivity.
The Gini coefficient has in crease from .385 in 1977 to 0.498 in 2008. We can see the inequality of the distribution in the national patters of income where the first six deciles, which are the 60% of households, amount for only 26.7% of total income while 10% of the households amount for 36% of the total income. The main components of current spending of households are food, beverage and cigarettes (33.6%), transport and communication (18.4%), education and recreation 13.5% and 15.5% in the same period, housing and fuel (10.0%).
The inequalities of household income have shaped consumption demand in a specific way. The main share of loans is aimed at the demand of non-durable goods, which are purchased through credit cards. Past due accounts grow up in crisis periods, but in the last year they have shrunk.
Pick ups an SUV’s were the category that has experienced the largest rate of growth between 1990 and 2010, and it seems that it will keep the same pace of growth. This demand comes from the VII to X deciles where the richest Mexican households are.
Income and social inequalities will remain much the same because the current administration has failed in setting adequate economic growth paths. For the automobile industry, it will remain growing depending on the US market and the demand of the domestic market.
Thème: Transformations de la demande
Thème: Transformations in demand
Transformations in demand
Jetin, B.
The US automobile market after the crisis: back to business as usual or birth of a new industry?
Alvarez, L.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1881
|
__label__cc
| 0.599719
| 0.400281
|
LAGLCC Announces New Capacity Building Program with AEG
The program will help qualified small-and medium-sized LGBTQ-owned businesses reach their next level of growth
Jan 10, 2019 3:30 PM ET
Tweet This:
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (@LAGLCC) + @aegworldwide are teaming up to help promote the economic growth & development of #LGBTQ owned businesses in #LosAngeles. Find out more about the forthcoming capacity-building program: http://bit.ly/2M5yf6P
LOS ANGELES, January 10, 2019 /3BL Media/ - The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce today announced that it has formed a partnership with AEG, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company, to develop a capacity-building program designed to promote the economic growth and development of LGBTQ owned businesses in Los Angeles. The program will help qualified small-and medium-sized LGBTQ-owned businesses reach their next level of growth through mentoring, partnerships, referrals and promotions.
“Capacity building is an investment in the effectiveness and sustainability of LGBTQ businesses,” said Marquita Thomas, Executive Director of the LAGLCC. “We believe that this initiative will be particularly beneficial to many LGBTQ businesses by addressing important issues of organizational development and effectiveness. We are thrilled to be partnering with AEG on this exciting program.”
LAGLCC members can apply to participate in the program by filling out an application by February 28, 2019, the selected business will be announced at the WBA LGBT Economic Summit at the Westin Bonaventure on Friday, March 15, 2019.
LA-based organizations that participate in the program must demonstrate strong organizational leadership, have a proven track record of success, and have a strategic business plan. Additionally, they should be able to articulate a clear, well-thought-out vision for how the improvements would advance the organization’s capabilities and long-term viability.
“Many organizations work hard to develop strategic plans that can only be realized through internal capacity building,” said Scott Bosarge, SVP of Business Services at AEG. “Our partnership with the LAGLCC helps local organizations to build momentum to move towards their goals. We are thrilled to partner with LAGLCC on this important new initiative.”
About LAGLCC
Founded in 1979, the LAGLCC increases the economic strength of LGBTQ and allied businesses through business development, leadership, visibility and advocacy.
About AEG
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, AEG is the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. With offices on five continents, the company operates in the following business segments: AEG Facilities, which is affiliated with or owns, manages or consults with more than 150 preeminent arenas, stadiums, theaters, clubs and convention centers around the world including STAPLES Center, The O2 Arena, the Sprint Center and the Mercedes-Benz Arenas; AEG Presents, which is dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performances, including producing and promoting global and regional concert tours, music and special events and world-renowned festivals; AEG Real Estate, which develops world-class venues, as well as major sports and entertainment districts like STAPLES Center and L.A. LIVE; AEG Sports, which is the world’s largest operator of sports franchises and high-profile sporting events; and AEG Global Partnerships, which oversees worldwide sales and servicing of sponsorships including naming rights, premium seating and other strategic partnerships. Through its worldwide network of venues, portfolio of powerful sports and music brands, AXS.com ticketing platform, AXS cable television channel and its integrated entertainment districts, AEG entertains more than 100 million guests annually. More information about AEG can be found at www.aegworldwide.com.
Allegra Batista
abatista@aegworldwide.com
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
LGBTQ Businesses
capacity-building program
More from AEG
AEG Facilities’ Pechanga Arena San Diego and Goldenvoice Staff Volunteer with ‘I Love A Clean San Diego’ to Reduce Environmental Impact During Fourth of July Weekend
AEG and BET Team Up for Seventh Annual BET Experience Youth Program Presented by AEG
Jul 2, 2019 10:00 AM ET
LA Kings Visit Patients at Pediatric Therapy Network
LA Galaxy Foundation Partners With Surfrider Foundation for Beach Cleanup
Jun 26, 2019 9:00 AM ET
LA Galaxy Golf Tournament Raises More Than $215,000 for LA Galaxy Champion Project
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1888
|
__label__wiki
| 0.683723
| 0.683723
|
Home Salon Rendezvous with destiny: Newt Gingrich’s long war against FDR and the New Deal enters its final stage
Rendezvous with destiny: Newt Gingrich’s long war against FDR and the New Deal enters its final stage
Seventy-five years ago this past January, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt went before Congress and the American people to declare that a generation’s “rendezvous with destiny” had come, that the Nazis, fascists and imperialists would strike without warning and Americans had to not only ready themselves for that possibility, but also turn the nation into the “Arsenal of Democracy.”
The president did not speak from fear or seek to incite it. He had faith in Americans. He knew what they had accomplished in fighting the Great Depression. He knew they had not only rejected authoritarianism, but also redeemed the nation’s historic promise by initiating revolutionary changes in American government and public life. He knew they had subjected big business to public account, empowered the federal government to address the needs of working people, organized unions, fought for their rights, broadened and leveled the “We” in “We the People,” established a social security system, expanded the nation’s public infrastructure, improved the environment, built schools and municipal buildings, cultivated the arts and refashioned popular culture and imbued themselves with fresh democratic convictions, hopes and aspirations. Indeed, he knew that while there was much still to be done, they had made the United States both stronger and richer and freer, more equal and more democratic.
Knowing all that, Roosevelt projected a vision of a nation and a world characterized by four fundamental freedoms — freedom of speech and worship, freedom from want and fear — a vision that would guide not only the ensuing war effort, but also the postwar labors that were to make America ever stronger, richer and more democratic. Those labors included enacting the Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Economic Opportunity and Fair Housing acts; expanding Social Security to encompass Medicare and Medicaid; passing immigration reform; instituting environmental, workplace and consumer protections; creating new universities and establishing public endowments for the arts and humanities; and establishing a public broadcasting system.
All that our parents and grandparents achieved, however, is now in jeopardy.
For the past 40 years the GOP right and reactionary rich, abetted by neoliberal Democrats, have laid siege to the promise of the Four Freedoms and the legacy of FDR and those we have rightly come to call the Greatest Generation. In the wake of November’s election, they seem poised to renew their campaigns.
Just last week, former Republican speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a fervent ally of Donald Trump, took to the stage at the Heritage Foundation to rally the right’s forces around the president-elect in favor of launching a final assault on what remains of the New Deal and the Great Society.
Utterly disregarding the fact that Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million, and haughtily dismissing the fact that his Electoral College victory may be due to Russian interference in our electoral process, Gingrich spoke of Trump in the most fantastic terms. Gleefully noting that politicians and pundits other than himself had completely underestimated the real estate mogul; bluntly assailing the media as “the propaganda media” and calling it a bunch of “idiots” (which is truly startling in light of how the “MSM” had helped to “normalize the Donald” to the public); and unashamedly hawking his own new e-book “Electing Trump,” Gingrich celebrated Trump’s business and political savvy, his salesmanship and showmanship, and his determination to “drain the swamp” and “kick over the table.”
But the real message Gingrich was bringing to Heritage was that right-wingers should stop worrying about whether they could trust Trump and start recognizing him as one of their own (notably, the editors of both the classically conservative National Review and the neoconservative Weekly Standard had distanced themselves from Trump’s campaign and candidacy). Portraying Trump as their new champion, Gingrich assured them that the president-elect was someone they could count on, someone who was seemingly prepared to lead them against the left and the Roosevelt legacy.
Gingrich began by announcing that Trump’s impending presidency represents “the third great effort to break out of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt model.” The first, Gingrich stated, was Ronald Reagan’s 1980 election victory and ensuing two-term presidency (aka “the Reagan Revolution”) and the second, Gingrich proudly recalled, was the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress (the so-called Gingrich Revolution that briefly shut down the Federal government).
Gingrich then really took off. And his smarminess knew no bounds.
Professor Gingrich the historian — yes, he has a Ph.D. in history, and they don’t call it “piled higher and deeper” for nothing — referred to “Trumpism” as a set of ideas and practices worthy of serious study. He then proceeded to not only dub his friend and idol the “Tribune of the American People,” but also proclaim that Trump was destined for presidential greatness. He stands, Gingrich announced, “in the tradition of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, FDR and Ronald Reagan, and by that I mean, in every case, they believed in the American people, they aroused the American people, and they led the American people to victory over entrenched powerful interests.”
Believe in the American people — but repeatedly lie on the campaign trail? Arouse the American people — to new heights of racial and religious hatred and fear? Lead the American people to victory over entrenched interests — while appointing a coterie of billionaires and generals to his cabinet? If the dead actually can roll over in their graves, there must be a lot of tossing and turning going on right now at Mount Vernon, Monticello, Hermitage Gardens, Oyster Bay, Hyde Park and maybe even Simi Valley.
Gingrich, who was pressured by his own colleagues to give up the House speakership in 1998 due to ethics violations, may present something of a comic figure. But don’t let the fact that soon-to-be President Trump left him off the Republican ticket, and has now apparently left him out of his cabinet, lead you to believe he is irrelevant.
We underestimated Donald. We should not underestimate Newt. He is smart, connected, well-funded and entrepreneurial. His histories — most notably “Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History and Future“ and “A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters“ — are as faithful to historical truths as Trump’s speeches are to contemporary truths. But they have been more than commercial successes. They also have been ideologically influential on the religious and political right. Gingrich successfully led the GOP to hijack the idea of American exceptionalism and, following suit, Trump emblazoned “Make America Great Again” on millions of red caps.
In fact, Trump may well have told Gingrich he needs him more as a publicist than as a department head. Gingrich himself told the press he would not hold a post in the Trump administration because he wants to work on “strategic planning … I want to be free to network across the whole system and look at what we have to do to succeed.”
Don’t scoff. Gingrich, like Trump, is a showman, and even more than Trump he is a pontificator. He is also arguably the one Republican who can fuse the ambitions of Trump and the aspirations of the congressional Republicans. Don’t forget, Newt captured public attention and Congress for the GOP in 1994 by issuing a “Contract with America“ (an idea Trump also picked up on to issue a “Contract for the American Voter“).
Gingrich surely sees himself as the grand figure who can harness together President Trump and the congressional Republicans in favor of pursuing a Trumpian Revolution. As Gingrich told the Heritage folks: If Trump can “dance” effectively through two terms; if Republicans can band together as a “movement” against the elitist, politically-correct left; and if they can elect another president in 2024; then they will be able to confidently say, “We have replaced the FDR model and we are now in a period of very different government.”
Of course, most Americans did not vote for Donald Trump and the great majority definitely did not vote to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and environmental regulation and protection. But we can take little solace in that. The Republican right rules — not just in too many states, but all too soon in every branch of government — and, as Gingrich’s remarks make clear, they have the legacy of FDR, the Greatest Generation, and the fight for the Four Freedoms in their sights. Led by opportunists, reactionaries and crazies, they are ready to do battle.
Our only chance of defeating Trump, Gingrich, Ryan and the rest is to start doing as FDR did, but as Democrats for too long have failed to do. In the words of no less an authority than Prof. Gingrich: Believe in the American people, arouse the American people, and lead the American people to victory over the entrenched powerful interests.
Harvey J. Kaye is the Ben & Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and author of The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great” (Simon & Schuster). He is currently writing “Radicals at Heart: Why Americans Should Embrace their Radical History” (The New Press). Follow him on Twitter.
Harvey J. Kaye.
Tags: Against, Deal, destiny, Enters, Gingrich’s, Long, Newt, Rendezvous, stage, With, Финал
British Leaks Describe Trump’s ‘Act of Diplomatic Vandalism’ on Iran Deal
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1889
|
__label__wiki
| 0.991319
| 0.991319
|
'Like for Likes' shows love on social media
Kang Ha-neul, from left, Lee Som, Kim Joo-hyuk, Choi Ji-woo, Lee Mi-yeon and Yoo Ah-in pose during a press conference introducing their upcoming romantic comedy film "Like for Likes" at a theater in Apgujeong, southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
A romantic comedy featuring A-list stars, including "Veteran" star Yoo Ah-in, will hit the big screen here next month.
Titled "Like for Likes," the film features three couples ― Yoo Ah-in and Lee Mi-yeon; Kim Joo-hyuk and Choi Ji-woo; and Kang Ha-neul and Lee Som.
At a press conference, Tuesday, director Park Hyun-jin introduced her film, the love stories of three couples who start dating on a social network service.
"Reflecting the current trend that more people use social media for relationships, the three couples in the film develop their relations through Facebook," the director explained at a theater in Apgujeong, southern Seoul.
The six protagonists starring in the new film commented how satisfied they were with their on-screen partners and enjoyed filming.
"Shooting with actor Yoo Ah-in was a completely new experience," said actress Lee Mi-yeon, who dates the younger actor in the movie. "As many know, he is a person with distinct characteristics and has a great passion for film, so I was under pressure to keep up with his tremendous concentration while shooting," the 44-year-old actress said.
Responding to Lee, Yoo said "I have respected her for a long, long time and have regarded her as my ideal type ever since I began acting in the industry. Overall, I had enjoyed working with her." In the film, Lee features as a veteran television drama writer while Yoo plays the role of a top actor.
Actor Kim Joo-hyuk, who becomes a couple with actress Choi Ji-woo said he had felt comfortable working with Choi from the first day they met.
"I was comfortable showing with her from the beginning of the film. She's an actor with ingenuous beauty and of course, she looks so beautiful," Kim said.
"We hadn't met each other even on an informal occasion. But after I heard that my on-screen partner was to be played by him, I was like free from care. He is caring and I could concentrate on shooting thanks to his consideration," Choi responded to Kim.
In the film, Choi plays an air stewardess while Kim is a tenant who rents a room Choi's house.
Actor Kang Ha-neul and actress Lee Som, both 25, revealed their first impressions of one another before shooting began.
"After meeting with her, I knew she was an unaffected and honest person," Kang said. Lee made his name as an actress after taking a lead role in 2014 romance "Scarlet Innocence," also said that she learned a lot from Kang.
Kang plays an up-and-coming composer who has never dated in his life and Lee portrays a rookie television producer who refers to herself as an"expert on dating."
"Like for Likes" will hit screens nationwide from Feb. 18.
baekby@ktimes.com More articles by this reporter
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1893
|
__label__wiki
| 0.884006
| 0.884006
|
Byng, John
Hierarchical Path: Seven Years War (Main Page) >> Personalities >> Byng, John
Rear-Admiral (1745-47). Vice-Admiral (1747-56) and Admiral (1756-57)
baptised October 29, 1704, Southhill, Bedfordshire, England
died March 14, 1757, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK
Detail of a portrait of John Byng by Thomas Hudson, 1749 - Source: Wikimedia Commons
John Byng was the fourth son of Rear-Admiral George Byng (1663–1733).
In March 1718, at the age of 13, John Byng joined the British Navy. On August 11 of the same year, at the outbreak of the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-20), Byng took part in the Battle of Cape Passaro in Sicily.
In 1723, Byng was promoted lieutenant.
In 1727, Byng was promoted captain of the HMS Gibraltar.
In 1742, Byng was appointed Commodore-Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland.
In 1745, Byng was promoted to rear-admiral. In 1745 and 1746, Byng acted as commander-in-chief in Leith.
In 1747, Byng was promoted to vice-admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.
In 1751, Byng was elected to the Parliament for Rochester. He would remain member of the Parliament until his death.
In 1754, Byng commissioned the building of the mansion of Wrotham Park in his estate in Hertfordshire. He probably never lived there.
In 1756, Byng was serving in the Channel when the British received intelligence of the planned French expedition against Minorca. On March 8, the British Admiralty ordered to place a squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Byng for the protection of Minorca. The squadron had to be ready by March 11. Byng was promoted admiral for the circumstance and was assisted by Rear-Admiral Temple West. Byng was given only 10 ships of the line to fulfill his mission. He was also directed to take on board the absent officers of the Minorca garrison and a reinforcement of troops, consisting of the 7th Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. To make room for these men, all the marines belonging to the squadron were sent on shore. On April 6, Byng's squadron finally set sail from St. Helen's for Minorca. On May 20, Byng's squadron made an attempt to relieve Fort St. Philip but after a timid Battle off Minorca, he withdrew towards Gibraltar. On May 24, Byng held a council of war on board the Ramillies (90). Considering that the fleet could not relieve Minorca and that Gibraltar would be in great danger if anything happened to the fleet, the council unanimously resolved to proceed to Gibraltar. This withdrawal virtually condemned the British garrison of Fort St. Philip who would finally surrender on June 28. At the end of May, news of Byng’s failure reached Great Britain. Sir Edward Hawke and Rear-Admiral Charles Saunders were immediately ordered to embark for Gibraltar. On June 19, Byng's squadron arrived at Gibraltar. The admiral at once began preparations to return to Minorca. On July 3, Hawke and Saunders arrived at Gibraltar on board the Antelope (54) while Byng was still engaged in preparations to return to Minorca. Hawke immediately assumed command of the British fleet. On July 9, the Antelope sailed from Gibraltar with Admiral Byng and Rear-Admiral West on board. On July 26, the Antelope arrived at Portsmouth after a short trip. Byng was immediately put under arrest for his conduct during the encounter of May 20. On August 19, Byng was landed and sent to Greenwich. There he remained in confinement until December 23, when he was removed to Portsmouth. On December 27, Byng's trial began on board the St. George (96) in Portsmouth harbour.
Byng’s trial continued until January 27, 1757. On that day sentence was pronounced, and the admiral was transferred to the Monarch (74), then in harbour. On March 14, Byng was executed at Portsmouth, aboard Monarch.
This article borrows most of the information for the period before 1755 from:
Chisholm, Hugh: The Encyclopaedia Britannica : a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, 1910-1920, Vol. 4 – Byng, John
the Wikipedia article John Byng, retrieved on March 31, 2019
The section on the period after 1755 is mostly derived from our articles depicting the various campaigns, battles and sieges.
Retrieved from "http://kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Byng,_John&oldid=14782"
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1894
|
__label__cc
| 0.684039
| 0.315961
|
Can Women Save US Democrats in 2014?
The Democratic Party is hoping 2014 will be a Year of the Woman—again.
As party operatives prepare for the midterm elections, Democratic women are being cast in starring roles, on the ballot and at the ballot box, as the party tries to take back politically important governor's mansions and keep its fragile majority in the Senate.
"The importance of women to the Democratic Party in 2014 cannot be overstated," said Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for EMILY's List, which recruits and supports Democratic women candidates.
We invite you to read the full article published December 2, 2013
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1895
|
__label__cc
| 0.643449
| 0.356551
|
Hunting and Joining GMIC to Release AI Talent Report: AI Pays Steady Over Internet
via:博客园 time:2018/4/9 14:31:29 readed:1056
April 9, 2018 —— 2017 is a year of AI (artificial intelligence). After a full year of development, what is the development of the talent market in the AI field? In response to this problem, the domestic high-end talent career development platform for recruitment and joint GMIC Beijing 2018 Conference recently released the "AI Talent Competitiveness Report" (hereinafter referred to as "Report"). The report found that software engineers and algorithm engineers are the most demanding functions in the AI field; the salary of AI employees continues to exceed the Internet industry significantly.
The Graduate Employment Research Institute randomly selected sample of 5.5 million managers from the recruitment platform covering 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country; the major data research period in the report is mainly based on the three quarters of the second half of 2017. It can be traced back to the third quarter of 2016.
The report also found that the AI core functions have significantly higher requirements for academic qualifications; AI talents are mainly distributed in three first-tier cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen; in the industry, the distribution of AI talents is mainly internet, but it also gradually penetrates into other industries. .
In the recent recruitment survey of more than 13,000 people, 85.90% of the participants indicated that they are willing to enter the AI company; most of the participants have a positive attitude toward AI, and 78.90% are optimistic about the development of AI. Progress in science and technology will make human life better. Only 3.20% of people are pessimistic and fear that AI will replace human beings.
The GMIC Beijing 2018 Conference will be held on April 26-28 at the Beijing National Convention Center. As a gift for the tenth anniversary, this year's GMIC Conference will fully embrace AI and set up a two-day AI main forum to discuss the trend of artificial intelligence technology and tap into its industrialization and commercial value of the scene. Presently confirmed guests include AI-Guru Geoffrey Hinton, Yann Lecun, Michael I. Jordan, founder and CEO of Innovation Factory Kaifai Li, Xiaopeng Automobile Chairman He Xiaopeng, President Glory Zhao Ming, and Craig Venter, the father of the Human Genome Project. Turing Award winner Shafi Goldwasser et al. In addition, this year's GMIC Conference will also hold nearly 30 industry summits and brand special events, as well as an exhibition of high-tech and products with an area of 22,000 square meters.
GMIC organizer and founder of the Great Wall Club Wen Chu said that in the past ten years, well-known mobile internet companies in China have visited GMIC. I hope that in the next decade, all outstanding AI companies and high-potential talents will gather at GMIC to jointly promote the industry. growing up. This is also an important reason for the depth of cooperation between GMIC and recruitment. According to reports, in addition to the AI talent report, the two parties will also jointly open AI recruitment channels online and offline to connect AI companies and talents.
Highest competition in automatic driving, followed by voice recognition
This report finds that in the third quarter of 2017, machine learning has the highest level of competition and competition in the AI's six core areas of “autopilot, computer vision, speech recognition, natural language processing, machine learning, and knowledge reasoning.” The index is 8.28; followed by autopilot, the competition heat index is 8.24.
(Source: Hunting Big Data Research Institute)
In the fourth quarter of the same year, the index of competition for autopilot was the highest, at 8.47; followed by speech recognition, and the index of competition was 8.40. Overall, in the two quarters of the second half of 2017, the automatic driving competition heat index performed well. Autopilot was hotly promoted with hot events in the industry. On July 5th, 2017, Baidu founder and CEO Li Yanhong took a self-driving car to participate in the Baidu AI Developer Conference, arousing the attention of the mass media and netizens, autopilot once Caused widespread concern. As the representative of China’s new vehicle builders, the first G4 car production model G3 will start accepting bookings in the near future, and will deliver it publicly by the end of 2018. It is worth mentioning that the G3 is an auto-driving solution specifically targeting Asia, and it was widely publicized as soon as it was released early this year.
The average annual salary of AI surpasses the Internet and scarcity is the value
The development of AI is largely due to the vigorous development of the Internet industry in recent years, and it is inextricably linked with the development of the Internet. Therefore, here we compare the salary of AI practitioners with the Internet industry.
From the third quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017, the average annual salary of employees in the AI sector is significantly higher than the average annual salary of the Internet industry. In the third and fourth quarters of 2017, the AI average annual salary and the Internet annual salary all reached the peak: The AI average annual salary peaked in the third quarter of 2017, reaching 329,500 yuan, an increase of 10.79% year-on-year; the average annual Internet salary peak reached in the fourth quarter of 2017 The peak value was 281,600 yuan, an increase of 11.26% year-on-year. The average annual salary of AI is RMB 479,900 higher than the average annual salary of the Internet.
The rapid rise of AI in recent years has brought together cutting-edge technologies and talents. In this respect, talents are still relatively scarce. Therefore, companies are also willing to spend a lot of money to attract talents.
Software and Algorithm Engineers Lead AI Core Functions, Mechanical Engineers Top Ten
In the third and fourth quarters of 2017, among the top ten AI core functional distributions (the proportion of core functional requirements), software engineers and algorithm engineers accounted for the highest percentage, ranking first and second. The difference in the proportions of the two functions in the third and fourth quarters was not significant. The proportion of software engineers in the third quarter was slightly higher than that in the fourth quarter. The proportion of the algorithm engineers was slightly higher in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence in recent years has benefited from the vigorous development of "Internet +", which has formed a huge amount of data, which in turn has promoted the rapid development of algorithms. Therefore, software engineers and algorithm engineers have the highest share of core functions.
The share of other core functions is relatively low, ranging from 1.22% to 3.87%. It is worth noting that the function with obvious Internet attributes is ranked third in the AI core functions of product managers. It can be seen that the AI field places emphasis on the transformation of products into products. Mechanical engineers also rank among the top ten, although tenth, but it is enough to prove that AI and machinery manufacturing have had more intersections and deeper integration, conforming to the “Intelligent Manufacturing” trend advocated by the state in recent years.
AI's core functions increasingly favor highly educated, and doctoral talent demand has the highest growth year-on-year
AI's high-tech attributes determine it has a low academic threshold. From the third quarter of 2016 to the sixth quarter of 2017, the AI's demand for core functions was reflected in different academic qualifications: the demand for undergraduate education as a whole showed a declining trend, but the decline was not obvious. The fourth quarter of 2017 Job demand accounted for 77.42%, a decrease of 4.92% year-on-year.
At the same time, the demand for doctoral and master's degrees in positions in the AI field has been increasing year by year. The demand for master's and doctoral degrees in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 20.78% and 1.80%, respectively, which represented an increase of 17.14% and 116.87% respectively. In the third quarter of 2017, the demand for doctoral qualifications in the AI field reached the peak of the six quarters, which was 2.92%.
AI incorporates the cutting-edge research results of many high-tech elements and many disciplines. As it further develops and deepens, highly educated people will become more and more popular in this field.
In the survey of hunters recruiting tens of thousands of people recently, people described the three adjectives most frequently mentioned by AI as “precision” “precise” and “swift”, and the proportion of people who chose these three words was 72.30%. 63.20% and 46.00%. These three words also represent people's perception of AI on the other hand.
AI talents occupy half of the Internet and gradually penetrate into other industries
From the third quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017, AI talents are distributed in different degrees across the industry, among which the Internet industry has the largest number of distributions, with more than 60% in each quarter; followed by the electronic communications, machinery manufacturing and financial industries.
In these six quarters, the distribution of AI talents in the Internet industry as a whole has dropped significantly, with the fourth quarter having rebounded from the third quarter. In the electronic communications, machinery manufacturing and financial industries, the distribution of AI talents has generally increased.
This shows that AI talent is not limited to the Internet industry, but penetrates into other industries under the premise that the Internet industry is dominant. This is closely related to the country's layout for the development of the AI industry.
In 2017, the Party’s Nineteenth Congress pointed out that “accelerating the building of manufacturing powers, accelerating the development of advanced manufacturing, and promoting the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and the real economy” will build “wisdom society” with Build "high-tech countries, quality countries, aerospace powerhouses, strong networks, strong traffic, digital China". It can be seen that AI plays an important role in the development of the country in the future.
At the 2018 National Conference on Science and Technology held in early January of this year, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang pointed out when introducing the key scientific and technological work in 2018 that the breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technology and application demonstrations were strengthened to promote the depth of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy. Integrate and nurture new economic forms such as shared economy, digital economy and smart economy.
According to Wan Gang’s report, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing lead the support of the digital economy, platform economy, and shared economy. According to Xinhuanet, the digital economy reached 22.6 trillion yuan in 2016, accounting for more than 30% of GDP. The number of online retail transactions and electronic information product manufacturing ranks first in the world.
This shows that in the next few years, the integration of AI and various industries will be more in-depth, and AI talent will be more distributed to non-Internet industries, creating more value for society.
AI talent gathered in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and second-tier cities also sparked a fire.
In the third and fourth quarters of 2017, the top 10 cities and their rankings of AI talent distribution are the same, and the same city has a small difference in proportions in different quarters. In these two quarters, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen accounted for the top three AI talents, bringing together over 60% of AI talent across the country, and Beijing alone accounted for almost one-third of AI talent across the country. These cities are all important cities for the Internet and high-tech start-up companies, providing good development grounds for AI.
It is worth noting that the Hangzhou AI talent ranks in the two quarters comparable to the first-tier city of Guangzhou, ranking first in the second-tier cities. This is closely related to Hangzhou's good Internet development environment and the AI industry base.
In these two quarters, Xi'an AI's talent supply accounted for 11th place, 0.88% in the third quarter and 0.94% in the fourth quarter. It is the only city in the northwest that ranks among the top 20 AI talents. In recent years, Xi'an has intensified the introduction of talents. In particular, the city has continuously upgraded its new policy on talent since 2017. At the same time, it has lowered the threshold for entry. It has vigorously introduced various types of leading talents, including technological innovation talents, and created policy advantages for the development of AI talents. .
AI talents are most widely distributed in private companies, far more than other companies
In the distribution of AI talents, the proportion of private companies is the most, and in the second half of 2017, they exceeded 70%. Followed by foreign companies, accounting for more than 10%, while the proportion of other types of enterprises and institutions do not exceed 10%.
In the fourth quarter of 2017, the distribution of private AI talent was 73.72%, which was 2.75% higher than the third quarter of the same year. Private companies have been very active in China in recent years, and a large number of high-tech companies with strong strength have been born. Companies such as Ali, Baidu, and Today’s headlines have a strong appeal for those who are committed to technological development.
In the recent survey of over 10,000 people recruited and recruited, 85.90% of the participants indicated that they are interested in working in AI companies. Among them, 46.90% of them are due to the fact that AI conforms to the trend of the times and represents the frontier areas of the times. 37.90% of the people are because of “strong curiosity about new things”, and only 9.10% of the participants are interested in high-tech attractive salary; those who are interested in their professional counterparts Only 6.10%.
Seventy-eight percent of the participants were optimistic about the development of AI. They believe that technological advancement will make human life better. Only 3.20% of people expressed pessimism and fear that AI will replace human beings.
Participants have different opinions on the impact of AI on workplace people. 47.30% of participants believe that AI has a positive impact on the work of the workplace. Only 0.70% of people think that there is a negative effect; 45.70 people think that both have a positive effect. Among them, 29.60% of participants believe that the greatest positive impact of AI is to increase work efficiency and experience. This group accounts for the largest proportion; 26.40 people believe that the greatest positive effect of AI is to make people's work more creative and valuable. Among the people with opposite attitudes, 30.60% think that the biggest negative effect is people’s over-dependence on machines; 29.20% think that the biggest negative effect is “Let some people lose their professional advantages”.
Senior consultants in the hiring industry believe that the development of AI is unstoppable. No matter what kind of attitudes people have about AI, they should not resist understanding and learning about new areas. Only by grasping the latest trends in the development of the industry can they find more appropriate positioning for themselves. more
A good development trajectory.
tommgoogle
Baidu lifeline AI
IOS 13 Wechat Update Function: Notebook Collection and Document Preview can be set as Floating Window
Do you support the Chinese national flower for peony?
Google executives: The company has no bias against conservative views
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1898
|
__label__wiki
| 0.709376
| 0.709376
|
West Covina Medical Space for Lease
20 Spaces and 14 Properties
Sizes: 1,500 Sqft to 26,000 Sqft
Starting at: $1.56/Sqft/Month
West Covina is a city in Los Angeles County, California, located 19 miles (31 km) east of Downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and is part of Greater Los Angeles. The population for the city was 106,098 at the 2010 census.
Medical Space available in close proximity to West Covina Hospitals:
Doctors Hospital of West Covina, Inc
Doctors Hospital of West Covina is a general medical and surgical hospital in West Covina, CA, with 46 beds. Survey data for the latest year available shows that the hospital had a total of 490 admissions. Its physicians performed 104 inpatient and 341 outpatient surgeries.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1904
|
__label__wiki
| 0.601043
| 0.601043
|
Piltown Local Area Plan
Collaborating with engaged citizens..
Housing and Population
Employment and Economy
Natural and Built Heritage
Amenity Enhancement, Open Space and Tourism
Community-Organisations and Services
Development Objectives
2.3 Transport
2.3.1 Roads
The N24 national route from Waterford to Limerick by-passes Piltown to the south-west of the town. The regional route the R698, linking Piltown to Owing and Callan runs through the east of the town on a north-south axis. The section of the R698 through Piltown is known as Banagher Road. There is a network of local roads, along which most of the residential development has taken place – Main Street, Tower Road, the Tybroughney road, Creamery Road, and the Ardclone Road.
Residents remain concerned regarding traffic safety on the by-pass, particularly at the junctions at the Tower and the Ink-Bottle, due to the number of incidents occurring – some particular issues related to inadequate lighting, and the need for a slip road when turning left coming off the by-pass from Carrick-On-Suir.
The Final Stage 3 Audit was undertaken by TMS Consultants in relation to the by-pass and the recommendations of this audit were implemented. A Road Safety Audit involves the evaluation of road schemes during design and construction to identify potential hazards that may affect any type of road user, and the appropriate measures to eliminate or mitigate any such hazards.
The ‘2+1 System’ was introduced in 2006 and a Stage 3 Road Safety Audit was undertaken following the completion of the scheme, the recommendations of the audit were implemented.
Since the introduction of the 2+1 System the feedback from An Garda Siochana has been extremely positive. A proposal has been approved by the NRA for works to be carried out, on a trial basis over a number of weeks, at the Piltown Tower Road exit to gradually reduce the width of the hard shoulder on approach from Carrick-on-Suir, having regard to the number of incidents occurring, and to improve traffic safety at this location.
T1 – To work with the NRA in the provision of a safe transport route along the N24 national route, particularly at the Tower Road junction and the Ink Bottle Junction.
2.3.2 Traffic Management & Calming
Traffic volumes through Piltown have reduced with the completion of the by-pass since the opening of the N24. Traffic figures nationally have also reduced due to the economic down-turn and this is particularly the case of construction related bulk cargo vehicles.
Traffic safety, however, remains an area of concern for residents, with particular regard to traffic safety at the national school, which combines in the morning with the traffic entering Kildalton College.
Since the Piltown Local Area Plan 2003, on-site parking has been extended and improved at the school, a pedestrian crossing has been installed, together with flashing lights at the crossing and flashing warning signage, reduced speed limit of 30km/h and rumble strips on approach to the school.
The school implements a traffic management system with a general agreement locally for a one-way system to operate at collection time for traffic to move from north to south towards the village. Further measures at the school would come as part of an overall schools review programme for the county. It can be investigated if the flashing lights can be set on a timer at the school.
T2 – To facilitate measures to provide a safe traffic system at Piltown National School that will prioritise and secure the safe movement of children.
A number of issues were raised during the public consultation in relation to traffic including the condition of the access road to the soccer club, safety on the Tybroughney and Ardclone roads and maintenance concerns.
The road leading to the soccer club is in private ownership; in order for the Council to take control of the road, a formal taking in charge application is required, with the consent of the landowner and a requirement for the road to be brought up to an acceptable roads standard before it would be considered to be taken in charge.
Maintenance of hedges are the responsibility of the landowners, and where relevant letters will issue to the relevant landowner in relation to responsibility for hedge-cutting and maintenance. Roads maintenance works are carried out on an ongoing basis in the area on the basis of priority.
Speeding through the built up area remains a concern. Ramps have been installed on the Tower Road and Hillcrest Avenue. Review of speed limits is carried out every 2-3 years, and the Council request formal submissions during this time, which are considered as part of the review.
2.3.3 Footpaths
Footpath provision is generally good along the Main Street and the western sides of Hillcrest Avenue and the Banagher Road extending to the Iverk Show grounds.
However there are several areas in which footpath provision remains deficient, including on Tower Road, at the bridge north of the Church of Ireland church and on the road from Tenneysons leading to the soccer pitch.
Road and footpath maintenance are undertaken on an ongoing basis in the area. Construction of new footpaths is heavily dependent on the availability of finance and the inclusion of the objectives in the Council’s work programme for the area.
The feasibility of a pedestrian link from the community centre to the soccer club could be considered in consultation with the relevant land owner as an alternative pedestrian route.
T3 – To provide and improve footpath connections in Piltown.
Considering the inter-dependency between Fiddown and Piltown, it is appropriate that a pedestrian and cycle linkage should be provided to link the two settlements; although this may not be realised in the short term, this remains an objective for the area. This link would be very beneficial to the residents of both settlements from an amenity and health perspective, In addition it could reduce the number of car journeys between the settlements, particularly in relation to activities for younger members of the community. In addition, better pedestrian and cycle access to Fiddown, could increase accessibility to the River Suir and may in turn encourage the secondary benefits and improvement of the site of the Fiddown Castle.
Objective – T4:
To investigate the feasibility of providing a safe pedestrian and cycleway linkage between Piltown and Piltown, subject to financial and human resources.
2.3.4 Lighting
Most of Piltown is well served by public lighting, including along the main street and Tower road; and public lighting was required as part of any new residential development.
A lack of public lighting still remains in several areas, including at the school and extending towards Kildalton College, from Anthony’s Inn to the Parish Community Centre and at the Tower.
In some areas the infrastructure exists to facilitate new lighting, but funding is required to erect the lampposts. In the area of the school maintenance of trees and foliage may assist in prevent the lighting being obscured.
Objective – T5
To carry out a review of public lighting needs in Piltown with a view of identifying priority areas in need of improvement and to seek to install new lighting subject to the availability of financial and human resources.
2.3.5 Parking
Parking in Piltown is mainly provided on street; off-street parking is provided at several locations in the town – at the Parish Community Centre, the national school, Anthony’s Inn, and at Centra. There are no double yellow lines in the town at present, and parking usually takes place on street.
Whilst parking at the take-away and the pharmacy has been identified as very busy at particular times of the day; there is on-street parking available along both sides of the main street and off-street parking on Hillcrest Avenue at Centra. The parking bollards on Main Street were erected due to concerns regarding pedestrian safety which is considered a priority and are considered effective in this regard; in addition this ensures accessibility is not restricted for persons with mobility impairments on the foothpath.
The car-parking standards as set out in the Kilkenny County Development Plan shall apply to new development in Piltown.
2.3.6 Public Transport
Piltown is well served by bus services linking the town with Waterford, Limerick, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. The Ring-a-link service is active in the area provides a service in the south-west of Kilkenny.
There are no bus shelters within the town at present, and an objective of the plan will be to investigate the possibility of a bus shelter being erected in the village.
In addition it will be investigated if a second bus stop can be provided at the Fiddown end of the town, to facilitate residents living in this area.
To investigate the possibility of bus shelters being erected in the village and a bus stop being provided at the Fiddown end of town.
2.3.7 Linkages within the Town
In assessing any new development in Piltown, the Council may have regard to the development potential of adjoining land. One of the elements of this integration will be the provision of pedestrian and cycle linkages between all new developments, to provide for a pleasant network of routes and walkways interlinking the town. In particular, should lands to the south of Main street be developed, access points should be reserved free from development to allow for the creation of pedestrian and cycleway linkages to the Tybroughney road in the future.
Questions to consider for Transport
Please also indicate below whether you are making a comment or whether you are making a formal submission to the plan.
Administrator on Community-Organisations and Services
Eamon Ronan on Community-Organisations and Services
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1906
|
__label__wiki
| 0.955633
| 0.955633
|
Cambodian-Thai PMs to discuss border row
Friday, 10 September 2010 16:35 Cheang Sokha
CAMBODIAN officials said yesterday that Prime Minister Hun Sen had accepted an invitation to meet Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva in New York later this month, as the countries work to build ties following the resumption of full diplomatic relations last month.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Abhisit had requested a meeting with Hun Sen on September 24 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where ASEAN leaders are also scheduled to meet United States President Barack Obama.
“Samdech Hun Sen accepted the meeting, and the two premiers will hold bilateral discussions,” Koy Kuong said.
Hun Sen accepted the meeting and the two premiers will hold [talks].
Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told Bangkok’s The Nation that the gathering would be “an informal and friendly meeting to discuss only cooperation, not issues of conflict”.
Cambodia and Thailand withdrew their respective ambassadors last year in a rift over the appointment of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as economics adviser to the Cambodian government. Thaksin is wanted on graft charges at home in Thailand.
Ties were restored last month following the announcement of Thaksin’s resignation.
But although relations have warmed with Thaksin out of the picture, the countries’ dispute over territory along their border adjacent to Preah Vihear temple remains unresolved.
Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh this month, Hun Sen chided the Thai government for its inaction in resolving the ongoing border dispute and said discord between the two countries would remain as long as Thai troops were stationed in the disputed territory.
Government to allow nation-wide strike.
Photo by: Will Baxter
Thursday, 09 September 2010 18:26 Kim Samath
Wage crisis hits point of no return
LABOUR leaders have pledged that a strike that could be the biggest Cambodia has seen in recent memory will be held peacefully and without public disturbance, amid questions about whether authorities will allow the work stoppage to proceed as planned.
Unionists claim to have collected thumbprints from 80,000 workers who have pledged to participate in the five-day strike, slated to begin on Monday, to protest against a July decision setting the minimum wage for garment workers at US$61 per month.
Protest leaders have requested that the monthly wage for Cambodia’s 345,000 garment and footwear workers be set at $93.
Ath Thun, head of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said strikers would demonstrate at their factories rather than on the streets, and therefore posed no threat to public order.
“The workers can either stay at home or go to the factories, but they will not work for one week,” Ath Thun said.
Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association in Cambodia, said on Wednesday that his organisation would advise any factories facing work stoppages to seek court injunctions declaring the strikes illegal and requiring all strikers to return to work within 48 hours.
Cambodia’s Labour Law requires that workers planning a strike give notice to employers and the Ministry of Labour at least seven working days in advance. Union leader Kong Athit said that letters to GMAC and the Ministry of Labour had been sent only yesterday.
Free Trade Union president Chea Mony said the strike’s organisers had not made sufficient effort to negotiate before planning a work stoppage.
“If we strike without holding negotiations and having a clear purpose, it can affect investors, and the government might take action,” Chea Mony said.
Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said police would not be stationed at factories pre-emptively, and would not suppress demonstrations so long as they were conducted lawfully and without violence.
“If they follow the law, it doesn’t affect security and order,” Khieu Sopheak said. “We will take action if they break the law by causing violence or destroying factory property.”
Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema could not be reached. Deputy governor Pa Socheatvong and police chief Touch Naruth said they were too busy to comment.
Loo said it was unlikely that the actual number of strikers would come anywhere close to 80,000. Union leaders, he said, had not considered the effect the strike could have on the sector.
“The unions for sure are not going to suffer,” Loo said. “It’s going to be the workers that are going to be harmed the most.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SAM RITH AND JAMES O’TOOLE
Jungle girl goes into training
Photo by: Douglas Long
Rochom P’nhieng, Cambodia’s “jungle girl”, sits in a hammock in Ratanakkiri province.
Thursday, 09 September 2010 20:14 Mom Kunthear and Vong Sokheng
CAMBODIA’s “jungle girl” is receiving life skills training from an NGO in her native Ratanakkiri province as she works to reintegrate into society, her purported father said yesterday.
Local residents say Rochom P’nhieng, believed to be 30 years old, spent 18 years living in the wilds of Ratanakkiri after going missing in 1989 while herding buffalo. After being discovered in the jungle in January of 2007, she was taken in by the family of Sal Lou, from O’Yadav district, who claimed her as his long-lost daughter.
Although Rochom P’nhieng was said to have made progress in the years following her return to civilisation, helping out around the house and learning a few words of Khmer and Phnong, a local language, she fled her home briefly in May in an attempt to return to the jungle. She was later discovered stranded in a 10-metre dugout toilet, and Sal Lou said her efforts at reintegration had been largely stunted since then.
“I hope that she can be reintegrated in our community and learn the language,” Sal Lou said. “I have no time to teach her, so I am happy she is working with an NGO”.
Hector Rifa, project director for the Spanish mental health organisation Psicologos Sin Fronteras, said in an email yesterday that Rochom P’nhieng was just one of a group of around 100 villagers to whom PSF has been providing psychological services.
“Everybody needs to learn and needs to change behaviours to adapt better to a new social environment, and all according to their capacities,” Rifa said.
Though she has yet to learn to communicate extensively via language, Rochom P’nhieng was being taught health habits and social skills to ease her interactions with others, Rifa said.
“After her training, I hope that P’nhieng will be able to clean the house, wash clothes, cook and psychoanalyse,” Sal Lou said.
“It will help my family members a lot, because then we will have time to work and earn money without having to watch her all the time to make sure that she doesn’t escape into the forest again.”
TV station provides cover for troops
Thursday, 09 September 2010 19:02 Thet Sambath
CAMBODIA Television Network has received more than 200 tonnes of cement and thousands of dollars in donations to help construct bunkers for soldiers stationed along the border after launching a drive last month.
“We have received more than 200 tonnes of cement and US$4,000 for buying steel to build military bunkers along the border with Thailand,” CTN director Tok Kimsay said yesterday. “It is for the military’s safety, to protect our territory.”
CTN is collecting money and raw materials through a televised campaign that began on August 31 for the construction of bunkers along a 113-kilometre stretch of border primarily in Oddar Meanchey province.
The campaign is part of a controversial programme, the specifics of which were spelled out in a document signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen in February, that has private companies support the armed forces.
Although government officials have said the programme would emphasise humanitarian needs, Tok Kimsay has said he wants to provide support for troops in potential combat.
Yesterday, he said there had been “no problem” in procuring donations because of interest shown by Cambodians at home and abroad.
“We hope we will be successful in getting enough funds for these bunkers,” he said.
He previously estimated that 1,000 tonnes of concrete and 500 tonnes of steel would be necessary to complete the project.
Since border tension with Thailand began to rise in 2008, several local television stations have broadcast pleas for the public to donate food, clothing, medicine and other materials to help support border troops. CTN continues to make on-air appeals for donations, and regularly lists the names of those who have contributed to the campaign.
Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann said yesterday that construction of military infrastructure was a government responsibility. “It is the duty of the government and Ministry of Defence to build bunkers for the military, not private companies,” he said.
Blazing drugs
Photo by: Rann Reuy
Part of a stockpile of more than US$100,000 worth of illicit drugs that was destroyed by Siem Reap provincial drug officials yesterday.
Thursday, 09 September 2010 18:07 Rann Reuy
Siem Reap province
Provincial authorities yesterday destroyed more than US$100,000 worth of illicit drugs seized over the past two years in Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey, officials said.
Non Sophanny, chief of the provincial anti-drug trafficking office, said that the haul burned by officials yesterday included 9,592 tablets of yama, or methamphetamine, 492 packages of crystal methamphetamine, three packages of heroin and two tablets of ecstacy.
“Most of the drugs were confiscated in Siem Reap,” Non Sophanny said.
He said it was likely that most of the methamphetamine had entered the province from Phnom Penh and by way of the Poipet border crossing from Thailand.
The seizures were the result of efforts to crack down on the sale and use of drugs in Siem Reap and Oddar Meanchey, he said. These efforts have also seen 42 people arrested for alleged involvement in trafficking illegal drugs since the start of the year, he added.
According to surveys conducted in Siem Reap town, he said, 241 people there are addicted to or otherwise involved with drugs.
“We are transforming drugs from making victims to destruction,” he said.
“If they got into the hands of our youth, it would have been a health hazard for many people.”
Sok Leakena, deputy provincial governor of Siem Reap, said he welcomed the efforts of law enforcement officials to curb the spread of drugs in the area. “We hope drug smuggling will decrease in the future because of the crackdown,” he said.
New Vietnamese Supermarket
Workers are busy at the US$3 million Vietnamese supermarket due to open on Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh, next month. Photo by: Sovan Philong
Thursday, 09 September 2010 19:32 Catherine James
CAMBODIA’S first Vietnamese supermarket will open its doors to customers next month, its administration manager said yesterday.
The US$3 million two-storey complex has been built on Phnom Penh’s Monivong Boulevard, in Boeung Keng Kang 3, near the Vietnamese embassy, and is owned by an investor from a firm called Z38 Co.
“It is the first Vietnamese
supermarket to open in Cambodia. We will provide good service to the clients,” Keo Rithy Thy, administration manager for the store said.
Despite its roots, the store, which will house around 100 booths for rent in 3,264 square metres of space, will not confine itself to selling Vietnamese products.
“We’re selling mix products come from abroad,” said the manager.
Chinese and Thai products will also be for sale at the complex, which is named simply Vietnamese Supermarket.
According to publicity for the store, it intends to sell bags, clothes, shoes, jewellery, toys, furniture, food and beverages.
Competitors are taking stock of the development.
“I’m not worrying anything because we have different products imported from abroad,” Chheang Meng, General Manager of Bayon Supermarket in Phnom Penh, said yesterday.
“We always give the best services to our clients and make clients feel confident with high quality standard goods,” he said.
Police Blotter: 10 Sep 2010
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Kaing Menghun
Part-time ice man iced by ice had self to blame
A 20-year-old man died after being crushed by seven large blocks of ice in Banteay Meanchey province on Tuesday. The victim was employed at a bespoke ice shop, which produces ice for local customers. While waiting to serve customers in the ice-producing room, seven slabs of ice fell on him, killing him instantly. The manager of the shop said the victim was “not a full-time worker”, and that the accident was his own fault because he failed to use proper ice-manoeuvring techniques.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY
Alcohol makes legless drunkard hopping mad
A one-legged man was arrested in Battambang province on Tuesday after his wife complained to police that he beat her during drunken rages. The victim told police that her unemployed husband always demanded money to buy alcohol after losing his leg in an accident a year ago. Each time she brought him alcohol, he would lose his temper and beat her, she said. He admitted hitting his wife, but denied ever causing serious injuries.
Dad accuses builder of raping his daughter
A construction worker was arrested yesterday after the father of the girl he slept with accused him of raping her in Phnom Penh. The father said he began searching for his daughter on Monday after she called him and said she had moved from Preah Sihanouk province to Phnom Penh to be with the accused. The man denied the rape allegations, insisting the two fell in love in Preah Sihanouk, and that any sex they had was consensual. After locating the couple, the father reported them to police.
Bicycle boozers find oncoming traffic, death
Two severely drunken bicycle riders were killed after colliding with a speeding car in Pursat province’s Krakor district on Tuesday. A witness said he saw the two victims trying to cross a street after emerging from a small path. Because they were so drunk, they did not register oncoming traffic. The two men died at the district hospital, and the driver of the car fled the scene on foot.
Police end yearlong hunt for accused thief
Police on Sunday arrested a man accused of robbery in Battambang province’s Kamreang district last year. The suspect was caught in Kampong Cham, having fled Battambang following the alleged robbery. The suspect told police, however, that he left in order to take a job at a rubber plantation. In response, district police commented that a thief never admits he is a thief until all the evidence is put in front of him.
Remittals key in wage debate
Sun Seak Lay, 22, cooks rice for lunch before going to work in the morning at a garment factory in Phnom Penh earlier this week.
It cannot help my family to have a good living standard, but it is better than nothing.
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Brooke Lewis and Mom Kunthear
SUN Seak Lay shares a cramped concrete house in Meanchey district with four other young women, all of whom work 12-hour days six days per week and can barely afford to feed themselves. At night, three of them sleep on a wooden platform on the ground level, while the other two sleep on the floor in a loft.
Like many garment workers, the 22-year-old sends a large chunk of her wages to her family, keeping just enough so she can eat, sleep and travel to work.
“Sometimes, I spend only 500 riels for a meal that tastes like water,” she said, “but I just eat it to keep my life going on for working.”
After leaving school at the age of 12, Sun Seak Lay worked alongside her parents in a rice field in Kandal province for four years before moving to the capital to take a job at a factory. Her chief goal is to keep her nine siblings in school.
“Poverty forced me to leave school and home in order to earn money for my family. I don’t want to work as a factory worker, but I have no choice,” she said. “I don’t want my brothers and sisters to leave school like me.”
At present, her basic wage amounts to about US$53 per month, and she also earns up to $30 in overtime. She sends the equivalent of her overtime pay home to supplement her family’s farming income. “It cannot help my family to have a good living standard, but it is better than nothing,” she said.
Kong Kunthea, one of Sun Seak Lay’s roommates, also 22, earns the same wages, and sends even more to her family in Kandal.
“I send my family from $40 to $50 per month, and keep for myself only about $20 per month, plus some for spending on water, electricity and rent,” she said.
In July, the Labour Advisory Committee, a body of government officials and industry representatives, upped the minimum wage – which is currently set at $50 plus a mandatory $6 cost-of-living allowance – to a total of $61 per month. The increase, the first since 2006, falls far below the $93 that some union leaders have asked for.
Both Sun Seak Lay and Kong Kunthea say the increase, set to go into effect in October, would be too small to make any noticeable impact on their lives, in large part because of the remittance payments they feel compelled to make.
But both women also said that no matter how much the wage increased, they would likely send almost all the extra money home.
Sun Seak Lay said that if the wage were to increase to US$90, she would double the amount she remits, meaning that, if she continued working overtime, she would be left with close to the amount she is already living on.
“I can send more money to my parents if I get a higher wage,” she said. “I will send $60 or $70 to them if I can get $90 per month.”
The extent to which remittances should be considered in arriving at a suitable wage for the sector has been a point of contention in the ongoing debate.
Last September, the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, a local research institute, released a report concluding that the ideal minimum wage for the sector would be $71.99 per month, or $74.85 per month once rising food costs are taken into account. The study – which drew from interviews with 300 garment workers representing 74 factories in five provinces – contended that at least $15 for remittances should be factored into the minimum wage.
“Workers stated that their core mission for entering the garment sector workforce is to earn cash income for their family,” the report stated. “If they do not earn enough to send remittances home, their parents will call them back. Thus, the minimum wage must cover not only the basic needs of workers, but also their dependants.”
Moeun Tola, head of the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Centre, which commissioned the CIDS report, yesterday recalled that many workers said their families would pull them out of the factories if they could not afford to send at least $15 home each month.
“They said that if they did not send at least $15 home, after two or three months their parents would come to the factory to get them and take them home,” he said.
Like Sun Seak Lay and Kong Kunthea, he said a minimum wage of $61 would not be enough to cover remittances and basic living costs.
“Living conditions will not change at all if the salary goes up to $61,” he said, and added that factory workers “will have to work more overtime” to counter rising living costs.
But Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said yesterday that a minimum wage did not need to provide for remittances.
“We have to look at the definition of a minimum wage,” he said. “We think the minimum wage should ensure the worker a minimum standard of living. For us, minimum wage should not include remittances.”
He said he believed a minimum wage of $61 “probably does not allow for the full amount they would like to send home or contingency”, but that it would be sufficient to cover basic living costs.
“The minimum wage should at least ensure that workers should have decent housing, be able to afford decent food, etc,” he said.
“The current level of minimum wage definitely allows for that.”
This week, union leaders said they had collected more than 80,000 thumbprints from factory workers who would participate in a five-day strike scheduled to begin on Monday in protest of the minimum wage.
Both Kong Kunthea and Sun Seak Lay said they intended to participate. Asked why, Sun Seak Lay said, “I don’t know how my future will be if I still get too little salary like this.”
But even with the strike threat, Ken Loo said he was not worried about a potential staffing shortage should present workers conclude the new wage is unsustainable.
“There are 250,000 new entrants into the job market every year, according to the government,” he said. “The garment industry, which is the largest industry in the country, only employs around 300,000 workers. Please tell me where these 250,000 people will go?”
Graft suspect labels accuser illegal logger
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Meas Sokchea
THE head of a local conservation NGO says he has come under legal fire after lodging a complaint accusing officials in Kampong Speu province’s Oral district of involvement in illegal logging.
Chea Hean, director of the National Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organisation, a national watchdog, said yesterday that he was summoned on Tuesday to appear at Kampong Speu provincial court on September 15.
The summons, he said, came in response to a complaint from Chhun Chhea Heng, the head of the Oral Mountain Animal Refuge and one of those named in his corruption complaint, who has in turn accused him of illegal logging and extortion.
Late last month, Chea Hean accused 241 officials, including Chhun Chhea Heng and six other Oral district forestry officials, of turning a blind eye to illegal logging. Yesterday, he said he was prepared to appear before the court next week to defend his claims.
“I am not scared of the corrupt officials who are destroying national assets,” Chea Hean said.
“This is just the work of bad officials, and I will face the law. I’m not afraid because I haven’t committed these acts.”
Chea Hean said his complaint against Chhun Chhea Heng, filed at the Anticorruption Unit on August 30 and again at the Appeal Court Wednesday, followed a series of complaints to the provincial court in 2008 and 2009, none of which drew a response.
The most recent complaint, a copy of which has been obtained by the Post, calls on the Appeal Court to sentence Chhun Chhea Heng and six other officials to 22 years in prison and to fine them 200 million riels (US$47,619).
Ouk Savuth, prosecutor general at the Appeal Court, said on Wednesday that he had received Chea Hean’s complaint, and that officials were working to determine whether the allegations are true.
Chhun Chhea Heng could not be reached for comment yesterday, and Kampong Speu provincial court judge Iv Borin, who is in charge of the case, declined to comment.
Sam Rainsy appeal: Acting head of SRP seeks Senate help
Sam Rainsy appeal
KONG Korm, acting president of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, will today send a letter to Senate President Chea Sim requesting him to encourage the government to allow party leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia.
Sam Rainsy, who is in self-imposed exile overseas, was sentenced to two years in jail after an incident in October last year in which he helped villagers uproot wooden demarcation poles near the Vietnamese border.
Kong Korm said yesterday that the Senate had a “duty” to try to arrange for a compromise that would enable Sam Rainsy to return. “I have optimism that it’s very reasonable that the Senate president can ask the government authorities and the National Assembly to withdraw the complaint,” he said.
Questioning delayed in Preah Vihear NGO case
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Chhay Channyda
THE questioning of three villagers who have accused an NGO of human rights violations has been postponed until September 16, officials said yesterday.
The villagers – Sath Savoeun, 45, Kim Sophal, 41, and Srey Sophan, 62, all of Preah Vihear’s Choam Khsan district – were to be questioned yesterday after being accused of incitement, fraud and disinformation.
On Tuesday, the villagers asked the provincial court to delay the hearing, saying they feared arrest if they appeared at the court. Sor Savuth, the provincial court director and investigating judge in the case, said previously that the hearing would go ahead.
But yesterday he announced the court had agreed to the postponement. “We have delayed ... because we do not want to hear that we have tried to intimidate them,” he said.
“We have rescheduled the date for September 16 so that they can come along with their lawyers.”
The three villagers are part of a group in Choam Khsan district’s Kantout commune who say they have been terrorised by staff members from the Drugs and AIDS Research and Prevention Organisation, an NGO run by a one-star general.
Rights groups say employees of the NGO, which received a 556-hectare social land concession in Choam Ksan in 2007, have issued threats, forced dozens of families off their land and even raped local residents.
Kim Sophal, one of the three accused, said yesterday that he was innocent of the allegations, but that it still “did not feel good” to see his name on the summons order.
“Their accusations are baseless,” he said.
DARPO Director Pen Loem, who also serves as an adviser to Senate President Chea Sim, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
S-21 photographer’s NGO gains approval
Anlong Veng district deputy governor Nhem En speaks to reporters about his plans for a tourism NGO at his guesthouse room in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Khouth Sophakchakrya
NHEM En, who photo-graphed prisoners at Tuol Sleng for the Khmer Rouge said yesterday that the Ministry of Interior had approved his plan to establish an NGO aimed at attracting visitors to a former regime stronghold in Oddar Meanchey province.
“I will develop Anlong Veng, best known as the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge between 1993 and 1997, as a memorial and tourism site for attracting local and international tourists to visit Cambodia,” Nhem En said in Phnom Penh yesterday. He said the name of the NGO is Anlong Veng Historical Tourism Development Organisation.
The Council of Ministers in March approved a draft of a sub-decree allowing tourism development in Anlong Veng.
Nhem En, a deputy Anlong Veng district governor, said he hoped the district would become a centre for tourism, and that his organisation would provide jobs for locals.
“Our organisation will be created in order to preserve the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge in Anlong Veng, for [future] generations to research and understand about the Khmer Rouge regime, and to promote the livelihood of the people in this area as well,” he said.
During the Khmer Rouge regime, Nhem En, 50, worked at Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, where he took many of the black-and-white portraits now on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The prison, which was under the command of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, claimed the lives of as many as 16,000 “enemies” of the regime.
Nhem En said his current project – a museum in Anlong Veng that will house photos and other relics belonging to Khmer Rouge leaders including Pol Pot – was around halfway to completion.
He said he expects the museum, situated on 50 hectares of his own land in Anlong Veng, to be completed by the end of the year.
Nhem En made a splash in April 2009 when he announced plans to sell what he claimed were Pol Pot’s shoes and some of the cameras he used at Tuol Sleng for US$500,000. No buyers emerged.
American tried in child-sex case
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Chrann Chamroeun
PHNOM Penh Municipal Court yesterday heard the case against an American man charged with buying sex from three underage girls and producing child pornography during a trip to Cambodia in January.
Craig Thomas Carr, 59, was arrested January 21 and charged with purchasing sex from three 14-year-old girls in Phnom Penh and Kandal province. He was deported in May to the United States through Operation Twisted Traveller –an arrangement by which Americans suspected of committing sex crimes overseas can be tried in the US – and charged in a district court in Washington State.
But because proceedings in Cambodia had already commenced at the time of his deportation, the domestic case has gone ahead, said Samleang Seila, head of the child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants. “The prosecution started here before [he was deported], so it must continue, and there has been no instruction from the American courts to terminate it,” he said.
During a hearing in Washington state on July 27, Carr pled guilty to having sex with underage girls in Cambodia. He faces a sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison in the US.
The Municipal Court yesterday also heard the cases of Mey Sovan and Sek Savy, both 37, who have been charged with soliciting and procuring child prostitution for allegedly finding victims for Carr.
Both suspects originally denied the charges before confessing in court yesterday.
All three suspects face between seven and 15 years in prison if found guilty.
A verdict is expected September 22.
Also yesterday, the Municipal Court charged Briton Michael Leach, 50, with purchasing child sex following his arrest from a guesthouse in Kandal’s Kien Svay district on Sunday.
Recruitment centre closes after accident
Photo by: Pha Lina
Vann Synoun, 30, from Battambang province, is comforted by her father as she recovers at a Russey Keo district clinic yesterday from injuries she received in a fall while trying to rappel down a three-storey VC Manpower Company building in a bid to escape. The training facility in question has closed.
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Mom Kunthear
ALICENSED labour recruitment firm has quietly closed down a training facility in Sen Sok district where a woman was injured while trying to escape last weekend.
Police reported on Sunday that Battambang native Vann Synoun, 30, suffered minor injuries after she fashioned a rope out of various pieces of clothing and tried to rappel down the side of the three-storey VC Manpower Company building. They said she had not been detained by the company but had attempted to leave without asking for permission beforehand because she was convinced the company would say no.
Keo Thea, director of the municipal Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Bureau, said yesterday that the training centre had been boarded up on Tuesday, and that the trainees had been relocated to a larger VC Manpower centre also located in Sen Sok. He said the relocation had nothing to do with Vann Synoun’s accident.
“I used to hear from the company director that [the facility] is not such a good environment for his workers to stay. That’s why they moved them to another branch, which is the head office and is bigger,” he said.
Keo Thea said he did not know how many trainees had been relocated, and company officials could not be reached for coment. But Vann Synoun said yesterday that there had been about 200 trainees living in poor conditions in the centre.
“I had to sleep with about 200 workers in a long room on the floor, and the food was not good or healthy,” she said.
Speaking from a bed in a private clinic, Vann Synoun said she had been badly injured during her escape attempt, contradicting reports from police.
“I fell unconscious for two days after I rappelled down from the centre, and I don’t know who saved me and sent me to the clinic,” she said.
A VC Manpower Company training facility in Sen Sok district. Officials said yesterday that the firm, which trains women to work abroad, had closed the facility and relocated its trainees.
She said it was true that she had tried to escape from the training centre because she had missed her family, but that the company had refused to let her leave without repaying the US$800 it claimed to have invested in her.
“I asked to leave the centre, but the director said I can only leave if I give him $800 for the documents they completed for me and for staying in the centre for four months,” she said.
An Bunhak, director of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies, said companies were required to inform the Labour Ministry before relocating trainees. “I think if they move the place or close the company, they have to inform to the ministry and if they did not, it means that they did it illegally,” he said.
But Nhem Kimhouy, a Labour Ministry official, said yesterday that although the ministry had not been informed ahead of time, there was nothing wrong with the relocation.
“It is normal for a recruitment company to move their workers to another place because they think the old place is not good for their workers to stay or bad luck for their company,” he said.
Extraction's risk factor
An aerial view of the OZ Minerals’ Prominent Hill open pit mine in South Australia. Bloomberg
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:01 Nguon Sovan
THE Kingdom’s mining sector may be evolving but domestic banks as yet have no appetite to lend to the nascent industry, because of high risk levels and environmental considerations.
Mining enterprises in Cambodia are gaining pace, as domestic and international firms – such as Australian giants Oz Minerals and Southern Gold – attempt to tap into the Kingdom’s inventory of mineral resources that include gold, rubies, titanium, oil and gas.
But according to the National Bank of Cambodia’s latest banking supervision report, in 2009 mining and quarrying made up the smallest proportion of credit concentration of any sector, just 0.1 percent nationally. Out of US$2.5 billion lent by banks last year, just $2.5 million went to mining.
In Channy, president and CEO of ACLEDA bank, said that although a number of miners had approached the bank for loans this year, none had been granted.
He said that although ACLEDA lent to all sectors with potential, the bank had to be certain that companies could profit without having an adverse impact on the environment.
“We have enough capital to lend even in mining sector, but firms must comply with the laws. From our stance, protecting environment is important. We also think about the health of our customers first because our portfolio is the customers’ deposits,” he said.
Risk levels were also of prime importance at Canadia bank. Last year, its loans to the mining and quarrying sector were just $600,000 or 0.15 percent of the bank’s total.
Dieter Billmeier, Canadia’s vice president, said that any reputable bank should look careful into a sector before lending, as research is a necessary element for a responsible institution with well-established credit-risk management.
“We are also prudent with environmental issues concerning this sector,” he said.
But how important are domestic loans to the mining sector, which has seen a clutch of global giants enter the Kingdom?
In Channy said that many foreign firms bring capital from their home countries.
Stephen Higgins, CEO of ANZ Royal Bank, said it was more appropriate for them to be funded by equity rather than debt when they are at the ‘extraction’ rather than ‘exploitation’ stage of mining.
ANZ, he said, was one of the leading banks for the resources sector globally but has yes to lend to the Cambodian industry.
While bankers are hesitant to lend to miners operating in Cambodia, which have to date yet to extract anything in the Kingdom, research has suggested that globally lenders attitudes to extraction loans have changed over the course of the financial crisis.
A report from the former chief economist of Rio Tinto, David Humphries, published by the World Bank last year, suggested changing considerations have affected small and mid-size miners in emerging economies.
During the commodity boom of 2003 to 2008, he wrote, the financial position of emerging market miners improved. Most new financing, he reported, was in the form of bank borrowing and bond loans.
“The maturing of a banking systems and stock markets of many emerging markets ... had also been increasing the availability of funding for emerging economies, most notably for smaller and mid-cap [mining] companies” he said.
“Thus, Hong Kong emerged as a significant source of equity finance for mining in Asia.”
However, with the credit crunch that position changed, presenting “additional challenges” for the sector.
“The first and more immediate of these is financial. The flight from risk ... has impacted particularly heavily in emerging markets. For smaller companies, particularly those not yet in production, the sources of funding have pretty much dried up completely.”
But some bankers believe that as understanding of the mining industry improves in Cambodia, financing may also adapt.
Dieter Billmeier said that banks preferred to disperse loans using land titles as collateral. But in the future, banks could use smaller and easier-to-access financial leases, in which a bank buys machinery, warehouses or equipment for a company and leases it back to them – to aid miners.
Officials also hope that links between miners and banks will grow.
Cheam Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly’s commission on economy, banking, finance and audit, said yesterday that banks would play an important role in financing mining companies in the future as mineral exploitation arrives.
“Some banks are partnered with foreign investors, so they would have a lot of possibilities to lend the sector,” he said.
Miners already have a strategy to open credit markets. Cambodian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies president Richard Stanger said miners need the correct licences, to have completed exploration, have a resource base, and conducted bankable and environmental feasibility studies, to access loans.
Even if those steps were taken, he said, many miners would turn to specialist off-shore banks for loans, as “interest rates are very high here”.
That viewpoint was shared by chief executive officer of mining firm United Khmer Group, Chea Chet.
Nevertheless, Cambodia’s extractive industries are still in their infancy and some financiers are looking forward to their development.
Bank of India’s chief executive in Phnom Penh, Ramesh Chandra Baliarsingh, said: “We are very positive in financing the mining sector – if the proposal is bankable.”
But, for the meantime, that seems a big if. ADDITIONAL REPORTING ELLIE DYER
Go further with disclosure and embrace ETIT
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:01 Steve Finch
THE Ministry of Economy and Finance at the end of August again published data on extractive industry revenues – a sign the government is committed to at least a low level of transparency in this sector.
But this is just the first step. Just how far will Cambodia go in terms of full disclosure, and when?
Figures released in a national budget overview on August 23 showed the government needs to improve transparency as soon as possible, not least because oil, gas and mining revenues are increasing dramatically meaning more money is at stake.
In the first half of 2009, the Kingdom generated just 6 billion riels (US$1.45 million) in extractive industry revenues, a figure that multiplied 20 times in the same period this year to 118.49 billion riels, or $28.56 million.
We only know that because the government started to publish oil, gas and mining revenues for the first time last year.
When Finance Ministry Secretary General Hang Chuon Naron disclosed a $26 million payment by French energy company Total at a presentation in March, a snapshot of the government budget showed the same payment allocated for January.
But in the latest budget disclosure, there are no extractive industry revenue payments listed for January 2010, only a $27 million payment made in March.
Is this the same payment? Hang Chuon Naron and Finance Minister Keat Chhon were both unavailable for comment yesterday.
Although Cambodia has made an important first step towards transparency, the government should go further by embracing the industry standard – the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
By only going a certain distance, although the budget is less opaque, in many ways the current level of disclosure simply raises more questions that it gives answers.
In May, Cambodia received 6.28 billion riels from the sector according to the published version of the state budget, more than was generated for the whole of the first half of 2009.
Where did this payment come from?
The first step for the government in becoming an EITI candidate country would be to disclose oil, gas and mining revenues in full and allow private companies to do the same.
The EITI itself, along with a multi-stakeholder group, would then oversee this budgeting process – the idea is that the possibility for discrepancies between the two accounts dissuades graft.
Again, Cambodia has already gone halfway towards this standard. The government has permitted civil society groups including NGO Forum to act as observers on an inter-ministerial extractive industries working group that considers revenue transparency.
Crucially, civil society groups say they have previously applied for permanent member dialogue status but were denied.
Although there is understood to be differing opinions on EITI compliance within the government, it should be noted that countries with a far worse reputation on corruption than Cambodia have gone a great deal further on disclosure.
Chad, which lies 17 places lower than the Kingdom on Transparency International’s corruption perception index, in April became an EITI candidate, meaning it will now begin “double disclosure” of all sector payments – the state and private companies will publish payments
Iraq and Afghanistan, which between them occupy two of the bottom five positions on the corruption index, committed to the same EITI process in February. Now it should be Cambodia’s turn.
Kingdom ranks 109th for business climate
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:01 Catherine James
CAMBODIA’S business environment competitiveness has marginally improved, according to the World Economic Forum’s ranking of 139 countries, but the Kingdom continues to lag far behind its regional neighbours.
The forum’s annual competitiveness study scores 110 factors across 12 areas affecting an economy’s business climate: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health, education, goods and labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.
Cambodia, which was ranked 109th, was the worst performer of the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, excluding Laos and Myanmar which were not included in the survey.
This year’s rank is one better than last year’s 110th position.
Singapore was ranked third in the world, behind only Switzerland and Sweden – first and second respectively. The United States fell from its second place in 2009, to fourth place. Japan was the only other Asian nation to make the top 10.
Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia – in order of rank – made it into the top 50, all maintaining a fairly steady grade from last year. Vietnam, however, noticeably improved its position to 59 from 75. The Philippines was the second-worst ASEAN performer, coming in at 85, up from 87.
Of the 111 factors assessed, Cambodia’s standout strengths were ranking 12th in the world for inflation, 15th for total tax rate in the goods market, 33rd for female participation in the workforce, 35th for pay and productivity, and 37th for business impact of rules on foreign direct investment.
Cambodia’s competitiveness continues to be strangled by corruption and inefficient bureaucracy and infrastructure, the study said.
Of 139 countries, the Kingdom ranked 124th for irregular payments and bribes, 125th for transparency in government policy-making and 132nd for time required to start a business.
Its worst grade among the 111 factors was “fixed telephone lines”, for which it ranked the fifth-worst in the world at 135.
In an opinion survey on the most problematic factors for doing business in their country, found corruption topped the list in Cambodia, closely by inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequately educated workforce and inadequate infrastructure.
High prices boost rubber plants
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal
RUBBER planting has surged in three provinces in the north of Cambodia on expectations that rubber prices will continue to rise in the future, a government official said yesterday.
Ly Phalla, director of the Rubber Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the increase of rubber price this year had led to the expansion of rubber plantations in Kampong Thom, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces.
“As a result of this increase, we hope that Cambodia will have about 20,000 hectares of additional newly planted rubber this year,” Ly Phalla said.
Globally, rubber demand is also on the rise, and Singapore-based International Rubber Study Group reported yesterday that global consumption would exceed supply this year.
Demand would total 13.3 million tonnes, 114,000 tonnes higher than a previous forecast, while production would increase 6.1 percent to 10.25 million tonnes this year, the group said in an email.
Rubber futures in Tokyo have advanced 36 percent over the past year as demand expands from China and as weather disrupts tapping.
In Cambodia, grade 5 rubber is sold to local market for US$3,000 per tonne.
It was sold for $2,800 per tonne last month.
Ly Phalla said anticipation had led people to grow rubber on land where they had never grown the crops before such as in Veal Veng, Pursat province, and some other places in Koh Kong.
According to the statistics obtained from the three provinces, new rubber grown between January and August this year covers a total 18,790 hectares.
Last year the three provinces’ plantations covered 13,000 hectares.
AngkorNet ISP opens office in Siem Reap
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 THIKA CHARIYA
PHNOM PENH-based internet service provider AngkorNet opened its first regional office in Siem Reap yesterday. The company’s administration and resource manager, Vong Ravuth, said Angkor Net decided on Siem Reap as it is a leading tourism and economic hub. He said the company also provided services to internet cafes in Siem Reap that catered to an influx of visiting foreigners.
New fire alarms on sale
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Sun Narin
ELECTRICS firm Dynamic E-Group launched fire alarms imported from German company Detectomat at Phnom Penh Hotel yesterday. Kim Rathna, sales executive, said the fire detectors were an improvement on the models currently available in the Kingdom, as they were able to detect both smoke and heat.There were roughly 29 fires requiring the fire service in Phnom Penh this year.
Tourist centre to open
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Soeun Say
A NEW tourist information centre is set to be launched in Battambang next Tuesday, in the latest attempt to provide services to the Kingdom’s visitors. The office, to be opened on September 14, is hoped to install confidence and make visitors feel comfortable, according to Ministry of Tourism officials.
Man About Town 10-09-2010
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Peter Olszewski
Blake is coming
Further to last week’s news item that renowned international sculptor Blake is en route to Siem Reap to launch his Fragments exhibition at Hotel de La Paix’s Arts Lounge on September 23, comes news that Blake is no recent stranger to Cambodia.
A new confrontational exhibition of Blake’s work has just finished in Canada.
This was a video installation titled “The Burning Buddha”, designed to pressure international leaders who refuse to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Blake sculpted a bronze statue of a naked girl seated in the lotus position, poured gasoline over the figure, and lit her on fire.
It now transpires that this fiery video was filmed earlier this year in Phnom Penh, beside the swimming pool at the house of a wealthy art collector who keeps a low profile.
It will be interesting to see what Blake gets up to during his visit to Siem Reap.
Feel-good night
Chilli Si Dang restaurant and Bodia Nature are teaming up tonight to give everyone the opportunity to look and feel good. Friday nights are Ladies Night at Chilli’s, and Bodia Nature is extending the idea with a charity night in support of a local NGO, ABCs & Rice.
Bodia Nature is providing free neck and shoulder massages, foot and body scrubs, and a silent auction of Bodia hampers. The full range of Bodia Nature products will also be on sale.
Bodia Nature has been developing beauty and health products for three years, based mainly on essential oils that are distilled here in Siem Reap.
Proceedings start at 8pm, with a $1 cover charge.
Cycle Cambodia
PEPY (Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself), an NGO, is once again holding its Cycle Cambodia trek, and this year will certainly test the international adventure tourists who sign on to learn the value of “Adventurous Living, Responsible Giving”.
This year’s marathon trek kicks off in Siem Reap on December 19 for a 22-day, 1000-kilometre tour to Phnom Penh, Kep “and everywhere in between”.
But it won’t just be all riding. Participants will also be able to visit NGOs along the route.
Funds raised by Cycle Cambodia, and by participants along the way, will go to PEPY’s educational and teaching programs in rural Cambodia.
Shake your rump in the Reap
Ariel Reyes doing his thang at the MGM Club in Shanghai.
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Nicky Hosford
So you think you can’t dance? Ariel Reyes begs to differ, and he’s running private and group classes in Siem Reap to show that anybody can dance – even white people.
“Everyone can dance,” he declares. “Dance and choreography are a wonderful way to bring everyone together. It’s something we all have in common.”
His expertise is in swing and salsa lessons for all levels of ability, but he can also turn his hand, and your feet, to hip-hop, R&B, and classic dances such as the tango or the waltz.
The energetic dance instructor, who is also a registered nurse, arrived in Siem Reap a month ago but is no stranger to Cambodia. He spent four years teaching at international schools in Phnom Penh until he left for China to teach dance and PE at the Shanghai International Community School.
At $5 an hour, the sessions are cheaper than a trip to the gym, and Reyes is keen to emphasise the benefits it can bring. “It’s a basic form of aerobics,” he enthuses. “You’ve just got to go for it and dance your arse off.”
Desperately unfit, I could feel the burn after only 20 minutes of continuous salsa moves. I have hips that like to move entirely independently of the rest of me. For some reason, this is good when you’re 23 but somewhat unseemly more than a decade later.
With a great deal of patience, in one short session Ariel managed to get those unruly bodily elements of mine to move with some semblance of order.
He was even fantastically good-natured about my rather frustrating tendency to try to lead.
Ariel has worked with children and adults, and laughs about how kids always prefer modern dance like hip-hop, dismissing classic dances such as swing as “so old”. But, he notes: “That’s until they get to the bit where they dip the girl. Then they get it.”
He learned his art back home in the Philippines, and got through university studying nursing on a dance scholarship. He was also on the dance varsity team and was a weekly backing dancer on Filipino television shows. Since then, he has moved into instructing and has often found it easier to find work teaching dance than as a nurse.
Classes are by appointment and held at the Angkor Gym, between Boomerang Guest House and My Home. Contact Ariel Reyes on 089 419 752.
Golfing legends drive off fairway
The winning team: (from left) Paul Popielier, Craig McDonald, Jacob Montross and Thierry Loustau.
Friday, 10 September 2010 15:00 Adam Robertson
LAST Sunday, 32 IBC Legends of Golf members slugged it out on the fairways of Siem Reap’s Angkor Golf Resort.
IBC stands for International Business Club, more commonly known as the Chamber of Commerce.
The tournament grouped competitors in teams of four and followed a Texas Scramble format, with each team given a handicap based on the players’ ability.
Naturally there were prizes to be won for “nearest the pin”, “longest drive”, “nearest to the line” and a hole-in-one prize sponsored by Ezecom, who provided a Ford car for anyone getting a hole in one on the practice fairway, hole 19.
Nobody claimed it, although Lee Thai Khit provided a heart-stopping moment with his shot, which rolled to stop a mere five feet from the hole.
Traditionally at tournaments like this, a shotgun is used to announce early morning commencement of play but the organisers abandoned the idea in favour of a more modest firecracker at 7:30 am.
It quickly became evident which team did not overindulge the night before
as Thierry Loustau, ably supported by the rampant Jacob Montross, hit form just at the right time. A one under par front nine set the early pace, coupled with another one under par for a total of two under and victory.
Lee Thai Khit’s team of Luc Grobet, John You and Matt Rendall also showed promise but settled for a one under par 71, one shot off the pace and second place.
