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Domestic 21:25, 06-Apr-2019
New progress made in latest round of China-U.S. trade talks
China and the United States have made new progress during the ninth round of high-level economic and trade talks, Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.
During the talks, the two sides discussed the agreement text on technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff measures, services, agriculture, trade balance and other issues and have achieved new progress, according to Xinhua.
The two sides decided to hold further consultations on the remaining issues.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin co-hosted the talks in Washington from April 3 to 5.
Liu said during a meeting on Friday that the two sides will continue to promote healthy and stable economic and trade ties.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency
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A Heart for Health
KSU Public Health student earns accolades
KENNESAW, Ga. (Feb 26, 2019) — Kennesaw State University student Erica Lundak plans to dedicate her career to promoting health and preventing disease in communities. She already is building a healthy resume toward that goal.
Lundak, a University Honors Program student, is in the midst of two internships, one at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and one with WinShape Camps. Also, she has participated in conducting research relating to Parkinson’s disease, which she will present at a national conference KSU is hosting in April.
Lundak’s impressive college career recently earned her an honor from the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. She was Kennesaw State’s representative at the Board of Regents’ 2019 Academic Recognition Day, at which one outstanding scholar from each USG institution was honored for classroom excellence and community involvement.
“Being chosen was not something I expected, but I was humbled and excited to be recognized and to represent KSU,” said Lundak, a senior majoring in public health education.
After graduating from high school in nearby Canton, Ga., Lundak wasn’t sure what college major she wanted to pursue. However, Lundak said she “knew KSU was a great school” because her sister Jessica, who graduated with a nursing degree in 2014, spoke highly of her alma mater.
Lundak discovered her passion as a sophomore when, as she explained, “I decided what I really want to do is help people and always have the opportunity to explore new pathways.” She was drawn to the Bachelor of Science in Public Health Education program that had just been launched in the WellStar College of Health and Human Services.
Lundak is looking forward to graduating in May and is considering several possibilities, including trying to remain with the CDC or pursuing a Master’s in Public Health. She is interested in many areas of the public health field, including global health, epidemiology and community health.
“I really like the idea of going into a community and seeing what their health needs are, and then creating programs to address those needs,” Lundak said. “But public health is a very broad field and I’m interested in all aspects of it, so I’m keeping my eyes open and exploring opportunities as they come about.”
Another of Lundak’s interests is addressing health issues worldwide, which is her focus at the CDC. She is interning within the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, a unit dedicated to reducing mortality among immigrants, refugees and other globally mobile populations and preventing the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable diseases.
Meanwhile, a health concern much closer to home inspired Lundak’s research topic for her Public Health Research Methods class – Parkinson’s disease, the nervous system disorder one of her family members was diagnosed with four years ago. According to Lundak, staying physically active has helped the family member in maintaining balance, mobility and performing daily living activities while living with the disease.
During spring 2018, Lundak was a research assistant to professor James Annesi. The study moved research one step further in evaluating the potential benefits that physical activity can have on people with Parkinson’s disease or related symptoms; some factors affected included mood, sense of control over one’s health, and one’s belief of their ability to overcome barriers to exercising.
“The study did show some positive impacts for people who have Parkinson’s or show signs of Parkinson’s, so it’s kind of a stepping stone for even more studies to be done,” Lundak said. “The end goal is that physicians can confidently recommend this exercise program, as a supplement to traditional medical treatment, to keep people with Parkinson’s active.”
Lundak will present her work at the 2019 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), which Kennesaw State will host April 11-13. More than 4,000 students from throughout the U.S. are expected to attend NCUR, the largest conference dedicated to undergraduate research in the country.
“I am really looking forward to it,” Lundak said. “I don’t think it’s hit me yet how neat it will be to present research at a national conference such as NCUR. For now, I am looking forward to walking into an event where I can learn about the research being done in all the different fields. I know I will take a lot away from this experience.”
NCUR is one of two big events on the horizon for Lundak, who will spend eight weeks in Brazil this summer as part of WinShape Camps, her other current internship. She will lead a team in conducting camps for children about character, relationships and faith.
“We will have more than 1,000 campers over eight weeks, so it is a great opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives,” Lundak said. “It is a lot of fun – one of my favorite things to be involved with.”
– Paul Floeckher
Photos by Rob Witzel
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110 Kosovars, mostly children and women, returned from Syria
FLORENT BAJRAMI and LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press April 20, 2019
A group of children walk inside a detention center where authorities have brought back from Syria 110 Kosovar citizens, mostly women and children in the village of Vranidol on Sunday, April 20, 2019. Four suspected fighters have been arrested, but other returnees will be cared for, before being sent to homes over the coming days, according to Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri.(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo authorities announced Saturday they have brought back from Syria 110 Kosovar citizens, mostly women and children, with the assistance of the United States.
Justice Minister Abelard Tahiri, top policeman Rashit Qalaj and a health official told journalists early Saturday that "a planned operation to bring back some of our citizens from Syria ended successfully," bringing back four alleged fighters with the Islamic State group, 32 women and 74 children, without giving more details "due to the sensitivity of the case."
Nine children had lost parents during the fighting in Syria.
The group has been taken to a center in Vranidoll, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the capital Pristina, to be taken care of before being sent to homes in the next 72 hours.
Three children were seen playing football inside the shelter, well-protected by a special police force surrounding its perimeter.
The four suspected fighters were arrested.
Tahiri said a task force was created in October in close cooperation with the United States.
"Our message is clear: The Kosovo government will strongly continue to prevent and fight violent extremism and terrorism," he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Pristina commended Kosovo's move for setting "an important example" and applauded its "compassion in accepting the return of this large number of civilians."
"The United States remains grateful to the Syrian Democratic Forces for their support in the repatriation and for continuing to humanely detain hundreds more ISIS fighters from dozens of countries," it added.
The minister considered the women and children to be "innocent victims," adding that the authorities had plans to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society.
More than 400 Kosovars initially joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, but none has left in the past three years, according to Kosovo authorities.
Qalaj said that 30 Kosovo citizens are still actively supporting the groups there, and there are also 49 women and eight children.
"We shall not allow our citizens to turn into a threat to the Western world and will take all to ensure that those accountable face the law," Tahiri said, adding that "there is no amnesty for any person, be it a woman or a man, who has committed an extremist or terror act."
Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.
Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lsemini
'Big Bang Theory' star Mayim Bialik shuts down common questions on raising vegan kids
Pink Defends Her Daughter Willow, 8, & Son Jameson, 2, for Running in Holocaust Memorial
Joe Biden worried in 1977 that certain de-segregation policies would cause his children to grow up 'in a racial jungle'
2 women who say they were abused by Jeffery Epstein have asked a judge not to release him from jail
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Opponents of Gay Marriage Think Their Own Union Is Unshakable
Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience.com April 16, 2012
Opponents of same-sex marriage worry that extending the institution's rights to gay people will harm heterosexual marriages. But a new study suggests that no one really believes their own relationships are at risk — only other people's.
The study is a demonstration of the "third-person perception," a common psychological bias in which people are convinced that others are much more influenced by outside sources such as media and advertising than they themselves are. In the realm of same-sex marriage, people who strongly value authority and tradition were the most likely to demonstrate this third-person effect.
The study idea came about during the height of the public gay marriage debate several years ago, said study researcher Matthew Winslow, a psychologist at Eastern Kentucky University. Opponents of same-sex marriage kept citing the dangers of such unions, Winslow said. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, for example, said in 2005 that same-sex marriage would "undermine the traditional relationship between men and women." [10 Wedding Traditions from Around the World]
To Winslow, it seemed unlikely that Dobson was including his own marriage in statements like this.
"It just dawned on me, most of the people who were really vehemently against gay marriage were not likely to say they were worried about their own marriages, but they talked about how if we allowed gay marriage it was going to be bad for society in general," Winslow told LiveScience.
Perceiving other people
Suspecting that the third-party perception might be behind this line of argument, Winslow and his colleagues surveyed 120 straight, unmarried undergraduates about their support for same-sex marriage as well as their beliefs about how the legalization of marriage between gay individuals would affect their own relationships and the relationships of others. The students also answered questions about their political persuasion and their attitudes toward authority.
The students were young, putting them in the demographic that is more supportive of same-sex marriage. Indeed, they were generally accepting, with more than half falling on the "supportive" end of the scale measuring attitudes toward gay marriage. (In 2011, a majority of Americans backed same-sex marriage legalization for the first time. These students were questioned several years earlier, however.)
Nevertheless, even in this supportive group, the third-person perception reared its head.
"People were not really worried about it affecting their own marriage at all," Winslow said. "The scores on that measure were really low."
As a relatively accepting group, the students weren't overly concerned that gay marriage would affect straight relationships. But importantly, they did rate the likelihood of those effects significantly higher for other people than they did for themselves.
Personality and perceptions
The group most likely to see itself as impervious and others as vulnerable was composed of people with a personality trait called right-wing authoritarianism. People with this trait strongly value tradition and authority, and dislike people not in their own social group.
Right-wing authoritarians' perceptions of themselves as strong and others as weak might help explain this group's strong opposition to gay marriage, Winslow said. But the study, published April 10 in the journal Social Psychology, also highlights that everybody judges themselves as a little bit better than the next guy.
"If everyone believes that other people are more affected than they are, that's just not logical," said Winslow, who suggested that focusing on putting yourself in others' shoes might help banish this bias. "If you believe you are not going to be affected by [same-sex marriage], just recognize that probably other people believe the same way, so the good news is that probably people aren't going to be affected by it that much."
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
5 Myths About Gay People Debunked
6 Scientific Tips for a Successful Marriage
Understanding the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors
Anglican Church of Canada rejects same-sex marriage
Amazon Studios To Receive Visionary Award At GLSEN Respect Awards
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Amidst House Extension Discussions, Some Push Long-Term Revenue Solution
July 10, 2015 | Legislative
By Dean Franks, vice president of congressional affairs, ARTBA
While congressional leaders work to define their plans to deal with the pending July 31 expiration of federal highway and public transportation programs, rank and file members of the House of Representatives continue to push for a pathway toward a long-term Highway Trust Fund (HTF) solution. Congressman Tom Rice (R-S.C.) July 8 introduced legislation similar to ARTBA’s “Getting Beyond Gridlock” proposal. It would increase the federal motor fuels tax by 10 cents-per-gallon and index it to inflation. The legislation would combine the fuels tax increase with an offsetting income tax cut for the most Americans. ARTBA worked with Congressman Rice on this legislation over the past month and sent a July 10 letter supporting his efforts.
Separately, Congressmen Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) at a July 10 press conference called on House leadership to allow for what’s known as a “Queen of the Hill” vote process when the HTF solvency issue is dealt with later this month. This process would allow for votes on any and all revenue solutions for the HTF that a member brings to the floor, with the one that passes with the most votes becoming the position the House of Representatives. This procedure, while used sparingly, was invoked earlier this year to pass the House FY 2016 budget resolution.
It is anticipated, however, that House leaders will coalesce around a plan advocated by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to extend the programs through the end of the year and generate $8 billion to keep the trust fund operational during that period. Ryan claims this additional time will allow his panel to develop legislation that would generate a one-time source of revenue by lowering the tax on overseas earnings of U.S.-based multinational corporations. The “repatriation” concept was also endorsed last week by a bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee members led by Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). Ryan has long argued revenues from such a plan should support a six-year reauthorization bill.
Details of the House plans are expected to be released next week.
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Barbers, Beauticians, Security Guards and Agri workers to enjoy free movement under CARICOM
By News Source Guyana on December 5, 2018 Caribbean & International, News
Several new categories of workers in the Caribbean have been added to the list of CARICOM nationals who will become entitled to move freely and work in member states. In a statement last evening, CARICOM Leaders who wrapped up a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday, said they have agreed to include Agricultural Workers, Beauty […]
Guyana and UK looking to strengthen ties and relations as oil sector emerges
By News Source Guyana on November 28, 2018 Caribbean & International, News, Politics
Guyana and the United Kingdom are working to build relations and cooperation for the emerging oil sector in Guyana. Guyana’s High Commissioner to the UK, Frederick Hamley Case and the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn, are leading a delegation to the Scottish city of Aberdeen, which is aimed at building relationships to support […]
ScotiaBank announces plan to sell operations in Guyana and eight other Caribbean countries to Republic Holdings
By News Source Guyana on November 27, 2018 Caribbean & International, News
In a major move that is likely to shakeup the banking landscape in Guyana and across the Caribbean, Scotiabank’s headquarters in Toronto has announced that the bank will be selling out its banking operations in Guyana and eight other Caribbean countries to Republic Holdings Limited, which owns Republic Bank. According to a report from the […]
CARICOM moving to reintroduce single security check for direct transit passengers
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), will soon be moving to reintroduce the single security check for passengers coming into the region. The announcement was made on Wednesday by CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRoque at the opening of the 2018 Conference of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Ambassador LaRoque told attendees of the conference that the region […]
Caribbean Airlines adding new fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft
The region’s leading carrier, Caribbean Airlines, is getting ready to step up the quality and efficiency of the service that it offers across the region. The airline has announced that it has made a decision to enhance and renew its fleet of aircraft with the new Boeing 737 MAX 8. In a statement, the company […]
BREAKING: President Granger diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; Chemotherapy treatment to begin on Thursday
Guyana’s President, retired Brigadier David Granger, has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and will begin chemotherapy treatment on Thursday. A senior official of the Government confirmed the diagnosis to News Source this evening and explained that the Guyana Embassy in Cuba will issue a full release on the development within the next 24hrs. The President, […]
CCJ rules Guyana’s cross dressing law is Unconstitutional; Orders that it be struck from the Laws of Guyana
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that the law in Guyana, which makes it a criminal offence for a man or a woman to appear in a public place while dressed in clothing of the opposite sex for an “improper purpose”, is unconstitutional. In a ruling handed down this morning, the Court said […]
Six passengers injured as Fly Jamaica makes emergency landing at Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan Airport
By News Source Guyana on November 9, 2018 Caribbean & International, News
by Gordon Moseley Six passengers were injured this morning as a Fly Jamaica 757 aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at Guyana’s Cheddi Jagan Airport. The flight with 120 passengers and eight crew members departed Guyana for Toronto, Canada just after 2 o’ clock this morning. However, less than thirty minutes into the […]
Guyana student group snags top spot at UWI’s “Culturama” event in Jamaica
By News Source Guyana on October 28, 2018 Caribbean & International, News
Guyana’s rich culture was showcased to the people of Jamaica last Sunday at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona during a culture fest organized by one of the halls of residence. This marked the first time Guyana that Guyana participated in the event called “Culturama” through the Guyanese Student Association in Jamaica (GUYSAJ). […]
Guyana among Caribbean Countries to benefit from Digital Education initiative
By News Source Guyana on October 23, 2018 Caribbean & International, News, Politics
Students from Guyana, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize and Jamaica will benefit from a digital education initiative which is to be implemented in one hundred schools in those five countries. Last Tuesday, the Organisation of American States (OAS) signed an agreement with the Spanish-based ProFuturo Foundation, which has one of the largest digital education programmes in […]
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LA Metro Bus Project to Lift Up Disadvantaged Workers
Johnny Magdaleno November 11, 2016
(Photo by Downtowngal)
On Nov. 28, the Los Angeles Metro transit agency will start looking over proposals to build up to 1,000 compressed natural gas-fed buses and 200 zero emission buses, in a major step toward bringing a more sustainable, environmentally friendly commute to the United States’ most populous county.
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The Really Boring Part of the Sydney Metro Project Is about to Begin
But another major victory is that these manufacturers will also be rewarded based on how significantly they create California jobs, particularly for disadvantaged communities, and reinvest in local manufacturing hubs instead of looking for cheaper places to build these vehicles offshore. In total, the projects could bring an estimated 4,500 jobs to the Los Angeles County area and other yet-to-be-determined cities that local transit jobs coalition Jobs to Move America says will play a vital role in the manufacturing and supply chains delivering them to Southern California.
The request for proposal takes policy language from what’s called the U.S. Employment Plan, a nationally heralded framework that encourages a certain percentage of new transportation-based manufacturing jobs in the U.S. go to American workers with backgrounds that have kept them out of the realm of gainful employment. The plan was put together by Jobs to Move America, with help from the Brookings Institution, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University of Southern California.
Here’s how it works. L.A. Metro puts out a request for proposal (RFP) calling on vehicle manufacturers to bid on a project. Through the U.S. Employment Plan model, interested companies need to outline how much money they plan on spending on workforce development, how many U.S. jobs they plan on creating, how many workers from disadvantaged backgrounds they plan on hiring, and if they’re going to build new or refurbish existing manufacturing facilities in the U.S. to get the job done.
Depending on how robust their employment plans are, manufacturers then get to deduct percentages they spend on progressive hire and local investment plans from their overall bid price through the form of a points system, meaning their final offer is lower and more competitive in the eyes of LA Metro. (The price reduction is for bidding purposes only — it doesn’t actually mean the company gets a credit, or that the transit agency is agreeing to cover those costs.)
Vincent Louque is one worker who’s already benefited from LA Metro’s past use of the U.S. Employment Plan. The agency put it into play when it contracted with Japanese manufacturer Kinkisharyo to build a manufacturing hub in Palmdale, California, and construct 243 rail cars for a new line in Los Angeles.
After Louque was fired from his job at Apple in 2009, the 45-year-old decided to go back to school. He was able to pick up a few part-time gigs on the side as he worked toward getting an electrician’s degree, but his interviews for bigger, full-time jobs always met the same fate.
He remembers a strong interview he had with an HR rep that suddenly went south. “We were having a great conversation, and then they brought in three people from the department I was going to be working in,” he remembers. “Then she reads down further in my application and she says, ‘Oh, you have a felony.’”
“It was very apparent at that moment that she hadn’t read it before. I never heard anything back from them again,” he remembers.
One day shy of five years of unemployment, he landed a job with Kinkisharyo. Their plant in his hometown of Palmdale is the company’s first car shell manufacturing operation in the U.S.
“I was going to school, looking for work, couldn’t find anything regular, doing odd jobs here and there, but Kinkisharyo was one of the first companies that considered me,” says Louque.
Jobs to Move America has seen some major successes with the U.S. Employment Plan; Amtrak, the Chicago Transit Authority and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have all fielded RFPs using its language. But despite getting the support of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx earlier this year, the private sector is still lukewarm when it comes to embracing the plan’s language as a whole.
On the one hand, the idea of having to invest a chunk of money into local workforce development programs is sometimes seen as a demand that they have to pay if they want to play. On top of costs, that means devoting space, workers and expertise to training locals with no guarantee that they’ll make the cut for employment — meaning the return on investment for these programs could run down into the negatives.
And that creates somewhat of a catch-22: Companies say they’re struggling with a worker drought in the U.S., as manufacturers fail to find enough qualified and willing workers to fill more advanced factory jobs in the U.S. Why, they wonder, should we invest in a struggling labor pool here when there’s already a willing, cheaper labor pool over in country X?
“They don’t feel like the U.S. is prepared,” says Erika Thi Patterson, a senior policy coordinator at Jobs to Move America. “But investing in [workforce training] doesn’t necessarily have to mean investing a lot more money.”
Patterson says that these beliefs are grounded in false perceptions. She notes that manufacturing companies who’ve submitted RFP bids to major agencies with U.S. Employment Plan language are generally offering some of the lower bids that these agencies come across, because of the point system it uses to favor more progressive local investment plans.
“We’re really trying to combat these myths because we feel it’s possible to prepare these workers, as long as you’re committing to a real pipeline,” says Patterson.