Prize winners were: Nearest the pin – Glenn Ang, and Paul Cheung A Long; Longest drive – Jacob Montross and Paul Cheung A Long.
Tuk tuk driver turns snapper
Kimleng Sang’s photos have a raw, intimate feel to them. Photo by: KIMLENG SANG
A Siem Reap tuk tuk driver is well on the way to becoming a professional photographer, thanks to a kind helping hand from a Canadian tourist.
The intensity of Cambodia’s impact upon the senses has made it a popular destination for photographers since the country opened up again after the reign of the Khmer Rouge in the early 90s.
In the past few years, a local scene is finally beginning to develop, and 32-year-old Kimleng Sang is a shining example.
Kimleng Sang moved from Takeo province to Siem Reap in 2001 and after a couple of years was able to buy a tuk tuk and set up his own business.
This is how he came to meet David Bibbing, an enthusiastic photographer. Bibbing engaged Kimleng Sang’s tuk tuk service and the two got to talking about photography while Kimleng Sang ferried the Canadian around town.
Bibbing, spotting his talent and dedicated soul, bought Kimleng Sang a digital camera and supported some of his training.
Kimleng Sang’s images strongly reference Khmer culture because, he says, he is very proud of his country. Many people remark on the almost spiritual feeling of Kimleng Sang’s photos, yet the humble photographer insists he’s ultimately a recorder of people. Even when he is photographing ancient temples, it is the people in the images that bring the photos to life.
“I like to walk past the people and click when they don’t know,” he says, adding: “It gives a more natural feeling, like I can see the real person.”
Kimleng Sang is essentially self-taught, and has benefited a great deal from the photography tours he leads with his tuk tuk, taking visiting photographers to sites around Siem Reap that he chooses for their lighting rather than their history.
He says: “At first I thought the camera was the most important part of photography. But I soon realised that it’s really your eye, and then it’s the light.”
But it hasn’t been an easy process for Kimleng Sang, trying to learn without formal training or expensive equipment. “I learned by myself, but I learned a lot from visiting tourists and guest photographers,” he says.
He’s still driving his tuk tuk, and is looking forward to the day when he can commit himself wholly to his art.
But he’s also giving back and helping to train a new generation of young Khmer photographers at the Cambodian Poor Children Support Centre. “There are not many Cambodians taking photographs yet, so I’m trying to get there first,” he says with a grin.
Which is an interesting comment given the recent comments from the organisers of the annual Angkor Photo Festival, who lamented an obvious paucity of young Khmer photographers.
Among Kimleng Sang’s most powerful photos are images of a monk standing in front of a window, winding his saffron robe around his body. The morning sunlight blares through the window, softened as it pours though the unfolding cloth.
Though perfectly decent, the scene feels almost profanely intimate. And maybe it would be something akin to blasphemy were it taken by a barang – but it wasn’t.
And Kimleng Sang admitted that the monk in the photo never knew it was being taken, which explains its intimate, natural feeling. “Maybe one day I’ll go to Wat Attweya and tell him,” he says.
Kimleng Sang’s photos can be viewed at La Noria hotel and the Art Deli café-bar. Copies of his work can be found on redbubble.com
Sam Rainsy appeal: Acting head of SRP seeks Senate...
Women's sides enter semis in national championship...
It's back to reality for our fantasy managers
REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea : Electric wires are seen a...
Lawmakers and Activists Pressure Obama to Sign Lan...
Serving rural students in Cambodia
Slovakia - Ivan Gašparovič Pays Official Visit to ...
FRI team to embark on mission to save trees at Cam...
One Visit to Cambodia Turned a New Yorker Into a G...
Cambodia: Chinese company plans $3B investments
Market Commentary and Intraday News: Cambodia: Chi...
Sam Rainsy Expecting Intervention in Court Charges...
320,000 New Voters Urged To Register
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1907
|
__label__wiki
| 0.781997
| 0.781997
|
The Star Wars Trilogy | 1988 TV Times Interview with Harrison Ford
<< Sci-Fi Channel Special - The Force Returns 1997 | Star Wars The Return of the Jedi 1997 Read-Along >>
27. August 2013 07:09
27. August 2013 07:09 by jedi1 | 0 Comments
With The Empire Strikes Back premiering on TV in the UK on Christmas Day 1988, the Christmas issue of TV Times interviewed Harrison Ford to learn more about the reclusive actor and his post Star Wars/Indiana Jones success.
Ford Perfect
Harrison Ford enjoys the phenomenal rewards that his blockbuster films have brought. But not for him the high-profile life indulged in by some superstars. Off set, the wary Mr Ford is something of a recluse.
Dateline America
by Lesley Salisbury in Hollywood
It’s mid-December and Harrison Ford is sitting in a Beverly Hills hotel glumly watching bikinis parading round the pool and palm trees swaying in the warm breeze. He sips his iced drink with a sigh.
The rest of America is crisp and Christmassy and here he is, in a fairyland of fake snow and sweltering Santa Clauses, wishing he was back on his 800-acre ranch in Wyoming, skiing in the Rockies, taking the dog out in eight-degree cold or swigging hot toddies by a roaring fire.
He's in another sort of hot seat today, squirming uncomfortably as he faces what he's come here to do: talk about himself. It may be Christmas but he’s not in a seasonal mood. 'I'm not about to open myself up completely,' he says frostily. I'm not willing to gift-box myself up and say to you, "This is the puzzle, no pieces are missing.'”
His bark, say his friends, is worse than his bite. ‘He’s always been cranky: it’s just his way of being,’ says producer Fred Roos.
It was Roos who saw through Ford’s tight-lipped, stand-offish' attitude when Ford, at 30, had all but given up acting, turning to carpentry to support his first wife, Mary, and young sons, Willard and Benjamin. Roos, then a casting director, persuaded director George Lucas to cast the 'cranky' Ford in what turned out to be a classic cameo in the 1973 film American Graffiti (he played a drag racer), and he pushed again in 1976 when Lucas was casting Star Wars.
Roos says: 'Harrison wasn’t high on George’s list. He didn't know him like I did. But I thought he was going to be a star. . . He reminds me of Humphrey Bogart - tough, cynical, totally capable of taking care of himself. And maybe there’s a little Clark Gable in there, too.’
Ford, now 46, is quite laconic about the success of that film. I'd never had the chance to work as much as I wanted to until Star Wars. Suddenly offers were coming in. I went to work with a vengeance. When the sequel idea came up I didn't resist it: three films in a row seemed a damned good idea at that point.'
And he smiles. As well he can afford to. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), are among the 10 biggest-grossing films in showbusiness history, as are two more of his films, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and the sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
The films have made him both a multi-millionaire and a sex-symbol, but sex and money are not discussion points he warms to. And, anyway, he doesn’t look much of an expert on either today. He’s handsome enough in tweed jacket and corduroy trousers, but his hair is long, lank and swept back, his huge hands fidget with starched shirt-cuffs, his spectacles lie on the table and you can see he feels awkward wearing a tie.
He looks like a cowboy who’s got himself all smartened up for a Saturday night barn dance. He does not look like a superstar.
'The greatest thing that "fame" has brought me is the degree of freedom I now have to choose the things I wish to do,' he says.
‘The job I do is exactly the same, whether the film is a serious film or an action film. It was no revelation to me that I could do a more complicated part.’
He is referring, of course, to the time of the Stars Wars trilogy, when Hollywood opinion felt that he was a lightweight actor.
Fred Roos says: 'After Star Wars, Harrison was dismissed. People started saying, “Oh, he isn't a star after all” Even his work as Indiana Jones didn’t help. Then he did Witness [1985] in which he plays a detective. Suddenly everyone was saying, "Gee, he’s really good.” Well, he's always been good.’
Ford followed Witness, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, with a strange film he deeply believed in, The Mosquito Coast (1986).
'It was the best project I'd seen since Witness,' he says. ‘I was perfectly willing to sit around for a year and a half to wait for something as interesting as this to come along. It’s a very unusual film. Controversial.’
Immediately afterwards he started work on Frantic, a 1987 thriller directed by Roman Polanski; a comedy, Working Girl, with Melanie Griffith, on release in the US this Christmas; and an Indiana Jones sequel.
All of which makes you wonder just how much time Harrison Ford gets to spend down on the farm, his beloved isolated ranch. There he goes fishing for trout in his own streams, fixes fences, goes into town for supplies, brushes up his carpentry skills, drives a pick-up, digs out animals from under the snow and goes crosscountry ski-ing.
It is also where he and his second wife, E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and their son Malcolm, nearly three, live in privacy and peace.
’When I was growing up I had this picture in my head of an idyllic place: woods, open water and wildlife. Melissa and I kept looking for something that matched our fantasies and I want my kids to know that the countryside means more to me than a big pile of money. we found this place. It’s helped me become more calm and peaceful. I wouldn't be able to act if
I wasn’t able to get back to the ranch when it was over.'
It is, simply, where he’s happiest. 'I have more of a sense of stewardship about the land than ownership,' he says, casting one more bemused look at the December bikinis at the hotel where we are talking. ‘I really want to preserve the countryside; its for my kids - to let them know that it is the country that is dear to me; not a big pile of money in the middle of the floor.
'If you can get through life with a degree of happiness, some work to do, and not hurt anybody else, I guess that would be ideal. It doesn’t quite amount to a philosophy, but that’s what I think.
'I wouldn’t change a thing about my life right now, to tell you the truth.’ And then, realising he may be giving away too much, he adds flippantly: 'Except my nose, maybe...’"
[Source: TV Times December 17th 1988 P.23]
ad972f37-c74e-4a73-adab-d4dfe896b791|1|5.0|96d5b379-7e1d-4dac-a6ba-1e50db561b04
Permalink | Categories: Archives , magazines | Tags: | Comments
1982 Star Wars TV TimesStar Wars made its UK television Premiere on Sunday October 24th 1982 at 7:15pm. I was 7 years old. ...1984 TV Times Interview with Carrie FisherIn this vintage interview with Carrie Fisher, she discusses what it was like to grow up a daughter t...Carrie Fisher and Bily Dee Williams 1980 TV InterviewFilmed sometime in mid 1980, this television interview with Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Billy ...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1910
|
__label__wiki
| 0.69725
| 0.69725
|
The Star Wars Trilogy | 139 Frames
<< Tokyo Disneyland - Complete Guide to Star Tours | 35mm Return of The Jedi Trailer >>
24. March 2015 07:32
24. March 2015 07:32 by jedi1 | 0 Comments
139 Frames (or approximately 5 seconds) is how long it takes Luke's Land Speeder to zip across the screen into Mos Eisley, right after Obi-Wan Kenobi does his Jedi mind trick on the stormtroopers ("These are not the droids you're looking for..."), and just before they enter the Cantina.
In the original film, the quality of this shot is considerably lower than that of the shots on either side of it. The reason for this is that it required multiple passes through an optical printer to achieve the shadow effect beneath the speeder. This led to multiple levels of grain, and extra dirt and dust on the film. Some very low tech tricks were used to hide the wheels on the Speeder, from mirrored skirts to a smudge of vasaline on the camera, and what is probably a hand painted shadow. Due to limitations in the technology of the 1970s, and limited time and money, this sequence never looked as good as the rest of the film and there have been multiple attempts to improve it with each subsequent re-release of the film and we will explore them in detail in a moment, but first let's answer the question, why do these 139 matter?
Honestly, to most people, they really don't matter at all. But to fans of the original film, restoring sequences like this one is very important and extremely challenging. While a lot of fans were a little (or more than a little) upset by the changes to this and other sequences in the 1997 Star Wars Special Editions, I think what upset them most was the fact that the original version of the film that they grew up watching over and over again, was essentially disowned, and we were all supposed to embrace the Special Edition and pretend the film released in 1977 always looked like this:
Well, the fact is that it did not. It's not how I remember it, and if I were one of the many Academy Award winning Visual Effects pioneers who worked on the original films I'd be rather insulted by this kind of revisionism. These films are a product of their time, a historical record of what was achievable at the time the movies were made and in 1977 this was the cutting edge of technology. Ironically, the original optical effects have aged a lot better than the 1997 CGI inserts. Jabba looked bad in 1997 and looks truly awful today:
While he was greatly improved for the 2004 DVDs with more detailed textures and colors, he still stands out as being very obviously computer generated and inserted into the scene:
Revising Jabba again for a 2015 release with today's technology might finally make him look like he could be part of the original shot, but the scene is still a waste of time and money because the preceding scene with Greedo already tells us everything we need to know about Han's debts to Mr. the Hutt. But I digress.
Let's begin by taking a look at how this scene actually looked in theaters in 1977. There are some bootleg versions of the film, either recorded by a handheld camera in the theater, or perhaps transferred on a telecine machine at some point to VHS, but clearly the quality is too poor to use for any kind of restoration effort, or even to see how it really looked. However, even here we can see that the shot was quite dirty, just look at all those tiny black flashes.
While not entirely representative of film (due to the broadcast colors, brightened picture and lower resolution), the early home video releases remain one of the best sources of information - particularly the Pre THX VHS and laserdisc versions of the film such as The Japanese Special Collection laserdisc from 1986:
In 1993, an attempt was made to digitally clean the film, and for the most part they did a pretty good job. On a standard CRT TV of the day, the films looked better than they had ever looked before. The cleaned up sequence looks like this:
If we look closer though, we can clearly see the artifacts produced by the Temporal filters (The guy walking, bottom right, is missing part of his leg because the digital clean up process checked the frame before and the frame after and found that the black boot was only there on this one frame, therefore, it decided it was dirt...):
and those sorts of problems are not only limited to this shot (How many pairs of eyes should a storm-trooper have?):
When DVD ended the reign of VHS and laserdisc in the late 1990s, a DVD release of Star Wars was probably the formats most highly anticipated title, but it was nowhere to be seen. Unable to wait any longer, fans took matters into their own hands and began transferring their VHS and laserdisc versions to DVD. New AVISynth scripts, filters and techniques - such as averaging multiple captures, and using higher end players and hardware - were constantly being developed and each successive transfer squeezed slightly more information out of the existing sources.
Star Wars finally came out on DVD in late 2004. The picture had never looked sharper or cleaner, but the colors were overly saturated and rather odd looking in most scenes. Worse still, only the Special Edition version was included - and it wasn't even the same Special Edition as in 1997. Besides updating Jabba the Hutt, the Greedo shoots first scene had been tweaked slightly and there were other less obvious tweaks and fixes that would later be revealed by fans scouring the film scene by scene. The problem now was how do we replace all the Special Edition scenes with the original scenes, but make it seamless? One of the first attempts at this that I saw was OCP Movie's Classic Editions, which used laserdisc footage to replace the S.E. changes in the DVD, with a reasonable level of success:
As you can see, there is a noticeable drop in picture quality when we cut to the laserdisc shot, and this was true for all of the replaced scenes, but at that point there was a choice of watching it all at laserdisc quality, or just those bits...
A 2006 limited edition "bonus" DVD could have been everything fans of the original trilogy were hoping for, but sadly it was based on the 1993 laserdisc master tapes, was letterboxed at the 4:3 aspect ratio which reduces the resolution futher than it needed to be, and, being standard definition, it is no longer really good enough to watch on our 1080p or 4k televisions. However, despite its flaws, the 2006 bonus discs remain the highest quality official release available, and for the first time, fans were able to almost seamlessly integrate pre-Special Edition footage into the DVD. Casual viewers might not even be able to spot the replaced sequences, but the fans can still see the joins. Team Blu did an outstanding job of upscaling the 2006 DVD to 720p and fixing some of the issues, and Harmy was able to use some of it in his Despecialized edition very successfully, but today 4k content is on the horizon and Star Wars fan edits of the original trilogy are still only at the 720p level.
All of that could change soon. With a new scan of a Deran Super 8mm print, Team Negative 1's 35mm print project (and others) well underway, and talk of an official release being worked on by Reliance Media, the possibility that the original 1977 version of the film will finally make the leap to Full 1080p HD (or even 4k) is finally a very real possibility:
Deran Super 8mm:
35mm LPP Scan:
As one OriginalTrilogy.com fan put it "We now have our own scans and with them, the ability to take publicly released material and utilize it in such a way that we can build beautiful restorations that are so exact at a frame by frame level that even the next official release won't get near them when it comes to accuracy of color, audio and overall presentation."
There are, of course, differing opinions on how to handle any kind of restoration, that are not limited to just this scene. Some fans are going to want a version like Harmy's that blends seemlessly with the official Blu-ray footage - all clean and pristine, while others are going to want to see it as it was in theaters in 1977, with all of the film grain and the original flecks of dirt.
Harmy's "Despecialized Edition v2.5":
While most die hard fans agree that the Special Edition changes need to be undone, there are several schools of thought on the best way to achieve this. The Preservationists want it to look just as it did in 1977, with all the original layers of film grain, original dirt, dust and the smear of vasaline. The restorationists want it to look as good as it could have done, using only original elements, but modern digital clean up techniques to remove some of the layers of grime and reveal a more visually pleasing picture. There are even a number of revisionists hoping for a "semi-specialized" edition in which the original elements are re-composited digitally, so that garbage mattes and other elements that stand out on the home video releases (but which were largely invisible when projected in cinemas) are fixed, but other changes are removed.
Personally, I think it needs to be preserved “as it was in Theaters”, with all the original dirt, grain, garbage mattes, etc. in tact., But I can’t deny the pleasure of watching Harmy’s beautifully restored and cleaned up version, so it is nice to have that choice. And that is really what this is all about. Having that choice.
A release of the original versions in Blu-ray seemed unlikely in 2011, but fans crossed their fingers and hoped for a High definition bonus disc of the original, original trilogy, but were again disappointed.
But if Lucasfilm were to offer a decent restoration of both the original film and all of the Special Edition versions on a multi-disc Bluray set, complete with seamless branching (allowing you, for example, to be able to choose whether or not to include the new rock that hides R2D2 from the Sand People) would everyone finally be happy? I doubt it. There are just too many variables in play. Some of the changes in the Special Edition were arguably improvements on the original film, but nobody will ever agree on a definitive list of what should stay and what should not. Having seen the pristine, direct from the negative DVD and Blu-ray versions, returning to a grainier, more authentic "as you saw in theaters" look would be just as polarizing. I fear that, at this point in time, it has become impossible for any single release to please everyone.
Even if Disney completes a full frame by frame restoration of the original version, using only the original elements and the original optical effects, there will still be people who will complain that the effects look dated, or that the picture looks too soft, or too grainy for a modern Blu-ray release. If they recomposite shots digitally and scrub out the dirt and grain other people will complain that this is not how it originally looked.
Essentially, the whole state of the 'bring back the original Star Wars' movement, the changes made to the film through the years, and the various schools of thought on what needs to be done to restore it; can all be demonstrated in detail just by examining these 139 frames. It is a microcosm for the whole movement if you will.
The really good news is that, because nobody can actually agree on a definitive version, various groups of fans are creating the versions they want to see themselves. So for those who like the clean, sharp, dirt and grain free look of a modern blu-ray there is Harmy's Despecialized Edition.
For those who want a more authentic "this is how it looked in theaters" aesthetic there are several 8mm, 16mm and 35mm based projects underway. And new Hybrid projects are constantly being spawned to combine one fans vision with another, taking what are perceived to be the best parts from both, so eventually you will be able to have Star Wars your way. And if you can't find exactly what you want, you can always use these sources to create it yourself.
What are your thoughts? Clean it up fully or present it as it was?
How do you like your Star Wars?
25d59b79-69f3-4001-9652-cdb3db2d4a38|1|5.0|96d5b379-7e1d-4dac-a6ba-1e50db561b04
Permalink | Categories: Original Trilogy , Special Editions , Star Wars , video | Tags: | Comments
Famous Monsters of Filmland #139Star Swarm Part II: From STAR TREK to STAR WARS, read George (Lieutenant Sulu) Takei’s opinion on th...Restoring Color to a Faded Eastman Print of Star WarsIs it possible to restore color to films that have faded completely to red? You bet it is!Project 4K77The original version of Star Wars in 4k UHD, restored from 35mm Technicolor release prints.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1911
|
__label__wiki
| 0.886972
| 0.886972
|
UNC Greensboro History
interviews (1155)
pamphlets;books (4)
university of north carolina at greensboro (472)
world war ii era (1940-1946) (223)
world war, 1939-1945 (223)
united states. army -- women (168)
united states. navy -- women (95)
greensboro (n.c.) -- history -- 20th century (93)
post-vietnam, panama, grenada (1975-1989) (92)
greensboro (n.c.) -- race relations (84)
general perspectives on race relations (79)
segregation in education -- united states (77)
oh002 uncg institutional memory collection (213)
oh003 uncg centennial oral history project (200)
oh001 greensboro voices collection (134)
rl.00207 william henry chafe oral history collection (67)
oh019 well crafted oral history collection (35)
oh006 preserving our history: rotary club of greensboro (34)
oh007 uncg alumni association oral history program collection, 1972-1979 (13)
uncg institutional memory collection (9)
mss264 patricia fairfield-artman oral history collection (8)
oh008 uncg centenary project oral history collection (8)
wiggins, edith mayfield (7)
chavis, vance h. (5)
gordon, janet harper (4)
lancaster, jim m. (4)
moran, william e. (4)
mossman, mereb (4)
robinson, sarah "sally" m. (4)
snider, william d. (4)
chafe, william h., 1942- (4)
dearsley-vernon, ann (4)
Title: Interview
Oral history interview with Bonnie Angelo, 2009 [text/print transcript]
OH002 UNCG Institutional Memory Collection
Bonnie Angelo (1924-2017) graduated in 1944 with a degree in art from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After graduating, she worked as a journalist for the Winston-Salem...
Oral history interview with Rebecca Ann Lloyd, 2006
WV0346 Rebecca Ann Lloyd Papers
Primarily documents Rebecca Ann Lloyd's background; her education at the Curry School and the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s; her twenty-year career in the U.S. Navy; and her post-service commercial real...
Oral history interview with Dorothy H. Jordan, 1999
WV0073 Dorothy H. Jordan Papers
Primarily documents Dorothy H. Jordan's early life in New York; her service in the Women's Army Corps, especially her military police (MP) duty at Fort Oglethorpe, and the effects of her disabling skin condition.
Jordan details playing...
Oral history interview with Nancy Riddle Hinchliffe, 1999
WV0064 Nancy Riddle Hinchliffe Papers
Primarily documents Nancy Riddle Hinchliffe's service in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II, particularly her time in the European Theatre of Operation in 1944 and 1945.
Hinchliffe briefly discusses her life before the...
Oral history interview with Judith Bullock Nisbet, 1999
WV0056 Judith Bullock Nisbet Collection, 1942-1943
Primarily documents Judith Bullock Nisbet's early life; time at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); and service in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Emergency Service...
Oral history interview with Sandy Venegoni, 2010
WV0481 Sandra L. Venegoni Oral History
Primarily documents Sandy Venegoni's childhood, nursing education, time spent in a convent, her military service as a reservist for the Army Nurse Corps, and her civilian career as a nurse educator.
Venegoni discusses her childhood in...
Oral history interview with Ann Dearsley-Vernon, 2010 [text/print transcript]
Ann Dearsley-Vernon (1938-2015) graduated from Woman's College (WC), now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1960. She is most known for her participation in the Greensboro Sit-ins in February 1960. Dearsley-Vernon continues an...
Oral history interview with Janice A. Farringer, 2014
WV0572 Janice A. Farringer Papers
Primarily documents the life of Janice A. Farringer and her service with the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps.
Farringer recalls serving as vice president of the Student Bar Association while at the University of Memphis...
Oral history interview with Jane Brister, 1999
WV0115 Jane Gail Brister Papers, 1943-1988, 1999
Documents Brister's experiences in the Women's Army Corps during World War II and her work in army intelligence in the 1950s and 1960s.
Brister details her father's experiences in World War I and in the engineering field; the Great...
Oral history interview with Buren Rose, 2008
WV0433 Buren Rose Oral History
Primarily documents Buren Rose's service in the civil service from 1942 to 1943 and her career in radio."
Rose discusses her childhood and education in Missouri. She goes on to talk about her employment history before joining the civil...
Oral history interview with Betty Emarita, 2012 [text/print transcript]
Betty Emarita (1946- ) graduated in 1968 from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) with a degree in art. She also has a master's degree from Howard University in Washington, DC. Emarita is the founder and president of Development...
Oral history interview with Lawrence "Larry" Queen, Jr., 2010 [text/print transcript]
Lawrence 'Larry' T. Queen (1925- ) graduated in 1948 with a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1970, he received a master of arts degree from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Queen...
Oral history interview with Carolyn Newby Finger, 1999
WV0057 Carolyn Newby Finger Papers
Primarily documents Carolyn Newby Finger's time at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); her experiences at midshipmen's school, Supply School, and in Asheville with the U.S....
Oral history interview with Constance Cline Phillips, 1999
WV0082 Constance Cline Phillips Papers
Interview discusses Constance Phillips's early life; education at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina; work as an X-ray technician in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II; and her life after her military...
Oral history interview with Josephine Martin Flynn, 2001
WV0212 Josephine Martin Flynn Papers
Documents Josephine Martin Flynn's early life; her four years of service with the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II; and its relation to her opinions and non-military life.
Flynn...
Oral history interview with Paulette “Pat” Smith Sweeney, 2013
WV0553 Paulette "Pat" Sweeney Papers
Primarily documents the adolescence of Paulette "Pat" Sweeney and her service with the American Red Cross. Sweeney discusses her adolescence in Cary, North Carolina, her strong desire from an early age to travel, the education she received from...
Oral history interview with Marilyn Lott, 2010 [text/print transcript]
Marilyn Lott (1938- ) graduated in 1962 from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After graduating, she taught school and worked as a computer programmer for several companies in...
Oral history interview with Frances Grahamjones, 2011 [text/print transcript]
Frances Grahamjones (1949- ) graduated in 1971 from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) with a degree in speech pathology. She has a master's degree from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. Grahamjones recalls growing up in...
Oral history interview with Joyce Bass, 2015 [text/print transcript]
Joyce Kaye Sanders Bass (1950-) was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Bass attended UNCG from 1969-1973 and afterwards taught high school English in Virginia and North Carolina. This interview describes Bass' biographical information,...
Oral history interview with Mary Ellen West, 1999
WV0059 Mary Ellen West Papers, 1943-1948, 1999
Documents Mary Ellen West's time at the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro); her service in the U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War...
UNC Greensboro University Libraries
Electronic Resources & Information Technology
Special Collections & University Archives
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1913
|
__label__wiki
| 0.968202
| 0.968202
|
Kategorie: Amy Goodman: Popular Journalist Celebrates 53rd Birthday
On Book Tour with „Breaking The Sound Barrier“ – A true voice for peace and human rights
By Andreas Klamm Sabaot
New York City. 13. April 13, 2010. The world wide popular American-Jewish journalist Amy Goodman has celebrated on April 13 her 53th birthday. Amy Goodman is host of Democracy NOW! and co-founder of the daily news hour which broadcast Monday to Friday on more than 750 radio and TV stations in North America and different countries in the world.
The journalist Amy Goodman broadcasts from around the world. The photograph has been taken in Stockholm in Sweden in December 2008. Jakob von Uexkuell, Amy Goodman, Dr. Monika Hauser, Krishnammal Jaganathan and Asha Haji – the sister laureates which received the Right Livelihood Award in 2008. She has covered also the U.N. Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in Denmark in 2009. Photo: Andreas Klamm Sabaot
Amy Goodman is known since many years an an investigative journalist with hallmarks such as reporting about war and peace and human rights. She is also supporting independent and alternative media projects in North of America.
In September 2008 while trying to free two other journalists which got arrested by Police, the journalist got arrested in the United States of America while covering the Republican National Convention. After her arrest in about 48 hours more than 60.000 people found around the world have joined in an international campaign and petition to free Amy Goodman which has been held under arrest of American Police Forces. Amy Goodman has been released and the charges brought up against her have been dropped.
For her work as journalist, broadcast journalist, host and author in some cases even in deadly danger for her life Amy Goodman has received more than 25 international recogonised awards for journalists such as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Award, Communication for Peace Award. In December 2008 only three months after the arrest took place Amy Goodman has been the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award which is also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize in Stockholm in Sweden.
Founder of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation in Stockholm in Sweden is Jakob von Uexkuell a German-Swedish citizen.
Amy Goodman is the co-founder of the daily news hours Democracy NOW in 1996, which is also available on the internet on www.democracynow.org .
The journalist and author has published four books recently: 2004 — The Exception to the Rulers: Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Co-author is Mother Jones Reporter David Goodman, which is the brother of Amy Goodman. (ISBN 1-4013-0799-X)
2006 — Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People who Fight Back , Co-author: David Goodman, (ISBN 1-4013-0293-9)
2008 — Standing up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times, Co-author: David Goodman, (ISBN 1-4013-2288-3). This book has been for months in the bestseller list of the New York Times.
2009 — Breaking the Sound Barrier, with a preface of journalist Bill Moyers, (ISBN 1-931859-99-X).
The graduate of the HAVARD University and journalist has also narrated some American film productions.
Relatives of the American-Jewish Journalist Amy Goodman have been killed during the dictatorship of the Nazi regime in Germany in 1933 to 1945. The journalist Juan Gonzalez is co-host of Democracy Now. Amy Goodman has been described as a secular Jew and journalist. The father of Amy Goodman used to be an ophthalamologist.
About the life, work and the story of success as a journalist of Amy Goodman in 2009 two books on Amy Goodman by a French-German journalist, broadcast journalist and author have been written and published:
The book has been published in France with its title: Liberty, Peace and Media: Amy Goodman And The Freedom Of The Press – Excellent Journalists In Extraordinary Times, Books on Demand Gmbh; Paris, France; February 2009, 276 pages, written in the English and German language. (ISBN-10: 2-8106-0269-7 , ISBN-13: 978-2-8106-0269-8).
In Germany the book has been published with its title Liberty, Peace and Media: Amy Goodman – Excellent Journalists In Extraordinary Times, Books on Demand Gmbh; Norderstedt, Deutschland, February 2009, 264 pages, also in the English and German language. (ISBN-10: 3-8370-7473-0, ISBN-13: 978-383707473) .
The books are dedicated to honor the work and life of the American-Jewish Journalist Amy Goodman and to honor the efforts of other journalists to protect the freedom of the press in many different countries in this world.
The books about Amy Goodman, her life, work and engagement for the freedom of the press, peace and human rights are also available on online book stores, such as i.e. www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr , www.libri.de.
Those people which want to support the works of Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW ! may as a birthday gift or as a token of appreciation might support the independent and alternative daily news hour and donate with Democracy NOW ! on http://www.democracynow.org/about/staff .
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1914
|
__label__wiki
| 0.719935
| 0.719935
|
Economy/Economia
Medicine/Medicina
Politics/Politica
Culture/Cultura
Art/Arte
The Comics’ World
Famous Italian Americans
Garibaldi-Meucci Museum’s Famous Italian Americans
Italian American Museum
Interviews/Interviste
Science/Scienze
Storia Della Musica/Music History
Entertainment/Spettacolo
Events/Eventi
Movies/Cinema
Music/Musica
TheaterTeatro
OUR WORLD/IL NOSTRO MONDO
Italians In the world/Italiani nel mondo
Our Italy/La Nostra Italia
Our Roots/Le nostre radici
Memories…/Ricordi…
TUTTONATURA
“Renaissance Man and impresario” an exclusive interview with Roberto Ragone
Written By: redazione
Theater/Teatro
Interview by Tiziano Thomas Dossena
You may have seen him at the movies, or at a play, or on the Internet, or maybe in the news while giving fiery words about the life of Vito Marcantonio. Regardless, you probably had the chance to see him or hear him, since he is continuously present in the entertainment life of New York, in one manner or another. Now you’ll have the chance to hear directly from him, a true Renaissance Man, and also an impresario, about his goals, his dreams and some of his achievements, since we were able to meet for an interview.
L’Idea: Roberto, you are a versatile individual, with experience in government and non-profit, besides acting, writing, and you also find time to be an impresario and a producer. How do you find time for everything?
Roberto Ragone: The way I make time is to schedule myself by streamlining and being organic about the work I do, trying to incorporate as many as skills and interests at the same time in each project. So, for example, I focus on advancing primarily my own scripts, getting them developed into a play or film, and including character I could portray. This multi-tasking, in its totality, comprises and constitutes who I am as an impresario.
L’Idea: How do you manage to balance out the creative aspect of your life with the business one?
Roberto Ragone: The creative aspect of my life as actor, writer, and producer is becoming more of my business side, meaning I am making it an entrepreneurial enterprise from which I can earn a living. My goal is to live out my passion within my means and find ways of having a quality of life. I want to be an artist who is self-aware about the need to treat my work in the arts like a business while minimizing my compromises, and avoiding – where I can – any work that I don’t really want to do. I also do not want to be involved in projects that do not advance me since I have plenty of clips and credits on my resume. I might do something for free if someone is in a real bind, and I can cultivate a relationship with that person and/or there is a passion project I really believe in. However, I also assume that for those types of projects, I will not have to jump through hoops, meaning I will be given the role without an audition, and I can minimize my opportunity costs while doing work that has artistic integrity and is not superficially formulaic. The other factor is whether the project is giving me a principal role with “reel-worthy” scenes (more likely a lead role than a supporting role) and not a background role. I will also participate in scenarios where the producers can generate money that funds a larger project that has more financial feasibility.
L’Idea: What exactly is your consultant activity about?
Roberto Ragone: I continue to welcome consulting work. I do strategic planning and marketing. Some of the strategic planning comes in the form of brainstorming with clients and then formatting and structuring the documentation into a strategic or marketing plan, or whatever the scope of work. I may help to implement the respective plan through, for example, stakeholder outreach, social media marketing, email marketing, or event planning and implementation.
So my consulting work and production work are entrepreneurial and creative in that they use left brain and right brain skills from my prior career (in public policy, politics, and nonprofits) and from my artistic work.
However, I would prefer to focus my consulting work on writing. I don’t think many people are effective and clear writers when it comes to logic and analysis, and this can spill over to people who see themselves as creative writers (e.g. playwrights, novelists), particularly in the United States. They don’t necessarily know how to organize and articulate their thoughts linearly or methodically in the context of the piece being written. I imagine some people attribute their lack of structure or arc as stylistic, intended to prompt the audience to think. But more likely than not, it is an excuse or alibi for their poor writing or editing.
In fact, many people in this day and age do not even know how to spell and use punctuation properly. That includes even neglecting to end a complete sentence with the right punctuation and then capitalizing the first letter of the next sentence. This becomes a bit of a “negative reinforcement” motivation to forge my own path in my career, including with my own scripts.
I feel like I can help people through my “left-brain” skills, writing strategic and marketing plans but also “script doctoring” to find logic gaps in scripts or posing questions about character and plot development that a writer may need to answer to make sure the script is moving in the direction they want to go. People can lose track of the arc of their own story in the same way that people can lose track of their own premise and conclusion in a thesis even after multiple proofreads.
L’Idea: You were a member of the 68 Cent Crew Theatre Company. Could you tell us more about that experience?
Roberto Ragone: A friend of mine, Chiara Montalto, not only encouraged my acting and writing, but also introduced me to the 68 Cent Crew Theatre Company. That company, founded by Ronnie Marmo, started in Los Angle and also has a chapter in New York City co-founded by Chiara.
Every week, the company would break up into smaller groups or pairs. Two or three actors would team up as team partners to prepare a scene to perform in the following class for feedback from their actor classmates observing from the audience. This is part of what’s called the Monday Night “gym.” In “gym,” the actors would “workshop” scenes, improvise, and perform cold reads, as well as write, develop, and direct material brought in by members. The actors “exercise” to keep their skills sharp for much less than the cost of a class.
My participation was brief but it acclimated me to work with a new group of actors, moving beyond whom I had worked with in the past. I was also cast in a staged reading produced by the theatre company.
By the way, I think Chiara’s one-woman show, A Brooklyn Love Story: Emergency Used Candles, about her special connection to her grandfather would be of interest to L’Idea Magazine. Chiara’s play was produced Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane and in Los Angeles at Theatre 68. It’s currently in development as a feature film.
L’Idea: What about your other theatrical experiences as an actor? Which ones you feel are the most memorable?
Roberto Ragone: My performance of Felix in The Odd Couple was my first foray into performing a full script in a long time. It helped advance the comedic elements of my acting.
I later played the role of a crime-thriller author who fancied himself as a detective in the play, The Tangled Skirt. Although written in 2012, and not set for a particular time period by the playwright, the language and repartee between the male and female character – the only two characters in the play – had a very 1940s film noir dynamic. Besides overcoming the challenge of learning a lot of dialogue, including three monologues, working off only one other character (unlike in The Odd Couple), and solidifying the habit of memorizing lines, the Humphrey Bogart-esque language helped immerse me further into the 1930s and 1940s to prepare me further for the role of Congressman Vito Marcantonio.
A scene from Bromance-a-Roni
L’Idea: Who is the actor or actress who you worked with that impressed you the most?
Roberto Ragone: First, I need to acknowledge, Art Bernal, who, after playing Oscar to my Felix in The Odd Couple, put his money where his mouth is as a doer (unlike the “I’m Gonna’ Society” or the “I Should ah’ Society”). He began a production company so he can build a directorial track record, and has chosen several plays where he cast me as the lead. (We have joked about being the “Scorsese/De Niro of theatre”.) Art Bernal selected, produced, and directed The Tangled Skirt, and cast the actress, Katie Holden, who portrayed the female role. Her memorization and performance as an actress stick out for me, along with our alignment in our brainstorming, line delivery, and stage “blocking”, which was fostered by Art Bernal’s approach/methodology. Katie and I played our roles in a way that fostered a nostalgia almost called upon by the story, and I look forward to working with her again.
The actor who has stuck out is George Papadimatos, not only for his energetic and powerful acting, but because of the chemistry audiences note when we perform opposite each other in productions of my scripts, George instinctively understood the nuances of the cadences I wanted him to use in delivering key lines.
Our aligned acting with Art’s directing bore fruit. Art directed me and George in my one act-comedy, Bromance-A-Roni, to full houses at the Midtown International Theatre Festival. We won the festival award for Best Production.
Vito Marcantonio
George also played former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia opposite to my Congressman Vito Marcantonio in a film short I wrote – entitled, The Final Covenant of Vito Marcantonio – based on a scene from a full-length script, which I also wrote (entitled Vito’s Last Penance: The Vindication of Vito Marcantonio.) I had performed a theatrical version of that scene as a one-act play, and then Art suggested I make it into a film short. Art put together the production team and co-directed. When George and I performed the crescendo to the scene (of the LaGuardia/Marcantonio argument), the dynamic was so dramatically intense, that when the main director yelled “cut,” the crew broke out in spontaneous applause.
L’Idea: As a writer, you had quite a few successful plays, monologues, and comedies. You won the “Best Production” award at the Midtown International Theatre Festival with the comedy Bromance-A-Roni. Could talk a bit of that comedy?
Roberto Ragone: Bromance-A-Roni is loosely based on two comedic and lesson-learning incidents with the same set of friends. The male friend in real life, Mike Fiorito, is one of many Italian-American friends who received a college education, but remained ethnic and down-to-earth rather than elitist and pretentious. (In fact, Mike is a successfully published author whom L’Idea may want to cover.) Too often when white ethnics are portrayed as both ethnic and educated, they are either Irish, Polish, or Jewish. Italian Americans are portrayed as though operating under some kind of Manichean dichotomy. They are either hyper-ethnic and/or “under-educated” and “under-articulate” or, if they are articulate with an Italian last name, their ethnicity is marginalized to irrelevance. Otherwise, if they are ethnic and educated, it is a mask disguising wrongdoing.
My writing attempts to turn those notions on their head with a paradigm shift portraying articulate and insightful Italian Americans who discuss substantive topics in a comedic or ironic way while maintaining the cadences and delivery of the “old-school front stoop.” This is my value proposition, and audiences have told me they like the natural authenticity and intimacy of my characters. By coincidence, this also aligns with how I portray LaGuardia and Marcantonio and some of their contemporaries in my scripts about the Vito Marcantonio saga.
It certainly helped that Art Bernal and George Papadimatos were involved with Bromance-A-Roni. It seems that during the Midtown International Theatre Festival, the festival publicist reveled at selling the logline and promotional pitch of my play: a modern combination of Abbott and Costello, the Odd Couple, and Italian-American Woody Allen, with a touch of Bugs Bunny.
Roberto Ragone in another scene of Bromance-a-Roni
Vito Marcantopnio
L’Idea: You seem to be fascinated with Vito Marcantonio. What triggered your interest originally? Could you tell us the difference between The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio and the monologues?
Roberto Ragone: I experienced a series of coincidences between 1986 and 1992 where Vito Marcantonio kept recurring in my life. The first time was when learning about him in an African-American history class in how he fought against the poll tax and lynchings. Then in the summer of 1986, I was accompanying a high school friend’s mother, who was Caribbean American, through East Harlem and she stopped, cited a building, and wondered whether that was where Vito Marcantonio used to have his office. I said, “You know of Vito Marcantonio?” Her reply was: “Yes, and he helped my family.” Then two years later I came across Maria Laurino’s article in Village Voice critiquing how Governor Mario Cuomo failed to meet the standard of Italian-American progressivism set by Vito Marcantonio and his two mentors, Fiorello LaGuardia and Leonard Covello.
Then that fall of 1988, I was at a meeting of the FIERI organization, founded and led by John Calvelli. John would become one of the most illustrious, articulate, and visionary leaders of the Italian-American community (as well as the environmental and cultural community, spearheading One Percent for Culture and elephant preservation campaigns, as Executive Vice President of the Wildlife Conservation Society), worthy of future focus by L’Idea. John announced at a FIERI meeting, that September 1988, that he heard Al Pacino might play Vito Marcantonio in a movie. I bet almost everyone in the room was excited by the prospect of a new Al Pacino project without knowing who Vito Marcantonio was. (That film was never produced.)
Finally, in 1992, I was invited by an Italian-American college friend, Stephen Cancian, to his wedding. (I did not anticipate Steve or anyone else in California to invite me to a wedding other than a high school friend married the prior year. I asked my mother to read the invitation carefully over the phone to me, and when she pronounced Steve’s name in Italian, I was pleasantly surprised.) The night before the wedding, the guys went out and, since we were all political junkies, we began to discuss current events and leadership. Steve then said when he comes back from his honeymoon, he is going to mail me a book about an Italian American leader with a unique management style who would talk to people directly for a few minutes before referring them to staff to deal with the details. I asked the name of this personage, expecting to hear the name of a business leader. When he said, “Vito Marcantonio,” I said, “You too? I can’t believe how this name keeps coming back up in my life.” When he returned from his honeymoon, he, unlike many people in this world, followed through on his promise, and sent me Dr. Gerald Meyer’s book – Vito Marcantonio: Radical Political (1902-1954).
In 1996 after 10 years of coincidences of Vito Marcantonio reappearing in my life, I met Dr. Meyer. We set out to organize the largest event ever on the late Congressman – a multi-media event organized two years later with FIERI, the NYU Circolo Italiano, the National Italian American Foundation, and the John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute, attracting over 400 people at the student center of New York University, where Marcantonio had gone to law school and had founded a university-level Circolo Italiano.
Then came Dr. Meyer’s definitive observation: “We can’t let this event occur in isolation. This needs to be part of a larger campaign to educate the public about Marcantonio with a multi-disciplinary approach.”
Of all the goals that Dr. Meyer enumerated off the top of his head, the artistic-related goals resonated the most with me; I choose to concentrate on achieving these objectives: a feature film, a full-length play, and a documentary. These would then include dramatizations and a one-man show.
Roberto Ragone in The Shadows of Life
Some of the aims of our prospective campaign were being achieved along the way, such as walking tours of historic landmarks of Italian Harlem and El Barrio – where Marcantonio lived his entire life and succeeded his political mentor as Congressman after he helped elect LaGuardia Mayor of New York City in 1933.
Then, in 2011, that list of goals became part of the Mission Statement written as the Preamble to the Constitution of the newly-founded Vito Marcantonio Forum (VMF) – a cultural-historical community based organization that brings together people, from a wide variety of backgrounds, dedicated to disseminating and sharing knowledge of the life and work of Vito Marcantonio and his mentors, Fiorello La Guardia and Dr. Leonard Covello. The VMF has striven to correct the historical record, which most often has ignored or misrepresented Marcantonio’s unceasing work on behalf of those left out of the American Dream The VMF applauds his courageous fight for a more authentically democratic country and offering a valuable important frame of reference for coalition-building. To date, the VMF has fulfilled its mission by: organizing book presentations; book circles; screenings of documentaries; and walking tours. In addition, the VMF has co-produced plays, as well as organized commemorations and awards dinners.
Dr. Meyer and I would be voted in as Co-Chairs, Maria Lisella – who also leads the Italian American Writers Association – would be voted in Vice Chair of the VMF, and Adam Meyer as Secretary/Treasurer.
Other goals would be steadily accomplished, including the naming in 2017 of the northeast corner of the intersection of East 116th Street and Lexington Avenue, “The Vito Marcantonio Lucky Corner,” thanks to New York City Council Speaker and Councilwoman of East Harlem, Melissa Mark-Viverito. There is a photo of a bird perched on the sign during the ceremony, which many of us concluded was harboring the soul and spirit of Marcantonio to witness the event.
One year after that, the Vito Marcantonio Forum was being invited to participate in a Conference in Picerno, Italy – the town where Marcantonio’s family originates in the province of Potenza in the region of Basilicata.
Marcantonio street naming
For me, ever since the time I and Dr. Meyer were planning the large 1998 event at New York University – there was a sense of “if you build it, they will come” – a quote from the film, Field of Dreams, a title symbolically important to the efforts of the VMF.
Now the Vito Marcantonio Forum and the work of its members have become transnational. Matera, a city in the region of Basilicata, Italy had been chosen as the European City of culture for 2019. The Matera Foundation had provided an opportunity for local towns in Basilicata to apply for funds to host cultural events.
The local government of Picerno, led by Mayor Giovanni Lettieri, and the Deputy Mayor, Giusy Marisco had obtained funding to organize a three-day conference that would include academic and artistic presentations about the life and times of Vito Marcantonio, related themes in Italian culture and history, and the Congressman’s continued relevance to the United States and Italy today.
Funding included bringing in two members of the Vito Marcantonio Forum to participate. The VMF selected Gary Bono as one of the representatives, who had begun to actively participate in advising the organization and serving informally in administrative roles on top of his participation in the People’s World and in running a company that republishes renowned books related to the political Left.
The VMF selected me as the other representative, as a VMF founder member and co-chair, who had begun to focus my own career on acting, writing, and producing, and had been making Vito Marcantonio my magnum opus project. I had recently performed my one-man show to a sold-out crowd (with requests to perform in other cities) a couple of months before the plans were finalized with the municipality of Picerno for me and Gary Bono to attend the Conference.
My dramatizations typically consist of my reenacting particular speeches or remarks by Vito Marcantonio (with some tweaking). My one-man show consists of a performance piece I wrote where I portray Vito Marcantonio making a case as to why he does not belong in Purgatory – thus, the title, The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio. The setting of the trial is at the Lucky Corner (East 116th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan).
Roberto Ragone, Co-Chairman of the Vito Marcantonio Forum, speaks during Sunday’s fourth annual commemoration of the group’s namesake. (Photo courtesy: The Independent)
The full-length play and cinematic production are entitled Vito’s Last Penance: The Vindication of Vito Marcantonio. There is also a film short, as mentioned, in post-production of the most workshopped scene (performed also as a one-act play, and protected in the copyright of the full script) where Marcantonio must persuade his semi-retired and semi-reluctant mentor, Fiorello LaGuardia, to stick his neck out and endorse him for Congress in a nation becoming more reactionary under President Truman; and where we learn LaGuardia’s stake as an opposition leader against the Establishment could be jeopardized if he supports Marcantonio. This piece is entitled, The Final Covenant of Vito Marcantonio.
Notice these titles have religious connotations partly because Marcantanio’s death, as in the death of Sacco and Vanzetti, can be evocative of The Passion (of Jesus). This is particularly notable with respect to Marcantonio because he is the only Catholic politician in American history who has been denied a Catholic burial.
I am particularly proud of how the people of color in my life have taken up the cause of advancing the story of Vito Marcantonio. I recall the late Morgan Powell, an African American member of the Vito Marcantonio Forum, who, in 2014, reached out to a Latino gentleman who hosted a show on cable about getting us on the program at the last minute to discuss our (at the time) upcoming commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the death of Vito Marcantonio.
Vito Marcantonio Forum with City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito at Woodlawn Cemetery
Art Bernal, who is Mexican American and who co-produced and co-directed, “The Final Covenant” short, brought together an experienced and enthusiastic production team consisting of Karen Torres, producer of Puerto Rican heritage; Justin Bennett, the main director, who is African American; Xavier Campo, director of photography, who is Columbian; Juan Fullada, sound technician originally from Peru; and the makeup artist – who transformed me into Marcantonio and George Papadimatos into LaGuardia – Serica Bell, who is Caribbean American. George is Greek American and Brytanie Holbrook – who portrays LaGuardia’s second wife, Marie, whom he dated and married after his first wife passed away from illness – is Finnish and British descent.
L’Idea: Do you plan to bring The Purgatory Trial of Vito Marcantonio on the road?
Roberto Ragone: As I was planning the performance of the one-man show in New York City, and as result of my initiating an inquiry or being approached by those who would not be able to make the Manhattan performance, the question was posed: “when are you going to bring it over to x, y, or z city. Some people would suggest a venue and/or offer to produce the show either because they were willing to take the initiative or step up after Art and I explained our financial and logistical constraints, like room and board.
Those areas of interest added up to Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Troy, New York, and parts of Florida.
L’Idea: You also played lead roles in some movies and I am sure our readers would like to find out more about that… Which movies were?
Roberto Ragone If you don’t mind, I would be pleased to include the link to a brief film demo reel – https:://youtu.be/PhZ-bDBR2k4 – which was edited by the great documentary filmmaker, Anton Evangelista, whose credits include Umberto E, a moving documentary about his father – with a title evoking the classic Italian film, Umberto D – along with a documentary about the great poet and author, Daniela Gioseffa, and most recently, Il Signor Jackson, about the life of Edward Jackson, the prominent African American educator of the Italian language and culture. I hope L’Idea takes an interest in Anton’s work and Edward Jackson’s contributions.
My Casting Networks resume has the most comprehensive gathering of my credits, clips, bio, skills, and projects: http://www.castingnetworks.com/RobertoRagone
Roberto Ragone as Vito Marcantonio
L’Idea: How did that experience compare with the theatrical one? Any other movie in preparation, yet?
Roberto Ragone: The theatrical experience helps sort out which actors take the responsibility of memorizing their lines and following directions. If you can do theatre, then film becomes easier. However, the theatrical experience calls for a projection of yourself to an audience whereas cinema requires a subtlety for the camera.
I am trying to raise money for different projects where I play a lead role. In one film, I am an undercover investigator trying to destroy a child trafficking ring. The film also attempts to raise awareness about this international issue. In another project, a mystery horror film – entitled, Where Evil Lurks, written and directed by Stephen Corr, I play a detective investigating the link between a cult to a murder. And of course, in the case of Vito Marcantonio, I am hoping that a “road show” of the one-man show will generate interest in the production of the 105-page version of the full-length play Off Broadway. (There is a larger version of the script for theatre and adaptable for an epic film or mini-series.)
L’Idea: Are you working on any new project at this time? … Maybe a book, maybe another play?
Roberto Ragone: My projects seem happily endless based on the scripts I am writing. I feel fortunate that I do not have mental blocks. I don’t suffer from the problem of procrastination in terms of writing. Ironically, when I delay writing, the story and dialogue keep building up in my head to the point where I have to write them down, or I become less productive in other areas or even weighed down. One particular example of such a challenge was when I was in the middle of the rehearsals and preparing for the performance of Bromance-A-Roni during the Midtown International Theatre Festival in 2017: a new comedy was emerging in my head that would also serve as a tribute to Jimmy Durante. I have since edited several drafts of that play.
Ultimately, I don’t need to be part of a writing pool to get ideas or sort out logic gaps. I ask people who are personal or professional peers about whether the logic for a particular moment is clear versus whether more spoon-feeding is necessary. I might ask whether it is better to say a sentence a particular way versus another sentence structure, or which character should be designated to deliver a particular line of punchline. The challenge is making the time to edit these scripts and complete them for a production given the other things I need to do as an actor to advance my career and earn income.
I would also like to see some of my “left-brain” published essays that critique current events and analyze them in the context of historical figures, including political and cultural figures and forces in an interdisciplinary manner. For example, I have drafted an essay about Vito Marcantonio that I am trying to get published that also speaks to current affairs.
L’Idea: Roberto, did your Italian roots influence you as an artist? And as a man?
Roberto Ragone: There are a few factors in my Italian roots that drew me towards my Italian heritage and the artistic expression of that heritage through the arts as an outlet – for someone like myself who feels closely connected to and contemplates that heritage.
My high school sophomore social studies teacher, Judith Katz, enthusiastically and energetically taught me about what one might describe as the three Rs of the Italian heritage: Rome, Renaissance and Risorgimento. This instructed me to look beyond the three Fs of Italian culture that Americans typically appreciate: food, fashion, and fine arts.
On top of that, my father was the typical hardworking Italian immigrant earning money to advance his family. My father seems to be the archetype of the lively, vivacious, animated, charming, entertaining, and joyful “Napoletano,” since he is from Salerno, which is in the same region as Naples. Once, when I saw him watch Luciano Pavarotti sing on TV, I seemed to be looking at the face of a man saying to himself, “that could have been me.” It turns out my father sang, performed in theater, and even danced. There were stories about friends in his paese (Teggiano) – in an agricultural area – taking turns hosting gatherings at their homes, playing vinyl records on the record player. And the young men would walk up to the young woman, and ask them to dance. After the dance was over, the young men would walk up to their peer (my future would-be father), who was the authority and the expert, and say in Italian, “Uuayy! Arsenio, com’ agiu’ fatto? Agiu” fatto bene?” (“Arsenio, how did I do? Did I do okay?”)
This information would help me make an “informed choice” in determining that it would be the right thing to leave the world of politics, public policy, and nonprofits and commit myself to acting, writing, and producing. I had always imagined comedic or dramatic dialogues and how the lines would be delivered, and even occasionally how to direct a scene. I had even found myself critiquing acting performance, a script, or a director’s choice as far back as my youth. I would also sometimes imagine myself hosting, emceeing, or moderating discussions on stage.
I prefer to be in a situation where I offer a unique value proposition that can have a positive, constructive, and even transcendent impact, rather than be one among many, serving a role where I’m easily interchangeable with someone else.
L’Idea: Any message for our readers?
Roberto Ragone: I would want to make an appeal not only to the 17 million people who identify themselves as having Italian heritage, but also Italophiles. In fact, I also make an appeal to people to learn their ancestry through services that teach how to reconstruct your past in order for them to discover if they have any Italian heritage. If one has Italian heritage, I would suggest taking advantage of the “Italian blood” proviso in Italian law guaranteeing you citizenship. This might be a modern version of how Europeans used to contemplate (and maybe still do in their collective unconscious) how they were all once part of the Roman Empire. Throw in the fact that Italians perhaps experienced the second largest Diaspora after the Jewish people, and you’ve got a Pan-Italia that can create a new Pax-Romana.
A connection to Italy through a visit to Italy is like a baptism that helps one begin to transcend the American social construct of being white. You began to appreciate a nation that has a rich cultural history and offers frames of reference and models, in the law, engineering, design, and other aesthetics as well as the culinary arts and sartorial splendor of clothing. fabric and swatches. (A recent survey found that people identified Italy as the most “beautiful” country in the world.)
However, through my appeal (and any “baptismal visitation” to Italy), I hope interest in Italian history can prompt interest in Italian-American history and how that history in the form of phenomena can serve as public policy case studies offering insights on how to address contemporary problems in leadership (through LaGuardia and Marcantonio), education (through Dr. Leonard Covello and Dr. Maria Montessouri), law enforcement (through NYPD Lt. Joseph Petrosino); customer-oriented banking and finance (through A.P Giannini); equitable capitalism (through Pareto principals of economics), and public health (through the Roseto Effect).
While there is an understandable request for sensitivity and “safe space” in American society, it is ironic that people, including the people who advocate for sensitivity and space, don’t seem to grant these prerogatives to Italian Americans, and others who appreciate Italian culture and history. In fact, there seems to be no problem with the notion of non-Italian Americans depicting or approving the depiction of the Italian-American experience as one where all the bad guys are of Italian heritage and all the good guys are non-Italian American. This irony is enhanced by the fact that Italian-Americans served in higher proportions than any other ethnic group against the Axis Powers. Italy protected a higher proportion of its Jewish population (85 percent) against the Holocaust than almost all other European nation. While the death of 15 percent of the Italian Jewish population underscores the tragedy of the Nazi genocide, it reflects the heroism of the Italians to rescue, hide, and save it’s Jewish population from extinction. It is my understanding that a study showed that if you were to ask Jewish Europeans in many parts of your Europe, “what are you,” – meaning what is your heritage – they would say, “Jewish.” However, in Italy, they would say they are “Italian.”
There also seems to be no problem with selectively determining who is a good guy and who is a villain in history. And this is not done through facts and truths but through fraudulent and fabricated propaganda. So someone like a Christopher Columbus, who did not mistreat people of color who were minding their own business or whom he befriended, has been demonized as a poster child for evil. Meanwhile, latter-day leaders who should have known better, but instead perpetrated, permitted or perpetuated, violence against people of color, unprovoked by people of color, get to remain lionized heroes, including Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. And while Alexander Hamilton has been underappreciated compared to Thomas Jefferson, he has perhaps been more exonerated that he should be. In fact, it is ironic that there are people out there who couldn’t pass a test about basic American history (or get a lot of questions wrong), who couldn’t tell you the significance of July 4, 1776, and/or don’t know what happened in American history over the past 20 years – much less over the past 50 years – that may have adversely affected their lives. But some of these same people think they are suddenly experts about 1492.
Roberto Ragone
In contrast, America’s Founding Fathers were introspective about the significance of the ancient Roman Republic and the need for representational government. The Founding Fathers knew that Rome was a blueprint, not just for buildings the same architectural style in Washington DC, but for “form[ing] a more perfect union,” as written in the Preamble of the Constitution. In fact, prior to the Constitution, in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, the words, “all men are created equal” came to Thomas Jefferson from his friend, the Italian humanist, Filippo Mazzei. Thus, Jefferson’s “Italo-filialism” extended beyond naming his home Monticello. Unfortunately, the Founding Fathers were not sufficiently introspective to apply these notions to African Americans and Native Americans. One can argue that the Romans were more enlightened in their time, and Columbus in his time.
Because of the contributions of Italians and Italian Americans towards shaping among the best aspects of the United States of America, they are more worthy of respect. At the same time, Italians, Italian Americans and Italophiles need to become more introspective of themselves as transcendent bridge builders between cultures. In contemplating the Pan-Italia and new Pax-Romana I mentioned earlier, I always imagined myself giving a speech identifying a modern Medieval “philistinism,” and then urging change by exhorting people of Italian descent with the following: “Let us be able to claim now what can be claimed around 500 years ago – that a Renaissance has descended across this continent…and it began…with the Italians…thank you very much!”
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Leggi il profilo completo, clicca qui
The opinions expressed in our published works are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions of L'IDEA MAGAZINE, Idea Graphics or its Editors.
Search in the website
IDEA PRESS ANNOUNCES…/IDEA PRESS ANNUNCIA…
SOME GRIEF, SOME JOY By Leo Vadalà ----------------------------------------------------------------- Immigration to America is a dream fulfilled for a young Italian teenager and the beginning of a saga that will challenge the reader with its many surprising developments. This novel, drafted as a memoir, will make you root for the protagonist, cry for him and wish for his success while keeping you completely absorbed by the twists and turns of his life path. A masterpiece of narrative exploits that combines all the emotional conflicts of the immigrant`s life with the joys of love and an unexpected tragedy to create a perfect novel..
Le fragole per una pelle più giovane ed un corpo più bello
I migliori cibi anti-afa secondo la medicina cinese
BENVENUTA PRIMAVERA CON IL FIORE DELLA FELICITÀ
L’avena, un cereale prezioso che combatte astenia e ritenzione idrica
MANI SECCHE E SCREPOLATE IN INVERNO? ECCO COSA FARE
“Il disegnatore è libero” le opere di Ivan Graziani | 24 maggio – 23 giugno 2019 | Museo della Musica, Bologna
Mostra “Bologna da quel momento fu libera” | Museo civico del Risorgimento, Bologna | 18 maggio – 14 luglio 2019
A Bologna rassegna “L’arte è donna. Incontri tra libri e opere nei musei di Bologna”
Emiliano Ponzi, The Great New York Subway Map – La Grande Mappa della Metropolitana di New York.
Molière un genio, la pièce teatrale una noia.
I RACCONTI DE L’IDEA…
Insonnia. Un racconto di Bruno Pegoretti
INCOMPRESO. Racconto inedito di Bruno Pegoretti
Carmelito, sei un Dio!
TU SCENDI DALLE STELLE
FINO AL CRATERE INFINITO DEL NULLA
IDEA PRESS LATEST BOOKS…
QUANDO LA CORRUZIONE VIENE DALL’ALTO
LE CULLE SONO VUOTE? ELIMINATE IL PRECARIATO E ARRIVERANNO TANTI BEBÈ
PROSTITUZIONE, IPOCRISIA E FALSI MORALISMI
L’eleganza dell’opera buffa al Teatro Filarmonico di Verona
Pagliacci
La leggenda del serpente bianco
OUR CULTURAL PARTNERS IN OPERA
In life, the glass is always half full! Exclusive interview with cartoonist Maria Scrivan
From Lost Side Of Suburbia to Poptropica, An Exclusive Interview with Artist Kory Merritt
The World Seen Through a Dog’s Point of View. An Exclusive Interview with Paul Gilligan, author of Pooch Café
The Argyle Sweater’s surrealistic view of life: An exclusive interview with cartoonist Scott Hilburn.
Mark Tatulli: Successful animator, illustrator, writer, artist, filmmaker, producer… and of course, cartoonist. An Exclusive interview.
The Evolution of BIG NATE From Comic strips to Novels to Musical: An interview with Lincoln Peirce
GUY GILCHRIST: FROM THE MUPPETS TO NANCY, A SUCCESS STORY.
Download last issue
Click here to download the pdf file
or Go to the archive page
© 2011 Broadcast. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Wordpress. Designed by Skyali
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1915
|
__label__wiki
| 0.650396
| 0.650396
|
Cadillactica
Interview: Big K.r.i.t Talks Top 5 Rappers and more on Hot 97 The Morning Show
Big K.R.I.T. performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon here and now he stopped…
Video: Big K.R.I.T. Performs ‘Soul Food’ on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show
Big K.R.I.T appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to perform his song ‘Soul…
Video: Big K.R.I.T. Ft. Raphael Saadiq – ‘Soul Food’
Big K.R.I.T. drops a new visual with R&B singer Raphael Saadiq called ‘Soul Food.’ The…
News: Big K.R.I.T.’s Cadillactica Lands at #5 on The Billboard 200 Charts
Big K.R.I.T’s new album Cadillactica debuts at #5 on the Billboard 200 Chart selling 43,000…
Music: Big K.R.I.T. – ‘Let It Show’
Big K.R.I.T. drops new music off his album Cadillactica called ‘Let It Show.’ You can…
Video: Big K.R.I.T. Ft. Rico Love – ‘Pay Attention’
Big K.R.I.T. has a new music video for the ladies featuring Rico Love. The track…
News: Big K.R.I.T Unveals Cadillactica Album Cover & Tracklist
Big K.R.I.T. unveals the tracklist for his long-awaited album, Cadillactica. The album which drops in…
Interview: Big K.R.I.T. on The Combat Jack Show (audio)
Big K.R.I.T. stopped by The Combat Jack Show to talk about his growth as an…
Video: Big K.R.I.T. – ‘Mt. Olympus’
Big K.R.I.T. dropped the audio to ‘Mt. Olympus’ last week and now we have a…
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1927
|
__label__wiki
| 0.87941
| 0.87941
|
A Myanmar Doctor Trades Her Scrubs for a Bikini, and Loses Her License
in: Asia, World
BANGKOK — A top student at a Myanmar high school, Nang Mwe San fulfilled her parents’ wish and enrolled in medical school. By 22, she was a doctor.
But being a physician was never her dream. What she really wanted to be was a “sexy model.”
After several years of treating patients and working for nonprofit medical groups, Dr. Mwe San swapped her scrubs and white coat for bikinis and lingerie. Two years ago, she began shooting commercials and posting racy images of herself on Facebook.
For the staid doctors of the Myanmar Medical Council, seeing so much of the human body — specifically, hers — was more than they could handle.
The council, which oversees the country’s doctors and hospitals, ordered her in January to stop posting such images and to delete them from her page.
She ignored the order, and this month the council informed her that her medical license had been revoked.
“Here there is so much sexism,” Dr. Mwe San, now 29, said in an interview. “They don’t want women to have higher positions. And they judge women on what we wear. They don’t even want us to wear trousers.”
The skirmish over her photos has attracted much attention, serving as a distraction for a nation that is waging wars against ethnic groups and is accused of brutal ethnic cleansing of its Muslim Rohingya population in Rakhine State.
“No one is talking about what is happening in Rakhine, but they are all talking about moral public outrage, swimsuit edition,” said David Mathieson, an independent political analyst in Yangon, the country’s largest city. “An attractive young woman in a bikini is immoral, but waging several brutal wars and engaging in massive ethnic cleansing is fully in line with Myanmar values?”
Dr. Mwe San’s case has also spotlighted the nation’s deeply ingrained patriarchy and its woefully underfunded, understaffed health care system.
Throughout the country, men hold most positions of power. The medical council, headed by a man, is made up of 11 men and two women.
Myanmar’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who shares power with the military, is a rare female head of government. But the only woman she has named to the cabinet is herself, as foreign minister.
Sexual harassment and assault are common in Myanmar and usually go unpunished, women say. And when it comes to medical school, young women must have higher grades than men just to gain admittance.
The revocation of Dr. Mwe San’s license seems at odds with the needs of the country’s beleaguered health care system. Officials say Myanmar, with a population of 53 million, has only half the doctors it needs.
During decades of military dictatorship, Myanmar neglected its health care system. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted more resources to it, but the result has been mixed.
Many people cannot afford to see a doctor, and some patients say they must pay bribes to get proper treatment at government hospitals. While wealthier people can afford private hospitals, the staff and facilities at government hospitals are woefully inadequate. Some hospitals are so overcrowded that patients sleep on benches in hallways.
Medicine is considered a prestigious occupation, and medical schools attract the country’s best high school students. But many leave the profession, or the country, for better-paying work soon after graduating.
New doctors are paid as little as $160 a month at government hospitals and twice that at private hospitals. Most want to work in the cities, leaving few doctors to serve towns and villages.
Dr. Mwe San, a resident of Yangon, said she earned more as a model than she had as a physician, and that she enjoyed the work more.
“It is my passion,” she said. “I feel more comfortable and happy working as a model.”
She said she planned to appeal the ruling and seek a suspension of her license so she could work as a doctor again someday, perhaps as a volunteer, once her modeling career ends.
“I will try my best to keep it because I spent a lot of my time and worked hard to get it,” she said.
On Facebook this week, she posted photos of herself in a yellow bikini and wrote, “Society doesn’t own women’s body. My body, my right.”
The medical council declined to comment on her case.
She said she was summoned by the council in January and ordered not to dress in a way that violated Myanmar tradition.
“They didn’t call me a model,” she said. “Instead, they told me I have a behavior disorder.”
The council made her sign a statement agreeing to delete her modeling images from Facebook and threatened to revoke her license if she did not comply, she said.
The photos and videos that Ms. Mwe San posts mix suggestive images with poses in more traditional outfits. In March, she posed for the cover of a health magazine in modest attire with a stethoscope around her neck and holding her duty coat.
But it does not help her case that someone posted five risqué Snapchat video clips of her elsewhere on Facebook, including three in which she exposed her breasts. She said she made those videos years ago and that they were being circulated without her permission.
She always wore appropriate attire when working as a doctor, she said.
In revoking her license, the council said she violated the January agreement and “traditional Myanmar culture” by continuing to post revealing images.
The council cited a broadly worded rule giving it the power to revoke the license of anyone unable to carry out his or her duties “in accordance with the qualifications of a medical practitioner.”
But Dr. Mwe San remains undeterred.
“Whatever I’m facing, I won’t give up my modeling profession,” she said. “I just like to work as a photo model.”
Tags:bikinidoctorlicenselosesmyanmarscrubstrades
Previous : Iran And Saudi Arabia Make Surprise Investments Close To Each Other In Australia
Next : Emmerdale spoilers Liam Cavanagh exposed as Bernice Blackstock makes discovery? | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV
We report the News from around the Globe. Please support our advertisers.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1933
|
__label__cc
| 0.58956
| 0.41044
|
Spirographs featured at Family Fun Day July 14 at Cultural Heritage Center
PIERRE, S.D. -- Circles in circles and round and round – do you remember using a Spirograph? Come to the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre for Family Fun Saturday July 14 from 10-11:30 a.m. CDT and give a Spirograph a spin.
Supplies are provided and children need to be accompanied by an adult. There is free admission to the museum galleries during the program time.
“Doodling and drawing are something most people enjoy,” said Jay Smith, museum director for the South Dakota State Historical Society. “Spirograph is a great way to create beautiful doodles that are almost works of art. It was wildly popular in the 1970s so using Spirograph for a Family Fun Saturday is a great idea while we have the ‘Spirit of the 70s’ exhibit on display in the gallery. I hope everyone will enjoy the program and the exhibit.”
Spirograph is a drawing toy that comes with a variety of plastic shapes with ridged edges. A design is created by placing a small shape inside or outside a larger one and using a pen to trace the path of the smaller shape as it rolls alongside the other. The cogs along the edge of each piece keep them connected and create beautiful patterns as the pen is rolled around.
Spirograph was the brainchild of Denys Fisher, a mechanical engineer in the United Kingdom, who originally developed it as a drafting tool in the early 1960s. After encouragement from friends and family, Fisher began to market his drawing set as a toy. Spirograph first went on sale in 1965. Its geometric and swirling patterns were similar to those found in 1960s Op Art. It also fit in well with the popular psychedelic patterns of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Spirograph became the number-one selling toy in the United States for Christmas in 1967. It continues to be popular and is still available today.
Despite its apparently random results, the concept behind the toy is rooted in mathematics. The intricate designs it produces are known as epicycles, a mathematical term for the “path that one circle creates as it moves along the interior or exterior of the circumference of another circle.”
The museum is open from 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. CDT Monday through Saturday, and 1-4:30 p.m. on Sundays and most holidays. Call 605-773-3458 for more information about exhibits, special events and upcoming activities.
The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Education. The State Historical Society, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call 605-773-3458 or visit www.history.sd.gov for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call 605-394-1936 for more information.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1938
|
__label__wiki
| 0.624357
| 0.624357
|
Home Features Chula Vista Veteran of the Year is Proud Southwestern College Graduate
Chula Vista Veteran of the Year is Proud Southwestern College Graduate
Ernesto Rivera
Southwestern College alumnus Chris Lawrence has been recognized as Chula Vista’s Veteran of the Year. Lawrence is a Purple Heart recipient, a police officer with the Chula Vista Police Department and a graduate of Southwestern College’s Police Academy.
In 2007, Chris Lawrence had been in about his fifth month of deployment in the Al Anabar province of Iraq when an enemy improvised explosive device went off and destroyed the bridge he and his squad of about 14 soldiers were walking over.
“I was at the center of the bridge and the bomb basically went off right underneath my feet,” Lawrence said. “The next thing I remember is waking up at the Navy hospital in Washington, D.C.”
Lawrence’s both legs and his left arm had been shattered, he suffered a myriad of internal wounds and he was left with traumatic brain injury.
“I had no idea what happened,” he said. “The incident wiped out a good chunk of my memory, including a good couple weeks of what had happened in Iraq, moments of my childhood and I have a hard time retaining new information.”
Some doctors were worried he would never be able to walk again. After six months in bed, exhaustive reconstructive surgery and intense physical therapy, Lawrence made the tough decision to amputate his right leg below the knee and face a lifetime of using a prosthetic.
“I told them to amputate because if they tried to heal my leg, it would never be the same,” he said. “They told me I wouldn’t be able to run, I would have to walk with a cane and I wouldn’t be able to be as active. With a prosthetic, it can be physically challenging but I can keep moving.”
Now, more than 10 years after his injury, Lawrence, a Purple Heart recipient, is being honored as the Chula Vista Veteran of the Year for his tenacity as a veteran and his dedication to Chula Vista as a police officer. Lawrence was also the special guest speaker at Southwestern College’s annual Veterans’ Day Ceremony in November.
While Lawrence has a lot to celebrate now, his road to becoming a police officer with a prosthetic leg has been tumultuous. When Lawrence came back to San Diego, where he was initially deployed, he began working with the Wounded Warriors project at the Navy Medical Center in Balboa Park, where he helped create programs and work with other injured young veterans.
“When I was going through rehab, I thought the next best thing to go in the military was law enforcement,” he said.” But I didn’t think I would be able to do it.”
Lawrence began applying to various police departments throughout San Diego and Orange counties. It had been his dream to become a police officer since he was a kid growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but he was never hired, despite passing all the physical requirements alongside other able-bodied candidates.
“It was heartbreaking,” he said. “Instead of quitting, I had to find another way to go.”
Lawrence decided to use his G.I. benefits to enroll as a student veteran into the Southwestern College Police Academy. Lawrence said his education and experience at the Police Academy recharged and re-motivated his dream after suffering so many rejections.
“The Police Academy is taught by officers from National City, Chula Vista and San Diego and when they saw what I could do, it gave me my confidence back,” he said. “What they were teaching was their own real-world experience – things they would learn while actually doing the job they would come back and teach it to us. That’s when I knew I could do it.”
At the Police Academy, Lawrence participated in the exact same physical fitness tests as the other students, but because of his traumatic brain injury, his memory really suffered. He had to read manuals three or four times before exams and take extra notes. That extra effort helped him graduate with honors in the Police Academy.
Chris Lawrence, center, poses for a photo with student veteran Bernard Dogan, left, and Police Academy Director David Espiritu, right, at Southwestern College’s annual Veterans’ Day Ceremony.
“Mr. Lawrence demonstrated a strong work ethic and strong leadership skills,” said David Espiritu, Southwestern College Police Academy Director and National City Police Department Captain. “His mental toughness and perseverance allowed him to successfully complete the Police Academy program. The Police Academy training staff is very proud of Mr. Lawrence.”
Lawrence, in fact, was hired before he even finished the academy. His graduation from the Police Academy and his Chula Vista Police Department pinning were on the same day.
“I graduated wearing a Chula Vista Police Department uniform and badge,” Lawrence said. “It became one of the top three most amazing days of my life. Becoming a dad, becoming a Marine and becoming a Chula Vista police officer.”
Previous articleSouthwestern College Celebrates Jewish Festival of Lights
Next articleNew and Returning Trustees Sworn into Southwestern College Governing Board
Ernesto Rivera is a marketing and communications associate for Southwestern College and a proud journalism alumnus of the college. Previously, he worked as an editorial assistant for Chico State's communications department and was an editor for the Chico News & Review.
Harry Potter Science Class Teaches 4th-10th Graders the Magic of Science
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1939
|
__label__wiki
| 0.924547
| 0.924547
|
No Munna Bhai film without Sanjay Dutt: Arshad Warsi
News East-West
MUMBAI: With his bhai (Munna Bhai) now locked up for three and a half years, Circuit (Arshad Warsi) says there would be no Munna Bhai film without Sanjay Dutt.
Sanjay Dutt essayed the role of Munna Bhai in the 2003 Munna Bhai M.B.B.S and the 2006 Lage Raho Munna Bhai with aplomb. A third “Munna Bhai” film has reportedly been shelved till Sanjay Dutt comes out of jail. The actor was jailed last Friday for 42 months in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
Arsahd Warsi, who played Sanjay Dut’s sidekick or best buddy as Circuit in the two Munna Bhai films, says he won’t work for another Munna Bhai film without Sanjay.
“For that character, you can’t think of any other person now. That character has a definite structure and a definite personality that matches a lot with that of Sanju’s personality,” Arshad said this week at the DVD launch of Jolly LLB.
The versatile Warsi added, “I think somewhere down the line, our audience has enjoyed Sanju and they are stuck with him. They will not be able to see anybody. Neither can I imagine anybody else.’’
So another Munna Bhai film will have to wait for more than four years now.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1943
|
__label__wiki
| 0.932785
| 0.932785
|
The Nelms Brothers
Eshom Nelms (L) and Ian Nelms (R) -- Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
THE NELMS BROTHERS (www.NelmsBros.com), filmmakers Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms, grew up in central California waging two hundred man G.I. Joe wars and dreaming in John Ford landscapes. Though their evolving passions temporarily took them in different directions - Ian first went to college on a wrestling scholarship, along the way discovering an interest for English Literature, and Eshom pursued an education in fine art, but then found the illustration of comic books betters suited to his tastes - the two would always find themselves returning to their love of film. While Ian has produced various projects independently and Eshom has worked as a professional storyboard artist for over a decade, the two always write and direct as a duo. Together, they have written and directed numerous award-winning and critically-acclaimed feature films. With each of their endeavors completely different from the last, the Nelms Brothers are known for their unique ability to traverse from one genre to another, seamlessly and successfully, from drama to comedy to thrillers.
Their 2013 film, LOST ON PURPOSE, was a heartfelt coming-of-age drama that received numerous festival awards including An Award for Best Directors and 3 Awards for Best Film. Their 2015 feature, WAFFLE STREET, was a comedic turn based on an autobiographical memoir, which went on to win Best Narrative Feature and Screenwriter Awards across the U.S. Their most recent film, 2017’s SMALL TOWN CRIME, a crime thriller, was showcased at SXSW and BFI London Film Festival before its January 2018 theatrical release, upon which it received positive reviews from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times Variety, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone among others. Now the film can be seen on DVD, blu-ray, DirectTV, iTunes, Amazon, and Netflix worldwide.
In 2018, the Nelms Brothers executive produced their first television series, “Everyone is Doing Great,” which was created by their longtime collaborator, James Lafferty, as well as actor Stephen Colletti. In Summer 2018, the pilot screened at renowned festivals around the world including ATX (Austin) TV Festival, New York TV Festival, Kansas City Film Festival, Monte Carlo TV Festival, SeriesFest in Denver where James and Stephen took home the Best Comedy Writers Award and Mammoth Film Festival where the show won the Best TV Episodic Award. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the team was able to independently finance a full season - a total of 8 episodes for a complete Season 1, which was shot in Fall/Winter 2018. The series is currently in post-production. Eshom and Ian are also developing a thriller/sci-fi TV series with another longtime collaborator, Academy Award® Winner Octavia Spencer.
In addition to their new TV ventures, the Nelms Brothers have three feature films in development. The are attached to direct the thriller CAPTURE for Thunder Road, the production company behind the successful JOHN WICK franchise, which has garnered over $260 Million worldwide; they are writing CARRIE AND ME, a film based on the life of Carol Burnett for Focus Features, which will be produced by Carol Burnett, Tina Fey and Steven Rogers, and they will soon direct FATMAN, starring Mel Gibson, based on their original script.
REPRESENTATION TEAM
Talent Agency: ICM Partners | Spencer Baumgarten, Daniel Cohan - (310) 554-4000
Management Firm: IF Artists Management | Ilene Feldman - (424) 384-7444
Management Firm: LBI Entertainment | Sam Warren - (310) 775-8624
Attorney: Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman | Todd Rubenstein - (310) 319-3900
Publicist: Ngoc Nguyen PR | Ngoc Nguyen - (323) 207-5373 (LA) / (917) 740-0707 (NY)
For General Inquiries, please email: FollyFilms@gmail.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1947
|
__label__wiki
| 0.868971
| 0.868971
|
With 206 identified heritage sites, the city of Nelson has the highest number of heritage structures of any BC community outside of Vancouver and Victoria. Nelson was one of the first communities in the pilot project for the Main Street Canada Program, with 70 heritage buildings in the downtown core restored between 1980 and 1985. Nelson’s heritage sites include buildings, places, amenity areas, boat houses, etc. There are four levels of heritage designation – Canadian Register of Historic Places, Municipal Heritage Designation, Federal Heritage Designation and Community Heritag e Register - under which these properties have been identified and protected:
69 sites on the Canadian Register of Historic Places - these sites have a Statement of Significance that identifies the important heritage elements of the site
of the 69 sites, 12 also are municipally designated, meaning that they also have a bylaw that protects them
of the 12 municipally designated sites, one of them, the CP station, is also a federally designated heritage site
there are also 137 sites on the Community Heritage Register, which means that they are considered to have heritage value for the city
The City’s heritage sites can also be viewed on the Nelson Heritage sites map.
Canadian Register of Historic Places
The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP) is a federal, provincial and territorial collaboration designed to conserve historic places in Canada and to foster a culture of collaboration designed to conserve historic places in Canada and to foster a culture of conservation across the country. A key element in the required documentation for listing on the CRHP is a Statement of Significance (SOS). An historic place can be a building, an engineering structure, a landscape, an archaeological site or any place that combines some or all of the elements.
The City of Nelson has 69 properties that have been identified as historic places and have Statements of Significance that were approved by a resolution of Council.
For properties that are on the Canadian Register of Historic Places and that are located within the City’s Development Permit Area #2 (Downtown and Waterfront), any alterations or development will require a development permit to ensure compliance with the heritage design guidelines as well as the character-defining elements identified in the site’s Statement of Significance.
Municipal Heritage Designation
In addition to being on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, The City of Nelson also has 12 properties with Municipal Heritage Designation. These properties have a Statement of Significance, as well as a heritage bylaw approved by Council. No alterations to these buildings can be undertaken without an approved heritage alteration permit, as per LGA Section 611.
Federal Heritage Designation
The CP Rail Station at 90 Baker Street is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as well as having both a Municipal and Federal Heritage Designation. Any alterations to this building must comply with the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, Parks Canada.
The City of Nelson also has 137 properties on the Community Heritage Register. A Heritage Register is a planning tool which allows a local government to monitor and manage change in its historic places. Heritage Register status does not give any formal protection to a site and is not the same as heritage designation. Inclusion of property on the Heritage Register provides Council with the ability to temporarily withhold a building permit, temporarily withhold a demolition permit for up to 60 days, and/or to require a heritage impact assessment if deemed necessary.
Protection of Heritage Properties
As per Section 604 of the LGA, a local government, bybylaw, can withhold issuance of any approval for an action that, in the opinion of the person responsible for issuing the approval, would alter or cause an alteration to any of the following:
protected heritage property
property subject to temporary heritage protection
property on a community heritage register
The matter must be referred to the local government at its next regular meeting after the approval is withheld.
Development Services & Engineering
Contact Development Services & Engineering
City of Nelson Heritage Sites Interactive Map
Current Planning Projects
Nelson City Hall
Closed Statutory Holidays
Suite 101, 310 Ward Street
Nelson, BC V1L 5S4
City of Nelson Annual Reports
City of Nelson Newsletters
When should I call 911?
How do I apply for a Criminal Record or Police information check?
How do I request a copy of my Police record?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1948
|
__label__wiki
| 0.603013
| 0.603013
|
Madar Ensemble – Acamar (2019)
‘In orbit, you’re keyed up and aware of everything going on, every little noise, anything that may have special meaning because of where you are.’
– John Glenn
Madar (literally 'an orbit’) is the fruit of the musical friendship between the Palestinian ud player Nizar Rohana and Dutch bassist Tony Overwater. They invited three prominent musicians from the Arab world and the Netherlands: Tunisian violinist and viola d'amore player Jasser Haj Youssef; Jordanian percussionist Nasser Salameh and Dutch clarinet player Maarten Ornstein. With genuine curiosity for and understanding of each other’s musical language, they have come together with the purpose of creating something new, built on a deeply shared respect for the qualities of their various musical worlds.
Acamar, from the Arabic ākhir an-nahrmeaning "the end of the river", is a star located in the constellation Eridanus, variously associated by ancient astronomers with rivers across the Mediterranean and MiddleEast, including the Nile, Po and Euphrates. The music in this album is inspired by the classical civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean which relied in daily life on an understanding of the cosmos.
The album's 10 tracks include six original compositions and four improvisations. It was recorded and mixed by Fieke van der Hurk at Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, and was mastered by Frans de Rond.
The album was produced by Kepera Records and is distributed by Challenge Records International. This album was supported by The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC).
Stream and order your copy from any of the following:
Spotify / Youtube
Challenge Records
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1951
|
__label__wiki
| 0.807178
| 0.807178
|
World Cup format fizzles out
Russell Westbrook is stuck in Thunder purgatory with few ways out
United States of America beat Netherlands, win back-to-back World Cups
On the eve of the World Cup final, Rapinoe calls out Federation Internationale de Football Association
Copa America: Lionel Messi rails against 'corruption'
Sports Apr 10
Cardinals' Stephen Piscotty Had Incredibly Painful Trip Around The Bases
Both pitchers who were to pitch Wednesday will go today. After a day off, the Cubs and Cardinals will get back into action on Tuesday night. "We don't have a say" in the weather, he said . Not as horrific, however, as what Wainwright and others saw at PNC Park in September 2015. Piscotty dropped, ragdoll-like, to the turf. "I thought he was paralyzed".
Manchester United 1-1 Everton: Highlights and recap
IN PICS: India need 87 more runs to win series
6 near-misses that made Sergio Garcia Masters win so much sweeter
Manchester United to welcome back Valencia against Anderlecht
Cubs beat slow-starting Brewers
Vincent Kompany pleased with Manchester City display despite Chelsea defeat
U.S. women agree to deal, end hockey boycott
Veterans Rose, Garcia share Masters lead after three rounds
Sports - All News
Neymar could MISS El Clasico for clapping after red card
Had the referee taken the right decision, Barcelona would have equalised with 10 minutes remaining and would have avoided an upset against the 15th ranked team in La Liga . The visitors created only one chance in the first half, which fell the way of 23-goal striker Luis Suarez just short of a quarter of the way into the contest.
Steve McManaman sends strong Chelsea message to Tottenham
He has assisted me so many times so I'm thankful! "We want to take it game by game, we can't affect Chelsea but we have to focus ourselves, take it game by game and see where it takes us". Hopefully he can just get better with more experience. A flowing counter-attack began by Moussa Dembele ended with the ball at the feet of Alli who curled an unstoppable shot past former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes for his 16th league goal of the season.
Jason Day bares his emotions, 'I feel a lot lighter'
Perhaps most frightening is that the better Johnson gets, the harder he works. You're going to have to settle for bogeys here and there. That s what it takes to win. "Curtis is an exciting prospect for you guys (Australia) in the next few years", said McIlroy. That's something that I feel like if I putt very well, I'm going to have a chance to win on Sunday.
Stoke City v Liverpool
Given their eight-point cushion above the dropzone, Stoke probably have enough in reserve to ensure that they do not become embroiled in a fight to remain in the Premier League, but their form will be a worry to Hughes as he looks to take the club a further step forward.
Takeaways from the team's Opening Night loss
Louis. "We'll miss Dex a lot, and especially for the shorter term, it certainly hurts us", said Theo Epstein, the Cubs' president of baseball operations. Grichuk started 2016 in a massive slump and wound up making an embarrassing return trip to Triple-A Memphis. The Cubs' new lead-off hitter served notice that he's up to the challenge in the first inning, as Kyle Schwarber led off the game with a broken bat single.
Self-belief the key to Hazard's great form - Conte
The Belgium playmaker's masterful finish helped leaders Chelsea cement a seven-point cushion over Tottenham, with Antonio Conte's men requiring at most 15 points from seven games to claim the title. We have to continue in this way, game by game, to be focused and to concentrate. When you have pressure, you give the best of yourself. "Because I think under the pressure, you get the best from yourself".
Wawrinka goes down in Miami
Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in action against Alexander Zverev of Germany. He also reached the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells Masters before retiring. More than a decade later, they're still rolling. I'm 24 years old now and been on tour for a while. "So I think it's a positive for both of us that we can still (be) around here and be very competitive nearly every week that we are playing".
James remains cool after shocking loss
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said, " Everything went wrong for us in that fourth quarter, I mean every single thing ". SACRAMENTO, Calif. - James Harden had 35 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds for his 21st triple-double of the season, leading Houston past Sacramento.
Trudeau leads Battle of Vimy 100-year commemoration
Hundreds of people gathered at the Canadian National War Memorial Sunday to remember those who fought at the battle of Vimy Ridge . Britain's Prince Charles and Gov. "Under enemy fire, they advanced, fighting like lions", said Mr Trudeau. "Going as far as sacrificing their lives, these men both ordinary and extraordinary of the British dominion fought for the first time as citizens of a single and same country.side by side here in Vimy".
Roger Federer tops Rafael Nadal once again, clinches Miami Open title
The 35-year-old has enjoyed a terrific start to the year and added the crown in Florida to his Australian Open and Indian Wells titles as he returned to world No. Federer survived a tight match against 12th-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia with a 7-6 (9), 6-7 (9), 7-6 victory on Friday night. "But that is not the full story", Federer said.
Marcos Alonso: Chelsea have made a statement to title rivals Tottenham
Yet an Adam Smith own goal, and further efforts from Eden Hazard and Marcos Alonso ensured they comfortably beat the hosts to regain their seven-point advantage. "Whatever the formation I always try to play well and score in order to help the team". "The second goal was the key but they deserved to win the game", Silva conceded.
« Back 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 Next »
76ers & Ben Simmons Agree To Massive 5-Year Deal
Novak Djokovic Beats Roger Federer In Longest Wimbledon Final
Dwight Gooden Arrested for Cocaine Possession Again
Arsenal set to make third offer for Tierney
Marc Batchelor: South African Ex-Footballer Shot Dead Outside Home in Johannesburg
Boxing legend Pernell Whitaker killed in accident
Watch Moment Angels Complete No-Hitter While Honoring Tyler Skaggs
Egypt FA chief quits after shock Cup of Nations exit
Zion has bruised knee, no more summer league
Beto supports Nike's decision to withdraw American flag sneakers
Willy Caballero foresaw Frank Lampard's move to management
Halep wins Wimbledon, stops Williams’ bid for 24th Slam
Serena Williams Loses in Straight Sets to Serena Halep in Wimbledon Final
Algeria defeat Nigeria, qualify for AFCON 2019 final
Mahrez Scores 95th Minute Free-Kick To Send Algeria Into AFCON Final
US women's predicts Novak Djokovic Wimbledon victory
Federer Beats Nadal, Plays Djokovic In Wimbledon Final
Lebron James Can't Proceed With Jersey Swap Due To Nike Issue
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1962
|
__label__cc
| 0.644695
| 0.355305
|
Mr. Nagaraj lives with his wife and three children in KS doddi village. He is a member of Chandramouli SHG for the last two years, attends all meetings and does regular savings. Mr. Nagaraj is an active member of the group and involves himself in all the activities of the group. At present he is selected as one of the group representatives.
Before Intervention:
Mr. Nagraj had 4 acres of dry land with one bore well and one open well. Due to poor rainfall in the area the bore well got dried off and the water level in the open well was about 10 feet. The water was sufficient only to irrigate 1 acre of land, in which he was growing maize.
After Intervention:
After implementing watershed measures such as earthen bunds, farm ponds, check dams, RRS and other components in the project area, rain water is harvested in these measures which have helped in the percolation of water and increase in the ground water level.
As a result of this the bore well in Mr. Nagraj’s farm recharged and started working. Also, the water level in the open well has increased upto 25 feet. He is thus able to pump out water from both wells.
With good water availability Mr. Nagraj has now converted another three acres of his dry land to irrigated land. He is cultivating maize, turmeric, onion and sugarcane in all four acres of his land. In the last agriculture season he has grown sugarcane in one and a half acres, turmeric in one and a half acres and onion in one acre of land, and earned a good profit, as detailed below –
Crops # of acres Quintals Total Expenditure Net profit
Sugarcane 1.5 acres 60 tonnes 157500 61940
Turmeric 1.5 acres 30 quintals 240000 125000
Onion` 1 acre 15 quintals 30000 11000
Total 427500 197940
Mr. Nagraj is very happy with the income earned and shared that with the additional income he has levelled his land and put up drip irrigation facility, so as to conserve the use of water, as much as possible. He has also put his children in a better school for higher education in Tamil Nadu. The family members have expressed their gratitude and thanked ODP for the good works done.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1963
|
__label__wiki
| 0.54228
| 0.54228
|
Denison Student Wins 2018 NFSPS Edna Meudt Memorial Award
Interview by Chuck Salmons, OPA President
Iryna Klishch, a senior at Denison University (Granville, Ohio) was chosen as this year’s winner of the 2018 NFSPS Edna Meudt Memorial Award, which includes a cash prize and publication of her first chapbook, A Monster the Size of the Sun. Klishch, who is Ukrainian by birth, grew up just outside Chicago. I interviewed her via e-mail to discuss her award and the chapbook.
CS: First of all, congratulations on the award and on graduating from Denison. After reading the chapbook, I’d say the NFSPS made the right choice. How has life changed since receiving and sharing the news? Or has it?
IK: Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to read my chapbook. The support I’ve received from family, friends, and Denison’s community has been so incredibly moving. People have been so kind and generous with offering feedback, supporting the little book, and bringing all new light into my life. Poetry has always been the one constant, true thing in my life and for that I owe it the world—so to be able to share it with a larger audience other than my workshop class, has been a dream come true.
CS: You are Ukrainian by birth, but grew up in the Midwest. How old were you when you moved to the U.S.? What kind of role has your Ukrainian heritage played in your development as a writer/poet?
IK: I moved to the United States when I was around 6 or so. But my younger sister and I went back constantly—visiting my grandparents each summer for a span of 4 or so months. All my happiest childhood memories are there. My grandmother was and is a wonderful story teller. She’d tell Russian folk tales, incorporate her own wit and charm into each piece, and leave my sister and me falling in love with stories from a very young age. My grandfather was an avid reader, and I was constantly surrounded by novels, adventure, and classics. I feel so much love for Ukraine, and because of the current political situation, I find it important to write about themes of war, power, family, and always—light.
CS: There is a strong feminine voice in these poems. Does this voice represent someone from your personal life or is it imagined?
IK: My mother, my grandmother. They are the strongest, most courageous women I know. Their support, their love, their curiosity have helped and shaped me in a multitude of ways. They have taught me the importance of kindness, love in all that I do: that home is an experience, never a place.
CS: As in the chapbook’s title, the sun, heat, and energy all permeate the imagery in the collection, especially in terms of items that are yellow or orange in color, which can convey happiness or joy. But in reading the poems, they built on each other in a sense that was oppressive, like a stifling summer day in the southern U.S. What was the inspiration for such a dominant trope?
IK: A majority of these poems settings were taken from Nadvirna, Ukraine. I’d spent so many summer months swimming in the river, so many months surrounded by trees and gardens, fields and mountains. To be surrounded by so much light, and then to have that contrasted with Ukraine’s history, current political situation, was always so difficult for me to understand. How can so much beauty exist with so much hate? How can there be lightness and darkness? I hope my poetry was able to shed some ideas on how this could be so.
CS: The sounds that come through in the poems create a real tension. There are many m sounds, especially in names such as Maria, Michelle, Magnolia, Ma. Combined with other “soft” sounds, like apricot, these seem to counter “hard” sounds, like teeth, stockings, lipstick. Add to that the visual movement that is conveyed by the shape of many of the poems on the page, and I’m left feeling as if I’m being pushed and pulled, like a struggle. I’m thinking of the line in your opening poem, “The Kingdom of Heat”: “war is something we have no language for.” Was establishing a sense of struggle something you strived for in the collection?
IK: I’m glad you found themes of struggle evident in my poems, both in subject matter and in visual disposition across the page. Creating a sense of struggle, the hesitation, the quick reading, the soft speech were all very prominent and important to me. I wanted my readers and audience to read quickly, then to stop, have their eyes move across the page, let the words fall. More than anything though, I wanted my poems to be read with a sense of urgency, I wanted to create language that was all fists, but all light.
The judge for this year’s contest was Dr. Benjamin Myers. He was the 2015–2016 Poet Laureate of Oklahoma and currently teaches at Oklahoma Baptist University as the Crouch-Mathis Professor of Literature.
Many thanks to Iryna for her thoughtful responses. Her book, A Monster the Size of the Sun, is available from Amazon.com here.
Learn more about the NFSPS College Undergraduate Poetry prizes here.
Posted by Chuck at 10:07 PM
Denison Student Wins 2018 NFSPS Edna Meudt Memoria...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1964
|
__label__wiki
| 0.635165
| 0.635165
|
International Students in USTC experience the charming Traditional Chinese Cultu
In order to provide more chances for international students to experience profound Chinese culture, USTC has invited many professors, each of a special field to give lectures to international students.
First theme was about the traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting. There were two lectures. One was held on October 18th2016 by Professor Wang. Professor Wang is over 70 years old, and he is a famous painter in Anhui Province. The other was held on October 19th 2016 by Professor Xia and Professor Kang.
Such kinds of lectures have highly impressed international students who were deeply attracted towards the beauty of the traditional Chinese painting. It combined the theory with the practice, making students experience the charm of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting on site.
The second theme was about Chinese Tea Ceremony. Professor Wang and Professor Li were invited to give lectures to the international students in USTC. Professor Wang and Professor Li had brought many kinds of tea and tea set. At first, they made a brief introduction of tea species and tea set. Then, Professor Wang and Professor Li made tea in the classroom and shared the tea with the international students. One student automatically said, “I realized that the core of Chinese Tea Ceremony was a kind of peaceful life style. I really love it.”
The third theme was about the traditional Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion. This time, we had invited a famous doctor Dr. Han from Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Anhui Province. Dr.Han is very good at acupuncture and moxibustion, and he has also gone to Sweden to teach the traditional Chinese Medicine. Dr. Han taught the international students how to massage acupuncture points. What’s more, he diagnosed some international student through feeling the pulse and gave them some useful treatment recommendations.
上一篇：The 8th Hui Culture Experience Study Camp for International Students
下一篇：THE 2017 USTC SOCCER CHAMPION "WARRIORS TEAM"
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1965
|
__label__wiki
| 0.605375
| 0.605375
|
United States Patent 8,479,135
Chen , et al. July 2, 2013
Automated framework for programmable logic device implementation of integrated circuit design
In an embodiment, a methodology for automating the generation of a programmable logic device implementation of at least a portion of an integrated circuit is contemplated. The methodology may operate on one or more hardware description language (HDL) files which describe the integrated circuit as an input. Additionally, one or more user-generated control files may be input to the methodology. The methodology may process the one or more HDL files, generating a bitstream to program one or more programmable logic devices to implement the described design. The methodology may include automated modification of the HDL files to prepare them for programmable logic device implementation, automated pad ring generation, automated pin multiplexing, daughter card definition, partitioning, etc.
Chen; Chih-Ang (Saratoga, CA), Moon; Joong-Seok (Cupertino, CA), Zhu; Juhong (Sunnyvale, CA), Gulati; Gaurav S. (Cupertino, CA), Moallem; Maziar H. (Cupertino, CA), Nayman; Greg H. (Mountain View, CA), Avra; Richard F. (Los Altos, CA)
Chen; Chih-Ang
Moon; Joong-Seok
Zhu; Juhong
Gulati; Gaurav S.
Moallem; Maziar H.
Nayman; Greg H.
Avra; Richard F.
Apple Inc. (Cupertino, CA)
Current U.S. Class: 716/117 ; 716/116
Current International Class: G06F 17/50 (20060101)
Field of Search: 716/116,117
5317210 May 1994 Patel
5754826 May 1998 Gamal et al.
5761484 June 1998 Agarwal et al.
5784290 July 1998 Kung et al.
5850537 December 1998 Selvidge et al.
5983277 November 1999 Heile et al.
6182247 January 2001 Hermann et al.
6285211 September 2001 Sample et al.
6298319 October 2001 Heile et al.
6414513 July 2002 Hanna et al.
6460148 October 2002 Veenstra et al.
6530073 March 2003 Morgan
6754763 June 2004 Lin
6785873 August 2004 Tseng
6826717 November 2004 Draper et al.
7007248 February 2006 Blinne et al.
7188330 March 2007 Goyal
7480610 January 2009 Scott et al.
7512728 March 2009 Tseng
7644382 January 2010 Budumuru
2004/0194048 September 2004 Arnold
2005/0165995 July 2005 Gemelli et al.
2006/0206850 September 2006 McCubbrey
2007/0271537 November 2007 Budumuru
2008/0077904 March 2008 Soejima et al.
2008/0080651 April 2008 Edgard
2008/0228970 September 2008 Schneider et al.
2008/0313589 December 2008 Maixner et al.
2009/0055787 February 2009 Oh et al.
2010/0057417 March 2010 Hudson et al.
2011/0145778 June 2011 Chen
2011/0145781 June 2011 Chen et al.
US. Appl. No. 12/638,152, filed Dec. 15, 2009. cited by applicant .
U.S. Appl. No. 12/638,164, filed Dec. 15, 2009. cited by applicant .
Office Action from U.S. Appl. No. 12/638,152, dated Feb. 2012, Chih-Ang Chen, 8 pages. cited by applicant .
Office Action from U.S. Appl. No. 12/638,172, dated Mar. 1, 2012, Chih-Ang Chen, 13 pages. cited by applicant.
Primary Examiner: Siek; Vuthe
Assistant Examiner: Lee; Eric
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Merkel; Lawrence J. Burgess; Jason L. Meyertons, Hood, Kivlin, Kowert & Goetzel PC
1. A method comprising: receiving one or more hardware description language (HDL) files describing at least a portion of an integrated circuit; receiving one or more user-generated control files specifying modifications to the at least a portion of the integrated circuit, wherein at least one of the user-generated control files specifies modifications to HDL code in the one or more HDL files; and automatically processing the one or more HDL files and the one or more user-generated control files through one or more control programs and one or more programmable logic device design tools to generate an implementation of the portion of the integrated circuit in one or more programmable logic devices, wherein the automatically processing comprises automatically performing the specified modifications to the HDL code in the one or more HDL files.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the automatically processing further comprises generating a bitstream based on the modified HDL code to be downloaded into the one or more programmable logic devices.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the one or more user-generated control files comprise one or more engineering change order (ECO) files describing the modifications to be made to the HDL code in the one or more HDL files to support the programmable logic device implementation.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the one or more user-generated control files comprise a pad ring configuration file describing signal names corresponding to one or more pads of the integrated circuit, the signal names not using a default naming convention for pad signal names.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising at least one of the control programs invoking at least one of the programmable logic device design tools to perform portions of the automatic processing.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the automatic processing further comprises defining one or more daughter cards to be inserted into a programmable logic device board to which the one or more programmable logic devices are coupled to the programmable logic device board.
7. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein the one or more daughter cards provide operation that is not realizable in the programmable logic devices.
8. The method as recited in claim 6 wherein the one or more daughter cards provide analog operation.
9. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the automatically processing further comprises partitioning the HDL files into the one or more programmable logic devices.
10. A non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing: one or more design files describing at least a portion of an integrated circuit using a hardware description language (HDL); one or more user-generated control files specifying modifications to the at least a portion of the integrated circuit, wherein at least one of the user-generated control files specifies modifications to HDL code in the one or more design files; and a plurality of instructions which, when executed, process the one or more design files and the one or more user-generated control files to generate an implementation of the portion of the integrated circuit in one or more programmable logic devices, wherein said generating the implementation includes automatically performing the specified modifications to the HDL code in the one or more design files.
11. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 10 wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, invoke one or more programmable logic device design tools during performing of the processing.
12. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 10 wherein the one or more user-generated control files comprise one or more engineering change order (ECO) files describing the modifications to be made to the HDL code in the one or more design files to support the programmable logic device implementation.
13. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 10 further storing modified design files generated by said automatically performing the specified modifications to the HDL code in the one or more design files.
14. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 13 further storing a programmable logic device pad ring definition file generated during execution by the plurality of instructions, the pad ring definition file describing assignments of programmable logic device pads to signals.
15. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 14 further storing a pin multiplexing configuration file describing pin multiplexing configuration for the one or more programmable logic devices, the pin multiplexing configuration generated during execution by the plurality of instructions.
16. A non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing: one or more design files describing at least a portion of an integrated circuit using a hardware description language (HDL); one or more user-generated control files specifying modifications to HDL code in the one or more design files for field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation; and a plurality of instructions which, when executed: automatically modify the HDL code in the one or more design files based on the modifications specified by the one or more control files; generate a pad ring configuration for the FPGA implementation; partition the portion of the integrated circuit into the one or more FPGAs; determine pin multiplexing assignments for signals passed between FPGAs; define daughter cards to be inserted into a board to which the FPGAs are mounted; and generate a bitstream to program the one or more FPGAs for the implementation.
17. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 16 wherein the instructions which, when executed, modify the one or more design files include instructions which, when executed, remove modules that are not implementable in the one or more FPGAs and wherein the daughter cards implement the removed modules.
18. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 16 wherein the daughter cards implement analog operation.
19. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 16 further storing one or more files representing the bitstream.
20. The computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 16 wherein the bitstream further programs interconnect between the one or more FPGAs.
This invention is related to the field of integrated circuit design and, more particularly, to implementing an integrated circuit design in one or more programmable logic devices.
Integrated circuit design and testing continues to grow in complexity as the complexity of the integrated circuit itself increases. With every new generation of integrated circuit fabrication technology, the number of transistors that can be included on a given integrated circuit chip increases, which further contributes to the increased complexity.
A programmable logic device implementation of all or portions of an integrated circuit design is one option that can be used during the development of an integrated circuit. Programmable logic device implementations typically operate at higher speeds than software simulations, permitting more extensive testing and/or more complex testing. For example, running the actual boot software that is planned for use with the integrated circuit can be feasible in a programmable logic device implementation. The programmable logic device implementation can be used to detect various software bugs and/or issues between the software and the hardware at an earlier stage of the development.
Generally, the design files that describe the integrated circuit design at a high level, such as a register-transfer level (RTL), require modification to be used for the programmable logic device implementation. Additionally, various other modifications and additional information is used to implement the design in a programmable logic device. The designers of the integrated circuit and/or verification engineers that work with the designers must generally perform these modifications and additions manually. The process is error-prone and often results in lost time determining why the programmable logic device implementation is not working. Additionally, much of the work must be repeated, again manually, when new versions of the integrated circuit design are provided for programmable logic device implementation.
In an embodiment, a process that was mostly manual and error-prone may be made more reliable and efficient using one or more automation programs/scripts that may be executed to generate a programmable logic device implementation of the integrated circuit, or a portion thereof.
The following detailed description makes reference to the accompanying drawings, which are now briefly described.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an integrated circuit.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of design files for at least a portion of the integrated circuit shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) board.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a methodology for implementing an integrated circuit design on one or more programmable logic devices.
FIG. 5 is a table illustrating one embodiment of a set of commands supported in an engineering change order (ECO) language.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the design files shown in FIG. 2 illustrating one embodiment of the bypass command shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the design files shown in FIG. 2 illustrating one embodiment of the no-connect port command shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the design files shown in FIG. 2 illustrating one embodiment of the move to top command shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the design files shown in FIG. 2 illustrating one embodiment of the delete port or include port commands shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the design files shown in FIG. 2 illustrating one embodiment of the tie command shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operation of one embodiment of FPGA generation code operating upon ECO commands and corresponding design files.
FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating integrated circuit pad circuitry and FPGA pad circuitry.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a pad ring configuration file.
FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating operation of one embodiment of FPGA generation code to generate an FPGA pad ring.
FIG. 15 is a block diagram and a timing diagram illustrating one embodiment of pin multiplexing.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating operation of one embodiment of FPGA generation code to perform pin multiplexing.
FIG. 17 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer accessible storage medium.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include", "including", and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.
Various units, circuits, or other components may be described as "configured to" perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, "configured to" is a broad recitation of structure generally meaning "having circuitry that" performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the unit/circuit/component can be configured to perform the task even when the unit/circuit/component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuits and/or memory storing program instructions executable to implement the operation. The memory can include volatile memory such as static or dynamic random access memory and/or nonvolatile memory such as optical or magnetic disk storage, flash memory, programmable read-only memories, etc. Similarly, various units/circuits/components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to." Reciting a unit/circuit/component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. .sctn.112, paragraph six interpretation for that unit/circuit/component.
HDL Design File to Programmable Logic Device Methodology Overview
As mentioned above, the design of an integrated circuit may be described in one or more design files, using an HDL. Exemplary HDLs that may be used in various embodiments include Verilog, VHDL, etc. Generally, HDLs may support the description of the integrated circuit at a high level (e.g. as logic equations) that may be convenient for human generation and consumption. In one embodiment, the design descriptions may be register-transfer level (RTL) descriptions expressed in an HDL. The description in the design files, when taken as a whole, describe the integrated circuit. The division into multiple design files may provide for convenient editing and change tracking. For example, each component of the integrated circuit may be represented by one or more design files.
The design files may be processed in a variety of ways. For example, the design files may be compiled to a variety of target platforms for testing and/or may be synthesized to produced integrated circuit hardware. The target platforms may include a simulation platform as well as the programmable logic device (PLD) platform described in detail herein. A specific PLD example used in this description is field programmable gate array (FPGA). More generally, however, a PLD may be any electronic component that is reconfigurable to implement different hardware operation. Exemplary PLDs may include FPGAs, programmable array logic (PAL), complex PLDs, Flash devices, various programmable ROMs, etc. The FPGA environment will be used as an example herein, but any PLD may be used in other embodiments.
Exemplary Integrated Circuit
To illustrate the HDL design file to FPGA implementation methodology, an exemplary integrated circuit is shown in FIG. 1. However, any integrated circuit, implementing any desired set of components, may be used with the methodology described herein.
Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of one exemplary embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC) 10 is shown. In the illustrated embodiment, the integrated circuit 10 may include at least one processor 12A, and may optionally include additional processors such as processor 12N. In the illustrated embodiment, the integrated circuit 10 may be an SOC including various peripheral circuitry such as one or more peripheral interface controller(s) 14, one or more network interface controllers 16, one or more audio subsystems 18, one or more video subsystems 20, one or more memory controllers 22, and/or one or more non-volatile (NV) memory controllers such as NV memory controller 24. The NV memory controller 24 may be coupled to a boot read-only memory (ROM) 26 that is not included in the IC 10, in the illustrated embodiment. It is noted that other embodiments may include any subset of the components shown in FIG. 1, or any superset of the components shown and other components, or any subset of the components and other components, as desired. Specifically, in one embodiment, the boot ROM 26 may be included in the IC 10 with the other components.
The components 12A-12N, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24 may be coupled in any desired fashion, not shown in FIG. 1. For example, one or more buses, point-to-point links, etc. may be used to couple the components. Generally, a component may refer to any block of circuitry having a defined functionality, interface to other components, and software interface (as appropriate).
The processors 12A-12N may be configured to execute the instructions defined in the instruction set architecture implemented by the processors. Any instruction set architecture may be used in various embodiments. In some embodiments, one or more of the processors 12A-12N may implement different instruction set architectures, or different versions of the same instruction set architecture. The processors 12A-12N may include circuitry and, in some cases, may include microcode. Generally, a processor may be integrated with other components in an integrated circuit (e.g. as shown in FIG. 1), may be a discrete microprocessor, and/or may be included with one or more other components in a multi-chip module implementation, in various embodiments.
The peripheral interface controllers 14 may be configured to serve as a bridge between the components and one or more peripheral interfaces to which devices may be coupled. Peripheral interfaces may include, for example, peripheral component interconnect (PCI), PCI Express (PCIe), Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 1394 or "Firewire", universal serial bus (USB), HyperTransport, etc. The network interface controllers 16 may be configured to communicate between the components and devices coupled to one or more network interfaces. The network interfaces may include Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), token ring, etc. The audio subsystem 18 may be configured to process audio data, and may communicate with audio input/output devices such as a microphone, speakers, headphones, etc. The video subsystem 20 may be configured to process video data, and may communicate with video input/output devices such as display screens, cameras, etc. The memory controllers 22 may be configured to communicate with external memory, such as various forms of volatile memory (e.g. static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate (DDR, DDR2, DDR3, etc.) SDRAM, low-power DDR (LPDDR2) SDRAM, RAMBUS DRAM, etc. The memory controllers 22 may be coupled to one or more DRAM chips, or may be coupled to one or more memory modules comprising circuit boards to which one or more DRAM chips are mounted.
The NV memory controller 24 may be configured to communicate with one or more non-volatile memory devices such at the boot ROM 26. Generally, a non-volatile memory device may be any memory device that is designed to retain data stored in the memory device when the power to the memory device is removed. For example, a ROM may be a non-volatile memory device. Other non-volatile memory devices may include Flash memory, programmable ROMs of various types, battery-backed SRAM, etc. While a ROM will be used as an example in the remainder of this discussion for storing the boot code, any non-volatile memory may be used.
The boot ROM 26 may store boot code for the IC 10. When the IC 10 is powered on, the boot code may be executed to test the various components of the IC 10 and/or to initialize the components for use. That is, one or more of the processors 12A-12N may execute the boot code stored in the boot ROM 26.
It is noted that, while FIG. 1 illustrates components integrated onto a single semiconductor substrate as the integrated circuit 10, other embodiments may implement discrete components and/or combinations of discrete components and integrated components in a system. Any amount of discrete components or integration may be used. The integrated circuit 10 will be used as an example below, but any system of components may be used in other embodiments. As mentioned previously, the boot ROM 26 may be included in the integrated circuit 10, in some embodiments.
Hierarchical Design Files
Turning now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a portion of the integrated circuit design for the integrated circuit 10 is shown, illustrating a hierarchical design that may be represented in one or more design files using HDL. In the illustrated embodiment, there is a top level module ("top") 30 that includes a module ("mod1") 32, which includes two modules ("mod2" and "mod3") 34 and 36. The mod2 module 34 includes a module ("mod4") 38. Each module 30-38 may be stored in a separate design file, and the hierarchy may be created by instantiating one module in the design file of the other module. For example, the design file for the top module 30 may instantiate the mod1 module 32. The design file for the mod1 module 32 may instantiate the modules 34 and 36, etc.
Each design file may specify input and output signals for the module, and may specify any module instantiations within the module. The module instantiations may include a list of inputs and outputs of the instantiated module, connecting the inputs and outputs to signal names within the instantiating module (either inputs and outputs of the instantiating module, signals generated internal to the instantiating module, or signals from another module instantiated within the instantiating module). Additionally, each design file may include HDL code describing various circuitry within the module as well.
Accordingly, the design files may define a hierarchical structure. The "top" level of the hierarchy may be the highest level. That is, the top level is not instantiated as a module in any other design files. The top level may correspond to the chip (e.g. the IC 10). In some embodiments, a top level may be defined for portions of the IC 10, e.g. for testing purposes. For example, there may be a top level module for each of the components of the IC 10 shown in FIG. 1, to permit simulation of the components in isolation.
The top module 30 may correspond to the integrated circuit 10 as a whole. The mod1 module 32 may be an instantiation of the one of the components of the integrated circuit 10 (e.g. the processor 12A). The mod2 and mod3 modules may be portions of the component (e.g. a decode unit, execution units, etc.). The mod4 module may be an even lower level subcomponent (e.g. an adder in an execution unit). Any number of levels of hierarchy may be supported, in an embodiment.
In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the top module 30 may define inputs gi1, gi2, gi3, gi4, and gi5 and outputs go1, go2, and go3. The inputs and outputs of the top module 30 may correspond to chip inputs and outputs for the integrated circuit 10, and thus are labeled with a "g" for "global" in FIG. 2. In the illustrated embodiment, all of the inputs gi1 to gi5 and outputs go1 to go3 are also inputs and outputs of the mod1 module 32. There may be other top module 30 inputs and outputs for other modules instantiated in the top module 30 (not shown in FIG. 2). The mod2 module 34 has gi1 and gi2 as inputs and go1 as an output. More particularly, the gi1 and gi2 inputs and the go1 output are inputs/outputs of the mod4 module 38 (coupled to the i1, i2, and of inputs/outputs as shown in FIG. 2). The mod3 module 36 has the inputs gi3, gi4, and gi5 as inputs (i6, i7, and i8 in FIG. 2) and go2 and go3 as outputs (o5 and o6 in FIG. 2). Additionally, the mod2 module 34 has outputs o2 and o3 and input i3 coupled to inputs i4 and i5 and output o4 of the mod3 module 36. It is noted that the intermediate levels of modules may have input and output signal names as well.
The inputs and outputs of a module may be referred to as "ports". A port may be a connection point for a module. It may be input, output, or input/output for bi-directional signals.
FPGA Board
Turning next to FIG. 3, a block diagram of one embodiment of an FPGA board 40 is shown. The FPGA board 40 may be programmed with a bitstream to be an FPGA implementation of the integrated circuit 10 or a portion thereof. In the illustrated embodiment, the FPGA board 40 includes multiple FPGAs 42A-42D. Any number of FPGAs may be included on a board in various embodiments. Various pins of the FPGAs 42A-42D may be coupled to a configurable interconnect 44, which may be programmed by the bitstream to connect pins of one FPGA 42A-42D to pins of another FPGA 42A-42D. The configurable interconnect 44 may also couple FPGA pins to pins of a daughter card connector such as connectors 46A-46D. There may be any number of daughter card connectors in other embodiments, and there need not be the same number of daughter card connectors as FPGAs. The physical locations of the FPGA devices 42A-42D and the daughter card connectors 46A-46D on the FPGA board 40 may be varied as well in other embodiments.
The daughter card connectors 46A-46D may be configured to connect to daughter cards, which may implement functionality that may not be implemented in the FPGAs 42A-42D. For example, the FPGAs 42A-42D may be digital devices, and thus analog circuitry such as phase locked loop circuitry, physical (PHY) layer circuitry, etc. may be implemented on daughter cards. Additionally, common (e.g. off the shelf) circuitry may be implemented on daughter cards to avoid consuming FPGA circuitry space with such circuitry. Such common circuitry may include industry standard input/output circuitry such as serial or parallel communications, Universal Serial Bus, Peripheral Component Interconnect, etc. In some embodiments, the daughter cards may include additional FPGA devices. The daughter cards may be manufactured by the manufacturer of the FPGA board 40, or may be custom designed by the designers of the integrated circuit 10, in various embodiments.
In some embodiments, there may be more than one FPGA board. For example, in FIG. 3, a second FPGA board 41 is shown underneath the FPGA board 40. The FPGA boards may be stackable. In one embodiment, daughter card connectors 46A-46D may also be used to connect between FPGA boards. Alternatively or in addition, other connectors may be provided to connect between boards. For example, flexible connector cables such as ribbon cables may be used to connect between boards. Any combination of fixed and flexible connectors of any types may be used in various embodiments. The methodology described herein may be used in any such configuration. For example, the connections between boards may be handled in a similar fashion to daughter card pin assignments.
As mentioned above, the bitstream may include the programming for the FPGAs 42A-42D and for the configurable interconnect 44. The bitstream may be downloaded to the FPGA board 40 using a software tool provided by the manufacturer of the FPGA board 40, for example. There may be separate bitstreams for each FPGA 42A-42D and the configurable interconnect 44, or there may be one combined bitstream, in various embodiments.
HDL Design File to FPGA Methodology
Turning now to FIG. 4, a flowchart is shown illustrating one embodiment of a methodology to generate an FPGA implementation of the IC 10 (or a portion thereof). While the blocks are shown in a particular order in FIG. 4 for ease of understanding, other orders may be used. Blocks may be performed in parallel as well. In an embodiment, FPGA generation code may be executed on a computer to implement all or a portion of the flowchart in FIG. 4. The FPGA generation code may be one program, or may be a collection of programs that may be executed to implement the flowchart. The instructions forming the FPGA generation code may be binary instructions directly executable on one or more hardware processors of the computer, and/or may include one or more scripts that may be executed in a software environment. That is, the scripts may be commands that are interpreted by a command shell environment that performs specified operations in response to the commands. Any combination of instruction types may be used in various embodiment. The instructions, when executed, may implement the operation shown in FIG. 4.
The methodology may include preparing the design files 54 for FPGA implementation (block 50). A variety of modifications may be performed to the design files to support an FPGA implementation. For example, as mentioned above, the FPGA devices are digital devices and thus analog circuitry may be removed from the design files for replacement by a daughter card implementation. Additionally, some signals may be bypassed to the top module 30. For example, clock signals may be bypassed in such a fashion. Additionally, while a given IC 10 may include multiple clock domains (at least some of which may operate at different frequencies during use), FPGA implementations may often reduce the number of clock domains. Clock bypassing may be part of reducing the number of clock domains. Other signals may not be used, or may be disconnected. For example, if an FPGA implementation of a portion of the IC 10 is being generated, signals that communicate with components that are not included in the FPGA implementation may be disconnected (or tied to another signal or a constant value). The modified design files 56 may be produced by applying the commands in the ECO files 52 to the design files 54.
Rather than manual modification of the design files, the FPGA generation code may automatically modify the design files based on a set of engineering change order (ECO) files 52. The ECO files 52 may include various commands recognized by the FPGA generation code as specifying certain modifications. An exemplary set of commands and the operation of the FPGA generate code are discussed in more detail below. By avoiding manual modifications, in one embodiment, the errors that may often be introduced via manual modification may be avoided. Furthermore, the ECO files 52 may serve to document the changes, so that later releases of the design files (e.g. that have been updated with bug fixes, new features, etc.) may have the same changes made without the designer needing to remember the changes that were made in previous iterations of the design file. The designer may update the ECO files 52 with additional changes if needed.
In one embodiment, there may be one ECO file 52 for each design file 54. In another embodiment, there may be one ECO file 52 for each design file 54 and each different FPGA implementation that may be created for a given IC 10. That is, if multiple different portions of the IC 10 may be implemented in the FPGAs for testing, the modifications to a design file that is included in more than one of the implementations may differ for the different implementations.
The methodology may also include FPGA pad ring generation (block 58). A pad ring of the IC 10 may generally include the pads on the IC, driver and/or receiver circuitry, and optional pad logic. The pads may be part of the IC, and may be the points at which electrical connection to the IC package pins are made. The pad logic may include logic that supports testing (e.g. boundary scan testing, NAND tree testing, etc.). On the other hand, the FPGA devices 42A-42D may include a preconfigured pad ring with input, output, and input/output types. Accordingly, generating the FPGA implementation may include mapping the IC's input, output, and input/output signals to the available pad types in the FPGA devices. The FPGA pad ring generation may include automatically identifying IC pads and mapping them to FPGA pads. A default naming convention may be assumed, and the FPGA generation code may search the modified design files 56 for the default names. Additionally, for cases in which non-default names are used, the FPGA generation code may include support for a pad ring configuration file 60. The pad ring configuration file 60 may specify signal names for input, output, and input/output signals that do not follow the naming convention. The FPGA generation code may generate an FPGA pad ring definition 62 as a result of the pad ring generation. Additional details of one embodiment of the FPGA pad ring definition are provided below.
The methodology may further include daughter card pin assignment (block 72). The user may determine which of the daughter card connectors 46A-46D have daughter cards that are used by the FPGA implementation, and may prepare an daughter card (DC) configuration file 74 that specifies which daughter card is in which connector 46A-46D. The pins of the connectors 46A-46D and their connection to the FPGA board 40 may be fixed, and thus the FPGA generation code may be able to determine the configuration of the configurable interconnect 44 that may be needed to connect a portion of the IC design to the daughter card connector, once the location of the daughter card is known. The daughter cards may implement various circuitry. For example, any analog circuitry that was extracted from the design files 54 that is implemented on a daughter card may indicate that the daughter card is used. Based on the location of the daughter card and the FPGA device(s) that include the circuitry that interfaces to the circuitry implemented on the daughter card, additional interconnect 44 configuration may be determined. The FPGA generation code may write the daughter card pin assignments to a pin assignment file 70 (along with other pin assignments described below).
The methodology may further include the creation of a project file (block 76). The FPGA generation code may generate the project file 78, which may specify the files to be used by the synthesis, place and route, and bitstream generation tools to generate the bitstream to program the FPGA board 40. For example, the project file 78 may include the locations of the modified design files 56, the FPGA pad ring definition file 62, the pin assignment file 70, a partition file 84 (described below), and various other files that may be used to generate the bitstream.
Based on the modified design files 56, the methodology may include partitioning the implementation into the FPGA devices (block 64). The partitioning may take into account the number of signals that are connected between the modules of the design, attempting to reduce the number of signals which need to be communicated between FPGA devices. The FPGA generation code may write a partition file 84 that describes the partitioning (e.g. which HDL files, or portions thereof, are partitioned to which FPGA device).
The methodology may further include pin multiplexing (muxing) (block 66) and pin assignment (block 67) for the pins on the FPGA devices. Even if the partitioning attempts to reduce the number of signals that are communicated between FPGA devices, there may still be a large number of signals to be communicated. Time division multiplexing the signals over the available pins may be one mechanism for overcoming this issue.
The FPGA generation code may receive an input pin mux configuration file 68, which may specify various constraints for the pin muxing operation, such as the ratio of the time division multiplex clock (which controls the driving of the signals on the FPGA pins) to the clock that controls the internal operation of the FPGA devices. The ratio may control the maximum number of signals that can be muxed on a given pin (i.e. the maximum number may not exceed the ratio). The constraints may also include a list of clocks (defining corresponding clock domains), lists of signals that may or may not be muxed (e.g. generated from commercially available FPGA tools), etc.
The pin muxing/assignment implemented in the FPGA generation code may include clock domain tracing on the signals that are outputs from a FPGA device, to identify the clock domain(s) to which the signal belongs. Generally, a clock domain may refer to the circuitry that is controlled by a given clock signal. The clocked storage devices in the clock domain may be controlled by the clock signal. Accordingly, for a given signal, the clock domain tracing may include searching for the clocked storage devices in the cone of logic that generates the given signal. The clocks that control the clocked storage devices may be identified. The FPGA generation code may associate each identified clock domain with the signal.
The clock domains for the given signals may be compared by the FPGA generation code, and signals that have matching clock domains may be grouped for possible pin muxing. That is, the pin muxing/assignment may include muxing signals that have matching clock domains. Clock domains may match for a pair of signals if the same clock or clocks are identified for the pair of signals. Additionally, in some embodiments, clock domains may match if equivalent clocks are identified for the pair of signals. Clocks may be equivalent if they are known to be generated in-phase and at the same frequency for any mode of operation of the integrated circuit 10. Additional details for one embodiment of pin muxing are provided below.
The FPGA generation code may select signals from a given clock domain group for muxing (block 66) and may assigned the selected signals to a pin (block 67). The pin assignment may take into account the source/destination of the signals in other FPGA devices and the degree of configurability of the interconnect 44 to ensure that the FPGA device pins may be connected. The resulting pin assignment file 70 may be written by the FPGA generation code. The FPGA generation code may also write a pin mux file 86 with the groups of signals that have been selected for muxing on each pin, as a result of the pin muxing block 66.
The methodology may further include the "back end" processing (block 80) to generate the FPGA bitstream 82. The FPGA generation code may invoke one or more commercially available tools to perform the synthesis of the modified design files, place and route the synthesized designs to the configurable logic blocks within the FPGA devices 42A-42D, and generate the bitstream for each FPGA device 42A-42D and the configurable interconnect 44.
Design File Modification
Turning next to FIGS. 5-11, an exemplary set of commands that may be supported for modifying the design files 54 to generate the modified design files 56 is shown. The commands may be stored in the ECO files 52, as mentioned previously. The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5-11 is one implementation, and other implementations may be used in other embodiments. For example, any subset of the commands shown in FIG. 5 and/or superset of the commands shown in FIG. 5 and/or other commands may be implemented.
FIG. 5 is a table 90 illustrating one embodiment of the commands. Below the table 90, an exemplary format for the commands is shown. In the exemplary format, a command begins with an open parenthesis, the command between single quotes, a comma, the first argument of the command between single quotes, another comma, the second argument of the command (if any) between single quotes, and a closing parenthesis. Some arguments may support multiple values. Such arguments may be specified with an open parenthesis, a comma-delimited, single-quoted list of values, and a close parenthesis, in one embodiment. Other embodiments may use any other format, different delimiters, fewer delimiters (e.g. the single quotes may be eliminated, or the commas may be eliminated), etc.
In the table 90, arguments may have various forms. A vpath may be a (potentially hierarchical) path name to a port or a module instance. A port may be a port name. Ports may be a port name, or a list of ports. A parent may be a hierarchical path to a parent module of a given module or port. A module may be a module name. An instance may be an instance name for a module. An exp may be an expression, which may use wildcards and other expression variables that may be evaluated by the FPGA generation code to determine a corresponding list of matches (e.g. matching ports, in the case of the DLP command).
FIGS. 6-10 use the example design files of FIG. 2 to illustrate operation of the FPGA generation code in response to various commands. As the commands are described, the examples will be discussed in turn.
The bypass (BYP) command may be used to bypass a signal (wire) at any point in the hierarchy to a port at the top level of the hierarchy. For example, clock signals may be bypassed from local clock generation circuitry to the top level, where a global clock may be connected. The number of clock domains in the FPGA implementation may thus be reduced to simplify the FPGA implementation. Other signals may be bypassed as well (e.g. signals that communicate with analog circuitry that is extracted from a design file). FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the bypass command for the structure illustrated in FIG. 2. The first argument of the bypass command, `top/mod1/mod3/i4`, specifies the i4 port on the mod3 module 36. Accordingly, the existing connection 92 to the o2 port of the mod2 module 34 is disconnected, and the i4 port is connected to the port specified as the second argument of the bypass command (gi6), see connection 94 in FIG. 6. While a new port gi6 is specified in this example, other embodiments may connect to an existing top level port as well.
The no-connect port (NCP) command may be used to remove the connection of one or more ports of a module. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the no-connect port command for the structure of FIG. 2. In the example, the no-connect port command specifies that the i4 and i5 ports of the mod3 module are not connected. This is illustrated by the disconnections 96 and 98 in FIG. 7.
The remove module instance (RMI) command may be used to remove a module from the design files. The module operand may specify the module from which an instance of an included module is to be removed, and the instance may be the module name of the included module instance to be removed. The RMI command may be used to remove modules that may be replaced by dummy modules in the FPGA implementation, for example.
The move to top (MVT) command may be used to move a module identified by the vpath operand to the top level of the design files. The MVT command may be used as part of the extraction of a module (e.g. an analog module) from the FPGA implementation. The module may be moved to the top, and then may be replaced by a daughter card, for example. The MVT keeps the module connected to its input/output ports. For example FIG. 8 illustrates the use of the MVT command to move the mod4 module 38 to the top module 30. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the mod4 module 38 is removed from the mod2 module 34, but remains connected to the gi1, gi2, and go1 ports. The FPGA generation code may include the addition and/or deletion of ports to ensure that connectivity to the module remains in place when the module is moved to the top module 30.
The delete ports (DLP) command may be used to delete one or more ports at the top module 30. When processing the DLP command, the FPGA generation code may disconnect the ports at the top module 30 without modifying internal connections within the design files. Thus, for example, FIG. 9 illustrates the DLP command to delete top level ports that end in "2". In this example, the deleted ports are gi2 and go2 (disconnections 100 and 102). However, connections corresponding to these ports (e.g. within the mod1 module 32 and mod2 module 34) remain after the DLP command has been processed. The include ports (INP) command may be the opposite of the DLP command. That is, the FPGA generate code may retain the ports specified by the INP command and delete ports that are not specified. In FIG. 9, the corresponding INP command that has the same effect as the DLP command is shown.
The tie (TIE) command may be used to tie a given signal (vpath1) to another signal (vpath2). The current connection of the first signal (vpath1) may be broken and tied to the second signal (vpath2). To tie a signal high or low, a binary 1 or binary 0 may be used as the vpath2 operand. FIG. 10 is an example of the tie command, tying the i5 port of the mod3 module 36 to the o2 port of the mod2 module 34. Thus, the i5 port of the mod3 module 36 is disconnected from the o3 port of the mod2 module 34 (reference numeral 104) and is connected to the o2 port of the mod2 module 34 (reference numeral 106).
The add module (ADM) command may be used to insert a module into the structure and to connect its ports as specified in the ports operand. The add module command may be used, e.g., to add a dummy module in place of a module removed using the RMI command.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operation of one embodiment of the FPGA generation code to automatically perform the modifications to a set of design files 54 as specified by corresponding ECO files 52 to generate the modified design files 56. While the blocks are shown in a particular order in FIG. 11 for ease of understanding, other orders may be used. Blocks may be performed in parallel as well. In an embodiment, FPGA generation code may be executed on a computer to implement all or a portion of the flowchart in FIG. 11. The instructions forming the FPGA generation code (or a portion thereof that implements the flowchart of FIG. 11) may be binary instructions directly executable on one or more hardware processors of the computer, and/or may include one or more scripts that may be executed in a software environment. That is, the scripts may be commands that are interpreted by a command shell environment that performs specified operations in response to the commands. Any combination of instruction types may be used in various embodiment. The instructions, when executed, may implement the operation shown in FIG. 11.
The FPGA generation code may parse the ECO file 52 that corresponds to a given design file 54 (block 110), detecting each command in the ECO file 52. The FPGA generate code may form commands for a design file editor tool based on the commands in the ECO file (block 112). An exemplary design file editor tool may be ChipMason, available from ChipEDA, San Jose, Calif. Any other design file editor tool may be used. Additionally, any text editor may be used in other embodiments. Still further, other embodiments may perform the edits directly.
The FPGA generation code may invoke the design file editor to perform the commands (block 114). If the design file editor reports an error attempting to perform the commands (decision block 116, "yes" leg), the FPGA generation code may report the error to the user and exit (block 118). If no error is detected (decision block 116, "no" leg), and there are more design files 54 and corresponding ECO files 52 to process (decision block 120, "yes" leg), the FPGA generation code may select the next design file 54/ECO file 52 to be processed (block 122) and may repeat the blocks shown in FIG. 11 for the selected files. If each design file 54 and corresponding ECO file 52 has been processed (decision block 120, "no" leg), the ECO processing is complete.
Pad Ring Generation
Turning now to FIG. 12, a block diagram of one embodiment of a chip core 130 and pad ring 132, and corresponding pad ring circuitry for an integrated circuit and an FPGA for an embodiment. In FIG. 12, the pad ring circuitry for the integrated circuit includes pad logic 134, a driver and/or receiver 136, and the pad 138 itself. The pad logic 134 may be coupled to various signals from the chip core 130, and may also be coupled to various signals from pad logic in adjacent pads (vertical lines in FIG. 12). The pad logic 134 may be coupled to the driver/receiver 136, which may be coupled to the pad 138. Also illustrated in FIG. 12 are the types of FPGA pad ring circuits, for one embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, the FPGA supports three types of pad ring circuits: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a bidirectional input/output circuit. Each circuit may be coupled to a pad 140 of the FPGA. The input circuit include a receiver 142. The output circuit includes a driver 144. The input/output circuit includes a driver/receiver 146.
The pad logic 134 may include various test logic, such as boundary scan test logic, NAND tree test logic, etc. The test logic may not be needed in the FPGA implementation, and thus may be removed. The pad logic 134 may also include selection circuitry to control the signals communicated between the chip core 130 and the pad 138 for pin repurposing. Pin repurposing may involve using the same pin of the integrated circuit for different functions at different points in time. For example, during power up or reset, pins may be used to transmit various signals to indicate integrated circuit capabilities and/or to receive various signals to program features of the integrated circuit. During normal operation, the pins may be used as part of the integrated circuit's interface to communicate with other components of a system. Pin repurposing may often not be needed in the FPGA implementation, and may also be removed. Alternatively, if the pin repurposing is needed, additional pins may be allocated for the different purposes.
The driver/receiver circuitry 136 may include custom driver/receiver circuitry. For example, if the integrated circuit is designed for use in a high voltage environment (e.g. the voltages on the pins are higher than the voltages internal to the chip core 130), the driver/receiver circuitry may include cascode transistor configurations or other high voltage configurations.
The FPGA devices 42A-42D may be preconfigured with various numbers of the input, output, and input/output circuits. The internal circuitry of the FPGA devices 42A-42D may be programmably connected to the input, output, and input/output circuits via the bitstream to realize the desired communication. The input circuit may include a pad signal ("Pad" in FIG. 12) and an input signal ("in" in FIG. 12). The pad signal and the input signal may be coupled to the receiver 142. The output circuit may include the pad signal and an output signal ("out" in FIG. 12), both of which may be coupled to the driver circuit 144. The input/output circuit may include the pad signal, the input signal, and the output signal as well as an output enable ("oe" in FIG. 12), all coupled to the driver/receiver circuit 146. If the output enable is asserted, the output signal may be driven on the pad signal by the driver/receiver circuit 146. If the output enable is deasserted, the pad signal may be received on the input signal by the driver/receiver circuit 146.
The FPGA generation code may be configured to remove the integrated circuit pad ring and to generate a corresponding FPGA pad ring using the FPGA pad circuits shown in FIG. 12. The signals provided between the chip core 130 and the pad logic 134 may include the input, output, and output enable signals used by the FPGA pad circuits, buy may also include various test signals and other signals specific to the pad logic 134 and/or the driver/receiver circuit 136. Accordingly, generating the FPGA pad ring may include identifying the signals that correspond to the input, output, and output enable signals for the FPGA pad ring.
In one embodiment, a naming convention may be assumed for the signals that communicate between the chip core 130 and the pads, and the FPGA generation code may automatically search the modified design files 56 for the default signal names. For example, in one embodiment, signal outputs from the chip core 130 to the pad ring (e.g. out and oe) may have the prefix "core2pad_". The output enable may have the postfix "_oe". The signal inputs (e.g. in) may have the prefix "pad2core_". The pad signals (e.g. Pad) may have the prefix "pad_". If a designer uses non-default signal names, the designer may specify the non-default names in the pad ring configuration file 60.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the pad ring configuration file 60. At the top of the illustrated embodiment, the general format for specifying a pad is shown. Each entry may be a comma-delimited list of items beginning with type (which may be INPUT, OUTPUT, INOUT, or DELETE in this embodiment).
The INPUT, OUTPUT, and INOUT types may correspond to the input circuit, output circuit, and input/output circuit of the FPGA devices, respectively. The DELETE type may be used to delete a pin that is not used in the FPGA implementation. After the type field, the output signal ("out"), pad signal ("pad"), input signal ("in"), and output enable signal ("oe") may be listed. If a given signal is not used, e.g. the output signal for the INPUT type, then the item may be left out of the list. Alternatively, different types may have different formats in the pad ring configuration file 60. Following the list of signals, a most significant bit (msb) and least significant bit (lsb) are provided. The msb and lsb may permit the specification of a multiple bit wide signal. For single signals, the msb and lsb may both be zero.
An example of each type is shown in FIG. 13 as well. The INPUT type has no output signal, so a second comma immediately follows the first comma after INPUT in the entry, followed by a pad_name signal and an input_name signal for the pad and input signal names. There is no output enable signal, so another comma immediately follows the input_name. In this example, the input_name is a single signal, so the msb and lsb are both zero.
The OUTPUT type has an output_name output signal and a pad_name pad signal. However, the OUTPUT type has no input signal and no output enable signal, so three commas follow the pad_name signal. In this example, the output_name is a single signal, so the msb and lsb are both zero.
The INOUT type has an output_name output signal, a pad_name pad signal, an input_name input signal, and an oe_name output enable signal. In this example, the inout signal is a single signal, so the msb and lsb are both zero.
Lastly, the DELETE type lists a signal name that is to be deleted (e.g. core2pad_UART6_RSTN).
In an embodiment, one or more signals may be optional and, if not specified in the modified design files 56, the FPGA generation code may generate a default signal name according to the naming convention mentioned above. In one embodiment, the pad signal name may be optional for all three types. The input and output signal names may be optional for the input/output type as well.
Turning next to FIG. 14, a flowchart is shown illustrating operation of one embodiment of the FPGA generation code to automatically perform the pad ring generation. While the blocks are shown in a particular order in FIG. 14 for ease of understanding, other orders may be used. Blocks may be performed in parallel as well.
In an embodiment, FPGA generation code may be executed on a computer to implement all or a portion of the flowchart in FIG. 14. The instructions forming the FPGA generation code (or a portion thereof that implements the flowchart of FIG. 14) may be binary instructions directly executable on one or more hardware processors of the computer, and/or may include one or more scripts that may be executed in a software environment. That is, the scripts may be commands that are interpreted by a command shell environment that performs specified operations in response to the commands. Any combination of instruction types may be used in various embodiment. The instructions, when executed, may implement the operation shown in FIG. 14.
The FPGA generation code may parse the modified design files 56, searching for the default signal names described above (block 150). The FPGA generation code may generate a core hash table of I/O ports, where the hash table may be indexed by signal name. For each port in the core hash table, the FPGA generation code may create a default pad hash table entry in a pad hash table (block 152). For input-only signals, the pad hash table entry may describe an INPUT pad type. For output-only signals, the pad hash table entry may describe an OUTPUT pad type. For bi-directional signals, the pad hash table entry may describe an INOUT pad type. The pad hash table entries may have a format similar to that shown in FIG. 13. If signal names were not found in the modified design files 56, the default signal names may be assumed according to the signal naming convention mentioned above.
The FPGA generation code may parse the pad ring configuration file 60, overwriting default entries in the pad hash table with entries specified in the pad ring configuration file 60 (block 154). In this manner, non-default signal names may overwrite the default signal names that were assumed for the ports. Additionally, the FPGA generation code may delete entries in the pad hash table that are identified in the DELETE commands in the pad ring configuration file 60 (if any). The FPGA generation code may generate the FPGA pad ring from the pad hash table (e.g. generating one INPUT, OUTPUT, or INOUT pad description for each pad in the pad hash table according to the type) (block 156). If the pad logic 134 or the driver/receiver circuitry 136 is described in the modified design files 56, the FPGA generation code may remove the corresponding description so that the pad logic 134 and the driver/receiver circuitry 136 is not programmed into the FPGA devices (block 158). The FPGA generation code may stitch the FPGA pad ring to the modified design files (block 160). Stitching the pad ring and design files may generally include attaching the same signal names to the pad ring instantiations and to the input/output signals of the design files. Accordingly, when the files are combined, the signal names may be matched to each other to create the proper connections.
Pin Muxing
Turning now to FIG. 15, a block diagram of one embodiment of time division multiplexing (TDM) logic that may be included in FPGA devices 42A-42D and a timing diagram illustrating operation of the logic is shown. The boundary of the first FPGA device (e.g. FPGA device 42A) is illustrated by the dashed line 170 in FIG. 15. That is, the circuitry to the left of the dashed line 170 may be included in the FPGA device 42A. The boundary of the second FPGA device (e.g. FPGA device 42B) is illustrated by the dashed line 172. That is, the circuitry to the right of the dashed line 172 may be included in the FPGA device 42B. Between the dashed lines 170 and 172 may be the configurable interconnect 44, and more particularly a connection between an output pin of the FPGA device 42A and an input pin of the FPGA device 42B.
As illustrated in FIG. 15, the FPGA 42A may include TDM logic 174 that is coupled to receive various output signals (e.g. O1, O2, and O3 in FIG. 14) and is further coupled to receive a TDM clock (TDM_Clk in FIG. 15). The TDM logic 174 may further be coupled to an output pin of the FPGA 42A, which is coupled to the configurable interconnect 44. Similarly, the FPGA 42B may include TDM logic 176 that is coupled to an input pin of the FPGA 42B (which is coupled to the output pin of the FPGA 42A via the configurable interconnect 44). The FPGA 42B is also coupled to receive the TDM_Clk and is configured to drive a set of input signals I1, I2, and I3. The input signals I1, I2, and I3 correspond to the output signals O1, O2, and O3, respectively. That is, the input signal I1 is logically coupled to the output signal O1; the input signal I2 is logically coupled to the output signal O2; and the input signal I3 is logically coupled to the output signal O3.
The TDM logic 174 may receive the output signals O1 to O3, which may be operated according to an FPGA clock (FPGA_Clk in the timing diagram of FIG. 15). That is, the signals O1 to O3 may be driven synchronously to the FPGA_Clk. Accordingly, once the signals O1 to O3 have stabilized for a clock cycle of the FPGA_Clk, they may remain stable until the next clock cycle of the FPGA_Clk as illustrated in FIG. 15 for O1 to O3. On the other hand, the TDM_Clk may be operating at a higher frequency than the FPGA_Clk. Particularly, the TDM_Clk may operate at a frequency that is a multiple of the FPGA_Clk frequency, where the multiple is at least as large as the maximum number of signals that may be multiplexed on a pin. In this example, the maximum number may be three. However, the maximum number may vary from embodiment to embodiment. Factors that may affect the maximum number may be the desired clock frequency for the FPGA_Clk (which may directly affect performance) versus the number of signals that need to be multiplexed to generate a workable FPGA implementation.
The TDM logic 174 may multiplex the O1 to O3 signals onto the pin according to the TDM_Clk. Accordingly, the output signals O1 to O3 travel across the interconnect 44 in one FPGA clock cycle, one signal per TDM_Clk clock cycle. The TDM logic 176 may capture the O1 to O3 signals according to the TDM_Clk clock signal and may drive the corresponding input signals I1 to I3 stably for a clock cycle of the FPGA_Clk, as partially illustrated in FIG. 15 for I1 to I3. Transmitting the signals in this fashion may overcome pin limitations of the FPGA devices while preserving the functional timing of signals according to the FPGA_Clk.
In some embodiments, the TDM logic 174 and 176 may be fixed in the FPGA devices 42A and 42B. Alternatively, the TDM logic 174 and 176 may be configured into one or more configurable logic blocks of the FPGA devices using the bitstream, similar to configuring configurable logic blocks to implement operation described in the design files.
Turning now to FIG. 16, a flowchart is shown illustrating operation of one embodiment of the FPGA generation code to automatically perform the grouping of signals for pin multiplexing. While the blocks are shown in a particular order in FIG. 16 for ease of understanding, other orders may be used. Blocks may be performed in parallel as well. In an embodiment, FPGA generation code may be executed on a computer to implement all or a portion of the flowchart in FIG. 16. The instructions forming the FPGA generation code (or a portion thereof that implements the flowchart of FIG. 16) may be binary instructions directly executable on one or more hardware processors of the computer, and/or may include one or more scripts that may be executed in a software environment. That is, the scripts may be commands that are interpreted by a command shell environment that performs specified operations in response to the commands. Any combination of instruction types may be used in various embodiment. The instructions, when executed, may implement the operation shown in FIG. 16.
In one embodiment, a commercial tool used to perform the FPGA partitioning may output a list of signals that are candidates for multiplexing and a list of signals that should not be multiplexed. The FPGA generation code may receive these candidate lists (block 180). The FPGA generation code may perform clock domain tracing on the candidate signals, identifying the clock domains for each candidate signal (block 182). The FPGA generation code may also perform clock domain tracing on the signals that are identified as non-multiplexable by the commercial tool, in some embodiments. The FPGA generation code may group the traced signals into matching clock domains (block 184), and then may multiplex signals within the groups (block 186). For example, up to a maximum number of signals from a given group may be selected to be multiplexed on each pin. Signals that do not match clock domains may not be multiplexed, in one embodiment.
The multiplexed groups of signals may be written to the pin mux file 86. In some embodiments, the FPGA generation code may also assign the mux groups to pins and write the pin assignment file 70 with data describing the pin assignment. In other embodiments, commercial FPGA tools may perform the pin assignments based on the pin mux file 86. In some embodiments, as mentioned previously, the pin mux configuration file 68 may be used to identify signals that may be excluded or included in mux groups, in addition to the candidate signals mentioned above.
Computer Accessible Storage Medium
Turning next to FIG. 17, a block diagram of a computer accessible storage medium 200 is shown. Generally speaking, a computer accessible storage medium may include any storage media accessible by a computer during use to provide instructions and/or data to the computer. For example, a computer accessible storage medium may include storage media such as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk (fixed or removable), tape, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW or Blu-Ray. Storage media may further include volatile or non-volatile memory media such as RAM (e.g. synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) including double data rate (DDR, DDR2, DDR3, etc.) SDRAM and/or low power DDR (LPDDR2, etc.) SDRAM, Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), etc.), ROM, Flash memory, non-volatile memory such as Flash memory accessible via a peripheral interface such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, etc. Storage media may include microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), as well as storage media accessible via a communication medium such as a network and/or a wireless link. The computer accessible storage medium 200 in FIG. 17 may store the FPGA generation code 202, which may implement one or more of the flowcharts of FIGS. 4, 11, 14, and/or 16. The computer accessible storage medium 200 may also store one or more of the EDO files 52, the design files 54, the modified design files 56, the DC configuration file 74, the pad ring configuration file 60, the FPGA pad ring definition file 62, the pin mux configuration file 68, the pin mux file 86, the pin assignment file 70, the project file 78, the partition file 84, and/or the FPGA bitstream 82. Generally, the computer accessible storage medium 200 may store any set of instructions which, when executed, implement a portion or all of the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4, 11, 14, and/or 16. A carrier medium may include computer accessible storage media as well as transmission media such as wired or wireless transmission.
Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
Previous Patent US 8,479,134 | Next Patent US 8,479,136
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1971
|
__label__wiki
| 0.876771
| 0.876771
|
Home>> Boxers
from the Forum
Filipino Boxers List
Ranked by highest winning percentage
Only boxers who have totals of 10 or more fights are listed here.
376 Jeffrey Oñate Santa Cruz, Zambales, Philippines Featherweight 32 17 26 8 66 48.48% 53.13%
377 Albert Cesa Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines Bantamweight 14 0 9 6 29 48.28% 0%
378 Dante Cantiga Super Bantamweight 13 3 11 3 27 48.15% 23.08%
379 Jayson Rotoni Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines Light Flyweight 13 7 13 1 27 48.15% 53.85%
380 Joel Rafols La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines Super Featherweight 13 4 12 2 27 48.15% 30.77%
381 Greg Mangan Liloan, Cebu, Philippines Featherweight 11 2 7 5 23 47.83% 18.18%
382 Dennis Juntillano M'lang, Cotabato (del Norte), Philippines Super Flyweight 10 4 11 0 21 47.62% 40%
383 Ronnie Cañete Flyweight 20 3 19 3 42 47.62% 15%
384 Freddie Martinez Super Welterweight 10 5 10 1 21 47.62% 50%
385 Alvin Makiling Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines Super Featherweight 9 2 7 3 19 47.37% 22.22%
386 Gabriel Francisco Royo Valenzuela City, Metro Manila, Philippines Super Featherweight 9 8 8 2 19 47.37% 88.89%
387 Allan Doronilla Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines Flyweight 9 3 9 1 19 47.37% 33.33%
388 Roselito Campaña Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines Lightweight 18 5 17 3 38 47.37% 27.78%
389 Dennis Padua La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines Super Welterweight 9 4 8 2 19 47.37% 44.44%
390 Roy Sumugat Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines Super Bantamweight 9 3 9 1 19 47.37% 33.33%
<< First | < Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | Next > | Last >>
Rank by: Highest winning % Highest KO % Most wins Most fights
BAUTISTA-BOLANOS
Fight Gallery
developed and maintained by dong decuya
and hosted by cebu-online.com.
© 2019 philboxing.com, cebu-online.com.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1975
|
__label__cc
| 0.594307
| 0.405693
|
Bone Marrow Involvementas the Initial Presentation of Breast Cancer
Narjust Duma MD, Zhen Wang MD, Claudia Miranda MD
Science and Education Publishing
From Scientific Research to Knowledge
AJMCR» Archive» Volume 3» Issue 6»Case Report
OPEN ACCESS PEER-REVIEWED
Narjust Duma MD1, , Zhen Wang MD1, Claudia Miranda MD1
1Internal Medicine Department, Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States
2. Case presentation
Breast cancer has a predilection for spreading to the bone, brain, liver and lung, however metastasis to bone marrow resulting in bone marrow failure is considered rare. Here, we discuss a case of breast cancer presenting with bone marrow involvement and diffuse bone lytic lesions. The patient was an81 year old female presenting with back pain in the lumbar region for four months, progressively worsening despite physical therapy and oral analgesics. She was referred for magnetic resonance image which revealed diffuse bone lytic lesions. Follow up computed tomography of chest, abdomen and pelvis confirmed bone lesions but was negative for any primary malignancy. Peripheral blood studies showed white blood cell count of 4.5x 10³/µL, hemoglobin of 6.6g/dL, hematocrit of 21% and platelet count of 120.000/µL. She also had renal dysfunction with creatinine of 1.41mg/dL and calcium of 9.8mg/dL. Due to concern for a plasma cell neoplasia, the patient was referred to our oncology clinic. Physical examination was unremarkable and peripheral blood studies revealed IgG 1411mg/dL, IgA 292mg/dL, IgM 122mg/dL with undetectable serum and urine M spikes. She underwent a bone marrow biopsy which was negative for multiple myeloma but showed a neoplastic component in the marrow (approximately 5%) positive for Pan-Keratin, GATA3, ER and Cyclin D1, consistent with mammary carcinoma. During further questioning, she reported a normal screening mammogram one year prior to the onset of symptoms. Positron emission tomography (PET)was remarkable for extensive bony metastatic disease and a heterogeneous hyper-metabolic adrenal mass concerning for metastasis. She was started on endocrine therapy with a daily aromatase inhibitor and monthly Denosumab for bone metastasis. At her six month follow up, PET-scan showed stable disease. Currently, she remains on the same hormonal regimen with monthly follow up at the oncology clinic.
Keywords: metastatic breast cancer, bone marrow involvement, plasma cell neoplasm, cytopenias
American Journal of Medical Case Reports, 2015 3 (6), pp 177-180.
DOI: 10.12691/ajmcr-3-6-8
Received May 04, 2015; Revised May 09, 2015; Accepted May 20, 2015
MD, Narjust Duma, Zhen Wang MD, and Claudia Miranda MD. "Bone Marrow Involvementas the Initial Presentation of Breast Cancer." American Journal of Medical Case Reports 3.6 (2015): 177-180.
MD, N. D. , MD, Z. W. , & MD, C. M. (2015). Bone Marrow Involvementas the Initial Presentation of Breast Cancer. American Journal of Medical Case Reports, 3(6), 177-180.
MD, Narjust Duma, Zhen Wang MD, and Claudia Miranda MD. "Bone Marrow Involvementas the Initial Presentation of Breast Cancer." American Journal of Medical Case Reports 3, no. 6 (2015): 177-180.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women in the United States and worldwide. Estimated global incidence in 2010 was roughly more than 1.5 million cases [1]. Representing the second most common cause of cancer death in women in the United States [1]. While metastatic breast disease generally carries a dismal prognosis, survival rates for patients with metastatic breast cancer have improved significantly given the availability of new therapies. Breast cancer has a predilection for spreading to the bone, brain, liver and lung and metastasis to these sites are well documented. However, metastasis to bone marrow with resultant bone marrow failure is considered rare [2]. There is limited literature regarding bone marrow involvement in early breast cancer, as most of the patients developed bone marrow involvement during the last stages of the disease [3]. Here we present our experience with a patient with diffuse lytic bone lesions; renal dysfunction, anemia and thrombocytopenia, initially suggestive of a plasma cell disorder but found to be the first manifestation of metastatic breast cancer.
81 year old Caucasian female with past medical history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atrial fibrillation, coronary arterial disease and no history of chronic kidney disease, presented to our clinic complaining of back pain of four months duration. Pain was located in the lumbar region, initially rated 4 out of 10 but progressively worsening to reach 10 out of 10 intensity. Pain was described as constant, radiating bilaterally to the lower extremities, without any alleviating factors. She was initially seen by an orthopedist. Subsequentx-rays were obtained which did not reveal any pathology. Due to worsening of the symptoms, patient was referred for a spine magnetic resonance image (MRI) which revealed multiple lytic bone lesions highly concerning for bone metastases (Figure 1), including an expansible lesion at L4 resulting in narrowing of the central canal and right lateral recess at this level with contact to the right descending nerve root. There was a high suspicion for a primary malignancy of unknown origin, the patient underwent a computed tomography (CT) of chest, abdomen and pelvis; this confirmed the multifocal bone lytic lesions throughout the spine, pelvis, and left proximal femur as well as pathologic fractures of T6 and L1. No primary malignancy was identified.
Figure 1. Cervical spine MRI reveals diffuse bone lytic lesions in the vertebral bodies of C2 to C6
Figures index
View current figure in a new window
Blood tests revealed normocytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, with a white blood cell count of 4.5 x 10³/µL, hemoglobin of 6.6 g/dL (baseline hemoglobin 12.5 g/dL, 6 months prior), hematocrit of 21%, mean corpuscular value (MCV) of 90.7 fL, reticulocyte count of 0.4% and platelet count of 120.000 /µL. She also had renal dysfunction with creatinine of 1.41 mg/dL (creatinine one year prior was 0.7) and calcium of 9.8 mg/dL. Due to the presence of decreased blood counts and diffuse bone lytic lesions she was considered to be a high risk for a plasma cell neoplasia and she was referred to ouroncology clinic. On physical examination, she was a well-developed, well- nourished female with diffuse pallor, no icterus, clear lungs to auscultation, abdomen was soft, non-tender, non-distended. There was tenderness to palpation of the lumbar spine, but strength was full in all extremities. Despite her back pain, the patient reported she was able to perform her activities to daily living with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 1.
Peripheral blood studies revealed IgG 1411 mg/dL, IgA 292 mg/dL, IgM 122 mg/dL, with serum M spike undetectable, and serum immunofixation undetectable as well. A Serum free kappa level of 37.9 mg/dL, free lambda of 19.2 mg/dL and a kappa-lambda ratio of 1.97 was obtained. 24 hour urine resulted with a total protein of 92 mg and negative urine M spike. In spite of these findings,there was a high suspicion for multiple myeloma and sheunderwent a bone marrow biopsy. Immunophenotypic analysis of the bone marrow revealed less than 0.2% of plasma cells without evidence of light chain restriction. Further testing showed a neoplastic component in the marrow (approximately 5%) positive for Pan-Keratin, GATA3, ER and Cyclin D1, consistent with a mammary carcinoma. Given the presence of diffuse cytoplasmic staining of p120 Catenin and apparent lack of membranous staining of E-cadherin, these findings suggested a lobular origin.Anantigen CA27.29 was obtained, with reported value of 2641 U/ml (normal range <30 U/ml). Further testing revealedthe breast cancer was estrogen and progesterone receptor positive and HER2/Neu negative (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/ proto-oncogene Neu).
Based on these results, an extensive review of the patient’s gynecologic history was undertaken. She had a screening mammogram one year prior to the onset of symptoms which has been negative for malignancy. She never had any abnormal results on previous mammography. She had three normal pregnancies with no history of hormonal replacement therapy or oral contraceptive use. There was no family history of breast, ovarian, uterine and colon cancer. She underwent a positron emission tomography (PET) scan; which was remarkable for extensive bony metastatic disease and a heterogeneous hyper-metabolic adrenal mass concerning for metastatic disease (Figure 2-Figure 3). Patient was started on endocrine therapy that included a daily aromatase inhibitor and monthly Denosumab for bone metastasis. At hersix month follow up, PET-scan showed stable disease. Currently, she remains on the same hormonal regimen with monthly follow up at the oncology clinic.
Figure 2. Whole body PET-scan reveals diffuse bone lytic lesions, with hyper-metabolic adrenal mass but no signs of a primary malignancy
Diffuse infiltration of the bone marrow by malignant cells can result in cytopenia and thus poses a difficult problem in the treatment of affected patients. However, despite its clinical relevance, this complication has received little attention [2]. Prostate cancer and gastric adenocarcinoma are the malignancies which are primarily associated with bone marrow involvement (BMI) [3]. With breast cancer being the most prevalent cancer in women in the United States and worldwide, special attention should be directed to the identification of bone marrow involvement in these patients, as this representsan unfavorable prognostic factor. Occult micro-metastatic spread of breast cancer cells to the bone marrow has been described in up to one third of patients with stage I–III disease at the time of diagnosis and is known to be prognostic in regard to risk of relapse [4].
Most patients with breast cancer BMI have no particular symptoms and show normal complete blood counts. In patients with symptomatic BMI, anemia is the most frequent finding, present in 40-60% of patients,with most of them having a hemoglobin value of less than 12 g/dL. Leukopenia and thrombocytopenia is seen in 12-25% of patients. Other manifestations include bone pain secondary to diffuse osteolytic lesions, anorexia, and worsening in performance status [5]. In our patient the anemia can be considered of acute onset, she had hemoglobin of 12.5 g/DL 6 months prior to the onset of symptoms, without any history of acute blood loss or other pathology that could explain the decrease in her hemoglobin and platelet count besides the BMI secondary to her breast cancer.
Regarding specific tumor characteristics, no special subtypes of breast cancer – based on histology, grading, or receptor status – have been identified tobe at increased risk of developing BMI [2]. A high level of suspicion is advisable in patients suffering from intermediate or poorly differentiated tumors with bone metastases and otherwise unexplained anemia [2]. A close association between bone metastasis and bone marrow involvement have been described. In clinical routine, the presence of a leukoerythroblastic peripheral blood smear is considered a sign of marrow infiltration [6, 7], as long as other causes such as hemolysis, myelodysplastic syndromes, and myeloproliferative syndromes are ruled out.