The Kinkisharyo project has created 404 jobs for workers in the Palmdale area, just outside of Los Angeles. They’re taking in an average of $21 an hour, while minimum wage at the factory runs around $17 an hour.
Louque says on top of a steady stream of employment, one of the major benefits the construction of a Kinkisharyo plant in Palmdale is that he and his coworkers no longer have to put up the gas and other transportation costs to get from their city to Los Angeles, about an hour and a half to the south.
“For a lot of the people out here, this is their first job where they’re not commuting back down to the valley,” he says. “The people that are being hired on are folks who didn’t have a lot of opportunities close to home, who had to travel.” But now that economic opportunity, free of discrimination, is just blocks down the road.
The Equity Factor is made possible with the support of the Surdna Foundation.
Johnny Magdaleno is a journalist, writer and photographer. His writing and photographs have been published by The Guardian, Al Jazeera, NPR, Newsweek, VICE News, the Huffington Post, the Christian Science Monitor and others. He was the 2016-2017 equitable cities fellow at Next City.
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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Lush’ tag.
Three good things and a renewed sense of presence
June 3, 2010 in Music is the best thing | Tags: Arcade Fire, Crystal Castles, David Bowie, David Malouf, James Murphy, Jonsi, LCD Soundsystem, Lush, REM, Riceboy Sleeps, Sigur Ros, Talking Heads, The meaning of music, The National, The Strokes | 11 comments
Okay, stand well back, because I’m about to do something I’ve never done before, and, dare I say it, you’ve probably never seen done before. Am I about to turn myself inside out? Levitate while cross-legged? Speak in two languages at once? No. What I’m about to do is quote Australian literary legend David Malouf in what’s essentially a review of three pop-music records. In his article titled ‘Music, the most abstract of the arts, is mathematics on the move’, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 15 May 2010, Malouf asks, So what is music for? What does it do to us or for us? What happens when we give ourselves over to actually listening to it? Music vibrates in the air around us and involves us; it touches and moves us. Its rhythms take us back to primitive foot-tapping and finger-clicking or clapping; the regularity of its beat excites our heartbeats and pleases us with its natural order; it invites the body, even when the body remains still, to sway and dance. All music takes us back to the body; all instruments discover what they do in what the body does.
Three records that are currently doing exactly what Malouf is talking about, taking me back to my body, and getting me pretty bloody excited in the process, are ‘High Violet’ by The National, ‘Crystal Castles’ by Crystal Castles, and ‘This Is Happening’ by LCD Soundsystem, the latter band surely being the most genuinely enthralling bunch of contemporary musicians working today.
First up, The National’s ‘High Violet’. Frankly, these guys are so god-damn frustrating. They could be great, they could be huge. They could take REM’s indy-music crown, and part of me wants this to happen, because on ‘High Violet’ they get mighty, mighty close to making something truly significant. This is a big record, one that’s best played up loud so the richness and the rawness makes your rib-bones rattle. Melancholic, intimate, but still rocking, it’s an intriguing beast of a thing. In parts, especially on album-opener ‘Terrible Love’, it owes a little to Sigur Ros, in terms of the buzz-saw atmospherics, and Arcade Fire in terms of the naked ambition. ‘Afraid of Everyone’ (I put my hand up to say, yes, that’s me), ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, and ‘Lemonworld’ is a stunning trifecta of songs and worth the price-tag alone. The frustration comes from Matt Berninger’s voice, which while deeply attractive and listenable does tend to mangle the lyrics into an unintelligible slop so that a song’s never given the opportunity to properly blossom into a classic. But this album grows and grows on you until you just can’t live without it, and perhaps that’s where The National’s true genius lies.
Crystal Castles has now given us their second album and it’s…um…totally friggin’…beautiful. Yes, beautiful. Though I should caution that at times it’s an ugly kind of beauty. As with the duo’s first – and also self-titled – album, there’s the mix of scratchy, screechy snippets of dancey noise (a bit like a jacked-up Sonic Youth trapped in a computer-game shop) and then great big slathers of almost-but-not-quite trance. This time around, however, it all comes together in a more cohesive whole. ‘Celestica’, ‘Year of Silence’ (which samples ‘Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur’ by Sigur Ros, revealing the dark soul of those Icelandic noise-niks, which, to my mind, is missing from Jonsi’s solo effort ‘Go’, though the darkness is all over his and his partner Alex Somers’ extraordinary Riceboy Sleeps album) and ‘Vietnam’ make for fantastic listening. For those of an age there’s a fair bit of inspiration from the 90s-era, Rickenbacker-strumming English band Lush in many of these beguiling songs, and that’s no bad thing. As long as the world has artists like Crystal Castles in it, dance music and electronica is in very…dangerous hands indeed. Bugger it, I might just pour myself a glass of champagne, turn out the lights, crank this album up very loud, and dance around the lounge-room like a dervish until the Old Lady of the House and Cat the Ripper give me the evil eye before darting under the bed.
And so we come to LCD Soundsystem, which is the first band in years that have spun my nipples so hard that I’m amazed that I still have a chest. Mixing brilliant, thoughtful beats and the wittiest of lyrics, a gorgeous though not unchallenging pop sensibility, and perfect production, ‘This Is Happening’ is already in my Top Ten Albums of 2010. Like the band’s previous record, ‘Sound of Silver’, the influences are many, though in almost every song I’m reminded of Talking Heads’ ‘Remain in Light’, which just so happens to be in my Top Ten Albums of All Time. Having said that, the stunning, feedback-drenched ‘All I Want’ sounds suspiciously like a mash-up of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ and any Strokes song you care to mention, just infinitely better. While it’s true that there aren’t as many highs as on ‘Sound of Silver’, this is a more minimal record, and it’s one that deserves – and rewards – close listening, because there’s more than one devil in the detail here. And it’s all so very, very New York that I almost feel like going out to graffiti something just for the heck of it. Apparently James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem’s key protagonist, has said that this is the last outing for this particular musical incarnation. If this is true, good on him for bowing out while completely on top of his game.
David Malouf in his Sydney Morning Herald article goes on to say the following: One of the opportunities art offers us is simply to stand still for a moment and look, or to sit still and listen; the pleasure of being firmly present while the ego goes absent and our consciousness is fired with something other than ourselves. For some reason, losing ourselves in this way is a form of self-discovery. Going passive and absent energises us, gives us a renewed sense of presence. Whether you want to sit still and be swept away or dance like a complete idiot without a care in the world (I can flit between the two with remarkable ease, I should admit), being fully present in the company of these three albums could make you very happy to be living on this planet in the year 2010.
If you’re interested in reading the full Malouf article, it can be found here.
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Tropical Party
Bob Marley, Bobby McFerrin, Jimmy Cliff
From Tropical Party
About Video Tour Dates Connect
Don Lichterman, a veteran staffer at several major entertainment companies, is the founder and current head of Sustainable Action Network (SAN), Sunset Pictures Studios and the Sunset Corporation of America, along with some of the leading, independent entertainment companies and distributors in the Entertainment Industry (S2e Book Publishing Co., Sunset Live 365, Tropical Records, Sunset Home Visual Entertainment (SHE), Sunset Special Markets (SSM), Sunset Pictures Television (S2e.TV), Sunset Daily News and Sports, Sunset Records, Sunset Classics & Jazz (SC&J) (Sunset Classics, and Sunset Jazz Recordings), Sunset Urban, The Lichterman Co., Sunset Vending Co and The Vending Lot).Growing up outside of the Philadelphia area in South New Jersey, Don became a dedicated follower of the Los Angeles Rams, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Grateful Dead. Prior to the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Don had attended a total of 381 Grateful Dead shows all over the world. His experience as a Deadhead led to his choice to pursue a career in music and entertainment.After graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in Business Administration and Computer Languages, and minoring in Communications, Don began his professional career in the Entertainment Industry. His first job in the Industry was managing Chalet Sound Studios and Production Company in Manasquan, NJ. Chalet handled some major clients, including Jon Bon Jovi (New Jersey), Skid Row (debut CD), John Entwistle Babylon A.D. Baton Rouge, and during the recording of the Village People comeback CD. His major accomplishment at Chalet was with the successful management of the Russian Band Gorky Park, who was the first band from Russia to record for a major label in the United States. His excellent management and production abilities of that facility led to the band touring and opening for Bon Jovi in stadiums all over the world.Don went on to work in the Business and Legal Affairs Division at MCA Records, a part of the MCA Music Entertainment Group in Universal City, California. He then relocated to New York to work at PolyGram Holding Company, while simultaneously pursuing his Master's Degree at Stern Business School at NYU in 1996. When he finished school in New York, he went back to California to work for Warner Music Group, where he had great success in Licensing, obtaining the most licenses in the history of the company.In 2006/2007, Don went home to the East Coast to begin his dream of establishing his own Entertainment Company. With offices in both New York, California and New Jersey, Don launched Sunset. He set up the companies to include many different aspects of entertainment, including music supervision, licensing placements, book publishing, merchandise, film and video production and development (and distribution). Additionally, he has implemented the world's first and only 'all live' radio format where every song played at the syndicated station, is/are the live versions of them, and he has an Internet television network with more 25 programs, a popular political blog at Word Press, and a news media outlet partnered with the likes of Reuters.Yahoo, reasonTV and Democracy Now!.He was also the first person to create, start and implement the first "digital only" record label back in 2007. Don has also authored two books, "Three Weeks in June," and "Diary of a Ram Fan", that both uniquely parallel his life experiences to evaluate and explain history, pop culture, and politics. His writings touch on many controversial topics that are part of our everyday lives and how those topics impact on our society.As a dedicated Activist, Don has created the non-profit organization Sustainable Action Network (SAN) that works daily to raise awareness and create laws to defend against animal cruelty, increase gun safety, oppose the privatization of prisons, and expose corporate corruption. He has volunteered his time to many organizations that promote his ideologies of conservation, animal rights, and ending corruption in our society.His career has led Don to be the recipient of many awards of achievement, including four (4) Multi-Platinum Awards, Two (2) Platinum Awards and two (2) Gold Record Awards issued by the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA), along with his "All Around Achievement" Award for being part of the labels (MCA Records) "best year ever" and has been issued similar awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) (2) Multi-Platinum Awards, Two (1) Platinum Award and two (1) Gold Record Award)).Don is a prominent independent voter that views himself as a liberal and progressive, while also being a fiscal conservative when it comes to government spending. And, has participated three (3) years at the Grammy Organizations event, "Grammy's On The Hill" while lobbying with certain Senators (Dick Durbin, and viewed speeches by Nancy Pelosi, etc.).Don is also a current SENIOR level A&R scouting representative having recruited between 10 and 25 artists who have music published with the RECORD UNION & SONY MUSIC, the Leading Independent Distributor and major Record label that acts as the market entry point for thousands of aspiring artists who want to take their careers to the next level. Like all successful record labels, Sony Music is always looking for the best and freshest sounds from emerging artists around the world.
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Events » Fall 2019 Program
2019 AUTUMN SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS WEDNESDAYS, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
National Speaker to our Lodge:
On October 30, James LeFefour “The Dweller on the Threshold”
Sacred Geometry Study Group moved to 4th Wednesday this term
We’re having a Book and AV Sale – Nov. 13, 2019
Board Officers: Kathleen Neuman, Stephen Dicke, Makki Linda Turner,
Jeanie Dean, Bob and Barb Bendykowski.
Find us online on Facebook, Meetup.com and
http://Milwaukee.theosophical.org
Encouraging open-minded inquiry; Respecting the unity of all life; Exploring spiritual self-transformation.
August 7: Board of Directors Meeting: The property, business, and finances of the Lodge, are managed under the direction of the Board of Directors of the Lodge. Board meetings will be held every two months at 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Members of the Society may attend these meetings.
August 14: All the World’s a Stage: Bob Bendykowski departing from his usual report on healing, but gleaned from his research on that subject, will review the last 15,000 years of Earth history in order to discover the roots of our present chaotic existence.
August 21: The Spiritual Mirror of “The Internet of Things”: Come join Digital Dharma author, Steven Vedro as he introduces the core spiritual challenges reflected by the technologies and structures of the internet, social media, and the cloud-based “Internet of Things.” In his Digital Dharma Revisited talk, Steven will update his 2009 visit to the Lodge to the age of the Cloud, smartphones and artificial intelligence and artificial reality. He will
Connect the evolution of communication technologies to the evolution of consciousness;
Describe how social media is both stimulating and reflecting the psycho-spiritual challenges held at each of the chakras of the energy body;
Look at the many troubling “shadow responses” to our transformational spiritual challenge of stepping fully into deep connectivity, deep-sight and deep mind; and
Provide some real-life tools to strengthen the energy body, repair the planetary grid, and connect with the Divine Cloud holding the matrix of our evolution.
August 28: Sacred Geometry Study Group Chapter 7: The Enchanted Virgin. The group is using Michael S. Schneider’s book A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science.
September 4: Light and Darkness as Cosmic Realities: Pablo Sender DVD. The existence of suffering and evil has puzzled Western theologians and philosophers since the beginning of recorded history. The premise normally assumed is that “good” is natural, while evil is a perversion of the natural. Theosophical literature presents an alternative picture in which spirit and matter, positive and negative, good and evil, are twin aspects of the One Reality. This more organic view of the cosmos acknowledges that both light and darkness play a role in the evolution of consciousness, allowing us to understand better how to relate to life and all its complexities.
September 11: The Power of Love and Awakened Consciousness: A Protocol for Mind, Body and Soul Healing : Peig Myota
This evening Peig will introduce her newly published book which incorporates over 30 years of personal and professional experience that allowed her to develop a protocol for Body, Mind and Soul Healing. The primary focus of her book is to teach others how to work with the frequency of love to achieve healing and awakened consciousness. Books will be available for purchase at $25 each.
September 18: Sound and Sacred Geometry– Jeanie Dean
This program considers new research on acoustics in a continuing study of and sacred space. The Greek and Roman amphitheaters resonate sound from the center stage to the back row. The Hypogea at Malta and Peru and the Mayan Ball Park in Mexico echo whispers across a hundred-foot distance. Many ancient temple sites have known vibrational fields. New research shows proof of acoustical levitation and sonic instruments. What physical principles explain these unique sound phenomena?
September 25: Sacred Geometry Study Group Chapter 8: Octad Periodic Renewal : The group is using Michael S. Schneider’s book A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science.
October 2: Board Meeting for society members only: Review business and reports from prior meeting. Spring programming for 2020.
October 9: Edgar Cayce on Health – Kevin Reger
Edgar Cayce was the most documented psychic of the last century.
The vast majority of his 16,000 sessions were health readings. These readings earned Cayce the reputation of the father of holistic medicine. He would lie down and put himself to sleep. Then they would give him the subject’s name. Cayce would say something like “yes we have the body” and then he would give them a brief overview of the subject’s health including the blood supply, nervous system, any afflicted organs and detail methods of relief.
Cayce always suggested that our health must be treated holistically. Cayce said that physical remedies could be effective – diet, chiropractic manipulation, even surgery. But the attitudes and emotions needed to be addressed at the same time. There is much more to be obtained from the right mental attitude.. than by use of properties, things or conditions outside of self… unless these are in accord with the attitudes of the body. 5211-1
October 16: The Mystic Quest for Divine Darkness : Pablo Sender DVD
While the term “darkness” is normally related to the idea of evil, Christian mystics have frequently used it to refer to the highest aspect of God. Coincidentally, the secret Stanzas of Dzyan that Blavatsky published in her masterpiece, The Secret Doctrine, refer to the ultimate reality as the “Darkness.” The seemingly paradoxical use of this term is not just an odd poetic license. It has an important meaning, both as a metaphysical concept and as a lodestar in the individual journey toward the Divine.
October 23: Sacred Geometry Study Group Chapter 9:
Ennead The Horizon: The group is using Michael S. Schneider’s book A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science.
October 30: The Dweller on the Threshold – James LeFevour
The Dweller on the Threshold is a ghoul or phantom that many people have seen. Some say it represents the Jungian shadow self of our own subconscious, some say it is a precursor to spiritual progress. But to those who have experienced it for themselves, they walk away with unbelievable stories and a warning to those who do not take heed. Tonight’s presentation is a PowerPoint about what H.P. Blavatsky and the fictional book Zanoni describe as the phenomena of seeing a ghoulish spectre follow you when some people’s clairvoyance is starting to open up.
November 6: Dances of Universal Peace: Hal Dessel and Judith Kubish The Dances are spiritual practice in motion, creating experiences of embodied spirituality, rhythm, and heart awareness. , drawing inspiration from many spiritual traditions, will blend chant, live music, and evocative movement into a living experience of unity, peace, and integration. Come prepared to participate.
November 13: Book and AV Sale! The Milwaukee Lodge has many book donations and sets of wonderful topics on cassette and 8 track tapes to be sold at bargain prices! Come early if you want the best deals!
November 20: Sacred Geometry Study Group Chapter 10: Beyond Numbers and Epilogue. The group is using Michael S. Schneider’s book A Beginners Guide to Constructing the Universe: Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science.
December 4: Board Meeting for society members only. Agenda to include minutes from October meeting; treasurer reports for October and November; old and new business; 2020 Spring programming
Bob Bendykowski divided his working career between music and electronics. He is current researching and promoting distant healing as a scientific and teachable discipline.
Jeanie Dean is the author of several poetry books including The Whole World Stopped and a dedicated metaphysical scholar. She also teaches college English serves on the Theosophical Board and edits the Milwaukee Theosophical website.
Hal Dessel and Judith Kubish are certified mentor-teachers and leaders of the Dances of Universal Peace for over 25 years. When they are not dancing, Hal is a psychotherapist and addictions counselor in private practice at Reconnections. Judith is a Lifecycle Celebrant, interfaith minister, and wedding officiant; her business is Heartland Life Ceremonies. She creates celebrations of significant human events across the lifespan.
James LeFevour is the Secretary of the San Diego Study Center. He worked for three years at the national center of the Theosophical Society in America in the IT Department. He also taught weekly Reiki classes during that time. James has an M.S. in Written Communication and a B.S. in Studio Art. He studies world’s religions and early generation Theosophists such as Annie Besant and Geoffrey Hodson.
Peig Myota, BSN, MSW, OM has a background in Nursing, Psychology and Ordained Ministry. Peig specializes in BioAcoustic Voice Frequency Evaluation, LED Light Therapy, Soul Genesis Readings, Soul Transition Training the Science of Light Energy Consciousness and Cellular DNA Healing, which she studied for 20 years. She recently authored the book “The Power of Love and Awakened Consciousness. A Protocol for Mind, Body, Soul Healing.
Kathleen Neuman serves on the Board of Directors for The Theosophical Society in America for the Central District and is currently president of the Milwaukee Lodge.
Kevin Reger who is Milwaukee area coordinator for the Edgar Cayce Foundation (ARE) for 24 years, has organized spiritual retreats and programs since 1980. A student of the world spiritual teachings, he meets weekly with fellow ARE seekers. He gives a musical ministry, playing guitar and singing original sings at churches, shelters, and other venues.
Pablo Sender joined the Theosophical Society in 1996 while he was living in Argentina. He worked for two years at the Society’s international headquarters in southern India, nine years at the American headquarters in Wheaton, Il. Today he works at the Krotona Institute of Theosophy in Ojai, CA. Pablo gives lectures and workshops in the US, India, and Europe, both in Spanish and in English. He holds a PhD in Biological Sciences.
Steven Vedro – Steven’s spiritual and personal transformation work includes more than thirty years of energy healing study and practice. Steven is the author of Digital Dharma: Expanding Consciousness in the Age of the InfoSphere (Quest Books) His articles have appeared in New Age and Integral Systems publications, and on his blog at srvedro.com.
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Home | Opinion | Democratizing technology
Democratizing technology
mindanao goldstar daily Thursday,May 16, 2019 Opinion 5 Views
Ike Sereñes
FROM God comes our intelligence, and from our intelligence comes the technologies that are meant to benefit mankind in general, up until the concept of private property came along. At that point, the concept of intellectual property rights (IPR) was also born, and so the technologies that came out of human intelligence entered the private domain, made available only to those who could afford to buy the products derived from them.
I first entered the realm of science policy when I became a Foreign Service Officer (FSO), at the time when Development Diplomacy was considered an important thrust of the foreign relations process. I started with Science and Technology (S&T) policy, but I eventually got involved with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy, because at that time, ICT policy was still considered to be a subset of S&T policy.
In the practice of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), officers assigned to do substantive work are not assigned administrative work, and vice versa. Due to another practice that only officers could handle sensitive positions, duty prevailed upon me to head the communications and computer services unit of the DFA, an administrative assignment that was on top of my substantive work in S&T policy and ICT policy.
Given the nature of Development Diplomacy, my superiors at the DFA trained me to always look for technologies from abroad that would serve the interests of our country. Every officer of the DFA will tell you that the purpose of the Department is to pursue and protect the national interest, and indeed, it was in the best interest of the nation to acquire the technologies that would solve our national interests.
My experience at the DFA prepared me for my later assignment as the Director General of the National Computer Center (NCC). The work of the NCC is both substantive and administrative in nature, a balanced blend of ICT policy work and ICT service provider work. It was at NCC where I saw the need to democratize technology, so that more people could take advantage of technologies, both the rich and poor people alike.
Many years after my stint at the NCC, I am still challenged by the cause of democratizing technology. This is the challenge that inspired me to write about soliciting and reformatting old computers for distribution to the barangay level, an idea that gave birth to the organization of Our Barangay, Inc. OBI is now a very active advocacy group led by my friend Ms. Elsa Bayani, aiming to connect all the 42,008 barangay units to the internet.
Thanks to another friend Dr. Benji Teodosio, I had the opportunity to meet several leaders from the indigenous tribes and from the rural settlements of former armed rebels. To my pleasant surprise, all of them had a longing to gain access to technologies that could possibly improve the quality of life of their communities, by way of improving their livelihood on one hand, and their productivity on the other hand.
While most of us are fascinated by the new high tech gadgets that come our way through a steady stream of advertising and promotions, these leaders only needed a means of being able to communicate with each other using any affordable means, and to be able to reach out to the rest of the world to sell their products, using these same means.
As agreed with these leaders, I am now going to introduce them to OBI, so that they could get their share of the reformatted computers for their trading offices and cooperative stores. On top of that, I am going to build a system for them that would enable them to submit production data to a central server, using ordinary cell phones as data input devices.
As they told me about their need for farm-to-market roads, I suggested to them the idea of using asphalt that is produced as a by-product of the process of recycling used engine oils. Using their own local community labor, they would now be able to build their own roads without relying on anyone else. As an added advantage, they could also make asphalt shingles for roofing.
We discussed many other technologies that they could use, but I have no more space to write about it. The point is, we were able to prove to each other that there is always a technological solution to each economic problem, and the use of these solutions would make life better for them.
Previous Chapters
Next Duterte’s insult of Tordesillas
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NATO's Pending Energy Security Crisis
February 19, 2019 Topic: Security Region: Europe Tags: NATOEnergyEnergy SecurityRussiaWar Games
The world's largest international security organization needs to start including energy security issues in its war game scenarios.
by Julian Wieczorkiewicz Dominik P. Jankowski
Russia has mastered the pipeline diplomacy. In fact, coercive energy policy became Moscow globally recognized trademark. Yet, the Russian aggression against Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea in November 2018 showcased that Moscow is ready to go beyond political and economic tools to protect what it defines as its critical infrastructure.
Russia’s Energy Security Policy
The West decided to turn a blind eye to cautionary signs that appeared prior to the Kerch Strait incident. A major warning came in the spring of 2018 when Russia closed down parts of the Baltic Sea for a navy live-fire exercise. This affected the air and maritime traffic in and around the Baltic Sea region. Yet, more importantly, the exercise was purposefully calculated to take place around the planned route of the Nord Stream 2. This pipeline, should it be completed, would become a key critical infrastructure asset. Capacity-wise, it would complement Nord Stream 1. In fact, their combined volume would allow Russia to ship a total of 110 billion cubic meters under the Baltic Sea, straight to the heart of the German gas market. More importantly, Nord Stream 2 would allow Moscow to redirect gas supplies destined for other European consumers that are now importing it via the pipelines running through Ukraine. This would have a detrimental impact on the Ukrainian economy. For example transit fees and levies for Russian gas transiting Ukraine’s territory provide Kyiv with roughly $3 billion per year. For the sake of comparison: in 2017 Ukraine’s military expenditures totaled $3.6 billion.
Nord Stream 2 would also allow Russia to retain its grip on the European gas market. Time is key in that game as the global gas market undergoes structural changes. Thanks to the shale gas revolution the United States has already outpaced Russia as the world’s largest gas producer. Gas is an increasingly globally traded commodity thanks to the rapid deployment of LNG terminals. Contrary to conventional wisdom, 2018 proved that American LNG can compete with piped gas from Russia on the European markets. In fact, last year Poland concluded three long-term contracts for the supplies of U.S.-made LNG.
Russia needs to secure its fight against new suppliers and infrastructure projects that could undermine its position. To achieve this goal and push its foreign-policy agenda, Moscow has been relying on three main tools.
First, it needs to tackle propaganda and disinformation. The recent Central European diversification efforts, tough fully aligned with the objectives of the EU’s Energy Union, came under heavy fire in media outlets and social-media channels sponsored by Moscow. They tried to make the case that deliveries of LNG to Europe are not commercially viable. Those claims were dismissed by many people including Piotr Woźniak, the CEO of the Polish Oil and Gas Company. In several public statements he underscored that the adopted pricing formula pegged the prices of U.S. LNG supplies to those at the Henry Hub, making them around 20 to 30 percent cheaper than Russian gas flowing to Poland through the Yamal pipeline transiting Belarus.
Second, exploiting the “Opera Pricing” approach—the closer you sit, the more you pay. In fact, countries enjoying traditionally good political relations with Russia have been handed relatively low bills for their gas imports, whereas those having diverse political preferences have been paying a higher price. Today Ukraine is the case in point. While President Viktor Yanukovych was in power, Gazprom charged Ukraine with 268.5 billion cubic meters. Currently, Ukraine pays 485 USD/billion cubic meters, i.e. an increase of more than 80 percent.
Finally, including energy policy into Russia’s wider hybrid warfare portfolio. In the gas sphere, Russia relies on intimidating countries that are over-dependent on its fuel supplies with gas cuts being its chief instrument. Its activities in the power sector are marked by cyberattacks. Since 2014, Russia has converted Ukraine into a test-bed for its offensive cyber activities. Critical energy infrastructures became prime targets. Gaining control of electricity systems and nuclear power plants allowed hackers to stop electricity supplies in Ukraine. The methods tested in Ukraine are later replicated against Allied facilities. In early 2018, the United States accused Russia of engineering a series of cyberattacks on power plants and distribution grids on Allied territory in Europe and the United States.
What Can the International Community Do?
Russia’s coercive energy policy as well as readiness to use military force to protect energy critical infrastructure pose a serious risk for NATO, its allies and its partners. NATO is not—and will not be—an energy organization. Yet, energy developments can have significant political and security implications. Therefore, three elements should be taken into consideration by NATO and the closest partners of the Alliance.
First, give more prominence to energy security in political consultations at NATO. Those discussions should serve to raise awareness about Russia’s usage of energy as a tool of its foreign and security policies on its eastern and southern flank. The discussions should also help to debunk Russian myths and propaganda on energy security. A North Atlantic Council visit to one of the LNG terminals in the Baltic Sea region could be helpful in achieving both aims. Moreover, NATO should regularly consult Ukraine on matters related to energy security. This topic should be included in the works of the NATO-Ukraine Platform on Countering Hybrid Warfare.
Second, the international community should continue to enhance energy resilience. This is primarily the responsibility of national authorities. Yet, the protection of energy critical infrastructure is key for any NATO operations. Therefore, the current NATO strands of work on cyber, countering hybrid threats and building civil preparedness should include to a larger extent energy related elements. In the same spirit, NATO exercises should more frequently include energy security issues in their scenarios. This could be done in close cooperation with the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence based in Lithuania.
Third, the countries blocked under the Three Seas Initiative should work jointly with Ukraine and study the possibility of creating a regional gas hub fueled by gas produced locally supplemented with piped supplies from Norway and LNG deliveries from the United States. In fact, the EU internal gas market is to be based on a net of interconnected wholesale markets. Transitioning to a model of competitive, regional markets will require the development of necessary infrastructure such as grids and interconnectors. In that context, storage sites will be needed to ensure demand-response management in order to reduce the volatility of prices and increase supply security. Ukraine comes with a ready fix. The massive capacity of its storage sites emerges as a vital asset.
Julian Wieczorkiewicz is an expert in energy security. He currently works at the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO. Prior to joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he worked at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a leading Brussels-based think-thank, where he covered energy-related issues.
Dominik P. Jankowski is a political adviser and head of the political section at the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO.
The authors’ views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the institution they represent.
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PRE-33 GOLD
Gold USD 1408.94 per Ounce
Silver USD 15.63 per Ounce
Platinum USD 845.61 per Ounce
Learn About the Gold Standard Pt. 1: Why Is Gold Used as Currency?
The global financial market may not be operating under the gold standard anymore, but that doesn’t mean that gold isn’t still as relevant and valuable as ever. As Investopedia puts its, many people fail to realize that “gold, under the current free market system, is a currency.” After all, it is highly liquid and can quite easily be exchanged for money in essentially any currency. But why is gold used as a currency? The story begins with gold’s special properties as recognized by early civilizations.
The Science of It
At first glance, gold doesn’t seem like the only choice to become the standard for money. Copper might have worked, or cobalt, nickel, zinc. Why gold? Let’s hear from the chairman of the chemical engineering department at Columbia University Sanat Kumar: “An element must meet four qualities to stand alone as a premium currency.”
It can’t be a gas.
It can’t be corrosive or reactive.
It can’t be radioactive.
It has to be rare enough to be valuable, but not so rare that no one can ever find it.
That leaves five elements to work with: rhodium, palladium, platinum, silver, and gold. Silver has been used for currency (and also makes a good investment), but it tarnishes easily, which doesn’t make it ideal. Rhodium and palladium were not discovered until later (the 1800s), so technically they weren’t even options. Platinum could work, if not for the fact that it has a super high melting point, so early civilizations wouldn’t have been able to shape it into consistent units.
Why is gold used as currency? There’s your answer: it was the only element that early civilizations could utilize that was both safe and malleable, yet rare enough to have value.
Ready to Invest?
Get Gold Bars, Gold Eagles, and More!
Gold Throughout the Ages
The history of gold is a long and colorful one. Ancient civilizations primarily used gold at sites of worship, for sacred religious and spiritual purposes. It wasn’t until approximately 700 B.C. that gold was first produced into coins, which allowed it to function more easily as money. Prior to the introduction of coins, gold had to be weighed and its purity verified.
Coins were not without their problems, though. Those looking to cut corners and earn a little extra for nothing would often clip coins that weren’t quite perfect. Eventually, they would accrue enough little bits of gold that it could all be melted down into pure bullion. In England, the Great Recoinage of 1696 put a stop to this by implementing a technology that mechanized the coin production process.
In the 15th century, Spain introduced the Americas to Western Europe, and the world was never the same. Here was this massive expanse of land, with great, hidden stores of gold on seemingly uninhabited land – this, of course, was not true, but that’s how the explorers and settlers felt about it. Spain increased Europe’s gold supply by nearly five times the previous amount, simply thanks to the discovery of America.
The next century would bring about the existence of paper money. Gold coins and bullion continued to prevail within Europe’s monetary system for two more centuries. When paper money hit the scene in the 18th century is when things really started to heat up. The battle between gold and paper money ultimately brought about the gold standard!
In Part Two of this series, we’ll delve more deeply into the gold standard: what it was, how it impacted the global economy, and more. So why is gold used as a currency? To sum up, its elemental stability and scarcity combined with its visually gorgeous hue have caused it to mesmerize us like few other things in the history of humanity. You can learn more about how gold has captivated mankind in our Resource Center. If you find that gold has started to enthrall you, browse our variety of gold options to boost your portfolio today!
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BCA AAA Rated
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Gregg Popovich disgusted but not surprised by Rajon Rondo slur
By Kurt HelinDec 14, 2015, 8:04 PM EDT
It’s hard to find anyone who is surprised at the homophobic slur thrown by Rajon Rondo at referee Bill Kennedy. That word gets thrown around entirely too casually in NBA locker rooms (and around professional sports all together).
Gregg Popovich summed it up beautifully, asked about the incident by Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post.
“Why would I be surprised? You see it all the time. It’s unfortunate, it’s disgusting, because Billy is a great guy, and has been a class act on and off the court. As far as anybody’s sexual orientation, it’s nobody’s business. It just shows ignorance to act in a derogatory way toward anybody in the LGBT community. It doesn’t make sense. But surprised, of course not. He showed a lot of courage.”
Rondo issued a statement on Twitter about the incident saying, “I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone.” Of course, if you call anyone a “M***** F******* F*****” you absolutely did intend to offend and disrespect them, that’s the point of choosing those words. Heat of the moment or not.
Popovich speaks for a lot of us on this one.
Tags: Rajon Rondo
Report: Chris Paul trade to Miami hung up on picks moving with him
Chris Paul is making a stopover in Oklahoma City. The Rockets sent him there for Paul George, but the competitive 34-year-old point guard doesn’t want to be part of a long rebuilding project. He wants to be traded again before the season starts.
His preference? Miami, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. There, CP3 would team up with Jimmy Butler. Miami is open to the idea, but what has hung the entire thing up is the discussion of picks, Windhorst said on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Monday night (hat tip NESN).
“When you talk about him potentially going to the Miami Heat, which is his preference, one thing I’ve been told in the talks; the fact that the Thunder hold the two of the Heat’s first-round picks in the future — unprotected 2021, protected 2023 — makes this a difficult conversation because the Heat want those picks back,” Windhorst said. “The Thunder have expressed an interest in giving one of those picks back but they would want another pick farther off into the future. So I do think that these teams have a lot to talk about.”
Oklahoma City is rebuilding and the mountain of picks they have compiled through trading George and Westbrook — 16 potential first rounders through 2026, including their own, enough to make Danny Ainge think they have too many picks — is at the heart of that plan. While the Thunder can afford to give one or two up, they don’t want to.
Miami is saying that to take on Paul’s remaining three-years, $124 million, they want a sweetener. Which is what every team would ask for.
Which brings us to another problem for the Thunder: There is not much of a market for Paul. Miami is the only name really mentioned in negotiations. There is speculation about other potential landing spots, and no doubt some feeler calls have come into Sam Presti in OKC, but the Heat seem to be the only team going down the road of serious talks.
There are other challenges to getting this trade done. For example, the Thunder would love to shed salary (they are still $3.7 million into the tax) but the Heat are hard-capped after the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade and cannot absorb any more salary.
The Heat may be the place Paul ultimately lands but finding a deal that works could take some time to bring together.
Tags: Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Russell Westbrook
Report: After two-year, $21 million deal falls apart, Knicks signing Reggie Bullock for less than room exception July 16, 2019 11:22 am EDT Giannis Antetokounmpo has rough go of hitting baseball off tee with New York Yankees (video) July 16, 2019 10:11 am EDT NBA 2K20 ratings released, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard earn 97s to lead way July 16, 2019 9:00 am EDT Report: Chris Paul trade to Miami hung up on picks moving with him July 16, 2019 8:13 am EDT Brandon Clarke named Summer League MVP, leads Grizzlies to Vegas title July 16, 2019 12:39 am EDT Mavericks owner Mark Cuban fined $50,000; Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta $25,000 July 15, 2019 9:45 pm EDT Report: Clippers, Rockets both still interested in Andre Iguodala, but both at stalemate July 15, 2019 8:30 pm EDT Warriors GM on D’Angelo Russell: “We didn’t sign him with the intention of just trading him” July 15, 2019 7:30 pm EDT Report: Raptors don’t intend to trade Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol or Serge Ibaka July 15, 2019 6:25 pm EDT Report: As expected, Cavaliers waive J.R. Smith; “unlikely” he joins Lakers July 15, 2019 5:47 pm EDT Lakers GM Rob Pelinka: ‘For us, anything short of a championship is not success’ July 15, 2019 4:22 pm EDT NBA Power Rankings after wildest summer in league history July 15, 2019 3:15 pm EDT Report: 76ers signing Ben Simmons to five-year, $170M max contract extension July 15, 2019 2:13 pm EDT Report: Chris Paul unpopular as union president, because he has prioritized stars July 15, 2019 1:20 pm EDT Anthony Davis: I’ll address long-term future with Lakers next year, not now July 15, 2019 11:42 am EDT Report: Cavaliers waiving J.R. Smith July 15, 2019 10:22 am EDT Cavaliers reportedly still not interested in trading Kevin Love July 15, 2019 9:00 am EDT Brandon Clarke’s slam in OT sends Grizzlies to Summer League title game vs. Timberwolves July 15, 2019 7:45 am EDT Anthony Davis reportedly to pull out of USA Basketball, World Cup this summer July 15, 2019 2:15 am EDT Kings reportedly sign Tyler Lydon to two-year contract July 14, 2019 11:00 pm EDT Report: Thunder “aren’t averse to keeping” Chris Paul if he’s open to the idea July 14, 2019 9:07 pm EDT Caron Butler says Markelle Fultz is healthy July 14, 2019 6:00 pm EDT Report: Nets signing David Nwaba to two-year contract July 14, 2019 4:00 pm EDT MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo: “I think I am at 60 percent of my potential” July 14, 2019 2:00 pm EDT Anthony Davis ‘not even going to sugarcoat it’ anymore: I like playing power forward, not center July 14, 2019 12:00 pm EDT Report: Marcus Morris, agent Rich Paul part ways July 14, 2019 10:00 am EDT Carsen Edwards impresses at Summer League, earns guaranteed contract with Celtics July 14, 2019 8:00 am EDT Rumor: Pistons could target Pau Gasol as backup center July 13, 2019 11:00 pm EDT Rob Pelinka says he consulted LeBron James, Anthony Davis when filling out Laker roster July 13, 2019 9:00 pm EDT DeMarcus Cousins used to trash talk Warriors’ Alen Smailagic. Relentlessly. July 13, 2019 7:00 pm EDT Anthony Davis says he learned he was traded on Instagram July 13, 2019 5:00 pm EDT Stephen Curry had fun at American Century Championships, until he tried to dunk (VIDEO) July 13, 2019 3:00 pm EDT Anthony Davis will wear No. 3 next season for Lakers July 13, 2019 12:59 pm EDT Former No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett reportedly gets invite to Rockets training camp July 13, 2019 11:00 am EDT NBA ref Jason Phillips to oversee league’s replay center July 13, 2019 10:00 am EDT Thunder make historic choice to trade star tandem, start over July 13, 2019 8:00 am EDT 76ers unveil Horford & Co. as upgrades in championship chase July 12, 2019 11:00 pm EDT Rumor: Miami not aggressive in seeking trade for Chris Paul July 12, 2019 8:59 pm EDT LeBron James will wear No. 23 one more season July 12, 2019 8:20 pm EDT Russell Westbrook with emotional thank you, goodbye to Oklahoma City July 12, 2019 6:58 pm EDT
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Select ratingGive Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr 1/5Give Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr 2/5Give Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr 3/5Give Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr 4/5Give Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr 5/5
Johnson, Kate Ancrum Burr
By Mollie C. Davis, 1988
14 Feb. 1881–22 Aug. 1968
Kate Ancrum Burr Johnson, public welfare administrator and civic leader, was born in Morganton. Her father was Frederick Hill Burr, whose American ancestry traced back to 1630 in Massachusetts and whose North Carolina ancestry went back to the early nineteenth century and to Wilmington. Her paternal grandfather, Colonel James Green Burr, served on the staff of Governor Zebulon B. Vance. Her mother was Lillian Walton whose Walton ancestors settled in Virginia before moving to Burke County, N.C., where descendants built Creekside and Brookwood, two beautiful antebellum homes.