Bone marrow aspiration is the definite diagnostic test to revealBMI in breast cancer patients but due to the invasive nature of thisprocedure is not considereda routine exam in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Whole-body PET could be suggested asthe best non-invasive diagnostic test for BMI, as most the patients undergo PET scans at the time of disease staging. Whole-body PET with 18F-FDG exploits the high glycolytic rate of malignant tissue compared with that of nonmalignant cells, and can be useful in uncovering previously unknown metastatic disease to the marrow [8].
Great percentage of patients with breast cancer and BMI also have cortical or lytic bone lesions, while PET scan can identify bone marrow involvement, MRI is considered the preferred imaging study when trying to differentiate bone marrow involvement versus cortical bone disease; because the bone marrow contains a high percentage of adipose tissue, T1 weighted MRI scans generally reveal metastases as focal areas of low signal intensity, this approach has been shown to be very sensitive to solid tumors that metastasize to bone marrow such as breast and lung cancer. Due to a high rate of false-positive cases with non-contrast MRI, is recommended to use gadolinium-enhanced bone imaging, invasion of the bone marrow commonly demonstrate high or inhomogeneous signal intensity after gadolinium injection, which is not seen in fractures or cortical bone disease [9, 10].
Very limited data exists as to the safest and most efficacious manner to treat patients with breast cancer and bone marrow involvement. The therapeutic approach can be divided intosymptomatic management with the use of analgesic medications, corticosteroids,bisphosphonates and erythrocyte/platelet transfusions and, hormone therapy consistent of anti-estrogens, LH-RH agonists, aromatase inhibitors, and progestin derivatives [2]. In our case, the patient had stable disease after six months of hormonal therapy and bisphosphonates and did not require systemic chemotherapy. However a significant percentage of patients are progesterone or estrogen receptor negative or may have diseaseprogression despite hormonal therapy. These patients require a more aggressive management with systemic chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy can provide symptomatic improvement as well as survival benefit if appropriate drug regimens are used, both in terms of expected toxicities and patients’ quality of life.The administration of standard, full-dose chemotherapy regimens in patients with BMI poses a risk of infection (around 20% in previous reports) and toxic death [3, 11]. Moreover, intensive hematological support is required in more than 50% of cases [11, 12]. The rationale of cytotoxic chemotherapy administration is to favorably affect erythro-, leuco- and thrombopoiesis exerting a cytotoxic effect on tumor cells in the bone marrow. Due to the high risk of toxicity induced by chemotherapy, particularly in patients presenting with cytopenias, standard full-dose myelotoxic chemotherapyis not feasible in patients with BMI [13]. For these reason, several small studies have shown benefit in the use of dose reduced therapy with doxorubicin and capecitabine. Nonetheless, further research is needed it before a standard regimen is established.
The prognosis of breast cancer patients with BMI is variable, but it is usually considered to be poor. Indeed, the extent of marrow involvement is an important indicator of tumor burden and, the patient’s potential resistance to treatment. In a multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in metastatic breast cancer patients, the poor prognostic impact of a pretreatment hemoglobin value of less than 11 g/dl and a platelet count below 100.000 was underlined. Poor performance status at baseline and the combination of both osseous and visceral involvement have also been described as negative prognostic factors [14]. The estimated median overall survival from the time of diagnosis of BMI is approximately 19 months. Individual patients may experience longer disease control despite this difficult condition [1, 15].
In summary, we present a case of 81 year old female with metastatic breast cancer whose initial presentation included diffuse bone lytic lesions, anemia and thrombocytopenia. Based on our literature review, we conclude that, while breast cancer has a tendency to metastasize to the bone marrow, it does not commonly cause bone marrow failure. BMI needs to be suspected in patients suffering from high- or intermediate-grade breast cancer with bone metastases and otherwise unexplained cytopenia. As was the case with our patient, some patients can present in a manner suggestive of a plasma cell neoplasm and only bone marrow aspiration will provide the definite diagnosis. The treatment of these patients should be conducted holistically, including symptomatic, hormonal and cytotoxic therapies. Despite the usual poor prognosis associated with BMI, our patient achieved stable disease after six months of treatment, which suggests that even patients with marked symptomatic BMI can achieve varying levels of disease control.
We want to thank all our mentors for their support during our residency.
[1] Cancer statistics, J Natl Cancer Inst 2011 May 4; 103(9): 714.
[2] Kopp, Hans-Georg, et al. "Symptomatic bone marrow involvement in breast cancer–clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis: a single institution review of 22 cases." Anticancer research 31.11 (2011): 4025-4030.
[3] Delsol G, Guiu-Godfrin B, Guiu M, Pris J, Corberand J, Fabre J: Leukoerythroblastosis and cancer frequency, prognosis, and physiopathology significance. Cancer 44: 1009-1013, 1979.
In article CrossRef
[4] Braun S, Pantel K, Muller P, Janni W, Hepp F, Kentenich CR, Gastroph S, Wischnik A, Dimpfl T, Kindermann G, Riethmuller G and Schlimok G: Cytokeratin-positive cells in the bone marrow and survival of patients with stage I, II, or III breast cancer. N Engl J Med 342: 525-533, 2000.
In article CrossRef PubMed
[5] Freyer, Gilles, BlandineLigneau, and VéroniqueTrillet-Lenoir. "Palliative hormone therapy, low-dose chemotherapy, and bisphosphonate in breast cancer patients with bone marrow involvement and pancytopenia: report of a pilot experience." European journal of internal medicine 11.6 (2000): 329-333.
[6] Rubins JM: The role of myelofibrosis in malignant leukoerythroblastosis. Cancer 51: 308-311, 1983.
[7] ShamdasGJ, Ahmann FR, Matzner MB and Ritchie JM: Leukoerythroblastic anemia in metastatic prostate cancer.Clinical and prognostic significance in patients with hormonerefractory disease. Cancer 71: 3594-3600, 1993.
[8] Lewanski, Conrad R., et al. "Bone marrow involvement in breast cancer detected by positron emission tomography." Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 92.4 (1999): 193.
[9] Zhao, Jian, et al. "MRI of the spine: image quality and normal–neoplastic bone marrow contrast at 3 T versus 1.5 T." American Journal of Roentgenology 192.4 (2009): 873-880.
[10] Hanrahan, Christopher J., and Lubdha M. Shah. "MRI of spinal bone marrow: part 2, T1-weighted imaging-based differential diagnosis." American Journal of Roentgenology 197.6 (2011): 1309-1321.
[11] J.N. Ingle, D.C. Tormey, J.M. Bull, et al. Bone marrow involvement in breast cancer: effect on response and tolerance to combination chemotherapy Cancer, 39 (1977), pp. 250-257.
[12] R. Rodriguez-Kraul, G.N. Hortobagyi, A.U. Buzdar, et al. Combination chemotherapy for breast cancer metastatic to bone marrow Cancer, 48 (1981), pp. 227-238.
[13] Ardavanis, A., et al. "Low-dose Capecitabine in Breast Cancer Patients with Symptomatic Bone Marrow Infiltration: A Case Study." Anticancer research28.1B (2008): 539-541.
[14] G.N. Hortobagyi, T.L. Smith, S.S. Legha, et al. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in advanced breast cancer J ClinOncol, 1 (1983), pp. 1776-1782.
[15] Gebauer G, Fehm T, Merkle E, Beck EP, Lang N and Jager W: Epithelial cells in bone marrow of breast cancer patients at time of primary surgery: clinical outcome during long-term follow up. J ClinOncol 19: 3669-3674, 2001.
Alert me if commented
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1977
|
__label__cc
| 0.738645
| 0.261355
|
River Region's Journey magazine, Montgomery, Prattville, Millbrook and Wetumpka Alabama
Pastor's Perspective
Kim Hendrix
Bob Crittendon
Family Teams
Matthew Jordan
David Steel
Faith @ Work
Sam Whatley
Women Arising
Ongoing Happenings
S.K.I.P. Saving Kids of Incarcerated Parents
Written by Ashley Sherlock
For more than 30 years, S.K.I.P. (Save Children of Incarcerated Parents) Incorporated has been advocating for children of incarcerated parents and their families. S.K.I.P.’s research and experience have indicated that the highest achieving students are those who are supported by their families, schools and communities. S.K.I.P. Incorporated’s vision is that children across the United States have the opportunity to become self-reliant, strong and healthy adults.
“S.K.I.P has a heart for children in our community, who by circumstances beyond their control do not have the kind of positive support in their lives to guide them to make good life choices.”
S.K.I.P. Incorporated was founded by Mrs. Gloria Jean Canty-Williams. When Gloria was assisting a research study with the Hillsborough County Study Commission for Children of Tampa, Florida, she noticed that there were no services for children of incarcerated parents anywhere in the nation. Thus began S.K.I.P., and today, S.K.I.P. Inc. has chapters in Georgia and Michigan, with Alabama serving as its headquarters. It is Gloria’s dream that she and the organization will make a remarkable difference in the lives of children everywhere.
S.K.I.P. Inc. focuses on public awareness, advocacy, collaboration and research. S.K.I.P. uses research to communicate relevant facts for program improvements, as well as proposed public policy and legislation affecting children of incarcerated parents using its public awareness campaigns.
“Helping people to know and understand what is at stake and what we can do about it is essential to creating change and moving this effort forward.”
S.K.I.P. Inc. is future-orirented. Its representatives realize that the children they are helping will be the nation’s workforce, consumers and community leaders. S.K.I.P. representatives are committed to speaking on behalf of these children to ensure that the state policies for children of incarcerated parents are child friendly.
“We must protect these valuable assets and create an environment in which they may develop their character, minds and spirits to become self-reliant and sustainable adults.”
S.K.I.P. uses programs that are comprehensive, modular and customizable, such as family fun nights, S.K.I.P. Saturdays, and a photography program. In each of these programs and others that S.K.I.P. offers, there are integrated values and principles like counseling, coaching, career development and social education and enrichment.
One example of how S.K.I.P. Inc. is preparing children for a better future is ten-year-old Kandyce. When she was ten, Kandyce’s mother was incarcerated, so Kandyce lived with her father and stepmother. Unfortunately, Kandyce didn’t want to live with her stepmother and began fighting with peers at school and receiving failing grades in class.
Enter the S.K.I.P. program, and Kandyce was given a peer mentor who helped her be able to improve her grades and her attitude. When Kandyce was 13 years old, her mother was released from prison and Kandyce could live with her again. She has even expressed an interest in becoming a S.K.I.P. peer mentor herself.
To learn more about S.K.I.P. Incorporated and how you can get involved or make a donation, visit skipping.org.
A Florida native, Ashley Sherlock made the transition to Alabama to pursue a degree in English. She has a passion for the written word, an affinity for the outdoors, a love for people, and a desire for the Lord.
Last modified on Monday, 08 May 2017 16:10
Read 886 times | Like this? Tweet it to your followers!
Published in Articles
Prescription for Shame
Respite Ministry of First UMC: Love, Education and Support for Families Living with Alzheimer's and Dementia
Damaged Souls...And the Kindness of Jesus
Why Should I Go to Church?
Forest Park Ministry Center Providing Food, Clothing and Support for People in Crisis
More in this category: « Simple Gestures for Honoring Mom on Mother's Day The 2017 VBS Guide »
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1978
|
__label__wiki
| 0.696236
| 0.696236
|
Slaving ships - the 'middle passage'
by Dr Alan Rice
'The Atlantic crossings constituted the largest enforced movement of peoples known to the pre-twentieth century world.' James Walvin
Crossing the Atlantic
Probably the most notorious aspect of transatlantic slavery was the journey of enslaved Africans from their homeland to the Americas. This journey became known from the European perspective as 'the middle passage'. It would generally take between 50 and 80 days.
There are around 27,000 documented transatlantic slaving voyages and it is estimated that there were many thousands of undocumented journeys during the early period of the slave trade.
Confined in chains
In order to make as much money as possible, the European merchants would pack their human 'cargo' in confined spaces. Each person had around two square metres of space and so little headroom that full grown men and women had to crouch throughout the journey.
The space Africans were assigned in these internally redesigned freight vessels was significantly less than the space that migrants and soldiers were given when they were transported to the Americas. Enslaved Africans had less than a sixth of the space of European migrants to the West Indies in the same period.
Shackled to their neighbours, enslaved Africans, often as many as 300-400 per voyage, could barely move except when allowed their daily exercise on deck. Many would never have seen the sea before, let alone been on a voyage across an ocean. As a result, sea sickness and a profound disorientation affected almost all of them. The sickness was made worse by the narrow spaces in which they were kept.
Death and disease
Chained enslaved Africans were often unable to reach toilet buckets. This meant the rapid spread of diseases such as diarrhoea and the 'bloody flux' (dysentry) that killed many of the weakened captured Africans. They were also vulnerable to other diseases such as malaria, pleurisy, yellow fever, smallpox and scurvy.
The disorientation of Africans mystified their captors who described a 'fixed melancholy'. Some captives refused to move about, refused food and eventually died. Others took more immediate steps to remove their and their relatives bodies from capture. They threw themselves and their children overboard in acts of suicide and infanticide that many of them believed would quicken their return to Africa. This happened so often that slaving ships were fitted with nets to try and prevent it.
Death rates on the ships varied, although generally in the early trade 20% and above of enslaved Africans died on board the ships. This rate fell to 10% in the late eighteenth century, only to rise again during the illegal transatlantic slave trade after 1807.
In the ships, men were usually separated from the women and children who were allowed greater freedom of movement and kept closer to the deck. This was, however, not such an advantage, especially for the women and girls. Their closeness to the ship's deck left them prey to captains and crew members who would often rape them.
Such sexual violence was accompanied by violent punishments to keep order. Public whippings and other everyday beatings took place often on most ships. Ships redesigned specially to carry slaves had a barricade built onto them, complete with a small cannon as a way of stopping possible slave rebellions. It is proof of the African captives' bravery that there were around 500 documented slave revolts during the trade, despite the pistols and cannons of their captors and the extremely harsh punishments used to prevent such rebellion.
Slavery in Africa and Europe
Fuelling the Industrial Revolution
British attitudes to 'others'
Beaker, Success to the British fleet
Fabric, Le Traite des Negres
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1986
|
__label__wiki
| 0.713382
| 0.713382
|
Home > Vol 3, No 1 Feb (2014) > Nadim
The Impressionability of Multidimensional Character of Allama Qutb al-Din Shirazi, from the Cultural Atmosphere of Shiraz
Mostafa Nadim
Allama Qutb al-Din Shirazi, is one of the elders and luminaries of Iran and the Islamic world and one of the great characters in the history of science in the world. Despite of the popularity of Allameh Qutb al-Din in medicine, he had reached to a degree of scientific development in different fields of science, literature, art and even folk art that he can be cited as an expert in that field. Allama Qutb al-Din was so capable and diligent in mathematics, astronomy and geometry, in poetry, literature, mysticism and philosophy, in the art of calligraphy and even in public art like theatrics and magic.
The existence of all of these capabilities in a single person, expresses the inherent genius more than anything else, but besides this intelligence and ingenuity, the time and the period in which that person lived, must be considered. In discussing the issue of period, the place where the person lived in is important. Shiraz, as one of the most important cultural centers of Iran, is the birthplace of many great persons in the history that one of the most important features of the scientific character in some of them, is multidimensionality, people who sometimes accompanied their scientific expertise with artistic and literary elegance and other fields of knowledge.
In this paper, in addition to a brief review of life of Allameh Qutb al-Din Shirazi, the impact of the cultural atmosphere of Shiraz on his character and also his multidimensional character are being analyzed.
Cultural geography, Shiraz, Allama Qutb al-Din Shirazi, Medical science
PDF [In Persian] XML
eISSN: 2251-886X RHM NLM ID: 101589380
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1987
|
__label__cc
| 0.683699
| 0.316301
|
Implementing Innovation At All Levels Of Your Company with Bo Pelech and Andreea Ciologariu
How do you get innovation into your organization from the bottom to the top? It’s easy to get it installed at a single level, but implementing innovation culture across the entire organization is near to impossible. Bo Pelech and Andreea Ciologariu’s innovation program helps companies make a rapid path between what they’re doing today and implementing innovation for the future, which means disrupting your market and but prevent being disrupted. Bo and Andreea are both associated with the University of Toronto and the Rotman Global Executive MBA Program there. They talk about the origin story about their program, recapped the Three Horizon model, and tell what it takes to implement innovation and create a winning corporate culture that attracts, retains, and develop.
Our guest is Bo Pelech and Andreea Ciologariu, who are both associated with the University of Toronto and the Rotman Global Executive MBA program there. I met them when I was in Toronto. I was absolutely blown away by an innovation program that they are doing which helps companies make a rapid path between what they’re doing today in implementing innovation for the future, which means that you’re going to disrupt your market and prevent being disrupted. Welcome, Bo and Andreea.
Hi, Mark.
Bo, tell me a little bit about what you do with the Applied Innovation curriculum at Rotman.
I run an experiential workshop in partnership with the Applied Innovation curriculum at the Global Executive MBA program. This is the mature student side of the equation at UFT. There’s always a challenge in the context that applied in terms of a traditional university setting, which is still very lecture, PowerPoint and even case study-based. On the side of this program, we run an internship program where students take on real-world company challenges. We have companies that define complex problems and students take those challenges on oftentimes in partnership with frontline employees but as a real-world experience.
Andreea, you are a business marketing strategist and a professor of marketing. You do a lot of interesting things helping bring companies’ innovative products to a global marketplace. I understand that you are Bo’s best student in this experiential program that he conducts.
I’m very humbled by that comment. Thank you.
The biggest issue that we’ve discussed in some of our conversations leading up to this podcast is how you get innovation into your organization from the bottom to the top. It’s easy to get it installed at a single level, but getting an innovation culture installed across the entire organization is nearly impossible. How have you managed to do this?
If I could start with a little bit of an origin story, this didn’t just come to us. We’ve been at this for a number of years but we started with a model. It’s called the Three Horizon model. Any consultant out there knows that there are a couple of versions of that model, perhaps McKinsey’s being the most well-known.
Let’s do a recap of the Three Horizon model.
Horizon One is your core activity and that’s where the bulk, 80% to 85%, of your activity is. We’re looking at zero to six months and continuous improvement, but your core activity, the stuff that pays the bills, if you’re not good at this, you can’t be good at innovation. We joke around a lot about Amazon being good at innovation because they’re great at the process. Who else could I order a book this morning and they get me the book tonight? That’s process. The revenue and profitability associated with that core activity are what lets you innovate. Horizon Two is adjacencies and that represents a minority of your activities. Adjacencies tend to be these known factors, known elements, and known issues that you could choose from in terms of the direction of your business and your strategy.
The problem is that there’s a whole bunch of them, so how do they align with strategy? Horizon Three is the innovation horizon. This is where disruptive innovation resides and where most innovation programs are focused. If you think about horizon three as a focus for an innovation model, we refer to it as a VC model. It’s based on statistical success rates. If I ask you what you thought is the success rate of ten, twenty different initiatives in a VC model, what would that be as a percentage?
About 5% of those are going to fly.
Whatever that number is, everybody will be in some reasonable range. I don’t want to necessarily debate that. What I want to debate is that’s a good model for VCs. The question that we kept asking ourselves is, “Is this a good model for companies?” The other one was, “Is this the best model to teach students?” The best model for education in an academic environment where you’re trying to teach everyone what in essence are complex problem-solving skills. That’s what nagged us. It nagged us for about four years. Only in the last year or two do we get clarity and evolved to a philosophy and an approach that resonated for us and that we’re getting some traction externally in the real world. Andreea will speak to this.
Our model is different than this typical elite innovation team that most large companies approach innovation with, which I would call as being someone analogous to the VC model. It aligns with this academic mandate that we have to teach everybody entrepreneurial skills. It’s almost embarrassingly simple when we explain it. Perhaps it’s simple only in concept because at the core of it, we’re dealing with corporate culture and changing the corporate culture, which is difficult. The simplicity of it is that we think of Horizon One activity as representing the current state of a company and Horizon Three is the future state. Imagine Horizon One in the context of a traditional S-curve. You’re somewhere near the crest of the curve with the client just over the horizon. While if you overlay the Horizon Three S-curve, it’s currently relatively flat and only beginning to approach its ascension. Someone once said pockets of the future are embedded in the current state.
There’s that famous William Gibson quote about the fact that the future exists today, it’s just not evenly distributed. The question for us is not how you get there today. How do you get to Horizon Three? How do you get to innovation or to that future state? It’s more about catching disruption as opposed to causing disruption. At the risk of getting a little philosophical, it’s more about the journey. In the context of a given future, and that might relate to Blockchain, AI, automation and new ways of collaboration, there may not be a current valid business model in your industry for these types of elements but we know they’re coming.
The question is, “What are the steps? What’s the journey? What’s that transition on the way to the future?” Not the future itself. How many times have we heard and I’ve said it and you’ve said it, “I had that idea, I was just way ahead of my time.” For us, that’s a cop-out because it’s not about the idea. It’s about defining that transition, that journey, and we’re trying to teach people how to define that. The way we try to execute on it is that we engage small teams of frontline employees which dedicate a small amount of time each month. It’s more important that it’s continuous than it is a huge allocation of time. We use students and interns and onboarding as a proxy but what we try to do with these teams is get them to surface and experiment on the horizon one improvement activities. We make them consider future scenarios and future visions in the context of this work that they’re doing.
The future exists today, it's just not evenly distributed. Click To Tweet
In essence, the strategy, which is becoming more and more emergent, now is this methodology that allows them to map current activities to these defined futures. It’s very pragmatic and practical. Employees and students are engaging in Horizon One activities that have a real impact on current revenue and costs. These initiatives can be readily and easily shortlisted by how they map to these future visions and to this transition. We try to risk-manage the approach because you don’t want teams blowing up the company.
We use as a guide a wonderful statement from The Agile Manifesto and asked them to constantly consider this at every incremental step. That is, “What’s the smallest thing that I can do that is useful?” In essence, it’s making iteration smaller by not rushing prematurely to the end. The employees’ initiatives have a high degree of certainty related to their impact. We think we’re building a culture at the same time as we’re positioning the company to catch the disruption wave at the right time. The metaphor that we use is this basic “chop wood, carry water” activity but with your eyes on the horizon, not staring at your feet with blinders on.
This is quite an innovative idea, Bo. The reason why is a lot of organizations would be frightened to ask their frontline employees to help them with innovation. This runs contrary to the way a lot of organizations create innovation where they put their elites into a team and then lock them in a room with pizza and Diet Coke and say, “Go do it.” What you’re saying is, “No, let’s flip this around.” What we have to do is have innovation at the very front line where people see what’s going on because it’s that incremental improvement that generates the profits that we need to invest in the future.
That defines the steps. It’s all about the transition. It’s all about the journey. We’re not asking frontline people to engage in Horizon Three innovation activities. We’re asking them to engage in Horizon One improvement activities, but highlighting how these activities map to the future, how they represent steps in their journey along the way.
I want to focus on the fact that that is exactly the challenge that we perhaps face in implementing this. The traditional approach focuses on those top performers and partly ignores that majority of the employees as a source of innovation and competitive advantage. Departing from this mindset to one where impactful and game-changing contributions can be made at all levels of an organization requires a different way of thinking and accepting this innovation can reside at the periphery.
It requires a real change in leadership.
For the leaders that see this, the impact is tremendous. These visionary leaders and organizations who are able to unlock the potential of all employees definitely outperformed their peers. The second challenge would be around resisting that urge to rush to the end. We all see immediate results yet we know that the foundational element of a strong culture, which is trust, takes time to build. A winning corporate culture attracts, retains and develops talent but it can be quite challenging and not a straight road. Having patience through that journey and not rushing through the end is very important.
What I’m detecting here in what the two of you are doing is helping people move from the Horizon One current state into how can we move into Horizon Two, which is a transition state. By managing that transition state, then you can apply the superpowers to the future state by observing where there’s a golden opportunity to tap into efficiencies and market demands. That’s going to propel the organization with cash into the future. What a lot of people don’t have is cash going into the future, which causes so many companies to fail.
You’re catching the wave at the right time, as opposed to being the bleeding edge of positioning yourself to catch the wave at the exact time that that business model starts to become relevant.
Many organizations don’t have the cash but it’s about learning how to leverage what you already have, your employees. There are numerous and diverse skills that are already present in the organization in your workforce. In face of strong competition or whatever challenge, focus on building the stronger, more competitive organization inside out. You leverage everyone’s strengths. We’ve worked better together. We’re aligned to a common vision and it’s not a one-off innovation, it’s about building that culture of innovation.
The idea of creating continuous innovation is a critical concept for our readers. The other aspect I want to point out here is that we’re using the power of our customer. A lot of organizations, especially the VC world, they don’t focus on the customer. They focus on the bleeding edge technology and that’s the reason why VCs can afford to bleed out. The reality is that we have to have customers. Our innovative goal is to position our company to be where the customer money will be on Horizon Three and that is an incremental change. The whole concept here is let’s make this adjustment so that we can use every aspect of what we have, our employees, our current technology, our customers, and develop this meaningful and intentional journey into the future by helping us to do what we can today and generate that pathway to success.
If you think about it, who are the individuals that are closest to the customers, suppliers and other stakeholders? Oftentimes, it’s the frontliners that are often disregarded in a lot of innovation initiatives. By strengthening the bonds and collaborating across functions, which is something that we stress on, we want people that have the most diverse background to form a team. That’s how the organization or the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. We leverage the strength of the diversity in the teams.
We’re not talking about huge commitments. For us, it’s more important that there’s continuity in the commitment. If you’re talking about two or three hours, once a month, but consistently once a month, that’s fine. That works. We can make any continuous commitment work in this environment. It’s not a huge burden in terms of the employees or the commitment. It’s more a change in mindset. It’s like that joke about if I told you, “Don’t think about an elephant.” We want people to think about the future. We want them not to act, not to execute on the future, but we want them to have this vision of the future firmly embedded in their brains as they chop wood and carry water. It changes everything. Just that one little change in mindset changes all of your current activities.
Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Build on an incremental basis. Click To Tweet
That’s a very simple shift, yet I would say it would be non-intuitive to the average corporate culture. Is that what you found?
It’s that whole issue of just letting go a little bit, letting these teams go through the team dynamics. Team dynamics are an important element of what we teach. We’re big fans of Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions methodologies. It’s almost like teams have to run into walls, run into problems, iterate through these problems in a risk-managed way, but most organizations have trouble letting go to the extent of letting these teams approach these complex problems in an autonomous way. It is all risk-managed by the fact that these are the smallest iterations.
We try to teach this element of, “What’s the smallest iteration that I can do that is useful? If I build on these on an incremental basis, I’m eating the elephant one bite at a time, but I’m also doing this in a highly risk-managed way.” We want people to fail. We want people to experience the problems of iterations and complex problem solving, but we don’t want to blow the organization up.
That’s the approach that’s required to innovate and implement innovation and rule the marketplace.
One point on implementation, and this is a little bit of a plug for one of our new partnerships, as an academic and student focus program we’re not particularly well-suited for the further steps along the journey that requires specific insights, expertise or experience in execution. We’ve partnered with the folks of the ICG to make sure that we have that relationship with a broader range of consultants that can seamlessly support the participating companies at the next steps of those journeys.
ICG is an internal consulting group, which I’m a part of and which Bo and Andreea are participating in. It’s a way for executives to have access to high-quality consulting services of a wide variety of capabilities without having to pay the big guy prices for it. That’s how I met Bo and Andreea is through this internal consulting group. The answer here is that you are supplying this framework for organizations and then when organizations need more specific consulting assistance, then we can plug into ICG to bring in those consultants worldwide.
When a company decides that we’ve done enough iterations and validations on an improvement idea that all of a sudden, there’s a $2 million spend or initiative that they want to undertake, they’re not going to hire us. This is a student cultural facilitation program. That’s where the ICG comes in.
You’re underselling this though. The reality is when you say student, people think about somebody in their early twenties. The reality is that the student is the executive who wants to become a student of innovation to master the innovation.
That’s true. Their average age is the mid-30s and a lot of them are highly successful executives. When you deal with the things like executing on a program, not just this cultural part-time, whether you use the old Google 80/20 analogy of spending a couple of hours every two weeks or a couple of hours every month. When you get into executing, it’s a full-time job and we are a student environment now. We’re saying the fact that they’re incredibly brilliant students and competent managers. Execution is full-time.
Let’s talk a little more about this framework. How do you work with an organization to bring this new cultural vision into play? Andreea, do you want to talk about the steps in the methodology?
The program works on two levels, the pragmatic, realistic and tangible Horizon One, where immediate benefits are realized. These can be productivity gains, cost efficiencies and increased customer satisfaction. Typically, the workshops result in a long list of opportunities that can be ranked and prioritized and then acted on as part of the Horizon Two and Three.
We teach people how to do that. We help them think differently and utilize the skills that they already have in order to achieve the vision, the visionary, aspirational Horizon Two and Three. The immediate results are important. They maintain engagement and celebrate successes, but the game-changing ideas come in Horizon Two and Three. The question is, “How do you link the immediate action that you’re doing day-to-day to bring you a little bit closer to that vision or the mission or the goal that you have as an organization within the next five, ten years, even less depending on the industry?” Perhaps it will be a good time to share a quote from a frontliner participant in our recent innovation challenge, which is a three to four-month-long program with frontline staff.
I will begin the quote, “I really appreciate that the company is taking steps to make it a better place and more competitive in the marketplace. Seeking out new ways, including the innovation challenge, reflects well on the company. I appreciate the opportunity to share ideas and collaborate with colleagues, including those I hadn’t worked with before. We have many great ideas and almost all of them should be pursued. We need the time and structure in place to do so.”
One of the things that I’ve heard over and over again in my interviews with innovation experts is that you have all the innovation you need right now in your company. It’s just a matter of cutting that loose, of getting it harnessed, and of heading it in the right direction. That quote tells me, Andreea, that this concept brings comfort relief and stress reduction to the entire team as they see a future together. That’s very powerful.
While they’re acting on an immediate revenue or cost challenge.
It’s a win-win situation. It makes a tremendous impact on the organizational culture. For the management, it helps them to create a structure that allows this grassroots innovation, not in a one-off, but rather in fostering that culture of innovation. Once we step out of the program, once the innovation challenge finishes within the three-month period, they are left with knowing what to do if they want to go through this situation again.
We’re not good consultants. Our goal is to consult ourselves out of business because this is something that should have occurred at the company without that use of folks like us. If you change the culture, this stuff will happen.
What you are providing to the corporations is the framework that they can install and continue to perpetuate. I would consider it different than a traditional consultant and much more of helping them add more components to their powerful engine to run the business better.
At the core, we’re teachers not consultants. That’s just the way it is.
This whole program runs about three to four months to get this installed into an organization?
That’s the minimum that we look for and most of our clients have extended beyond that. At a minimum, we’re looking at that three or four months just to make sure that we give the teams enough time to go through two or three iterations.
At the core were teachers, not consultants. Click To Tweet
They get it well installed and they know that it is going to work and they have the process within their culture. Let’s talk about the difference between innovation and entrepreneurship. The reason why I want to talk about that is that a lot of times there is some confusion in that. From my experience and my definition is that entrepreneurship is about organizing chaos as a way of creating a business. That doesn’t work terribly well in a corporate environment versus innovation is about figuring out process improvement or identifying trends in the marketplace where there’s an opportunity to make money. That’s my definition. I’d like to hear your definition in contrast and compare these two ideas.
Two things. One is that this is an opportunity to highlight the fact that there’s virtually nothing original in what we’ve said or what we’ve thought. Ours is a synthesis of the old line about standing on the shoulders of giants. The best definition that we’ve ever heard comes from Peter Drucker. He said that entrepreneurship is simply the ability to systematically analyze an opportunity and exploit it.
If you thought about that and if you broke down the challenge of Horizon One and Horizon Three, taking a statistical shot at Horizon Three, the VC model is not an entrepreneurial exercise because you’re taking a statistical shot at something as opposed to truly systematically analyzing that opportunity and exploiting it. Making the words work for me, it’s a little bit of self-serving, but it is about that journey. There’s no point in getting to Horizon Three prematurely, that’s bleeding edge. Most companies aren’t going to be able to sustain or support that. How do I systematically analyze it and exploit it?
To us, it’s all about the journey. That’s what we’re teaching. All the traditional Horizon One activities, that’s traditional biz school stuff. How do I create incremental, modest improvement to existing processes? The big thing that we’re adding is how do I define the journey? How do I connect these threads without getting into some bleeding edge, VC-like scenario? That’s not entrepreneurship, at least not to us and I don’t think to Peter Drucker.
I wanted to mention that there’s another aspect of it. There’s the transformational change and then there’s the continuous improvement. This program works on both those ends. The continuous improvement is more than Horizon One, it’s the low-hanging fruit. It’s putting people together that have different perspectives and they come up with something great. The transformational could be that disruption in an industry perhaps. The key is if we anticipate that there was going to be a transformation or disruption, let’s say five years down the road, two years down the road, what can we do today in order to better prepare us for that change, to better position us for that future that we anticipate? It’s all the scenarios that Bo referenced. This is where the low fidelity “fail fast and fail cheap” mentality comes in. We help these employees, students, and interns, design low fidelity experiments today in order to assess the viability of developing something completely new and different in the future.
I like the idea of calling it low-fidelity versus sandbox.
I will give another quote from one of our participants who said, “I have learned how to brainstorm, share, and generate ideas and figure out what other skills we have that we can bring to our processes. We learn that smaller experiments could be the best way to start.” I like the employee to speak because they’re the ones who say it best.
When they start repeating the words that we used, it’s time to leave.
This has been a great conversation and I like how you’re bringing to offer our readers the strategy of how can we create a culture of innovation from the bottom to the top. How does our reader get ahold of you to learn more about this program?
Through a couple of ways. Our academic program, you could email me at Bo@MayorW.com. That’s the consultancy company that runs the applied innovation curriculum at Rotman Global Executive MBA program. Andreea has a consulting company. Andreea, I guess your offer perhaps is an easy way of engaging with you right away.
You can visit ActivePatterns.com and you can read there more about the workshops and the programs we run in applied innovation as well as in other areas like agile transformation. Many of our activities that you will see focus on this second loop of learning and they focus on boosting the creativity and innovation at the grassroots level. We also have a blog, ActivePatterns.com/blog, and there’s information there on how to subscribe or how to get in touch with us if you’re interested in the diagnostic that we offer.
Do you have a quiz or a survey on that site where people can identify the current activity that’s going to lead to implementing innovation in the future?
Once an interested party engages with us, then we will provide them with the link to take that survey.
Just to be clear, that survey will define a Horizon One activity that they could focus on. As part of this “freemium,” what we would do is show them how that activity links to future scenarios.
It’s a way to get started for free and then that may lead to some fee involvement and of course, that’s an investment in the future of your company. What a fantastic conversation. Thank you, both, for joining me on the Selling Disruption Show and sharing your insights with our reader so that they can use innovation to disrupt and prevent disruption.
Bo Pelech
Andreea Ciologariu
Bo@MayorW.com
ActivePatterns.com
ActivePatterns.com/blog
Get a free innovation assessment with Bo and Andreea. Apply here => http://www.activepatterns.com/assessment/
About Bo Pelech
Bo Pelech and his partners at MayorWilson, an innovation and strategy consultancy, founded Launch180.com as an alternative incubator and accelerator, helping to develop a more broadly based entrepreneurial experience. He and his colleagues have been experimenting with collaborative creativity, applied innovation and experimentation workshops working with organizations including the Toronto District School Board and Rotman’s Omnium Global Executive MBA program.
Pelech regularly serves as a guest speaker and panelist in various Humber Business School Programs and as mentor to a number of Humber start-ups. He was appointed Humber’s inaugural Entrepreneur-In-Residence in 2012. In addition to facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship workshops for Humber’s Postgraduate Global Business Management Certificate students, this fall Pelech will be leading a unique experiential small business development program within Humber’s Continuing Education program.
Pelech received his MBA from the School of Business at York University in 1982. He worked in the financial services industry until the mid-90s, lastly being a Director of Structured Products and Derivatives Group at CIBC Wood Gundy. Following that, Pelech spent roughly the next 10 years building a marketing and business strategy consultancy and pursuing a series of active angel investments and entrepreneurial initiatives. He continues to be active as a sponsor and advisor to early / growth stage companies, sharing his insights and experience and helping guide business discovery and development strategies.
About Andreea Ciologariu
High-performance marketing executive and entrepreneur combines a Global Executive MBA with over a decade of experience in Business Strategy, Marketing, Innovation and Operations excellence in both mature and emerging markets within various industries including Healthcare, Telecommunication and International Trade Consulting.
Particularly strong in integrated sales and marketing, product innovation and development and marketing communication. Start-up and F500 experience and fluent in five international languages: French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian and Romanian, in addition to English.
A Doctoral Candidate at Henley Business School in the United Kingdom, I combine experience teaching in person as well as online using technology platforms.
Hyperpolyglot and autodidact with an epistemophilic impulse, I am a proponent of an interdisciplinary approach to business strategy.
Particular areas of interest involve finding market moving customer insights by selecting the right data sources and understanding the limitation of predictive tools in answering strategic questions. Behavioural economics help augment the understanding of cause and effect and inform better decision making through controlled experiments.
From startups to Fortune 500, I find elegance in chaos, ask the right questions and turn evidence-based insights into plans to support goals.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1991
|
__label__cc
| 0.741383
| 0.258617
|
Download PNG image: Ice Age PNG
In this page you can download PNG image - Ice Age PNG.
Home » HEROES, ACTORS » Ice Age » Ice Age PNG
Ice Age PNG image with transparent background
Ice Age PNG with transparent background you can download for free, just click on it and save.
Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated buddy comedy road film directed by Chris Wedge and co-directed by Carlos Saldanha from a story by Michael J. Wilson. Produced by Blue Sky Studios as its first feature film, it was released by 20th Century Fox on March 15, 2002. The film features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge.
The film is set during the days of the ice age; animals begin migrating south to escape the winters. Once Manny, a no-nonsense mammoth meets Sid, a loudmouthed ground sloth and the two find a human baby, they set out to return the baby. Joining them is a saber-tooth tiger named Diego, who is commanded by his pack leader to bring the baby to him to enact revenge against the humans.
This film was met with mostly positive reviews and was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. It was a box office success by grossing over $383 million, starting the Ice Age franchise. It was followed by four sequels, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012, and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016.
In this page you can download free PNG images: Ice Age PNG images free download
Keywords: Ice Age PNG, Download PNG image with transparent background, PNG image: Ice Age PNG, free PNG image, Ice Age
Image category: Ice Age
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1992
|
__label__wiki
| 0.64691
| 0.64691
|
Woman critical after freezer contents explode | Weird
Woman critical after freezer contents explode
Monday, August 27th, 2012, 11:50pm
Topics: Weird
Lakeland, Florida -- An elderly woman was hospitalized Monday afternoon after contents from her freezer reportedly exploded at her Lakeland home.
Lakeland Police received a call about the incident around 12 p.m. Monday from one of Barbara Cunningham's relatives.
"Bloody, the lower part and her face," describes neighbor Walter Wells. "I heard rumors she had a lot of shrapnel."
Police evacuated the area and and a multi-jurisdictional bomb squad went into the 78-year-old woman's home in the 1700 block of Fox Hill Drive and safely removed four explosive devices; three had detonated in the explosion while one remained intact.
Authorities say the explosion caused a significant amount of damage to the interior of the home. Police are continuing to investigate the source of these devices, the motive for possessing them, and whether or not Cunningham was the intended target of an attack.
Cunningham was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where she is listed in critical condition.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1993
|
__label__wiki
| 0.990839
| 0.990839
|
Morgan Lander - Vocals/Guitar
Mercedes Lander - Drums
Trish Doan - Bass
Tara Macleod - Guitar
Site:kittie.net
It's called "Career Suicide," and in merely four mind-altering minutes, it mauls every pre-conceived notion we might have about heavy metal. Sure, vocals purge the proceedings like a possessed demon fighting for control, the bottom-end swaggers with a thick groove and bludgeoning blasts, and guitars rally around the musical inferno like stinging lacerations. But what sets "Career Suicide" apart, are the melodies that lace the litany of sound and fury. For Kittie, it's that melody that makes Until The End the culmination of years of blood, sweat and fear, the crowning achievement of a career that has seen sales of nearly one million records - Their debut Spit has been certified Gold in America, selling an additional 100,000 copies overseas, while follow-up Oracle approaches the same plateau, making the London, Ontario-based quartet one of the preeminent forces on the modern metal scene. Their successes not withstanding, Kittie aren't about to rest on their well-deserved laurels.
"This album really defines who we are now, and where we always should have been," says frontwoman Morgan Lander of their third release for Artemis Records. "For me, this really does feel like the first album of the brand new Kittie - As much as the first two albums count, they really don't for me. This is a completely different band, and we're in a completely different place musically. We wouldn't be where we are if those albums didn't happen, but this a new beginning for us...It's all new again."
It's been years since the release of Oracle in November 2001, and a lot has happened to, and around Kittie. And it all left its mark on Until The End . While the band is the brainchild of sisters Morgan and Mercedes Lander, bassist Jennifer Arroyo has solidified her place in the band, while newcomer Lisa Marx, formerly of Seattle's To See You Broken, has officially joined the band as a second guitarist. "I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if we had some of the members that were originally in the band, at this time, we wouldn't have been able to make Until The End ," says Morgan. "We had to go through all those emotional ups and downs in order to create music that totally reflects how we feel now. We've all become better players and, individually, we're all different pieces of the puzzle that makes Kittie - You have to have some changes in order to learn and grow…"
Seriously, if we hadn't gone through the member changes, our albums would all sound like Spit ," adds Mercedes, the quartet's drummer. "We didn't want that, but you're not going to grow if other people don't want to grow, that's the bottom line."
Kittie have toured with Slipknot, co-headlined the Ozzfest sidestage with Soulfly, shared the stage with Pantera on one of the band's final tours, and have given the world of heavy metal a blinding kick of female fury - They are unrelenting, unleashing a sonic slam of sludge, grudge, doom-laden metal, and molten melodies, a blitzkrieg that they've captured on disc with their latest canon, assaulting the airwaves with deafening precision, and leaving no room for confusion - Kittie are stronger than ever, building on their musical pedigree, and challenging their artistic evolution.
Take lead single "Into The Darkness," a track that kicks off with Lander singing lead in a sweet clean and neat demeanor, her demented growls providing backing depth of head-spinning, haunting proportions. "Single-wise, that was the most difficult song I've ever written, lyrically and vocally," the frontwoman attests, her sister adding, "It's because of the key change - I thought we needed a key change in there, and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to sing that high. We were just experimenting, but after recording it, it turned out a lot better than we thought it would - There are always surprises like that when you record."
"I worked on that song for a few days, and it was definitely a challenge to sing, but I think it made the finished product even better," agrees Morgan. "It definitely turned out a lot better than we expected - It was a bit of departure for us, but it's still everything we're about...By no means are we softening up, the rest of the album proves that!"
Until The End kicks off in a pulverizing fashion with "Looks So Pretty," an ironic opening track that fits the women of Kittie all too well. "It's a pretty serious song!" laughs Morgan. "That was one of the songs that we played on our last American tour before recording the album, as well as in Mexico, and it was nice to have a few songs to take out on the road and see how they develop in front of a live audience. It's a great song to kick off the album and open the show, it really gets people going."
Similarly heady material bubbles to the forefront on "(Pussy) Sugar," despite the light-hearted nature of the song's title. "It's a song about seeing someone you care about go through a dark, unfortunate time, and standing back and seeing that there's absolutely nothing you can do - It's actually a depressing song, but the name '(Pussy) Sugar' made it sound cooler," says Morgan, Mercedes adding: "We actually came up with that name on tour, in November 2003, while we were eating at a Waffle House - We were just thinking of stupid names and funny stuff, because that's what we do, and someone yelled, 'Pussy Sugar!' Morgan was like, 'That's it, new song number one is going to be called 'Pussy Sugar!'"
"I'm sure there are going to be some people that still feel the same about us as they did when we were 15, and they're going to think that the song is about sex, but the title really has nothing to do with the content of the song," Morgan continues. "We always try and have a good time, and we don't necessarily take ourselves all that seriously - If you don't have a sense of humor, or cant see the sense of humor in that, then you just need to go to hell!"
Sense of humor aside, there's little else on Until The End that's fit for laughter, as the album is brimming with subject matter that addresses not only the band's place in music, but the industry politics they've experienced since the release of their debut in '99. If you think there's a thread biding the abrasiveness of "Loveless," "Red Flag" and "Burning Bridges," you're not far from the band's headspace.
"A lot of the material was directed toward the unknown," says the singer. "For a while there, we kind of felt that we were at the end of our rope, and we really had no idea what was going to be happening with us. Even the album artwork reflects that feeling of being suffocated and held down. We went through a lot of that, and a lot of it is reflected in the mood of the music and my lyrics. There's a lot of crazy stuff that we've been through, and it's all in there. In a way, I think it's been a blessing and a curse - We all plan to make a career out of this, so sometimes it's good to get all that crazy stuff out of the way early in your career. You never know, this album could be 'the one,' and ten years down the road, no one is going to care what happened in the first couple of years. We still have so many more aspirations and expectations for the next few years and the next few albums, and that energy is good…"
"That's the most exciting part," Mercedes agrees, "because I feel like I'm 15 again." "Internally, it all feels good in the band again," concludes Morgan. "The chemistry is great, the music is great, and it's all fresh and new again."
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1995
|
__label__cc
| 0.549911
| 0.450089
|
Available from The Northern Block>>
The typeface is named after Herbert Spencer who ran a series of legibility studies at The Royal College of Art in the sixties and seventies.
An early version of Spencer was subjected to experimental legibility investigations of distance and time threshold methods. Participants were exposed to different variations of the most frequently misread lowercase letters within the typeface.
The findings, demonstrated that the two-storey ‘a’ has a higher visibility than the one-storey ‘a’, that the upper part of the bowl of the two-storey ‘a’ should be round and not diagonal, that a long tail on ‘j’, ‘l’ and ‘t’ enhances visibility from a distance, and that the same goes for a serif on top of the stem of ‘i’.
Yet, as pointed out by Walter Tracy in his book Letters of Credit, an extraordinarily wide lowercase ‘l’ could have a negative influence on the important word pattern. Nonetheless, one must assume that this only goes for situations in which another letter is placed to the right of the ‘l’, and not when the ‘l’ is the last letter of a word. The lowercase ‘l’ of the typeface Spencer is therefore narrow when a character follows directly after, and broader when it is followed by a space.
In a legibility study of 1973, the researcher John Harris found that serifs on the lowercase counters appear to lower legibility. In the typeface Spencer, serifs are therefore removed from the counters. To further enhance the differentiation of ‘b’ and ‘h’, the right stem of characters ‘h’, ‘n’, ‘m’ extend in an arc to the right, which ideally should enhance the horizontal flow of the font as well.
To avoid the misreading of ‘D’ as ‘O’, the stroke of the bowl extends to the left of the stem in the upper part of the ‘D’. For harmony the feature is also applied to other uppercase characters with a horizontal upper stroke (B E F P R). The possible problem of misreadings between ‘R’ and ‘B’’ is accommodated for by an arc attached to the right of the leg of the ‘R’ – the arc is further applied to the other similar shaped characters: ‘A’, ‘K’’ and ‘k’.
The study has been published in:
Beier, Sofie & Larson, Kevin (2010) ‘Design Improvements for Frequently Misrecognized Letters’, Information Design Journal, 18(2), 118-137.
Ovink is loosely inspired by the work of the Dane, Knud V. Engelhardt
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line1999
|
__label__cc
| 0.693723
| 0.306277
|
The Christian ethos of the school is deeply embedded and impacts significantly upon pupils’ lives and their
achievements.
Collective worship is at the heart of the school and this continually serves to strengthen its Christian
Pupils develop a strong sense of spirituality through opportunities for both reflection and prayer as they
progress through the school.
The school’s Christian care and support for each individual ensures pupils are keen to learn and behave very
well. It also impacts positively on the strong quality of the relationships evident at every level across the
school community.
Religious education (RE) and collective worship make valuable and sustained contributions to the Christian
ethos of the school and to the good spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of pupils.
Worship is a cherished and inspiring part of school life and has a significant impact upon pupils’ spiritual and moral
growth and how they develop as individuals.
These statements have been taken from our last ‘Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools’ (SIAMS) report from 2018 which can be found here: SIAMS Report 2018
Our daily life incorporates the following Christian values:
St Aidan’s is a Church of England Aided School. This means it is owned by the Church but has financial ‘aid’ from the state. As a Church of England School there is a special relationship between church and school. At St Aidan’s there is mutual support between the diocese of Newcastle and Durham, the Parish of Bensham, with its parish Church, St Chad’s, Bensham, St Aidan’s Church in the Teams and the school. The clergy from the area play an active part in school life on a daily basis e.g. conducting services, governing body, running school clubs etc.
A Church School has a distinctive ethos because we aim to emphasise Christian values. We want the school always to reflect God’s love for each individual through its atmosphere of welcome, care, reassurance and service. We hope by doing so to show the relevance of Christianity to the children’s lives.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2004
|
__label__wiki
| 0.597712
| 0.597712
|
Twelve South’s HiRise Wireless is a super versatile wireless smartphone charger
Posted by Mansour Wakim | AirPods, Apple, computers, Gadgets, inductive charging, iOS, iPhone, mobile phones, PIXEL, pixel 3, Reviews, smartphones, TC, technology, usb, wireless charger, wireless chargers, Wireless Charging | No Comments
Wireless charging has been a wonderful addition to mainstream flagship smartphones including the iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy lineup and Google’s Pixel phones. But there hasn’t been a really great option for bringing the benefits of wireless charging with you on the road, while keeping your desktop setup tidy until now, with TwelveSouth’s recently released HiRise Wireless.
The HiRise Wireless builds on the good reputation of the existing HiRise line from TwelveSouth, which includes the Duet, a great combo charger for both iPhone and Apple Watch. The Wireless version, as implied by the name, includes wireless charging of up to 10W, which means you get the fastest cable-free charging rate available for devices that support Qi charging, including the iPhone X, XR and XS, as well as the Pixel 3 and Samsung Galaxy S10.
The HiRise is unique in that it provides a charging puck that can both mount in the frame (which has a nice weighted base to stay rock solid on your desk) and pop out to either provide a lie-flat wireless charger (which will work with the new wireless AirPods charging case, for instance) or pack away in a bag.
The upright angle the wireless charger provides when mounted in the frame is perfect for registering Face ID unlocks when used with an iPhone X or later, and positioned on your desk. That’s a great way to give yourself access to phone notifications without distracting too much from your desktop work. And the puck itself is a lot smaller than most wireless chargers, which isn’t idea for typical at-home charging, but which is terrific for stowing it in a gadget pouch.
The puck also has a rubberized ring bordering the charging pad to prevent your device from slipping around, and it works with a detachable USB-C to USB-A cable that comes in the box which adds to the portability, and means you can easily use it with whatever USB-C charging cables you already have on-hand for your Mac or other devices.
If you’re in the market for a wireless charger and travel a decent amount, it’s hard to beat the value of the HiRise Wireless. It’s $79.99, which is more than you’ll pay for a lot of quality wireless chargers, but Twelve South’s unique design is worth the premium in this case for people looking for its unique flexibility.
App revenue tops $39 billion in first half of 2019, up 15% from first half of last year
Posted by Mansour Wakim | analyst, android apps, app revenues, app stores, app-store, Apple, Apps, China, Google Play, instagram, iOS App Store, iOS apps, Mobile, mobile applications, mobile apps, mobile games, Netflix, online marketplaces, sensor tower, smartphones, streaming services, Tencent, tiktok, Tinder | No Comments
App store spending is continuing to grow, although not as quickly as in years past. According to a new report from Sensor Tower, the iOS App Store and Google Play combined brought in $39.7 billion in worldwide app revenue in the first half of 2019 — that’s up 15.4% over the $34.4 billion seen during the first half of last year. However, at that time, the $34.4 billion was a 27.8% increase from 2017’s numbers, then a combined $26.9 billion across both stores.
Apple’s App Store continues to massively outpace Google Play on consumer spending, the report also found.
In the first half of 2019, global consumers spent $25.5 billion on the iOS App Store, up 13.2% year-over-year from the $22.6 billion spent in the first half of 2018. Last year, the growth in consumer spending was 26.8%, for comparison’s sake.
Still, Apple’s estimated $25.5 billion in the first half of 2019 is 80% higher than Google Play’s estimated gross revenue of $14.2 billion — the latter a 19.6% increase from the first half of 2018.
The major factor in the slowing growth is iOS in China, which contributed to the slowdown in total growth. However, Sensor Tower expects to see China returning to positive growth over the next 12 months, we’re told.
To a smaller extent, the downturn could be attributed to changes with one of the top-earning apps across both app stores: Netflix.
Last year, Netflix dropped in-app subscription sign-ups for Android users. Then, at the end of December 2018, it did so for iOS users, too. That doesn’t immediately drop its revenue to zero, of course — it will continue to generate revenue from existing subscribers. But the number will decline, especially as Netflix expands globally without an in-app purchase option, and as lapsed subscribers return to renew online with Netflix directly.
In the first half of 2019, Netflix was the second highest earning non-game app with consumer spending of $339 million, Sensor Tower estimates, down from $459 million in the first half of 2018. (We should point out the firm bases its estimates on a 70/30 split between Netflix and Apple’s App Store that drops to 85/15 after the first year. To account for the mix of old and new subscribers, Sensor Tower factors in a 25% cut. But Daring Fireball’s John Gruber claims Netflix had a special relationship with Apple where it had an 85/15 cut from year one.)
In any event, Netflix’s contribution to the app stores’ revenue is on the decline.
In the first half of last year, Netflix had been the No. 1 non-game app for revenue. This year, that spot went to Tinder, which pulled in an estimated $497 million across the iOS App Store and Google Play, combined. That’s up 32% over the first half of 2018.
But Tinder’s dominance could be a trend that doesn’t last.
According to recent data from eMarketer, dating app audiences have been growing slower than expected, causing the analyst firm to revise its user estimates downward. It now expects that 25.1 million U.S. adults will use a dating app monthly this year, down from its previous forecast of 25.4 million. It also expects that only 21% of U.S. single adults will use a dating app at all in 2019, and that will only grow to 23% by 2023.
That means Tinder’s time at the top could be overrun by newcomers in later months, especially as new streaming services get off the ground (assuming they offer in-app subscriptions); if TikTok starts taking monetization seriously; or if any other large apps from China find global audiences outside of China’s third-party app stores.
For example, Tencent Video grossed $278 million globally in the first half of 2019, outside of the third-party Chinese Android app stores. That made it the third-largest non-game app by revenue. And Chinese video platform iQIYI and YouTube were the No. 4 and No. 5 top-grossing apps, respectively.
Meanwhile, iOS app installs actually declined in the first half of the year, following the first quarter that saw a decline in downloads, Q1 2019, attributed to the downturn in China.
The App Store in the first half of 2019 accounted for 14.8 billion of the total 56.7 billion app installs.
Google Play installs in the first half of the year grew 16.4% to 41.9 billion, or about 2.8 times greater than the iOS volume.
The most downloaded apps in the first half of 2019 were the same as before: WhatsApp, Messenger and Facebook led the top charts. But TikTok inched ahead of Instagram for the No. 4 spot, and it saw its installs grow around 28% to nearly 344 million worldwide.
In terms of mobile gaming specifically, spending was up 11.3% year-over-year in the first half of 2019, reaching $29.6 billion across the iOS App Store and Google Play. Thanks to the fallout of the game licensing freeze in China, App Store revenue growth for games was at $17.6 billion, or 7.8% year-over-year growth. Google Play game spending grew by 16.8% to $12 billion.
The top-grossing games, in order, were Tencent’s Honor of Kings, Fate/Grand Order, Monster Strike, Candy Crush Saga and PUBG Mobile.
Meanwhile, the most downloaded games were Color Bump 3D, Garena Free Fire and PUBG Mobile.
Image credits: Sensor Tower
Samsung’s Galaxy Fold problems are reportedly fixed — so now what?
Posted by Mansour Wakim | hardware, Mobile, Samsung, samsung galaxy fold, smartphones | No Comments
In a recent interview, Samsung CEO DJ Koh noted that the company was hard at work on Galaxy Fold fixes (he also said people won’t be using smartphones in five years, so who knows?). And now, a report from Bloomberg confirms that the company has put the finishing touches on those fixes two months after the handset was originally set to debut.
So now what? We still don’t have a date. We’ve been seeing promises that a firmer timeline for release would arrive in “coming weeks” for what seems like months now. But those “people familiar with the matter” who told the site that the phone is finally ready for prime time aren’t offering any additional info on a time frame.
Samsung Galaxy Fold review: future shock
Instead, it looks like the company’s plans are to — at the very least — have its first foldable available in time for the holidays. At just under $2,000, that’s a pretty hefty ask for a stocking stuffer. Given that Samsung has now officially confirmed its Note 10 event for August 7, it might well just wait for that big show to confirm the release date — especially if we’re not expecting the see it hit retail until Q4.
Samsung’s been through worse, of course. The Note 7 debacle was a bigger black eye both in terms of timing and scope. But the initial spate of problems with the handset felt like as much of an indictment of the category as Samsung’s methods. Even Huawei used it as an opportunity to put its Mate X through more rigorous testing. Whatever the case, the revolution is going to take even longer to unfold than expected.
Samsung will announce the next Galaxy Note on August 7
Posted by Mansour Wakim | galaxy note, hardware, Mobile, Samsung, samsung galaxy note, smartphones | No Comments
It’s official. Samsung just sent out invites for the next Unpacked event. The big show kicks off at 4PM ET August 7, right here in New York. The timing lines up with rumors that have been floating around for a few weeks — not to mention last year’s big event.
And in case there was any mystery around what precisely the company is going to unveil, Samsung has happily spoiled the surprise with the inclusion of a prominent S Pen on the invite. The August event will almost certainly see the debut of the Galaxy Note 10.
The art appears to hint at an updated camera, as well. Based on recent leaks, the invite looks to be a close-up of the nearly all-screen front of the new phablet, with the single hole punch front-facing camera up top. The new handset is said to include a vertical three-array camera with depth sensing and a 5G option. Samsung is also reportedly dropping the headphone jack this time out, after years pointing to it as a standout feature from the rest of the industry.
Last year’s event also saw a number of additional devices, including the (still unreleased) Galaxy Home smart speaker. At the very least maybe we’ll finally be getting a date on that product, along with more information about the long-delayed Galaxy Fold.
Samsung CEO calls Galaxy Fold mishap ‘embarrassing’
Posted by Mansour Wakim | galaxy fold, hardware, Mobile, Samsung, smartphones | No Comments
In a meeting with a group of journalists in South Korea, Samsung Electronics CEO DJ Koh candidly addressed the company’s latest hardware mishap. “It was embarrassing,” he told reporters, as quoted by The Independent. “I pushed it through before it was ready.”
That last bit no one can debate, really. After years of preamble, Samsung still managed to jump the gun with the Galaxy Fold. The company was eager to be the first major manufacturer to market with the category’s most radical redesign in a decade. Ultimately, however, the company ended up pumping the breaks after multiple reviewers reported problems with their units.
Samsung was quick to place the blame at the hands of reviewers, but eventually shifted course after realizing that problems were more widespread. More than two months after the handset was initially expected to hit retail, we’re still very much in a holding pattern with Samsung’s first foldable — though the company has promised a more concrete date for some time.
Samsung has been quick to deny any rumors that the phone has been altogether canceled, and Koh reiterated that the Fold is still being put through its paces. “I do admit I missed something on the foldable phone, but we are in the process of recovery,” the executive told the press. “At the moment, more than 2,000 devices are being tested right now in all aspects. We defined all the issues. Some issues we didn’t even think about, but thanks to our reviewers, mass volume testing is ongoing.”
Koh didn’t offer specifics with regards to a release date, though the company is reportedly gearing up to launch the next version of the Note at an event in August.
Analysts think global 5G smartphone shipments will overtake 4G in 2023
Posted by Mansour Wakim | 5g, Mobile, smartphones | No Comments
After years of buildup, 5G is finally here — albeit more as a trickle than a deluge. These things take time, of course. Carriers are adding coverage, city by city, promising dozens by year’s end. And as for hardware, early adopters have somewhere between one and three handsets to choose from, carrier-dependent.
Indeed, 5G is pretty universally regarded as the next key mobile trend, but it’s not going to happen overnight. A new report from Canalys has 2023 as the true pivot point, when 5G handset shipments finally overtake 4G. That’s roughly five years, with 2019 included. Of course, that’s the global number, and these things will almost certainly vary from market to market.
The firm has 5G phones hitting 800 million shipments in 2023, which will comprise 51.4% of the global market for the year. That will bring the total shipments up to 1.9 billion since the first 5G-capable devices were launched this year. North America will make up 18.8% of the market to Greater China’s 34%.
That’s big, continued growth for China, which surpassed the U.S. for the title of the largest smartphone market back in 2011. While the Chinese economy has slowed and taken its high-end smartphone market with it, the country is well-positioned to be an important player in the race to 5G.
“5G smartphones will see rapid adoption in China, thanks to a strong government technology roadmap and operators’ financial capabilities,” Canalys mobile VP Nicole Peng said in a statement. “China is also home to many major 5G equipment suppliers and smartphone vendors, which will be responsible for an aggressive marketing push over the next few years.”
Huawei can buy from US suppliers again — but things will never be the same
Posted by Mansour Wakim | america, Android, Asia, China, Companies, donald trump, g20, Google, huawei, mobile phones, operating system, president, Ren Zhengfei, smartphones, supply chain, telecommunications, Trump administration, United States | No Comments
U.S. President Donald Trump has handed Huawei a lifeline after he said that U.S. companies are permitted to sell goods to the embattled Chinese tech firm following more than a month of uncertainty.
It’s been a pretty dismal past month for Huawei since the American government added it and 70 of its affiliates to an “entity list” which forbids U.S. companies from doing business with it. The ramifications of the move were huge across Huawei’s networking and consumer devices businesses. A range of chip companies reportedly forced to sever ties while Google, which provides Android for Huawei devices, also froze its relationship. Speaking this month.
All told, Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei said recently that the ban would cost the Chinese tech firm — the world’s third-larger seller of smartphones — some $30 billion in lost revenue of the next two years.
Now, however, the Trump administration has provided a reprieve, at least based on the President’s comments following a meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping at the G20 summit this weekend.
“US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei. We’re talking about equipment where there’s no great national security problem with it,” the U.S. President said.
Those comments perhaps contradict some in the US administration who saw the Huawei blacklisting as a way to strangle the company and its global ambitions, which are deemed by some analysts to be a threat to America.
President Trump has appeared to soften his tone on Chinese communications giant Huawei, suggesting that he would allow the company to once again purchase US technology https://t.co/4YNJCyKLTg pic.twitter.com/jr45f40ghP
— CNN International (@cnni) June 29, 2019
Despite the good news, any mutual trust has been broken and things are unlikely to be the same again.
America’s almost casual move to blacklist Huawei — the latest in a series of strategies in its ongoing trade battle with China — exemplifies just how dependent the company has become on the U.S. to simply function.
Huawei has taken steps to hedge its reliance on America, including the development of its own operating system to replace Android and its own backup chips, and you can expect that these projects will go into overdrive to ensure that Huawei doesn’t find itself in a similar position again in the future.
Of course, decoupling its supply chain from US partners is no easy task both in terms of software and components. It remains to be seen if Huawei could maintain its current business level — which included 59 million smartphones in the last quarter and total revenue of $107.4 billion in 2018 — with non-US components and software but this episode is a reminder that it must have a solid contingency policy in case it becomes a political chess piece again in the future.
Beyond aiding Huawei, Trump’s move will boost Google and other Huawei partners who invested significant time and resources into developing a relationship with Huawei to boost their own businesses through its business.
Indeed, speaking to press Trump, Trump admitted that US companies sell “a tremendous amount” of products to Huawei. Some “were not exactly happy that they couldn’t sell” to Huawei and it looks like that may have helped tipped this decision. But, then again, never say never — you’d imagine that the Huawei-Trump saga is far from over despite this latest twist.
Samsung exec says the Galaxy Fold is ‘ready to hit the market’
Posted by Mansour Wakim | galaxy fold, hardware, Mobile, Samsung, samsung galaxy fold, smartphones | No Comments
As we asked back in February, “We’re ready for foldable phones, but are they ready for us?” The answer, so far, has been an enthusiastic, “not really.” The Galaxy Fold was pushed back after multiple review units crapped the proverbial bed. And just last week, Huawei noted that it was holding off on its own Mate X release, citing Samsung’s issues as a cautionary tale.
Samsung, at least, may finally be ready to unleash its foldable on the world, two months after its planned release. “Most of the display problems have been ironed out,” Samsung Display Vice President Kim Seong-cheol told a crowd at an event in Seoul this week, “and the Galaxy Fold is ready to hit the market.”
The company’s no doubt waiting for a more formal announcement to release specifics on timing. Samsung has been promising release news “in coming weeks” for several weeks now. Understandably, the company hasn’t been rushing to get the handset back out. As bad as the press was the first time around, Samsung doesn’t want a repeat here along the lines of the Note 7’s two recalls.
When announcing the initial delay, Samsung announced two points of failure: a screen protector that looked like the temporary ones other devices ship with and large holes between joints in the hinge that allowed detritus to sneak behind the display, causing issues when users applied pressure to the front.
Palm’s tiny phone is available unlocked at $350
Posted by Mansour Wakim | hardware, Mobile, palm, smartphones | No Comments
The first time I showed the Palm phone to the TechCrunch staff, they were excited. At the very least, it was a unique take on the category, designed to be a second phone for those moments that didn’t require a larger, bulkier device.
But reality set in pretty quickly. The device’s capabilities were severely limited by a number of factors, including size. The biggest issue, however, was a Verizon exclusive that only let users purchase the device as a second handset tied to an existing account.
Back in April, the company announced that the 3.3-inch phone could be purchased as a standalone device — albeit still through Verizon or US Mobile. Today, it’s expanding that, making the handset available unlocked, so it will work with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and MetroPCS SIMs.
Palm phone review: an idea whose time may never come
The phone’s available “at only” $350. That’s cheap compared to many full-sized, mid-tier handsets, but cheapness is certainly a relative concept. It still seems like a lot for a second phone, and while it’s certainly adorable, I’d strongly advise against anyone using it as a primary handset. Heck, it’s not even all that great as a standalone MP3 player.
If you’re still interested, you can pre-order it today — and Palm will throw in a $30 leather case with neck and wrist lanyards. It starts shipping in six to eight weeks.
AT&T cancels Samsung Galaxy Fold orders
Posted by Mansour Wakim | Gadgets, galaxy fold, Mobile, Samsung, smartphones, TC | No Comments
AT&T has cancelled early orders for the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Tom’s Guide first reported the cancellation, noting that AT&T said the Galaxy Fold would be available again to order as soon as Samsung announces a new launch date. AT&T is offering $100 in credit to those whose orders it has cancelled.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold was originally scheduled to launch on April 26. However, early reviews indicated there were issues with the phone, which Samsung initially said was the fault of reviewers. The company eventually decided to postpone the launch and get back to the drawing board.
Earlier this week, a Samsung rep told Cnet that it would announce timing on the nearly $2,000 phone “in the coming weeks.”
However, AT&T’s move here suggests that it may be a while before the Galaxy Fold resurfaces, if at all.
Samsung itself asked customers who pre-ordered to confirm that they still want the device following the review period. On May 24, Best Buy cancelled all pre-orders of the phone.
The need-to-know takeaways from VidCon 2019
Facebook’s testimony to Congress: Libra will be regulated by Swiss
Waze now shows road toll prices along your driving route
No technical reason to exclude Huawei as 5G supplier, says UK committee
Blackstone is acquiring mobile ad company Vungle July 15, 2019
The need-to-know takeaways from VidCon 2019 July 15, 2019
Facebook’s testimony to Congress: Libra will be regulated by Swiss July 15, 2019
Waze now shows road toll prices along your driving route July 15, 2019
No technical reason to exclude Huawei as 5G supplier, says UK committee July 15, 2019
© 2019 StaticTag.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2007
|
__label__cc
| 0.741165
| 0.258835
|
Legal Primers
STCW Law develops and presents Legal Primers on complex issues for businesses and corporate counsel. Please contact us regarding available materials or developing a Legal Primer specific to your needs.
"The legal information provided herein is general and should not be relied on as legal advice. Legal advice cannot be given without full consideration of all relevant information relating to your individual situation"
Accountings by Trustees in NYS Surrogate's Court
An accounting is a detailed record of all actions taken by a trustee in the performance of its trust. "An essential element of a trust is accountability of the trustee for its administration. Once a valid trust is created accountability must inevitably follow as an incident." Matter of Miness v. Deegan, 971 N.Y.S.2d 72 (Sur. Ct. Nassau County 2013). Typically, courts require detailed schedules for all trustee acts during the life of the trust.
The Issuance of a 1099-C and The Fair Credit Reporting Act
There is no bright line rule regarding what should be reported on a consumer's credit report when a 1099-C is issued. Although the IRS has provided some guidance in various information letters, federal and state courts have interpreted the IRS guidance in different ways. Nationwide, courts differ as to whether issuing a 1099-C extinguishes a debt and prohibits a creditor from pursuing collection or reporting the debt. While it appears that the district and circuit courts are holding that the existence of a 1099-C form does not, alone, operate to distinguish a debt, some courts of limited jurisdiction have held that it is inequitable to allow a creditor to belatedly enforce the alleged debt after it received the tax benefit of the charge-off.
Regulation X Disclosure Requirements
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA"), commonly known as Regulation X, was enacted to effectuate changes in the settlement process for residential real estate. See generally 12 U.S.C. SS 2601 - 2617 (2012). Pursuant to RESPA, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has issued regulations that supplement the Act. See generally 24 C.F.R. SS 1024, 1026 (2013). RESPA requires, among other things (1) more effective advance disclosure to homebuyers and sellers of settlement costs; (2) the elimination of kickback or referral fees; (3) reducing the amount that homeowners are required to place in escrow to insure the payment of taxes and insurance; and (4) the reformation and modernization of local housekeeping of land title information. Simply put, RESPA requires lenders, mortgage brokers, or servicers of home loans to provide borrowers with pertinent and timely disclosures regarding the nature and costs of the real estate settlement process. The chart below contains important disclosure and timing information contained in RESPA.
Distribution of Property Located in New York to Foreign Fiduciaries
New York's Surrogate's Courts have jurisdiction over all property located within the State. See NY Surrogates Court Procedure Act ("SCPA") S 206. Under SCPA S 206(1), the Surrogate's Court of any county has jurisdiction over the estate of any nondomiciliary decedent who leaves property in the state. Proper venue for such proceedings is the county where the nondomiciliary decedent left property or where personal property belonging to the nondomiciliary decedent has since his/her death came into and remains unadministered.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2008
|
__label__wiki
| 0.98735
| 0.98735
|
Bibbs, Blackshear Jr. help Virginia Tech blast Radford 95-68
Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams, left, and Radford coach Mike Jones, right, shake hands after an NCAA college basketball game in Blacksburg, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 6 2017. Virginia Tech won 95-68. (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP)
By JIMMY ROBERTSON
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) The nation's second-leading scoring team certainly did little to hurt its 96.8-point average on Wednesday night.
Justin Bibbs and Kerry Blackshear Jr. scored 20 points each to carry Virginia Tech to a 95-68 victory over Radford.
Bibbs connected on 8 of 10 from the floor and hit four 3-pointers for the Hokies (8-1), who won their sixth straight game and scored at least 95 points for the sixth time in nine games. After being suspended for the first two games of the season by head coach Buzz Williams, Bibbs has returned to score in double figures in seven straight games.
Blackshear hit 4 of 6 from the floor and made all 11 of his free-throw attempts. Justin Robinson finished with 11 points and nine assists.
"I think we took the loss to St. Louis (on Nov. 16) really well," Robinson said. "We never frowned upon it and got down. We turned it around right away and have building on it ever since."
Ed Polite Jr. scored 15 points to lead Radford (4-4), which scored the first four points of the game, but then withered under the Hokies' attack. Virginia Tech, the nation's leader in field-goal percentage coming in (54.6 percent) shot 62 percent from the floor (31 of 50) against Radford.
Using its transition game and crisp ball movement, Virginia Tech got the shots it wanted. Perhaps more importantly, the Hokies committed just eight turnovers - a season low.
"This was our first game with zero, what we deem, bad shots," Williams said. "It was our lowest turnover rate. I think those two things are always tied together."
Thanks to some torrid shooting, the Hokies took control of this game within the first 15 minutes. Virginia Tech used two big runs - 14-2 and 13-2 - in that span to build a double-digit advantage and never trailed the rest of the way.
The Hokies capped their first half with back-to-back 3-pointers from Devin Wilson and Bibbs to end the first half and take a 47-30 lead. Virginia Tech shot 64 percent from the floor (16 of 25) in the first half, including 7 of 9 from beyond the 3-point arc.
"We knew coming in that we had to be able to control our emotions and the tempo of the game, and I don't think we did either," Radford coach Mike Jones said. "I thought that, right from the beginning, their first 14 points, 11 of them were because of transition, so they were able to get out and do what they do best - which is push the ball in transition.
"As things continued to escalate in terms of them scoring the ball, then we kind of became unraveled. I thought we lost some of our emotional control. That started with me. Against a team like this, when you make mistakes like that, they take advantage of it."
Radford: The Highlanders were competitive in road losses at Ohio State and Vanderbilt, but they weren't much of a match for the Hokies. Radford shot a respectable percentage and held its own on the boards, losing only by four (28-24), but just wasn't big enough or athletic enough to stay with the Hokies, especially on defense.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies' future opponents would do well to keep Virginia Tech off the free-throw line. The Hokies made 25 of 31 from the line against the Highlanders and have made at least 20 free throws in eight of nine games this season. They've attempted no fewer than 23 in any game and are currently shooting 74.8 percent from the stripe.
TAKING ADVANTAGE AT THE LINE
For the second consecutive game, Blackshear attempted 11 free throws. He made 7 of 11 in the Hokies' win at Ole Miss on Saturday and made a career-best 11 Wednesday night. He is shooting almost 80 percent from the line this season after shooting 55 percent as a freshman two years ago.
"It was something I wanted to improve on in the offseason, as well as last season," Blackshear said. "I know I was leaving points on the board for our team."
Radford: The Highlanders return to action Saturday when they take on Erskine.
Virginia Tech: The Hokies take on Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday.
Updated December 6, 2017
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2010
|
__label__wiki
| 0.913051
| 0.913051
|
Absurd Goalie Monday: Joe Daley
While we're in the playoff state of mind in the NHL, we're going to profile a goalie who may have not had any experience in the NHL playoffs, but other leagues-- he was a gem in the second season. Going undrafted and paying his dues, he got to the NHL, even if it was for a short time. This week, a look at the career of Joe Daley.
Daley started his trek by playing in the Saskatchewan junior leagues with the Weyburn Red Wings, but had an inawespicous start in the 1961-62 season going 17-29-7 in 53 games. Also, he would play in the EPHL with the Sudbury Wolves for a game, a loss. Daley returned to Weyburn in the 1962-63 season with better results during his 51 games, going 28-17-6 with three shutouts to boot.
In the 1963-64 season, Daley made the jump to the pro ranks, playing with the Eastern League's Johnstown Jets and held his own, going 40-22-4 in 66 games with the Jets, then going 5-5 in ten playoff games; all while winning Rookie of the Year honors. Daley was able to get a call from the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL for two games (1-1-0) and the Cincinnati Wings of the CPHL, losing the only game he played in there. Daley would stay in Johnstown for the 1964-65 season, going 41-31-0 in 72 games, but only going 2-3 in five playoff games.
Daley would be signed by the Detroit Red Wings before the 1965-66 season and sent to the CPHL's Memphis Wings, where he would play 68 games with a 25-31-12 for the Wings. Daley would also play that season for eight games in the Western League's San Francisco Seals (5-2-1). The 1966-67 season saw Daley back in Memphis for 50 games, sporting a 23-21-5 record in the regular season and 3-4 in the post-season, while also playing with the AHL's Pittsburgh Hornets going 11-1-3 in only 16 games.
Due to the NHL expansion, Daley was picked up off waivers by the newly formed Pittsburgh Penguins, becoming the first member of the Penguins. However, the 1967-68 season has Daley play with the Baltimore Clippers of the AHL, where he would go 23-25-8 in 56 games. However, Daley would get his time in the 1968-69 season, playing behind Les Binkley in Pittsburgh and playing 29 games with a 10-13-3 record in his first season in the NHL. The 1969-70 season had Daley in Pittsburgh for nine games, going 1-5-3 before being sent to the Clippers for the rest of the season, playing in 34 games (no record provided) with a 3.44 GAA in the process and 1-4 record in five playoff games.
Daley was made available for the 1970 Intra-League Draft, where he became the first player rostered of the Buffalo Sabres, as that draft took place before the Expansion Draft happened. Daley played the 1970-71 season in Buffalo behind Roger Crozier, playing in 38 games with a 12-16-8 record. However, that wasn't enough to keep him there for long.
The Sabres put Daley on waivers, where he was picked up by the Detroit Red Wings. Back with the Wings, Daley would play in 29 games and go 11-10-5 behind Al Smith in the 1971-72 season. He would later be claimed in the AHL reserve draft by the Cincinnati Swords, but Daley decided to go on a different path.
Daley was picked by the Winnipeg Jets in the WHA player draft and would find his way into the WHA for some more job security. Daley would play behind Ernie Wakely for 29 games, going 17-10-1, then going 5-2 in seven playoff games, as the Jets would lose in the Avco Cup final. Daley would split time with Wakely in the 1973-74 season, playing in 41 games and going 19-20-1, while he would get the starting gig in the 1974-75 season, playing 51 games with a 23-21-4 record by season's end. Daley would be the backstop for the powerhouse Jets team in the 1975-76 season, going 41-17-1 in 62 games with five shutouts, then going 10-1 in 12 playoff appearances to help the Jets win the Avco Cup. That year, Daley would be a WHA First Team All-Star.
Back in Winnipeg for the 1976-77 season, Daley kept going in playing 65 games for the Jets, going 39-23-2 over the season, then 11-9 in 20 playoff games, where the Jets would lose in the Avco Cup Finals. The 1977-78 season saw Daley's time dwindle with the acquisition of former AGM Gary Bromley, as Daley would only see 37 games and going 21-11-1, as well as posting a 4-1 playoff record in five games, helping the Jets to yet another Avco Cup. Daley would be the back-up to Markus Mattsson in 1978-79, playing in only 23 games with a 7-11-3 record, but not registering a decision in three playoffs games-- another playoffs where the Jets would take home the Avco Cup; the last team to do so.
Daley would retired after that season, leaving the WHA as the all-time winning goalie (regular season and playoffs), tied with the single-season shutout mark (5 in 1975-76), and three Avco Cup-- all with the Jets.
After his playing career, Daley coached the Pentincton Knights in the 1981-82 season, but would relocate to Winnipeg to open up "Joe Daley Sports Cards," which is one of the bigger outlets for cards and memorabilia.
While he didn't make too much of a mark in the NHL, Daley was one of the guys who enjoyed the WHA coming along because it game him a chance to shine and actually play. Lucky for him, he had some great teams in front of him and showed how successful he could be in the right circumstances.
Labels: Absurd Goalie Monday, AHL, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Joe Daley, Minor League Hockey, Pittsburgh Penguins, WHA, Winnipeg Jets
The John Druce Award: After One Round
Chronic Prognosticator: Round Two
What's Next 2011: Pittsburgh Penguins
What's Next 2011: Montreal Canadiens
What's Next 2011: Chicago Blackhawks
What's Next 2011: Buffalo Sabres
On the Topic Of Playoff Psychology
What's Next 2011: Los Angeles Kings
Absurd Goalie Monday: Steve Penney
What's Next 2011: Anaheim Ducks
What's Next 2011: New York Rangers
Friday Five: Frantic First Round
What's Next 2011: Phoenix Coyotes
"Disbanding in the Desert" or "Ridding Relocation ...
Friday Five: One Game Down Per Series
Tracking the John Druce Award
Chronic Prognosticator: Round One
Absurd Goalie Monday: Steve Shields
Friday Five: Weekend Finale
Baltimore's Exhibition A Jumping Point??