Kate Ancrum Burr received preparatory education in Morganton and at Queens College, Charlotte. On 14 Apr. 1903 she married Clarence A. Johnson (d. 9 Sept. 1922), and they became the parents of two sons, Clarence A. and Frederick Burr. Although devoting most of her time to her family, she undertook civic activities in Raleigh, where the couple had settled following their marriage. By 1915 her public service had gained her the vice-presidency of the North Carolina Conference for Social Service (1915–16), but that proved to be only the early phase of a lifelong commitment to human rights and public welfare.
Although most of her career from 1915 fell in the area of public welfare, she early demonstrated her concern for women's rights and connected this dedication with her interest in penal reform, child welfare, and social justice. From involvement in the Episcopal church and its auxiliary activities she moved into the women's club movement, serving in various official capacities including president of the Raleigh Woman's Club, of which she was a charter member, and promoting woman suffrage and child welfare in the state. As president of the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs (1917–19), Mrs. Johnson worked effectively to interest women in social reform. She won respect for her capable leadership and was further recognized by her outstanding service (1917–18) to the state Liberty Bond commission.
In 1919, after a brief association with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, Kate Burr Johnson joined the staff of the Board of Charities and Public Welfare. Established by the state constitution of 1868, the board supervised and inspected all charitable and penal institutions. In 1917 the board's activities were expanded, a system of county superintendents was added, and the phrase "and Public Welfare" was appended to its title. Under this newly expanded board Mrs. Johnson served as director of child welfare from 1919 to 1921. During this time she received additional training through summer courses at the New York School of Social Work and The University of North Carolina. When the commissioner resigned in 1921, the board, various women's clubs, and even the governor endorsed her appointment as replacement. In July of that year she became the first woman in the nation to serve as a state commissioner of public welfare and the first North Carolina woman to head a major state department.
Commissioner Johnson served the state admirably from 1921 to 1930. Her tenure was marked by expansion of the board's work and staff, its reorganization into specialized bureaus, establishment of new institutions and more effective supervision of existing institutions, increased public and financial support of the board's activities, and changes in existing laws. Although a Democrat, the commissioner was first a devoted humanitarian and public servant; and, despite her limited training, she was in the forefront of professionalism in a neglected but rapidly emerging field in North Carolina. Under her supervision, studies were made of the problems and deficiencies in the penal system. Effective public relations work aided in gaining support for the board's programs, to which various women's organizations gave valuable assistance.
Kate Burr Johnson advocated separating inmates in all North Carolina institutions for criminals, delinquents, mental patients, and public wards into treatable groups by age, sex, and category. She promoted better understanding of the penal system, children's and women's conditions in industry, mental health and hygiene, and public welfare programs. Among the achievements either promoted by the board or introduced in North Carolina during her administration were a Mother's Aid program, institutions for juvenile offenders, a farm colony for women offenders, appropriations—though meager—for the institution for delinquent black girls established by the North Carolina Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, minor amendments to the child labor law, growth and development of public welfare programs, and improvements in conditions in prisons and on work gangs.
The Board of Charities and Public Welfare under Kate Burr Johnson persistently made proposals and budget requests to every session of the General Assembly. Frequently aiding her efforts was the Legislative Council of North Carolina Women, a clearinghouse for the legislative activities of seven major women's organizations in the state. A crusader, Mrs. Johnson utilized the Legislative Council, with which she had been affiliated almost from the moment of its inception in 1921, and other kindred groups to marshal pressure on governors and legislators. Although the commissioner herself remained aloof from direct political involvement, the Legislative Council and other organizations with which she was associated were politically active in promoting social justice.
In 1930 she accepted the post of superintendent of the New Jersey State Home for Girls in Trenton. There she continued her work in experimenting with new ideas and approaches. Among her achievements was the creation of a program of work classification for female offenders in New Jersey. She worked with authorities to develop local programs and agencies to deal with a variety of social problems, especially those related to child health and protection. In 1948, at age sixty-seven, she retired and returned to her home in Raleigh, where her career had begun decades before.
Over the years Kate Burr Johnson won national attention. She was either a member of or appointed to the American Association of Social Workers, National Probation Association, National Conference of Juvenile Agencies, New Jersey Conference of Social Work, American Prison Association, Executive Committee of the Child Welfare League of America, Business and Professional Women's Club, and American Academy of Social Sciences. From 1948 to 1953 she served on the North Carolina Prison Advisory Commission. In 1951 she was awarded the doctor of humane letters by the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina; and in 1954, the North Carolina Distinguished Service Award for Women by the Epsilon Beta chapter of Chi Omega fraternity.
Mrs. Johnson died at the Mayview Convalescent Home in Raleigh and was interred at the city's Oakwood Cemetery.
Kate Ancrum Burr Johnson Papers (Manuscript Collection, East Carolina University Library, Greenville)
Raleigh News and Observer , 23 Aug. 1968; Gary Trawick and Paul Wyche, 100 Years, 100 Men, 1871–1971 (1971)
Charles L. Van Noppen Papers (Manuscript Collection, Duke University Library, Durham [portrait])
Who's Who in America , vols. 13–25 (1924–49)
Kate Ancrum Burr Johnson Papers (Manuscript Collection, East Carolina University Library, Greenville): http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0091/
Davis, Mollie C.
1 January 1988 | Davis, Mollie C.
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Stan Lee Launches Family Friendly Brand Named Kids Universe
Written by: NWC Staff on February 11, 2013
Comic legend Stan Lee recently announced an all-new entertainment imprint aimed at young folks. Called Stan Lee’s Kids Universe, the brand will have family-friendly books, games, and characters on many different platforms for kids ages 1-10.
“There really is no group of books for kids who are very young and have the excitement, the color, the originality that kids are really looking for and will hold and grab them,” said Lee, a Marvel Comics editor and the co-creator of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men and the Avengers, just to name a few.
Projects based in Lee’s universe will start being available today (Monday), with Dani Jones’ Monsters vs. Kittens. The kids’ book will have cute kittens and monsters, as the title suggests, and will be available as an e-book, a printed book in hard and soft cover editions, and will have a game app soon to follow. There’s also a “Story Before Bed” version, where you can listen to Lee read the story or record it yourself for your youngsters to listen to, right on the web, for $3.99 via Paypal.
There’s even more gaming goodness, with a game called Goobeez: Pirate Adventures, which will go love today for iPhone and iPad. Kids get to swipe their finger back and forth on the screen to get cute little characters to jump off a pirate ship onto land.
“The whole games thing was a bad idea to do because we’ve got Stan now not working in his office and playing all day long,” said 1821 Comics’ Terry Dougas, who’s partnering with Lee’s POW! Entertainment for the new brand.
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Carbon Trust charts a route for reducing carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings
Non-domestic buildings emit about the same amount of carbon today as they did in 1990, hence the importance of a new report from the Carbon Trust on reducing emissions from such buildings.
If the 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 (compared with 1990) required by the Government is to be met, all sectors of the UK economy must make their contribution. And that includes non-domestic buildings such as offices, shops, hotels, public-sector buildings and industrial buildings.
At present, such buildings account for 18% of the UK’s total carbon emissions — a figure that has been pretty well static since 1990 as a reduction in emissions at the rate of 0.5% a year has been offset by an increase in floor area of 3.7% a year. The overall result is that CO2 emissions peaked at about 88 Mt a year in 1991 and were about 80 Mt a year in 2006.
The process of reducing CO2 emissions from non-dom buildings, as they have been dubbed by staff at the Carbon Trust involved in researching and producing a new landmark report ‘Building the future today’* effectively starts now for the 1.8 million non-domestic buildings in the UK. And that report has found that it is possible to deliver carbon savings economically. If the right strategy is followed, the carbon footprint of non-domestic buildings can be reduced by 35% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels, and a net benefit of £4.5 billion delivered to the UK economy through energy savings.
That rate of reduction is well above the overall UK target of 21 to 31% — and much more could be economically achieved. The Carbon Trust’s analysis suggest a carbon reduction of 70 to 75% at no net cost to the UK.
Stuart Farmer is head of buildings strategy at the Carbon Trust and lead author of the report. He says, ‘Commercial and public buildings offer the UK a big bang for its carbon-reduction buck. But it won’t happen just on its own. Energy efficiency needs to be the first and second priority. For policy makers and business, rolling out Display Energy Certificates to all non-domestic buildings must be the foundation stone to deliver not only better buildings but better use of buildings too.’
Relying on the existing Building Regulations (2006) is not enough. While new buildings will have substantially lower carbon emissions than existing buildings, the rate of demolition is so slow that is reliance were placed on the 2006 Building Regulations alone, emissions would increase by 30% by 2050. The energy efficiency of existing buildings must be improved — and improved enormously.
Very helpful starting points in monitoring the energy performance of buildings are Energy Performance Certificates and Display Energy Certificates. Both certificates are graded A to G.
Not only is G the lowest grade, by it is also the biggest single group of Display Energy Certificates, comprising 29% of the building stock in 2008. 41% come in at F or lower, 63% at E or lower, and 87% at D or lower. Associated with these low DECs are average CO2 emissions of 110 kg/m2.
With the target for average CO2 emissions in 2050 being 15 kg/m2, a huge improvement in the energy performance of buildings is needed as shown in Fig. 1. In a nutshell, the average DEC of a building needs to improve by four ratings to achieve Government targets for reducing carbon emissions. That is equivalent to the current collective E rating improving to an average A rating.
Until that level of improvement is achieved, the report calls for all buildings to achieve at least an F-rated Energy Performance Certificate by 2020, where this is cost-effective.
At present, EPCs and DECs do not apply to all non-domestic buildings, and the Carbon Trust report calls for them to be rolled out across all non-domestic buildings. Not only will this result in better buildings, but also in buildings that are used better.
The objective of the Carbon Trust’s vision is to achieve 80% carbon reductions by 2050 at the lowest cumulative cost to the UK economy. The success scenario, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is based on a range of carbon-reduction measures. They include reducing demand, low-carbon energy supply for buildings (all based on renewable energy on, near or off site) and wider decarbonisation of the grid supply.
The sooner substantial progress is made, the lower the ultimate financial burden. In other words, reducing more carbon sooner will lead to a reduction in the cumulative cost of the 80% target of 2050 — even as low as no net cost.
Fig. 1: Reducing carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings by 80% by 2050 requires Display Energy Certificates to improve by four ratings.
Decarbonisation of the grid is seen as the key to reducing carbon emissions from buildings — especially existing buildings.
The long-term target of reducing carbon emissions by 80% requires all available technologies to be employed, but achieving the success scenario of the lowest cumulative cost requires close attention to the order in which they are applied.
The first stage is the implementation of simple, low-cost, cost-effective measures. They include controls for lighting and heating in 1.8 million non-domestic buildings as soon as possible. At present, fewer than 40% of buildings enjoy effective control of lighting and heating, and the call is for that figure to reach 90% or more. The urgent requirement is not just to install controls but also use them better.
Looking beyond 2020, technologies such as natural ventilation, biomass and triple glazing can increasingly be implemented. An important objective is to achieve the holistic operation of buildings — with services such as lighting, heating and ventilation working together.
Ensuring success after 2020 will require innovation to deliver more lower-cost options for carbon reduction and a supply chain that is capable of delivering genuinely low-carbon buildings.
While recognising that the technologies exist to achieve targets for reducing carbon emissions, the Carbon Trust report is primarily focused on policy. The perspectives it contains are based on in-depth interviews with some 70 players across the entire value chain of non-domestic buildings. The ‘success scenario’ analysis was carried out with Arup and based on a detailed model which predicts carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings under a range of different scenarios.
In helping to deliver long-term reductions in carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings, the report recognises the various barriers that combine within a complex industry to create what it calls a circle of inertia that makes it difficult to define the business case. The issues, which could be presented in any order, are as follows.
Funders, for example, could provide finance, but do not perceive a demand from occupiers.
Owners/developers that would prefer buildings which are more energy efficient can find that the funder will not provide finance and tenants do not ask for such buildings.
And while tenants might choose an energy-efficient building, they can find that there aren’t any — and that energy is, in any case, not a material cost of occupancy.
It is against that background that the report argues that a transformation is required — both in buildings and in the industry that delivers them.
The report concludes that Government can take a leadership role in delivering this transformation and that there is clear demand from within the industry for Government to clearly set the long-term direction for the industry. Because there are so many barriers to success, a clear case is perceived for Government intervention.
It is quite clear that non-domestic buildings have much to offer in helping to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions. However, without a renewed focus from Government and business, there is a high risk that it will be left behind other sectors in the UK’s collective journey to cut emissions by 80% by 2050.
On the plus side, if the non-domestic sector meets the challenge set out in this report, the end result will be better, more comfortable and more productive buildings that can play their role in the low-carbon economy of the future — in addition to a significant financial savings for business of £4.5 billion over the next decade alone.
Active approach
Think Tank recommends decarbonising gas use
A quick fix suggestion for the Government
ThermOzone achieves Carbon Trust accreditation
Carbon Trust accreditation for Daikin UK
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Wix Site
Modern Hominin
A blog of cultural explorations and curiosities
#ThesisThursday: “Iranian Cinema and the Fight Against Censorship”
According to Azadeh Farahmand (2002:87), “Socio-economic factors and institutional politics contribute to the elevations of films, filmmakers and national cinemas to the level of high art”. This is truly the case for contemporary Iranian cinema. Since the Revolution of 1979, Iranian filmmakers have learned to overcome the limitations created by the current economic issues and political censorship in the country. Filmmakers’ adaptations to these restraints substantially affect the cinematic style of their production and are reminiscent of Italian Neorealism and French New Wave movements. Aspects found in Iranian cinema, including handheld camera movements, unprofessional actors, shooting on location, jump cuts, and poetic storytelling, significantly allude to styles of the previously mentioned cinematic eras. Bahman Ghobadi’s film, No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009), and Jafar Panahi’s film, The Circle (2000), are two contemporary Iranian films that perfectly exemplify how Iran’s economic issues and administrative censorship have driven its filmmakers to create cinema of high art.
The current state of Iran’s deteriorating economy (inflation being the main cause) will only permit low budgets for cinematic productions (Sadr, 2006). While commenting on the economy’s affect on cinema, Farahmand (2002,87) stated, “The international presence of Iranian cinema has increased…This phenomenon is related to the ongoing and escalating economic crisis that has led to the deterioration of local filmmaking in Iran”. This is driving filmmakers to improvise through the use of unprofessional actors, location shooting, and handheld camera movements which create a unique documentarian narrative style. Both No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle illustrate each of these factors within their cinematic formation. Again, this is a similar approach found in Italian Neorealism cinema.
No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
The mass majority of actors within each of these films portray a semi-fictionalized part of themselves. Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Koshanejad, Babak Mirzakhani, and even Bahman Ghobadi play self-titled characters within No One Knows About Persian Cats (IMDb, 2009). Ghobadi, expressing his methods while producing his film, says, “Usually for most of my films, this is why you see the thread of documentary-making in my work. Everything I bring into the film comes from the heart of reality. My actors don’t seem like they’re acting” (Adams, 2011). Furthering the film’s close boundary between fiction and reality, one of the opening title cards states, “Based on real events, locations, and people” (No One Knows About Persian Cats, 2009). Due to the restrictions set by the lack of proper budgeting, Panahi also uses nonprofessional actors in The Circle. For example, most of the actresses portray self-titled characters, such as Nargess Mamizadeh, Mojgan Faramarzi, Elham Saboktakin, and Maedeh Tahmasebi (IMDb, 2000). The use of nonprofessional actors is not the only way the deteriorating economy of Iran has highly influenced the way in which filmmakers approach a production. It is also precedent in the utilization of shooting on location and handheld camera movements.
The budget of a film controls several aspects while producing cinema, the most evident being the choice in film location. Without a proper budget, an Iranian film production does not have the luxury to shoot in far away places and is limited to the space that is nearby and available (Tapper, 2002). The setting in which the narratives of No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle occur is located in the urban part of Iran, particularly the backstreets. This is also due to political censorship, which will be discussed later. In No One Knows About Persian Cats, Ashkan, Negar, and Nader are constantly traveling among the backstreets or down into dark underground rooms and music studios. This is a significant motif within the film for the characters must constantly hide from the authorities in the shadows. These are all genuine locations with no alterations made for the film. The same goes for the filming locations displayed in The Circle. The setting mainly focuses on the urban streets in which the women must cautiously navigate in order to avoid trouble from political authority.
These locations, although caused by the unavailability of a proper film budget, provide the films of Ghobadi and Panahi with an authentic sense of reality. The deteriorating economy, however, is an additional cause for another cinematic aspect of internationally praised Iranian cinema. Handheld camera movements, a supplement factor of location shooting, furthers the strong representation of realism in both No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle. This cinematic technique is required because the low budget does not allow for filmmakers to invest in expensive crane or dolly shots. On the contrary, this does not affect the artistry of the production. Ghobadi and Panahi each use handheld camera movements in these films in order to capture the raw reality for their narratives. This filming method provided the directors with full mobility while shooting on location and the ability to avoid legality confrontations. Iran’s economic crisis furthermore drove both directors to use darkened ‘underground’ and backstreet location shooting with handheld camera movements. This adaptation resulted in the construct of a mysterious and raw piece of high art cinema. The alleyways and darkened setting of No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle have the audience experience the characters’ fear of governmental enforcement. However, filmmakers in Iran also produce this ‘underground cinema’ in order to avoid the censoring restrictions implemented by the Iranian government.
As leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini began to administer censoring laws, particularly pertaining to women, soon after the victory of the Revolution in 1979. The government ruled that it is illegal for women to wear make-up, talk or walk loudly in public, cut their hair short, wear high heels, walk without a relative male escort, and to be in public without a wearing a burka, hijab, or chador (Sadr, 2006). “Today, Iranian films have risen to the level of international acceptance and adopted a different approach, with an attitude to women that is far more progressive than attitudes before the Revolution” (Tapper, 2002:225).
The Circle (2000)
The governmental restrictions on female public appearance and actions are evident in both Ghobadi and Panahi’s films, but The Circle focuses more heavily on this issue. Panahi effectively paints a realistic portrait of how it is to be a woman in Iran today, challenging the government’s belief of what a woman’s place should be in society (Tapper, 2002). Iran’s administrative censorship of women has led Panahi to create a poetic and moving piece of cinema that unfolds the unknown hardships of Iranian women everyday. These hardships are shown through each character in The Circle and include giving birth to a female child, wrongful imprisonment, walking without a male relative escort, prostitution, single motherhood, and the authoritative requirement to wear a chador. Ghobadi also addresses some feminine issues within Iran, but not a directly as Panahi. Within No One Knows About Persian Cats, the subject of female censorship is shown more through the censorship of Western-styled music. For example, Nader informs Ashkan that it will be difficult to get visas and passports for their dream tour in Western Europe because Negar is the only female band member. While scouting for an additional female singer needed to get the permits, they come across a few potential women; But, they are banned from singing due to previous conflicts with the government. The larger issue presented in No One Knows About Persian Cats is the Iranian censorship of the arts.
Powerful media, such as television, film, radio, theater, and music that are believed to ‘threaten’ the morals and principles held by the Islamic Republic of Iran, are also brought by strict state control (Tapper, 2002). Soon after Ayatollah came to power, “the arts—including music, theater, cinema—and press and publishing are made subject to the new Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (MCIG)” (Tapper, 2002:6). Ayatollah Khomeini’s goal of the post-Revolutionary cinema was to “establish an anti-Western attitude” (Sadr, 2006:183). Hamid Reza Sadr (2006,169), reflecting on cinematic censorship wrote, “Over 125 cinemas were burnt to the ground during the upheavals of the Revolution…Ayatollah Khomeini famously remarked that the Revolution was not opposed to cinema per se, only obscenity”.
No One Knows About Persian Cats persistently addresses artistic media censorship within its narrative. Ashkan and Negar, with the help of Nader, meet several musicians who have previously been arrested for performing and must hide in effort to avoid another incident with the Iranian police. Expressing her frustration with music censorship, Negar exclaims, “You can’t make music here, or say what you want” (No One Knows Persian Cats, 2009). Even Nader, who prides himself of his ‘great’ American accent, runs into trouble with political authority for being caught with his collection of smuggled Western world films. Both Ghobadi and Panahi, as film directors, have experienced the brutality of governmental censorship personally. Ghobadi and his cast were arrested twice while filming No One Knows About Persian Cats, but were released after persuading the authorities (IMBd, 2009). Regarding Panahi, the Islamic Republic of Iran banned his film, The Circle, and he himself was later arrested in 2010 due to his ‘controversial’ filmmaking (IMDb, 2000). The government believes artistic cinema, not funded by the government, is more likely to present obscene subjects that are prohibited by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many film proposals to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (MCIG) and Farabi Cinema Foundation (FCF) are rejected or revised to a point that the original concept is unrecognizable. The MCIG and the FCF do this to ensure no film is released that questions political beliefs and enforcement (Sadr, 2006). Ghobadi expresses his own frustration with the government’s censorship when he states,
“In order to be able to make the film, you have to lie. You have to change your subject…but if you want to get a permit you have to show that the person is praying, that they person has a head cover, that the person is being hung because of robbery or because of drugs, not because of a human-rights situation” (Adams, 2011).
Farahmand (2002:91) addresses this issue further by saying, “…filmmakers have been led to refrain from making confrontational and socially critical films for fear of being held accountable for making anti-system or anti-establishment statements in their work.” The overpowering influence of Iranian political censorship not only affects the poetic topics, but also the cinematic methods that create the artistic style of film productions.
The overbearing threat of censorship from Iranian authorities has driven both Ghobadi and Panahi to develop their unique approach to a film’s narrative construction. While filming, both directors feared local enforcement would shut down their cinematic production, so they had to film on location and quickly. The minimal film crew necessary for both No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle had to be prepared to leave at any moment to avoid conflict with the police. Ghobadi’s method is described as, “shooting quickly and clandestinely with a lightweight digital camera, always ready to pack up and flee the unwanted attention of the authorities” (Scott, 2010). These filming conditions, due to Iran’s restrictive censorship, forms the fragmentary narrative construction seen in each film. This fragmented storyline is caused by jump cuts (which are a result of interruptions during the film shoots) allude directly to the style of French New Wave cinema. The jump cuts of No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle generates a fusion of reality and a poetic narrative. The construction of each film is strung together by fragments of stories, but are bonded together through the overall poetic themes. For example, No One Knows About Persians Cats jumps from one group of musicians to the next as Ashkan and Negar search for additional band members, but none of these encounters have a conclusion and are left openhanded.
The same narrative construction occurs in The Circle. The audience follows one woman hiding from authoritative figures to another without a resolution to the previous female characters. The storyline of these characters “do not just slot neatly inside each other—they open onto each other, overlapping” (Chaudhuri, 2003:54). The title of The Circle addresses this cinematic effect directly. Panahi wishes his audience to know that the tragic stories of each Iranian female character continue in a never-ending circular motion. The film begins with the misfortune of Solmaz Gholami giving birth to a girl, and it ends with an officer asking the prostitute, Mojgan, if she is the woman called Solmaz who is warranted for arrest. The film comes to a full close. The same circular narrative is evident in No One Knows About Persian Cats. Ghobadi’s film opens with obscure shots of an unknown man being rushed into the emergency room. By the film’s conclusion, the audience learns that this man is Ashkan after his treacherous fall while trying to avoid being arrested by officers at a party. In all, the Iranian government’s censorship contributes to both films’ awing political subject and its artistic, yet fragmentary, narrative construction.
The censorship put forth by the Iranian government, as well as the country’s dwindling economy, has driven local filmmakers into a new age of high art cinema that has become a spectacle for international audiences. Bahman Ghobadi and Jafar Panahi offer a unique combination of documentarian approach and poetic storytelling while bringing a fresh new style that marries the cinematic staples of Italian Neorealism and French New Wave. No One Knows About Persian Cats and The Circle should be admired worldwide as they present challenges, such as low budgets and restrictive censorship, most filmmakers would not dare face.
What ways do you think censorship affects Western cinema?
Adams, Sam (2011) A.V. Club. Available at: http://www.avclub.com/article/ino-one-knows-about-persian-catsi-filmmakers-bahma-53341 (Accessed: 12/04/15).
Chaudhuri, Shohini and Howard Finn (2003) The Open Image: poetic realism and the New Iranian Cinema. Screen. 44 (1) pp. 38-57.
Farahmand, Azadeh (2002) Perspectives on Recent (International Acclaimed for) Iranian Cinema. In Richard Tapper (ed.), The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representations and Identity, London: IB Tauris. pp. 86-100.
IMDb (2000) The Circle (2000). Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255094/ (Accessed: 12/04/15).
IMDb (2009) No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009). Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1426378/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (Accessed: 12/04/15).
Sadr, Hamid Reza (2006) Iranian Cinema: A Political History. London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers.
Scott, A. O. (2010) The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/movies/16noone.html?_r=0 (Accessed: 12/04/15).
Tapper, Richard (ed.) (2002) The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity. London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers.
No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009). Directed by Bahman Ghobadi [Motion Picture, DVD]. Iran: Mij Film Co. and Mitosfilm.
The Circle (2000). Directed by Jafar Panahi [Motion Picture, DVD]. Iran: Jafar Panahi Film Productions and Lumière & Company.
June 22, 2017 June 22, 2017 modernhominin#ThesisThursday#ThesisThursday, Censorship, Film Essay, French New Wave, Iranian Cinema, Neorealism, No One Knows About Persian Cats, The Circle, World Cinema
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KC Bites
hom·i·nin
/ˈhäməˌnin/ noun:
a primate of a taxonomic tribe ( Hominini ), which comprises those species regarded as human, directly ancestral to humans, or very closely related to humans. This includes members of the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus.
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Posts Tagged ‘important’
Osaka Castle
Osaka Castle was built originally by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan’s revolutionary leader in the late 16th century who rose from peasantry to become one of the three unifiers of Japan and put an end to a long, bloody period of feudal warfare. Completed in 1597, the castle was the largest, most intimidating castle in Japan at the time, and it overlooked and provided the catalyst for the rapid growth of Osaka, which would become the “merchant’s capital” and economic engine of Japan during the Edo Period (1600-1868). Hideyoshi’s son, Hideyori, would resist the forces of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who took power after Hideyoshi’s death. Hideyori would defend against two assaults using Osaka Castle as a base before committing suicide with his mother when the battle was lost.
Hideyoshi’s castle was destroyed after the battle, and the rebuilt version once again during a fire; the current structure is a faithful reconstruction (except for use of concrete) from the 1930s, renovated in 1997 to express the feel of original more closely. The moats and walls are almost all original, and one of the turrets is also an original. The inside of the castle has been turned into an in informative and interesting history museum, and the view from the top of the keep provides a great way to see the whole city. Osaka Castle Park is lovely, especially when the cherry blossoms are blooming, when the plum blossoms are blooming, and when the autumn leaves are changing. You can also see Hokoku Shrine, one of the many temples built to honor Hideyoshi, within the park grounds.
While some criticize Osaka Castle because it is a re-creation, I would argue, without getting into a deep discussion about the true significance of historical monuments, that it is still fulfills the roles it was primarily intended to play–namely, that of impressing visitors and of acting as a symbol of Osaka. Some scoff at the elevator attached to provide access to the entrance, but from my perspective, it provides an equal chance for all people, no matter their physical condition or health, to visit this important site.
In summary, Osaka Castle is a must-see for any visitor to the city, and its park (one of the most beautiful and well-planned around), its event facilities and its sightseeing boat dock pier make this one of the most important sightseeing spots in the city.
Access: Directly outside Morinomiya (Chuo and Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Subway Lines, JR Loop Line), 5 min. walk from Tanimachi 4-chome Station (Tanimachi and Chuo Subway Lines), 5 min. walk from Tenmabashi Station (Tanimachi Subway Line, Keihan Subway Line), 10 min. walk from Osakajo-kitazume Station (JR Tozai Line), 10-15 min. walk from Kyobashi Station (JR Loop Line, JR Tozai Line, JR Gakkentoshi Line/Katamachi Line, Keihan Lines, Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Subway Line), 5 min. walk from Osaka Business Park Station (Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Subway Line), or 5 min. walk from Osakajo-koen Station (JR Osaka Loop Line). Many of the Aqua Bus sightseeing boats stop at the park, also. A PDF version of the map in English, which includes many of the stations mentioned, is available here.
Costs: Osaka Castle Museum costs 600 yen per adult, and is free for guests 15 years of age or younger. There are also group discounts. Entrance to the park is free.
Hours: Osaka Castle, which has a museum and an open-air observatory from the top, is open 9 am to 5 pm (closed from Dec. 28 to Jan.), and guests are admitted until 30 min. before closing time. The park is open at all times. Castle facilities are open until 7 pm during the summer (July 17 to Aug. 29).
For more information about the museum, call 06-6941-3044. Also check out Osaka Castle’s website.
Categories: History, Sightseeing Spots Tags: accesible, access, best, boat, castle, central, cherry blossom, city view, destination, economic, Edo Period, feudal, fortress, Hideyori, Hideyoshi, historic, History, Hokoku Shrine, Ieyasa, important, japan, kansai, keep, Kinki, leaves, merchant's capital, modern, monument, museum, must-see, observatory, old, osaka, Osaka Blog, Osaka Castle, Osaka-jo, Osakajo, park, pier, plum blossom, sightseeing, significant, site, spot, subway, symbol, Tokugawa, tourism, tower, Toyotomi, trade, train, travel, turret, view, vital
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War Pictures
Nacho Army of Club Penguin
Welcome to the Nachos! We are one of the most powerful and legendary armies in all of Club Penguin. Known for our fun and enjoyable atmosphere, we're always having a good time! Be a part of the fun and join by clicking HERE!
~Nacho Leaders
Follow Nacho Army of Club Penguin on WordPress.com
Anonymous on S-S-Sneeze
Vonchiefer on S-S-Sneeze
Steve on Club Penguin Item Codes
2,091,430 Nachos (Old site = 1.3 million)
S-S-Sneeze
The Retirement of Fluffy9404
Final messages-Retirement posts from various Nachos
Retirement Post Submissions
View the complete list of our achievements and awards by clicking HERE.
Notable Tournament Championships
Legends Cup I, Christmas Chaos I, March Madness I, March Madness II, Champions Cup IV, March Madness IV, Legends Cup VIII
Official and Direct Link to Nacho Chat:
http://xat.com/NachosHQ [Click for full size]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Click >> HERE << to access Nacho Chat at full size!
Scroll down for the rules and xat icons!
Nacho Chat Rules: (These rules are more guidelines)
“What happens in chat, stays in chat!”
~Person1233
Silver Rules:
1. NO RACISM
3 warnings (kicks) then an indefinite ban.
2. NO BULLYING
3. NO PORN
4. NO HACK TALK AT ALL, EVER.
Auto-ban [Indefinite]
5. NO MLP TALK -shivers rule-
Other rules:
1. No excessive cursing.
2. Respect the higher ranks.
3. No spamming (smileys included) or flooding .
4. NO ADVERTISING.
5. Arguments that don’t concern the whole chat will be taken to PC (Private Chat). Failure to do so will result in a kick, and then if continued, a ban. —Verbal abuse, results in a kick, and then if continued, a ban.
6. Kicking/banning without a legitimate reason will result in a straight ban of 30 minutes, and your modship/ownership privileges taken away for 1 hour+
7. Any person who is banned by somebody of a higher rank to you (unless they have abused) is to remain banned, and unbanning them will result in you losing mod/owner for 1 hour +
Breaking the rules WILL result in –
1. Warning.
2. Kick.
3. Guest-ban.
Purple’s LAW: ELE!
Everyone.
Everybody.
Nacho Xat Icons!
http://i.imgur.com/wJ27nad.png
http://i.imgur.com/qptP9np.png
http://i.imgur.com/X9H0DEl.png
http://i.imgur.com/BI4ALSN.png
http://i.imgur.com/0IcE8Kk.png
http://i.imgur.com/hAluycS.png
http://i.imgur.com/3Bq60KG.png
http://i.imgur.com/BwsqChs.png
http://i.imgur.com/L7Ltpbf.png
http://i.imgur.com/rAn0AjO.png
GIF Nacho Icon (only works with animate power on xat)
http://i.imgur.com/FxHm8bf.png
Icons Made By: Dj Dan
chrisiblule, on November 16, 2011 at 1:54 PM said:
1st 😀
Katnisserue, on October 25, 2013 at 3:40 AM said:
Like if u think Nachos rule!
Teddy5012, on June 28, 2015 at 4:42 PM said:
NACHOS RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Wwefan246, on March 13, 2016 at 2:09 PM said:
Hello I really want to join the nachos army but I’m having trouble. Can eney one help me please. Reply if you can
Anonymous, on April 11, 2016 at 1:21 PM said:
Anonymous, on May 2, 2017 at 9:06 PM said:
CLUB PENGUIN IS ENDING THAT IS WHAT IS WRONG
Maddog21, on March 30, 2017 at 5:33 PM said:
NachoKitty, on May 23, 2017 at 4:10 AM said:
Nachos are awesome!!
Anonymous, on June 11, 2016 at 3:50 PM said:
hi everyone,I’m new
Arureadindis, on October 15, 2016 at 9:55 AM said:
Anonymous, on June 19, 2016 at 5:17 AM said:
Truksley, on November 18, 2016 at 6:29 PM said:
oi galera!!!
td bem nachos
ZecromBoss, on December 31, 2016 at 11:17 AM said:
td e você
Cookky2, on December 31, 2016 at 5:25 PM said:
I will miss all of you guys and a shout out to my friends for helping me thank you cookky2 arureadiness took gangster and everyone
Wengie fan, on June 8, 2017 at 1:09 PM said:
Yeah amazing
farrez, on November 16, 2011 at 3:44 PM said:
and acp rules
my balls, on January 3, 2012 at 8:34 PM said:
do you like man dick or something?
Critica|, on December 23, 2014 at 8:21 PM said:
Lmao…man dick…
majid ali, on August 11, 2016 at 3:37 AM said:
Anonymous, on November 23, 2016 at 8:08 PM said:
Don’t say mean things! that’s rude in inappropriate.
⚡»Fʟᴜғғʏ«⚡, on January 8, 2017 at 6:49 PM said:
theta team, on February 21, 2012 at 1:38 PM said:
NO NACHO RULE AND ACP SUCK BADILY AND I DECLARE WAR ON YOU.
yeah, nachos rule
piky57314, on December 31, 2015 at 7:20 PM said:
nacho rules
diger 605 (Lance Corporal), on November 17, 2011 at 3:16 PM said:
nachos rule
Popstar15391, on April 6, 2015 at 6:14 AM said:
I better be in those rules!
llalala, on May 4, 2015 at 7:24 AM said:
Nicksman, on November 17, 2011 at 8:48 PM said:
4TH! GO NACHOS! VIVA LOS NACHOS!
brewude, on November 19, 2011 at 2:40 AM said:
hey diger i will be able to see you at battles because i joined nachos yay i havent seen you in ages
Nicksman, on November 22, 2011 at 9:29 AM said:
6th! 🙂
«кнιмσ || dω ℓєα∂єя», on November 25, 2011 at 2:29 PM said:
cool dude122, on November 28, 2011 at 8:09 AM said:
when is the big snow invasion for uk?
thebeastt88, on December 2, 2011 at 9:02 AM said:
Wow the nachos are still here
Legofan Cy, on March 4, 2015 at 12:07 PM said:
And we will be here forever!!! 😛
Dimitri Boutros, on December 7, 2011 at 6:34 PM said:
10 Im So Cool
ShawnFrost, on December 10, 2011 at 2:17 PM said:
11th ^_^
brewude, on December 18, 2011 at 3:34 AM said:
12 XD
blake, on December 23, 2011 at 4:25 PM said:
i will kill you all soon
LLAMAS, on May 4, 2015 at 7:26 AM said:
is this who I think it is….b.h???
The Hack, on December 24, 2011 at 7:16 PM said:
im just on the chat for no reason
Anonymous, on November 26, 2016 at 11:54 AM said:
same, ha ha
Thank you 4 all your help guys
kikoarmy217, on December 31, 2011 at 2:56 PM said:
im a acp
wwefreak123joker, on December 31, 2011 at 3:37 PM said:
Cool story, bro. I love ACP.
Munchlax4 aka Khimo, on January 2, 2012 at 10:44 AM said:
What happened to the rule: “What is said on Nachos chat STAYS on Nachos chat” D:
chrisiblule, on January 5, 2012 at 4:52 PM said:
That was an awesome room :O
Hey plz can you add cool guy569 because he real want’s to join
eggs19782000, on January 4, 2012 at 4:28 PM said:
Whats the site to find the army ranks?
~Eggs54
Emma60952, on January 5, 2012 at 4:31 PM said:
whens the next battle or dont they do it anymore how do i join nachos?
Harry Joe, on January 5, 2012 at 4:53 PM said:
To join Nachos, you need to go to the ‘Join’ page and the answer the questions on the page to join, if you do join. Welcome to the army 🙂
jackosncale, on January 7, 2012 at 10:55 PM said:
hey nochos!
any body can friend me plz
ps.nochos rock!
jackosncale, on January 8, 2012 at 1:11 PM said:
nachos I have a cool party for only nachos come at 12 a clock if u got this mesege. plz come to my party
o yay and look for it on the map Jacksoncale ok bye!
o yay go on serverbig foot!
bye!!!
change that server to bobsled!
big foot is full!
opps guys go to 4 o clock sorry !
slobby snake am your friend!!!
coment back if u went to my party
my party is open plz stop bye!!!!
sloby snake what server r u on
***TanMan626***, on January 8, 2012 at 4:08 PM said:
He’s on chat, xat.com/nachoarmy
hello nachos am having a party and your coming! plz come to my party
it today at 6 a clock plz come!!!bye! if your coming say i on the coment!!!!!
server on christmas!!!!!
look on the map for jacksoncale!!!hurry omost time!!!