The Lost City of Kansas City
Absurd Goalie Monday: Dan Blackburn
Friday Five: Fools Akimbo
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2012
|
__label__wiki
| 0.573746
| 0.573746
|
Board index ‹ Reference Materials ‹ Belles Lettres
Short Stories & Social Commentary, by Charles Carreon
For the sake of ornament and illumination.
Re: Short Stories & Social Commentary, by Charles Carreon
by admin » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:58 am
BOOK REVIEW: BORN IN TIBET, by Charles Carreon
As far as I know, "Born in Tibet" was the first bit of literature, the tip of the Trungpa iceberg, that has since appeared on the contemporary spiritual scene. It chronicles his early life, the unique circumstances of his upbringing as a tulku (a reincarnated spiritual teacher), as well as his personal account of the catastrophe which drove the Tibetan people from their home amid the snowy heights.
Being the eleventh incarnation in the illustrious lineage of the Trungpa Tulkus, his rebirth as the child of Tugtso-Drolma in a small village in Tibet was divined by the Gyalwa Karmapa, the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage. When the monks who were coming to ascertain the genuineness of this prediction arrived at the home of the infant, he appeared very glad to see them, waving as they arrived. When they left, though a mere eleven month babe, he laid his hand on their heads in blessing. His enthronement as the abbot of Surmang monastery took place two months later, and it is related that he did not cry even once.
His formative years slowly led up to the training in scholarly discipline that forms the basis of spiritual illumination, and further, the mastery of the various means by which beings may be freed of delusion. His memories of his tutors all seem to be fond ones, as well as humorous. I particularly enjoyed reading how Apho Karma would first prostrate before the young tulku, then speak some words of edification, and then administer the required chastisement "to the appropriate part" of his body.
Gradually this form of outer study became blended with the spiritual transmission he received from his gurus. Foremost among these was Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, himself an incarnate lama, who had received teachings from the Tenth Trungpa. It is through this method of passing the Light from one tulku to the next that Tibetan Dharma has remained a living teaching, losing none of its force over the centuries since its establishment by the famed magician and teacher, Guru Padmasambhava.
This entire process of passing on the transmission was paralleled by the growing menace of the Chinese intruders. While each passing year brought an increase of maturity and wisdom to the youthful tulku, it also revealed the dominating intentions of the Communist intruders. Like the rising tide, it soon became apparent that the Chinese would not rest until all things went their way. From poster plastering and road building, to the enlistment of spies and coercion of chieftains and local leaders, to the actual murder of lamas and landowners, it is plain to see that the Chinese were following a premeditated plan in their takeover of Tibet. By the time Trungpa decides to escape, it is nearly too late, and the hundreds of refugees who attach themselves to him are forced to endure a months-long trek through desolate mountain passes, dodging the Chinese, eating little or nothing for days on end. It almost becomes an adventure story, and yet, it is something more, because it speaks as the test of Trungpa's practical presence of mind and inner growth after a lifetime of esoteric study. When all around others were losing their grip and acting irrationally, the young Tulku maintained an incredible constancy of energy, and fulfilled the faith of his followers.
After arriving in India, fate took him to England, a scholarship at Oxford, etcetera. Somehow, he felt that the important ingredient in his life was missing, which was resolved on a visit to Bhutan. There, during a ten-day retreat at Tagtsang (where Guru Rinpoche first manifested in wrathful form in order to subjugate evil forces before entering Tibet), Trungpa prayed for guidance. At first, he says, nothing happened, and then he received what he sought. "The message that I received from my supplication was that one must try to expose spiritual materialism (the term Trungpa used to describe egoistic manifestations of spiritual practice) and all its trappings, otherwise true spirituality could not develop. I began to realize that I would have to take daring steps in my life." He did not last long in England.
At this point, he becomes part of the American scene, founding Tail of the Tiger in Vermont, scandalizing the uncertain, headlining at Naropa with Ram Dass. It is worthy of note that Trungpa speaks with great warmth about Suzuki Roshi, the founder of Tassajara and the Zen Center in San Francisco. He also has many kind words for the late Thomas Merton, whom he characterizes as "an open, unguarded, and deep person ..."
"Born in Tibet" is the simple, direct story of a life that has been lived with great clarity. If emotionality and attachment are missing, feeling and warmth are not. The spare, simple drawings by Trungpa add much to the text. It is a splendid introduction to a teacher who will doubtless be remembered as one of the most colorful founders of American Dharma.
Next month, Part two of this series: "Meditation in Action" and "Mudra," Chogyam's only book of poetry, and well worth reading.
(December, 1979, Issue no. 16, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
IMAGINARY BOOK REVIEW: THE NO-CARE CHILDCARE BOOK, by Charles Carreon
THE NO-CARE CHILDCARE BOOK -- a handbook for parents with limited commitment, by Lee and Mary Usual
In today's rush-rush world, children are often left out in the cold, swept under the rug, given the short end of the stick, and in general exposed to a continuous stream of pedestrian treatment which, we are warned, will blunt their receptivity to life in general and foster feelings of resentment toward their parents, in particular. News of this regrettable phenomenon has given rise to a wave of concern among sensitive parents, already concerned about their parenting abilities. All in a rush, they buy child-size furniture and organize their own lives around Montessori activities involving brooms with shortened handles and sandpaper letters to stimulate the child's tactile sense. Their conversations with their children become slow, careful, considered exchanges between equals. A new school of child-rearing encourages parents never to forget for a moment the delicate and impressionable qualities of the child. Like avocadoes or peaches, careless handling can swiftly reduce a child to a mass of unappealing bruises.
This new book by the Usuals provides a refreshing alternative to the attitude which emphasizes the importance of a warm bath following the trauma of birth, titty till the child rejects it in disgust, and potty training as an elective. While one may not agree with the Usuals on every point, their philosophy of benign neglect may be far more appealing to many parents than are the rigorous developmental timetables emphasized by the new school of child-rearing. The central idea of this slim but valuable book is that children, while fond of attention, need, and even desire, considerably less of it than many people claim.
A sampling of chapter titles may help to convey the flavor of the book, which is liberally salted with humorous anecdotes drawn from the Usual's home life.
• Chap. 1. The Fine Art of Looking the Other Way--the core of no-care childcare
• Chap. 4. When Childproofing Becomes Adult-proof--keeping the home livable for parents
• Chap. 5. Ten Ways to Abuse An Apple--activities for pre-schoolers
And one that I found especially helpful:
• Chap. 8. No, We're Not There Yet--useful mantras for traveling with children
While many parents may not agree with the Usuals when they maintain that six-year olds are ready for unsupervised backpacking trips, they have many ideas which every parent will find helpful. Especially if you find yourself oppressed by feelings of guilt due to your disorganized style of child-rearing, but seem to lack the time or the saintly disposition required to go full-bore Montessori, this book may be for you.
(May/June, 1981, Issue 30, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
IS GREED GOOD?, by Charles Carreon
[When I wrote this column for our Co-op newsletter, the movie "Wall Street," had not yet been filmed, so I could not quote Gordon Gekko (memorably played by Michael Douglas) and his wonderful "greed is good" speech. Nevertheless, I had an intimation that simple greed might be a less hazardous emotional material than ideological certainty. I penned the column shortly after an upheaval in our Co-op management that resulted in the complete discharge of the entire Co-op board of directors in a Nixon-style Saturday night massacre. Subsequent experience has shown that non-profit corporations of the religious and spiritual sort fall prey to the same types of manipulations. Keeping sight of the object of a dispute, and remembering not to destroy it in the process of battling for it, has since become a watchword in the management of my own affairs. Perhaps others may profit from my musings.]
With the deadline for this column only a couple of hours away, it's definitely time to find a topic. I guess I'll just write about the successful strategic nuking of the late, great Board of Directors. Actually I wasn't sleeping last month; I had merely averted my eyes to avoid having them melted from their sockets. Nothing lost, though. It was enough to see the crater left in the aftermath of the incident, to hear the garbled rumors from dazed survivors, helpless even to regroup their cause and to read the newsletter, composed in a state of shock, like a memo from a doomed civilization. Like the refugee in Graham Nash's song, "Wooden Ships," I too must ask, "Who won?" And also, "Why did it happen?" Who pushed the unstable energy of the General Membership to critical mass and beyond? Why did the advocates of caution and reasoned action choose to act in the fashion they so often deplore?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez occasionally writes about a character who has the strange habit of building things during the day and taking them apart at night. This seems to be precisely the problem here at ACFS. One month a new board is ushered in with flowers, laurels, and trumpets, and the next month their work is summarily halted by the very persons who elected them. That this does not seem like a very rational way of doing business does not occur to anyone, and if it did they probably would not care. Like Marquez's character, the mere fact that it is dark is probably sufficient reason for getting on with the process of disassembly. At least, however, this gentleman does not destroy his creations utterly, but merely takes them apart, to begin his work anew with the coming dawn. The fused slag-heap of ideology and emotion left over from this latest strategic first strike hardly invites renewed creativity.
In his works on Taoism and Zen, Alan Watts was fond of pointing out that greed may often be a more compassionate guide for action than pure, ideological dogmatism, which may sound better at first gloss. His reasoning was that while the greedy can be depended upon to curtail aggression when it threatens to destroy the object of their desire, true believers are known for their policies of extermination, and a war between partisans of irreconcilable ideologies can only be a war of mutual annihilation. That our entire world today is threatened by such monumental stupidity is common knowledge, but that our own little island of collectivity is threatened by the same dynamic is scarcely considered.
The corporation of which we are members is not immortal: it is not invulnerable, and those who insist upon taking liberties with its safety through irresponsible actions should reflect and feel cautioned. The energy of human commitment is precious, and it is easily wasted in fruitless engagements wherein one faction indulges its whims by ousting another. Those who initiated this motion may be quite satisfied with themselves, feeling that they have removed an obstacle to progress, and saved everyone from long hours of wretchedness. Granted that their action may have been a response to some irresponsibility on the part of the board, it yet remains a tremendous display of indelicacy and lack of creativity. Those who are too swift to accuse others of being intractable and uncooperative should recognize their affinity with those who order lobotomies and command hit squads -- the politics of elimination are simple and effective, but they rarely lead to conciliation or unified action.
I do not mean to sponsor yet another ideology in this column. We may be sure that when a war of mutual destruction is being fought there are ideologies on both sides, and I do not wish to join the ranks of either. But responsibility for the master stroke which broke this whole issue open like a sore lies squarely in the hands of a few. Glosses and justifications do not seem to be in order. We must consider the morality, the fragility of our collective organism, which continues to live on the basis of human commitment. Before we decide to take up a fixed position, from which we will not budge, we should consider. And before we resolve to dislodge another person from their commitment, regardless of the consequences, we should consider.
(1982, Issue 41, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
MAHAYANA PHILOSOPHY, TANTRIC ICONOGRAPHY, AND THE MAGIC OF BUDDHIST COMPASSION IN ALLEN GINSBERG'S "SUNFLOWER SUTRA", by Charles Carreon
Every generation of poets derives inspiration from different sources. Social conditions, living environments, economic fluctuations and wars, in short, all the varied movements of life are the background for creative expression in every period of time. Writers are moved to find styles, forms, and mythic outlines appropriate to their experience, which help them to say what they want to say.
In "Sunflower Sutra," Ginsberg has used the paradoxical philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism to reconcile the decayed nature of our society with his own unitive spiritual vision.
The anxiety brought on by what Alvin Toffler called "too much change, too fast," has afflicted many persons with a sense of hopelessness, and the eagerness of youth often finds itself with little to feed upon. Our society has warred against mythical consciousness, which is the nourishment of poetic minds. Scientific reductionism has consistently triumphed over structures which once gave spiritual meaning to existence, and questions of quality have been buried under a barrage of surplus goods. The mythic landscape has been razed; the flower of life has been killed by commerce and industry.
Allen Ginsberg, born in the Eastern U.S. grew up close to the chaos and confusion of this age. His poetry has never ceased to be a reflection of the anarchic conditions of our times, and yet it always rings with a spiritual impulse. In "Sunflower Sutra," these two qualities are quite evident, and the very title implies that the poem is some sort of spiritual instruction. There is no tone of resignation in the poem, despite an unpicturesque setting. For a Buddhist it is apparent that Ginsberg is affirming the Buddha nature, which remains pure in all circumstances, ever free from dualisms of all types. It is a part of the Buddhist Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) path to affirm the supreme reality of one's Buddha Nature, regardless of the apparent extremity of a situation. "Even if the sun were to rise in the West, the Bodhisattva has only one way," said Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of Zen practice in this country. By this he meant that followers of the heroic path of Buddhism (Bodhisattvas) are pledged to uphold the pure view of all phenomena as the play of an intrinsically empty awareness "even if the sun were to rise in the West."
Ginsberg, like a good Bodhisattva, has taken up the standard of enlightenment, though in a railway-yard he can find no better emblem than the wilted, besooted corpse of a dead sunflower. The holding of the sunflower "like a sceptre" parallels the symbolic postures of Tantric deities in Tibetan Buddhist iconography. These deities, who depict various aspects of the enlightened mind, often hold a ritual implement called a vajra (diamond) sceptre, representing their possession of the untarnished and indestructible quality of the pure, original mind. Almost comically, and yet with absolute seriousness, Ginsberg takes the same sort of posture. He is willing to stand up for the purity of beings, to affirm their intrinsic beauty and worth, though it be hidden within the grime and decay of phenomenal existence.
According to the Zen tradition there is only one place to look for enlightenment, and that is in the world. The Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng, said: "To seek for enlightenment outside the world is as foolish as looking for a rabbit's horn." Ginsberg's Sutra begins in the world, with a restless, roving description of decaying objects in a bleak environment. The sunflower is an ugly object in an ugly world. "... the gray Sunflower poised against the sunset, crackly bleak and dusty with the smut and smog and smoke of old locomotives in its eye --" He describes it with human attributes: "... big as a man ... seeds fallen out of its face, soon-to-be-toothless mouth of sunny air ... leaves stuck out like arms ... a dead fly in its ear ..." It is a pathetic figure, which Ginsberg identifies as his own soul: "Unholy battered old thing you were, my sunflower O my soul, I loved you then!" The sunflower, with "all that dress of dust, that veil of darkened railroad skin ... artificial worse-than-dirt ..." is afflicted by civilization, but even worse it has lost its identity as a living thing from long association with "rubber dollar bills, skin of machinery, the guts and innards of the weeping coughing car, the empty lonely tin cans with their rusty tongues aslack, what more could I name ..." The sunflower is estranged from itself just like Allen and Jack: "rheumy-eyed and hung-over like old bums on the riverbank, tired and wily." There is real tenderness, genuine compassion in his question: "Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your sin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive?" And this is the turning point of the poem, which might have led to a depressing dead end but instead turns, stirs almost astonishingly to become a song of celebration, a defiance of appearances worthy of praise. Standing aside from the tragedy, Ginsberg can say, "You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower," which is, after all, not such an amazing thing to note. But then again, who else but Ginsberg would do it?
It is said in the Bodhicaryavatara, a root Mahayana text, that to discover compassion for other beings is like finding a jewel in a dunghill, because compassion transforms every situation in life. Unlike many modern poets, Ginsberg is able to use the magic of compassion to transform his perceptions, and purify, as it were, a rotten situation. He is able to assert, for his benefit as well as our own: "We're not our skin of grime ... we're blessed by our seed." He sees "golden hairy naked accomplishment bodies" albeit "growing into mad black formal sunflowers." The insight of this perception changes the tenor of the poem. The depleted, futile atmosphere of the poem's beginning has gone. The static, disheartening quality of "we thought the same thoughts of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery" has given way to an energetic vibrancy. Ginsberg's heroic declaration of life has strengthened him, and the closing image is tight, coherent and powerful: "... spied on by our eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening sitdown vision." He has made the enlightened gesture, or as the Chinese Master, Lin Chi said, "He has spoken a good word." And that is all one can ask of a Sutra.
1979, Charles Carreon
MY FAVORITE EPIC, AKIRA KUROSAWA'S "KAGEMUSHA, THE SHADOW WARRIOR", by Charles Carreon
Kagemusha, The Shadow Warrior, like much of Kurosawa Akira's work, is a film about feudal Japan. In this, his most recent work, the action centers around a political ruse in which the warlord Shingen, head of the Takeda clan, is impersonated for three years after his death in order to stave off attacks which might befall a leaderless state. The man who impersonates him is a nameless thief, whose physical resemblance to Shingen is his only qualification for the job, aside from his basic ingenuousness.
Kagemusha is a study in contrasts. It is a story about a very small, very simple man who is forced to assume the character of an immensely powerful warlord. The film explores the many contradictions and paradoxes which arise from such a situation, and, in the course of the story, gives us a deeper look at the meaning of leadership and power, and its relation to loyalty and faith. For the thief, unwilling at first to go along with the plan, ultimately gives all of himself out of loyalty to the deceased lord.
In the opening scene of the film we see three men sitting in an austerely elegant Japanese room finished in dark wood. Lord Shingen is sitting in the center; above him is the plain floral emblem of the Takeda clan. On his right sits his brother the adviser, on his left the thief. All three men are dressed in identical robes of grey silk. They are all slightly bald, and their black beards, streaked with grey, are all trimmed in the same distinguished style. The two nobles, Shingen and his brother, appear dignified and somewhat tired; the thief is the picture of dejection, appearing utterly disconsolate but for the resentment which tightens his body like a tensed spring. When Shingen makes a remark about the unsuitability of allowing a thief to impersonate his noble self, the little man explodes in fury. Wildly gesticulating, he roars, "I steal a few coins and hurt no one ... you kill hundreds and steal whole countries! Who is the greater thief?" Though the brother-adviser moves to draw his sword, the warlord, undisturbed, admits the accusation is true, and goes on to say that having banished his father and killed his son, he will do anything to rule. After this scene the credits begin to roll, and one realizes that a sort of magic has already begun.
The next phase of the film seems to move extremely slowly by ordinary cinematic standards, which require sustained tension as a basic element in any film. Kurosawa has rarely concerned himself with such standards. His directing is fearless in the sense that he is not afraid to let the camera linger over images long after the basic image has been established. The viewer spends a lot of time watching soldiers, in beautiful lacquered armor, marching over fields, up hills, and across ridges. With many directors this sort of footage is the result of failed attempts to achieve epic scope. Not so with Kurosawa, who somehow manages, without tricks, to inspire us with patience, encouraging us to take a second look, and a third, at what we think we have seen before. And there are rewards. An indescribable scene of a column of soldiers, passing before the setting sun, breaking its rays into a flowing display of crimson and gold, till one cannot decide what to look at -- the soldiers, the sun, or both.
Many scenes in the film examine the impact of European muskets on traditional Japanese warfare, marking that moment when technology eclipses heroism in importance. Shingen himself is killed by a sniper, and the film ends with the annihilation of an entire army by a coldly calculated barrage of musket-fire. The tone of the battle scenes, however, is reportorial, and there is no overt attempt to spark a reaction of revulsion towards violence. Kurosawa's simple style presents the mechanics of war without flinching or gawking, and saves the film from becoming stuck in easily evoked emotional patterns but limited in scope.
The thief is the focus of the film. The film helps us to see what happens to a little man who is asked to appear powerful, to seem like the very son of heaven, and who is yet granted no real power to command or initiate. His job is to deceive, and leave the ruling to the retainers. He has to deceive his grandson, a beautiful five year-old with black hair in a blue kimono who runs to his "grandfather," and after examining him briefly turns to the court and says brightly, "This is not my grandfather!" He has to fool the concubines and the horses. (The Master is ill and cannot ride.) He is surrounded by guards, at least one is always by his side, and it is his luxury to be himself whenever he is alone with one of them. In a superb cinematic moment, the thief, who has just met his guard-advisers, tries on an imposing look. The guards warn him not to get cocky, and relax into easy postures. Then, by some strange alchemy, the thief takes on the imposing, introspective look that earned Shingen his nickname, "The Mountain." The guards stiffen; unable to prevent themselves, they return to postures of perfect attention.
The imposter lives on a razor-edge. Whenever he must face those who were familiar with the lord, the retainers try to set up the situation to avoid every difficulty. But facing the concubines his composure disintegrates entirely. He cannot maintain the facade, and attempts to declare himself an impostor, but the two beauties think this is very funny. The more he protests the more they laugh, till at last he gives in and it all becomes a fine joke. One comes to realize that every day is filled with this sort of painful interaction, as the Shadow Warrior attempts to conceal his insubstantiality, or to add to the seeming substance. Only with the grandson, Takemaru, does he acquire a real personality. The two play together daily, and their love for each other is obvious. When at last the deception is ended, it is these two who suffer, and the thief will suffer more for the loss of Takemaru, it seems, than for anything else. One cannot but wonder if the warlord himself could have even approximated the sort of fondness which the thief possesses for this child.
The painful tension within the thief culminates in a dream sequence of surreal intensity, done not with camera tricks but rather, as the Japanese seem to prefer, with an unearthly stage setting. Dressed in fierce battle-armor, his face gleaming with burial oil, the warlord shatters his burial-urn from within, and emerges in awful glory. The thief, terrified, runs from him, staggering across dreamlike sand dunes of different colors. Then, suddenly, the warlord is gone. Searching for him now, the thief stumbles into a shallow pool, and the sound of his feet splashing reverberate like the roar of mighty waves. This scene symbolically crystallizes the relationship between the warlord and his shadow.
The climax of this paradoxical situation comes in battle. Shingen's son, who is too ambitious and jealous of his father's fame, is not reconciled to following this strategy of deception. He fears to live in his father's shadow, and living in the shadow of a shadow is intolerable. He ventures forth with his army, but so recklessly that the main force of the Takedas must move to protect his rear. Led by the thief, surrounded by his adviser-guards, they enter the fight. The battle continues into the night, and the Shadow Warrior has nothing to do but sit, impassive as the Mountain himself, while young boys shield his worthless plebeian self with their own bodies. The deception is successful, and the attackers, cowed at last by the Shadow Warrior's immovable presence, retreat. The thief cannot help but be pleased, almost as if he had done something.
The film ends tragically because the shadow can never become the substance. The aggressive stupidity of Shingen's son undoes all the posthumous effort of his father, and the end of the Takeda clan is as swift as water going over a cliff. There seems to be an element of fate here, for the thief's efforts held back disaster, but only for a time. The shadow could only forestall the destruction which the lord himself would have averted entirely.
The thief, for his own part, becomes one of the warlord's true servants. His final sacrifice is touching to the point of being sublime. He dies in the waters of the lake where Shingen himself was buried, reaching for the Takeda banner, which floats in the water, just out of reach, as the current bears him by.
ON BODHISATTVAS AND BLACK MAGICIANS, by Charles Carreon
[Perhaps one can never recapture the splendor of one's youth, but when I read this naive essay, crafted no doubt in the midst of some icy winter, marooned in the middle of a field of mud and frozen teasle, living in a house made with your own hands, and those of your wife, tending little kids who never-endingly have to shit in the outhouse that is no short walk away in the driving rain, then I know what folly is. There, nurturing literary illusions, did I find myself, a noble essayist for "More Than Food," the literary organ of the august body known as Ashland Community Food Store. From such a sturdy soapbox did I proclaim my outhouse sutra.]
I. Love
If we examine our closest relationships, we will see how far they remain from any sort of total devotion or love. No matter how "much" we love someone, we still are capable of turning it off or on, depending on our mood or their behavior. This is because we "love" people as long as it serves our purposes. We "love" in order to manipulate them. We rarely conceive of expanding our love around others as a nurturing, allowing space. We keep our love inside, and control the flow in accordance with what we wish to effect upon others. This can even be considered very sophisticated and clever, but actually it is quite sterile. At this point "love" has become a medium of exchange, and the more we "love" someone in this way, the more they are in our debt. If we are discommoded by the behavior of someone we "love," we feel as if we are extending credit upon which we shall collect in due course.
Exchange oriented loving arises because love does indeed have great value. It is the most valuable thing we can possess. Ah, there's the rub. For we believe we can possess it. But love is not possessable. It is the wealth of a heart that has no gates or walls, no inside or outside. As soon as we regulate the flow of our affection, it becomes something a little different. It is no longer the pure and delightful substance it was. It still has value, but its value is now relative. We can use it to buy what we need, like dollars, but, like dollars, the value is ascribed rather than intrinsic. A dollar has not the loveliness of gold, or a diamond, nor does it contain nourishment as does a slice of bread. A dollar, by itself, without a government behind it, is nothing but a rather ugly piece of paper. It is of no use to the possessor if there is nothing to exchange it for. This is why regulated, conditional love does not nourish the one who gives it. It is also frustrative to the receiver, for it is never total, like a river flowing to the sea without restraint. It is rather a spigot which can easily be switched off. Pure love never has this quality of holding back or controlling. It is as vast as the sea, as unchanging as the sky. You cannot hold it or use it for selfish ends, but it nourishes the whole universe.
II. Growth
The saddest thing about the human condition is that this completely perverse state of affairs is taken as normal. A person who transcends these boundaries is either a fool or a saint. In most spiritual traditions there is the notion of a "transmission of wisdom" which comes from the enlightened source, and transforms the very basis of the aspirant, making possible a relationship with life which was previously unreachable.
What is often not mentioned is why this transmission is necessary. Why do we need a key to unlock the door to our hearts, if the nature of love and openness is unobstructible. The reason seems to be that humanity as a whole is also the keeper of a certain esoteric tradition. Unfortunately this tradition is more after the manner of a black art. The members of this cult are all our fellow beings in delusion, recognizable by the veil which cloaks their eyes and the shield which covers their hearts (and other soft spots). Together we perpetuate upon each other and upon our children a transmission of ignorance. There is no doubt that this cult uses brainwashing and coercive techniques, but all these things may be forgiven them, for at heart "they know not what they do." "They know not." We know not. To not know is ignorance, and ignorance is the path of the unfree.
When the ignorant initiate others into ignorance it must of necessity be a sort of spooky thing. "There is something which it is dangerous to know." "Do not look behind that door." "Here's your blindfold. Don't take it off or you'll go insane." If you ask why you cannot know, or the door cannot be opened, the blindfold removed, you hit a rut of circular reasoning, a blind reliance on authority and tradition, or a semi-rationale propped by assumptions which are no more sound than the attitudes they claim to support. And all of this, of course, because, since the unexplored territory is forbidden, the authorities, on the one hand, cannot have knowledge of it, and explorers on the other hand, may often have to operate in secret. So the aggression of these black magicians of stupidity makes the situation even stickier. And as long as we shore up our shortcomings by means of aggression, protecting ourselves from openness by means of obstinate close-mindedness, we too are black magicians.
When one of these unfortunate sorcerers of stupidity begins to become disgusted with the dark and delimited environment of ignorance, the process of transmutation may have begun. Most likely, he will begin to seek others with a similar attitude, and perhaps will in time meet with a white magician. The white magician is an unveilment of possibility. His openness is extraordinary, and, to the aspirant, he seems to see things that are "invisible." The first thing this luminous sorcerer will do is to make the potential pupil aware of the fact that he is still carrying arms and protective gear. He will explain that it is impossible to learn the way of the white magician when one is still involved with defense of self. If the pupil can learn to dispose of his weapons, it may be possible for him to begin the path of unveilment.
So here we have the picture of a true beginner. Such a person still may not see very well, but they have lain down their weapons and are working on freeing themselves of their armorplate. They do not fight to preserve their delusion. They may even gain a certain sense of dignity, of decorum, because their humility and openness makes them more magnanimous, less petty. Since they do not constantly have to attend to myriads of defensive mechanisms , they develop a stillness, a sense of composure that is quite dignified. On the other hand, they are aware of their limitations, and do not try to do more than they can. Because they realize their state of partial blindness, they do not move too impulsively, lest they bump into something. Because of this they work right with a situation, closely and precisely. There is a complete lack or arrogance, since such a person is always aware of the fact that they are beginners.
Slowly such a person's vision gradually improves. The self-interest that clouds over situations is seen more and more dispassionately. Eventually, they can reach a stage where they cut down self-interest mercilessly the instant it appears. The Buddhist tradition of the Mahayana characterizes such a person as a Bodhisattva -- a hero of light. Lao Tzu says, "The sage has no mind of his own -- he is aware of the needs of others." and, "By selfless action, the sage achieves fulfillment." When this style of action becomes firmly established, the aspirant is becoming a white magician, but does not notice it. From their point of view, they simply are living in an open environment which they take to maintain in its original state. There is no possibility of exhaustion or weariness, because there is no attachment to standards of achievement or progress. It is a situation of knowing one's job and doing it well.
As the handling of energy becomes increasingly fluid and spontaneous, the magician is less and less hindered by the limitations of self-impurities. As wisdom dissolves all apparent dualities, which are increasingly subtle, the practitioner moves toward the level of a siddha -- an Accomplished One, able to play with paradoxes and contradictions skillfully without being burned or entangled. No mere cleverness is involved here, but a real mastery of the elements of consciousness, and hence, matter. Such a master bends all his power to the service of fellow beings, and thus develops space to a level of keen precision, imbuing it with a quality of crystalline luminosity. The wisdom of such beings is so penetrating and incisive that it takes cuts on the armor of ego that cannot be healed. Likewise it is able to mend the fragmentation of mind with such skill that it will never again give way to the forces of chaos. It is said that the Siddhas use the power of chaos itself to destroy it, short-circuiting the elaborate weapons system of the self.
Beyond this level it is impossible to describe the vastness of such compassionate activity. It has been called "Light Everywhere." Such activity is as purposeless and effective as the power of the radiant sun, as unshakeable as infinite space, as supportive as the fertile earth. Bodhisattvas and novice white magicians grow on this vast expanse like numberless blades of grass, as rusting swords and moldering armor fertilize the rich soil.
Afterword: I am indebted to Carlos Castaneda for relaying Don Juan's description of our fellow men as deluded black magicians, and to the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche for his vivid descriptions of the Buddhist path. Also, for those who may be interested in seeing a teacher who is said to have achieved the level of "Light Everywhere," be sure to watch for the visit of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, the head lama of the Nyingmapa tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism.
(May, 1980, Issue 20, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
PONTOON!, by Charles Carreon
[This is an imaginary book review of a book I didn't have time to write, from the era of the "towering blockbusters" with one-word names like "Inferno." My apocalyptic vision was tamed by the idea that "it is an ill wind indeed that blows no good for anyone." The greenhouse effect was talked about 22 years ago, although its scientific credibility was questioned as part of the delaying action to forestall positive environmental change. Thus, it seemed likely (and still does) that at some point humans will become much more interested in the ocean, particularly as it swallows up land-based encampments. I have always had a fondness for female heroines, and thus chose Naia Oceanfoam as my protagonist, borrowing her name from the famous Diana Naiad, who had just swum the English Channel, and unbeknownst to me, was being repeatedly challenged to a wrestling match by the increasingly deranged Andy Kaufman on SNL. The only thing I didn't like about Andy. So if anybody wants to write this book, have at it. I waive all claims.]
What happens to human society when the greenhouse effect melts the polar icepack and the rising oceans drown the world's coastlines, reducing livable areas on an already crowded earth? People build floating cities that span the seas, and harness the tides as their central source of energy. Whaling comes to a complete halt, and inter-cultural interchange with dolphins becomes commonplace, as people with audio implants in their scuba gear float in underwater amphitheatres while enjoying Cetacean operettas. Children learn to swim at the age of six weeks, get strong on algae steak and whale milk (obtained by the tankerload from mothers who lose their calves). Sound too good to be true? Don't worry, there's a hitch.
Some unknown force is destroying these floating utopias, leaving behind little more than wave-borne debris. The world government has no leads on the culprits at all; nevertheless, pockets of anti-cetacean bigotry are flaring up among groups of homosapien right-wingers. Naia Oceanfoam, a genetically engineered, amphibious woman and an agent for OCIS (Ocean Intelligence Service, a super-secret arm of the World Government) is given the job of uncovering the evidence that will bring the culprits to justice. In the company of her dolphin friend, Kirikitik, she sets out from her lagoon chalet on the island of Maui, hot on the trail of the saboteurs. It's a tricky job for Naia and Kirikitik, and a thrilling ride for readers as we follow them through their watery world on the trail of a gang of sinister terrorists, whose goal seems to be to destroy cooperation between water and earth-borne mammals.
(June/July, 1981, Issue 31, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
THE BRANDON MAYFIELD CASE ESTABLISHES THE OBVIOUS UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF PATRIOT ACT SNEAK-SEARCHES, by Charles Carreon
During early 2004, a young Portland Oregon lawyer named Brandon Mayfield had his life turned upside down when the FBI arrested him and put him in secret confinement for a couple of weeks, until it finally allowed his wife to know where he was. The charges were "terrorism," and the grounds were that the FBI, in responding to a Spanish request for assistance to seek a digital match of a fingerprint found on a piece of plastic connected to the Madrid train bombings, had discovered a match with Mr. Mayfield. Supposedly they then discovered that Mr. Mayfield was married to a Muslim woman, had converted to Islam, and had represented Jeffrey Battle, one of the poor dunderheads who got thrown in jail as terrorists because their blood got hot and they went off to Pakistan to pretend to do jihad. Battle went to jail, but Mr. Mayfield had nothing to do with that aspect of Battle's life -- he had represented Battle only in a child custody dispute. The FBI plowed ahead with its case, even though Mr. Mayfield was a former Air Force JAG Corps lawyer, had never been to Spain, and the Spanish police were not supporting their forensic analysis. Shortly after the election of Zapatero as the new Spanish President, the government released Mr. Mayfield when the Spanish announced they had arrested the man whose fingerprint the FBI claimed was Mr. Mayfield's.
Eventually the charges were dropped and Mr. Mayfield actually got an apology from the FBI. During his confirmation hearings, Alberto Gonzales admitted that the Patriot Act provisions had been used in Mr. Mayfield's case.
As an Oregon lawyer, the case scared the bejeezus out of me, especially when I learned that one of the facts in the affidavit true of Mr. Mayfield was also true of me! For Mayfield's wife had once made a phone call to an Ashland man named Pete Seda, a long-time Ashland resident who was my friend dating back to 1982, when I tutored him in the English lab at SOU. He was a dyslexic Arab, which is really difficult, since they read their books from back to front. So reading English was hell for him, and I'd sit and compose his essays on the typewriter while he talked out his thoughts. It was fun, and he was very intelligent and unconventional. Well, Pete is now being charged, much to the disgust of all of us in Ashland, with some kind of terrorist claim involving his receipt of funds from a now-denounced Islamic charity. So I knew Pete well, and talked with him about his fear of persecution after 911. Indeed, I went to a redneck gas station with him one afternoon in 2002, and we collected some nasty glares. Bottom line, though, Pete Seda had been a forest protection activist back in the eighties and nineties. Then he became an Islamic peace activist, and never advocated or contemplated violence for an instant. He worked day and night at his business, The Arborist, and loved his work of caring for trees. The fact that he has had to leave the country with his family is really just a pogrom in our little town.
But back to Mr. Mayfield. Obviously, if they bothered to add the fact that his wife once called Pete Seda to the affidavit they submitted to Federal Judge Bob Jones to justify secretly jailing Mr. Mayfield, then two things must be true: (1) The US Attorney engaged in a huge slander of Pete Seda in order to imply that Mr. Mayfield's wife's call to him was in any way inappropriate, and (2) The US Attorney must have been might short on real evidence to justify the secret arrest, because calling Pete Seda is something that thousands and thousands of people have done without criminal intent. Nevertheless, Judge Jones signed the order, and directed that a man be delivered to the tender mercies of the government "intelligence" apparatus.
Looking back at fact number two -- the lack of evidence to levy against Mr. Mayfield that is implied by the use of flimsy slanders against an Ashland Islamic peace activist to suggest wrongful conduct on the part of Mr. Mayfield – we might consider what they had access to. Well, most cops don’t get to search someone’s house at all, but under the Patriot Act, they can do it secretly. This creates potential for a conversation like this:
Mr. Mayfield: (Dialing 911) Hello, 911, I have a crime to report.
911 Operator: Allright sir, where is it taking place?
Mr. Mayfield: Someone has ransacked my home and office at such-and-such location. Things are missing, and out of place. There’s no sign of forced entry, and I’m concerned for my family’s safety.
911 Operator: Oh, sir we can’t take a report from you about that.
Mr. Mayfield: Why is that?
911 Operator: Well, you see, it was definitely not criminals who went into your house.
Mr. Mayfield: How is that?
911 Operator: Well, sir, I can’t tell you, but we cannot take your report.
Of course, this is absolutely not a joke, although it provokes some people to laughter. This is really horrific, and the sort of privacy invasion that is currently apparently considered constitutional by Judge Jones. As a matter of fact, since every Federal Judge has sworn to uphold the Constitution, I think they should resign before they sign even one secret search or secret arrest order.
So after getting the secret search order, what did they get from the search? Zip. Nada. Nothin’. Zero. Just his family DNA, copies of all his computer hard drives, a few cigarette butts that had already been smoked, etcetera. Then, the FBI apparently just put this data out for its people to share, distribute, examine, and spread about freely with no accounting whatsoever for that dissemination, or thinking that somehow this vast, unwarranted privacy invasion of a single man’s life would ever be unraveled.
The provisions of the Patriot Act permitting these judicially-assisted invasions of privacy, will ultimately be determined to be totally unconstitutional when the Gonzales-Ashcroft school of civil liberties is felled like the misbegotten Philistine Goliath that it is. Who will be the David who brings down this cruel, brutal, senseless enemy of freedom? Well, since we are past the days of fighting through champions, those Davids must be ourselves. If all that is required for evil to prevail is the silence of good people, then we should speak up now, before some FBI agent learns that we’ve been talking to peace activists.
The article from the Oregonian provides a smoking gun (in blue below) from the FBI’s own vault. Please note that the FBI confession is, by its own terms, incomplete, as it admits that it also conducted wiretaps and other physical searches of his life.
Bottom line – how can you protect yourself against sneek-and-peek searches? Same way you can protect yourself from thieves – covert video surveillance of your own home. In other words, we now have to protect ourselves from the government as if it were a criminal. I tell you – if Mr. Mayfield had known that Men In Black had pawed through his office, copied all his documents, disk drives, and bagged up the contents of his ashtrays, what do you think he would have done? You know, Portland is not that far from Canada, and I think sometimes the cold air up there is a good thing. Clears the head.
David Sarasohn, for The Oregonian wrote:
A new word on Mayfield, the Patriot Act
A year after he was released from prison with an FBI apology, Brandon Mayfield recently learned some more things about his arrest as a terrorist.
At the same time, Congress -- holding hearings on the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act -- learned a little more about the act, and about what happens when Congress gives government vast new powers without stopping to think about it.
Ever since the arrest and awkward release of Mayfield, on the mistaken grounds that his fingerprint was found on an item connected with the terrorist train bombing in Spain last March, the Justice Department has insisted that the Patriot Act had nothing to do with his arrest. That insistence continued through the opening of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony Monday to the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and then ended a few hours into the testimony, when Gonzales said that, well, yes, a couple of the Patriot Act powers had been involved.
Gonzales told the senators that the FBI had indeed used new powers of electronic surveillance, as well as another section of the act, in its investigation of the Beaverton lawyer -- based on a mishandled fingerprint and, implicitly, his identity as a Muslim convert. Agents collected quite a bit.
At the end of March, as part of his lawsuit against the federal government, Mayfield's attorney received a statement:
"Mr. Mayfield is hereby notified that the following property was seized, altered or reproduced during (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) searches of his residence: three hard drives of three desk top computers and one loose hard drive were copied; several documents in the residence were digitally photographed; ten DNA samples were taken and preserved on cotton swabs and six cigarette butts were seized for DNA analysis; and approximately 335 digital photographs were taken of the residence and the property therein . . . Mr. Mayfield is also hereby notified that he was the target of electronic surveillance and other physical searches authorized pursuant to FISA."
Nobody at this point thinks any of the material seized has any national security significance. Nobody now thinks the secret evidence behind the search meant anything.
People do know that anything collected can now be widely shared.
"There is no idea," says Steven T. Wax, federal public defender who first worked with Mayfield, "how many hundreds and hundreds of people, in intelligence offices around the world, now have access to private materials on Mr. Mayfield, his children and perhaps some of his clients."
Plus his family's DNA.
In fact, Mayfield can't know exactly what's out there.
"Worse still," says Rep. John Conyers, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, "the department still refuses to give Mayfield a full accounting of what searches were conducted, when they were conducted and what exactly was seized. When an innocent man can't even find out the extent to which his rights have been violated, something is very, very wrong with our system of checks and balances."
That fear, that something has gone off the rails, is why Gonzales was called to testify this week before the Senate and House judiciary committees, considering whether to reauthorize or amend the Patriot Act. It's why a bipartisan group of senators, led by Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has reintroduced the Security and Freedom Ensured Act, which would limit the government's powers to make secret searches without showing probable cause.
"I think we've got a chance to get some of it done," says Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001 and now a SAFE Act co-sponsor. Feingold notes that now even Gonzales is open to some limits -- although the administration also wants other changes to expand its powers even more.
The Mayfield case, Feingold says, "had a big effect on the whole attitude that anybody who criticized the law really wasn't concerned about terrorism." When Gonzales changed course and admitted a Patriot Act role in the case, "That was noticed at the hearing."
The case resounds in other places. In Salem this week, a Patriot Act-driven House bill to require state employees to stay within the Oregon Constitution was referred to committee. Last session, the state Senate passed a resolution calling for changes in the act, 23-2, the most bipartisan thing that happened there all year. Last month, the Montana House passed a similar bill, 88-12.
"The Mayfield case certainly does touch a red button for people here," says Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, co-sponsor of the House bill. "It's one way we make the case that the Patriot Act has led to actions unacceptable to the state."
Last week, we learned more about the Mayfield case.
And just how far the Patriot Act can go.
David Sarasohn, associate editor of The Oregonian, can be reached at 503-221-8523 or davidsarasohn@news.oregonian.com.
THE CO-OP CASTE SYSTEM, by Charles Carreon
(Author's note: This piece combines elements of speculation and satire, those cynical-sweet aspects of the writer's nature that cannot be repressed. Ideally, I would prefer not to write disclaimers of this sort, but due to the heavy atmosphere that tends to numb some people's ability to take a joke, I feel obligated to. I think many readers will find things here that they themselves have thought, and for those of my sisters and brothers who consider themselves part of the beleaguered and uneasy "establishment" of the Co-op, have a cup of Valerian before you read further.)
The moment a person walks in the door at ACFS they are subject to the unspoken rules of the Co-op Caste System. This system affects relationships outside the store to some degree, but exercises its most potent influence within the Co-op building itself.
Possibly due to Eastern influence, the Co-op system has four divisions: The Collective Caste, The Cashier Caste, The Member Caste (with its sub-division into working and non-working members), and lastly, those misbegotten members of the lowest stratum, The Unacceptables. A typical interpersonal interchange illustrates the one-way movement of authority characteristic of these class distinctions -- a Cashier, for example, may tell a group of Members to quiet down, but a Member would be overstepping his station by asking a Cashier to hurry up. Membership among The Unacceptables is easily obtained. It is automatically granted to people who hang out around the now-absent table; incompetent or insistent musicians qualify with a minimum of fuss, while a surly attitude and a pair of buckskins grant automatic membership.
The Member caste is variegated, of course, and many of the people in it are only dimly aware of the system which occasionally deals them a jolt -- a run-in with a Cashier, a dry look from a Coordinator. It is the most mobile Caste; from there one may move up into the Cashier Caste and thence to Coordinatorhood, and writing articles like this one can knock you right down among the Unacceptables in a flash, never to return.
One enters the Cashier Caste by virtue of a willingness to take on the responsibility the role demands, and a desire to gain the benefits. Reduced prices are a consideration, and those with dreams of a paying job had best be ready to place their foot firmly on this rung of the ladder. The Cashiers participate intimately with Coordinators and among themselves. As in any group of workers in a business, among themselves they discuss the stresses of the job, the shortcomings of customers, as well as sharing the general sense of advantage which comes from paying less.
The Collective Caste is essentially closed. New members of the caste are elected by a group which is dominated by the opinions of Collective members. As I have noted previously, membership in the Cashier Caste is exceedingly helpful, but by no means a guarantee, since Collective jobs are essentially passed hand to hand as one of the more treasured possessions in the community, and the preference of the outgoing Collective member in favor of a specific successor carries a great deal of weight. A favorite and invariably successful strategy for appointing a successor is a three-step process that works like this:
(1) A collective member begins to show signs of collapse, and takes a vacation, during which a close friend steps in to take her/his place for the duration of the vacation;
(2) After returning, the Collective member has rediscovered the meaning of life, which does not include his/her present job, and a sign-up sheet presently appears to announce an opening on the Collective;
(3) After much reading of resumes and an exhaustive series of interviews, it turns out the member who stood in during the outgoing member's vacation is the right person for the job, and thus the transferal is accomplished without a hitch.
Aspiring Collective members, take note -- as in any organization, advancement at the Co-op may take months and even years of planning, the cultivation of appropriate friendships, etcetera. During the time of your apprenticeship be eager to absorb jargon and buzzwords, for in your interview you will be asked to share your vision for the Co-op. This is essentially a vocabulary test, one for which you must be prepared. Forceful statements or startling ideas will lose points for you; be careful to formulate a bland socialist pablum with a side of lightly minced alternative concepts. This will go down easily without chewing and will save you the embarrassment of having someone choke on a seed. As a final word: Unacceptables, buzz off; save ink, breath, and mental energy -- you haven't got a chance.
As a sidelight on this issue we may consider the interesting fact that Collective members do not always arise from the Cashier Caste on the basis of ability or other business aptitudes. On the contrary, such concerns are minor, and the hiring committee has proved itself capable of hiring a person who doesn't know a crescent wrench from a pipe wrench to fill a position announced as an opening for someone to handle building and maintenance, when in fact a number of people with experience in that area were rejected. This sort of organization dynamic tempts the conclusion that Collective members are drawn from a predetermined group of people, a clique that perhaps, like a Brahmin, one is born for, and Collective members thus may belong to a slightly inbred family whose lineage might be traced by an astute observer back through the years to the original formation of the Co-op itself.
(December, 1981, Issue 36, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
THE DEATH OF FULL EMPLOYMENT -- THE BIRTH OF COOKIE GRABBING, by Charles Carreon
[This wistful utopian musing, salted with a dash of revolutionary aspiration, has worn relatively well during the intervening decades since I wrote it. Nothing has changed worth mentioning, and those of us who rode the dot-com bubble know that cookies are still there to be grabbed. Live and learn.]
More and more Americans don't work for a living. Could this be a fulfillment of the old sci-fi predictions that technology would reach such a height as to make work obsolete? Of course these predictions were usually made with an optimistic intention, and implied that all those persons fortunate enough to live in such an age would willingly embrace unlimited leisure. Only a few prognosticators had the foresight to consider that commonsense morality might balk at such a development, which could be construed as tantamount to turning our world into a vast devil's playground.
Early sci-fi utopias depicted domed cities, free energy and a social organization that provided liberty, leisure and stimulation in ample proportions. Less enthusiastic scenarios have evoked a lethargic and unimaginative humanity drowning in hedonistic ennui. But not many, until very recently, considered the least dramatic possibility: mass unemployment and poverty for millions and colossal profits for the owners of priceless mechanical slaves. For such would be the results of an unequal distribution of the benefits wrought by a hyper-efficient technology.
Up to this point we've been speaking as if non-working as a lifestyle were something new -- a potential development as yet unexplored. In fact, the non-working life has in every generation been the prerogative of a few clever people and their descendants. It's known as letting your money work for you, and money, as we all know, works exceedingly well. Slavery, debt, peonage, and just plain starvation wages all serve to lighten the load on some people by making it heavier on others.
The automatic gospel that was advanced at the dawn of the industrial age proposed that some day machines might take the load off everyone, or at least lighten it considerably. This has not occurred anywhere, of course, but in our own country it becomes more and more feasible. Daily we see reductions in the person power required to do a job. In grocery stores, on loading docks, in offices, the wonders of heavy equipment and high electronics make short work of unskilled personnel and/or turn dull jobs into masterpieces of boredom where human beings are obviously being retained only until some suitably stupid robot can be designed.
But there's no general admission of this reality. Instead there's talk about how great the demand is for computer personnel. And machines eliminate more work and turn more workers into non-workers. Could it be that the cookie-jar has been left unattended? Could there be, at this moment, positions open to non-working personnel? Could you be ready to embark upon this exciting career?
Naturally, there's a certain stigma attached to this sort of activity, which looks a lot like cutting into line by mere force of audacity. Society takes a dim view of persons who take up the non-working lifestyle without first establishing a pile of capital to "work for them." No matter how you amass your pile -- society favors clever entrepreneurs and energetic hustlers over indolent cookie-grabbers. It is, perhaps, a matter of protocol, of going through the proper channels, making the right noises, and appearing energetic even as one rides elegantly on the backs of others.
Even for cookie-grabbers, however, there are certain job requirements. One must be good at keeping appointments and standing in line, and, till recently, able to withstand the sneers of postal workers. An ability to fill out forms is indispensable, and in the case of the elite among non-working personnel, the grant writers, it becomes the entire raison d'etre. At present, then, truly ept cookie-grabbing requires some form of education, or at least a natural ability to navigate the ebbs and flows of bureaucracy, to discern the patterns that recur amid spools of red tape.
The economic policies of the Reagan administration aim to drastically reduce the number of openings in this promising field. Reducing environmental restrictions, lowering the minimum wage and removing various wage-price protections are meant to usher in a new era of prosperity a la laissez faire. But fundamentally the growth of profit in industry depends upon reducing worker-hours, and there is no way out of this cycle but down, down, down. Corporate policies will continue to eliminate jobs and pocket the wages saved thereby for the benefit of those who can make their money work more efficiently in this way. And commonsense morality will continue to require that the unemployed share the dwindling piece of pie that is their share. Until something happens. And until then, if you happen to see a cookie lying around ...
(October, 1981, Issue 34, "More Than Food," Ashland, Oregon)
Return to Belles Lettres
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2017
|
__label__wiki
| 0.870539
| 0.870539
|
Paul Newman at the Venice Film Festival in 1963, age 38, to promote Hud. Remembers actress Barbara Steele, who'd just appeared in Federico Fellini's 8 ½, "I don't know how, but I ended up hanging out with Paul Newman, who was at the peak of his beauty. He was a Greek god, absolutely stunning. He was every Italian's dream of classical beauty."
Credit where credit is due
A terrific retrospective of David Fincher's title sequences over at The Art of the Title Sequence:—
"... Panic Room was just graphic fun. I was playing around. For years we’d joke: “When you see the credits for a movie, what is that type? Is it supposed to be a projection over the scene or is it supposed to be there? Let’s ask that question.” So we started playing around with that idea. In the scripts that you’ve worked with, how often are the titles detailed? Is it purely, “Insert Sequence Here”? Almost never. For Panic Room, the sequence takes a trip up the island of Manhattan through quick shots of buildings to get the idea of, “You’re downtown, you’re midtown, you’re traversing the park, you’re moving to the west side: here’s where the story takes place.” This was the same idea as the title sequence to West Side Story, so we had to do something a little different."
IN MEMORIAM: Tony Scott (1944-2012)
"The idea of a Tony Scott movie, in fact, was always far preferable to actually watching a Tony Scott movie, an experience roughly comparable to that of having your eyeballs and eardrums mistaken for a percussion set by a passing Mariachi band. Any highlight reel would have to include Scott’s two brushes with Quentin Tarantino, True Romance and Crimson Tide (Tarantino scripted the first and polished the second) and of course Top Gun, Scott’s Wordsworthian Ode to mankind’s eternal need for speed, the joys of being top dog, and the sight of jet-engine tailfins shimmering in the haze of magic hour. “You're a great flier. You fly cowboy style. Reckless, wild, out of formation half the time,” Tom Skerritt informs Tom Cruise’s Maverick. “You buck the system and do everything the hard way.” Many heroes in the Bruckheimer/Simpson mould would like to think of themselves as mavericks, or would be rumored to be mavericks, but Maverick is the only one to come out with it and actually be called Maverick. That was the essence of ‘High Concept’, a fancy name for any idea pithy and punchy enough to survive the “aggressive advocacy and yelling system” that had sprung up at Paramount at the beginning of the 80s — an idea in shoulder pads. It produced movies shorn of needless peripherals, strip-mined for their pockets of triumph, and strung out along a beading of radio-ready pop songs: movies that looked, sounded and played like movie pitches. Top Gun begins in triumph, pauses for a victory lap, racks up a celebration or two, then after a perfunctory set-back, proceeds to full on ego massage and reputation floss. “You're here ‘cause you're the top one per cent,” Skerritt tells Cruise. “You're the elite, the best of the best. We're gonna make you better, because your job is damned important.” Applications for the Navy shot up — although God knows what they told the poor schnooks who turned up looking for Kelly McGillis with their Kenny Loggins records tucked under their arm. Scott’s great subject — and it was a great shame he never saw this — was Hollywood. His style may have been defiantly impersonal, but few bodies of work better speak to the muscular status battles and territorial snit-fits — the bluff, boast and braggadocio that rule Hollywood — than Scott’s. Beverley Hills Cop II may have been a bad movie about a cop, but it was a good movie about bluffing your way into the palm-shaded sanctuaries of West Hollywood. Top Gun may be a bad movie about Navy pilots, but it is a very good movie about the feeling of exultation that floods your system when your move about the navy pilots becomes the number one movie in America." — from my column for The Guardian
Francois Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Léaud while shooting Les deux Anglaises et le continent in 1971 (Magnum)
My Oscar favorites, six months out
These are my two Oscar favorites for best film, with Pi just edging it. I also fancy Lee for Best director. Best Actor will, I think, be between John Hawkes, Denzel Washington and Daniel-Day Lewis. Best Supporting actor will probably be Leonardo diCaprio. Best supporting actress is Anne Hathaway's. Best Adapted screenplay: Lincoln or Pi. Best original screenplay could be a surprise win for Wes Anderson. Best actress is a puzzle. Quvenzhane Wallis?
INTERVIEW: Amy Adams
"Another of Anderson’s bad karma masterworks, The Master is a symphony of raw nerves, its crisp 70mm compositions punctuated by bursts of psychic feedback, freak-out, and other assorted Andersonian voodoo. He uses his actors the way Jimi Hendrix used to use his guitar strings. Like his 2007 Oscar-winner, There Will Be Blood, the film is essentially a battle of wills between two men, a drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) who falls under the spell of self-proclaimed “scientist and connoisseur” Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a religious cult flourishing in the shadow of the second world war. Adams plays his devoted wife, a Lady Macbeth like amenuensis who’s blue eyes boil with fury at unbelievers. “I do not want to run into her in a dark alleyway,” says Adams. “Give me Charlene from The Fighter any day, we can have a beer, talk about it, we’ll have fun. This woman scares the shit out of me. Excuse my language.” Even for scenes in which Adams was not scheduled to appear, she was instructed to show up, just to make her presence felt. “It was exhaustting,” she says, “But I love the effect, I’m almost blurry.” There’s a lot of the true believer to Adams, with her big, blue eyes, and bushy-tailed manner. That she was once a greeter at The Gap makes perfect sense. Her best performances — the motor-mouthed Ashley in Junebug (2005), the princess in Enchanted (2007) — have mined the comedy and pathos of the pathologically optimistic: sweet Pollyanas hoisting their beliefs aloft a rising tide of reality. If her early work came lit up with the infectious inner glow of the one-time believer, her more recent roles — in Doubt and The Master — have flipped that faith on its back like a beetle." — from my interview with Amy Adams in New York magazine
The Life and Death of the Action Hero
The Life And Death Of The Action Hero from Tom Shone on Vimeo. My first video essay for The Guardian.
Carlo Rambaldi died yesterday. From the Guardian's obit:—
'Rambaldi was a pioneer of animatronics (puppets operated mechanically by rods or cables) and mechatronics, which combined mechanical, electronic and system design engineering, all in the days before digital special effects became ubiquitous. "The mystery's gone. It's as if a magician had revealed all of his tricks," he said, expressing his disdain for the digital age. "Digital costs around eight times as much as mechatronics. ET cost a million dollars and we created it in three months. If we wanted to do the same thing with computers, it would take at least 200 people a minimum of five months." To realise the little extraterrestrial, which was capable of 150 separate moves, Rambaldi used steel, polyurethane, rubber, and hydraulic and electronic controls. Rambaldi soon built his reputation in America with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Alien. "He designed the mechanics of the head, made the lips work, made the jaws function," Scott recalled of the latter. "Normally you can't stand to have the camera take a close look at things like this, but it was so good I just did a huge close up on it." Rambaldi, who had worked on Flesh for Frankenstein (aka Andy Warhol's Frankenstein,1973) and Blood for Dracula (Andy Warhol's Dracula, 1974), Italian co-productions shot back-to-back in Serbia, was invited to the US by Dino De Laurentiis, who was producing his 1976 remake of King Kong. De Laurentiis had been impressed by Rambaldi's special effects in Argento's stylish thriller Profondo Rosso (Deep Red, 1975).'
BEST FILM OF 1966: Persona (Bergman)
1. Persona
2. Blow Up
3. Au Hazard Balthazar
4. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
5. Masculin, feminin
REVIEW: The Bourne Legacy (dir. Gilroy)
Things we liked about The Bourne Legacy:—
1. The first hour, but in particular the temporal overlap with the events of The Bourne Ultimatum. A wonderful idea, as nifty in its way as the return to the events of Back to the Future in BTTFII.
2. Renner. I've had my doubts about his transition to franchise hero — his quiddity is curiously hard to bottle — but this came closest to keeping his unpredictable pugnacity intact.
3. Weisz in horn-rims — accent good, mannerisms a little British in places, but by far her best outing in an action pic. More beautiful now she's older.
4. The pleasant, and unfamiliar, smartness of Gilroy's script: Aaron Cross felt two moves ahead of those trying to track him, so all the "who could be doing this?" lines really found their target.
5. The (relatively) non-shaky camerawork — still pretty jazzed, but almost classical by comparison with Greengrass.
6. The casting in the mid-ranks: a lot of great faces, unusual accents. Gilroy knows how to fill out the mid-rankers in corporations / bureaucracies.
7. The spree shooter. A horrifying surprise.
Things we didn't like so much:—
1. Ed Norton, still too preppy to play a bad guy, even more so with that transfixingly awful haircut-and-highlights. What's the matter with using David Strathairn?
2. The bad guy at the end, looking suspiciously like less like a sleeper agent and more like Our Model in Bangkok. All that build-up and he can't even catch up and lay one fist on Renner. Plus he chooses a car to chase a bike.
3. The shaky-cam chase. Almost home and dry and then a relapse.
4. Renner babbling about getting his fix the moment he has saved Weisz. A jolt of unexpected selfishness for her and the audience.
Michael Mann's Top Ten List
Scorsese went for his usual suspects — The Red Shoes, The Leopard, The River — sumptuous, robed filmmaking of the sort diametrically opposed to his own nervy work. Same with Woody Allen who put on his usual show of I-am-not-worthy highbrow-by-numbers circa 1970: The Seventh Seal, Bicycle Thieves, Amarcord. Like James Wolcott, I was pleased with Tarantino's list, in particular His Girl Friday, Jaws, and Dazed & Confused — a wonderful meeting of equals. But Mann really excelled himself with this mixture of technological mould-breakers, old and new:—
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)"Battleship Potemkin" (1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)"Citizen Kane" (1941, dir. Orson Welles)"Avatar" (2009, dir. James Cameron)"Dr. Strangelove" (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick)"Biutiful" (2010, dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)"My Darling Clementine" (1946, dir. John Ford)"The Passion Of Joan Of Arc" (1928, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)"Raging Bull" (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)"The Wild Bunch" (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
On there, only Biutiful baffles, but I am impressed by his choice of My Darling Clementine, The Wild Bunch and Avatar. The best thing about his list is that all of the films on it seem engaged in a conversation with Mann's own work. His hero worship is clean, not self-nullifying. Allen crushes mopily on Bergman and his work is much the worse for it. Likewise, Powell and Visconti have been deleterious influences on Scorsese's own career. But Mann's choices leave his own films looking and feeling great. Thief gets a soul-to-soul transplant from The Passion of Joan of Arc. Heat's set pieces have Potemkin's dazzle. Maybe it's because of all of them — Allen, Coppola, Scorsese — Mann is the closest to his filmmaking prime: he's still in the market for genuine inspiration.
America's disappearing act
My piece for Slate:—
So Spiderman is a Brit and Batman is Welsh. Woody Allen sends postcards home from Paris, Madrid, London. After collecting hosannahs on the international festival circuit, Wes Anderson recently made his first film set on American soil in ten years; next he shoots a “Euro movie” inspired by his love of Europe; for his last movie, even Scorsese came over all Parisien. James Cameron is looking to shoot Avatars 2 and 3 with Chinese money. Oh the French cleaned up at the Oscars last year.
America is having a moment at the movies — an absent moment, a Scarlet Pimpernel moment, a rain check. It used to be one of the great advantages of being filmmaker working in North America: North America. As a setting and a subject, a material source and myth bank, America was in a class of her own. John Ford made 7 films in Monument Valley over 25 years, so much that the 30,000-acre stretch of the Utah-Arizona border became known as John Ford Country. Hitchcock used to bill studios for his vacations, so certain was he of turning up new locations and first thought of dangling a man from Lincoln’s nose on vacation in 1951, almost a decade before he finally came up with the plot of North By Northwest.
By that time the Western had picked up a nasty cough, and we had all moved to the suburbs to sink in front of our TV sets. The filmmakers staked out claims in the big cities like prospectors in the Calfornian panhandle: Kazan’s waterfront, Scorsese’s Little Italy, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Spike Lee’s Brooklyn, Michael Mann’s downtown Los Angeles, mapped out as mythically in Heat and Collateral as Ford’s wild country. Who can match that level of imbededness today? Nobody talks of David Fincher’s Colorado, or Spike Jonze’s Maryland. Quentin Tarantino made three movies set in L.A. —his three best, as it happens: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown — then jetted off into the movie-verse to make Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds. Today’s hip young auteurs are not neighbourhood boys. Alexander Payne and Jason Reitman take pot shots at flyover country from the ironist’s Mile High Club. Darren Aronofsky couldn’t wait to get out of Brighton Beach, after his portrayal of the place as the seventh circle of hell in Requiem for a Dream. In truth, he and Fincher still feel holed up in their bedrooms, downloading hardcore, or staring into the abyss like Christopher Walken in Annie Hall: venture up there alone and there is a high chance they will be there a week from now, a polite smile on your face as they show you their dictionary of flesh wounds.
Amongst their generation, maybe only the Coens are out there taking soil samples, dirtying their mud-flaps with Mississippi in the 1930s (Oh Brother Where Art Thou?), Arkansas in the 1880s (True Grit), Los Angeles in the 1940s (Barton Fink), Minnesota in the 1960s (A Serious Man),Texas in the 1980s (Blood Simple, No Country For Old Men), and — in their latest — the Greenwich village folk scene of the 1960s (Inside Lewellyn Davis). It’s quite a patchwork quilt they’ve stitched together, reliant for its charm on the brothers’ unique ear for vernacular, their eye for local exotica, and their staunch refusal to feel anywhere at home. They are strangers in a strange land, viewing their homeland through the alienated squint of the outsider — one reason why their work is such a hit overseas.
But the backyard movie — the one made in a filmmaker’s backyard, using every last crumb of personal autobiography, every last neighbourhood character and piece of local apocrypha, the film which says: here I am, this is where I come from, look — that is a dying breed. Lena Dunham made Tiny Furniture and was immediately snapped by HBO, which has largely stepped into the breach. TV is our national chronicler now. Americans used to go to movie theatres to see themselves on screen — in national epics like Once Upon a Time in America, The Godfather, Do The Right Thing, even Forrest Gump, Lord help us — but these days, anyone hungry for any view of New York that doesn’t consist of seeing it smashed to smithereens by superheroes, must watch Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire. Nobody’s complaining exactly, but amongst today’s filmmakers, maybe only James Gray has shown any interest in drawing strength from his roots, drawing up loamy goodness from the pebbly subsoil of Brighton Beach in Little Odessa, Two Lovers and We Own The Night. It may even be the reason he is not better known. The Russian immigrant guy? Films with Joaquin Phoenix all the time? Oh that guy.
In France, of course, he is lionized. Gray is currently at work editing his first period melodrama, set in the vaudeville of 1920s New York and starring Marion Cotillard, Phoenix and Jeremy Renner. “The disconnectedness that you’re talking about, part of it is on purpose because the studios want to appeal to a global audience,” he told me when I caught up with him recently. “The foreign box office is more important now. The studios have been purchased by much larger multi nationals, who demand a movie makes a billion dollars. When you make a franchise, when you have to make a four quadrant movie, that appeals to everyone its very difficult to be specific in terms of your setting. The more generic the better for box office. It cuts to the heart of what ails movies.”
We’ve heard this story before, in books like Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders Raging Bulls: how the summer blockbuster de-cored the American film industry like an apple, with the executives spitting out auteurs like pips. In Biskind’s book, the conflict was inter-generational, a tale of Two Americas: straights versus the squares, auteurs versus the suits. But for most of the eighties and nineties, Hollywood still bore a passing resemblance to the industry that had made Stagecoach, Casablanca and The Godfather: an film industry indigenous to North American, making American films for American audiences. That all changed with Jurassic Park in 1993, the first year in which Hollywood’s foreign earnings out-paced it’s domestic ones — a historic tip of the see-saw. Executives’ ears pricked up: the new wild west was overseas. Since then, it’s been a story of rapid, exponential growth: foreign revenues counted for 64% percent of the total in 2009, 66% in 2010, 69% in 2011 — pushed up there by Avatar, tellingly a remake of Dances with Wolves, in space — and now rests at a staggering 70%, an industry-reconfiguring statistic. In a recent piece for the New York Times, Michael Cieply observed:— “Last year Hollywood’s top 20 domestic box office performers included just two movies — “The Help” and “Bridesmaids” — with realistic stories about American life, contemporary or otherwise, according to boxofficemojo.com. The rest took place in a fantasy world, like “Thor,” or abroad, like “The Hangover Part II” and “Fast Five.” In 1992, by contrast, 15 of the 20 best-selling American films were rooted in realistic, if sometimes twisted, American experiences. Those included “Sister Act,” “Lethal Weapon 3,” “A League of Their Own,” “Unforgiven” and “Boomerang,” all of which were released from May to August of that year.” In other words: Forget Stage Coach. It’s when Sister Act disappears that we need to be worried.
The ironies here are legion. There were the French in 1993, up in arms about Jurassic Park, with Gerard Depardieu claiming “the movie industry in the United States is like a war machine”, casting Spielberg’s film as a Trojan Horse filled with Hollywood infantrymen, all bearing check books and smiles, eager to infiltrate heads of the little lycée children. Well, it was a Trojan horse, but it wasn’t bearing down on Paris, but Los Angeles. The film industry under threat was not France’s but America’s. Instead of French waving baguettes at Jurassic Park, Americans should this year be protesting foreign audiences for turning BattleShip into a hit. The film was a bomb at the North American box office when it was released earlier this year —a "two-hour infomercial that should do wonders for naval recruiting if not civilian entertainment” said Kenneth Turan of the LA Times — but not overseas it wasn’t, raking in $236 million, which meant Hasbro got stung, but not nearly as much as it needed to get stung in to stop more Battleships coming down the pike. The only ones interested in seeing Americans play the role of jingoistic, militaristic roid-heads, it seems, are non-Americans. The right-wingers turned out to be right, after a fashion: no longer the indigenous film industry of North America, Hollywood is now the world’s jukebox, pumping out what Michael Eisner once called “planetized entertainement.” It’s one reason Oscars have turned into such a mad scramble of late, even fishing overseas for quality crowd-pleasers — The Artist, The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire — while reserving a spot on the nominations for something flinty and home-spun from the indie-world: two year’s ago it was Winter’s Bone, which plunged audiences into the meth labs of the Ozarks.
This year it is most likely to be Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, which takes us deep into the swamplands of Lousiana. Together they almost amount to a new genre: the American Exotic, mixing myth and magic realism to trawl the furthermost reaches of the American disaster-zone for wide-eyed urban audiences, the same way they used to trawl the Third World. Even the genre is telling: magic realism used to be the genre of South America, not the North, the way storytellers make sense of the everyday absurdities and violent disparities of the developing world. That the genre has found any purchase on the Northern American continent is a subtle but damning indictment, both of how broken-down America has gotten around its edges, but also of his just how foreign the country now seems, even to Americans. It’s a whole other world out there. Somebody really out to make a movie about it.
Did movies cause Aurora?
My column for The Guardian:—
Everyone’s a critic, as the say — except when national tragedy hits a movie theatre, and they all become Sociology Professors. The recent shooting in Aurora has loosed a spreading oil-slick of opinion as to its causes and conditions. Some want an end to midnight screenings. Others want costumes banned in theatres. Opponents of movie violence have, meanwhile, piled onto the scrum. “The body count in pictures is huge. It numbs the audience into thinking it's not so terrible,” director Peter Bogdonavich told The Hollywood Reporter. “Violence on the screen has increased tenfold. It's almost pornographic. In fact, it is pornographic. It's all out of control. I can see where it would drive somebody crazy.”
That’s how it always goes with arguments about movie violence. It’s always someone else being desensitized — it’s always “them,” those “others”, or “us” — never the person who wants it toned down. It’s never “me.” I’ve been desensitized. I’ve been numbed. “A million violent movies have the cumulative power to desensitize and destabilize, to make things worse, and that’s what we’ve been seeing the past quarter century or so, the million movies,” argued Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal, nevertheless failing to find herself, or her readers, among the impressionable. “You can go to a horror movie and be entertained or amused,” she argued. “But there are unstable people among us, and they are less defended against dark cultural messages.”
There are actually three arguments here, posing as one. The first is that movies have gotten more violent; and the more violent they’ve gotten, the more desensitized we’ve grown; thus necessitating more violent violence. This is unarguable. The climax of Bonnie and Clyde, which so riled everyone in 1968, looks kind of tame today, with lots of rolling and writhing of the kind parodied by Jean Luc Godard in Bande à part. Violence is like inflation, or the news, or fish. It doesn’t keep. In ten years time that is exactly how the latest Tarantino will look: yesterday’s violence, yesterday’s news.
The second argument, running alongside the first and occasionally called on to fill in the gaps, is that movie violence desensitizes us to the real thing: all those gunshots onscreen make us less likely to appreciate the gravity of actual bullets. “A hundred studies have demonstrated conclusively that viewing violence on the screen increases aggression in those who watch it, particularly children,” pointed out Carl Cannon at RealClearPolitics.
This, too, is unarguable: exposure to violent films leads, in the short term, to more aggressive behavior. In one test, a group of subjects"received either an insulting or neutral evaluation of themselves from their supposed partner and then watched either a prize fight or an exciting but nonaggressive scene. After this, they either had an opportunity to evaluate their partner right away or they had to wait an hour before evaluating him. On scoring the subjects' written statements about the partner it was found that (1) for those given the immediate opportunity to be aggressive, the violent movie increased the strength of the angered subjects' initial attack on their partner over that displayed by the similarly insulted men shown the nonaggressive film; (2) if the angry subjects had to wait an hour before evaluating their partner, there was no difference between the aggressive and nonaggressive movie groups". In other words: after watching a boxing match you are more likely to get you into an argument with your partner, not less.
All that is common sense. You probably already knew as much. There is an intergalactic space-field of difference, however, between “arguing with your partner” and “pointing a a semi-automatic assault rifle at a six-year-old and squeezing the trigger” as Holmes did. The very thought is revolting to most people, so counter to our hard-wiring does it run, so much so that even reading that last sentence probably lit up your amygdala — the part of the brain that deals with emotional response: empathy, remorse, guilt and the like. It’s also the part of the brain that is largely dormant in psychopaths like Columbine shooter Eric Harris. “His brain was never scanned, but it probably would have shown activity unrecognizable as human to most neurologists,” writes Dave Cullen in his remarkable book, Columbine. Nobody yet knows quite what Holmes is — he could turn out to be schizophrenic — but the highest likelihood is that he is same genetic misfire as Harris, a psychopath, identifiable by two major distinguishing characteristics. “The first is a ruthless disregard for others; they will defraud, maim, or kill for the most trivial personal gain. The second is an astonishing gift for disguising the first.”
Their whole personality is a lie, undetectable often to the parents who raised them. “A correlation exists between psychopaths and unstable homes — and violence upbringings seem to turn fledgling psychopaths more vicious. But current data suggests those conditions do not cause the psychopathy; they only make a bad situation worse… Symptoms appear so early, and so often in stable homes with normal siblings, that the condition seems to be inborn.”
To conflate the inhuman lack of affect which afflicts psychopath short-term desensitization felt by a normal person watching violent movies is a mistake: psychopaths cannot be desensitized. There's nothing to desensitize. As Martin Amis observed in the New Yorker in 1994, movies are “unlikely to affect anything but the style” of their atrocities. Harris and Klebold may have geeked out over their “really cool” double-barreled shotguns because it reminded them of the Tarantino-produced Desperado, but in many ways their movie-fandom was one the more normal thing about them — spookily normal, in the same way that their pause for soda in the cafeteria was — but normal nonetheless.
What was abnormal about them is a very hard thing to understand, in part because the condition shreds all human understanding: it’s like trying to empathize with a black hole. At the same time, national tragedies demand answers, so people turn to things they can understand. They blame violent movies, or videogames, or midnight screenings, or lax gun laws, or bullies, or Satan, although only one of those things measured up in the mind of Eric Harris as an antagonist worthy of his time and attention. “Fuck you Brady” he wrote in his journal of the Brady Bill, which put in place a series of background check for anyone purchasing firearms, “thanks to your fucking bill I will probably not get any!” He didn’t want to draw undue attention to himself before he pulled the trigger, although he did write a school paper in which he probed the Brady Bill for loopholes, and found them: it only applied to licensed dealers, he found, not private dealers or gun shows. “The FBI have just shot themselves in the foot,” he concluded.
The bulk of the arsenal they used would end up being purchased at Tanner Gun show. “We… have…. GUNS!” he wrote in his journal. “We fuckin’ got ‘em you sons of bitches!” The only thing illegal about them was their barrel length.
BEST FILM of 1965: Chimes at Midnight
1. Chimes at Midnight
2. Repulsion
3. Pierrot le fou
4. The Battle of Algiers
5. Darling
6. The Hill
7. Doctor Zhivago
8. The Ipcress File
9. The Cincinnati Kid
10. What's New, Pussycat?
Between silent scorn and a hard place
I have been dragging my feet about commenting on the new Sight and Sound poll but here it is, unignorable.
2. “Citizen Kane”
3. “Tokyo Story”
4. “La Regle du jeu”
5. “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”
6. “2001: A Space Odyssey”
7. “The Searchers”
8. “Man with a Movie Camera”
9. “The Passion of Joan of Arc”
10. “8 1/2″
Obviously I'm pleased that Hitchcock has supplanted Welles's cold marvel, although there at least three Hitchcock films I would rather they had chosen (Notorious, Rear Window, North by Northwest). Vertigo has always struck me as the Hitchcock film for those who don't really like Hitchcock all that much (it's long, hasn't got much in the way of jokes and the plot doesn't work, when he is known for his economy, wit and storytelling), or at the least wish very much that he had been French. I'm a little bit pleased to see The Godfather knocked out, finding that film's all conquering supremacy — over Chinatown? Badlands? — undeserved. I'm surprised to see Sunrise still holding strong and appalled to see 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick's worst film, anywhere near the top ten. But then the whole thing strikes me as a list coming from an airless parallel universe populated only by critics (Man With the Movie Camera?) but bearing zero resemblance to the fond, messy space with badly-put-up bookshelves, To Do Lists and ironing occupied by everyone else. No musicals, no comedies, no Chaplin, no Wilder, no Truffaut, no Lynch, no Spielberg, no Malick, nothing besides crummy Kubrick from the last half century of film, for crying out loud.... doh! I can't believe I did this. I engaged. When silent scorn was almost mine.
You may call me Adjunct Professor...
... as of Labor Day, I will be teaching a recitation class on the Language of Film as part of the Cinema Studies department at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Friends attempting to disguise themselves as students with Nicolas Cage quiffs in order to hear my fresh-minted oratory will be kept after class and made to watch Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev repeatedly. Wives expecting to gain a B.A. in Cinema Studies on the basis that they "get to hear this shit at home" will be awarded a hand-crafted certificate of merit.
Paul Newman at the Venice Film Festival in 1963, a...
Francois Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Léaud while shoo...
Carlo Rambaldi died yesterday. From the Guardian's...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2021
|
__label__cc
| 0.598334
| 0.401666
|
Cool, Just Login.
New to Turkeybet?
Sign up now, it's easy!
Email Username Password Confirm password First name Last name Date of birth DD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 MM January February March April May June July August September October November December YY 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957 1956 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1938 1937 1936 1935 1934 1933 1932 1931 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1925 1924 1923 1922 1921 1920 Zip code City Address Mobile number Personal question Personal answer
I am over 18 years of age and have read and accepted responsible gambling and conditions
Bayern MunichVSHertha Berlin
1.24 Bayern Munich 6.90 Draw 12.50 Hertha Berlin
1.06 Bayern Munich or Draw 1.12 Bayern Munich or Hertha Berlin 4.10 Draw or Hertha Berlin
1.01 Over 0.5 24.00 Under 0.5
1.12 Over 1.5 5.45 Under 1.5
9.00 1 - 0 6.60 2 - 0
9.80 3 - 1 26.00 3 - 2
11.00 4 - 0 14.00 4 - 1
5.40 Other
1.60 Bayern Munich -1 4.25 Draw (Bayern Munich -1)
4.10 Hertha Berlin +1 1.06 Bayern Munich +1
9.25 Draw (Bayern Munich +1) 25.00 Hertha Berlin -1
2.20 Hertha Berlin +2
1.06 Bayern Munich 7.50 Hertha Berlin
Half Time / Full Time
1.68 Bayern Munich / Bayern Munich 4.00 Draw / Bayern Munich
23.00 Hertha Berlin / Bayern Munich 22.00 Bayern Munich / Draw
12.00 Draw / Draw 27.00 Hertha Berlin / Draw
27.00 Draw / Hertha Berlin 24.00 Hertha Berlin / Hertha Berlin
© turkybet.com. All rights reserved.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2023
|
__label__wiki
| 0.692355
| 0.692355
|
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, you can contact us at privacy@ and include ‘Privacy Policy’ in the subject line.
participate in and have certified its compliance with the E.U.-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. is committed to subjecting all Personal Information received from European Union (E.U.) member countries and Switzerland, in reliance on the Privacy Shield Framework, to the Framework’s applicable principles. To learn more about the Privacy Shield Framework, please visit the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Privacy Shield List. is responsible for the processing of Personal Information it receives under the Privacy Shield Framework and subsequent transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf. complies with the Privacy Shield principles for all onward transfers of Personal Information from the E.U. and Switzerland, including the onward transfer liability provisions. With respect to Personal Information received or transferred pursuant to the Privacy Shield Framework, is subject to the regulatory enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In certain situations, may be required to disclose Personal Information in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. If you are a European individual with a privacy related complaint, concern or question about ’ privacy practices, please contact us by writing to privacy@ (must include “Privacy Policy” in the subject line) and we will respond within a reasonable time after receiving your request. Under certain conditions, more fully described on the Privacy Shield website, European individuals may invoke binding arbitration when other dispute resolution procedures have been exhausted.
You may contact us at the addresses set out below or by emailing privacy@
If you are an EU resident, you may contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@
privacy@
Our Data Protection Officer may be contacted at dpo@.
Tuesday, June 25th 2019 – 00:04:23 AM
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2024
|
__label__wiki
| 0.656128
| 0.656128
|
February 21 – August 17, 2014
Feb–Mar
Apr–May
May–Jul
Jul–Aug
If the practice of Pierre Huyghe (b. 1962, Paris) were a metaphysical equation, it could read: what is = +/– growth. Huyghe infects matter with memory, whether in the melodic voice of Lucie Dolène, the invented customs of a new town, or the biotope of psychoactive plants, a roaming dog, and bees returning to their hive on a statue’s head. His somethings—expediently called “art”—expose us to systems that grow and leak; they propel us beyond the known and towards what may be.
For this eighth season of The Artist’s Institute, we are in a process of thinking with Huyghe, becoming sensitive to the varying intensities of spiders, temperatures, rat songs, lectures, pheromones, texts, and time together. This dynamic embodied experience puts us under the influence of human and inhuman forces, and of fictions that may, over time, seep into reality and de-script what we thought we knew.
Suspending our need for a resolution, or even for an exhibition, we follow what emerges, day by day, from a basement beneath the street.
February 21 – March 30, 2014
Morphogenesis refers to the way that matter generates form. The morphogenesis of an egg, for example, involves a complex process by which columns of calcite stack side by side to surround a membrane. It is how the skeletal remains of sea creatures aggregate in shallow warm waters, eventually forming the crystalline compounds we call limestone. Rather than the shape of a thing being imposed from the outside, there is life proper to matter itself—an an immanent potential for novelty and invention.
We can only ever anticipate the spontaneous self-generation of form. It surprises us, as it grows and bubbles from within. The same may be said for what lies here in the basement at the beginning of our season with Pierre Huyghe.… Read more
We can only ever anticipate the spontaneous self-generation of form. It surprises us, as it grows and bubbles from within. The same may be said for what lies here in the basement at the beginning of our season with Pierre Huyghe.
February 20, 7.30pm, Dance for Radium.
When the sun sets, a dance for Marie Curie.
February 21 – August 17
Pheromone.
The German biochemist Adolf Butenandt spent twenty years researching the female silkworm moth, otherwise known as Bombyx mori. During this period he noticed that the moths emitted certain chemicals that triggered social interactions within their species. In 1959, these chemicals were given the name “pheromones.”
In the restricted space of subterranean tunnels, odor is trapped for a much longer period than in outdoor areas, making it an ideal way to mark territory. Rats, for example, leave traces of urine in their environment. Smelling one of these marks, other rats are able to distinguish details like social status, sex, and sexual state of the individual who has effectively left its chemical calling card.
Inside The Artist’s Institute, a sex pheromone from the clitoral gland of female brown rats has been applied to select areas of the walls and floor. It is an ovulation-indication chemosignal that acts as a scent mark for the male. It is a clear, colorless to light-yellow liquid with a chemical nomenclature of (2E,6E,10E,14E,18E,22E) -2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyl -2,6,10,14,18,22-tetracosahexaene, more commonly known as squalene. Rats are not the only creatures attracted to squalene: cockroaches are too.
Hole for Rats.
In the first part of the twentieth century, there were three types of rats living in New York City: the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), which lives in burrows and stays close to the ground; the black or ship rat (Rattus rattus), which prefers attics and maritime life; and the roof rat (Rattus rattus alexandrinus), a subspecies of the black rat. At the present time, there is only one kind. The brown rat ate or otherwise killed all its underground opponents.
This hole, which connects to an interstitial space beneath the gallery floor, is perfectly sized for a rat.
Spiders.
The cool crevices of basements are a veritable oasis for the Pholcidae or Cellar spider. When it senses a visitor entering its territory, it begins to vibrate. Flexing its legs and pumping its body in a circular motion, it transforms into a blurry optical illusion that confuses predators. Pholcidae are trompe l’oeil tricksters, too. When food is scarce, they search out the webs of their neighbors and extend their legs with a “tap, tap, tap.” In spider-language, “tap” means “I’m trapped,” from an insect as it struggles to escape its fate. When the web’s owner comes over to retrieve its fake-prey, the cellar spider is waiting. The trap sprung, it captures and eats its fellow spider.Fly Electrocutor.
Fernando Ortega, Untitled, 2003. Fly electrocutor device, 26 × 13 × 4 inches. Courtesy the artist and kurimanzutto, mexico city
Every time an insect is attracted to the light and gets electrocuted, the room plunges into temporary darkness.
Dress For Radium Dance.
Loie Fuller (1862–1928) was well known in Paris for her dancing. One of her most famous dances Le Papillon earned her the nickname the Butterfly Girl, because she used a flowing gown to simulate the delicate movements of the winged creature in flight. Fuller was also well known for her pyrotechnics. A friend of Marie Curie, she was inquisitive about the properties of radium, which she thought would give her stage costumes a special glow. Though Curie discouraged her from experimenting with the toxic substance, Fuller insisted on applying phosphorescent salts to a dress in her laboratory. To thank her chemist-host, she performed a radium dance only for her.
Limestone.
Most limestone is produced through a natural version of collecting seashells. The skeletal remains of sea creatures aggregate in shallow, warm waters forming its crystalline compound of calcium carbonate. The sedimentary rock appears in various forms: it was used to build the Great Pyramids and is consumed by birds as a nutrient for strengthening their bones and form their eggs. At the same time, it is relatively fragile and easily re-dispersed through acid erosion and biological metabolism. By virtue of its abundant and protean character, limestone can be conceived of as a kind of medium for slowly recirculating the history of maritime life through our material and ecological landscape.
Oxygen.
Oxygen makes up approximately 20–21 percent by volume of room air. Two thirds of the human body, by mass, is oxygen, and it is essential for most organic and inorganic life. Yet the anxieties sewn into its historical descriptions are not inaccurate: alone, oxygen is highly explosive and when bonded with any number of other elements, it becomes corrosive.
Fertile Egg.
Once the bird lays its egg, it is viable for 14–17 days if stored in a cool dark place at 50–60 degrees Fahrenheit. This egg was purchased on eBay from Barn of Angels in North Dakota. It will hatch an extra-extra-small bird.
99.5 Degrees.
A constant 99.5 degrees must be kept for the embryo to reach full maturity. The incubator regulates itself with a digital thermostat and a built-in fan. In addition to maintaining the internal temperature of the device, it is crucial that the external temperature of The Artist’s Institute stays relatively constant throughout the incubation period. A room temperature of 70–80 degrees is ideal, and fresh air without drafts is necessary. No direct sunlight should strike the incubator.The Artist’s Institute is at the bottom of a four-story apartment building and can get quite cold. New York City landlords are only obligated by law to provide heat to residential tenants, leaving commercial renters the responsibility to warm their spaces by whatever means available. As a basement, The Artist’s Institute has few options. It currently uses the free heat emanating off the pipes running along its walls and ceilings, though it is hardly reliable. New York is experiencing record-low temperatures this winter. On January 7 it was a mere 4 degrees Fahrenheit in Central Park, the coldest the city had been since 1896.
March 8, 11am–5pm, Symposium.
A compressed history of Pierre Huyghe will unfold as a series of case studies presented by his interlocutors, each of whom have developed thinking around particular works. It will be held at The Artist’s Institute, whose diminutive scale will allow for a more intimate exchange of ideas than is usually possible in this format. Seating is first-come, first-served. A recording will be available online in mid March.
11am, Session One
Tom McDonough (Snow White Lucie, The Third Memory, No Ghost Just a Shell); Julieta Aranda (Mobile and The Castle of Turing); Sinziana Ravini (The Host and the Cloud) Discussion, moderated by Alex Kitnick
2.30pm, Session Two
Liam Gillick (The Association of Freed Time); Lynne Cooke (Streamside Day); Dorothea von Hantelmann (Untilled) Discussion, moderated by Jenny Jaskey
March 8, CV.
Pierre Joseph, CV, 1999, A4 inkjet print on photo paper. Courtesy the artist
A fittingly non-comprehensive and unreasonably modest C.V. for the quietly influential French artist Pierre Joseph. Using a kind of elliptical recursion, the single page print-out is an experiment in biography that manages to simultaneously tell us nearly nothing and almost everything about Joseph and his practice. That is, his most obvious successes as an artist are denied any priority over a list of quotidian jobs working on conveyer belts and telecommunications systems that still do more to explain the forms of his art than any list of exhibitions might hope to do. The themes of transmission, personal presentation, and exposure, central to Joseph’s work are all here, though recoded at the level of form as well as content.
March 9, Hatch Day.
March 14, 7pm, Angelique Corthals on Copper Man.
In 1899, the body of a man was discovered at Chuquicamata, Chile, the largest open pit copper mine in the world. It was an especially startling discovery, because his dessicated body appeared to include copper ions that had migrated from the copper to his system, providing somewhat of an antifungal effect and thus leaving the body well preserved—a hybrid of human flesh and metal. Through carbon-14 analysis, researchers believe he lived in 550 CE.The industrialist J. P. Morgan purchased the Copper Man and brought it to New York, to the American Museum of Natural History, in 1905, where it has rested ever since. Dr. Angelique Corthals, a renowned forensic anthropologist who conducted research on the Copper Man, will come to The Artist’s Institute to share more about its social and natural histories, as well as the fossilization process.
March 21–30, Video.
Camille Henrot, Deep Inside, 2007. Video, felt tip on film, 7 min., music by Benjamin Morando, song written by Nicolas Ker & Camille Henrot. Courtesy the artist and Kamel Mennour, ParisHeads and hearts and hands fill the frames of Camille Henrot’s video Deep Inside. Taking an old reel of 35 mm film and a thick black marker, the artist draws her sentimental pictures frame by frame on the celluloid. The film stock is of classic 1970s porn, and so her innocent drawings are re-animated through their juxtaposition with hot sex. The artist’s Frankenstein-like manipulations lend a strange effect to the images that waver between absence and presence, where the pleasure of looking is both deep inside and from without.
Reduce text
April 1 – May 18, 2014
Although light is flowing all around us, we can only perceive a sliver of it. Radioactive explosions, sun rays, and the transmissions of a cell phone are all light waves—they differ only according to the frequency and energy of their vibrations. Dial up the energy of a radio wave, and humans will begin to see the colors of the rainbow in it. Dial it up again, and X-Ray machines can make images of bones. How something is experienced often has to do with whether its frequency is in or out of range.
This month, things in the basement will begin to vibrate. Pulsing oxygen molecules will produce a familiar yet indiscernible scent, underwater insects will sing in ultrasounds, and a philosopher will consider what it means for a thing to be more or less intensely itself.… Read more
This month, things in the basement will begin to vibrate. Pulsing oxygen molecules will produce a familiar yet indiscernible scent, underwater insects will sing in ultrasounds, and a philosopher will consider what it means for a thing to be more or less intensely itself.
April 1, 6pm – 8pm
Influenza.
Influenza is a highly infectious disease characterized by fever, body aches, and a sore throat that lasts one to two weeks, sometimes progressing to the more serious respiratory condition Pneumonia. The flu occurs typically produces annual epidemics during the winter months, where lower air humidity and increased indoor confinement allows for the virus to spread more easily through its primary means: aerosol dispersion through coughing, sneezing, and talking that can transmit the illness up to six feet away.
While infectiousness is usually highest at the peak of the Flu’s symptoms, hosts are capable of spreading the virus a day before becoming symptomatic and a third of those carrying it show no symptoms whatsoever.
The Mosquito.
The Mosquito is an alarm that emits high-frequency sound waves only humans under age 25 can hear. It was originally conceived to ward off teens from loitering, vandalism and graffiti. Its high pitch tone needs between five and fifteen minutes to take effect, depending on ambient noise. Although harmless, the Mosquito has been controversial on the basis of discrimination against young people. In 2006, a year after the Mosquito was invented, young people created the “Teen Buzz,” a cellphone application that used similar high-frequency sounds, enabling them to communicate without adults’ knowledge.
Documentary.
Ryan Gander, And You Will Be Changed (Centre Pompidou, Paris), 2014. In this documentary video, curator Emma Lavigne gives a tour of Pierre Huyghe’s retrospective at the Pompidou in Paris after its deinstallation, imaging the works and speaking as if they were still there.
Scent.
Sean Raspet, CCCCCCCC=O CCCCCCC(=O)C // (Phantom Ringtone), 2013-2014, fragrance formulation in Propylene Glycol, 15-gallon HDPE container. Courtesy Société Berlin
The script of the two chemical compounds in this fragrant solution, Octanal and 2-Octanone, differ only in the location of a single oxygen molecule.
Together they form a synthetic scent capturing the minimal difference between two nearly identical artificial odors used for flavoring and perfume.
Such an admixture is in constant chemical vibration, as the incessant back-and-forth of a single molecule produces a commensurate olfactory experience that is both intense and fleeting: redolent of familiar plants and foods but without ever settling into specificity. If artificial odors are typically used mimetically to stimulate easy recognition, their convergence here produces a prototypical encounter with abstraction–the halting experience of falling in and out of apperception.
Blue Bird Droppings.
Etienne Chambaud, Additive Expression, 2013. Induced colored bird feces, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artistFor the next six-weeks, Lower East Side birds will shit in hues of deep sky, International Klein Blue, sapphire and azure.
Artist Etienne Chambaud has provided thirty pounds of dried blue bird seeds for the windowbox of The Artist’s Institute and for a stretch of grass in the Sara D. Roosevelt Park nearby. On average, a well-fed pigeon deposits twenty-five pounds of droppings a year. Readdressed to a human eye’s attention, blue bird droppings will turn into drippings, an “additive expression” in blue that may soon appear on buildings, taxis, benches and passersby as the weeks wear on.
Housefly.
The Musca domestica, commonly known as the housefly, is one of the most widely distributed insects. Over its life cycle, the housefly goes through a complete metamorphosis, beginning as milky-white maggot that feeds on things like moist garbage, open wounds, and animal excrement. Within ten days, it searches for dryer environs, where it grows a reddish-brown skin, from which a fully developed fly hatches three to six days later.
Because of their proximity to places like dumps, sewers, garbage heaps, and fecal matter, a single house fly can carry over 100 pathogens, including those which lead to typhoid, cholera, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, anthrax, and parasitic worms.
Text.
Selections from Jakob von Uexkull, (1934). “A Stroll through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture of Invisible Worlds.” In C. Schiller (ed.), Instinctive Behavior, New York, International Universities Press, 1957.
Visual Space
Eyeless animals who, like the tick, have a photosensitive skin probably have identical skin regions to produce local signs for both light stimuli and tactile stimuli. Visual and tactile loci coincide in their world.
Only in animals with eyes are visual and tactile space distinctly segregated. In the retina of the eye, a very small elementary section, the visual elements lie close together. Each element of vision has a corresponding place in the Umwelt, since there is a local sign for each visual element.
It is clear that, owing to the global structure of the eye, the section of the environment that reaches one visual element grows with increasing distance, and that ever more comprehensive parts of the environment are covered by one place. In consequence, objects receding from the eye become smaller and smaller, until they shrink to a single locus, at which point they vanish. For the place or locus represents the smallest spatial vessel within which there are no differences.
In tactile space, objects do not grow smaller. And this is where visual and tactile space enter into conflict. A cup grasped with the outstretched arm and guided to the lips grows in visual space, but does not change its size in tactile space. In this case tactile space predominates, because an impartial observer does not see the cup grow.
The roving eye, like the feeling hand, spreads a subtle mosaic of places, or sites over all the things in the subject’s world. The delicacy of this mosaic depends on the number of visual elements, which grasp the same sector of the environment.
Since the number of visual elements varies greatly in the eyes of different animals, the place-mosaics in their environments must differ correspondingly. The coarser the place-mosaic, the more details will be lost, and the world as seen through the eyes of a fly must appear considerably cruder than it does to the human eye.
Since any image can be transformed into a place-mosaic by superimposing a fine mesh or lattice on it, this method makes it possible to render the differences between the place-mosaics of various animal eyes.
By diminishing a picture more and more, photographing it again with the same lattice, and then re-enlarging it, we shall obtain a progressively coarser mosaic. Since the lattice photographed with the picture is disturbing, the coarser mosaic-images have been reproduced as watercolors, without the lattice. Figures 9a to 9d were made by the lattice method. They enable us to gain insight into the world of an animal if we know the number of visual elements in its eye. Figure 9c corresponds roughly to the image furnished by the eye of a housefly. It is easy to see that in a world which contains so few details, the threads of a cobweb must vanish completely, and we may say: the spider spins a web that remains totally invisible to its prey.
The Farthest Place
Unlike operation and tactile space, visual space is surrounded by an impenetrable wall, which we call the horizon or farthest plane. Sun, moon and stars wander without any difference in depth on the same most distant plane, which surrounds all visible things. The location of the farthest plane is not rigidly fixed. When I took my first walk out of doors after a serious case of typhoid, the farthest plane hung down before me at a distance of about twenty meters, like a colorful tapestry on which all visible things were depicted. Beyond the twenty meters, there were no nearer and farther objects, only larger and smaller one. Even the cars that drove past me did not become more remote, only smaller as soon as they reached the farthest plane.
When the lens muscles are contracted, “forward” directional signs appear. When the elastic lens distends the relaxing muscles, directional signs appear which signal “backwards.” When the muscles are totally relaxed, the eye is set for a range of from ten meters to infinity. Through the muscular movements, we recognize the things in our environment as being near or far within a radius of ten meters. Outside this orbit, objects at first become only larger or smaller. The infant’s visual space ends here with a farthest plane that encompasses his entire world. Only gradually, step by step, do we learn to push back the most distant plane with the aid of distance signs, until, at a distance of 6 to 8 km., it sets a limit to the adult’s visual space, too, and the horizon begins.
The difference between the visual spaces of a child and a grownup is portrayed in Figure 10, which reproduces an experience described by Helmboltz. He reports that as a little boy he was passing the Potsdam garrison church, and noticed some workmen on the gallery. Thereupon he asked his mother to reach down some of the little dolls for him. Church and workmen were already on his farthest plane, and so were not distant, but small. Thus he had every reason to believe that his mother could fetch the puppets down from the gallery with her long arm. He did not know that in his mother’s world the church had altogether different dimensions and that the people on the gallery were not small, but far away. It is hard to decide where the farthest plane begins in the Umwelt of an animal, for it is difficult to determine experimentally at what point an object approaching the subject in his environment becomes nearer as well as larger in his specific world. Attempts at catching flies show that the approaching human hand makes them fly away only when it is about half a meter from them. Accordingly, it would seem justifiable to suppose that their farthest plane is at this distance.
But other observations suggest that the most remote plane also appears in other ways in the housefly’s world. We know that flies do not simply circle around a hanging lamp or chandelier, but interrupt their flight abruptly whenever they have flown half a meter or so away, and then fly close by or under it again. This behavior is like that of a yachtsman who is anxious to stay within sight of an island.
Now the eye of a fly (Fig. 11) is built in such a way that its visual elements (rhabdoms) are long nerve configurations, which must intercept the image projected by their lenses at varying depths, depending on the distance of the object seen. Exner has surmised that we might here be dealing with a substitute for the muscular lens apparatus of the human eye. Assuming that the optic apparatus made up of the fly’s visual elements functions as a portrait lens, the chandelier would vanish at a certain distance, and thus cause the fly to return. As an illustration of this phenomenon, compare Figures 12 and 13, which represent a chandelier photographed without and with a portrait lens.
Whether the farthest plane encloses visual space in this or another manner—it is always there. We may therefore picture all the animals around us, be they beetles, butterflies, flies, mosquitoes or dragonflies that people a meadow, enclosed within soap bubbles, which confine their visual space and contain all that is visible to them. Each soap bubble harbors different loci, and in each there exist the directional planes of operational space, which give its space a solid framework. The fluttering birds, the squirrels leaping from branch to branch, or the cows that browse in the meadows—all remain permanently surrounded by their soap bubbles, which define their own space.
Only when this fact is clearly grasped shall we recognize the soap bubble which encloses each of us as well. Then we shall also see all our fellow men in their individual soap bubbles, which intersect each other smoothly, because they are built up of subjective perceptual signs There is no space independent of subjects. If we still cling to the fiction of an all-encompassing universal space, we do so only because this conventional fable facilitates mutual communication.
April 20, 6pm, Tristan Garcia on Intensity.
As philosopher Tristan Garcia understands it, there is a way to think about a universe of pure extensity, where each entity would be part of another, that would be part of another, and so on. Here nothing would ever belong to itself, but anything would belong to something else: being unidentifiable, each entity related to itself would already be another one. Extensity would be the name of an endless nightmarish extension of entities without identity and without intensity.
Garcia, whose book Forme et Objet (2011) is released in English translation this month, will speak at The Artist’s Institute about how identity, far from being neutral, is a tension comprised of entities about to disseminate themselves into myriads of distinct things indifferent to one another. Logical identity, temporal identity, and organic identity are several versions of what makes a single object out of several things. Since nothing is ever absolutely itself, everything is subjected to variation and, compared to itself, a thing is never mistaken for itself: it’s more or less itself, it’s intense.
April 20, 7.30pm, Ultrasound.
Jana Winderen, Out of Range, 2014, 40 min., courtesy Touch.
When flying around a cave, a bat generates ultrasound to find its way. These sonic calls range in frequency from 14,000 to over 100,000 Hz, pinging off walls and creating a highly complex echolocation scan of the surrounding environs. Animals including whales, toadfish, and and moths also use the acoustic properties of space for orientation. You could say they ‘see” with sound and “hear” the objects around them.
While all sound is invisible, ultrasound is inaudible to humans. Its oscillating sound pressure waves have a greater frequency than our upper limits, which top off at around 20,000 Hz. Many species have access to a greater frequency than us and also more specific and specialized combinations of senses, producing and perceiving high frequencies for orientation, hunting, and communication.
The mix for Winderen’s piece Out of Range (2014) is based on ultrasound hydrophone recordings onto an ultrasound detector, hydrophone recordings below the water, and of echolocation sound in audible range by mammals and sounds made by fish and underwater insects. The recordings were made in various locations in Central Park and along the East River in New York, in a forest outside Kaliningrad in Russia, in Regents Park, London, and in various locations in Madeira, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The ultrasound is time-stretched to bring it into a frequency range audible for human beings. We will play it in The Artist’s Institute following a talk by philosopher Tristan Garcia.
April 28, 7pm, Vincent Normand, “The Exhibition as Ontoscopy.”
Both sixteenth-century seafarers and the scientists of modernity relied on technologies of orientation and figuration. Whether charting untested waters and populating them with axiomatic monsters, or de-animating Nature in quarantined laboratories, they drew on a similar logic–one that finds resonance in the modern museum. Curator Vincent Normand will discuss the museum and its relationship to the term “exhibition” in light of two boundary practices he believes defined modern cosmography: vivisection and navigation. His talk takes its title from a darkly humorous question posed in Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent: “It would be really telling if one could throw a bomb into pure mathematics…what do you think of having a go at pure astronomy?”
May 6, 7.30pm, Films at Anthology.
We will screen a selection of films at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., NYC. Tickets are available at anthologyfilmarchives.org.
Pierre Huyghe, A Way in Untilled, 2013, 14 min., color.
As Pierre Huyghe describes it: “The place is enclosed. Elements from different strata in history lie next to each other with no chronological order or sign of origin. There are either physical adaptations of fictional and factual documents or existing things. In the compost of a Baroque garden, artifacts, inanimate elements, and living organisms . . . plants, animals, humans, bacteria are left without culture, non dependent and indifferent to our presence.”
Jean-Daniel Pollet, Bassae,1964, 35 mm, 9 min., color, voice-over by Jean Négroni.
High up in the mountains of the Arcadia region, Bassae is one of the oldest archeological site in Greece. Devoted to Apollo, the temple was built in 5th century B.C. In Latin, bassae means “little valley in the rocks”. French filmmaker Jean-Daniel Pollet filmed the old temple in decay, hovering around the ruins as if time was a gigantic loop with no beginning and no end. The old rocks of the Bassae temple are made of solid organic substances that will continue drifting towards the mineral world. Its columns turn into trees, and its architecture is like a forest. As the film’s narrator tells us, “Ce minéral dressé ou couché, à quel ordre appartient-il ? À quel désordre ? Cela n’a pas de nom précis dans aucune langue, pas d’histoire propre, c’est nulle part, cela pourrait être importe quand.”
Jean Painlevé, Spider Crabs and Macropodia (Hyas and Stenorhynchus), 1927, 35mm, 18 min.; The Sea Horse,1933, 35mm, 13 min.; Sea Urchins, 1954, 35mm, 11 min.; Acera or the Witches Dance, 1972, 35mm, 13 min; Liquid Crystals, 1978, 35mm, 6 min; The Love Life of the Octopus, 1967, 35mm, 13 min.; Diatoms, 1968, 35mm, 17 min.
Jean Painlevé is often credited with inventing the genre of science-as-fiction. A favorite of Breton, Buñuel, Artaud and others, Painlevé sought out the surreal beauty in the everyday drama of ecological life. In a career that spanned over fifty years and 200 films, Painlevé’s camera roamed the natural world capturing everything from the formation of crystals, to the birth of a jellyfish and the eating habits of insects. Painlevé pioneered underwater, slow-motion, and macro photography, making significant contributions to naturalist and avant-garde filmmaking; decades later, his films’ relentless curiosity and vitality remain a testament to the fact that science and art are both fundamentally rooted in experimentation. This selection of films spans forty years of Painlevé’s oeuvre and features some of his most beloved works, including The Sea Horse (1933) and The Love Life of the Octopus (1967).
Fabien Giraud and Raphaël Siboni, Bassae Bassae, 35 mm film, 9 min.
Ever since 1987, when its restoration work began, the Temple of Bassae has been covered by a large white tent, making it disappear. Forty years ago, filmmaker Jean-Daniel Pollet described how stones had fallen back into silence, as the gods withdrew from the scene, and his film Bassae (1964) captures this sentiment. Bassae Bassae by Giraud and Siboni shows the temple now made invisible by its very restoration. Like a contemporary reprise of the original work, Bassae Bassae is a film about that which has become mute and invisible.
As Pierre Huyghe’s season moves into early summer, the basement shows signs of expansion. Ancient yeast couples with flour and bacteria to produce warm bread, and further excavation of our walls creates new layers of grey dust. A humming plant, simulated creatures, and animated lights suggest that growth is neither a linear nor a self-contained process, and amongst them we begin to sense the leaks that cultivate change. To better understand the genetic basis for evolving bodies, we’ve invited a scientist to speak about stem cells. And to appreciate Huyghe’s own exploration of auto-generative systems, we will screen his film The Host and the Cloud with our friends at Anthology Film Archive. … Read more
As Pierre Huyghe’s season moves into early summer, the basement shows signs of expansion. Ancient yeast couples with flour and bacteria to produce warm bread, and further excavation of our walls creates new layers of grey dust. A humming plant, simulated creatures, and animated lights suggest that growth is neither a linear nor a self-contained process, and amongst them we begin to sense the leaks that cultivate change. To better understand the genetic basis for evolving bodies, we’ve invited a scientist to speak about stem cells. And to appreciate Huyghe’s own exploration of auto-generative systems, we will screen his film The Host and the Cloud with our friends at Anthology Film Archive.
May 29 – July 20
Computer Animation.
Karl Sims, Evolved Virtual Creatures, computer animation, 4 min., 1994. Courtesy the artist
In 1994, computer scientist and graphics researcher Karl Sims combined the abstract mathematics of genetic algorithms with the possibilities of 3D computer-generated simulations. Sims was trying to solve the quintessential problem of control vs. complexity in computer generated animations: users were excellent at controlling design variables but were limited in scaling their work to make highly complex worlds. Autonomous digital systems could crunch enough data to simulate high levels of complexity but only allowed for limited control over the quality. His solution was to integrate the natural laws of evolution with computational power using so-called “genetic algorithms.”
Genetic algorithms, which provide mathematical formulas for evolution, had existed since the early 50s, though Sims, using only recently available technology, was the first to apply them to generating 3D models animated using the laws of physics. Each 3D “creature” is the product of randomized choices that select for their shape and behavior. They are then subjected to the rules of specific simulated challenges like swimming, or snatching a block from another creature, and then selected for reproduction based on the effectiveness of their solutions, after which they are given random mutations and reintroduced to the system.
In the conclusion to his presentation to the interactive graphics convention SIGGRAPH’94, Sims suggests his approach could induct a new era in virtual animation, unburdened by the necessity of technical know-how or obsessive oversight. In other words, a new generation of sophisticated computer generated images without intelligent design.
Growth Chart.
Ian Cheng, More & Less Than Human, paper and tape, 2013. Courtesy the artist
This intuitive guide to the history of consciousness by Ian Cheng maps a path through three compounding models of being– from the base of surviving the Umwelt (self-centered world) of material, biological, and social realities; to exercising the painful growth cycles of creative destruction; to imagining a speculative existence in which chaos is absorbed as a source of energy. Consciousness is only one of many “mental apps”, and life itself is considered material for an infinitely variable game. As Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.”
Pain Levain.
Saccharomyces Cerevisia, or Baker’s Yeast, is considered by many to be the oldest domesticated organism, dating back some 4,000 years. In addition to being the main strain of yeast responsible for making our doughs rise, S. Cerevisia is of special interest to those who study the biology of life cycles, contributing to the identification of more genes affecting aging in mammals than any other model organism.
When S. Cerevisia is mixed with the bacteria Lactobacillus, flour, and water it grows into a thick, frothing soup, that will double in size every four to eight hours; the foundation for the bread known as Sourdough or Pain Levain. Every such “starter” gives its bread a unique flavor profile by the chance co-ordination of S. Cerevisia with locally available strains of yeast and Lactobacilli. Because any given yeast population is immortal–it can continue to divide and rejuvenate itself forever, even reverting to asexual reproduction if necessary–there is technically no limit on how long a starter can grow.
The starter used to make this bread was “born” in the 1890s in Klondike, Alaska, during the infamous Klondike Gold Rush. It was probably brought to the region by eager prospectors from San Francisco, the fabled home of American Sourdough. Over 100,000 such hopefuls left California for long trek to the frozen Klondike region, packed with a year’s worth of food (part of the government’s immigration mandate), though only a third of them persevered to their destination, with just a fraction of that number finding fortune.
Plant Song.
Martin Roth, Untitled (Plant), 2014, Devil’s Backbone plant and Damanhur device. Courtesy the artist
Devil’s Backbone, or Pedilanthus tithymaloides, is a foot-shaped flower native to the American tropics. In the 1970s a team of researchers with a background in electronics embarked on a series of tests designed to investigate how plants perceive and act. Informed by more than forty years of explorations into plant perception, they eventually developed a device that enables plants and trees to play music. This device functions as a biofeedback system, which controls the MIDI synthesizer by measuring the electrical resistance of the vegetable tissues of a plant or a tree and then converting the variations of this physical parameter into control signals.
Plants that have been trained with this device are quicker to find the right balance and produce pleasant, gentle sounds. A “beginner” plant usually needs more time to start playing and may not play at all.
Pierre Huyghe selections from: The Garden of the Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges; The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares; The Preserving Machine by Philip K. Dick; A Time Capsule That Will Survive One Thousand Years in Manhattan by Jaron Lanier with the collaboration of David Sulzer and Lisa Haney.
“A strange destiny,” said Stephen Albert, “that of Ts’ui Pén Governor of his native province, learned in astronomy, in astrology and tireless in the interpretation of the canonical books, a chess player, a famous poet and a calligrapher. Yet he abandoned all to make a book and a labyrinth. He gave up all the pleasures of oppression, justice, of a well-stocked bed, of banquets, and even of erudition, and shut himself up in the Pavilion of the Limpid Sun for thirteen years. At his death, his heirs found only a mess of manuscripts. The family, as you doubtless know, wished to consign them to the fire, but the executor of the estate–a Taoist or a Buddhist monk–insisted on their publication.”
“The descendants of Tsu’ui Pen,” I replied, “still curse the memory of that monk. Such a publication was madness. The book is a shapeless mass of contradictory rough drafts. I examined it once upon a time: the hero dies in the third chapter, while in the fourth he is alive. As for that other enterprise of Ts’ui Pen…his Labyrinth….”
“Here is the Labyrinth,” Albert said, pointing to a tall, lacquered writing cabinet.
“An ivory labyrinth?” I exclaimed. “A tiny labyrinth indeed…!”
“A symbolic labyrinth,” he corrected me. “An invisible labyrinth of time. I, a barbarous Englishman, have been given the key to this transparent mystery. After more than a hundred years most of the details are irrecoverable, lost beyond all recall, but it isn’t hard to imagine what must have happened. At one time, Ts’ui Pen must have said; ‘I am retiring to construct a maze.’ Everyone assumed these were separate activities. No one realized that the book and the labyrinth were one and the same. The Pavilion of the Limpid Sun was set in the middle of an intricate garden. This may have suggested the idea of a physical maze.
“Ts’ui Pen died. In all the vast lands which once belonged to your family, no one could find the labyrinth. The novel’s confusion suggested that it was the labyrinth. Two circumstances showed me the direct solution to the problem. First, the curious legend that Ts’ui Pen had proposed to create an infinite maze, second, a fragment of a letter which I discovered.”
Albert rose. For a few moments he turned his back to me. He opened the top drawer in the high black and gilded writing cabinet. He returned holding in his hand a piece of paper which had once been crimson but which had faded with the passage of time: it was rose colored, tenuous, quadrangular. Ts’ui Pen’s calligraphy was justly famous. Eagerly, but without understanding, I read the words which a man of my own blood had written with a small brush: “I leave to various future times, but not to all, my garden of forking paths.”
I handed back the sheet of paper in silence. Albert went on:
“Before I discovered this letter, I kept asking myself how a book could be infinite. I could not imagine any other than a circular volume. A volume whose last page would be the same as the first and so have the possibility of continuing indefinitely. I recalled, too, the night in the middle of The Thousand and One Nights when Queen Scheherezade, through a magical mistake on the part of her copyist, started to tell the story of The Thousand and One Nights, with the risk of again arriving at the night upon which she will relate it, and thus on to infinity. I also imagined a Platonic hereditary work, passed on from father to son, to which each individual would add a new chapter or correct, with pious care, the work of his elders.”
“The conjectures gave me amusement, but none seemed to have the remotest application to the contradictory chapters of Ts’ui Pen. At this point, I was sent from Oxford the manuscript you have just seen.”
“Naturally, my attention was caught by the sentence, ‘I leave to various future times, but not to all, my garden of forking paths.’ I had no sooner read this, than I understood. The Garden of Forking Paths was the chaotic novel itself. The phrase “to various future times, but not to all” suggested the image of bifurcating in time, not in space. Rereading the whole work confirmed this theory. In all fiction, when a man in faced with alternatives he chooses one at the expense of the others. In the almost unfathomable Ts’ui Pen, he chooses–simultaneously–all of them. He thus creates various futures, various times which start others that will in their turn branch out and bifurcate in other times. This is the cause of the contradictions in the novel.”
“Fang, let us say, has a secret. A stranger knocks at his door. Fang makes up his mind to kill him. Naturally there are various possible outcomes. Fang can kill the intruder, the intruder can kill Fang, both can be saved, both can die and so on and so on. In Ts’ui Pen’s work, all the possible solutions occur, each one being the point of departure for other bifurcations. Sometimes the pathways of this labyrinth converge. For example, you come to this house; but in other possible pasts you are my enemy; in others my friend.”
“If you will put up with my atrocious pronunciation, I would like to read you a few pages of your ancestor’s work…”
… “I do not think that your illustrious ancestor toyed idly with variations. I do not find it believable that he would waste thirteen years laboring over a never ending experiment in rhetoric. In your country the novel is an inferior genre; in Ts’ui Pen’s period, it was a despised one. Ts’ui Pen was a fine novelist but he was also a man of letters who, doubtless, considered himself more than a mere novelist. The testimony of his contemporaries attests to this, and certainly the known facts of his life confirm his leanings towards the metaphysical and the mystical. Philosophical conjectures take up the greater part of his novel. I know that of all problems, none disquieted him more, and none concerned him more than the profound one of time. Now then, this is the only problem that does not figure in the pages of The Garden. He does not even use the word which means time. How can these voluntary omissions be explained?”
I proposed various solutions, all of them inadequate. We discussed them. Finally Stephen Albert said: “In a guessing game to which the answer is chess, which word is the only one prohibited?” I thought for a moment and then replied:
“The word is chess.”
“Precisely,” said Albert. “The Garden of Forking Paths is an enormous guessing game, or parable, in which the subject is time. The rules of the game forbid the use of the word itself. To eliminate a word completely, to refer to it by means of inept phrases and obvious paraphrases, is perhaps the best way of drawing attention to it. This, then, is the tortuous method of approach preferred by the oblique Ts’ui Pen in every meandering of his interminable novel. I have gone over hundreds of manuscripts, I have corrected errors introduced by careless copyists, I have worked out the plan from this chaos, I have restored, or believe I have restored, the original. I have translated the whole work. I can state categorically that not once has the word time been used in the whole book.
“The explanation is obvious. The Garden of Forking Paths is a picture, incomplete yet not false, of the universe such a Ts’ui Pen conceived it to be. Differing from Newton and Schopenhauer, your ancestor did not think of time as absolute and uniform. He believed in an infinite series of time, in a dizzily growing, ever spreading network of diverging, converging and parallel times. This web of time–the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries–embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and in yet others both of us exist. I this one, in which chance has favored me, you have come to my gate. In another, you, crossing the garden, have found me dead. In yet another, I say these very same words, but am an error, a phantom.”
“With my machine a person or an animal or a thing is like the station that broadcasts the concert you hear on the radio. If you turn the dial for the olfactory waves, you will smell the jasmine perfume on Madeleine’s throat, without seeing her. By turning the dial of the tactile waves, you will be able to stroke her soft, invisible hair and learn, like the blind, to know things by your hands. But if you turn all the dials at once, Madeleine will be reproduced completely, and she will appear exactly as she is; you must not forget that I am speaking of images extracted from mirrors, with the sounds, tactile sensation, flavors, odors, temperatures, all synchronized perfectly.”
“An observer will not realize that they are images. And if our images were to appear now, you yourselves would not believe me. Instead, you would find it easier to think that I had engaged a group of actors, improbably doubles for each of you!”
“This is the first part of the machine; the second part makes recordings; the third is a projector. No screens or papers are needed; the projections can be received through space, and it does not matter whether it is day or night. To explain this more clearly, I shall attempt to compare the parts of my machine with the television set that shows the images from more or less distant transmitters, with the camera that takes a motion picture of the images transmitted by the television set; and with the motion-picture projector.”
“I thought I would synchronize all the parts of my machine and take scenes of our lives: an afternoon with Faustine, conversations with some of you; and in that way I would be able to make an album of very durable and clear images, which would be a legacy from the present to the future; they would please your children and friends, and the coming generations whose customs will differ from our own.”
“I reasoned that if the reproductions of objects would be objects–as a photograph of a house is an object that represents another object–the reproductions of animals and plants who would not be animals or plants. I was certain that my images of persons would lack consciousness of themselves (like the characters in a motion picture).”
“But I found, to my surprise, that when I succeeded in synchronizing the different parts of the machine, after much hard work, I obtained reconstituted persons who would disappear if I disconnected the projecting apparatus, and would live only the moments when the scene was taken; when the scene ended they would repeat these same moments again and again, like a phonograph record or a motion picture that would end and begin again; moreover, no one could distinguish them from living persons (they appear to be circulating in another world with which our own has made a chance encounter). If we grant consciousness, and all that distinguishes us from objects, to the persons who surround us, we shall have no valid reason to deny it to the persons created by my machinery.”
“When all the senses are synchronized, the soul emerges. That was to be expected. When Madeleine existed for the senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Madeleine herself was actually there.”
“I have shown that Morel’s style is unpleasant, with a liberal sprinkling of technical terms, and that it attempts, vainly, to achieve a certain grandiloquence. Its banality is obvious: It is hard for you to accept such a mechanical and artificial system for the reproduction of life? It might help if you bear in mind that what changes the sleight-of-hand artist’s movements into magic is our inability to see!”
“To make living reproductions, I need living transmitters. I do not create life.”
“The thing that is latent in a phonograph record, the thing that is revealed when I press a button and turn on the machine–shouldn’t we call that ‘life”’? Shall I insist, like the Chinese, that every life depends on a button which an unknown being can press? And you yourselves–how many times have you wondered about mankind’s destiny, or asked the old questions: ‘Where are we going? Like the unheard music that lies latent in a phonograph record, where are we until God orders us to be born?’ Don’t you see that there is a parallelism between the destinies of men and images?”
“The theory that the images have souls seems to be confirmed by the effects of my machine on persons, animals, and vegetables used as transmitters.”
“I understood that what Morel had said several hours ago was true (but very possibly he did not say it for the first time several hours ago but several years ago; he repeated it that night because it was part of the week, on the eternal record). I experienced a feeling of scorn, almost disgust, for those people and their indefatigable, repetitious activity. They appeared many times up there on the edge of the hill. To be on an island inhabited by artificial ghosts was the most unbearable of nightmares; to be in love with one of those images was worse than being in love with a ghost (perhaps we always want the person we love to have the existence of a ghost).”
“The word museum, which I use to designate this house, is a survival of the time when I was working on plans for my invention, without knowing how it would eventually turn out. At that time I thought I would build large albums or museums, both public and private, filled with these images.”
“Now the time has come to make my announcement: This island, and its buildings, is our private paradise. I have taken some precautions–physical and moral ones–for its defense: I believe they will perfect it adequately. Even if we left tomorrow, we would be here eternally, repeating consecutively the moments of this week, powerless to escape from the consciousness we had in each one of them–the thoughts and feelings that the machine captured. We will be able to live a life that is always new, because in each moment of the projection we shall have no memories other than those we had in the corresponding moment of the eternal record, and because the future, left behind many times, will maintain its attributes forever.”
Logical reasons induce us to reject Morel’s hopes. Then images are not alive. But since his invention has blazed the trail, as it were, another machine should be invented to find out whether the images think and feel (or at least if they have the thoughts and the feelings that the people themselves had when the picture was made; of course, the relationship between their consciousness and these thoughts and feelings cannot be determined). The machine would be very similar to the one Morel invented and would be aimed at the thoughts and sensations of the transmitter; at any distance away from Faustine we should be able to have her thoughts and sensations (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory).
This month there were a number of higher tides; two of them were lunar, and the others, meteorological.
The appearances and disappearances: the machines project the images. The power from the tides causes the machines to operate.
After rather lengthy periods of low tides, there was a series of tides that came up to the mill in the lowlands. The machines began to run, and the eternal record started playing again where it had broken off.
If Morel’s speech was on the last night of the week, the first appearance must have occurred on the night of the third day.
Perhaps the absence of images during the long period before they first appeared was due to the change of the tides with the solar periods.
The two suns and the two moons: Since the week is repeated all through the year, some suns and moons do not coincide (and people complain of the cold when the weather on the island is warm, and swim in fetid water and dance in a thicket or during a storm). And if the whole island were submerged–except for the machines and projectors–the images, the museum, and the island itself would still be visible.
Perhaps the heat of the past few days has been so intense because the temperature of the day when the scene was photographed is superimposed on the present temperature.
When I was ready, I turned on the receivers of simultaneous action. Seven days have been recorded. I performed well: a casual observer would not suspect that I am not a part of the original scene. That came about naturally as the result of my painstaking preparation: I devoted two weeks to continuous study and experiment. I rehearsed my every action tirelessly. I studied what Faustine says, her questions and answers; I often inserted an appropriate sentence, so she appears to be answering me.
A bomber moved overhead. Bombs fell, bursting the museum to fragments, bringing the walls down in a roar of rubble and plaster. In the debris the last score disappeared, lost in the rubbish, to rot and mold.
And then, in Doc Labyrinth’s vision, he saw the score come burrowing out, like some buried mole. Quick like a mole, in fact, with claws and sharp teeth and a furious energy.
If music had that faculty, the ordinary, everyday instinct of survival which every worn and mole has, how different it would be! If music could be transformed into living creatures, animals with claws and teeth, then music might survive. If only a Machine could be built, a Machine to process musical scores into living forms…
Weeks passed. The Machine was coming along fine; in fact, it was almost finished. They had given it a trial run, feeding a couple of popular songs into it. The results? Two small mouse-like animals had come scampering out, rushing around the laboratory until the cat caught and ate them. But the Machine was a success.
Many fleeting notions much have coursed through his mind as he adjusted the controls and made ready for the first transformation. He had selected a priceless score to begin with, the score of the Mozart G Minor Quintet. For a time he turned the pages, lost in thought, his mind far away. At last he carried it to Machine and dropped it in.
Labyrinth went ahead feeding the music of many composers into the Preserving machine, one after another, until the woods behind his house were filled with creeping, bleating things that screamed and crashed in the night. There were many oddities that come out, creations that startled and astonished him.
…So he let them go, off into the woods, and away they went, hopping and rolling and jumping as best they could. But already a sense of failure hung over him. Each time a creature came out he was astonished; he did not seem to have control over the results at all. It was out of his hands, subject to some strong, invisible law that had subtly taken over, and this worried him greatly. The creatures were bending, changing before a deep, impersonal force, a force that Labyrinth could neither see nor understand. And it made him afraid…
…He had ensured their survival, all right, but in so doing he had erased any meaning, any value in it.
…”There’s no doubt.” Labyrinth came over and sat down opposite me. “It’s undergone some metamorphosis. It certainly didn’t have poisoned spines to start with. you know, it’s a good thing that I played my Noah role carefully…”
“I made them all neuter. They can’t reproduce. There will be no second generation. When these die, that will be the end of it.”
“I must say I’m glad you thought of that.:
“I wonder,” Labyrinth murmured. “I wonder how it would sound, now this way.”
“The sphere, the Bach bug. That’s the real test, isn’t it? I could put it back through the Machine. We could see. Do you want to find out?…
…Labyrinth stirred. He pushed the slot-piece aside and reached into the Machine. His fingers came out grasping a slim sheet, a score of music. He handed it to me. “This is the result,” he said. “We can go upstairs and play it.”
We went back up to the music room. Labyrinth sat down before the grand piano and I passed him back the score. He opened it and studied it for a moment, his face blank, without expression. Then he began to play.
I listened to the music. It was hideous. I have never heard anything like it. It was distorted, diabolical, without sense or meaning, except, perhaps, an alien, disconcerting meaning that should never have been there. I could believe only with the greatest effort that it had once been a Bach Fugue, part of a most orderly and respected work.
“That settles it,” Labyrinth said. He stood up, took the score in his hands, and tore it to shreds.
As we made our way down the path to my car I said, “I guess the struggle for survival is a force bigger than any human ethos. It makes our precious morals and manners look a little thin.”
An archive of the New York Times Magazine and other materials will be encoded into the DNA of cockroaches which will be released in Manhattan.
The familiar New York City cockroach predates the city’s geography. It has survived ice ages, earthquakes, famines, and floods. It has watched the dinosaurs come and go. It has resisted determined efforts by mankind to remove it even from individual buildings. It would survive a nuclear attack. It will probably outlive all other contemporary fauna on Manhattan, including humans.
Some of the cockroach’s genes are extremely stable. They have not changed substantially for millions of years, and are therefore extremely likely to remain stable for the next one thousand years. Associated with these genes are DNA sequences known as introns which serve no known purpose. While it is possible that these sequences serve some unidentified function, their content is gibberish.
Recombinant techniques will be used to overwrite this gibberish with the archival materials. While computer memory is made of bits, which exist in two states (zero or one), DNA is composed of four “base pairs”; so it has four states. Therefore a given sequence of DNA can store twice as much information as a similar length of computer memory.
A single cockroach’s introns will easily be able to contain the articles, letters, and other primary texts of one full year’s editions of the Times Magazine.
Certain types of information will be written into mitochondrial DNA sequences, which are inherited matrilinearly and are not subject to sexual recombination, instead of introns. DNA in this location is not as stable, but will nonetheless remain useful for the required period of time. Mitochondrial DNA is well suited to data such as digitized photographs, audio recordings, and crossword puzzles. The continuous nature of photographic and audio materials makes them useful even if there are slight modifications to the data; indeed even the best preserved photographs are constantly undergoing slight changes which are not perceived by casual observers. While crossword puzzles are made of discrete information (text), it is presumed that the further in the future the puzzle is decoded, the more advanced the civilization will be; therefore any errors caused by the passage of time will simply generate an appropriately difficult puzzle.
Once an archive is selected, it will be written into a computer file and coded into DNA base pairs. The sequences will then be synthesized by conventional protocols. Then the archival DNA will be ligated into cockroach intron DNA via injection into eggs.
Once the archival roaches are born they will be cultivated until the population achieves at least the specified volume (8 cubic feet). The roaches will be released in selected locations in Manhattan. Further cultivations and releases will follow, carefully calculated to assure that the archive is widespread enough to survive for the specified period of time.
Within approximately fourteen years, the archival roaches will inexorably become so endemic as to become an ubiquitous and permanent feature of the island.
In order to decode the archive, a future historian would make use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to amplify and then sequence the fragments, turning the DNA sequence once again into the contents of a computer’s memory.
June 24, 7.30pm, Film at Anthology.
Pierre Huyghe, The Host and the Cloud, 2009–10, 122 min., digital.
Join us for a screening of Pierre Huyghe’s The Host and the Cloud (2009–2010) at Anthology Film Archives. As Pierre Huyghe describes it:
“Set in a disused French ethnographic museum lying on an ancient human and animal zoo, an experiment unfolds over the course of one year. A small group of people is put under influence. Everything that happens is real. They are exposed to live situations that appear accidentally, simultaneously or without any sense of order within the building. They can imitate or transform them endlessly to variable intensity. From a trial to a dance, from a hypnosis session to sexual acts, from an archive to a coronation, all these figures are presented or re-interpreted. A set of operations unfolds: it is an auto-generating system in which cause and effect remain indeterminate and where everything that was written leaks into the contingent and the chaotic.
The Host and the Cloud is a ritual of separation. The relations structuring a subject to its context are cut. The conditions of a culture are recreated. Its influence, its mode of exhibition are exorcised. Some witnesses were chosen to penetrate the building during the Day of the Dead, on Saint Valentine’s and during May Day, but the experiment remains indifferent to their presence. The film documents a part of the event and shows the incapacity to represent the absent subject who has been affected.”
July 17, 7pm, Dr. Ali Brivanlou on Genetic Engineering.
Dr. Ali Brivanlou’s research focuses on the molecular events and cellular interactions that regulate the emergence of key structures in the early embryo. Most of the work in his laboratory focuses on the molecular basis of cell fate specification and patterning during early embryonic development. The ultimate objective of the work is to understand the molecular circuitry underlying embryonic induction, with a special emphasis on the formation of the nervous system. Toward this aim, he performs comparative studies using both amphibian and mammalian model systems, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Dr. Brivanlou will come to speak about his research, and about its potential crossovers with artistic speculation.
July 26 – August 17, 2014
Over the past half year, the Institute has become a timekeeper. It holds vestiges of of seasons past in the dusty murals by Lucy McKenzie, now visible from continuous sanding. Months of electric jolts have created a fly mortuary above the desk, whose bodies double as a record of every flicker of the light. A spider who wintered in the chair closet has now migrated to the windowsill, where it’s web can catch the summer light. Remembering everything that has happened here is an impossible task, but over the next few weeks, artists Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson will try. They are adding a final layer of gypsum, whose absorbent properties will soak up the season and allow us to continue to live with it as a compressed memory. … Read more
Over the past half year, the Institute has become a timekeeper. It holds vestiges of of seasons past in the dusty murals by Lucy McKenzie, now visible from continuous sanding. Months of electric jolts have created a fly mortuary above the desk, whose bodies double as a record of every flicker of the light. A spider who wintered in the chair closet has now migrated to the windowsill, where it’s web can catch the summer light. Remembering everything that has happened here is an impossible task, but over the next few weeks, artists Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson will try. They are adding a final layer of gypsum, whose absorbent properties will soak up the season and allow us to continue to live with it as a compressed memory.
July 26–August 17, Gypsum.
Earlier this season, Pierre Huyghe sanded down the walls of the Institute. That excavation revealed faint traces of a wall painting that Lucy McKenzie made last fall based on Moorish patterns from the Alhambra Palace. It also left deposits of grey dust around the perimeter of the room, which eventually spread to other parts of the basement on the bottom of visitors’ shoes.
This month, there is dust on top of dust. Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson have dropped a layer of white gypsum throughout the space. It was gathered near White Sands National Monument, one of the world’s vastest deposits of the substance, where the desert’s evaporation cycle has made its crystal structure highly absorptive. As our time with Pierre Huyghe comes to a close, the artists will use the gypsum to soak in the elements of the room, and then make it into a brick that contains the season as a crystallized memory.
Gypsum Pyrograph.
Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson, Raster Burn (gypsum pyrograph), 2014, gypsum wallboard, 14 x 8 x 1 inches. Courtesy the artist
The White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico is the largest military installation in the United States. Located within the northern Chihuahuan desert, it goes on for 3,200 square miles and is a site where numerous military weapons and defense systems are tested, including the now defunct Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly called Star Wars This pyrograph was made by applying heat from a laser to a piece of drywall made with gypsum from White Sands. Its fungal-like interior is the result of numerous micro-cuts into the material.
Garnets.
Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson,Brilliant Pebbles, 35 anthill garnets (chrome pyrope garnets unearthed by ants) to be cast in lead, 2014.
From far away, the small figures dotting the top of the Institute’s mantel look like marching ants. The confusion is half-right, as these rough garnets, placed one after the other, were harvested by an ant colony. Although garnets are semi-precious stones to jewelers, to ants they are just another obstruction in their underground passageways, and so they drag them up to the edges of their anthills. These particular garnets come from anthills in New Mexico.
August 16, 9pm-10.30pm, Star Gazing.
They say the skies are so dark in Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania that the Milky Way casts a shadow. Here you can see aurora, zodiacal light, and faint meteors–phenomena unobservable in most places because of skyglow, or the illumination of artificial light. The International Dark Sky Association says Cherry Grove is one of the ten best places in the United States to see stars and recently made it a dark sky preserve to protect it from human light.
On August 16th, artist David Horvitz will be making a five-hour journey from New York City to see the night sky at Cherry Springs, where he will meet Stash Nawrocki, an astronomy enthusiast with a good telescope. They will have a 360-degree view of the horizon from their perch high on a mountaintop.
August 16, 9pm
On August 16th, artist David Horvitz will be making a five-hour journey from New York City to see the night sky at Cherry Springs, where he will meet Stash Nawrocki, an astronomy enthusiast with a good telescope. They will have a 360-degree view of the horizon from their perch high on a mountaintop. If you would like to join David and Stash, send us an e-mail: info@theartistsinstitute.org.
July 17, 7pm
Dr. Ali Brivanlou on Genetic Engineering
Dr. Ali Brivanlou’s research focuses on the molecular events and cellular interactions that regulate the emergence of key structures in the early embryo. The ultimate objective of the work is to understand the molecular circuitry underlying embryonic induction, with a special emphasis on the formation of the nervous system. Toward this aim, he performs comparative studies using both amphibian and mammalian model systems, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Dr. Brivan- lou will come to speak about his research, and about its potential crossovers with artistic speculation.
June 24, 7.30pm
The Host and the Cloud Screening
Join us for a screening of Pierre Huyghe’s The Host and the Cloud (2009-10) at Anthology Film Archives.
“The Host and the Cloud is a ritual of separation. The relations structuring a subject to its context are cut. The conditions of a culture are recreated. Its influence, its mode of exhibition are exorcised. Some witnesses were chosen to penetrate the building during the Day of the Dead, on Saint Valentine’s and during May Day, but the experiment remains indifferent to their presence. The film documents a part of the event and shows the incapacity to represent the absent subject who has been affected.” –P.H.
The film is 122 min. and tickets can be purchased from anthologyfilmarchives.org.
May 16, 8pm–10pm
Cinema Karaoke
This Friday join The Artist’s Institute for karaoke minus the singing. Become your own avatar, whether that’s Blue Steel, Inigo Montoya, or Michael Corleone. A gadget called Yoostar will allow our images to live inside the cinema using green screen and motion sensor technology. Free drinks, popcorn. Organized for the Pierre Huyghe season by Institute Fellows Sam Cate-Gumpert, Andrianna Hughes, and Gabriela Vainsencher.
May 6, 7.30pm
Film Screening. A selection of films at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., NYC
April 28, 7pm
Vincent Normand, "The Exhibition as Ontoscopy"
April 20, 7.30pm
Jana Winderer, "Out of Range"
When flying around a cave, a bat generates ultrasound to find its way. These sonic calls range in frequency from 14,000 to over 100,000 Hz, pinging off walls and creating a highly complex echolocation scan of the surrounding environs. Animals including whales, toadfish, and moths also use the acoustic properties of space for orientation. You could say they ‘see” with sound and “hear” the objects around them.
The mix for Winderen’s piece Out of Range (2014) is based on ultrasound hydrophone recordings onto an ultrasound detector, hydrophone recordings below the water, and of echolocation sound in audible range by mammals and sounds made by fish and underwater insects. The recordings were made in various locations in Central Park and along the East River in New York, in a forest outside Kaliningrad in Russia, in Regents Park, London, and in various locations in Madeira, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The ultrasound is time-stretched to bring it into a frequency range audible for human beings. We will play it in The Artist’s Institute following a talk by philosopher Tristan Garcia.
Tristin Garcia on Intensity
March 14, 7pm
Dr. Angelique Corthals on Copper Man
In 1899, the body of a man was discovered at Chuquicamata, Chile, the largest open pit copper mine in the world. It was an especially startling discovery, because his dessicated body appeared to include copper ions that had migrated from the copper to his system, providing somewhat of an antifungal effect and thus leaving the body well preserved—a hybrid of human flesh and metal. Through carbon-14 analysis, researchers believe he lived in 550 CE.
The industrialist J. P. Morgan purchased the Copper Man and brought it to New York, to the American Museum of Natural History, in 1905, where it has rested ever since. Dr. Angelique Corthals, a renowned forensic anthropologist who conducted research on the Copper Man, will come to The Artist’s Institute to share more about its social and natural histories, as well as the fossilization process.
March 8, 12pm
A compressed history of Pierre Huyghe will unfold as a series of case studies presented by his interlocutors, each of whom have developed thinking around particular works. It will be held at The Artist’s Institute, whose diminutive scale will allow for a more intimate exchange of ideas than is usually possible in this format. Seating is first-come, first-served. A recording will be available online in mid-March.
11:00 AM, Session One: Tom McDonough (Snow White Lucie, The Third Memory, No Ghost Just a Shell); Julieta Aranda (Mobile and The Castle of Turing); Sinziana Ravini (The Host and the Cloud); Discussion moderated by Alex Kitnick
2:30 PM, Session Two: Liam Gillick (The Association of Freed Time); Lynne Cooke (Streamside Day); Dorothea von Hantelmann (Untilled); Discussion moderated by Jenny Jaskey
February 21, 6pm–8pm
Save the date for the eighth season of The Artist’s Institute with Pierre Huyghe.
February 20, 7.30pm
Dance for Radium
Pierre Huyghe Sympisum with Tom McDonough
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Tom-McDonough.mp3
Pierre Huyghe Symposium Part II with Liam Gillick, Lynne Cooke, and Dorothea von Hantelmann
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/second_half_final_1-2.mp3
March 14, 2014, 7pm
"Copperman" with Dr. Angelique Corthals
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/angelique_final.mp3
April 20, 2014, 6pm
"Let it be, and make it intense" with Tristan Garcia
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/tristan_garcia.mp3
"Boundary Practices" with Vincent Normand
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/vincent.mp3
July 17, 2014, 7pm
"Genetic Engineering and Artistic Speculation" with Dr. Ali H. Brivanlou.
/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/TAI_Brivanlou.mp3
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2025
|
__label__wiki
| 0.840725
| 0.840725
|
Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Like his remarkable debut, Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer’s new novel manages to be formally ambitious, deeply flawed, and exceptionally fascinating all at once. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, as its title might suggest, is even more clamorous with emotion than its predecessor—or perhaps it only feels that way because the hilarious Ukrainian tour guide Alexander Perchov, Illuminated’s most indelible voice, has no comedic equal in the new book.
Foer used Perchov as a refractive lens, heightening the emotional impact of fraught circumstances by describing them from a perspective that was humane but generally helpless to grasp their full historical weight. He attempts something similar with Oskar Schell, the primary narrator of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, although with only moderately humorous intent.
Oskar is the sort of nine-year-old who writes letters to Stephen Hawking and muses about his “raisons d’ ętre” but doesn’t know better than to describe his cat to a school bully as “my pussy.” His father, Thomas Schell, died in the September 11th attacks, and when Oskar was let out early from school that day—before the actual collapse—he was the only one home to hear the increasingly frightening phone messages his father left from the World Trade Center. Foer chooses to reveal the content of this final, one-sided communication between father and son gradually, and it is only at the novel’s conclusion that we understand the full range of Oskar’s grief and guilt about what happened that day.
Much has been made of the fact that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of the first novels to deal directly with the WTC attacks. In my opinion, the questions surrounding that fact (Is it still too early to produce a novel/song/movie about 9/11? Is it crass to do so? Etc., etc.) represent something of a dead end for debate. Of course artists will tackle pivotal, world-changing events. Some will succeed, some will fail. So let’s discuss their efforts as works of art.
After the funeral, Oskar discovers a key hidden deep in his parents’ closet, and, imagining it to be part of one of the idiosyncratic scavenger hunts his father often devised for him, spends the bulk of the novel scouring New York City for the lock which it opens. As one might imagine, Foer is compelled to pull some awkward tricks to contrive his narrative so that a nine-year-old essentially has the latitude to come and go as he pleases, exploring the boroughs at will and knocking on all sorts of strange doors. Nevertheless, the exceptional wit and confidence behind Oskar’s voice tend to excuse the logistical awkwardness of the plot.
More problematic—but still intermittently powerful—are the sections of the novel narrated by Oskar’s grandparents, whose motivations often feel obscure (“is ignorance bliss, I don’t know, but it’s so painful to think, and tell me, what did thinking ever do for me…”) and whose typographical eccentricities rapidly grow tiresome. Both were traumatized decades earlier in the firebombing of Dresden, and in one elegant passage, Oskar’s grandfather describes how his grief robbed him of the power of speech. Unfortunately, his muteness sometimes results in literary conceits that, while unusual, can be irritating. At one point, he types out his story using a telephone keypad, giving the reader several pages entirely composed of sentences like “4, 7, 4, 8, 7, 3, 2, 5, 5, 9, 9, 6 8?” Now, you could spend a few hours decoding these pages with the iTAP feature of your cell phone—or you could just acknowledge Foer’s cleverness with a beleaguered sigh and move on. The grandparents’ narration offers the fewest literary or emotional pleasures for the reader, so it is always a relief when we return to Oskar’s perspective.
Oskar’s quest is the hunt for a MacGuffin, pure and simple. Foer is much more interested in the assortment of eccentric and philosophical characters encountered along the way, most of whom have suffered losses and are implausibly receptive to the idea of being interrogated by a nine-year-old boy. These people are often conceptually interesting—like, for example, the elderly war correspondent who explains his one-word categorization system for historical figures (“‘Elie Wiesel: War!… Arnold Schwarzenegger: War!… Mick Jagger: Money!… Pope John Paul II: War!’”)—but they are not always richly realized as characters.
It would be unfair to describe in too much detail the endpoint of Oskar’s lock search, but I will say that his arrival there is a profound anticlimax. Foer handles the discovery of the lock without his usual creativity, offering only a few dutiful gestures toward the reader’s expectation that the protagonist will learn something in his search (“‘For what it’s worth, your father seemed like a good man,’” says an incidental character). Foer also deprives both Oskar and the reader of a crucial piece of knowledge—one that he, the author, could have used to great artistic effect. It is unfortunate that this scene is so ineffectively crafted, but I did admire how, several pages later, Foer manages to use a letter from Stephen Hawking as the emotional peak of the novel’s end.
Foer’s insertion of artwork, photos, and other illustrational flourishes into the text is, for the most part, also impressive. We get to flip through Oskar’s “Stuff That Happened to Me” scrapbook, which jarringly includes a paper airplane diagram before an image of a body falling from the World Trade Center, and, in another chapter, an account of the Dresden firebombing is marked up with bright red pen, the fierce little ovals of ink mimicking the “clusters of red flares” destroying Dresden. The same chapter also contains an eerie, nightmarish scene in which Oskar’s grandfather is given a rifle and begged by a disfigured zookeeper to “‘find the carnivores’” now loose in the burning city.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close contains a wealth of small, haunting details like that. Particularly memorable are the wistful inventions Oskar dreams up, like “a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down….” As a whole, though, the novel has a hard time cohering—the grandparents’ stories feel contrived, beholden more to an author’s poetic whimsy than to human reality, and after a while, Oskar’s adventures begin to seem haphazardly episodic. Still, such flaws are glaring but not fatal. The novel is absolutely worth reading, full of numerous unexpected pleasures and innovations. It has moments of brilliance punctuated by episodes of noble failure, and in that sense, it strongly resembles its nine-year old protagonist.
Review: Baby Beat Generation & The 2nd San Francisco Renaissance by Mathias de Breyne
Review: Hyperbole by Ryan Parmenter
Review: Upstaged by Jacques Jouet
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2026
|
__label__wiki
| 0.906202
| 0.906202
|
Strona Główna Muzyka Klasyczna Viotti Giovanni Battista G. B. Viotti: Violin Concerto No. 23 - Sinfonie Concertanti (1998)
G. B. Viotti: Violin Concerto No. 23 - Sinfonie Concertanti (1998)
Piątek, 15 Styczeń 2016 16:54 | Wpisany przez bluesever |
Ocena użytkowników: / 0
Słaby Świetny
Violin Concerto No. 23 in G Major
1. I. Allegro 00:12:19
2. II. Andante 00:05:50
3. III. Allegro 00:08:52
Violin Sinfonia Concertante No. 1 in F Major
4. I. Allegro brillante 00:12:13
5. II. Adagio non tanto 00:05:55
6. III. Rondo: (Allegro) 00:07:47
Violin Sinfonia Concertante No. 2 in B-Flat Major
7. I. Allegro maestoso 00:10:34
8. II. Rondo: (Allegro) 00:08:59
Roberto Baraldi, violin
Alberto Martini, violin
Mauro Ranieri, violin
Accademia i Filarmonici
Aldo Sisillo – conductor
Giovanni Battista Viotti, (born May 12, 1755, Fontanetto da Po, Piedmont—died March 3, 1824, London), Italian violinist and composer, principal founder of the 19th-century school of violin playing.
In 1766 Viotti went to Turin, where he studied with the virtuoso Gaetano Pugnani after 1770. He travelled with Pugnani in Germany, Poland, and Russia and made his debut in Paris as a violinist in 1782. He became court musician to Marie-Antoinette and established himself as a teacher and opera impresario. In 1792 he went to London, where he conducted Italian operas and appeared as soloist in his own violin concerti at the Salomon Concerts. Accused of Jacobin sympathies, he went to Germany in 1798 but had returned to London by 1801 to resume his wine business, continuing to perform and compose privately as well. Following the failure of the business, he worked in Paris as director of the Italian opera from 1819 to 1822, after which he returned to London.
Viotti greatly developed the violin concerto, using the sonata form and a skilled orchestration. He wrote 29 violin concerti, of which No. 22 in A Minor became especially well known after Joseph Joachim revived it in the 1870s; 10 piano concerti, some of them transcriptions of the violin concerti; and string quartets and other chamber works. --- britannica.com
download (mp3 @320 kbs):
oboom yandex 4shared mega mediafire zalivalka cloudmailru uplea
Zmieniony (Piątek, 15 Styczeń 2016 17:02)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2027
|
__label__wiki
| 0.610616
| 0.610616
|
The Art of Recovery
The Drive Project team stand with the sculptures at the Bethlem Museum of the Mind exhibition.
What is The Art of Recovery?
Launched in 2016 to complement the theatre offering of Bravo 22 Company, The Art of Recovery gives members the chance to participate in art projects. The Art of Recovery aims to give Service people and veterans new skills and experiences to support an individual’s recovery and the transition into civilian life.
Sculptor Al Johnson runs 4-week workshops across the U.K. during which time the participants explore body language and symbolism in order to create life size wire and mesh sculptures to represent their experiences and feelings.
The sculptures are incredibly powerful; they suggest pain, regret and fear for the future, but also aspiration and a determination to move on. Each of the sculptures is unique to their creator and tells a different story of recovery, whether that’s a painful memory, worries and concerns about civilian life, or injuries that can’t be physically seen.
Who does it benefit?
Bravo 22 Company art projects are open to all members of the Armed Forces Community, including serving personnel, veterans and their family members. These projects are designed to improve self-esteem, confidence and motivation, as well as help individuals along their paths to recovery.
What has it achieved?
The sculptures are of excellent quality and convey such strong messages that they have all gone on to be exhibited in a public space.
The pieces enable viewers to witness continuing pain and trauma but also the determination of each member of the group to forge a path to recovery. This has led to a greater understanding of the challenges facing the Armed Forces community and we hope to continue to engage local communities in the projects.
The first art project was run in Brighton in partnership with The Phoenix gallery, followed by a Manchester project in 2017, working in partnership with Bridge 5 Mill and The Lowry Hotel. All the sculptures from both Brighton and Manchester programmes have just been on display at the Bethlem Museum of the Mind.
“I can express what I’m feeling without having to tell anyone. People can look at my artwork and know what’s going on. This has been the most positive thing I’ve ever done.”
The Art of Recovery participant
A Bravo 22 Company member’s life size sculpture depicting his battle with his emotions
‘Broken’ by Al Johnson
© 2016-2019 The Drive Project - All rights reserved | TDP Privacy Policy | Website built by Moocow
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2029
|
__label__wiki
| 0.730146
| 0.730146
|
The childhood adventures in the woods and streams of the English countryside were very influential in Tim Cotterill's development as an artist. This was the beginning of a life-long fascination with an animal whose nature and disposition would influence my own perspective on life and the joy to be found in it. I didnt know then that I would someday be known as The Frogman." Tim began his life as an artist creating original steel, bronze and gold animal sculptures as well as an innovative collection of wheeled vehicles. Tim moved to California in 1990 and built his Venice Beach studio, 'Paradise', complete with a frog and koi pond. Here, he devotes himself to the creation of his unique bronze frog sculptures. His work is known worldwide in galleries and private collections.
The bright patinas, unique artistic treatment and facial expressions of Frogman sculptures captivate and intrigue a diverse group of people. Tim Cotterill's colorful, expressive bronze sculptures and his enthusiastic personality create an immediate connection with his collectors. The community of Frogman collectors eagerly awaits the release of each new sculpture that Tim creates, united in their appreciation of his creativity and craftsmanship. New enthusiasts continue to emerge, as many are introduced to the charm of Frogman sculptures and to Frogman himself at gallery appearances worldwide.
Tim Cotterill, The Frogman
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2033
|
__label__wiki
| 0.778053
| 0.778053
|
How a small team created a high-impact data reporting project
Katie Sartoris and her team had to search through boxes of archived cases to find the jury verdict records for the prisoners on Florida's death row. Pictured, the Florida Supreme Court. (jmv0586/Flickr Creative Commons)
By Qainat Khan
@QNK11
We’ve talked in the past about spreadsheets and public records for data journalism. You don’t have to be in a big newsroom to do a compelling data-driven story. And you don’t need much experience in data journalism to report a story with far reaching significance.
Katie Sartoris and her team at The Villages Daily Sun in Central Florida started an investigation into Florida’s death penalty protocol in 2016, after a resident in their coverage area became the youngest person sent to Florida’s death row. Ten of the 12 jurors on his case agreed he deserved the death sentence. For every other crime in Florida, the jury has to be unanimous on sentencing.
“[My colleagues and I] were curious how many people were on death row without a unanimous jury. And we thought, ‘That shouldn’t be a hard question to answer. The state should keep track of that,’” Katie said.
It turns out the state did not keep an easily accessible record of jury sentencing decisions in death penalty cases, and it led Katie and her team had to create one. It was part of a comprehensive report on the implications of Florida’s non-unanimous jury sentencing standard for those on death row, the surviving family members of victims and the state’s taxpayers.
The series came out right as the U.S. Supreme Court determined an aspect of the state’s death penalty protocol was unconstitutional, and state lawmakers had to revise Florida’s death penalty. Ultimately, the state changed the death penalty procedure and adopted the unanimous jury requirement.
QK: How did you go about tracking down cases and making a database of all the death penalty jury sentences?
KS: We took all the names of everyone on death row and put it into an Excel sheet, and at the time there were 390 [names]. We used online [Florida] Supreme Court records and we used the Commission on Capital Cases. And a lot of those had the jury verdict, but a good chunk did not.
We had to go to Tallahassee where the state archives are and that’s where the death penalty records are kept. And we had to go through physical files at the state archives….We sifted through old court records, some of them 40 years old, to find these sentences.
I can’t remember the number of days we spent up there, but we did spend a lot of time there. We did the 390 who were on death row in January [2016], then we went back to see the 92 who were executed [since 1976] to see their jury votes.
QK: Did you hit any roadblocks in trying to find the information you were looking for?
KS: With death penalty cases, there are so many appeals….Basically every case file has what happened beforehand, so you get these gigantic case files and if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be really overwhelming. Eventually we got it down to a bit of a science. Like, ‘We should be able to find the vote on this page after the judge reads out the sentence in the transcript.’
I think the first day we were in the archives we found only maybe four or five people’s jury votes.
QK: What were your conversations like in the newsroom about why people should care about what you’re reporting?
KS: We talked about that a lot. Who cares, why should we care, why should our readership care. At the end of the day, Florida has more exonerations than any other state for the death penalty. Proponents of the death penalty will say, “That’s because we have such a great appeals system.” But you’re talking about people who spent decades on death row and now don’t have a career or a family … because they were wrongfully [convicted].
We also approached it in terms of how much money it costs to sentence someone to death. We really tried in between our investigations to quantify how much it costs a circuit for a death penalty case.
We talked to conservatives concerned about the death penalty…and they compare it to a failed social program. [They say] so much money is spent on this and there is no actual result. They say it’s not a deterrent, there’s a potential for a person to go through this process, be sentenced to death and then appeal, and be exonerated or put in jail for life. Their argument is if we didn’t have the death penalty, if we only had life, we would be saving a lot of money prosecuting these cases.
And we presented in a way that…you should feel sorry for the victims’ family members. Because they are waiting years and years for justice they might never see…The victims family members are absolutely victimized in this.
QK: What was the response to the series?
KS: We got a lot of attention from journalism organizations and those kinds of things. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t the result of our reporting, but the legislature had to take up [the death penalty] because of the Supreme Court ruling.
Lawmakers had to decide how do we … make the death penalty constitutionally sound. And there was a debate over whether they wanted to make it a unanimous jury vote or a 9-3 or if they wanted to do a supermajority with 10-2, and our reporting was used in some of the testimony down at the legislature.
QK: Do you plan to keep covering local news with the Daily Sun?
KS: There’s so much opportunity at places like where I’m at now. It is a smaller paper, I started six years ago and this was my first full time job. And I have been given so many opportunities in terms of the work that I’ve been able to do, and I have grown as a journalist. I’ve won my first state awards here, I’ve won my first national awards here. There’s a lot of opportunity for journalists who care about local news.
What we started with was local news, but it turned out it had state and national implications…there’s always an opportunity to go deeper with your local journalism in a way that is innovative and proves a state and national tie.
Back To NEWSLETTER
10 things freelance journalists need to know about filing their taxes
How to succeed in photojournalism, according to Ed Kashi
Freelancers, here’s how to nudge news outlets to actually pay you
Reporting in a high-risk place? Here’s how you can prepare.
How to get into political journalism and do it really well
Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Philipps on using social media to find untold stories
Tips for digital security
Advice on asking tough questions
Tips for filing public records requests
Investigative reporting tips with Reveal’s Katharine Mieszkowski
Overcoming bias: recognizing it in people — and your reporting
Contextualizing Your Reporting
A journalist’s guide to entering the U.S.
Science journalism: making the complicated sound simple
Community journalism wisdom from Kentucky (and why local reporting matters)
What to do when a source asks to review your story
Tips for working with Census data
Interviewing people who have experienced trauma
Taking the plunge into data journalism
9 rules for quoting in print, audio and video
Five tips for reporting on scientific studies
How to discover your voice on social media (without undermining your journalism)
Reporting responsibly on suicide and mental illness
Finding sources who ‘live in the shadows’
Two Los Angeles Times reporters have this advice for improving your immigration reporting
A checklist for assessing polls and surveys
Getting your bearings in a new place as a freelance foreign correspondent
Tips for reporting meaningful stories without the guarantees of a free press
Best practices for working with ‘fixers’ and staying safe abroad
How ‘moral injury’ takes a toll on journalists
Writing tips from Roy Peter Clark
Six tips for breaking into podcasting
Tips for acing your first week on the job
Advice from fact-checkers to avoid corrections
How to keep your biases in check
Five tips for localizing climate change stories
How to advocate for yourself in the newsroom
Tips on covering local communities from a Report for America corps member
Tips for finding and pitching stories with a race-focused angle
How to write compelling solutions journalism stories
How to avoid attribution mistakes that could ruin your career
Interviewing genocide perpetrators: The “Camera Kids” experience
Tips on how to build trust with a new community from a Report for America trainer
Tools and tips for digging into Facebook from two investigative journalists
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2036
|
__label__cc
| 0.574847
| 0.425153
|
Every Sunday On The Pocomoke Public Eye..
<1800<1850<Time<1900<1950<Machine<2000<<
It's reader-friendly viewing of newspaper archive and historical archive material, primarily of local interest.
This week we share items from 1997, 1886, 1944, 1920, 1840, and 1903.
Check back tomorrow, 11/16, right here!
Posted by tk for PPE at 6:00 AM No comments:
MARYLAND ON PACE FOR ANOTHER LOW IN TRAFFIC FATALITIES
Contact: Gayle Waters
Enforcement of DUI and seat belt laws key to reducing highway deaths.
[Pocomoke City, Maryland] In 2013, Maryland had a 50-year low in traffic fatalities as highway deaths fell almost nine percent from 2012. As 2014 draws to a close, highway safety and law enforcement partners are optimistic for another decrease in traffic fatalities but say it rests largely in the hands of those traveling our roadways.
“Ultimately, our drivers must do the right things,” stated Chief Kelvin Sewell. “If people choose to go out and drink, we strongly recommend that they have a designated driver or get a cab home. And of course, we want everyone using a seat belt in every seat, every time they get in a vehicle.”
From 2009 to 2013 in Maryland, 856 people were killed in impaired-related crashes, accounting for a third of all traffic fatalities across the state. In addition, almost 600 people died in crashes where they were not wearing a seat belt.
“Our law enforcement partners are out there strictly enforcing our laws, particularly when it comes to impaired driving and seat belts,” said MVA Administrator and the Governor’s Representative for Highway Safety, Milt Chaffee. “We are committed to our goal of moving Toward Zero Deaths on Maryland’s roads and a driver making the right choices means that we can stop needless and preventable tragedies from occurring.”
More than 23,000 people were arrested for DUI in Maryland last year and there were tens of thousands of seat belt citations issued. Penalties for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol are severe, including thousands of dollars in fines and fees, not to mention the increased risk of crashes associated with impaired driving. Drivers also face fines of $83 for failing to wear a seat belt, a law that is enforceable in both the front and back seats.
“Our first step is to try and educate people about making the right choices but when that fails, we make arrests and issue seat belt citations to deter people from breaking the law again,” stated Chief Kelvin Sewell. “Each time someone gets behind the wheel after drinking or using drugs, it is a potential tragedy waiting to happen. Each time they drive or ride unbelted, they increase their risk of death in a crash by as much as 45 percent. Ultimately, it’s up to everyone to do their part by always driving sober and buckling up.”
Note: Maryland's Toward Zero Deaths campaign focuses on preventing impaired driving, aggressive driving, and distracted driving, while also promoting seat belt use. For more information on the Toward Zero Deaths campaign, please visit www.towardzerodeathsmd.com.
Posted by The Public Eye at 11:22 AM No comments:
POCOMOKE PREPARES FOR ANNUAL PARADE
POCOMOKE CITY CHRISTMAS PARADE ASSOCIATION
Pocomoke City, Maryland 21851
CONTACT: Mike Shannon (410) 726-5777
On Monday night, December 1, 2014, Pocomoke City will be transformed into a “Winter Wonderland” as the town plays host to one of Delmarva’s largest nighttime Christmas parades.
Always held on the first Monday night after Thanksgiving, the Pocomoke parade has become an Eastern Shore tradition and will attract over 100 units from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia along with thousands of spectators.
We have our web site up and running. This is where you will find the applications and rules for this year’s event. If you are interested in participating this year you should go to pocomokechristmasparade.com to register. If you have any questions you can contact Mike Shannon at 410-726-5777 and leave a message with your name, address and telephone number and type of entry.
Each year the parade features marching bands representing high and middle schools from seven counties in three states. Also featured will be beautifully decorated and lighted floats entered by schools, civic organizations, churches, and commercial enterprises.
Clowns, marching units, fire departments, equestrian units, and of course Santa Claus will round out the two-hour event, slated to kick-off at 7:00 p.m. sharp. The route will take the parade north on Market Street beginning at 14th Street and ending at the Pocomoke River.
Professional judges, including members of the National Judges Association (NJA), will score entries in many different categories. Awards will be awarded immediately following the event to the top entries in each category.
A special thanks to the community of Pocomoke City and surrounding areas for the recent support given to us to continue this great tradition that has been a part of the town of over 40 years.
In the event of inclement weather, the parade will be postponed until Tuesday, December 2, at 7:00 p.m.
Governor-elect Hogan to attend National Governors Association seminar in Colorado this weekend
Office of the Governor-elect
Contact: Hannah Marr
hmarr@hoganforgovernor.com
O: (443) 221-4450 M: (443) 935-3684
ANNAPOLIS, MD – November 13, 2014 – Maryland governor-elect Larry Hogan will attend the National Governors Association Seminar for New Governors this weekend in Westminster, Colorado. The seminar will include governors and governors-elect from around the country.