Joshua Mb, on January 22, 2012 at 7:08 PM said:
i think no swearing should be on there
Yoangelyo, on January 30, 2012 at 1:42 AM said:
I don’t mind mild swearing but I don’t like AT ALL the f word and things like that. AT ALL
tigger, on February 5, 2012 at 1:06 PM said:
nachos r a food not a team
Abdulhakeem, on May 22, 2012 at 9:26 PM said:
Posted on Do you people have a faecobok fan page? I looked for one on twitter but could not discover one, I would really like to become a fan!
diger 605 (Corporal), on February 11, 2012 at 5:39 PM said:
guys we have new chat
cool guy, on February 20, 2012 at 2:18 PM said:
WHERE???
Immy01imogen, on August 2, 2016 at 12:46 PM said:
Ohh Reallyy?
Results of recruiting! « The Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on February 21, 2012 at 8:36 PM said:
[…] Chat […]
maxy777, on February 22, 2012 at 4:38 PM said:
I’m an ACP soldier by the way. Can you please unban me on your chat? The war between ACP and Nachos ended ages ago.
Ogel56, on February 24, 2012 at 8:38 PM said:
THE WAR HAS NOT ENDED!
Rookiedude03, on February 23, 2012 at 6:36 PM said:
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hola Nachos! I … « The Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on March 11, 2012 at 7:17 PM said:
Cherrypepsi9, on March 26, 2012 at 9:32 AM said:
Hello. I am Cherrypepsi9, founder of the Green Army Of Club Penguin (GAOCP). Since I just started the GAOCP, I decided I need some allies. Would you like to be one of our allies?
Nacho Pokeball111 ^O^, on October 7, 2012 at 6:54 AM said:
Hello Cherrypepsi! put your application for Allies at the following address: nachoarmy.net/allies-enemies/ A leader will then consider putting you on the Allies list.
Pokeball111
NACHOZSUCKMEWDICK, on March 30, 2012 at 11:56 PM said:
ACP SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKS & JOIN NACHOS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE
April, on April 6, 2012 at 9:49 PM said:
I wanna join u guys …
stefny100, on April 11, 2012 at 10:27 PM said:
I m not sure if I am in the army or not yet I joined on Monday so, I m just waiting……….. it takes so long!!
benji780, on April 14, 2012 at 4:25 AM said:
why isnt i getting medals?
benji780, on May 4, 2012 at 2:38 PM said:
let the force be with u
Chandler Brady, on May 31, 2012 at 6:45 PM said:
Here i made it were the battle of Nachos Vs swat i was there on server:sled so anyways my name is 313f1.
Chandler Brady, on June 1, 2012 at 9:20 AM said:
When are the rpf coming because I’m scared they’ll will bet us they depend on epf but idk if there going to get us?:(
Dislovechick, on June 18, 2012 at 5:30 PM said:
nacho army rulez
Superdino124, on June 18, 2012 at 7:55 PM said:
Purples law ELE evereyone loves everybody
flipper7706, on June 20, 2012 at 9:32 PM said:
ACP WILL RULE U GUYS ARE SO WEAK! THIS WAS FROM FLIPPER THE LEADER
Brass Ass Dash, on June 20, 2012 at 10:09 PM said:
Dash Edit: Lol, funny joke dude..
we rule acp is better ha we are taking over your website
Dash Edit: Orly?
Efmario, on June 20, 2012 at 9:34 PM said:
we will deafeat nachos go acp!
Dash Edit: Erm, good luck?
nik, on July 3, 2013 at 10:56 AM said:
sure we willi now we will
or u mean nachos will defeat acp
commenting on other army’s websites…
sounds like a sore loser
nat, on June 21, 2012 at 4:39 PM said:
Jay122, on June 22, 2012 at 11:56 AM said:
Mario988, on June 24, 2012 at 10:20 AM said:
NACHOS U ARE THE BEST!!!!
Fatso37, on June 29, 2012 at 2:22 PM said:
😀 Just pretended to join Ninja Army! Now they think I’m on their side! XD
lolwut!
joseph, on June 29, 2012 at 2:23 PM said:
I am sorry, Nachos. I must move on now. I can’t make any more battles as I do not have enough time. If you could remove me from the ranks page, that would be good.
electric809, on July 2, 2012 at 2:20 PM said:
yo guys were do we go today
kid, on July 4, 2012 at 12:29 AM said:
when i first saw the nachos I was on mammoth.
I was with the green team.
I thought it was wierd at first,but they had it all over the place,even the berg.
GIOVANNY, on July 9, 2012 at 10:49 PM said:
HI!! NACHOS ARE AWSOME
Glacier860, on July 18, 2012 at 6:15 PM said:
People have been perverted before the times listed and there has been excessive cursing just saying
I can’t be at the defense of fjord because I have been unfairly banned for three days on cp. I did not do anything but ya. sorry.
Robecuba, on July 22, 2012 at 8:23 AM said:
can i get membered on chat again? i think it was because of the hacking that i got guested
Flames370, on July 22, 2012 at 9:20 AM said:
——————/´ ¯/)
—————–/—-/
—————-/—-/
———–/´¯/’–’/´¯`·_
———-/’/–/—-/—–/¨¯\
——–(’(———- ¯~/’–’)
———\————-’—–/
———-’\’————_-·´
Hey fiffylog or puckley or anyone can u unban me if u can on xat because I have been unfairly banned please I can’t help in invasions or defenses if I can’t see tactics or anything. I did’nt do anything to be banned
I’m not gonna help nachos if they keep gagging me and kicking me for no reason
Eva, on August 23, 2013 at 1:52 PM said:
You wont😧😮😦🙀
So I’m not gonna help on any defense today.
never mind i got unbanned
bon5678, on July 28, 2012 at 3:24 PM said:
cobra cobra cobra cobra cobra join cobra nachos lose badly cobra cobra cobra cobra
shadows, on July 28, 2012 at 3:41 PM said:
thers a mole on your team better find out who before someone beats you
boogie monster, on July 28, 2012 at 9:25 PM said:
hello there is going to be a super party on cp on the 31/07/2012
on the server husky at the time 1PM and at the room light house
Samuel Momper, on August 2, 2012 at 8:47 AM said:
help!I got on chat this morning and i needed to change my name and pic back!(it said my name was schnookiebump) was i banned or something??
plz reply
P101638623, on August 3, 2012 at 10:47 AM said:
Luckily Im on an iPad… Or sadly. Thanks for keeping my rank, because I can’t go to the battles 😦
Superman5556, on August 10, 2012 at 5:36 PM said:
everytime i get on chat it automatically makes me guest and then i get banned because everyone thinks im some spy from another army. i should be a member whenever i join the chat but for some reason it turns me back to guest when i join
fire boy1602, on October 5, 2012 at 4:49 PM said:
im fire boy1602 and i will make it but what room
Icicles96, on October 19, 2012 at 8:16 PM said:
if i recruit ppl without a recruiting session and i tell you can i still get medals?
»Puckley«, on October 19, 2012 at 8:22 PM said:
Yes, you will get medals if you do so! For every person you recruit, you’ll get 2 medals.
plz answer soon im gonna go patrol now
ok thanks!
il recruit on my way around patrols
ok i think i recruited Epic Fat 642
might have recruited Kitluv
damian, on November 14, 2012 at 2:41 AM said:
hi???
Hilton Bryce, on February 3, 2013 at 10:24 PM said:
where are you guys
hilty3, on February 3, 2013 at 10:39 PM said:
nachoz
»★ÐJ.ÐΔИ★«, on February 4, 2013 at 12:50 AM said:
Come To Our Chat!
http://xat.com/nachosarmyofcp
Jay Jay 5566, on April 18, 2013 at 10:53 AM said:
109th comment here
Candyboy280, on May 6, 2013 at 11:51 PM said:
Aw, no ponies? 😦
Carmelina, on August 22, 2013 at 2:44 PM said:
Hahah I lov ponies
james18122000, on May 16, 2013 at 4:34 PM said:
cat, on May 20, 2013 at 5:42 AM said:
Could you fucking stop spamming cp with the god damn nacho army, NONE CARES SO STFU. Fucking dimwits
CAT PRINCESS, on May 21, 2013 at 9:01 AM said:
YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO THE FELINE RACE.
pengwee54312, on June 11, 2013 at 1:47 AM said:
http://prntscr.com/19chvy
Ultipenguinj, on June 11, 2013 at 10:18 AM said:
Hey guys, I need help with this whole chat thing.
How do you become a member?
»Puckley«, on June 11, 2013 at 11:38 AM said:
All you have to do is go to the chat xat.com/nachosarmyofcp, then someone will make you a member once you arrive! If it says you are signed out for some reason, try clicking the button that says “sign in” at the bottom right corner of the chat. Hope that helps! See you there on chat! 😀
How do you play
Camperjohn64, on June 13, 2013 at 2:57 AM said:
There has been something that has been making me very annoyed. Not a lot of troops see this page with the rules on it.
Under the chat we need a animated set of the rules. I know most people probably wont give a -bloop- but it will help enforce them just a tad and let people know,
THERE ARE RULES.
I hope one of you guys(leaders) will take that into consideration. 🙂
-Nacho Brigadier General, Camp
P.S. All Hail Puck
Deven, on June 17, 2013 at 9:14 AM said:
When do we start training?
We actually have an event today!
Event at 3 pm EST, 2 pm CST, 1 pm MST, 12 pm PST, 8 pm UK
Awesomegirl, on June 17, 2013 at 4:49 PM said:
i cant attend its my birthday tomorrow
chrisiblule, on June 17, 2013 at 5:40 PM said:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR TOMORROW :)!!!!
cricketlover, on June 26, 2013 at 12:43 PM said:
chrisi where have u been ur not coming on chat nowdays or on the events where are u ?
The Big fig1, on June 30, 2013 at 8:01 PM said:
unban me
i love ur site
kewl website
in new on this
dyoxs123, on July 18, 2013 at 3:46 PM said:
hey nachos can you unbanned me from chat plz i didnt do anything plz i like nachos and i quit RPF for nachos im not spy i was here for your event as nacho and RPF banned me because im nacho so plz unbanned from chat Dyoxs123 Nachos are best in cp.
pinkypups8, on July 21, 2013 at 11:01 AM said:
50 Cent 254 banned me for no reason! I’m called Pinkypups8. 50 Cent 254 banned me, because someone was impersonating as me and said cuss words!! Please unban me anybody, I didn’t do anything wrong!
plz unabbned me im dyoxs123 im kepp geting banned plz unbanned me im dyoxs123 nachos are best in cp why im i kepp geting banned i didnt do anything puckely plz answer me
sufjkduigffjgrh, on July 24, 2013 at 1:01 PM said:
Nacho bitch
cplemoncookies, on July 26, 2013 at 7:32 PM said:
GO NACHOS!!!
nakor, on July 31, 2013 at 7:00 AM said:
vnadito 007 conec sever pinguinera sala halcon milenario español
ishaque2002, on August 10, 2013 at 1:32 PM said:
who banned me?
nachos plz unbann me i quit rpf cuz they didnt want me to join im a spy plz
wwefreak123joker, on August 10, 2013 at 7:06 PM said:
I’ll unban you!
i mean im not spy
Are you a spy?
Hydro234, on August 10, 2013 at 4:31 PM said:
whenever i login it signs me out PLZ HELP!!!!
Eva, on August 21, 2013 at 2:36 AM said:
Hi😅
Hey dude ahaha
👊👍✌
Can you play clubpeguin??
Nachos rule👍 🐧
Chibby45, on August 25, 2013 at 4:52 PM said:
I love Nachos!
Jack, on August 28, 2013 at 8:14 PM said:
Frost Crysta, on September 3, 2013 at 5:06 PM said:
THIS IS GONNA BE AWSEOM
Selena (Aquaglamgirl.), on September 25, 2013 at 12:13 AM said:
DJ DAN DIAZ BANNED ME ON CHAT FOR NO REASON.
I DEMAND TO BE UN-BANNED, please.
catleader, on September 25, 2013 at 12:36 AM said:
Mr. Diaz has abused me countless times.
Just please stop Dan from abusing me, I’m sick and tired of his crap.
skilaaja992, on October 2, 2013 at 1:15 PM said:
1:POST THIS ANYWHERE ON THE SITE THREE TIMES
2:PRESS F8 SEVEN TIMES
3:LOG ON YOUR PENGUIN
4:TAKE OFF THE THE STUFF YOU’RE WEARING INCLUDING THE PIN AND BACKGROUND
5:TYPE IN THE CHAT BOX:ERROR CODE SEVEN
6:NOW YOU GOT A THREE YEAR MEMBERSHIP,1000,000COINS, AND A RAINBOW PUFFLE
Eva, on October 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM said:
Emma, on October 3, 2013 at 6:15 AM said:
Dawix3, on October 6, 2013 at 2:48 PM said:
someone make me a mod!
Dawix3, on October 17, 2013 at 7:24 PM said:
lol i cussed out RPF
apratimshukla6, on October 24, 2013 at 7:38 AM said:
i ally you Doritos army,i am Earthing the leader of exrate army and the penguin of the day of 17th october 2013 and my website is http://www.exratearmy.jimdo.com. Exrate army is the fifth strongest army of cp and the official army of cp!Join my army to get free club penguin membership and ally with me Doritos army for penguin world war 7!Visit my website for more information!
Note:This comment should be answered within 2 days by the leader or the general!
Leader-Earthing
Jack, on November 4, 2013 at 5:44 PM said:
im friends with chrisi on club penguin my names ROOTBEER128 theres this penguin name Jorge2538 i hate him so bad theres so much bad stuff i wanna say about hes famous he use to be my friend but no all he is doing is acting smart around hes fans
Kali, on February 12, 2014 at 4:56 PM said:
you should be leader
ROOTBEER128, on November 4, 2013 at 5:45 PM said:
bye the way thats my real name Jack my club penguin name is ROOTBEER128
RPF STINKS NACHOS ARE THE ONLY TEAM THAT RULE
xcheezpuffx, on November 5, 2013 at 7:58 AM said:
I love the icons (~*3*)~
ROOTBEER128, on November 5, 2013 at 9:43 AM said:
on the chat thing can 1 of you nice mods make me a member on the nacho chat
nobody want to join Doritos it sucks
scalemore, on November 30, 2013 at 6:44 PM said:
ACP sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thomas, on December 12, 2013 at 3:22 PM said:
it does
kingmondo, on December 30, 2013 at 2:32 AM said:
acp fucked LT hard in the fucking ass dont think we suck, if anyone sucks dick its nachos, or in that case, LT
dont say that
i like the doritos
djkj12356, on February 23, 2014 at 1:38 PM said:
I love nachos they r epic and tasty and tasty LOL XD
Partstripes, on May 19, 2014 at 8:16 AM said:
Hey guys I have been through some trouble lately this my (former team) was hunting me down and this guy called smpcp9876 was trying to kill me they do a lot to me they burn me throw me off mountains and beacon they send me to the moon they strap bombs on me and kill me it’s to fair cos they call me a traitor just because I didn’t agree with their opinion well I did betray (only twice) and I automatically became their enemy but they can’t injure me or harm me fatally because I’m a dragon and my skin is thick and I’m really strong too. But I’m just saying because I’m vastly outnumbered 5 to 1 😦
Cool edit: If someone’s getting on your nerves on CP, you can always just ignore them! If you want to come and talk to us about it, join the chat rather than posting a comment. It’s a lot easier that way.
Braden, on August 1, 2014 at 7:25 AM said:
Bradyd5, on March 15, 2015 at 1:08 PM said:
IMPOSTER!!
And also when I try to join they don’t accept me and kick me out 😦
Partstripes, on May 19, 2014 at 12:33 PM said:
Hey nachos man I’ve been through a lot today I attacked my rival penguinp7677 and then I buried his dead body in the forest. After that an old friend of mine smpcp9876 (formerly) wanted revenge and penguinp7677 came back to life then they finished me off when they’d buried me a penguin revived me so when I wanted revenge but I didn’t want to cause more trouble so I logged off just now looking forward to the epic battles 🙂
Camperjohn64, on May 26, 2014 at 4:56 PM said:
I’m trying to get into the chat but i can’t even log into it. We have a really important even tonight and i want to help but this is going to interfere with that. Any help? It just keeps saying log in and it wont let me even log on to the chat.
stevie231, on June 29, 2014 at 1:21 AM said:
chrisiblule, on June 29, 2014 at 9:24 AM said:
Hi! To talk to people go on xat.com/nachoshq !
lilwayne29, on June 29, 2014 at 10:32 AM said:
Plz add me to the army
PartstripesDragon, on July 24, 2014 at 9:31 AM said:
Ha smpcp9876 doesn’t do any of the bad things he does ”’In front”’ of me
hunter05, on July 26, 2014 at 1:30 AM said:
Under attack icebox, stadium
HELPPPP!!!!! ICEBOX STADIUM
ATTACK AT ICEBOX, STADIUM
i was at the battle for promos now I will be a lance corp heheh this is just like the military
Furpurple, on August 3, 2014 at 7:47 AM said:
how club penguin was down no one could go!:/
KAT, on August 15, 2014 at 9:18 PM said:
PLEASE UNBAN ME! IM NOT A DORITO ANYMORE!
Jack, on August 23, 2014 at 10:36 AM said:
how do i get the outfit?
Camperjohn64, on August 23, 2014 at 11:03 AM said:
Just go to the chat and we’ll help you on getting a uniform to wear.🙂 Click on this: http://xat.com/NachosHQ
Brady, on August 31, 2014 at 4:10 PM said:
I was at the battle to be a corporal make me a corporal tomorrow please
martin stoianov, on September 3, 2014 at 6:07 AM said:
Hi I am agent help me to find Hrisi1550 this is penguin who wantet
ghost4148, on September 27, 2014 at 6:12 PM said:
that was a nice battle
dianaaa, on October 4, 2014 at 4:43 PM said:
it was eeeeeeh
#sassyfunbattle
Practice Battle vs IW – Starting Soon | The Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on November 22, 2014 at 2:29 PM said:
[…] Nacho Chat […]
Skyblue170, on December 10, 2014 at 7:51 AM said:
Chat is used for battles
dylomurray, on January 3, 2015 at 3:46 PM said:
nachos lost
ҒℓυҒҒу||Nα¢нσ Aяму 3ι¢, on March 4, 2015 at 8:34 PM said:
Umm chat glitch I got banned
vioet, on March 5, 2015 at 11:29 PM said:
hey i got a smabreo and a guitar
Ryan Shlong dong mcnipples titties, on March 9, 2015 at 3:57 PM said:
youre all a bunch of niggers, and ill skull fuck the shit out of every faggot who says club penguin is a good game you little bitches
FromParisWithLove12, on March 14, 2015 at 2:37 AM said:
centaur17, on March 29, 2015 at 10:04 AM said:
im banned for saying !mazeme 100 can somebody Un ban me so I can get back into Nacho and help you with the event
Camperjohn64, on April 2, 2015 at 7:04 PM said:
212th 😀
ҒℓυҒҒу||Nα¢нσ Aяму 2ι¢, on April 3, 2015 at 9:22 PM said:
First to respond to the 212th comment 😀
Dark Stick10, on April 8, 2015 at 9:23 PM said:
when is the next battle I’m really confused and new?!
Dark stick10, on April 9, 2015 at 11:37 AM said:
Nate sena, on April 24, 2015 at 1:23 AM said:
I’m new to nacho army do u know where is the Battle?
Happygirl364, on April 30, 2015 at 7:40 AM said:
hey im new so what do you do to battle and
how do you know when is the next battle?
Happygirl364, on April 30, 2015 at 1:33 PM said:
where do i attend
at a battle
Camperjohn64, on April 30, 2015 at 4:36 PM said:
Events are posted on this sites homepage. They’ll be dates and times for when to come. To attend an event you need to come to our Chat at http://xat.com/NachosHQ which we use to communicate easier and give order for tactics. Of course, you don’t need to just be on there for events, you can be on there whenever you want and be chatting with other troops. 🙂
Happygirl364, on May 9, 2015 at 6:41 AM said:
sorry what i mean is when your trying to attend a battle
do you play cp to battle if so where in club penguin
or is it a website also if so plz leave a link
thanks 😉
toxicrainbowsoffical, on May 11, 2015 at 5:22 PM said:
I know I’m in the Nachos Army and all, but I think Doritos are good! 😛 😀
estate agents radlett, on May 14, 2015 at 9:09 AM said:
If you want to improve your know-how only keep visiting this site and
be upxated wiith the most recent news posted here.
Icecream4682, on June 4, 2015 at 6:32 PM said:
hi i read the beginners guide and it taught me a lot!:)
chrisiblule, on June 4, 2015 at 6:33 PM said:
Hi, I’m glad it did! Make sure to visit our xat (Xat.com/nachoshq)
skyhight1, on June 8, 2015 at 1:17 PM said:
HEY SOME ONE SAID WE GET COOIKES FOR THIS
Brass Ass Dash, on June 8, 2015 at 4:35 PM said:
*gives cookie* Enjoy! 😀
COOIKES PLZ AND NACHOS NO NACHO COOIKES PLZ LIKE 28
LOL NACHOS
pencilom13, on June 8, 2015 at 6:11 PM said:
rules: [MUST BE FOLLOWED NO MATTER WHAT]
5. NO MLP TALK
Finnball2015, on June 12, 2015 at 8:49 PM said:
come to iceberg tomorow 10:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(a.m.)
Finnball2015, on June 13, 2015 at 6:28 AM said:
come today!
xXMoonfurXx, on June 14, 2015 at 7:10 PM said:
One question (actually two)
Why can we not talk about mlp?
How does this chat thing work?
(One more)
How do i become member of chat
Edd64, on June 14, 2015 at 7:21 PM said:
the mlp thing goes back to a few years ago when it caused problems on the chat. The chat is a place where you need to go to during events and battles to get the orders of the rooms and tactics. and to become a member you need to change your name by clicking it, and going to xat.com/nachoshq
The MLP rule is a joke and shouldn’t be taken seriously…
where do we meet?
Burr, on June 15, 2015 at 4:31 PM said:
You can meet us for orders at our chat room by clicking this –> http://xat.com/nachoshq
I lost everybody where r we
How to Earn a Promotion | Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on June 16, 2015 at 2:53 AM said:
Anonymous, on June 16, 2015 at 12:19 PM said:
im a warrior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous, on July 11, 2015 at 6:33 AM said:
swag dude205, on July 19, 2015 at 6:27 AM said:
hi guys so am i allowed to join?
i realy want to join when am i allowed to join ill be here every day
Legofan Cy, on July 19, 2015 at 8:17 AM said:
Of course, you are totally allowed! You will be added to the ranks shortly! . We would love to have you in the army! 😀
ok ill follow the rules XD
i dont have the same clothes as you guys but can i still join
thx guys
YES, of course! You don’t need to have our official uniform, you can wear anything you want, as long as it’s red or orange! Come to our chat http://xat.com/nachoshq if you have any more questions and we would gladly answer them! 🙂
uh how do we get a membership???
Attend Important battles such as tournament ones and you will get a mebership code :O stay tuned because we will post a tournament battle soon 😀 !
Anonymous, on July 25, 2015 at 10:43 AM said:
mellojello19 here and you guessed it, I’m a NOOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vanessa, on July 25, 2015 at 9:11 PM said:
like if u like nacho army
jadyn, on July 27, 2015 at 12:25 PM said:
hey guys can one of you out me on the ranks im crayon50000 i joined but never got my name in the ranks thanks
Legofan Cy, on July 27, 2015 at 2:24 PM said:
You have been added to the Ranks Page! Welcome to the Nachos 🙂
katniss33335, on July 28, 2015 at 6:44 AM said:
the best army ever
Anonymous, on July 30, 2015 at 8:36 PM said:
how do I sign out of an account on nacho chat?
nat, on August 24, 2015 at 5:01 AM said:
NAAACCHHHHOOOO
Anonymous, on August 27, 2015 at 2:59 PM said:
Anonymous, on October 5, 2015 at 10:37 AM said:
The pew the pie is coming after five minutes
he is come to the iceberg server
Anonymous, on October 6, 2015 at 1:26 PM said:
GIANA, on October 12, 2015 at 2:54 PM said:
HOLA NOS DIAS FEOS FIORE SON BUENAS AMIGAS GRACISA NOS TODOS LOS DIAS NOS LUNES Y MARTES Y JUEVES Y VINRES Y SABADO Y DOMINGO TODAS LOS DIAS LAS SEMNA QUE NOS FIRE QEU LINDSO MAS QUE NOSHYO NOS VEMOS GINA FIORE
Anonymous, on October 27, 2015 at 2:42 AM said:
Chill. Out.
Anonymous, on November 7, 2015 at 8:06 PM said:
tammi, on November 8, 2015 at 6:28 PM said:
Welcome to Nachos! | Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on December 4, 2015 at 11:11 AM said:
SimplyEric, on December 12, 2015 at 9:18 PM said:
Guys please help: Something called OpenDNS has blocked me from going into your Xat and I don’t know how to get rid of it. What should i do?
Welcome to the Nachos! | Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on December 18, 2015 at 9:03 AM said:
Anonymous, on December 30, 2015 at 2:06 PM said:
1. What is your Club Penguin username? Codybird1 (required)
2. Will you try to attend our next battle on Club Penguin? i will try to (be at xat.com/NachosHQ for battle) (required)
3. Will you visit our website and chat daily for the latest news and orders from the Nacho Army? no every friday and every monday tuesday and wendesday (required)
4. What country do you live in? US (US, UK, Australian, etc.)
5. How did you find out about the Nacho Army? someone on CP told me aout it
6. Have you ever been into another Army? If so, what Army and what rank? no i have not
7. Do you promise to remain active and never betray us? yes i promise(required)
8. Do you promise to read our beginners guide? YES I DO 🙂
Anonymous, on January 9, 2016 at 4:54 PM said:
penguin name: space005
will you try to attend our next battle on Club Penguin? : yes
:yes
i live in egypt arabian
i was in another army IW and they were talking about nachos
i was in IW and low member
peteeeeeeee, on January 16, 2016 at 10:11 AM said:
lego, could you please remove me from the ranks. Thank you : )
Camperjohn64, on January 16, 2016 at 11:34 AM said:
Peteeeee, why do you want to be removed from the Ranks? Nachos are the best Army out there! We wont like losing a troop like you.
Tony10151, on January 23, 2016 at 8:10 PM said:
When someone says that they hate the nacho army, I just say, ” boy, that’s NACHO business!” True story.
senime03, on January 26, 2016 at 3:34 PM said:
HELP! I’M BANNED!
Why am I banned?
Anonymous, on January 28, 2016 at 4:15 PM said:
Hey! I am here to tell you I have disappeared. This is my first time in the chat so I’m not used to it! But I might be able to join the next battle at 8:00 for me! I’ll probably be able to btw!
Stone523, on January 28, 2016 at 4:39 PM said:
Awesome! Enjoy your first battles 😀
Forgot to say I’m Booboo33233 lol
Booboo33233, on January 29, 2016 at 3:58 PM said:
Yay I helped take Cozy! That was amazing! The whole red and lime and purple thing was annoying though… I’m mostly glad that S H E and I gathered up all those people to help! For my first battle that was awesome! No RPF showed up though! which is good right? yee
Jackas@live.com, on January 29, 2016 at 8:26 PM said:
Hey guys, I am Tony10151. I have important news! I quit the Nacho Army! I want to stay but with school, I don’t have time for the Nacho Army. I just want to let you know. So, you can remove me from the ranks. I am just a worthless noob compared to all of you. I think I shouldn’t be part of an Army if I’m a noob. Even though I have been in the nacho army for a couple of days, I will never forget the memories of the nacho army. I hope you will remember me forever. GOODBYE FOREVER, NACHO ARMY. 😭
Legofan Cy, on January 30, 2016 at 7:17 AM said:
Firstly, everyone in here was a noob when he/she joined. But being in the army gives you more and more experience, and you totally weren’t a noob compared to me after 3 days I joined. Also, we all have school, but if you want so.. bye then. I’ll remember you ❤ .
Tony10151, on January 30, 2016 at 7:45 AM said:
Hi guys, I know that I said I wanted to quit, but I CHANGE MY MIND. I want to stay with you guys. So forget what I said about quitting the army. So will you guys let me join the army again? Let me stay with you guys. I’m so sorry.
YAY! Welcome back, Tony 😀
Booboo33233, on February 1, 2016 at 2:37 PM said:
Hey are we still doing the battle in Hypothermia?
Anonymous, on February 2, 2016 at 12:51 PM said:
Hey I was just wondering how to make an Xat account so I can attend to Nacho battles better!
Legofan Cy, on February 2, 2016 at 1:03 PM said:
Go to http://xat.com/web_gear/chat/register.php 🙂
Anonymous, on February 2, 2016 at 2:34 PM said:
I can’t get in because it is telling me to “log in” instead of signing up
Once you registered, go login at http://xat.com/login to login!
Alright thanks Lego! :0
OMIGOD UUUHHHH. Seriously about to punch xat’s face… Ok so everytime I try to register it say: Wrong email/username or password! Did you forget your password if so go kill yourself! Well not that last part but yeah 😛
shahee vita, on February 4, 2016 at 9:10 AM said:
oh our nacho army is the best army in club penguin that it is vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood ha
when and how do i get the nachos uniform
Stone523, on February 9, 2016 at 1:46 PM said:
Check out our uniform page! Go to https://nachoarmy.net/uniform-4/ or click the Uniform tab at the top of the page. You’ll need the uniform during events.
when do i get the clothes and hat
The Sombrero and a few other items are not available on Club Penguin, but you can still use an item adder. Go to http://penguinlodge.com/club-penguin-item-adder and you can get the Sombrero Cordobes, Red Bandana, and Brown Pirate Boots. You can also go here http://play.clubpenguin.com/#/redeem and unlock the Orange Shirt with the code 2BEHEARD.
Anonymous, on February 10, 2016 at 10:59 PM said:
<<<<<Meep
Dylan, on February 11, 2016 at 1:46 AM said:
Hello me new! 😀
Hey Stone my Xat is having problems loading the chat.. It either says: OA or just well… nothing lol
Stone523, on February 16, 2016 at 4:26 PM said:
I haven’t seen that problem before, I’ll ask other people to see if they know what to do.
chrisiblule, on February 21, 2016 at 8:57 PM said:
I’m not entirely sure what Xat is meaning by ‘OA’, but usually with problems regarding xat and other websites they can sometimes be fixed by clearing your cache and your web history (Assuming you’re using google chrome, go into your web history, and then select clear browsing data, then select the box that says ‘clear cache’, you’ll have to google for how to do this on any other browsers because I’m not entirely sure :P) I hope this helps 😀
Tony10151, on February 19, 2016 at 8:17 PM said:
Hi guys, I have become very sick today and I can’t go to battle or practice untill I get better. I just wanted to let you know. I will be getting better very soon.
xconno11x, on February 22, 2016 at 12:11 AM said:
Ok I am having problem with the black box again I try to use xatech and other methods. Anyone have any ideas??
Anonymous, on February 23, 2016 at 2:46 PM said:
K so Chrisiblule I tried to do so but now it just loads and says Null not found and BR or OA 0_0 creepy computer lol All my Xat is doing is being creepy crap lol. I might try the method again! Thanks for trying to help tho
Hmmm, that’s really weird, you could try googling it maybe? Just type in “xat [then insert what the problem is]” or maybe even just try a different browser? And no problem, I hope you manage to fix it 😀
Eduardo, on February 26, 2016 at 10:50 PM said:
Glad you could make it to your first battle!
FireIcerX1, on March 2, 2016 at 11:44 PM said:
IS THIS THE NACHO CHAT IM NEW??
Stone523, on March 3, 2016 at 4:46 PM said:
Yes, come to the chat 10 minutes before a battle starts to receive battle orders!
FireIcerX1, on March 3, 2016 at 5:51 PM said:
I HAVE A QUESTION!!
hey is this comment coming up? if it is do me a favor and hit the like
FireIcerX1, on March 4, 2016 at 10:31 AM said:
green lil, on March 4, 2016 at 8:11 PM said:
well hi
hi??
Anonymous, on March 11, 2016 at 11:35 AM said:
EVERYONE GO TO BLIZZARD
Astro Boy21, on March 12, 2016 at 4:33 AM said:
hola amigo
astro boy 16
astro boy 16 is purposely defeating all the attacks
Anonymous, on March 12, 2016 at 1:41 PM said:
I cannot find the Nachos anywhere! Please tell me where they are currently! D:
Aaron, on March 20, 2016 at 2:56 PM said:
hey guys, I can never keep up with the nachos, I’m not a member, and the bad words are killing me. I can’t complete my outfit either and I’m horrible when it comes to working with a group. So I’m asking if I should………. A: stay and learn with the nachos, B: join a different army, C: look over the nacho rules again. D: give up and quit cpa entirely. Tell me your answer. I will check what I should do on the 27th of march. Until then, I will help with march madness. Thanks in advance!
Stone523, on March 20, 2016 at 8:22 PM said:
Hey Yellowpen, I think I can help you out. 1) You are a member, your name is on the ranks under Private (you’ll likely get a promotion at the start of april), and you do great in the battles you attend. 2) All you really need to complete the uniform is the Sombrero Cordobes, which you can add by going here: penguinlodge.com/club-penguin-item-adder. 3) You can hide bad words by clicking on your name and checking the box that says “Hide inapproapriate words”. http://i.imgur.com/J4v2Vwd.png
It’s really your choice, but I pick A, stick with the Nachos a bit longer and see how it goes. Sorry you felt uncomfortable, hope this helps!
it does help. thanks and I will try my best as nacho!
LegendThingy, on March 30, 2016 at 5:07 PM said:
Hi, I’m A founder of “LT”. Just wanted to say hi.
Anonymous, on April 5, 2016 at 12:18 AM said:
You guys stink NIGHT WARRIORS FOREVER
Astro Boy21, on April 5, 2016 at 1:49 AM said:
i am from india and which timings should i battle
Anonymous, on April 9, 2016 at 11:36 PM said:
hiii im new and all, cant wait to hang with yall!
hailey spears, on April 9, 2016 at 11:40 PM said:
hey! no sippin on that HATER-ADE BRO! we are here to have FUN.
Tay, on April 17, 2016 at 2:48 AM said:
yellowpen3, on April 23, 2016 at 1:45 PM said:
hey guys, I wanted to say I’ve been a little inactive lately. this post isn’t important, but I having a hard time making it to events because of school, homework, taekwondo, etc. So I wanted to say the only time I’ll be active at events is on sundays, saturdays, possibly holidays, and on spring, summer, and winter breaks. If I can find time for nachos I will be extrememly careful to make sure I use it. For the last time, this is no big deal and I will try to be more active.
how do i chat and play CP at the same time?
Stone523, on May 9, 2016 at 4:07 PM said:
Have the chat open in one tab, and CP opened in another tab.
Teddy, on May 12, 2016 at 9:42 PM said:
Stone523, on May 13, 2016 at 3:25 PM said:
Make a join comment on our Join Page to join! nachoarmy.net/join
yellowpen3, on May 16, 2016 at 6:57 PM said:
hey nachos, just one more note. remember how I said I being a little inactive? part of that I can’t fix. like I said in the last post, I have stuff to do each day such as homework, taekwondo, and etc. so I don’t have much time for nachos. This is the time I can attend battles.
Monday/Wednesday: 4:00pm to 7:30pm
Tuesday/Thursday: 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Sunday/Saturday: 10:00am to 6:00pm
If a battle is during one of these times, then I will try my best to attend. If not, then I will most likely not be there. cya at then next battle!
Stone523, on May 16, 2016 at 11:58 PM said:
Thanks for informing us! I’m not sure what timezone you’re in but our training on Wednesday is at 4pm EST.
Anonymous, on May 17, 2016 at 9:39 AM said:
Is the US training tommorow ?
Dаn101, on May 17, 2016 at 10:24 AM said:
how is everyone doing
is everyone ready for the snowball fight
NACHO PENGUINS
WHAT ABOUT THE BATTL AT 8:30
Myles Jaeckel, on June 18, 2016 at 1:17 PM said:
Brooke Shinnick, on June 23, 2016 at 12:32 PM said:
Hi, Guys I’m new! I have one question, how do you know if your on the ranks? Thanks
Legofan Cy, on June 23, 2016 at 12:51 PM said:
Simple. You check if your club penguin name is on the ranks page!
Hi Whats up? Is anyone going to the PB today for the est time?
The nacho10, on June 26, 2016 at 2:33 PM said:
Hey, there’s no event today?
Camperus Johnicus, on June 26, 2016 at 6:23 PM said:
Nope! There’s one tomorrow! Check back to the site for times!
AUSIA Rebuild Week #1 | Nacho Army of Club Penguin™, on June 27, 2016 at 7:00 AM said:
Brooke Shinnick, on June 27, 2016 at 9:45 AM said:
I can’t wait for the battle today!!
Alex10189, on July 11, 2016 at 3:31 PM said:
Kanye West85, on August 5, 2016 at 3:43 AM said:
NACHO FOR LIFE
Nacho cool
Arctic1001, on August 6, 2016 at 1:07 AM said:
hey people call me a furfag because of my profile pic and with no warnings i got banned does that count as racism and here is my profile pic anyways can you unbann me at ArcticStealsFruits? i won’t be able to attend battles then so ya and if you read this thanks! profile pic:
Camperus Johnicus, on August 6, 2016 at 1:12 AM said:
Come on the chat and I’ll unban you
NachoGalForevs, on December 13, 2016 at 4:32 AM said:
thats a bit creepy ya know….
johnson mcmurry, on August 6, 2016 at 8:59 AM said:
I need the owner to the chat,legofan annachotom are abusing admin,can u guys ban em
8/16/16/ 8:59 am est
Legofan Cy, on August 6, 2016 at 11:13 AM said:
Jammi Dodger, on August 7, 2016 at 8:26 PM said:
better watch you back lego XD
johnson mcmurry, on August 7, 2016 at 12:47 PM said:
who banned me ,unbqan me now,i did n othing
Legofan Cy, on August 7, 2016 at 1:01 PM said:
Come on chat. What’s your xat username? 😮
Anonymous, on August 15, 2016 at 11:20 PM said:
hey have you heard or seen the clones on club penguin?
johnson mcmurry, on August 16, 2016 at 6:15 AM said:
same I don’t have a xat username I was Pikachu, so unban me pls,i did nothing.