"My team and I are excited to travel to Colorado this weekend for the Seminar for New Governors," said Governor-elect Hogan. "I am looking forward to learning as much as possible in order to make our transition as smooth as possible, and meeting with other newly elected governors from across the country."
Over the weekend, the governor-elect will attend presentations on assembling a cabinet, recruiting and staffing, budgeting, and more.
For more information or to request an interview, contact Hannah Marr at hmarr@hoganforgovernor.com (443) 935-3684
Web: www.hoganforgovernor.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/Hogan4Governor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChangeMaryland
Authority: Hogan-Rutherford Committee to Change Maryland, John C. Wobensmith, Treasurer.
Posted by The Public Eye at 8:33 AM No comments:
Houses that have Vanished; By Bob Jones
51 mins · Edited
Houses that have Vanished -- the Hickman Home, Greenbackville Road:
The "Hickman Home," built 1736, was undoubtedly Mattapony's finest dwelling for the two centuries it lasted. The north gable, the only part standing a decade ago, was still impressive by its towering height. Even 35 years ago, the house was sufficiently intact to make restoration feasible. Now, it will clearly never rise again. Here's hoping that this modest narrative will serve to keep its history from vanishing entirely into the chasm of Time.
I encourage readers to master the colonial meaning of the word "Mattapony." I remind you that during our first few decades (1660-1742), Worcester and Wicomico were lumped into old Somerset County, which, in turn, was divided into about nine districts that were known as "hundreds." Had I lived in thoses times, my will would have started, "I, Bob Jones, of Mattapony Hundred, do hereby . . . " Mattapony was essentially southern Worcester County, that is everything south of Ayres Lane and Castle Hill Road. North of that boundary was another "Hundred" known as Bogerternorton (Snow Hill, Berlin, and the future Ocean City). What we know as the Eighth Election District is basically old Mattapony.
The main gateway was located on the Pocomoke River, not far from Beth Eden Church Road and Route #113. Fittingly, it was referred to as Mattapony Landing. See below photo of the church that stood nearby.
For the first 100 years after settlement, most of the houses built were quite small, often only one room and a loft -- see photo in Comments. The only grand home in southern Worcester County was "Beverly" built on the Pocomoke River in c1774. In the northern part of the County, grand colonial homes would include "Genesar" (c1730) and "Radcliffe Hall" (c1750) the main dwelling on a large working plantation of 2,200 acres.
The "Hickman Farm" was originally part of a tract called "Transylvania," patented in 1676 to William Walton for 800 acres. It is located on the south side of Greenbackville Road, which runs from George Island Landing Road, at Portersville, to the town on Greenbackville. The house was set far back in the field, the lane some four tenths of a mile. I have not visited the ruins in several years -- today, there may only be rubble.
When the first settlers arrived from Accomack Co. to our area, the first land claimed was along Worcester's Chincoteague Bay and the Pocomoke River. One of the earliest land grants, for example, was effected just the previous year (1675) when Lord Baltimore granted Mt. Ephraim (2000 acres) near Public Landing, which lies outside Mattapony. So, "Transylvania" may well have been the first land grant in Mattapony Hundred.
In Part II, I will tell you about the Hickman family who lived there and give a description of the house. Below, in Comments, there are six photos to go with this account. --RFJ
LikeLike ·
Posted by The Public Eye at 1:03 PM No comments:
School Dumps Christmas, Easter
Editors note: I bet ya they still take the day (s) off with Holiday pay. I say if they want to remove 'American' Holidays from the Calendars and vocabulary and not recognize them then they should have to work those days.
By Todd Starnes
There’s a new battleground in the war on Christmas – the suburbs of our nation’s capital. The school board in Montgomery County, Maryland has decided to appease Muslims families by making the school calendar — religious neutral.
That’s bad news for all you Jews and Gentiles out there.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN TODD ON FACEBOOK FOR CONSERVATIVE CONVERSATION!
As of next year – all Christian and Jewish holidays will be removed from the calendar. That means no more Christmas, no more Easter and no more Yom Kippur.
There’s no word on whether the board will remove the Irish from St. Patrick’s Day or the love from St. Valentine’s Day or the trees from Arbor Day.
For years local Muslims had been urging the district to close schools for two of their holidays. Many gathered outside the school board offices holding signs like “Support Equality for Eid” and “Because…our children matter too.”
Instead, the school board opted to eliminate all religious holidays.
Board members whacked the Jesus holidays because they did not want to disrespect or be insensitive to the Muslim community.
“This seems the most equitable option,” board member Rebecca Smondrowski told the Washington Post.
If you’ve read my new book, “God Less America” - you know how well appeasement works.
The school district says kids will still be able to celebrate the holiday formerly known as Christmas and the holiday formerly known as Easter. Now — they’ll be called winter break and spring break.
Ho Ho Ho, America.
DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG
Click here to get a copy of Todd’s book – “God Less America” – read about the rise of Islam in America.
School District Rescinds ‘Easter’ Ban
School Bans the Word ‘Easter’
School Yanks Carols Featuring Santa, God & Christmas
NBC Editor Denounces “Religious” Part of Christmas
Georgia School Confiscates Christmas Cards
Posted by The Public Eye at 12:03 PM No comments:
The Mayors Old Fashioned Christmas Evening
Official Entry Forms
Download: Chili Cook-Off Rules
Download: Chili Cook-Off Entry Form
Download: Wreath Silent Auction Rules
Download: Wreath Silent Auction Entry Form
TIME MACHINE ... This Sunday's Preview
1997.. Improved internet access for those 40% of SSU students who have personal computers on campus; 1886.. Deadly argument between two respectable Snow Hill citizens; 1944.. Governor gives priority for new highway from Pocomoke City to the Virginia line; 1920.. Firemen's fundraiser will bring "The Miracle Man" film to Princess Anne; 1840.. Worcester County's giant pumpkin; and from 1903, more of the observations of a visitor to Chincoteague.
Although you may not find all of these items in a history book, they are a part of our local history and you can read more about it this Sunday right here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!
Investigation Update
Investigative Update
On October 10, 2014 at approximately 10:00 p.m. three suspects entered the Duck-In liquor store located in Pocomoke City, Maryland. Two of the suspects were armed with small caliber handguns, the three suspects robbed the store and got away with $1,293.00 in currency.
The Pocomoke City Police Criminal Investigations Section along with a member of the Worcester County Criminal Enforcement Team conducted the investigation which led to the three suspects being arrested and charged for the crime.
1. Shyheem Pitts from Snow Hill, Maryland was arrested and charged with Armed Robbery, Robbery, Theft, 1st and 2nd degree Assault.
2. Keyshon Hayes from Pocomoke City, Maryland was arrested and charged with Armed Robbery, Robbery, Theft, and 1st and 2nd
degree assault.
3. Luquan Brittingham from Pocomoke City, Maryland was arrested and charged with Armed Robbery, Robbery, Theft, and 1st and
2nd degree assault.
Further investigation also revealed that two of the three suspects, Keyshon Hayes and Luquan Brittingham were both involved in the downtown Pocomoke City burglaries. These cases were closed by arrest in August 2014. All three of the armed robbery suspects are being held at the Worcester County Detention Center under a “No Bail” status awaiting trial.
Kelvin D. Sewell
Pocomoke City, MD 21851
410 957-1600 ext. 201
410 957-4597 Fax
PocomokePD@comcast.net
Posted by The Public Eye at 4:08 PM 3 comments:
TIME MACHINE ... 1900, 1971, 1890, 1880, 1954, 1903.
"Friendliest Town On The Eastern Shore." Our tradition runs deep. Excerpt from a letter to the editor from a visitor to Newtown, (former name of Pocomoke City) published in the Baltimore Sun, April 28, 1847.
This place (Newtown) is a pretty snug little village, containing about 500 clever and hospitable inhabitants; it has good wide streets, quite clear of that "eye sore," known mostly over the Peninsula by the name of "deep sand"; the houses, though built of frame, are generally built substantially and with some discretion and taste; there are two neat, new, and quite handsome frame churches in it; as for the merchants of the place, suffice it to state that they are very clever and hospitable. F. Mezick, Esq., the landlord with whom I stopped, and his very obliging and jolly assistant, are richly deserving of a passing notice, for the good treatment and the extension of the many civilities to "the stranger."
(Reader-friendly viewing of news archive/historical archive material)
Peninsula Enterprise (Accomac Court House)
Valuable Farms For Sale
The undrsigned offers at private sale two of the most desirable farms in Worcester County.
No.1- Is the home of the late Senator S.K. Dennis, contains about 250 acres, and is the well known "Cedar Hall Farm," is situated on the Banks of the Pocomoke River, 7 miles from Pocomoke City. About two-thirds of this farm is under very successful cultivation, is high red clay land of superior quality, not a ditch on it or the need of one, has steamboat landing on the premises, has good pine woodland, is 4 miles from railroad station. Is improved by a large 8 room dwelling which is in good condition. This farm is especially suited for stock raising or truck farm, has large quantities of fruit of various kinds. This farm is offered for sale to settle an estate, and is worthy of the attention of anyone seeking a comfortable home where both pleasure and profit can be combined.
Price $7,000.00. Terms to suit purchaser.
(See footnote)
No.2- Is the home of the late Thomas W. Hargis, located 3 1/2 miles from Pocomoke City, and contains 212 acres. Is improved by a very nice 8 room building, about 150 acres of the land under cultivation, balance in woodland. This farm is suitable for stock or truck raising, and must be seen to be appreciated.
Price $5,000.00. $2,000 cash, balance on long term.
For further particulars call on or address, F.H. DRYDEN, Pocomoke City, Md.
Footnote: Based on the reference to the late Senator S.K. Dennis being a former owner of "Cedar Hall Farm," the property apparently is historic "Beverly" or "Beverly Mansion." From Wikipedia: "Beverly is a historic home located in Pocomoke City, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. It is a 2 1⁄2-story, Georgian-style Flemish bond brick house built about 1770. The house faces the Pocomoke River. An original circular ice house survives on the property.
Beverly was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Littleton Dennis, great great grandson of John Dennis of Beverly England, died in 1774 before the house was finished but work went on and was completed by his widow Susanna Upshur Dennis and their children and their descendents lived in the house for nearly 150 years."
Beverly Mansion, 1988
The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.)
(Excerpts)
Dodger Great Furillo Bitter Over His Final Baseball Days
By Ed Nichols
Carl Furillo, remember him?
The forgotten Brooklyn Dodger hero of the past has been found.
He's installing elevator frames on the 60th floor of a 1,350-foot skyscraper, that when completed will give New York not one but two buildings taller than the longtime champ, the Empire State Building. This new big house is the Manhatten World Trade Center.
His voice over the telephone sounded most congenial, as always, but not with the same enthusiasm as during his baseball playing days.
"Don't talk baseball to me." he said. "I haven't seen a game in 11 or 12 years."
I've known Carl since he started his pro career in the late 1930's with the Pocomoke City Chicks of the Eastern Shore (D) League.
"Yes, I often think of Pocomoke," Furillo declared. I believe my $100 a month salary was one of the highest on the team. The Pocomoke people were wonderful."
Among his Pocomoke teammates were Gene Hermanski, an outfielder, who also advanced to the Dodgers, and first baseman Ed Sudal, now a National League umpire.
Furillo identified himself as one of the better hitters in the game, winning the National League batting title in 1953 with a .344 average.
Baseball, a game which he loved and gave 20 years of his life- 15 in the major leagues- has looked past Furillo.
He left the game quite bitter, challenging his release (by) the Dodgers in 1960. Carl insisted he was blackballed. However the years of working at obscure jobs have mellowed this old warrior.
Furillo can't help but recall the circumstances which ended his big league career. He received an unconditional release from the Dodgers in May, 1960, because, according to general manager Buzzie Bavasie, that no other major league team would claim him and that "he no longer could do the job."
Carl insists he was injured at the time and should have been put on the injured reserve list for 30 days, and paid his medical expenses for the remainder of the season.
He took his case to court and won, but has been out of baseball ever since.
That's when the blackballing charges were made. Furillo, then 38, was confident he could play two or three more years with another club, but he felt he was deprived of the chance.
He tried to contact all the other major league clubs. "All they told me," Furillo said, " 'Sorry, our roster is filled.' If that's not blackballing, then I don't know what is. Can you blame me for being bitter about baseball? I couldn't get a job as the fourth assistant groundskeeper."
Denton Journal
Ocean City is now an encorporated town, as you will see by the placards posted about the hotels and elsewhere. Its sacred precincts are half mile long and from the ocean to the bay in width, with a 'belt' north and south of twenty miles.
L. W. Showell and G. Stokes hold the reins of government for now. It has an organized police force which can be distinguished by a brass star which he wears over his heart, yes, one officer, he being captain, sergent and the whole force.
May, 1954 (Time Machine archive)
(Oakland Tribune- Oakland, Ca.)
VERY CONSERVATIVE- The residents of Somerset County, Md., will have to mark their "X" on the ballot in the same old way in the June 28 primary and the general election next fall. There will be no voting machines. Supervisors voted against the purchase of machines for fear they would probably bring confusion to the primary.
(Route 50 travelers today are hardly aware of the little community of Vienna, since the newer bridge over the Nanticoke bypasses the town. In earlier years an older bridge led directly through the small community. The article below goes back to still an earlier time reflecting the Vienna of another era.)
Vienna Connected with the World by a Railroad
Vienna, Md., July 4, 1890: Today was an important epoch in Vienna's history of a century and a half, for the old, but thriving, town was for the first time connected with the outside world by a railroad and for the first time the whistle of the passenger locomotive awakened echoes among the town. Even though the railroad is not yet complete all the way to town, visitors came by the hundreds, many crossing the Nanticoke River from the Wicomico side and sail boats brought crowds from points up and down the river. In Vienna visitors enjoyed themselves in partaking of refreshments and in outdoor sports. Notwithstanding the lack of railroad facilities which were long needed, Vienna has in late years forged ahead in business enterprises. The town, one of the oldest in the county, is surrounded by rich and fertile farm lands and for many years noted for the intelligence and hospitality of its 600 to 800 residents. It has some of the largest stores in the county. The Nanticoke River at the town is a half mile wide and the depth is sufficient for the largest sea going vessels. During the early colonies it was a great shipping point and thought at one time to become the metropolis of the state. Most of the tobacco grown in the county, the chief staple of produce in those days, was shipped from Vienna and remains of an old warehouse in the town are yet visible. Wealthy and prominent men lived in or near the town limits. John Gilmor, ancestor of that family of Baltimore, was one of the earliest merchants and it is noted he received the earliest consignments of imported goods in the state at this port. The town also has fruit packing houses and a tin can factory as well as large grist and timber mills owned by Thomas Higgins and Sons. Vienna Academy is recognized as one of the leading institutions of learning in the country. There are an abundant number of churches of nearly all denominations and there is a commodious public hall. The Nanticoke Steamboat Company furnishes transit by water to and from Baltimore and other east coast ports. Vienna will prove to be a large feeder to the railroad and forge ahead rapidly. Among the old residents of Vienna are Dr. Levin Hodson and Thomas Withers Smith. The old hotel which has stood for many years and afforded warmth and good cheer to travelers on the old stage line from Cambridge to Salisbury, will, it is thought, soon give way to a larger and more modern structure.
(A visitor to Chincoteague writes his observations)
The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Va.)
PART 4 (continued from last week)
The deposits in the bank of the Banking Company of L. L. Dirickson, Jr., at Chincoteague, amounts to $99,109.74. The total resources are $160,061.74. The capital stock is 49,200. And the bank is only nine months old.
I remarked once before that everybody in Chincoteague has money. D. J. Whealton is worth perhaps $200,000, and has recently erected on the island a fine house costing a goodly sum. Joshua Whealton is worth well on towards a hundred thousand, some people say he ls worth more. Captain Rowley has a snug fortune and is making more every day. John L. Anderton, who lives across on Assateague, is worth at least fifty thousand. Captain John Bunting is "mighty well fixed" as one of his neighbors expressed it, and the same might have been said of Captain John A. M. Whealton, and a number of others. The men are "not much on clothes," as one of them said, but it would be hard to find a Virginia town where the women are so well dressed as in Chincoteague. It was apparent to the male eye that all the gowns were not of the very latest design, but they were of good quality, and were worn as though the wearers were used to dressing well.
There is at least one piano in Chincoteague, and probably more. The strains from many cottage organs may be heard in the course of a stroll down the main street.
There are three doctors on Chincoteague, and they each appear to have a fair practice. One physician told me that two-thirds of the deaths on the island, probably, were due to pulmonary troubles. Another said that in cases of what he termed dry catarrhal affections, he had known patients to be relieved by a stay here. However, the fine physical specimens one encounters here forbids the impression that Chincoteague is not a good place in which to grow men. The men down here do not conceal their manly development by too many clothes. One of the handsomest fellows I ever saw, who carried me from his boat to the landing on Assateague, wore only shirt and trousers, and the latter were rolled to hls knees.
(More from this article next Sunday.)
"Somewhere Over The
Rainbow Bluebirds
fly.."
Flying On For JMMB.
Her Pocomoke Public
Eye postings (April,
2008 to June, 2014)
kept us informed.
Posted by tk for PPE at 6:00 AM 1 comment:
MARYLAND ON PACE FOR ANOTHER LOW IN TRAFFIC FATALI...
Governor-elect Hogan to attend National Governors ...
TIME MACHINE ... 1900, 1971, 1890, 1880, 1954, 190...
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2042
|
__label__wiki
| 0.74936
| 0.74936
|
Thursday, July 20 2017 12:59
Radio Flyer Brings Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder to Life as a Ride-On Toy...
The latest addition to the "I wish they had this when I was a kid" department here at Rock Father HQ comes from Radio Flyer, who've just announced their Star Wars Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder Ride-on toy. Geared toward kids ages 4+, this two-seater hits a top speed of 5mph, and bears a weight limit of 130 lbs. Modeled after the iconic X-34 craft from 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope, this ride features an interactive dashboard with movie-accurate lights and sounds, and provides the perfect craft for chasing down your pesky run-away R2 unit. Just watch out for Sandpeople, though - the Jundland Wastes are not to be traveled lightly, and Tusken Raiders often travel single file to hide their numbers. See the Radio Flyer Landspeeder in action below!
Published in Rock Father Rides
Tuesday, March 11 2014 14:43
STAR WARS + PHARRELL WILLIAMS = HAPPY from TUNISIA
If you've turned on a radio, television, or happen to have seen DESPICABLE ME 2, then you're probably familiar with "Happy," the song performed by PHARRELL WILLIAMS, that's become a smash hit over the past few months. "Happy" may be bigger than the Arby's hat that he wore to the Grammys, or the other one that he wore while performing on the Academy Awards earlier this month. So bring in an element of a "galaxy far, far away," and you've got the "HAPPY (We Are From Tatooine)" video, a viral clip put together by STAR WARS fans in Tunisia, location of many familiar locations that STAR WARS fans will recognize as Tatooine. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, C-3PO, R2-D2 and many others can be seen getting "Happy" in the video below.
Published in Family Music
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2044
|
__label__wiki
| 0.612703
| 0.612703
|
> From Past
From Present
Only People
Only Events
Only Icons
Who > Activists • Actors • Anarchists • Architects • Artists • Astronauts • Athletes • Bankers • Chefs • Chess players • Christians • Communists • Composers • Conquerors • Conquistadors • Crusaders • Designers • Dictators • Directors • Engineers • Entrepreneurs • Explorers • Founders • Freemasons • Historians • Humanists • Inventors • Jurists • Mechanicians • Merchants • Musicians • Muslims • Muzes • Painters • Philanthropists • Philosophers • Photographers • Pilots • Pirates • Polymaths • Prodigies • Reformers • Revolutionaries • Royalty • Sailors • Scientists • Settlers • Soldiers • Statesmen • Teachers • Warriors • Writers • Women • Icons • People
90 of 2238 items
Next > 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 < Previous page
480 BC - 406 BC
Euripides, Greek Tragedian
Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom a significant number of plays have survived. Some ancient scholars attributed 95 plays to him but, a...
Leucippus, 1st Theory of Atomism
Leucippus or Leukippos was the first Greek to develop the theory of atomism — the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms — which was elaborated in far greater detail by his pupil...
Socrates, I know that I know nothing
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Pla...
Hippocrates of Kos, Father of Medicine
Hippocrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician. He has been called "the father of medicine", and is commonly regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in medicine of all time. He was a physician trained at the Dream temple of Kos,...
Democritus, 1st Atomic Theory
Democritus ("chosen of the people") was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos. His exact contributions are difficult to dis...
Diagoras of Melos, The Atheist
Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos was a Greek poet and sophist of the 5th century BCE. Throughout antiquity he was regarded as an atheist. With the exception of this one point, there is little information concerning his life and beliefs. He s...
Alcibiades, Athenian Statesman / General
Alcibiades, son of Clinias, from the deme of Scambonidae, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Pel...
Aristophanes, Comic Playwright
Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays,...
4th Century BC
Isocrates, Greek Rhetorician
Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
Xenophon, Greek Historian
Xenophon was a soldier, mercenary and Athenian student of Socrates and is known for his writings on the history of his own times, the sayings of Socrates, and the life of Greece. While a young man, Xenophon participated in the expedition le...
Plato, Greek Philosopher
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especiall...
Diogenes of Sinope, The Cynic
Diogenes was chief among the school known as the cynics. It was said of Diognes that throughout his life he "searched with a lantern in the daylight for an honest man." And though Diogenes apparently did not find an honest man, he had, in t...
Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphys...
Demosthenes, Greatest Orator of Antiquity
Demosthenes, Athenian politician, has always been regarded as the greatest orator of Antiquity, and it is not exaggerated to say that his death marked the end of Greek political speech. Many of his speeches have survived, because in the thi...
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon was a Greek king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III. In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of Perinthus. Philip began another siege in 339 of...
Prev < 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 > Next
Order > Past • Present
Filter > People • Events • Icons
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2047
|
__label__cc
| 0.696968
| 0.303032
|
DYNAMISM - PART II: VICIOUS SUBTRACTION
Read Part I for a full context of this episode.
Part I began with a quote from Jung that refers to a demonic dynamism. It comes from a part of an essay called The Will to Power, and it’s important to see in what way this demonic dynamism crescendos with Jung’s intended meaning.
The quote continues:
“The individual seldom knows anything of this; to him, as an individual, it is incredible that he should ever in any circumstances go beyond himself. But let these harmless creatures form a mass, and there emerges a raging monster; and each individual is only one tiny cell in the monster’s body, so that for better or worse he must accompany it on its bloody rampages and even assist it to the utmost. Having a dark suspicion of these grim possibilities, man turns a blind eye to the shadow-side of human nature.”
What Jung is talking about here is group-think, and the best way to illustrate group-think in this context is to visualize a buffalo jump. When the buffalo were numerous and stampeding, they could be naively lead to run straight off of a cliff. The whole herd would go over, and it was primarily because members of the herd could not see ahead of those in front of them, and when the edge of the cliff came, it was already too late, along with the fact that there were usually buffalo running right behind and to the sides, forming a trap. Sadly, this sort of thing happens with groups of people.
We need only think of the ordered precision of Nazi Germany during the 1940’s to realize that:
Regular people are totally capable of being similarly trapped inside of a system that does not easily allow thinking and behavior that is different from the group at large.
Climate Change poses another sort of buffalo jump, but this time, it is all of humanity running towards the edge of the cliff. Absolutely everyone is stuck in this system which is pushing the planet into a fever state that will kill off many of us if we don’t drastically change the direction of our herd.
It’s important to remember that Buffalo Jumps were formed by corralling stampeding herds into a specific direction. Native Americans riding horses, would steer the herd from outside of the herd, having a much more expansive awareness and knowledge regarding the situation and the geography. This example makes something very important extremely obvious: it would be useless not to mention suicidal to try and steer the herd from inside the herd.
In order to have a hope of altering the herd’s direction, we need to think outside of the group’s behavior and ideas. We do not need to physically leave humanity, as the Native American’s were physically outside of the herd, but rather, expand our knowledge and awareness of the situation so that we have a larger, fuller picture of the situation, and then make productive moves with that perspective to see what dangers are ahead and what it would take to change direction.
The stampeding herd is just going about it’s natural business, just as we do: driving cars, buying imported foods, leaving the heat on and all other manner of behavior that ultimately stresses the climate. From an individual stand point, it would be useless on a global level to attempt living a carbon neutral life. This kind of thinking is akin to a single buffalo trying to run in a different direction while deep in the herd. That buffalo is going to have a hard time and ultimately make little change in the larger picture. Someone with a larger perspective and understanding who can identify the key forces that are bringing us in such direction, can then make strategic dents in the movement of the herd. We might think of someone like Elon Musk who sees an end to the use of fossil fuels by rapidly pushing the electrification of transport with the aim of capitalizing on the effectively infinite resource of the sun.
If we recall the discussion of writing on paper in Part I, we can see that renewables offer the same hack that digitization offered to writing. By using fossil fuels, we are rearranging the planet’s composition, moving compounds that were formerly under ground to the atmosphere, and like a monk writing in the first century with very limited paper, we are running out of space in the atmosphere where carbon can comfortably fit, consequence free.
If however, we switch our energy source to exclusively renewable technology, we can keep moving our cars, trucks and ships for a very long time, in just the same way the monk would not have to worry about running out of paper if we gave him a laptop and a fat hard drive.
Carl Jung’s quote that describes people as part of a monster’s body, doing terrible things need not have all the scary language attached to it. Driving a car around while doing errands has no obvious scariness attached to it, and yet it is contributing to humanity’s drive towards a monstrous direction.
What we are talking about here is a system built of routine behaviors and habits. Our brains are geared for this kind of thing. In fact some people surmise that all of our actions boil down to some nuance of habit.
Whatever new behavior or action that we undertake that ultimately has a repetitive nature will eventually yield compound effects once given enough time. For a long time these compounding effects are nearly invisible making the exponential nature of such compounding very unintuitive. The systemic habit that we have is adding to an atmosphere that has a finite resource of capacity before climate starts to change.
Creative hacks that come about, like the effect digitization had on the limits of writing, are crucial points when a system changes by changing the traditional limits of a finite resource. Renewables have the potential to offer an identical freedom from traditional finite limits by invoking the sun.
Our attention should draw to the systems of repeated action that we create, and what sort of editing process we can unleash on these systems. Left to their own devices, these systems, whether on the global scale of a planet, or on the scale of the individual with personal habits, can lead us to monstrous places. Habits, once in place most often become self-reinforcing. The more it is done, the more likely it will be done again. Inevitably, an addictive quality rises in anything that we repeat often enough, making such behaviors innately attractive.
If this habit happens to have negative consequences, then our only defense is to Pause, and reflect deeply on the nature of the system we have built that is our life repeated day in and day out. Without such mindful reflection, we slip in deeper by virtue of the compounding effects of our repeated behaviors that continually gain more and more sway over our conscious ability to change.
There is nothing inherently evil about this process, it can be applied to produce incredibly good results or incredibly bad results. Episode 386 of Tinkered Thinking, entitled White Diamond explores more fully the structure of this process and the different directions to which it is applied.
More importantly, this editing process that we must apply to our own personal systems and to the global systems is something that can never rest. Because circumstances are always changing, we must always ask:
Purchase books that influenced this episode right below.
Podcast Ep. 419: Dynamism - Part II: Vicious Subtraction
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2048
|
__label__wiki
| 0.811621
| 0.811621
|
Sparks Are Gonna Fly
Imogen Heap's Brilliant New Work
August 20, 2014 Andre Salles
I could write an entire book about Imogen Heap’s Sparks.
I won’t, don’t worry. I will try to contain my effusiveness to 1,500 words or so. But just know that I could do it. For the past week, I’ve been immersing myself in the full digital wonderment of this record, letting it surround me, floating in it. It’s that kind of record, one with a physical presence so nuanced that you could live within it for weeks and not hear everything. I’ve heard Sparks probably 20 times now, and I’m sure I haven’t heard every bit of aural detail Heap put into it.
Luckily, I don’t foresee getting tired of it. I’ve been an Imogen Heap fan for many years, dating back to her time as one half of Frou Frou, and this is easily her most confident, most accomplished record. It’s also her strangest, which seems to go hand in hand with unfettered creativity. Heap has always been an idiosyncratic artist, but Sparks blows that notion through the sky. She is one of a kind. There is no one else like her, no one else on Earth who would have made this record.
And there are very few who could make it. Imogen Heap is the antithesis of the modern female pop star – she creates her records almost entirely on her own, painstakingly crafting the sounds she expertly weaves together. She spends weeks in isolation, emerging into the light carrying new pieces of beautiful electronic wonderment unlike any you’ve ever heard. Every Heap album is stunningly well crafted, and I imagine her twiddling knobs for hours just trying to get one woodblock sound to strike her ears properly.
It sounds obsessive, but the process belies the final product. Imogen Heap music leaps from the speakers, full of boundless joy, unable to keep to itself. It’s the kind of thing that rushes at you in a bewildering torrent at first, your mind unable to keep up with everything it’s hearing. There’s so much here, and it all bursts forth at you in full color. Beyond just the physical sound, though, Heap’s songs are immaculate – they would be strong enough to hold up without all of this sonic craft surrounding them. But that wouldn’t be nearly as extraordinary.
The story of Sparks is just as amazing as the music. It’s been five years since Heap’s last album, the wonderful Ellipse, and she spent those years shaking up both her life and her music-making formula. She began creating experiences for herself, collaborations and journeys and musical ideas, and set a goal of releasing one new piece every three months for three years. Every song on Sparks has a story, a hook, an idea underpinning it, which makes them all easy to talk about, and instantly intriguing.
And though each song was released individually, with a corresponding video, the best part about the Sparks project to me is that the album is not an afterthought collection of tracks with no connecting thread. It’s clear now that Sparks is here that the album was the end goal all along. These songs, wildly diverse as they are, sit next to each other nicely – there is certainly something of a scattered feel at first, but every Imogen Heap album feels that way before you get to know it. Once Sparks sinks in, it’s obvious that a lot of thought went into the running order, the connections between tracks, the flow. Sparks is an album, albeit one with a fascinating genesis.
Because of the nature of this record, it is easily Heap’s most collaborative. She deliberately tried to break free of her traditional method of working – essentially, locking herself in a studio for weeks at a time – by reaching out to fans and fellow musicians in other parts of the world. The first of these songs to be released, “Lifeline,” contains samples culled from nearly 900 submissions by fans. Heap put out a call for interesting sounds, and received a multitude, from burning matches to garage doors. She incorporated dozens of these into the track, but the genius of “Lifeline” is that you’d never know it. The textures never distract from the amazing song. (The repeated “keep breathing,” and the bass line that follows, is one of my favorite Sparks moments.)
For gentle opener “You Know Where to Find Me,” Heap recorded on 13 different pianos located in fans’ homes around the world. It’s a perfect first track – it slips in like a summer breeze, but builds almost imperceptibly, and before you know it, it’s wielding a remarkable amount of force. It’s almost an entire album unto itself, such is the journey it takes you on. Heap solicited about three dozen people to add their voices to the haunting, amazing spoken word track “Neglected Space.” This one sneaks out of the speakers and envelops you.
Heap’s voice is one of her greatest assets, and she usually includes an a cappella piece on her albums – she even scored an unlikely hit with one, “Hide and Seek,” 12 years ago. But she’s never done anything like “The Listening Chair.” In the later stages of development, Heap found herself unable to put her finger on exactly what her record needed. So she built a chair with video and audio recording capability, brought it on tour with her, and asked fans to sit in it and opine on what song remains to be written. The answer she went with was along the lines of “the song about your life.”
And so here it is. Each of the five minutes of “The Listening Chair” encapsulates seven years of Heap’s life – she was 35 when she finished it – and it’s a twisty, exhilarating ride. Every sound was made with her mouth, from percussion to low string sounds to all the incredible harmonies. I don’t even want to think about how many hours this took to put together. Even more extraordinary, Heap has promised to write another minute of this song every seven years, summing up her life in miniature. It’s a song that will not be finished until she dies. (Although I love the ending we have now – Heap asking “who am I now,” only to hear the question reflected back by dozens of people, voices stacked atop one another.)
Heap worked with Deadmau5 on “Telemiscommunications,” although you’d never know it – the song is a low-key breather amidst the mania. Winningly, it’s a song about failing to connect over cell phones and internet chats, and was crafted by two people who never met face to face. “Minds Without Fear” is a collaboration with Indian composers Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani, famous for their film scores. The song is one of the most aggressive, sitars and Indian percussion sitting atop a dark beat as Heap’s voice intertwines with Dadlani’s and Ravjiani’s. The absolutely incredible “Xizi She Knows” incorporates field recordings of people Heap met during a trip to Hangzhou in China, wrapping them up in a whirlwind of beats and melody.
Heck, even the cover of Sparks is a collaboration – it’s an explosion of footprints, each one sent in by fans, heading out in every direction. But this isn’t to suggest that she never acted alone here. In fact, some of the finest moments on Sparks, including “The Listening Chair,” grew from her doing what she does – locking herself away and slaving over a computer. “Entanglement,” for instance, is the closest this album comes to a pop single. The song pulses and shimmies with a surprising sexiness as Heap coos, “Our body entanglement wants you all over me, me all over you…” The arresting strings add immeasurably.
The striking “Me The Machine” was performed on Mi.Mu gloves, an invention Heap helped create. A sleeker version of Steve Hogarth’s MIDI gloves, these capture movements and hand gestures and turn them into commands for sequencing computers. The song itself is one of the album’s most immediate, wafting in on gentle electronics and soaring through its winsome melody. It leads into “Run-Time,” a wonderful tribute to ‘80s pop music that puts most to shame, and includes a delightful, skipping coda.
The two instrumental tracks, the propulsive “Cycle Song” and the lovely “Climb to Sakteng,” were composed for a film score. Amazingly, they improve the flow of the album rather than hampering it, with “Cycle” clearing the stage for the lower-key “Telemiscommunications,” and “Sakteng” flowing into the similarly lovely “The Beast.” That song is the most unlikely collaboration with B.o.B. you’ll ever hear, a sky-high menacing dirge that ends up gathering an absolutely huge amount of power.
The album ends with one of its most extraordinary achievements. After 13 songs of immersive detail, Heap plays with 3-D audio effects on “Propeller Seeds,” an absolutely magical piece of music. The chiming instruments leap out at you, but the sounds feel like movies in your mind – the bursting rip as she sings “I’m growing roots through my toes,” or the jazz band party that happens in the middle eight. You can practically see this song happening in front of you. The fact that it’s a beautiful piece of music doesn’t hurt in the slightest.
“Where does this story go, what does this story hold for us,” Heap sings in the final seconds of Sparks. And after this, well, it could go anywhere. Sparks feels to me like a great leap forward from an artist who was already flirting with genius. It’s a stunning achievement, quite unlike anything else I’ve heard, and a testament to the power of stepping outside your comfort zone. It’s also a remarkably moving album, all that technology harnessed in the service of an emotional ebb and flow that works brilliantly. Listening to it all in a row is somewhat overwhelming, but it leaves me giddy.
Sparks is easily the best record Imogen Heap has made, and if you know her work, you know that’s saying something. It’s also quite easily one of the best records of 2014. I don’t know how many other ways I can say it. You should hear this, and you should hear this now.
Next week, a treatise on consistency with Bill Mallonee, Spoon and the Gaslight Anthem. Leave a comment on my blog at tm3am.blogspot.com. Follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tm3am, and Twitter at www.twitter.com/tm3am.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2049
|
__label__wiki
| 0.824436
| 0.824436
|
Tree Cottages
During the late 1700s, two families – the Elliotts and the Odoms – arrived in Sumner County and acquired a sizeable plot of land lying along East Station Camp Creek west of present-day Gallatin. When the children of the two clans grew to maturity, George Elliott married Mary Odom, and his brother, Charles, married Mary’s sister, Elizabeth. Charles and Elizabeth moved into an existing home, Walnut Grove, while George and Mary, in 1811, selected a building site across the creek from Walnut Grove upon which to build their home. The particulars of their new dwelling have been lost in time, but they named the plantation, Wall Spring, after Hugh Wall, the original owner of Elliott’s newly-purchased tract of land, and the fresh, clear-water spring that issued forth from the bluff along the creek’s bank.
Within a couple of years of the establishment of Wall Spring, George Elliott became involved in thoroughbred horse-breeding. When he returned home from military service in the Creek War and with General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, he continued his operations, earning for himself a solid reputation among his fellow horsemen. He built a race track on his plantation which attracted horse owners, trainers, and jockeys from across the nation.
In 1827, Elliott built the existing brick house upon his Wall Spring property. The structure was developed in two phases, the first part following a Federal design and consisting of one-and-one half stories, with a central hallway flanked by two rooms on either side. The brickwork on the front facade was laid in Flemish bond. The second phase was completed around 1850, enlarging the house to two-stories as well as providing a one-story porch. The footprint of the new second floor was made to conform to that of the first floor.
Both Greek Revival and Italianate styles were incorporated into the addition. According to the Wall Spring application for National Register of Historic Places recognition, “few other local houses present such an obvious juxtaposition of divergent styles: Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate. Especially important is the fact that these diverse styles reflect the aesthetic of the original owner.”
By the 1830s, Elliott was arguably the foremost horseman in Tennessee and the fame he achieved with his breeder program had even reached national and international proportions. He was noted for advocating the introduction of new foreign blood lines to American stock. Among his many champion thoroughbreds were Top Gallant, Leviathan, Pacolet, Napoleon, and Black Sophia. In later years, Elliott was appointed to a position with the State of Tennessee Agricultural Bureau, where he used his fifty years of experience as a top horseman and breeder to improve the state’s agricultural oversight. When he died in 1861, Elliott was still active in horse-breeding and racing.
Wall Spring is privately owned. This article originally appeared in Historic Sumner County (Grandin Hood Publishers 2014)
Copyright © 2015 Wall Spring Collective – Produced and Hosted by RTG LLC
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2051
|
__label__wiki
| 0.824995
| 0.824995
|
Decision : 34 COM 7A.12
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (India) (N 338)
1. Having examined Document WHC-10/34.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 33 COM 7A.12, adopted at its 33rd session (Seville, 2009),
3. Welcomes the State Party's report which mentions important progress in the implementation of the corrective measures and also provides some data on wildlife populations but not on population trends as requested by the Committee and regrets that the very late submission of the state of conservation report did not allow a proper assessment of the data by IUCN;
4. Reiterates its position that a clear upward trend in the populations of key wildlife species needs to be demonstrated in order to enable removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger;
5. Requests the State Party to provide the World Heritage Centre as soon as possible with clear data on the trends of wildlife populations since the time of inscription, including details on the available monitoring data on which these trends are based;
6. Requests the State Party to invite a joint UNESCO/IUCN reactive monitoring mission to the property, once the data on wildlife populations are provided, to evaluate the state of conservation of the property and in particular review the available data on trends in wildlife populations to assess their recovery and to advise on the consideration of the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger at its 35th session in 2010;
7. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2011, a detailed report on the state of conservation of the properly and on the implementation of the corrective measures, as well as on the progress made in the finalization and approval of the management plan for the property, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 35th session in 2011, with a view to considering the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger;
8. Decides to retain the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (India) on the World Heritage List in Danger.
WHC-10/34.COM/7A.Add
Decision Code: 34 COM 7A.12
Themes: Conservation, List of World Heritage in Danger
States Parties (1): India
Properties (1): Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
Session: 34th session of the World Heritage Committee (34 COM)
2010 Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2064
|
__label__wiki
| 0.920279
| 0.920279
|
Mobutu at The Pentagon on 5 August 1983
President of Zaire
24 November 1965 – 16 May 1997
Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Joseph-Desiré Mobutu
Lisala, Belgian Congo
7 September 1997(1997-09-07) (aged 66)
Rabat, Morocco
Popular Movement of the Revolution
Marie-Antoinette Mobutu
(died 1977)
Bobi Ladawa Mobutu (m. 1980)
Force Publique
Armée Nationale Congolaise
Commander in Chief of the Army
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga[a] (/məˈbuːtuː ˈsɛseɪ ˈsɛkoʊ/; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which he renamed Zaire in 1971) from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity from 1967 to 1968.
During the Congo Crisis, Mobutu, serving as Chief of Staff of the Army and supported by Belgium and the United States, deposed the nationalist democratically elected government of Patrice Lumumba in 1960. Mobutu installed a government that arranged for Lumumba's execution in 1961. Mobutu continued to lead the country's armed forces until he took power directly in a second coup in 1965. As part of his program of "national authenticity", he changed the Congo's name to Zaire in 1971, and his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko in 1972.
Mobutu developed a totalitarian regime, amassed vast personal wealth, and attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence. At the same time, he was given considerable support by the West and China, owing to his strong anti-Soviet stance. He was the object of a pervasive cult of personality.[1] During his reign, Mobutu amassed a large personal fortune through economic exploitation and corruption, leading some to call his rule a "kleptocracy".[2][3] The nation suffered from uncontrolled inflation, a large debt, and massive currency devaluations.
By 1991, economic deterioration and unrest led him to agree to share power with opposition leaders, but he used the army to thwart change until May 1997, when rebel forces led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila expelled him from the country. Already suffering from advanced prostate cancer, he died three months later in Morocco.
Marshal Mobutu became notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between US$4 billion and $15 billion during his reign. He was known for extravagances such as shopping trips to Paris via the supersonic and expensive Concorde.[4] He presided over the country for more than three decades, a period of widespread human rights violations.
1.1 Early years
1.2 Army service
1.3 Early political involvement
1.4 Congo Crisis
1.5 Second coup and consolidation of power
1.6 Authenticity campaign
1.7 One-man rule
1.8 Foreign policy
1.8.1 Relations with Belgium
1.8.2 Relations with France
1.8.3 Relations with the People's Republic of China
1.8.4 Relations with the Soviet Union
1.8.5 Relations with the United States
2 Coalition government
2.1 Overthrow
2.1.1 Burial of Juvénal Habyarimana
2.1.2 Exile and death
4 In art and literature
7.1 Books
7.1.1 English
7.1.2 French
Mobutu, a member of the Ngbandi ethnic group,[5] was born in 1930 in Lisala, Belgian Congo.[6] Mobutu's mother, Marie Madeleine Yemo, was a hotel maid who fled to Lisala to escape the harem of a local village chief. There she met and married Albéric Gbemani, a cook for a Belgian judge.[7] Shortly afterward she gave birth to Mobutu. The name "Mobutu" was selected by an uncle.
Gbemani died when Mobutu was eight.[8] Thereafter he was raised by an uncle and a grandfather.
The wife of the Belgian judge took a liking to Mobutu and taught him to speak, read, and write fluently in the French language. Yemo relied on the help of relatives to support her four children, and the family moved often. Mobutu's earliest education took place in Léopoldville, but his mother eventually sent him to an uncle in Coquilhatville, where he attended the Christian Brothers School, a Catholic-mission boarding school. A physically imposing figure, Mobutu dominated school sports. He also excelled in academic subjects and ran the class newspaper. He was known for his pranks and impish sense of humor.
A classmate recalled that when the Belgian priests, whose first language was Dutch, made an error in French, Mobutu would leap to his feet in class and point out the mistake. Mobutu stowed away aboard a boat to Léopoldville in 1949, where he met a girl. The priests found him several weeks later. At the end of the school year, in lieu of being sent to prison, he was ordered to serve seven years in the colonial army, the Force Publique (FP). This was the usual punishment for rebellious students.[9]
Army service
Mobutu found discipline in army life, as well as a father figure in Sergeant Louis Bobozo. Mobutu kept up his studies by borrowing European newspapers from the Belgian officers and books from wherever he could find them, reading them on sentry duty and whenever he had a spare moment. His favourites were the writings of French president Charles de Gaulle, British prime minister Winston Churchill, and Italian Renaissance philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. After passing a course in accounting, Mobutu began to dabble professionally in journalism. Still angry after his clashes with the school priests, he did not marry in a church. His contribution to the wedding festivities was a crate of beer, all his army salary could afford.[10]
Early political involvement
As a soldier, Mobutu wrote pseudonymously on contemporary politics for Actualités Africaines (African News), a magazine set up by a Belgian colonial. In 1956, he quit the army and became a full-time journalist,[11] writing for the Léopoldville daily L'Avenir.[12]
Two years later, he went to Belgium to cover the 1958 World Exposition and stayed to receive training in journalism. By this time, Mobutu had met many of the young Congolese intellectuals who were challenging colonial rule. He became friendly with Patrice Lumumba and joined Lumumba's Mouvement National Congolais (MNC). Mobutu eventually became Lumumba's personal aide. Several contemporaries indicate that Belgian intelligence had recruited Mobutu to be an informer to the government.[13]
During the 1960 talks in Brussels on Congolese independence, the US embassy held a reception for the Congolese delegation. Embassy staff were each assigned a list of delegation members to meet, and discussed their impressions afterward. The ambassador noted, "One name kept coming up. But it wasn't on anyone's list because he wasn't an official delegation member, he was Lumumba's secretary. But everyone agreed that this was an extremely intelligent man, very young, perhaps immature, but a man with great potential."[14]
Following the general election, Lumumba was tasked with creating a government. He gave Mobutu the office of Secretary of State to the Presidency. Mobutu held much influence in the final determination of the rest of the government.[15]
Congo Crisis
Main article: Congo Crisis
Colonel Mobutu in 1960
On 5 July soldiers of the Force Publique stationed at Camp Léopold II in Léopoldville, dissatisfied with their all-white leadership and working conditions, mutinied. The revolt spread across the region in the following days. Mobutu assisted other officials in negotiating with the mutineers to secure the release of the officers and their families.[16] On 8 July the full Council of Ministers convened in an extraordinary session under the chairmanship of President Joseph Kasa-Vubu at Camp Léopold II to address the task of Africanising the garrison.[17]
After allowing for the election of a new commandant for the garrison, the ministers debated over who would make a suitable army chief of staff. The two main candidates for the post were Maurice Mpolo and Mobutu. The former had shown some influence over the mutinying troops, but Kasa-Vubu and the Bakongo ministers feared that he would enact a coup d'état if he were given power. The latter was perceived as calmer and more thoughtful.[18] Lumumba saw Mpolo as courageous, but favored Mobutu's prudence. As the discussions continued, the cabinet began to divide according to who they preferred to serve as chief of staff. Lumumba wanted to keep both men in his government and wished to avoid upsetting one of their camps of supporters.[18] In the end Mobutu was given the role and awarded the rank of colonel.[19] The following day government delegations left the capital to oversee the Africanisation of the army; Mobutu was sent to Équateur.[20]
Encouraged by a Belgian government intent on maintaining its access to rich Congolese mines, secessionist violence erupted in the south. Concerned that the United Nations force sent to help restore order was not helping to crush the secessionists, Lumumba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance. He received massive military aid and about a thousand Soviet technical advisers within six weeks. As this was during the Cold War, the US government feared that the Soviet activity was a maneuver to spread communist influence in Central Africa. Kasa-Vubu was encouraged by the US and Belgium to dismiss Lumumba, which he did on 5 September. An outraged Lumumba declared Kasa-Vubu deposed. Parliament refused to recognise the dismissals and urged reconciliation, but no agreement was reached.
Lumumba and Kasa-Vubu each ordered Mobutu to arrest the other. As Army Chief of Staff, Mobutu came under great pressure from multiple sources. The embassies of Western nations, which helped pay the soldiers' salaries, as well as Kasa-Vubu and Mobutu's subordinates, all favored getting rid of the Soviet presence. On 14 September Mobutu launched a bloodless coup, declaring both Kasa-Vubu and Lumumba to be "neutralised" and establishing a new government of university graduates, the College of Commissioners-General. Lumumba rejected this action but was forced to retire to his residence, where UN peacekeepers prevented Mobutu's soldiers from arresting him.
Losing confidence that the international community would support his reinstatement, Lumumba fled in late November to join his supporters in Stanleyville to establish a new government. He was captured by Mobutu's troops in early December, and incarcerated at his headquarters in Thysville. However, Mobutu still considered him a threat, and transferred him to the rebelling State of Katanga on 17 January 1961. Lumumba disappeared from public view. It was later discovered that he was murdered the same day by the secessionist forces of Moise Tshombe, after Mobutu's government turned him over.[21]
Colonel Joseph-Desiré Mobutu (left) with President Joseph Kasa-Vubu, 1961
On 23 January 1961, Kasa-Vubu promoted Mobutu to major-general. Historian De Witte argues that this was a political action, "aimed to strengthen the army, the president's sole support, and Mobutu's position within the army".[22]
In 1964, Pierre Mulele led partisans in another rebellion. They quickly occupied two-thirds of the Congo. But the Congolese army, led by Mobutu, reconquered the entire territory through 1965.
Second coup and consolidation of power
Find sources: "Mobutu Sese Seko" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Prime Minister Moise Tshombe's Congolese National Convention had won a large majority in the March 1965 elections, but Kasa-Vubu appointed an anti-Tshombe leader, Évariste Kimba, as prime minister-designate. However, Parliament twice refused to confirm him. With the government in near-paralysis, Mobutu seized power in a bloodless coup on 25 November. He had turned 35 a month earlier.[23]
Under the auspices of a regime d'exception (the equivalent of a state of emergency), Mobutu assumed sweeping—almost absolute—powers for five years.[24] In his first speech upon taking power, Mobutu told a large crowd at Léopoldville's main stadium that, since politicians had brought the country to ruin in five years, it would take him at least that long to set things right again. Therefore, he announced, "for five years, there will be no more political party activity in the country."[25] Parliament was reduced to a rubber stamp before being abolished altogether, but it was later revived. The number of provinces was reduced, and their autonomy curtailed, resulting in a highly centralized state.
A Congolese cotton shirt embellished with a portrait of Mobutu from the collection of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam
Initially, Mobutu's government was decidedly apolitical, even anti-political. The word "politician" carried negative connotations, and became almost synonymous with someone who was wicked or corrupt. In 1966 the Corps of Volunteers of the Republic was established, a vanguard movement designed to mobilize popular support behind Mobutu, who was proclaimed the nation's "Second National Hero" after Lumumba. Despite the role he played in Lumumba's ouster, Mobutu worked to present himself as a successor to Lumumba's legacy. One of his key tenets early in his rule was "authentic Congolese nationalism".
1967 marked the debut of the Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR), which until 1990 was the nation's only legal political party. It was officially defined as "the nation politically organized"—in essence, the state was a transmission belt for the party. All citizens automatically became members of the MPR from birth. Among the themes advanced by the MPR in its doctrine, the Manifesto of N'Sele, were nationalism, revolution, and "authenticity". Revolution was described as a "truly national revolution, essentially pragmatic", which called for "the repudiation of both capitalism and communism". One of the MPR's slogans was "Neither left nor right", to which would be added "nor even center" in later years.
That same year, all trade unions were consolidated into a single union, the National Union of Zairian Workers, and brought under government control. Mobutu intended for the union to serve as an instrument of support for government policy, rather than as an independent group. Independent trade unions were illegal until 1991.
Mobutu sworn in as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo following the 1970 election
Facing many challenges early in his rule, Mobutu converted much opposition into submission through patronage; those he could not co-opt, he dealt with forcefully. In 1966, four cabinet members were arrested on charges of complicity in an attempted coup, tried by a military tribunal, and publicly executed in an open-air spectacle witnessed by over 50,000 people. Uprisings by former Katangan gendarmeries were crushed, as were the Stanleyville mutinies of 1967 led by white mercenaries.[26] By 1970, nearly all potential threats to his authority had been smashed, and for the most part, law and order was brought to nearly all parts of the country. That year marked the pinnacle of Mobutu's legitimacy and power.
In 1970 His Majesty King Baudouin of the Belgians made a highly successful state visit to Kinshasa. That same year legislative and presidential elections were held. The MPR was the only party allowed to run, although the constitution stated that at least two parties were authorized. According to official figures, an implausible 98.33% of voters voted in favor of the MPR list. For the presidential election, Mobutu was the only candidate. Voting was not secret; voters chose a green paper if they supported Mobutu's candidacy, and a red paper if they opposed his candidacy. Casting a green ballot was deemed a vote for hope, while a red ballot was deemed a vote for chaos. Under the circumstances, the result was inevitable–Mobutu won with a vote of 10,131,669 to 157.[27] It later emerged that almost 30,500 more votes were cast than the actual number of registered voters.[28][29]
As he consolidated power, Mobutu set up several military forces whose sole purpose was to protect him. These included the Special Presidential Division, Civil Guard and Service for Action, and Military Intelligence (SNIP).
Authenticity campaign
Main article: Authenticité (Zaire)
Flag of Zaire
Embarking on a campaign of pro-Africa cultural awareness, or authenticité, Mobutu began renaming cities that reflected the colonial past, starting on 1 June 1966: Leopoldville became Kinshasa, Elisabethville became Lubumbashi, and Stanleyville became Kisangani. In October 1971, he renamed the country as the Republic of Zaire. He ordered the people to change their European names to African ones, and priests were warned that they would face five years' imprisonment if they were caught baptizing a Zairean child with a European name. Western attire and ties were banned, and men were forced to wear a Mao-style tunic known as an abacost (shorthand for à bas le costume--"down with the suit").[30]
In 1972, in accordance with his own decree of a year earlier, Mobutu renamed himself Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga ( meaning "The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake."),[31][32] or Mobutu Sese Seko for short. Around this time, he eschewed his military uniform in favor of what would become his classic image—the tall, imposing man wearing an abacost, thick-framed glasses, and leopard-skin toque, and carrying a walking stick.
In 1974, a new constitution consolidated Mobutu's grip on the country. It defined the MPR as the "single institution" in the country, embodied by the party's president. The MPR elected its president every seven years at its national convention. At the same time, the party president was automatically nominated as the sole candidate for a seven-year term as president of the republic; he was confirmed in office by a referendum. A single list of MPR candidates was returned to the legislature every five years. The document vested the party president–Mobutu–with "plentitude of power exercise," effectively codifying the dictatorial powers that Mobutu had exercised since 1965. For all intents and purposes, the Constitution gave Mobutu all governing power in the nation.
One-man rule
Mobutu Sese Seko with the Dutch Prince Bernhard in 1973
Early in his rule, Mobutu consolidated power by publicly executing political rivals, secessionists, coup plotters, and other threats to his rule. To set an example, many were hanged before large audiences. Such victims included former Prime Minister Evariste Kimba, who, with three cabinet members—Jérôme Anany (Defense Minister), Emmanuel Bamba (Finance Minister), and Alexandre Mahamba (Minister of Mines and Energy)—was tried in May 1966, and sent to the gallows on 30 May, before an audience of 50,000 spectators. The men were executed on charges of being in contact with Colonel Alphonse Bangala and Major Pierre Efomi, for the purpose of planning a coup. Mobutu explained the executions as follows: "One had to strike through a spectacular example, and create the conditions of regime discipline. When a chief takes a decision, he decides – period."[33]
In 1968, Pierre Mulele, Lumumba's Minister of Education and a rebel leader during the 1964 Simba Rebellion, was lured out of exile in Brazzaville on the belief that he would receive amnesty. Instead, he was tortured and killed by Mobutu's forces. While Mulele was still alive, his eyes were gouged out, his genitals were ripped off, and his limbs were amputated one by one.[34]
Mobutu later gave up torture and murder, and switched to a new tactic, buying off political rivals. He used the slogan "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer still"[35] to describe his tactic of co-opting political opponents through bribery. A favorite Mobutu tactic was to play "musical chairs", rotating members of his government, switching the cabinet roster constantly to ensure that no one would pose a threat to his rule. Another tactic was to arrest and sometimes torture dissident members of the government, only to later pardon them and reward them with high office.[citation needed]
In 1972, Mobutu tried unsuccessfully to have himself named president for life.[36] In May 1983 he raised himself to the rank of Marshal;[37] the order was signed by General Likulia Bolongo. Victor Nendaka Bika, in his capacity as Vice-President of the Bureau of the Central Committee, second authority in the land, addressed a speech filled with praise for President Mobutu.
To gain the revenues of Congolese resources, Mobutu initially nationalized foreign-owned firms and forced European investors out of the country. But in many cases he handed the management of these firms to relatives and close associates, who quickly exercised their own corruption and stole the companies' assets. By 1977, this had precipitated such an economic slump that Mobutu was forced to try to woo foreign investors back.[38] Katangan rebels based in Angola invaded Zaire that year, in retaliation for Mobutu's support for anti-MPLA rebels. France airlifted 1,500 Moroccan paratroopers into the country and repulsed the rebels, ending Shaba I. The rebels attacked Zaire again, in greater numbers, in the Shaba II invasion of 1978. The governments of Belgium and France deployed troops with logistical support from the United States and defeated the rebels again.
Mobutu was re-elected in single-candidate elections in 1977 and 1984. He spent most of his time increasing his personal fortune, which in 1984 was estimated to amount to US$5 billion.[39][40] He held most of it out of the country in Swiss banks (however, a comparatively small $3.4 million was declared found in Swiss banks after he was outsted.[41]). This was almost equivalent to the amount of the country's foreign debt at the time. By 1989, the government was forced to default on international loans from Belgium.
Mobutu owned a fleet of Mercedes-Benz vehicles that he used to travel between his numerous palaces, while the nation's roads deteriorated and many of his people starved. The infrastructure virtually collapsed, and many public service workers went months without being paid. Most of the money was siphoned off to Mobutu, his family, and top political and military leaders. Only the Special Presidential Division – on whom his physical safety depended – was paid adequately or regularly. A popular saying that "the civil servants pretended to work while the state pretended to pay them" expressed this grim reality.[42]
Another feature of Mobutu's economic mismanagement, directly linked to the way he and his friends siphoned off so much of the country's wealth, was rampant inflation. The rapid decline in the real value of salaries strongly encouraged a culture of corruption and dishonesty among public servants of all kinds.
Mobutu was known for his opulent lifestyle. He cruised on the Congo on his yacht Kamanyola. In Gbadolite he erected a palace, the "Versailles of the jungle".[43] For shopping trips to Paris, he would charter a Concorde from Air France; he had the Gbadolite Airport constructed with a runway long enough to accommodate the Concorde's extended take-off and landing requirements.[44] In 1989, Mobutu chartered Concorde aircraft F-BTSD for a 26 June – 5 July trip to give a speech at the United Nations in New York City, 16 July for French bicentennial celebrations in Paris (where he was a guest of President François Mitterrand), on 19 September for a flight from Paris to Gbadolite, and another nonstop flight from Gbadolite to Marseille with the youth choir of Zaire.[45]
Mobutu's rule earned a reputation as one of the world's foremost examples of kleptocracy and nepotism.[46] Close relatives and fellow members of the Ngbandi tribe were awarded with high positions in the military and government, and he groomed his eldest son, Nyiwa, to succeed him as president;[47] however, Nyiwa died from AIDS in 1994.[48]
Mobutu led one of the most enduring dictatorial regimes in Africa and amassed a personal fortune estimated to be over US$5 billion by selling his nation's rich natural resources while his nation's people lived in poverty.[49] While in office, he formed an authoritarian regime responsible for numerous human rights violations, attempted to purge the country of all Belgian cultural influences, and maintained an anti-communist stance to gain positive international support.[25][50]
10 Makuta coin depicting Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu was the subject of one of the most pervasive personality cults of the 20th century. The evening news on television was preceded by an image of him descending through clouds like a god. His portraits were hung in many public places, and government officials wore lapels bearing his portrait. He held such titles as "Father of the Nation", "Messiah", "Guide of the Revolution", "Helmsman", "Founder", "Savior of the People", and "Supreme Combatant". In the 1996 documentary of the 1974 Foreman-Ali fight in Zaire, dancers receiving the fighters can be heard chanting "Sese Seko, Sese Seko". At one point, in early 1975, the media was forbidden from referring to anyone by name other than Mobutu; others were referred to only by the positions they held.[51][52]
Mobutu successfully capitalized on Cold War tensions among European nations and the United States. He gained significant support from the West and its international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund.[53]
Main article: Foreign policy of Mobutu Sese Seko
Relations with Belgium
Relations between Zaire and Belgium wavered between close intimacy and open hostility during the Mobutu years. Relations soured early in Mobutu's rule over disputes involving the substantial Belgian commercial and industrial holdings in the country, but relations warmed soon afterwards. Mobutu and his family were received as personal guests of the Belgian monarch in 1968, and a convention for scientific and technical cooperation was signed that same year. During King Baudouin's highly successful visit to Kinshasa in 1970, a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two countries was signed. However, Mobutu tore up the treaty in 1974 in protest at Belgium's refusal to ban an anti-Mobutu book written by left-wing lawyer Jules Chomé.[54] Mobutu's "Zairianization" policy, which expropriated foreign-held businesses and transferred their ownership to Zairians, added to the strain.[55] Mobutu maintained several personal contacts with prominent Belgians. Edmond Leburton, Belgian prime minister between 1973 and 1974, was someone greatly admired by the President.[56] Alfred Cahen, career diplomat and chef de cabinet of minister Henri Simonet, became a personal friend of Mobutu when he was a student at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.[57] Relations with King Baudouin were mostly cordial, until Mobutu released a bold statement about the Belgian royal family. Prime Minister Wilfried Martens recalled in his memoirs that the palace gates closed completely after Mobutu published a handwritten letter of the King.[58] Next to friendly ties with Belgians residing in Belgium, Mobutu had a great deal of Belgian advisors at his disposal. Some of them, such as Hugues Leclercq and Colonel Willy Mallants, were interviewed in Thierry Michel's documentary Mobutu, King of Zaire.
Relations with France
As what was then the second most populous French-speaking country in the world (it has subsequently come to have a larger population than France) and the most populous one in sub-Saharan Africa[59] Zaire was of great strategic interest to France.[60] During the First Republic era, France tended to side with the conservative and federalist forces, as opposed to unitarists such as Lumumba.[59] Shortly after the Katangan secession was successfully crushed, Zaire (then called the Republic of the Congo), signed a treaty of technical and cultural cooperation with France. During the presidency of Charles de Gaulle, relations with the two countries gradually grew stronger and closer. In 1971, Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d'Estaing paid a visit to Zaire; later, after becoming President, he would develop a close personal relationship with President Mobutu, and became one of the regime's closest foreign allies. During the Shaba invasions, France sided firmly with Mobutu: during the first Shaba invasion, France airlifted 1,500 Moroccan troops to Zaire, and the rebels were repulsed;[61] a year later, during the second Shaba invasion, France itself would send French Foreign Legion paratroopers (2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment) to aid Mobutu (along with Belgium).[62][63][64]
Relations with the People's Republic of China
Initially, Zaire's relationship with the People's Republic of China was no better than its relationship with the Soviet Union. Memories of Chinese aid to Mulele and other Maoist rebels in Kwilu province during the ill-fated Simba Rebellion remained fresh in Mobutu's mind. He also opposed seating the PRC at the United Nations. However, by 1972, he began to see the Chinese in a different light, as a counterbalance to both the Soviet Union as well as his intimate ties with the United States, Israel, and South Africa.[65][66] In November 1972, Mobutu extended diplomatic recognition to the Chinese (as well as East Germany and North Korea). The following year, Mobutu paid a visit to Beijing, where he met personally with chairman Mao Zedong and received promises of $100 million in technical aid. In 1974, Mobutu made a surprise visit to both China and North Korea, during the time he was originally scheduled to visit the Soviet Union. Upon returning home, both his politics and rhetoric became markedly more radical; it was around this time that Mobutu began criticizing Belgium and the United States (the latter for not doing enough, in Mobutu's opinion, to combat white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia), introduced the "obligatory civic work" program called salongo, and initiated "radicalization" (an extension of 1973's "Zairianization" policy). Mobutu even borrowed a title – the Helmsman – from Mao. Incidentally, late 1974-early 1975 was when his personality cult reached its peak.
China and Zaire shared a common goal in central Africa, namely doing everything in their power to halt Soviet gains in the area. Accordingly, both Zaire and China covertly funneled aid to the FNLA (and later, UNITA) in order to prevent the MPLA, who were supported and augmented by Cuban forces, from coming to power. The Cubans, who exercised considerable influence in Africa in support of leftist and anti-imperialist forces, were heavily sponsored by the Soviet Union during the period. In addition to inviting Holden Roberto and his guerrillas to Beijing for training, China provided weapons and money to the rebels. Zaire itself launched an ill-fated, pre-emptive invasion of Angola in a bid to install a pro-Kinshasa government, but was repulsed by Cuban troops. The expedition was a fiasco with far-reaching repercussions, most notably the Shaba I and Shaba II invasions, both of which China opposed. China sent military aid to Zaire during both invasions, and accused the Soviet Union and Cuba (who were alleged to have supported the Shaban rebels, although this was and remains speculation) of working to de-stabilize central Africa.
Relations with the Soviet Union
Mobutu's relationship with the Soviet Union was frosty and tense. A staunch anti-communist, he was not anxious to recognize the Soviets; the USSR had supported—though mostly in words—both Patrice Lumumba, Mobutu's democratically elected predecessor, and the Simba rebellion. However, to project a non-aligned image, he did renew ties in 1967; the first Soviet ambassador arrived and presented his credentials in 1968.[67] Mobutu did, however, join the United States in condemning the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia that year.[68] Mobutu viewed the Soviet presence as advantageous for two reasons: it allowed him to maintain an image of non-alignment, and it provided a convenient scapegoat for problems at home. For example, in 1970, he expelled four Soviet diplomats for carrying out "subversive activities", and in 1971, twenty Soviet officials were declared persona non grata for allegedly instigating student demonstrations at Lovanium University.[69]
Moscow was the only major world capital Mobutu never visited, although he did accept an invitation to do so in 1974. For reasons unknown, he cancelled the visit at the last minute, and toured the People's Republic of China and North Korea instead.[70]
Relations cooled further in 1975, when the two countries found themselves on opposing sides in the Angolan Civil War. This had a dramatic effect on Zairian foreign policy for the next decade; bereft of his claim to African leadership (Mobutu was one of the few leaders who refused to recognize the Marxist government of Angola), Mobutu turned increasingly to the US and its allies, adopting pro-American stances on such issues as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Israel's position in international organizations.
Relations with the United States
Mobutu Sese Seko and Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C., October 1973
For the most part, Zaire enjoyed warm relations with the United States. The United States was the third largest donor of aid to Zaire (after Belgium and France), and Mobutu befriended several US presidents, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Relations did cool significantly in 1974–1975 over Mobutu's increasingly radical rhetoric (which included his scathing denunciations of American foreign policy),[71] and plummeted to an all-time low in the summer of 1975, when Mobutu accused the Central Intelligence Agency of plotting his overthrow and arrested eleven senior Zairian generals and several civilians, and condemned (in absentia) a former head of the Central Bank (Albert Ndele).[71] However, many people viewed these charges with skepticism; in fact, one of Mobutu's staunchest critics, Nzongola-Ntalaja, speculated that Mobutu invented the plot as an excuse to purge the military of talented officers who might otherwise pose a threat to his rule.[72] In spite of these hindrances, the chilly relationship quickly thawed when both countries found each other supporting the same side during the Angolan Civil War.
Because of Mobutu's poor human rights record, the Carter Administration put some distance between itself and the Kinshasa government;[73] even so, Zaire received nearly half the foreign aid Carter allocated to sub-Saharan Africa.[74] During the first Shaba invasion, the United States played a relatively inconsequential role; its belated intervention consisted of little more than the delivery of non-lethal supplies. But during the second Shaba invasion, the US played a much more active and decisive role by providing transportation and logistical support to the French and Belgian paratroopers that were deployed to aid Mobutu against the rebels. Carter echoed Mobutu's (unsubstantiated) charges of Soviet and Cuban aid to the rebels, until it was apparent that no hard evidence existed to verify his claims.[75] In 1980, the US House of Representatives voted to terminate military aid to Zaire, but the US Senate reinstated the funds, in response to pressure from Carter and American business interests in Zaire.[76]
Mobutu enjoyed a very warm relationship with the Reagan Administration, through financial donations. During Reagan's presidency, Mobutu visited the White House three times, and criticism of Zaire's human rights record by the US was effectively muted. During a state visit by Mobutu in 1983, Reagan praised the Zairian strongman as "a voice of good sense and goodwill".[77]
Mobutu also had a cordial relationship with Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush; he was the first African head of state to visit Bush at the White House.[78] Even so, Mobutu's relationship with the US radically changed shortly afterward with the end of the Cold War. With the Soviet Union gone, there was no longer any reason to support Mobutu as a bulwark against communism. Accordingly, the US and other Western powers began pressuring Mobutu to democratize the regime. Regarding the change in US attitude to his regime, Mobutu bitterly remarked: "I am the latest victim of the cold war, no longer needed by the US. The lesson is that my support for American policy counts for nothing."[79] In 1993, Mobutu was denied a visa by the US State Department after he sought to visit Washington, DC.
Mobutu also had friends in America outside Washington. Mobutu was befriended by televangelist Pat Robertson, who promised to try to get the State Department to lift its ban on the African leader.[80]
In 2011, Time magazine described him as the "archetypal African dictator".[4]
In May 1990, due to the ending of the Cold War and a change in the international political climate, as well as economic problems and domestic unrest, Mobutu agreed to end the ban on other political parties. He appointed a transitional government that would lead to promised elections but he retained substantial powers. Following riots in Kinshasa by unpaid soldiers, Mobutu brought opposition figures into a coalition government but he still connived to retain control of the security services and important ministries. Factional divisions led to the creation of two governments in 1993, one pro and one anti-Mobutu. The anti-Mobutu government was headed by Laurent Monsengwo and Étienne Tshisekedi of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress. The economic situation was still dreadful, and, in 1994, the two groups joined as the High Council of Republic – Parliament of Transition (HCR-PT). Mobutu appointed Kengo Wa Dondo, an advocate of austerity and free-market reforms, as prime minister. Mobutu was becoming increasingly physically frail and during one of his absences for medical treatment in Europe, Tutsis captured much of eastern Zaire.
When Mobutu's government issued an order in November 1996 forcing Tutsis to leave Zaire on penalty of death, the ethnic Tutsis in Zaire,[81] known as Banyamulenge, were the focal point of a rebellion. From eastern Zaire, the rebels, aided by foreign government forces under the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Rwandan Minister of Defense Paul Kagame launched an offensive to overthrow Mobutu, joining forces with locals opposed to him under Laurent-Désiré Kabila as they marched west toward Kinshasa. Burundi and Angola also supported the growing rebellion, which mushroomed into the First Congo War.
Ailing with cancer, Mobutu was in Switzerland for treatment,[82] and he was unable to coordinate the resistance which crumbled in front of the march.
By mid-1997, Kabila's forces resumed their advance, and the remains of Mobutu's army offered almost no resistance. On 16 May 1997, following failed peace talks held in Pointe-Noire on board the South African Navy ship SAS Outeniqua with Kabila and President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (who chaired the talks), Mobutu fled into exile. Kabila's forces, known as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), proclaimed victory the next day. The AFDL would have completely overrun the country far sooner if not for the country's decrepit infrastructure. In several areas, no paved roads existed; the only vehicle paths were irregularly used dirt roads. Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[83]
Burial of Juvénal Habyarimana
Mobutu had the remains of assassinated Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana stored in a mausoleum in Gbadolite. On 12 May 1997, as Kabila's rebels were advancing on Gbadolite, Mobutu had the remains flown by cargo plane from his mausoleum to Kinshasa where they waited on the tarmac of N'djili Airport for three days. On 16 May, the day before Mobutu fled Zaire, Habyarimana's remains were burned under the supervision of an Indian Hindu leader.[84]
Exile and death
Mobutu went into temporary exile in Togo but lived mostly in Morocco. He died on 7 September 1997, in Rabat, Morocco, from prostate cancer. He is buried in Rabat, in the Christian cemetery known as "Pax".
In December 2007, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo recommended returning his remains to see the Work of the Congo and interring them in a mausoleum.[85]
On the same day Mobutu fled into exile, Laurent-Désiré Kabila became the new president of Congo. He was assassinated in 2001, and succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila.
Mobutu was married twice. His first wife, Marie-Antoinette Mobutu, died of heart failure on 22 October 1977 in Genolier, Switzerland, at the age of 36. On 1 May 1980, he married his mistress, Bobi Ladawa, on the eve of a visit by Pope John Paul II, thus legitimizing his relationship in the eyes of the Church. Two of his sons from his first marriage died during his lifetime, Nyiwa (d. 16 September 1994) and Konga (d. 1992). Two more died in the years following his death: Kongulu (d. 24 September 1998), and Manda (d. 27 November 2004).[48] His elder son from his second marriage, Nzanga Mobutu Ngbangawe, now the head of the family, was a candidate in the 2006 presidential elections and later served in the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Minister of State for Agriculture. A daughter, Yakpwa (nicknamed Yaki), was briefly married to a Belgian man named Pierre Janssen, who later wrote a book[86] that described Mobutu's lifestyle in vivid detail.
Altogether, Mobutu had at least twenty-one children:[87]
With Marie-Antoinette (first wife): Niwa, Ngombo, Manda, Konga, Ngawali, Yango, Yakpwa, Kongolu, Ndagbia (9)
With Bobi Ladawa (second wife): Nzanga, Giala, Toku, Ndokula (4)
With Kosia Ladawa (mistress, twin sister of his second wife): Ya-Litho, Tende, Sengboni (3)
With "Mama 41": Senghor, Dongo, Nzanga (3)
With Mbanguula: A son (1)
With an unknown woman from Brazzaville: Robert (1)
On trips across Zaire he appropriated the droit de cuissage (right to deflower) as local chiefs offered him virgins; this practice was considered an honor for the virgin's family.[88]
In art and literature
Mobutu was the subject of the three-part documentary Mobutu, King of Zaire by Thierry Michel. Mobutu was also featured in the feature film Lumumba, directed by Raoul Peck, which detailed the pre-coup and coup years from the perspective of Lumumba. Mobutu featured in the documentary When We Were Kings, which centred around the famed Rumble in the Jungle boxing bout between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali for the 1974 heavyweight championship of the world. The bout took place in Kinshasa during Mobutu's rule. Mobutu also might be considered as the inspiration behind some of the characters in the works of the poetry of Wole Soyinka, the novel A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul, and Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe. William Close, father of actress Glenn Close, was once a personal physician to Mobutu and wrote a book focusing on his service in Zaire. Barbara Kingsolver's 1998 historical novel The Poisonwood Bible depicts the events of the Congo Crisis from a fictional standpoint, featuring the role of Mobutu in the crisis. Mobutu was included as an additional promotional card in the card-driven strategy game Twilight Struggle, available in a computer-based installation of the game on Steam. His card, when played, increases the stability of the country then-known as Zaire and increases influence of the United States into the African nation.
Mobutu's palace in his hometown of Gbadolite, ransacked after his deposition, photographed in c.2010
According to Mobutu's New York Times obituary: "He built his political longevity on three pillars: violence, cunning and the use of state funds to buy off enemies. His systematic looting of the national treasury and major industries gave birth to the term 'kleptocracy' to describe a reign of official corruption that reputedly made him one of the world’s wealthiest heads of state."[89]
Mobutu was infamous for embezzling the equivalent of billions of US dollars from his country. According to the most conservative estimates, he stole US$4–5 billion from his country, and some sources put the figure as high as US$15 billion. According to Mobutu's ex-son-in-law, Pierre Janssen—the ex-husband of Mobutu's daughter Yaki—Mobutu had no concern for the cost of the expensive gifts he gave away to his cronies. Janssen married Yaki in a lavish ceremony that included three orchestras, a US$65,000 wedding cake and a giant fireworks display. Yaki wore a US$70,000 wedding gown and US$3 million worth of jewels. Janssen wrote a book describing Mobutu's daily routine—which included several daily bottles of wine, retainers flown in from overseas and lavish meals.[52]
According to Transparency International, Mobutu embezzled over US$5 billion from his country, ranking him as the third-most corrupt leader since 1984 and the most corrupt African leader during the same period.[90] Philip Gourevitch, in We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families (1998), wrote:
Mobutu had really staged a funeral for a generation of African leadership of which he—the Dinosaur, as he had long been known—was the paragon: the client dictator of Cold War neocolonialism, monomaniacal, perfectly corrupt, and absolutely ruinous to his nation.
Mobutu also was one of the men who was instrumental in bringing the Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman to Zaire on 30 October 1974. According to the documentary When We Were Kings, promoter Don King promised each fighter US$5 million for the fight. Mobutu was the only one who was willing to fund such amounts. Mobutu, wanting to expand his country's image, put up the nation's money to do so. According to a quote in the film, Ali supposedly said: "Some countries go to war to get their names out there, and wars cost a lot more than $10 million."
^ The name translates as "The warrior who leaves a trail of fire in his path" or "The warrior who knows no defeat because of his endurance and inflexible will and is all powerful, leaving fire in his wake as he goes from conquest to conquest".
^ "Mobutu Sese Seko". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia University Press. 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
^ Acemoglu, Daron; Robinson, James A. & Verdier, Thierry (April – May 2004). "Kleptocracy and Divide-and-Rule: A Model of Personal Rule". Journal of the European Economic Association. 2 (2–3): 162–192. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.687.1751. doi:10.1162/154247604323067916.
^ Pearce, Justin (16 January 2001). "DR Congo's troubled history". BBC.
^ a b Tharoor, Ishaan (20 October 2011). "Mobutu Sese Seko". Top 15 Toppled Dictators. Time Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
^ "Chronology for Ngbandi in the Dem. Rep. of the Congo". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 15 May 2013.
^ Akrasih, Shirley (28 February 2012). "AFRICA AND DEMOCRACY Joseph Mobutu, Dictator of the DRC, and His Life-Saving Support from the US". Davidson College. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014.
^ Robert Edgerton (2002). The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0312304867.
^ Wrong, Michela (2009) In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo. HarperCollins. ISBN 0061863610. pp. 70–72
^ Wrong, pp. 72–74
^ Wrong, p. 75
^ Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State, p. 175
^ Wrong, pp. 76
^ Kanza 1994, p. 113.
^ Hoskyns 1965, pp. 88–89.
^ a b Kanza 1994, p. 192.
^ Hoskyns 1965, pp. 92, 94.
^ Schmidt, Elizabeth. Foreign Intervention in Africa. Cambridge UP. pp. 62–65.
^ De Witte, Ludo; Wright, Ann (2002). The Assassination of Lumumba. Verso Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-85984-410-6.
^ Lemarchand, René. "Mobutu's Second Coming". This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Turner, Thomas. "The Party-State as a System of Rule". This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ a b French, Howard W. (17 May 1997). "Anatomy of an Autocracy: Mobutu's 32-Year Reign". The New York Times on the Web. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
^ Anthony Mockler, 'The New Mercenaries,' Corgi Books, 1985, ISBN 0-552-12558-X.
^ Callaghy, Thomas M. The State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective, p. 164
^ DRC: Elections under the Second Republic EISA
^ Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p294 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
^ Shaw 2005, 63.
^ Zaire: Continuity and Political Change in an Oppressive State, Winsome J. Leslie, Westview Press, 1993, page 60
^ Other translations of his name include "the all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake," "the earthy, the peppery, all-powerful warrior who, by his endurance and will to win, goes from contest to contest leaving fire in his wake" and "the man who flies from victory to victory and leaves nothing behind him"<http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/N04.html#Sese> and "the all-powerful warrior who goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake". (Wrong, p. 4)
^ Young and Turner, p. 57
^ Wrong, Michela (2002). In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo. Perennial. ISBN 0-06-093443-3. p. 90
^ Influential Africans: Mobutu Sese Seko, Voice of America, 31 October 2009
^ Young and Turner, p. 211
^ UPI, May 14 1983
^ BBC: "Timeline: Democratic Republic of Congo". BBC News (11 March 2014). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Fortune, 12 October 1987, p. 189
^ 60 Minutes, 4 March 1984
^ "Swiss banks find only $3.4 million in Mobutu assets". CNN. 3 June 1997.
^ "BBC News | AFRICA | Mobutu's legacy: Show over substance". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
^ Robert Block (14 February 1993). "Mobutu goes cruising as his country burns: The cook's son is feeding Zaire to the crocodiles. Robert Block on an unpopular survivor". The Independent. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
^ Shaw 2005, 47, 58.
^ Concorde supersonique jet / Gallery / Pictures. Concorde-jet.com (30 September 1989). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ "Plundering politicians and bribing multinationals undermine international development, says TI" (PDF). Transparency International. 25 March 2004. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
^ ''Zaire: A Country Study'', "Establishment of a Personalistic Regime". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ a b "RDC : La mort prématurée de Manda Mobutu met un point final à l'histoire du "Zaïre"". Archived from the original on 1 November 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2005. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link). Le Faso. 24 December 2004
^ "Mobutu dies in exile in Morocco". CNN World. 7 September 1997. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
^ Collins, Carole J.L. (1 July 1997). "Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
^ a b Edgerton, Robert. The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30486-2
^ Department of State Background Notes: Congo (Kinshasa) Foreign Relations. State.gov. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Matti, Stephanie (2010). "Resources and Rent Seeking in the Democratic Republic of Congo". Third World Quarterly. 31 (3): 401–413. doi:10.1080/01436597.2010.488471.
^ de Villers, Gauthier (1995) De Mobutu à Mobutu: trente ans de relations Belgique-Zaïre. De Boeck Université. ISSN 1370-0715. p. 49
^ Lanotte, Olivier et al (2000) La Belgique et l'Afrique Centrale : De 1960 à nos jours . Éditions Complexe. ISBN 2-87027-831-4. p. 133
^ Martens, Wilfried (2006) De memoires: luctor et emergo. Lannoo. ISBN 9789020965209. p.513
^ a b ''Zaire: A Country Study'', "Relations with France". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Meredith, Martin (2005). The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair. PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-246-7. p. 525
^ ''Zaire: A Country Study'', "Shaba I". Lcweb2.loc.gov (8 March 1977). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ ''Zaire: A Country Study'', "Shaba II". Lcweb2.loc.gov. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ "Shaba II: The French and Belgian Intervention in Zaire in 1978" Archived 9 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas P. Odom
^ Sauvetage de Kolwezi
^ Callagy, Thomas M. (1983) South Africa in Southern Africa: The Intensifying Vortex of Violence. Praeger. ISBN 0030603064
^ Leslie, Winsome J. (1993) "Zaire in the International Arena" in Zaire: Continuity and Political Change in an Oppressive State. Westview Press. ISBN 0-86531-298-2
^ Kasuka, B. (2012). Prominent African Leaders Since Independence. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-4700-4358-2. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
^ Michael G. Schatzberg (1991). Mobutu or chaos?: the United States and Zaire, 1960-1990. University Press of America. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-8191-8130-5.
^ Emizet Francois Kisangani (18 November 2016). Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 538–. ISBN 978-1-4422-7316-0.
^ Bridgette Kasuka (8 February 2012). Prominent African Leaders Since Independence. Bankole Kamara Taylor. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-1-4700-4358-2.
^ a b Young and Turner, p. 372
^ Elliot and Dymally, p. 150
^ ''Zaire: A Country Study'', "Relations with the United States". Lcweb2.loc.gov (30 November 1973). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Lamb, David (1987) The Africans, Vintage, ISBN 0394753089, p. 46
^ Elliot and Dymally, p. 88
^ "When He Was King: On the trail of Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire's former Kleptocrat-in-Chief". Metroactive (24 April 1990). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ "Zaire's Mobutu Visits America," by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #239, June 29, 1989 Archived 21 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Heritage.org. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Zagorin, Adam. (24 June 2001) "Leaving Fire in His Wake". Time. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
^ Mobutu said to have powerful US friends. New York Amsterdam News. 24 May 1997. Archived 17 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ Atzili, Boaz (2012) Good Fences, Bad Neighbors: Border Fixity and International Conflict. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226031365 p. 188
^ Dipiazza, Francesca Davis (2007) Democratic Republic of Congo in Pictures. Twenty First Century Books. ISBN 0822585723. p. 35
^ Dickovick, J. Tyler (2008). The World Today Series: Africa 2012. Lanham, Maryland: Stryker-Post Publications. ISBN 978-1610488815.
^ French, Howard W. (16 May 1997) Ending a Chapter, Mobutu Cremates Rwanda Ally. The New York Times.
^ "RD Congo: Pour le rapatriement des restes de Mobutu", Panapress, 17 December 2007 ‹See Tfd›(in French).
^ Janssen, Pierre (1997). À la cour de Mobutu. Michel Lafon. ISBN 2-84098-332-X
^ "Enfants de Mobutu" (Mobutu's Children). Jeune Afrique. (September 10, 2007.) Retrieved on May 21, 2016.
^ David van Reybrouck (25 March 2014). Congo: The Epic History of a People. HarperCollins, 2012. p. 384f. ISBN 978-0-06-220011-2.
^ The World’s Most Notorious Dictators. Athlon Special Issue. 2017. p. 58
^ "Suharto, Marcos and Mobutu head corruption table with $50bn scams". The Guardian. 26 March 2004.
Ayittey, George B.N. Africa in Chaos: A Comparative History. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-21787-0
Callaghy, Thomas M. Politics and Culture in Zaire. Center for Political Studies. ASIN B00071MTTW
Callaghy, Thomas M. State-Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-05720-2
Close, William T. Beyond the Storm: Treating the Powerless & the Powerful in Mobutu's Congo/Zaire. Meadowlark Springs Production. ISBN 0-9703371-4-0
De Witte, Ludo. The Assassination of Lumumba. Verso. ISBN 1-85984-410-3
Edgerton, Robert. The Troubled Heart of Africa: A History of the Congo. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30486-2
Elliot, Jeffrey M., and Mervyn M. Dymally (eds.). Voices of Zaire: Rhetoric or Reality. Washington Institute Press. ISBN 0-88702-045-3
French, Howard W. A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa. Vintage. ISBN 1-4000-3027-7
Gould, David. Bureaucratic Corruption and Underdevelopment in the Third World: The Case of Zaire. ASIN B0006E1JR8
Gran, Guy, and Galen Hull (eds.). Zaire: The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. ISBN 0-275-90358-3
Harden, Blaine. Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent. Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-59746-3
Hoskyns, Catherine (1965). The Congo Since Independence: January 1960 – December 1961. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 414961.
Kanza, Thomas R. (1994). The Rise and Fall of Patrice Lumumba: Conflict in the Congo (expanded ed.). Rochester, Vermont: Schenkman Books, Inc. ISBN 978-0-87073-901-9.
Kelly, Sean. America's Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire. American University Press. ISBN 1-879383-17-9
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-606-19420-7
MacGaffey, Janet (ed.). The Real Economy of Zaire: The Contribution of Smuggling and Other Unofficial Activities to National Wealth. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1365-3
Meditz, Sandra W. and Tim Merrill. Zaire: A Country Study. Claitor's Law Books and Publishing Division. ISBN 1-57980-162-5 Available here
Mokoli, Mondonga M. State Against Development: The Experience of Post-1965 Zaire. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28213-7
Nzongola-Ntalaja, Georges. The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila: A People's History. Zed Books. ISBN 1-84277-053-5
Sandbrook, Richard (1985). The Politics of Africa's Economic Stagnation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31961-7
Schatzberg, Michael G. The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-20694-4
Schatzberg, Michael G. Mobutu or Chaos? University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-8130-7
Taylor, Jeffrey. Facing the Congo: A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness. Three Rivers Press. 0609808265
Young, Crawford, and Thomas Turner (1985). The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-10110-X
Mwakikagile, Godfrey. Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, 2006, Chapter Six: "Congo in The 1960s: The Bleeding Heart of Africa." New Africa Press, South Africa. ISBN 978-0-9802534-1-2; Mwakikagile, Godfrey. Africa is in A Mess: What Went Wrong and What Should Be Done, 2006. New Africa Press. ISBN 978-0-9802534-7-4
Braeckman, Colette. Le Dinosaure, le Zaïre de Mobutu. Fayard. ISBN 2-213-02863-X
Dungia, Emmanuel, Mobutu et l'Argent du Zaïre, les révélations d'un diplomate, ex-agent des Services secrets. L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7384-1133-9, ISBN 978-2-7384-1133-4.
Chomé, Jules. L'ascension de Mobutu: Du sergent Désiré Joseph au général Sese Seko. F. Maspero. ISBN 2-7071-1075-2
Mobutu Sese Seko. Discours, allocutions et messages, 1965–1975. Éditions J.A. ISBN 2-85258-022-5
Monheim, Francis. Mobutu, l'homme seul. Editions Actuelles. (Unknown ISBN)
Ngbanda Nzambo-ku-Atumba, Honoré. Ainsi sonne le glas! Les Derniers Jours du Maréchal Mobutu. Gideppe. ISBN 2-9512000-2-1
Nguza Karl-i-Bond, Jean. Mobutu ou l'Incarnation du Mal Zairois. Bellew Publishing Co Ltd. ISBN 0-86036-197-7
Shaw, Karl (2005) [2004]. Power Mad! [Šílenství mocných] (in Czech). Praha: Metafora. ISBN 978-80-7359-002-4.
Mobutu Sese Sekoat Wikipedia's sister projects
Speech by Mobutu, vowing to resist the rebel onslaught and remain in power
Anatomy of an Autocracy: Mobutu's 32-Year Reign (The New York Times biography by Howard W. French)
Mobutu's legacy: Show over substance
Hope and retribution in Zaire, Allan Little, From Our Own Correspondent, BBC News, 24 May 1997.
"Zaire's Mobutu Visits America," by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #239, June 29, 1989
Joseph Kasa Vubu
as President of the Republic of the Congo President of Zaire (before 1971 President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
24 November 1965 – 16 May 1997 Succeeded by
as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2068
|
__label__wiki
| 0.995038
| 0.995038
|
Murry the Hump
Not to be confused with Al Capone's henchman Murray "The Hump" Humphreys.
(The) Keys
Aberystwyth, Wales
Indie rock, Urban Folk
Too Pure
See Monkey Do Monkey
www.murrythehump.co.uk
Matthew Evans
Gwion Rowlands
Tristan Cross
Bill Coyne
Siôn Glyn
Curig Huws
Murry the Hump were a Welsh indie rock and "urban folk" band. They were active from 1999 until 2001. Since then they have continued to release music under the name The Keys (or simply Keys).
3.2 Singles and EPs
The band was formed in Aberystwyth in the late 1990s by singer Matthew Evans, guitarist Gwion Rowlands, bass guitarist Curig Huws, and drummer Bill Coyne,[1] taking their name from the gangster Llewellyn Morris "Murray The Hump" Humphreys.
Early on in the band's career, they competed in a Battle of the Bands contest against Muse. Garnering early interest by way of indie singles "Green Green Grass of Home" (an NME "Single of the Week", and a song about marijuana rather than a cover of the song made famous by Tom Jones)[1][2] (Blue Dog/V2) and "Thrown Like a Stone" (Shifty Disco) (which was voted number nine in John Peel's Festive Fifty in 1999),[3] they gained support from BBC Radio 1 DJs Steve Lamacq and John Peel, recording three sessions for the Peel,[4] and secured an appearance at industry showcase In The City. A publishing deal from Townhill Music (Sony) swiftly followed, and the band were heralded as the best new band in Wales, and by Alex James of Blur as the best new band in Britain.[1][5]Alex James, artist Damien Hirst and the late Joe Strummer preferred Murry the Hump over Coldplay when they saw both acts perform at a record label showcase gig.[6] In a 2000 review of the "Silver Suit" single in the NME, the band were described as "The Proper Indie; winsome, charmsome, delicate, funny and toe-tappin' Trebor fizz-pop Fab".[5]
In 2000 the band signed to Too Pure, whereupon they joined new label mates Hefner on a whistle-stop tour of the UK. The band then began work ontheir debut album, Songs of Ignorance, and performed some of the new material for Radio 1's One Live in Cardiff. Curig was replaced by new bassist Siôn Glyn.
The band's first release for Too Pure, "The House That Used to Be a Ship" (a split single with Hefner), was followed by Guardian Guide single of the Week "Cracking Up", gaining much support from Xfm with a John Kennedy Session and live slots for the station at Camden's Barfly.
A second single for the label, "Don't Slip Up" and the debut album Songs of Ignorance followed. The album was described by Andy Gill in The Independent as displaying "a warmth and charm to the group's jangly indie-pop that's entirely engaging",[7] while the NME's April Long said that it revealed "a canny aptitude not only for hook-laden guitar tricks but also story-telling", describing the band as "somewhere between the bucolic surrealism of Super Furry Animals and the cerebral pop of XTC."[8] The Sunday Times selected "Cracking Up" as one of the 'Tracks of the Year' at the end of 2001, describing it as "Joyous, mad, brief. 2001's perfect pop song, from a great Welsh band";[9] Their review of Songs of Ignorance from May that year also described the track as "so ripe - it has three different choruses - and so joyous, it makes you want to tear your clothes off and run for the hills."[10]
The band announced that they had split up in September 2001, although they played one final concert in October that year as part of the BBC Radio 2 Live in Cardiff festival.[11] Evans stated in 2003 "it stopped being fun and we found we had to promote things and that's when things started getting quite tense."[12] Evans, Rowlands, and Glyn re-remerged in 2002 as The Keys, after asking fans to choose a name for the new band, and were described as "Duane Eddy jamming with the Jesus and Mary Chain".[1][12][13] The band released a self-titled debut album in 2003, two EPs in 2009 and their second album as The Keys, Fire Inside, in 2010. A third album, Bitten by Wolves, was released in 2011.[14] The band, now also known simply as Keys, is releasing a new album, Ring the Changes, in late 2013.
On 26 May 1999 the band supported Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, the Morriston Orpheus Choir and a host of other Welsh acts in front of 25,000 people for the BBC Voices of a Nation concert.[15][16]
Blue Dog single (V2) "The Green Green Grass of Home" was a limited edition of 1,000.
Murry the Hump have supported The Stereophonics, The Levellers, Bonnie Tyler, Shed Seven, Björn Again, Mike Peters, Coloursound, The Crocketts, Cartoon, Topper, Big Leaves, Deacon Blue and others.[17]
Songs of Ignorance (28 May 2001), Too Pure Records (Pure 116) - CD and LP
as The Keys
The Keys (2003), Too Pure
Fire Inside (2010), See Monkey Do Monkey
Bitten by Wolves (2011), See Monkey Do Monkey
Ring the Changes (2014), See Monkey Do Monkey
Singles and EPs
Don't Slip Up - Demo (not published)
"Green Green Grass of Home" (1999), Blue Dog Records - 7" vinyl single, split with Gorgeous Fame and the Three Degrees
"Thrown Like a Stone"/"Don't Slip Up" (27 September 1999), Shifty Disco Records - CD
Colouring Book EP (November 1999), Malthouse Records - CD
"Silver Suit"/"Booze and Cigarettes" (May 2000), Prim and Proper Records - 7" vinyl single
"The House That Used to Be a Ship" (January 2001), Too Pure Records - 7" vinyl single, split with Hefner
"Cracking Up" (26 March 2001), Too Pure (Pure 114) - CD and 7" vinyl single
"Don't Slip Up" (21 May 2001), Too Pure (Pure 107) - CD and 7" white vinyl single
Le Mans EP (2009), See Monkey Do Monkey
The Christmas EP (2009), See Monkey Do Monkey
^ a b c d Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 882
^ "NME Reviews: London Camden Falcon", NME, 8 October 1999
^ "Festive 50, 1999", Keeping it Peel, BBC
^ "Murry the Hump" Peel Sessions, Keeping it Peel, BBC
^ a b Patterson, Sylvia (2000) "Murry The Hump : Silver Suit/Booze And Cigarettes", NME, 12 February 2000
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_7846000/7846920.stm
^ Gill, Andy (2001) "Albums: Murry the Hump - Songs of Ignorance, Toor Pure", The Independent, 24 May 2001
^ Long, April (2001) "Murry The Hump : Songs of Ignorance", NME, 22 May 2001
^ "Tracks of the year; Music", Sunday Times, 16 December 2001
^ Cairns, Dan (2001) "MURRY THE HUMP. Songs of Ignorance", Sunday Times, 27 May 2001, p. 22
^ Ansell, Rachelle (2001) "Murry The Hump have split", Drowned in Sound, 25 September 2001
^ a b Stokes, Alison (2003) "Friday Live: fun is the key to success", South Wales Echo, 4 July 2003, p. 38
^ Walton, Adam (2002) "Exit Murry - but what name next?", Liverpool Daily Post, 18 January 2002, p. 25
^ Warfield, Russell (2011) "The Keys Bitten By Wolves", Drowned in Sound, 27 April 2011, retrieved 2011-10-02
^ "Google Groups". groups.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
^ Services, Eazyweb Internet. "TV, film and Radio appearances of the Morriston Orpheus Choir :: Morriston Orpheus Choir". www.morristonorpheus.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
^ "BBC Wales - Music - Murry The Hump - Biography". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
Official website (no longer maintained)
The Keys on Twitter
Murry The Hump biography from BBC Wales
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2069
|
__label__wiki
| 0.712081
| 0.712081
|
Peretz Naftali
Year of aliyah
Knessets
Faction represented in Knesset
Mapai
Ministerial roles
Minister of Agriculture
Minister of Trade and Industry
Minister of Welfare
Peretz Naftali (Hebrew: פרץ נפתלי, born Fritz Naftali, 19 March 1888 – 30 April 1961) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician who served in several ministerial portfolios in the 1950s.
2 Literature
Born in Berlin in Germany, Naftali joined the Social Democratic Party in 1911. He served in the German Army between 1911 and 1912, after which he started to work as a journalist on economic affairs, returning to the army for a spell in 1917–18 to fight in World War I. In 1921, he became editor of the economics department of the Frankfurter Zeitung, a post he held until 1926, when he became head of the economic research department of a trade union. In 1921, he also published a book, How to read the Economic Section of the Newspaper, which was a bestseller.[1]
In 1925, he had joined the Zionism movement, and in 1931 was a delegate to the Zionist Congress. He made aliyah in 1933, initially working as a lecturer at the Technion, before becoming director general of Bank Hapoalim in 1938, a post he held until 1949. Between 1941 and 1948 he served as a member of the Assembly of Representatives.
He was elected to the Knesset in 1949 on Mapai's list. After being re-elected in 1951, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in David Ben-Gurion's government. In June 1952, he became Minister of Agriculture, a role he held until the 1955 elections, after which he reverted to being a Minister without Portfolio. In January 1959, he became Minister of Welfare, but lost his Knesset seat and place in the cabinet in the 1959 elections.
Wirtschaftsdemokratie: Ihr Wesen, Weg und Ziel. Herausgegeben im Auftrag des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes von Fritz Naphtali. Berlin: Verlagsgesellschaft des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes, GmbH.; 1928.
^ Peretz Naftali: Public activities Knesset website
Peretz Naftali on the Knesset website
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2070
|
__label__wiki
| 0.967691
| 0.967691
|
Peter Ofori-Quaye
1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1]
Ajax Cape Town
Kalamata 34 (8)
Olympiacos 80 (24)
Liberty Professionals 0 (0)
OFI Crete 45 (8)
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 26 (4)
AEL Limassol 11 (3)
Accra Hearts of Oak SC 0 (0)
Bechem United 0 (0)
Ghana 18 (2)
Peter Ofori-Quaye (born 21 March 1980) is a former Ghanaian footballer who plays as a striker. He most recently played for Ghanaian club Bechem United until he was released in 2012. He has 32 caps for Ghana and played at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ofori-Quaye is known as the youngest goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League, a feat he achieved during the 1997-98 season when he scored for Olympiacos when he was 17 years and 195 days old.[2]
Ofori-Quaye has spent most of his career in the Greek division and has amassed 33 goals in his 10 seasons in the league. He came to Greece at the age of 15, signing for Kalamata FC during the Stavros Papadopoulos era of the club. The Papadopoulos era was noted for bringing in talented players from the nation of Ghana with Ofori-Quaye proving to be the most promising player ahead of teammates Samuel Johnson and Derek Boateng. At the age of 17, Ofori-Quaye signed for Greek champions Olympiacos for a Kalamata FC club record of USD $3.5 million. Ofori-Quaye attracted much attention from other clubs, scoring key goals including those in the UEFA Champions League against the likes of Rosenborg BK, Olympique Lyonnais, and Deportivo La Coruna. In the middle of Olympiacos' coach changing crisis, Ofori-Quaye was released by the club in 2003. He won 6 Greek Championships with the Piraeus based club, a Hellenic Cup, and helped them reach the quarter finals of the 1998-99 UEFA Champions League.
After a year away from football, he signed for Ghanaian club Liberty Professionals FC. In 2005, he returned to Greece signing for OFI Crete where he began to hit good form and was recalled back to his national team. On July 2007 newly promoted Israeli club Kiryat Shmona tried to sign him, but his contract was not approved in the first place with OFI reported him missing for the past three months.[3] He was transferred to Limassol club AEL Limassol in the summer of 2008.
^ http://www.footballdatabase.eu/football.joueurs.peter.ofori-quaye.17880.en.html
^ Bojan Krkić Pérez Archived 19 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ Gossip/Transfers: Appiah & Kuffour for EPL? Archived 3 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
Peter Ofori-Quaye at National-Football-Teams.com
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2071
|
__label__wiki
| 0.893162
| 0.893162
|
Randolph Bourne
Bloomfield, New Jersey, US
New York City, US
Randolph Silliman Bourne (/bɔːrn/; May 30, 1886 – December 22, 1918) was a progressive writer and intellectual born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and a graduate of Columbia University. Bourne is best known for his essays, especially his unfinished work "The State," discovered after he died.
1 Life and works
2 "Trans-National America"
3 Randolph Bourne Institute
Life and works
Bourne's face was deformed at birth by misused forceps and the umbilical cord was coiled round his left ear, leaving it permanently damaged and misshapen. At age four, he suffered tuberculosis of the spine, resulting in stunted growth and a hunched back.[1] He chronicled his experiences in his essay titled, "The Handicapped." Bourne's articles appeared in journals including The Seven Arts and The New Republic.
World War I divided American progressives and pitted an anti-war faction—including Bourne and Jane Addams—against a pro-war faction led by pragmatist philosopher and educational theorist John Dewey. Bourne was a student of Dewey's at Columbia, but he rejected Dewey's idea of using the war to spread democracy. (He was a member of the Boar's Head Society.[2]) In his pointedly titled 1917 essay "Twilight of Idols", he invoked the progressive pragmatism of Dewey's contemporary William James to argue that America was using democracy as an end to justify the war, but that democracy itself was never examined. Although initially following Dewey, he felt that Dewey had betrayed his democratic ideals by focusing only on the facade of a democratic government rather than on the ideas behind democracy that Dewey had once professed to respect.
Bourne was greatly influenced by Horace Kallen's 1915 essay, "Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot". Like Kallen, Bourne argued that Americanism ought not to be associated with Anglo-Saxonism. In his 1916 article "Trans-National America," Bourne argued that the United States should accommodate immigrant cultures into a "cosmopolitan America," instead of forcing immigrants to assimilate to the dominant Anglo-Saxon-based culture.
Bourne was an enthusiast for Jean-Jacques Rousseau's belief in the necessity of a general will. Bourne once exclaimed,[3]
Yes, that is what I would have felt, done, said! I could not judge him and his work by those standards that the hopelessly moral and complacent English have imposed upon our American mind. It was a sort of moral bath; it cleared up for me a whole new democratic morality, and put the last touch upon the old English way of looking at the world in which I was brought up and which I had such a struggle to get rid of.
— Randolph Bourne
Bourne died in the Spanish flu pandemic after the war.[1] John Dos Passos, an influential American modernist writer, eulogized Bourne in the chapter "Randolph Bourne" of his novel 1919 and drew heavily on the ideas presented in War Is The Health of the State in the novel.
"Trans-National America"
In this article, Bourne rejects the melting-pot theory and does not see immigrants assimilating easily to another culture.[4]:248 Bourne's view of nationality was related to the connection between a person and their “spiritual country,”[5]:76 that is, their culture. He argued that people would most often hold tightly to the literature and culture of their native country even if they lived in another. He also believed this was true for the many immigrants to the United States. Therefore, Bourne could not see immigrants from all different parts of the world assimilating to the Anglo-Saxon traditions, which were viewed as American traditions.
This article goes on to say that America offers a unique liberty of opportunity and can still offer traditional isolation, which he felt could lead to a cosmopolitan enterprise.[4]:262 He felt that with this great mix of cultures and people, America would be able to grow into a trans-national nation, which would have interconnecting cultural fibers with other countries. Bourne felt America would grow more as a country by broadening people's views to include immigrants' ways instead of conforming everyone to the melting-pot ideal. This broadening of people's views would eventually lead to a nation where all who live in it are united, which would inevitably pull the country towards greatness. This article and most of the ideas in it were influenced by World War I, during which the article was written.[4]:264
Randolph Bourne Institute
The Randolph Bourne Institute seeks to honor his memory by promoting a non-interventionist foreign policy for the United States as the best way of fostering a peaceful, more prosperous world. It publishes the website Antiwar.com.
^ a b "Randolph Silliman Bourne". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
^ Chaddock, K (2012). The Multi-Talented Mr. Erskine: Shaping Mass Culture through Great Books and Fine Music. Springer. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
^ Siegel, Fred (2013). The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class. New York: Encounter Books. p. 18. ISBN 1594036985.
^ a b c Lasch, Hansen. (1977). The Radical Will: Selected Writing of Randolph Bourne. New York: Urizen Books.
^ Filler, L. "Randolph Bourne". American Council on public Affairs: Washington D.C.
Abrahams, Edward (1986). The Lyrical Left: Randolph Bourne, Alfred Stieglitz, and the Origins of Cultural Radicalism in America. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. ISBN 0-8139-1080-3.
Blake, Casey Nelson (1990). Beloved Community: The Cultural Criticism of Randolph Bourne, Van Wyck Brooks, Waldo Frank & Lewis Mumford. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1935-2.
Hansen, Olaf (ed.) (1977). Randolph Bourne: The Radical Will: Selected Writings, 1911–1918. New York: Urizen Books. ISBN 0-916354-00-8. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
Hollinger, David A. (1995). Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism. New York: BasicBooks. ISBN 0-465-05991-0.
Lasch, Christopher (1986) [1965]. The New Radicalism in America, 1889–1963: The Intellectual As a Social Type (paperback ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-30319-5.
Paul, Sherman (1966). Randolph Bourne. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Sandeen, Eric J. (ed.) (1981). The Letters of Randolph Bourne: A Comprehensive Edition. Troy, N.Y.: Whitston Pub. Co. ISBN 0-87875-190-4. CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
Bourne, Randolph (1964). War and the Intellectuals: Collected Essays 1915–1919. NY: Harper Torchbook.
Vaughan, Leslie (1997). Randolph Bourne and the Politics of Cultural Radicalism. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Clayton, Bruce (1984). Forgotten Prophet: The Life of Randolph Bourne. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-1169-7.
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (July 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Randolph Bourne
Bourne's obituary, from The New Republic (1919-01-04), by Floyd Dell
Works by Randolph Bourne at the Fair Use Repository
Randolph Bourne 1886–1918 includes links to writings by and about Bourne
Randolph Bourne Page from the Anarchist Encyclopedia
"Bourne Yet Again: Errors of Genealogy," by Christopher Phelps
Randolph Silliman Bourne Papers at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY
Riggenbach, Jeff (May 27, 2011). "The Brilliance of Randolph Bourne". Mises Daily. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Works by Randolph Bourne at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
The State (1918).
"War is the Health of the State" (1918), excerpted from The State.
"Law and Order", from Masses (March 1912).
"From an Older Time", The Dial, Vol. LXV, June/December, 1918.
"The Price of Radicalism", from The New Republic (March 11, 1916). 161.
"A Mirror of the Middle West", The Dial, November 1918.
"Trans-National America", from Atlantic Monthly, 118 (July 1916), 86–97.
"The Relegation of God", The Dial, September 1918.
"What is Exploitation?" from The New Republic (November 4, 1916). 12–14.
"Mr. Bennett is Disturbed", The Dial, July 1918.
"The Gary Public Schools", Scribner's, September 1916.
"The War and the Intellectuals", from Seven Arts II, June 1917. 133–46.
"The Light Essay", The Dial, November 1918.
"Below the Battle", from Seven Arts II, July 1917. 270–77.
"A War Diary", from Seven Arts II, September 1917. 535–47.
"H. L. Mencken", from The New Republic (November 24, 1917). 102–103.
"An Examination of Eminences", The Dial, December 1918.
"Columbia Students Pity Workers", from the New York Times (February 26, 1913). Article at bottom of PDF.
"College Life To-day", The North American Review, September 1912.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2072
|
__label__wiki
| 0.772732
| 0.772732
|
Robert Martin (New Jersey politician)
Member of the New Jersey Senate from the 26th Legislative District
August 16, 1993 – January 8, 2008
Leanna Brown
Joseph Pennacchio
Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 26th Legislative District
February 4, 1985 – August 16, 1993
Dean Gallo
Carol Murphy
(1947-01-13) January 13, 1947 (age 72)
Robert J. Martin (born January 13, 1947) is an American Republican Party politician, who served as a member of the New Jersey State Senate from 1993 to 2008, where he represented the 26th Legislative District.
Before entering the Senate, Martin served in the United States Army as a First Lieutenant (1969–1971). Martin served in the New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, from 1985 to 1993, where he served as Minority Whip (1990–1992) and Assistant Majority Leader (1986–1988). He was also a member of the Morris Plains Council from 1983 to 1985, and the Morris Plains Planning Board from 1980 to 1982.[1]
Martin replaced Dean Gallo in a special Assembly election following Gallo's election to Congress.
Senator Martin was the Assistant Majority Leader from 1994 to 1997, and served on the Education Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Joint Committee on the Public Schools. Martin is also a Law Professor and former associate dean at Seton Hall University School of Law and has served as director of the Center for State and Local Government Law at Seton Hall University.[1]
In September 2005, Martin said he would not seek re-election to his seat in 2007, saying that he was finished after over 20 years of public service.[2]
Martin received a B.A. from Dickinson College in History, an M.A. from Lehigh University in History, a J.D. from the Seton Hall University School of Law, an L.L.M. from New York University School of Law and an Ed.D. from Teachers College at Columbia University.[1] Martin is a resident of Morris Plains, New Jersey.[3]
Martin currently serves as Counsel on the Zoning Board of Adjustment in Pompton Lakes, NJ.
Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 26th Legislative District for the 2007-2008 Legislative Session were:
Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, and
Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio
^ a b c "Senator Martin's Legislative Website". Archived from the original on November 2, 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-06. CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link), New Jersey Legislature. Accessed May 26, 2010.
^ Gohlke, Josh. "Senate exodus: Why so many are retiring", The Record (New Jersey), April 1, 2007. Accessed July 10, 2007. "The outgoing Republicans are a generally moderate group. Such senators as Gormley and Robert Martin of Morris Plains, who represents parts of Morris and Passaic counties, were known for dealing with Democrats and eschewing ideology."
^ Senator Robert J. 'Bob' Martin, Project Vote Smart. Accessed December 27, 2007.
New Jersey Voter Information Website 2003
Senator Robert J. 'Bob' Martin, Project Vote Smart
New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms
Dean Gallo New Jersey General Assembly
26th Legislative District
Leanna Brown New Jersey Senate
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2073
|
__label__wiki
| 0.859534
| 0.859534
|
Tektronix, Inc.
Building 50 at the company's headquarters
Subsidiary of Fortive
NYSE: FTV
S&P 500 Component
1946 (Oregon, United States)
Patrick Byrne, President
Howard Vollum, Cofounder
Melvin Jack Murdock, Cofounder
Testing Equipment,
Measurement Equipment
US$1,039.9 million (FY 2006)[citation needed]
US$118.7 million (FY 2006)
US$92.4 million (FY 2006)
Fortive
www.tek.com
Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment.
Originally an independent company, it is now a subsidiary of Fortive, a spinoff from Danaher Corporation.
Several charities are, or were, associated with Tektronix, including the Tektronix Foundation and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Washington.
2 Early oscilloscope models
3 'Non test' products
4 Notable employees
Advertisement from an engineering magazine touting the features of the Tektronix 511. The model 511 set Tektronix as a future leader of oscilloscope products
The company traces its roots to the electronics revolution that immediately followed World War II, and was first founded in December 1945, as Tekrad. However, the name was similar to that of a California company, Techrad, and so, in 1946, the four partners, Howard Vollum, along with Jack Murdock and Miles Tippery, who had both served in the Coast Guard, and accountant Glenn McDowell, formed Tektronix, Inc., with each contributing an initial $2,600 for equal shares.[1][2]
Howard Vollum had graduated in 1936 from Reed College with a degree in physics and a keen interest in oscilloscopes, then worked as a radio technician out of Jack Murdock's Murdock Radio and Appliance Company (M.J. Murdock Company) prior to the outbreak of war, during which he served in the Signal Corps. Following the founding of Tektronix, Vollum invented the world’s first triggered oscilloscope in 1946, a significant technological breakthrough.[3] This oscilloscope, refined and developed by Tektronix, was the model 511. The model 511 was a triggering with sweep oscilloscope. The first oscilloscope with a true time-base was the Tektronix Model 513.[4]
The leading oscilloscope manufacturer at the time was DuMont Laboratories. DuMont pioneered the frequency-synch trigger and sweep.[5] Allen DuMont personally tried the 511 at an electronics show and was impressed, but when he saw the price of $795, which was about twice as much as his equivalent model, he told Howard Vollum at the show that they would have a hard time selling many.[6]
Tektronix was incorporated in 1946 with its headquarters at SE Foster Road and SE 59th Avenue in Portland, Oregon,[7] just six blocks from Murdock's first family home.[8] In 1947 there were 12 employees. Four years later, in 1951, Tektronix had 250 employees.[7] Murdock and Vollum were known humanitarians and sought to operate their business as one might run a large and caring family.[9] In 1978, Tektronix was named by authors Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, et al, as among The 100 best companies to work for in America in their book of the same name.[10]
By 1950 the company began building a manufacturing facility in Washington County, Oregon, at Barnes Road and the Sunset Highway and, by 1956, had expanded the facility to 80,000 square feet (7,000 m2).[7] The company then moved its headquarters to this site, following an employee vote.[7]
A detailed story of Howard Vollum and Jack Murdock along with the products that made Tektronix a leading maker of oscilloscopes can be found at the Museum of Vintage Tektronix Equipment.[11]
In 1956, a large piece of property in nearby Beaverton became available, and the company’s employee retirement trust purchased the land and leased it back to the company.[7] Construction began in 1957 and on May 1, 1959 Tektronix moved into its new Beaverton headquarters campus,[7] on a 313-acre (1.27 km2) site which came to be called the Tektronix Industrial Park.[12]
Tektronix 321- Their First Battery Operated Transistor Oscilloscope. LEFT- Later Version RIGHT- Earliest Version
In the late 1950s (1957–58), Tektronix set a new trend in oscilloscope applications that would continue into the 1980s. This was the introduction of the plug-in oscilloscope. Started with the 530 and 540 series oscilloscopes, the operator could switch in different horizontal sweep or vertical input plug-ins. This allowed the oscilloscope to be a flexible or adaptable test instrument. Later Tektronix would add in plug-ins to have the scope operate as a spectrum analyzer, waveform sampler, cable tester and transistor curve tracer. The 530 and 540 series also ushered in the delayed trigger, allowing to trigger between a sweep rather than at the beginning. This allows more stable triggering and better waveform reproduction.[13]
In 1961, Tektronix sold its first (possibly the world's first practical) completely portable oscilloscope, the model 321. This oscilloscope could run on AC line (power mains) or on rechargeable batteries. It also brought the oscilloscope into the transistor age (only a Nuvistor ceramic tube was used for the vertical amp input). A year and a half later the model 321A came out and that was all transistors.[14]
The Model 564 First Mass Produced Analog Storage Oscilloscope
The 560 series introduced the rectangular CRT to oscilloscopes. In 1964 Tektronix made an oscilloscope breakthrough, the world's first mass-produced analog storage oscilloscope the model 564. Hughes Aircraft Company is credited with the first working storage oscilloscope (the model 104D) but it was made in very small numbers and is extremely rare today.[15]
In 1966, Tektronix brought out a line of high frequency full function oscilloscopes called the 400 series. The oscilloscopes were packed with features for field work applications. These scopes were outstanding performers often preferred over their laboratory bench models. The first models were the 422, a 16 MHz bandwidth and the 453, a 50 MHz bandwidth model. The following year the 454, a 150 MHz portable.[16] These models put Tektronix well ahead of their competitors for years. The US Military contracted with Tektronix for a model 453 "ruggedized" for field servicing. The 400 series models would continue to be popular choices in the 1970s and 80's. In addition the styling of the 400 series would be copied by Tektronix's competitors. 400 series oscilloscopes were still being used as of 2013.[17]
A Tektronix model 475A portable analog oscilloscope, a very typical instrument of the late 1970s.
The company's IPO, when it publicly sold its first shares of stock, was on September 11, 1963.[citation needed] In 1974, the company acquired 256 acres (1.0 km2) in Wilsonville, Oregon where it built a facility for its imaging group.[7] By 1976, the company employed nearly 10,000, and was the state’s largest employer.[7] Tektronix's 1956 expansion and, in 1962, Electro Scientific Industries' similar move to Washington County and expansion are credited with fostering the development of a large high-tech industry in Washington County, a number of firms which collectively are often referred to as the "Silicon Forest".[12]
For many years, Tektronix was the major electronics manufacturer in Oregon, and in 1981, its U.S. payroll peaked at over 24,000 employees. Tektronix also had operations in Europe, South America and Asia. European factories were located in Saint Peter's, Guernsey (then in the European Free Trade Association) until 1990,[18] Hoddesdon (North London, UK) and Heerenveen, Netherlands (then in the European Common Market). Some oscilloscopes marketed in Europe and the UK were sold under the brand name Telequipment but many in the UK used the Tektronix brand name in the 1960s and 70s.
For many years, Tektronix operated in Japan as Sony-Tektronix, a 50-50 joint venture of Sony Corporation and Tektronix, Inc; this was due to Japanese trade restrictions at the time. Since then, Tektronix has bought out Sony's share and is now the sole owner of the Japanese operation.[19] Under the Sony-Tektronix name, the 300 series oscilloscopes were light weight and totally portable. They replaced the model 321/321A oscilloscopes. Examples of the Sony/Tektronix models were 314, 323, 335 and 370.
Tektronix 7854 oscilloscope with other equipment
During the early 1970s, Tektronix made a major design change to their oscilloscopes. The 5000 and 7000 series oscilloscopes maintained the plug-in capabilities that originally started with the 530 and 540 series; however, the choice of plug-ins was even greater. These scopes used custom designed integrated circuits fabricated by Tektronix. The CRTs were all rectangular and were all fabricated by Tektronix. These oscilloscopes provided on screen controls setting. The 5000 series was the general purpose line while the 7000 series were capable of a wide variety of applications and could accept as many as 4 plug-ins. One model the 7104 (introduced 1978) was a true 1 GHz bandwidth oscilloscope.[20]
Beginning with the firm's first cathode ray oscilloscopes, Tektronix has enjoyed a leading position in the test and measurement market. Although its equipment was expensive, it had performance, quality, and stability. Most test equipment manufacturers built their oscilloscopes with off-the-shelf, generally available components. But Tektronix, in order to gain an extra measure of performance, used many custom-designed or specially-selected components. They even had their own factory for making ultra-bright and sharp CRT tubes. Later on, they built their own integrated circuit manufacturing facility in order to make custom ICs for their equipment.[citation needed]
Tektronix instruments contributed significantly to the development of computers, test, and communications equipment and to the advancement of research and development in the high-technology electronics industry generally.
Tektronix as time went on fabricated more and more of their electronic parts. This led to very specialized skills and talents which in time led to employees forming new businesses. Some former Tektronix employees left to create other successful "Silicon Forest" companies. Spin-offs include Mentor Graphics, Planar Systems, Floating Point Systems, Cascade Microtech, Merix Corporation, Anthro Corporation and Northwest Instrument Systems (NWIS) - later renamed to MicroCase. Even some of the spin-offs have created spin-offs, such as InFocus. As Tektronix fabricated more specialized parts, they spread out their product base to include logic analyzers, digital multimeters and signal generators. The TM500 and TM5000 rack mount series was born featuring custom designed test instruments chosen by the buyer.
During this period, Tektronix acquired what were sold as the 8000 and 8002 Microprocessor Development System (MDS), the 8000 being a software development system running editors and cross-compilers with twin floppy disk storage, while the 8002 could be fitted with real-time emulators for several processors including the 8080, Z80 and 6502. These were later replaced by the 8540/8550/8560.[21] The 8550 was a standalone development system capable of being fitted with real time emulation hardware for several different processors. The 8560 emerged just after Bell Labs were able to sell UNIX commercially, and ran a mildly modified version of Version 7 UNIX, called TNIX, supporting 4 or 8 (depending on how many I/O processor cards were fitted) serial terminals, with a special High-Speed Input/Output, based on RS-422, to connect to a remote 8540. There was a hard drive of about 34MB, later increased, and a variable amount of RAM depending on the processor card fitted, which was either a DEC LSI11-23+ or a LSI11-73, which had a wider address bus as well as a higher clock speed. The final upgraded variant was the 8562. The 8540, of which several could be connected to the 8560, contained emulation hardware similar to that available for the 8540, including RAM cards, Trigger Trace Analyser, 1 or 2 processor emulator cards, each with external probe, etc. The 8540 had no software development capability, but worked with the 8560, or other systems such as a VAX, which would provide the software development environment. It was unique in its day, in that the serial terminal could be connected to the 8540, on the bench, or to the 8560, and would pass UNIX commands automatically to the 8560, which passed emulator commands back to the 8540 for execution, completely transparently. Thus a complete compile, link, load and emulate session could be run from a UNIX shell script, a facility probably not seen on any development system since. The 8540/8550/8560 supported many 8-bit and 16-bit microprocessor types, with a change of emulator cards and probes, and installation of assembler and possibly compiler software, and did not require any particular code to be linked in to the user's code to facilitate register tracing at breakpoints, a shortcoming of the only real alternative multi-manufacturer MDS of that era, by HP. However, an impressive feature was that by including a special instruction sequence, typically a double NOP followed by a call to a specific address, the emulator would generate a "Service Call" to take whatever action the user required, and continue execution. This for example could allow UNIX to write variables to a log file as commanded by the running program on the emulated microprocessor.
It is not clear at present why Tektronix eventually withdrew from the MDS business, as their products were highly regarded.
Old logo
Tektronix faces big challenges to its business structure. In the 1980s, Tektronix found itself distracted with too many divisions in too many markets. This led to decreasing earnings in almost every quarter. A period of layoffs, top management changes and sell-offs followed. In 1994, Tektronix spun off its printed circuit board manufacturing operation as a separate company, Merix Corp., headquartered in Forest Grove, Oregon.[22] Eventually, Tektronix was left with its original test and measurement equipment. Upon his promotion in 2000, the current CEO, Richard H. "Rick" Wills, carefully limited corporate spending in the face of the collapsing high-tech bubble. This led the way for Tektronix to emerge as one of the largest companies in its product niche, with a market capitalization of $3 billion as of April 2006[update]. However, this failed to prevent it from becoming an acquisition target, and Tektronix was acquired by Danaher Corporation in 2007.
Major Product Changes—Digital Sampling Scopes. With the advancement in signal sampling techniques and digital processing, oscilloscope manufacturers found a new horizon in the market. The ability to sample the signal and digitize it for real time viewing or digitally store it for future use and maintain the integrity of the waveform. In addition a computer can be integrated with the scope to store many waveforms or instruct the scope to do further analysis. Color enhanced waveforms can be produced for ease in identification.
Tektronix was heavily involved with designing digital sampling oscilloscopes. In the mid-1980s, they quickly replaced their analog oscilloscopes. Their 400, 5000 and 7000 series oscilloscopes were replaced with a new generation of digital oscilloscopes with storage capability, the 11000 and TDS series. The 11000 series were large rack mount laboratory models with large a flat CRT face and had touch screen, multiple color, and multiwaveform display capability. They were still plug-in units and could accept the older 7000 series 7- plug-ins and the new 11000 series 11A- plug-ins. The TDS series replaced the 300 and 400 series portable line. They had the same panel layout but with enhanced storage and measuring capabilities. During this period Tektronix would also expand its test equipment line to logic analyzers, signal generators etc.
By the mid 1990s the use of the CRT was dropped and Tektronix started using LCD panels for display. The 11000 series would be replaced by the MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope) which featured a color active matrix LCD. The TDS continued but with LCD panels starting with the TDS-210. In the TDS models, the lower priced models replaced the last of the 2000 series analog scopes and featured monochrome display while the higher end models were color LCD models which were more like the older 400 series scopes in performance. Spinoffs of the TDS was the TBS storage scope series. Later Tektronix would replace the 200 mini oscilloscopes with the TH series hand held digital oscilloscopes. All TDS and spinoff series with LCD display are totally portable (light weight and can run AC or on batteries).
On November 21, 2007, Tektronix was acquired by Danaher Corporation for $2.85 billion. Prior to the acquisition, Tektronix traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TEK, the nickname by which Tektronix is known to its employees, customers, and neighbors. On October 15, 2007, Danaher Corporation tendered an offer to acquire Tektronix for $38 cash a share, which equated to a valuation of approximately $2.8 billion.[23] The deal closed five and a half weeks later, with 90 percent of TEK shares being sold in the tender offer.[24] Also, as part of its acquisition by Danaher, the Communications Business division of Tektronix was spun off into a separate business entity under Danaher, Tektronix Communications.
The digital oscilloscope line that was introduced in the 1990s (MSO, TDS, TH series) are still being manufactured in some form.[25]
On February 1, 2016, Tektronix introduced a new logo design, replacing a logo that had been in use since 1992, and indicated a shift in strategy to offer measurement products tailored for specific fields such as computing, communications and automotive.[26] Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Tektronix, in 2016 to create Fortive.[27]
Early oscilloscope models
For individual model history Tektronix and Tektronix Collectors has complete details. Just go click to the reference number next to the Tek Product Series. You will be directed to the latest link.
7000 series oscilloscopes and plug-ins 1970-1985[28]
2000 series portable oscilloscopes (1978-?)
500 series oscilloscopes and plug-ins 1946-1970[30]
400 series portable oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers 1966-1989[31]
300 series portable oscilloscopes 1952-1969?[32]
200 series portable oscilloscopes (1975-?)
'Non test' products
Some important non-test equipment Tektronix created and sold include:
Tektronix 4014 computer terminal
Tektronix 405x graphical microcomputers
Tektronix 408x graphical minicomputers (original DRADIS of Battlestar Galactica)
Tektronix FEM181 Finite Element Modeling software system
Tektronix 4115 color raster scan graphics or the TGRAPH emulator
Tektronix 6130 NS 32016 workstation series running UTek, a 4.2BSD clone
Tektronix 4300 Motorola 68020 graphic workstation series running UTek, a 4.2BSD clone
Tektronix XD88 Motorola 88000 graphic workstation running Utek V, another Tektronix Unix based on Unix System V Release 3
Flatbed plotters used with Tektronix computers
TekXPress X-terminals, later sold to Network Computing Devices
Phaser -branded color computer printers, including their pioneering Solid Ink models, sold to Xerox in 1999
Television studio and video production equipment manufactured by onetime Tek subsidiary Grass Valley Group, which was spun off as an independent company (and later bought by Thomson SA). The Grass Valley brand is now owned by Belden.
Notable employees
The following notable individuals currently work for Tektronix, or have previously worked for Tektronix in some capacity. This list includes persons who are notable for reasons unrelated to their Tektronix careers.
Howard Vollum: founder, former President and chairman of the board, recipient of the Legion of Merit award for work on radar for England in WW II, noted philanthropist. (See Howard Vollum Award)
Jean Auel: technical writer; author of Children of Earth novels
Kent Beck: engineer; Extreme Programming developer
Tom Bruggere: engineer; later founded Mentor Graphics in 1981; 1996 candidate for United States Senate
James B. Castles: General Counsel; one of three original Trustees of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
Ward Cunningham: engineer; Extreme Programming developer, inventor of the wiki
Miller M. Duris: politician who served as mayor and county commissioner[33]
Barrie Gilbert: popularized the Gilbert cell, a type of electronic mixer
Robert W. Lundeen: Director, CEO
Vivek Maddala: composer and musician
Steven McGeady: engineer; later Intel Vice-President and co-founder of Intel Architecture Labs
Merrill A. McPeak: Director; former US Air Force chief of staff
Keith Packard: engineer; X Window System developer
Randal L. Schwartz: Perl and computer security expert, author
Norm Winningstad: engineer; founder of Floating Point Systems, author
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock: engineer; technical lead for first commercial Smalltalk implementation; author of books on object-oriented programming
Delbert Yocam: former President, COO; former COO of Apple Computer
Craig Ryan: Technical writer, author of non-fiction Sonic Wind and film of same title.
Tara K. Harper: technical writer, author of Wolfwalker and Cat Scratch novels.
William D. Walker: former President, COO; former President of Electro Scientific Industries, former President of Planar Systems, former chair of Tek Foundation, former board of Oregon Graduate Center.
Semiconductor curve tracer
Waveform monitor / Vectorscope
First Tech Credit Union, originally Tektronix Federal Credit Union
Tektronix Analog Oscilloscopes
List of companies based in Oregon
SyntheSys Research
^ Tekscope Museum Archived 2016-03-09 at the Wayback Machine "Classic Tektronix Scopes - Timeline" Retrieved 3 January 2018.
^ OPB Oregon Experience, "The Spirit of Tek", Oregon Public Broadcasting, 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
^ Mokhoff, Nicolas. (11/20/2006). RF design contest marks oscilloscope's birth. EETimes. Retrieved on December 9, 2007.
^ "Tektronix, The Early Days by Frank Hood". www.vintagetek.org.
^ Hiscochs, Peter D. (2009). Oscilloscope Development 1943-57 (PDF). Ryerson University: Peter D. Hiscochs. p. 33.
^ Tektronix Equipment, The Museum of Vintage, "Tektronix: The Entrepreneurial Period 1946-1954", 2012-01, vintagetek.org Portland, OR
^ a b c d e f g h "Tektronix, Inc., contributes as state’s largest employer". Hillsboro Argus, 19 October 1976.
^ Murdock, Jack "Melvin Jack Murdock Autobiography", 23 March 1934. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
^ Heppen, Rev. M.J. "Jack Murdock devoted his life to human concerns", Vintage Tek, 1971. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
^ Levering, R, et al The 100 best companies to work for in America, by Robert Levering, Milton Moskowitz, Michael Katz and Donald R. Katz; Penguin Group; USA; 1987. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
^ "Bio" (PDF). www.vintagetek.org.
^ a b Manaton, Michael E. (August 4, 1994). "Tektronix began 'Silicon Forest' boom". The Oregonian (MetroWest edition).
^ "545". 2012-11-25. TekWiki. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
^ Tektronix Scopes, The Museum of. "The 564". Alan Bain. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
^ Oscilloscopes, Tektronix (1967). Catalog. Beaverton, OR: Tektronix. pp. 35–38.
^ Beste, Bill. "Bill's Tektronix 453 and 454 Info Pages". Bill Beste. Archived from the original on 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
^ Peter Neville, The Finance Industry in Guernsey[permanent dead link], March 2005, accessed 2010-06-21
^ Release, Tektronix. "Tektronix Completes Acquisition of Sony / Tektronix". 2002-10-01. Teixktron. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
^ Scopes, Tektronix Support. "7000 Series Oscilloscope History". TEKTRONIX. Tektronix. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
^ [1], Bitsavers, Retrieved on 8 August 2017.
^ Jeff Dorsch, Katie Hottinger (1994-04-11). "Tek spin-off IPO seeks $34M - $41M". Electronic News. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
^ Danaher to buy Tektronix for $2.85B Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine CNNMoney, accessed October 15, 2007.
^ "Danaher Closes Subsequent Offering Period for Tektronix; Acquires Over 90% of TEK Shares". Tektronix website. Tektronix. 2007-11-21. Archived from the original on 2007-11-22. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
^ Products, Oscilloscope. "Oscilloscope Products". 2012. Tektronix. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
^ Rogoway, Mike (February 1, 2016). "Tektronix revamps logo, updates strategy". The Oregonian.
^ Rogoway, Mike (July 5, 2016). "Fortive spinoff complete, Tektronix has new owner". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
^ "7000 Series Oscilloscope History - Tektronix". www.tek.com.
^ Johnson, Barry. "Tektronix 5000 Series Oscilloscopes & Plug-ins". www.barrytech.com.
^ Johnson, Barry. "Tektronix Older Vintage Oscilloscopes & Plug-ins". www.barrytech.com.
^ "Tektronix 400 Series Products". tekmuseum.ebaman.com.
^ "Tektronix 300 Series". tekmuseum.ebaman.com.
^ Mistreanu, Simina (March 31, 2014). "Miller Duris, former Hillsboro mayor, Washington County chair, had a passion for softball, community service". The Oregonian. p. A2. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
Winning with People: The First 40 Years of Tektronix by Marshall M. Lee. Published by Tektronix, Inc., October, 1986.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tektronix.
Corporate Home Page
The Spirit of Tek Documentary produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting
archive of Tektronix vintage catalog PDFs
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2074
|
__label__cc
| 0.724389
| 0.275611
|
ABF Blog
The Africa Business Fellowship is a partnership between Econet, African Leadership Network (ALN), and Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). The program will match young American business professionals with paid 3-6-month placements in African companies. Its purpose is to strengthen relationships between the African and American business communities and provide future American business leaders with the hands-on experience they need to truly understand business in Africa. We believe that by exposing high-achieving American professionals to African business at this stage in their careers, we are setting the stage for increased American-African investment and more meaningful collaboration.
The Africa Business Fellowship is an unparalleled opportunity for American professionals to gain invaluable insight and hands-on experience in African businesses. It is a career development opportunity, an inter-cultural exchange program, and a networking platform. The ABF will develop high-potential American business professionals into leaders who have a sophisticated understanding of how business is done in Africa. In the long run, it will transform business relations between the United States and Africa.
The ABF represents a radically different approach to intercultural exchange that places value on Africa’s contributions to shaping global business practices.
Last year, Africa was the fastest growing region in the world. Global foreign investment flows into the region now outstrip official aid. Increasingly, entrepreneurs and investors are looking for ways to tap into the continent’s potential. By 2035, the region is set to have the largest working-age population of anywhere in the world – bigger than China or India.
For Africa to take full advantage of this growth, a dynamic private sector and an increase in international trade are essential, and investment in Africa must be robust, stable, and beneficial to all involved. Both Africans and non-Africans alike must have a deep understanding of the African business climate and a sophisticated awareness of the continent’s unique challenges and opportunities. The mission of the ABF is to develop leaders who have that knowledge and – more importantly – a passion for business development in Africa.
The fellowship aims to increase affinity for this collaboration between African and American businesses, and expose future American business decision makers to the continent early on in their careers.
The ABF has three main objectives:
Exposure to African business
The ABF gives American business professionals hands-on experience in the African business environment. Fellows learn first-hand how business is done in Africa and develop the hard and soft skills needed to achieve success on the continent.
Cross-cultural networks
Fellows work closely with their African colleagues, developing relationships that will last beyond their placement. As a small group, the fellows also have opportunities to build relationships with one another both during and after the fellowship.
Professional growth & impact
Fellows work on critical projects, defined in advance by the placement companies, that allow them to apply their business expertise and further refine their skills. They will be expected to report on their achievements, with a focus on measuring impact.
We are looking for innovative and driven professionals who have a deep passion for learning about business in Africa. The ideal candidate will have an MBA and/or extensive business experience. We welcome fellows from a variety of business backgrounds, such as consulting, finance, strategy, general management, marketing, and/or entrepreneurship. It is not necessary for fellows to have previous international experience, but we look for people who demonstrate a genuine interest in African business.
As part of the program, fellows will receive a living stipend, housing, health insurance, assistance with visa applications, and additional support.
Need assistance with this form?
© 2018 Africa Business Fellowship (ABF).
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2076
|
__label__wiki
| 0.895667
| 0.895667
|
A Petite Princess
Regal Fashions for the Petite Woman
Wardrobe Archive
My Kate Closet
You are here: Home / Appearances / Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Dazzle at Taste of Norfolk in aid of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Nook Appeal
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Dazzle at Taste of Norfolk in aid of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Nook Appeal
June 22, 2016 by Trisha@APP Leave a Comment
The glittering event was hosted by the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley in support of Kate’s patronage East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices – with all guests invited as a special thank you for supporting the charity’s fundraising efforts for the Nook appeal.
About Catherine’s Ensemble
Tonight was a night of anticipation and some confusion:
this tweet
had us wondering wondering which of these two dresses it would actually turn out to be.
Due to poor communication around Houghton Hall, there was quite the debate as to which gown Kate was wearing (it turns out the Palace mistakenly released stating it was a ‘Jenny Packham gown first worn in LA’ which led to the confusion). Richard Palmer was the only reporter covering the event and had to drive five miles to eventually share photos and info.
We want to take a moment and thank Richard for all the hard work tonight, it really is appreciated tonight and at every event.
The Dress was from Jenny Packham and was from the Spring/Summer 2011.
She opted to use the same accessories as she did the last time she wore this dress
Her pink satin prada clutch
and her LK Bennett Agata Sandals which were recently re-released. They currently retail for $395 USD
Her added sparkle for the night came in the form of jewels on loan from the queen
The pieces chosen were the chandelier earrings and bracelet made from Queen Mary’s choker. We’ve seen the earrings a few times, but we have only seen the bracelet on Catherine once, and we saw them teamed together for the State Banquet during the Chinese State Visit last year.
Here are a few more photos from the event:
KING’S LYNN, ENGLAND – JUNE 22: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attends a gala dinner in support of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices’ nook appeal at Houghton Hall on June 22, 2016 in King’s Lynn, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
Attendees were treated to a special five course meal will be served with courses created and cooked by five world renowned chefs: Galton Blackiston, Sat Bains, Claude Bosi, Tom Kerridge and Mark Edwards. The evening also featured a number of exclusive highlights for guests, beginning with a champagne reception featuring musical entertainment by the Jefford Brothers and Sam Aldersey-Williams and magician Archie Manners.
The Treehouse Choir performed after dinner followed by a speech from parent Charlotte Markham. Charlotte and her family received care and support from EACH in Ipswich when her son Elliot died at just a few hours old.
The dinner was brought to a close with speeches from critically acclaimed author and EACH Ambassador Anthony Horowitz OBE and The Marquess of Cholmondeley. Anthony has been an Ambassador since 2008 and is passionate about the work of EACH. He recently visited the existing hospice in Quidenham to find out more about the plans for the nook and why a new building in Norfolk is so important for care delivery.
Built in the 1720s for Great Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, Houghton Hall remains one of England’s finest Palladian houses. A collaboration between the two defining British architects of the age – Colen Campbell and James Gibbs – and with lavish interiors by William Kent, Houghton was built with an eye to reflecting the wealth, taste, and power of its owner. During the eighteenth century, Walpole also amassed one of the greatest collections of European art in Britain, and Houghton became a museum to the collection. The centuries that followed would see the fate of Houghton and its remarkable contents hang in the balance.
On Walpole’s death, Houghton passed to his son, and then to his grandson, the 3rd Earl of Orford, who was forced to sell Sir Robert’s picture collection to Catherine the Great of Russia due to debts. At the end of the 18th Century, the house was inherited by the 1st Marquess of Cholmondeley, Sir Robert’s great grandson through his daughter, Mary. The Cholmondeleys only lived at Houghton for about ten years before moving back to their ancestral seat in Cheshire. Houghton was frequently on the market during the next century, and was rented out to a succession of tenants from 1884 to 1916. It was only when the future 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley and his wife, Sybil (nee Sassoon) took on the house just after the First World War, that it was restored to its former glory.
About the Chefs
In 1979, a typically cash-strapped 17 year old high school student, Galton Blackiston, set up stall at Rye market selling his own range of home-made cakes, biscuits and preserves. The range became known as ‘Galton’s Goodies’ and such was its success during that year that Galton abandoned plans to be a professional cricketer, deciding instead on a career as a chef.
Within two months of having made this decision, Galton had begun working in the Lake District at the renowned Miller Howe, finally working his way up to the position of Head Chef. With this also followed work experience stints in New York, Canada, South Africa and London.
1987 Tracy and Galton got married and set about finding a suitable location to fulfill their dream of creating a friendly and informal country hotel, where guests would be treated to an amazing experience of relaxed, though professional ambience, with excellent food. A wonderful flint-knapped, farmhouse on the edge of the Morston Marshes caught their eye and today, Morston Hall is one of Britain’s leading country hotels, consistently receiving awards since the AA nominated it as Newcomer of the Year in 1992 and Emily Green as joint winner of the Country Hotel of the year along with Chewton Glen. With a CATEY award, Michelin ‘star’ since 1998, Three AA Red Stars and Three AA Rosettes Morston Hall has been recognised as both a great English hotel and restaurant. Morston Hall was also named in the top 100 restaurants in the UK.
Galton has held a Michelin star for 14 years and become UK Craft Guild of Chefs ‘Chef of the year’, East Anglian Chef of the Year and fellow of the craft guild of chefs.
Galton has appeared on Anglia Television, Gary Rhodes Food Heros, Market Kitchen, Great British Menu and is a regular on Saturday Kitchen with James Martin (BBC) where he’s always promoting seasonal and Norfolk produce. Galton will always tell people that there is “No finer area” than Norfolk.
Sat Bains
Bains crossed paths with several influential British chefs over the course of his career. In 1999 Bains was awarded the Roux scholarship. The scholarship led to many opportunities, including working at the 3 Michelin starred, Le Jardin de Sens in the south of France. Bains returned to Nottingham and in 2002, opened Restaurant Sat Bains, winning his first Michelin star a year later.
In 2005 he, with his wife Amanda, took over the management of the attached bedrooms and renamed the business, Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms. The restaurant was awarded its second Michelin Star in 2011.
Proud of his Midlands roots, Sat has long championed the use of local suppliers and selected artisan producers, and has showcased this to remarkable effect on the international gastronomic stage, including demonstrating his dishes at congresses in Europe, the US, SE Asia, Japan and Australia. His debut book titled “Too Many Chiefs, Only One Indian” was released to critical acclaim in 2012 and has gone on to win 9 international awards.
Originally from Lyon, France, where food is the very essence of its culture; a city without compromise where its people are the toughest food critics. His parents owned a successful restaurant in the city and Claude grew up immersed in a world of produce, seasonality and the disciplines of a professional kitchen.
Claude Bosi went straight from catering college to his apprenticeship. His career took him to Paris for the next four years, where he trained under Michel Rostang, Alain Passard and Alain Ducasse. At the age of 25 he moved to England where he became Sous Chef at Overton Grange in rural Shropshire. One year later he became Head Chef and earned himself his first Michelin star shortly after.
In 2000, an opportunity arose to purchase a site in the neighbouring market town of Ludlow. This was opened as Hibiscus. Once again he achieved one Michelin star within the first year of opening – and the second shortly after in 2003. Claude moved Hibiscus to its current position in central London, where it continues to be recognized for Claude’s passion for flavours, simplicity and elegance.
Originally from the West Country, his early career started in country house hotels and restaurants in Gloucestershire. His first role in a professional kitchen was as a commis chef at Calcot Manor in Tetbury in 1991. He moved around several restaurants as a chef de partie before joining Rhodes in the Square as sous chef under Gary Rhodes in 1999.
He spent a further two years as sous chef at Odettes in London. In 2001 he became head chef for the first time, at Bellamy’s Dining Room, and then at Great Fosters in Surrey. He moved back to London to become senior sous chef at Monsieur Max until 2003. Leaving London, he moved to Norwich where he was Head Chef at the one Michelin starred Adlards.
Tom and his wife, Beth, set up The Hand and Flowers in 2005 and they were awarded one star in the Michelin Guide in 2006. Since 2012, the pub has held two stars in the guide.
Mark Edwards
Mark Edwards is executive chef of the Michelin-starred Nobu London, the first restaurant to be opened outside the USA by the celebrated Japanese chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, and its younger sister Nobu Berkeley Street, which also holds a Michelin star. Edwards also has overall responsibility for all Nobus and Matsuhisa restaurants outside of the US and plays a key role in setting up the kitchens and training staff at all new Nobus that have opened since 1997.
Teaming up with Nobu Matsuhisa, Edwards trained in California before opening Nobu London as a Concession in the Metropolitan Hotel on London’s Park Lane in February 1997. Ubon by Nobu opened in Canary Wharf in November 2000, followed by Nobu Berkeley Street in August 2005. Edwards has also co-authored a Nobu cookbook, Nobu West, which was published in 2006.
Edwards mans the pass on a daily basis, and his interpretation of Matsuhisa’s modern Japanese fusion cuisine secured Michelin stars for Nobu London in 1998 and Nobu Berkeley in 2006 along with three AA rosettes for Ubon by Nobu.
Filed Under: Appearances, Charitable Involvement, Fashion
« Her Majesty Sends Tweet to Thank Public for 90th Birthday Wishes
A Petite Wimbledon Ensemble »
Find it Faster
Stores We Love
Search By Category Select Category 5 Questions for… A Cambridge Makes the Cover Appearances Catherine’s Speeches and Messages of Support Charitable Involvement Children’s Hospice Week Diamond Award Challenges Royal Reading Challenge Diana, Princess of Wales Ed Sheeran Editor’s Thoughts Fashion From the Royal Press Office Fun Features In The Press Inspiration My Ancestry Adventure Official Photo Releases Overseas Tours Petite Options Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge Royal Correspondence Uncategorized Wardrobe Archive 2016 What Should I Wear?
Search By Month Select Month September 2017 (2) July 2017 (5) June 2017 (2) May 2017 (8) April 2017 (5) March 2017 (7) January 2017 (6) December 2016 (22) November 2016 (6) October 2016 (1) September 2016 (5) August 2016 (14) July 2016 (10) June 2016 (4) May 2016 (9) April 2016 (7) March 2016 (3) February 2016 (8) January 2016 (5) August 2015 (1) July 2015 (1)
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2080
|
__label__cc
| 0.593792
| 0.406208
|
International Jacob Zuma of South Africa resigns
Jacob Zuma of South Africa resigns
Published on February 14, 2018 , in International
South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma, has resigned from office with immediate effect.
Zuma made the announcement in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, Mr Zuma’s governing ANC party told him to resign or face a vote of no confidence in parliament on Thursday.
Zuma has been in power since 2009, but his administration has been riddled with many allegations of corruption.
On Tuesday, Ace Magashule, ANC’s secretary-general, told journalists that the national executive committee (NEC) decided that the removal should be “treated with urgency”.
“It is obvious we want Comrade Ramaphosa to come in as the president of South Africa,” he said.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2081
|
__label__wiki
| 0.77806
| 0.77806
|
Adultolescence | Vicky Shen - Adultolescence
class="pirenko_team_member-template-default single single-pirenko_team_member postid-29 woocommerce-no-js wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-3.6.12 vc_responsive"
Director’s Statement
Screenings & News
Download EPK
Purchase the Movie
Educational Themes
Download Educational Kit
Sign-Up for Our Mailing List
Hosted by EK
Vicky Shen
Co-Director, Writer, Producer
Vicky Shen received a B.A. in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her advanced student film, The Killing Seasons, which she wrote, directed and acted in, garnered awards at several film festivals, including the Tampere International Short Film Festival, and was a finalist at the Directors Guild of America Student Awards.
Upon graduation, she worked at the William Morris Agency, exposing herself to all areas of the film industry. She also produced several comedy sketches and has written two feature-length screenplays. One depicts a modern-day student revolution and the other is In Between Days, a semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute and Steven Spielberg’s Chesterfield Writer’s Project.
Vicky received a scholarship to the prestigious Writers Bootcamp to develop an original pilot for television, hoping to bring diverse characters to small screen, while dismantling the notion of people of color as “the other” in American society and shows how their everyday experiences mirror that of anyone else.
As an honoree of the mentorship program, Project:Involve at Film Independent (home of the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival), Vicky was mentored by Kayo Hatta (”Picture Bride”/Winner of Sundance Audience Award) and Lee Zlotoff (”Spitfire Grill”/Winner of Sundance Audience Award; Creator of “MacGyver”). She is an active alumnus who promotes the program and hopes to support future participants.
Vicky is currently touring schools, speaking to students about her journey in making “Adultolescence”, which was initiated to create a medium that would help bridge the gap between immigrant parents and their American-born children (or adult-children) by relating through a cinematic experience those issues unspoken or too difficult to communicate. But, since its inception, this film has become layered with many timely, sociocultural, thematic issues that Asians/Asian-Americans face today– including identity politics, the Tiger Mom debate, depression, economic anxiety, and media-influenced, social voyeurism.
Zoe Bui
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2083
|
__label__cc
| 0.630825
| 0.369175
|
Childbirth may increase risk of breast cancer
Many believe that childbirth can protect women against breast cancer, but new findings suggest that this benefit may take 2 decades to make an appearance.
Childbirth may initially increase breast cancer risk.
The risk of developing breast cancer differs between individuals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that several factors come into play.
These are split into risk factors that people cannot control and ones that people can change.
For instance, people cannot change their age, genetic mutations, and family history, while they can control their weight, alcohol, and exercise levels.
One factor that some researchers believe can reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer is childbirth.
However, according to a new study, the theory that childbirth can protect a woman against breast cancer may need further clarification. The study’s findings suggest that this protection does not instantly occur. Instead, it may take a considerably long time to emerge.
Researchers also found that childbirth only benefits women above a certain age when it comes to breast cancer risk levels. In fact, they found that younger women who had recently given birth experienced elevated risk levels.
The impact of childbirth
The large-scale analysis examined data from 15 studies from around the world. Scientists looked at over 800,000 women with a specific focus on factors that other studies on the topic had overlooked.
This included things that could affect breast cancer risk, such as family history of the disease and breastfeeding.
Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the study found that breast cancer risk elevated in women who had given birth and were aged 55 or younger.
This risk hit its highest point about 5 years after women had given birth. At this time, mothers in this age range had an 80 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer compared with those women who had not gone through childbirth.
The authors note that this risk was more prominent for women who fit into one of three categories: those who had a family history of breast cancer, people who were older at the time of their first birth, or those who had had more children overall. Breastfeeding appeared to have no impact.
Delayed protection
The study’s most important finding, however, was that the elevated breast cancer risk disappeared 23 years after childbirth. After more than 2 decades, women began to experience a form of protection from the disease.
“What most people know,” says Hazel B. Nichols, Ph.D. — based at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill — “is that women who have children tend to have lower breast cancer risk than women who have not had children, but that really comes from what breast cancer looks like for women in their 60s and beyond.”
“We found that it can take more than 20 years for childbirth to become protective for breast cancer, and that before that, breast cancer risk was higher in women who had recently had a child.”
Hazel B. Nichols, Ph.D.
Not all younger women had the same risk levels. For example, women who had their first child after the age of 35 had a higher risk, while those who experienced childbirth before the age of 25 saw no increased risk.
However, the overall chance of getting breast cancer was still relatively low for any woman who had given birth.
There were only 41 more cases of breast cancer in every 100,000 women aged 41–45 who had had a child in the past 3–7 years. This was compared with women in the same age range who did not have children. This figure rose to 247 more cases by the time women reached the age of 50.
The uniqueness of cancer
Breast cancer is less common among young women, making some of these results less surprising than others. However, the findings could help educate medical staff and the public — especially those who may believe that childbirth immediately protects them against breast cancer.
Scientists could also use these findings to develop a more useful model for breast cancer risk. In turn, this could lead to more effective screening and prevention methods.
However they use the results, researchers stress the importance of remembering that there is no one form of breast cancer.
For example, the study found pregnancy to only be a protection from estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. This benefit was not seen in estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer.
“This is evidence of the fact that just as breast cancer risk factors for young women can differ from risk factors in older women, there are different types of breast cancer,” explains Nichols, “and the risk factors for developing one type versus another can differ.”
Medical News Today: Would you deactivate Facebook for $1,000?
How common are food allergies, really?
Why do women face higher heart disease risk after breast cancer?
Are dogs better at detecting cancer ‘than advanced technology?’
What causes a lump on the areola
Could gut bacteria drive the spread of breast cancer?
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2085
|
__label__wiki
| 0.522464
| 0.522464
|
Articles / Blog
Back care in a world sitting
What are the risks of sitting too much?
Answers from James A. Levine, M.D., Ph.D.
Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns, including obesity and metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions that includes increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels. Too much sitting also seems to increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
One study compared adults who spent less than two hours a day in front of the TV or other screen-based entertainment with those who logged more than four hours a day of recreational screen time. Those with greater screen time had:
A nearly 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause
About a 125 percent increased risk of events associated with cardiovascular disease, such as chest pain (angina) or heart attack
The increased risk was separate from other traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as smoking or high blood pressure.
Sitting in front of the TV isn't the only concern. Any extended sitting — such as behind a desk at work or behind the wheel — can be harmful. What's more, spending a few hours a week at the gym or otherwise engaged in moderate or vigorous activity doesn't seem to significantly offset the risk.
The solution seems to be less sitting and more moving overall. You might start by simply standing rather than sitting whenever you have the chance or think about ways to walk while you work. For example:
Stand while talking on the phone or eating lunch.
If you work at a desk for long periods of time, try a standing desk — or improvise with a high table or counter.
Walk laps with your colleagues rather than gathering in a conference room for meetings.
Position your work surface above a treadmill — with a computer screen and keyboard on a stand or a specialized treadmill-ready vertical desk — so that you can be in motion throughout the day.
The impact of movement — even leisurely movement — can be profound. For starters, you'll burn more calories. This might lead to weight loss and increased energy. Even better, the muscle activity needed for standing and other movement seems to trigger important processes related to the breakdown of fats and sugars within the body. When you sit, these processes stall — and your health risks increase. When you're standing or actively moving, you kick the processes back into action.
How MC Hammer Reinvented Ankle Injuries
Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), known professionally as M.C. Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American hip-hop recording artist, dancer, entrepreneur, spokesman and actor. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s until the late 1990s. Remembered for his rapid rise to fame, Hammer is known for hit records (such as "U Can't Touch This" and "2 Legit 2 Quit"), flashy dance movements, choreography and eponymous Hammer pants. Hammer's superstar-status and entertaining showmanship made him a household name and hip hop icon.[1] He has sold more than 50 million records worldwide.[2]
A multi-award winner, M.C. Hammer is considered a "forefather/pioneer" and innovator[3] of pop rap (incorporating elements of freestyle music), and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album.[4][5][6][7] Hammer was later considered a sellout due in part to overexposure as an entertainer (having live instrumentation/bands, choreographed dance routines and an impact on popular culture being regularly referenced on television and in music)[8] and as a result of being too "commercial" when rap was "hardcore" at one point, then his image later becoming increasingly "gritty" to once again adapt to the ever-changing landscape of rap.[9][10] Regardless, BET ranked Hammer as the #7 "Best Dancer Of All Time".[11] Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.[12]
Burrell became a preacher during the late 1990s with a Christian ministry program on TBN called M.C. Hammer and Friends. Additionally, he starred in a Saturday morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991 and was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009.[13][14] Hammer was also a television show host and dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam.com,[15][16] and is a record label CEO while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreachfunctions. Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records by 1995.
My Back, My Back
The central feature of the human back is the vertebral column, specifically the length from the top of the thoracic vertebrae to the bottom of the lumbar vertebrae, which houses the spinal cord in its spinal canal, and which generally has some curvature that gives shape to the back. The ribcage extends from the spine at the top of the back (with the top of the ribcage corresponding to the T1 vertebra), more than halfway down the length of the back, leaving an area with less protection between the bottom of the ribcage and the hips. The width of the back at the top is defined by the scapula, the broad, flat bones of the shoulders.
Muscles[edit]
The spine is bordered by several groups of muscles, including the intertransversarii muscle which facilitate movement between the individual vertebrae, and the multifidus spinae, which facilitate the movement of the spine as a whole.
Other muscles in the back are associated with the movement of the neck and shoulders. The trapezius muscle, which is named from its trapezium-like shape, runs between the neck, the anterior chain, the two shoulders, and the thoracic vertebra, T12. The large latissimus dorsi make a triangle from the shoulder to the hip.
Organs of the back[edit]
The lungs are within the ribcage, and extend to the back of the ribcage making it possible for them to be listened into through the back. The kidneys are situated beneath the muscles in the area below the end of the ribcage, loosely connected to the peritoneum. A strike to the lower back can damage the kidneys of the person being hit.
Surface of the back[edit]
The skin of the human back is thicker and has fewer nerve endings than the skin on any other part of the torso. With some notable exceptions (see, e.g. George "The Animal" Steele), it tends to have less hair than the chest on men. The upper-middle back is also the one area of the body which a typical human under normal conditions might be unable to physically touch.
Distribution of cutaneous nerves, dorsal aspect. Dorsal and lateral cutaneous branches labeled at center right.
The skin of the back is innervated by the dorsal cutaneous branches, as well as the lateral abdominal cutaneous branches of intercostal nerves.
Movement[edit]
The intricate anatomy of the back provides support for the head and trunk of the body, strength in the trunk of the body, as well as a great deal of flexibility and movement. The upper back has the most structural support, with the ribs attached firmly to each level of the thoracic spine and very limited movement. The lower back (lumbar vertebrae) allows for flexibility and movement in back bending (extension) and forward bending (flexion). It does not permit twisting.
8130 Old Seward Hwy
Anchorage AK 99518
Mon, Wed, Fri 9:00-12:00 & 2:00-6:00
Tue & Thu 2:00-7:00
Sat 8:00 - 11:00
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2089
|
__label__cc
| 0.711169
| 0.288831
|
Survey reveals burden alcohol places on ambul
Survey reveals burden alcohol places on ambulance staff
Colin Shevills of Balance and Yvonne Ormston of NEAS launch the Paying the Price report
Almost half of North East paramedics have been subjected to alcohol-fuelled physical assaults whilst on duty, according to a new survey.
The report published today (Wednesday 19th August) by Balance, the North East Alcohol Office, also reveals that 2 in 5 of the paramedics surveyed have been sexually assaulted or harassed by patients and members of the public who have drunk too much.
Unsurprisingly, they’ve had enough – with 3 in 5 saying they shouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of alcohol misuse.
Balance joined forces with the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) to carry out a survey of more than 350 paramedics. The results lay bare the true feelings of the hard-working staff who have to deal with alcohol-related incidents on a daily basis.
The report also revealed:
More than 9 in 10 NEAS paramedics feel that dealing with alcohol-related callouts places an unnecessary burden on their time and resources.
Two-thirds of paramedics said alcohol-related incidences accounted for at least half of their workload during weekend evenings.
Two-thirds of paramedics stated that they felt at risk of physical assault when working in the night time economy.
9 in 10 have been threatened at least once and almost half six or more times.
Two-thirds of paramedics stated that in excess of 75% of callouts for assault were alcohol-related.
An experienced female paramedic, who took part in the survey, said: “I’m regularly sworn at by patients, their friends or relatives. The fear of being assaulted or sustaining injuries is increased when dealing with intoxicated patients.”
A fellow colleague also shared her experiences of dealing with drunk patients. She said: “The sexual harassment from males can get out of hand. I tend to ignore this so to not start any conflict but many a time I do say to stop or I’ll get the police. Sometimes the threat of police can calm them but most of the time the threat or their presence can make things worse.”
In 2013/14 Balance estimated that alcohol misuse cost the North East around £911 million including a cost to the NHS of £242 million.
Yvonne Ormston, NEAS Chief Executive, said: “Our crews don’t just deal with drunk weekend revellers; our crews see the effects of alcohol at all times of the day and all times of the week, spread across our region and from patients of all ages and backgrounds.
“For our staff, this is more than a job. But alcohol related calls take up far too much of our time and are often an abuse of our service, taking our resources away from patients who need us most.
“Intoxicated patients take much longer to triage on the phone and are more likely to be aggressive, placing staff in potential danger and increasing their stress levels.
“We take a zero tolerance approach to assault and support staff every step of the way if they have been abused. All staff also have access to a counselling service and a number of helplines to ensure their mental health is looked after as much as possible.
“We are pleased to be working with Balance to highlight the issues we face.”
Colin Shevills, Director of Balance, said: “It’s outrageous that paramedics don’t feel safe in their working environment as a result of other people’s alcohol misuse. These are people who are there to help us when we need it most, yet they are living in fear of physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis. How many of us would expect to work like this?
“It’s clear from this report that our paramedics are personally paying the price for the alcohol misuse of others. This is an unnecessary burden on time and resource and it is completely unsustainable.
“Our relationship with alcohol is out of control. We need to bring it under control by making alcohol less affordable, available and less widely promoted. We need the Government to support a range of targeted, evidence-based measures such as increasing the price of the cheapest, strongest alcohol products, which has been shown to save lives, reduce hospital admissions, cut crime and lessen the financial burden alcohol places on frontline services.”
*Read the full Paying the Price report below
Balance and NEAS: Paying the Price report
This summary report, produced by Balance, the North East Alcohol Office, details the impact of alcohol misuse on our region’s paramedics.
|
cc/2019-30/en_head_0033.json.gz/line2090
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.