JOEYakaQUAKERS, on September 4, 2016 at 4:25 AM said:
yo yo yo pls go to portal cp its the best cpps there ever was!
why you ask?becuz the command that adds all the items in cp yes all of it so why dont you check it out on this link below:
portalpenguin.com
Sean, on September 18, 2016 at 11:48 AM said:
1. What is your Club Penguin username? K3Sean
2. Will you try to attend our next battle on Club Penguin? (be at xat.com/NachosHQ for battle) yes
3. What country or region do you live in? (US, UK, Australian, etc.) US
4. Will you visit our website and chat daily for the latest news and orders from the Nacho Army? yes
5. How did you find out about the Nacho Army? someone told me to join
6. Have you ever been into another Army? If so, what Army and what rank? this is my first army
7. Do you promise to remain active and never betray us? yes
8. Do you promise to read our beginners guide? yes
Meghan, on October 10, 2016 at 6:33 PM said:
So I was banned, and I don’t know how to come back? It said on the thing that cursing was allowed and if you didn’t like it then you could just block cussing.
hey I’m new here
Hannah, on November 1, 2016 at 2:17 PM said:
hello i just joined this is my first time joining a club penguin army :3
Ryan [Nachos], on November 1, 2016 at 2:53 PM said:
Welcome! Just check out our event schedule on the home page, or go to the ‘Next Battle’ page. Then come to the chat http://xat.com/nachoshq and hang out with the other troops.
i love the nachos and the chat
crazygamer101, on November 28, 2016 at 3:22 PM said:
punkrock17, on December 10, 2016 at 1:54 PM said:
the chat wont load for me in just getting a black box im so frustrated
Anonymous, on December 11, 2016 at 12:01 PM said:
ashwolf, on December 11, 2016 at 8:14 PM said:
can someone help me join I’m having trouble
Blueysib6, on December 12, 2016 at 2:16 AM said:
Go to https://nachoarmy.net/join/ and do what it says there!
hey guys so i just joined this army i didnt know cp (club penguin) had armies its good to be here!
joe, on December 18, 2016 at 3:13 PM said:
how do i do chat
and what is a battle
ITS A BATTLE WHAT ARE YOU 2 YEARS OLD?
Anonymous, on January 2, 2017 at 12:44 PM said:
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Anonymous, on January 3, 2017 at 11:01 AM said:
blueysib6 said WTF
CrazyPuffle, on January 9, 2017 at 6:02 PM said:
im new but this team is awesome
EPF, on January 14, 2017 at 3:24 PM said:
listen i come on behalf of the EPF. We would like to join forces to make an ultimate crime busting team. if you are reading this meet me on blizzard at the coffee shop 3:30 eastern time at the coffee shop
ill be at the juice stand
tapra, on January 22, 2017 at 6:40 AM said:
i was told to come on chat 20 minutes earliear so here i am
no body is there
FANTACAUSE [RPF], on January 24, 2017 at 6:41 AM said:
TACOS RULE!
What’s your club Penguin Username? Spider Girl5
What Rank are you? Privet first class
In a scale of 1-10, how active are you? 5 or 6
Snow Thro, on January 26, 2017 at 1:47 AM said:
What is your Club Penguin Username?
Snow Thro
Will you try to attend our next battle on Club Penguin
What country or region do you live in? (US, UK, Australian, etc.)
Have you ever been into another Army? If so, what Army and what rank?
Do you promise to remain active and never betray us?
AN ANGRY FRIGGIN VET, on February 5, 2017 at 10:23 PM said:
WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING! ALL MY ACCOUNTS ARE BANNED FOR SOME REASON!!! REQUESTING BACKUP!!
wow… your comment is full of bad words
Anonymous, on February 19, 2017 at 10:26 AM said:
well i think the nachos are cool
nacho nacho
CaramelFlow, on March 4, 2017 at 4:37 PM said:
I am having problems on nacho chat. every time I try to say something in chat (don’t worry it follows the rules) the box for typing a message goes away! 😦
whenever I try to say something in chat (which is safe and follows the rules) the white box to type into goes away! 😦
Cookky2, on March 4, 2017 at 9:18 PM said:
Try to refresh the page. If you still have problems, get on chat at like 3 pm est and i can try to solve it
CaramelFlow, on March 5, 2017 at 11:49 AM said:
CaramelFlow, on March 25, 2017 at 7:12 PM said:
still doesn’t work so I guess since i cannot chat and I haven’t had access to a computer so if we’re not gonna continue on cp island then I resign from the nachos 😦
Cookky2, on March 26, 2017 at 5:49 PM said:
Come to our final event on Tuesday!
Stormy HEY WILL, on March 31, 2017 at 4:08 PM said:
i AINTGONNA LIE. I BE FEGTING HIHJ
Person1233, on June 28, 2017 at 12:24 PM said:
Lol wut
boi, on July 30, 2017 at 12:05 PM said:
hey where is the discord
Anonymous, on September 4, 2017 at 12:51 PM said:
here is ryan
A fucking asshole, on January 26, 2018 at 10:49 PM said:
Requis, on March 5, 2018 at 5:31 PM said:
crazy shit hombre
Leave a Reply to Fatso37 Cancel reply
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Gifts – just another republican stunt?
Home > Media & News Updates > From the Convenor's Desk > Gifts – just another republican stunt?
The widespread reports that gifts presented by The Queen on her recent visit were paid for by the Australian government has been challenged by Buckingham Palace, according to a report in the London Daily Telegraph (24/1) by Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney.
"The Royal Household pays for gifts given by The Queen – not Australian taxpayers," a Palace spokesperson said.
Apparently the Prime Minister's office had not checked with the Palace before releasing the story. Even after the correction, the office continued to insist that the cost was borne by the Australian taxpayers. Then Jonathon Pearlman was able to report that the Prime Minister’s office had backed down (“Julia Gillard backs down in Queen gift row”)
So why did the Prime Minister’s office say the Palace had charged Australian taxpayers when this was not true? Why did the Prime Minister’s office tell a reporter this was so?
Whatever the situation, we should not forget that The Queen has not been paid for her magnificent services. She receives no superannuation or golden handshake. The same applies to members of the Royal Family
The republican movement’s leaders rushed in to try to use this as a basis for fundamental constitutional change and no doubt to shred our flag. Without bothering to check the facts they went to the media across the nation accusing the Palace of all sorts of things, including a lack of transparency.
Readers of this column will be aware of how the republican movement has been careless with the truth. Once again, they have egg on their faces.
The truly extraordinary thing is that the movement has for 13 years declined to indicate what changes it is proposing. The whole affair seems to have been concocted in a desperate attempt to negative the great success that the royal tour was at somehow diminish the great esteem in which The Queen is held by most Australians.
So was all this just another republican stunt timed for Australia Day?
25/01/2012 at 10:00 AM Professor David Flint AM From the Convenor's Desk Share via:
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Bangladesh and India: move towards open borders
January 15, 2015 Vipul Naik 8 Comments
As I’ve previously written, South-South migration — migration within and between poor countries — deserves attention in our understanding of global migration, and we can be inspired by scholars of migration and development who have worked hard on this. India is an important example: it is a large, fast-growing, but quite poor country (in per capita terms) surrounded by neighbors who are somewhat poorer in per capita terms and much smaller in size. I previously wrote part 1 of a two-part series on open borders within India and also looked at the existence of open borders between India and Nepal.
The topic of this post is more difficult: policy options for migration between Bangladesh and India. The lack of easily available public material on the subject, combined with my relative ignorance, make me an inappropriate candidate to delve into the relevant empirics and historical details. I’ve asked some others to do guest posts for the site on the subject, and these will hopefully materialize later this year. But, given that I consider the case for open borders to be universal, I should be able to provide an approximate contour of how I believe the case applies to India and Bangladesh. That’s what I try to do here.
“Chickensneckindia” by Ankur; Additions to original map by uploader. Licensed under CC-BY-SA from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chickensneckindia.jpg, used in the Wikipedia page Bangladesh–India border
Population and income differences
India’s population is about 1.21 billion and per capita GDP (PPP) estimates range from $4000 to $6000. Bangladesh has a population of about 157 million and per capita GDP (PPP) estimates range from $2100 to $3300. The estimates co-vary, i.e., the sources that estimate higher GDP (PPP) per capita for India estimate proportionately higher GDP (PPP) per capita for Bangladesh. You can see a few lists at this page.
Essentially, Bangladesh has about 13% the population and 60% the per capita GDP that India does.
The population ratio seems huge but not terribly so: even if all Bangladeshis migrated to India over a period of a decade, the effect on the Indian population as a whole would not be huge. On the other hand, current patterns of Bangladeshi migration, whereby they settle primarily in border states, may not be scalable to very large migration levels. I believe it is likely that, if borders were more formally opened, migrants from Bangladesh would move out farther to other parts of India, rather than primarily landing up in the nearby states of West Bengal and Assam. Also, I don’t think Bangladesh would empty out. Rather, the situation would probably be similar to that of Nepal and India: no immediate large-scale exodus, but over a longer timeframe, the “Bangladeshi diaspora” in India would grow to a size comparable with the population that is left in Bangladesh. Note that GDP (PPP) per capita in Nepal is lower than in Bangladesh, so if anything, pure economic pressure to migrate should be lower from Bangladesh. But there are some other differences, that we turn to next.
India-Bangladesh border map, source India’s second most dangerous border? by Martin W. Lewis, May 26, 2011 GeoCurrents
The GDP per capita differences with the bordering states are not so severe. According to a list of gross state domestic products for Indian states, West Bengal is close to the national average and does reasonably better than Bangladesh. Assam does only slightly better than Bangladesh, and the other North-Eastern states do about the same or worse. Ironically, part of the reason for the relative underdevelopment of these states is their relatively poor land connectivity with the rest of India, and that poor land connectivity is because of the geographical location of Bangladesh. As I mention later in the post, allowing freedom of movement through Bangladesh can facilitate greater economic integration of these states.
Why do Bangladeshis migrate to nearby states despite small income differences? I suspect there are many reasons, including long-term cultural connections, but there is also the advantage of being part of an economy that is on the whole larger, faster-growing, and more promising. Once they are in India, they can more easily move to other parts of India — even if most of them don’t avail of the opportunity. Another factor could be weather-related problems leading people to migrate temporarily or permanently out of where they live in Bangladesh.
Differences with Nepal
I’ll repeat some differences I listed in my post on open borders between India and Nepal:
Population: Bangladesh has a population of 150 million, about 5-6X the population of Nepal. So, having open borders with Bangladesh is (considered) less feasible, or at any rate, would be a bigger and more transformative change.
Greater cultural similarity propelling more migration: Bangladeshis share close cultural roots with West Bengal (indeed, Bangladesh and West Bengal were both part of the state of Bengal in British India). Thus, there is likely to be much greater migration of Bangladeshis since they may have more confidence they’ll be able to adjust to life in West Bengal. (In practice, due to reasons of geography and the strength of border security, many Bangladeshis migrate to Assam rather than West Bengal).
Religion: Bangladesh is an officially Muslim country with a Muslim majority. Although not as hostile to India as Pakistan, it still has some hostility. Nepal is a Hindu majority country with small amounts of Buddhism and Islam — religious demographics very similar to India.
Historical accident: Bangladesh and India actually started off somewhat well, because India supported Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in its struggle for independence against West Pakistan (~1971). But political changes in Bangladesh led to a worsening of relations.
Bangladeshi migration: raw numbers
As with most historical South-South migration, the current situation can be very open in practice for migrants. Or at least it has been until recent changes. An estimate of somewhere between 3 million and 20 million illegal immigrants from Bangladesh to India is a similar magnitude to the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the United States (about 7 million) and even comparable to the total illegal immigrant population of the United States (about 11-13 million being the median estimate, though there is again uncertainty). The number is smaller as a proportion of the population of India, which is more than 3.5 times the US population. This might explain the lower national salience in India of Bangladeshi immigration. On the other hand, the geographical concentration of Bangladeshi immigrants in West Bengal and Assam means greater regional salience of the issue.
Cultural camouflage
Here’s what Wikipedia says:
As per 2001 census there are 3,084,826 people in India who came from Bangladesh[1] No reliable numbers on illegal immigrants are currently available. Extrapolating the census data for the state of Assam alone gives a figure of 2 million.[3][4] Figures as high as 20 million are also reported in the government and media.[5][6] Samir Guha Roy of the Indian Statistical Institute called these estimates “motivatedly exaggerated”. After examining the population growth and demographic statistics, Roy instead states that a significant numbers of internal migration is sometimes falsely thought to be immigrants. An analysis of the numbers by Roy revealed that on average around 91000 Bangladeshis nationals might have crossed over to India every year during the years 1981-1991 but how many of them were identified and pushed back is not known. It is possible that a large portion of these immigrants returned on their own to their place of origin.[7]
According to one commentator, the trip to India from Bangladesh is one of the cheapest in the world, with a trip costing around Rs.2000 (around $30 US), which includes the fee for the “Tour Operator”. As Bangladeshi are cultural similar to the Bengali people in India, they are able to pass off as Indian citizens and settle down in any part of India to establish a future.,[8] for a very small price. This false identity can be bolstered with false documentation available for as little as Rs.200 ($3 US) can even make them part of the vote bank.
The cultural camouflage that Bangladeshi migrants can engage in reflects two truths: first, the absence of an all-knowing state that has documentation and records for all existing citizens (this might be changing, though, with new identification and documentation schemes being implemented). Second, the genuine historical and cultural connection between West Bengal and Bangladesh, that were one Indian state under British Rule prior to the Partition of India in 1947 (in fact, an attempted partition back in 1905 by the British had to ultimately be reversed after significant opposition). To the extent that there are no obvious differences between Indian Bengalis and Bangladeshis, it would seem that this should point in the direction of officially recognizing the freedom of movement, since it seems to obviate concerns regarding assimilation. But political commentators, who are keen to enforce the sanctity of borders and the formal concept of citizenship, often bemoan rather than celebrate the difficulty of distinguishing Bangladeshis from genuine Indian Bengalis:
Commonality of language, culture and religion between the two countries emerged as a major challenge in identifying immigrants, making deportation extremely difficult. The immigrants speak the same language as many Indians, and often have familial connections that make it easy to assimilate with the local population. Bangladesh’s consistent denial that its citizens are illegally crossing the border also complicates matters. Even when Indian authorities have identified illegal immigrants, deporting them becomes almost impossible given the reluctance of Bangladeshi authorities to cooperate.
An underdeveloped deportation machinery
As I wrote in my South-South migration post:
In some ways, the current nature of South-South migration as well as the social and political attitudes to it closely resemble 18th and 19th century migration worldwide. People moved from very poor countries to less poor countries with more vibrant cities and growth opportunities. Natives weren’t exactly thrilled, but strong anti-migration sentiment, while often virulent by modern standards, was relatively localized and took a fair amount of time to translate to successful national movements to curb migration. I’m not aware of survey data similar to the World Values Survey for the 19th century, but my guess is we’d see a similar 25-25-25-25 split about migration despite more overtly prejudicial attitudes among the people (similar to the situation in India today).
This connects with my very first post on the Open Borders site, where I blegged readers on why immigration was freer to the 19th century USA. I had listed three potential reasons in that post: (1) wisdom/desirability, (2) technological/financial feasibility, and (3) moral permissibility. At the time, I had written that (1) was unlikely, and the likely truth was a mutually reinforcing loop of (2) and (3) (that did eventually get broken in the United States with the Chinese Exclusion Act). I think the same dynamic is at play in South-South migration, with the difference that South-South migration today has at least some nominal level of border controls, and there’s enough of a global precedent of strict border controls that the learning curve towards very strict border enforcement can be (and in many cases, is being) traversed a lot faster.
Indeed, we can see this in India’s case today. There have been occasional bursts of effort to round up and deport illegal immigrants, often by governments that are prepared to basically “deport them all” — at least in principle. But if you’re used to US deportation numbers, you might laugh at passages like this:
Yet deportation under the Foreigners Act is also problematic. In 2003, the then Home Minister L. K. Advani ordered all states to deport illegal immigrants. A few weeks later 265 people were sent to the border, but authorities in Bangladesh declined to accept them. In fact India’s Border Security Forces (BSF), and its counterpart the Bangladesh Border Guards (then called the Bangladesh Rifles), came to the point of violence over the issue.
The deportation rates do seem to be increasing over time:
At the end of 2012, for instance, 16,530 Bangladeshi citizens with valid travel documents were found to be overstaying in India—while 6,537 and 5,234 Bangladeshi nationals were deported in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
And while the move towards newer, more effective forms of identification will probably mean that previous migrants get effectively amnestied, it may well make things harder for future migrants.
Overall, the level of preparedness and competence of the interior enforcement and deportation machinery at present seems to be comparable to what the US had for Chinese immigrants around the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. In both cases, natives are very unsympathetic, and many of them are openly virulent, to the immigrants. But the enforcement machinery is sporadic and erratic, and its throughput is minimal. Contrast this with “pro-immigrant” Barack Obama, who deported over 30,000 people a month, not so much because he personally hated immigrants, but because the deportation machinery was so well-established and functional that trying to slow it down it would be an expenditure of political capital — one that Obama didn’t consider necessary.
The terrorism problem
In the wake of the October 2014 Burdwan blast, close to the border with Bangladesh, carried out by an Islamic terrorist (or, in their view, revolutionary) group called the Indian Mujahideen, concerns about border security and terrorism were revived. The blasts revived concerns about Muslim madrassas (training institutes) as breeding grounds for terrorism Interestingly, Indian Muslim religious leaders (who do not necessarily represent the views of all or even most Indian Muslims, but are considered widely influential) sought to deflect this by stating that the problem wasn’t Indian Muslims, it was Muslims coming from across the border (i.e., Bangladesh). For instance, NDTV reports:
“No madrasa in India is anti-national. No Muslim in India is anti-national,” said Jamiat’s Sidiqullah Chowdhury. “The ones who come from outside are anti-nationals. Indian Muslims or madrasas are not terrorists.”
I believe that the threat of terrorism is in general greatly exaggerated because of its greater political salience and visibility, but it is still a threat that deserves to be taken somewhat seriously. Would an open border between India and Bangladesh lead to a dramatic increase in terrorist activity? I don’t know enough to offer a clear answer, though I’m hoping that posts later this year will explore the question more closely. But going by what we generally know about terrorism and its relation to migration policy, it seems that, to the extent that the threat of terrorism can be reasonably contained, it can be done through better targeted policy, and closing the border to economic migrants can in some ways complicate it. Consider, for instance, this discussion in the Daily Mail:
“The advantages they enjoy here are innumerable: immigrant-pockets which have proved to be excellent hideouts; a big metropolitan, Kolkata offers them concealment and its railway stations, namely Howrah and Sealdah, easy connectivity with the rest of the country,” the official added.
In other words, those with terrorist ambitions can conceal themselves among economic migrants, who are also undocumented and seek to evade detection. What would happen if the border were officially opened? Things could move in either direction: terrorists would be hiding within a larger population, so would be harder to detect. On the other hand, if peaceful migrants did not need to hide from the law, a documentation or identity scheme could be more effectively enforced, so that one could more reasonably presuppose that those who did not seek to get appropriate documentation had nefarious intentions. Also, the cooperation of the Bangladeshi government in combating terrorist activities could be enlisted more effectively if the Indian government weren’t getting in the way of peaceful migrants from Bangladesh. How do these competing considerations balance out? It’s hard to know a priori, and it’s possible that there will be an increase in terrorist activity, but I don’t think that it will be a significant increase.
This is similar to the point that my co-blogger John Lee made about the US-Mexico border, where he drew on statements by officials who actually work in law enforcement at border towns:
Simply put, if you want a secure US-Mexico border, one where law enforcement can focus on rooting out murderers and smugglers, you need open borders. You need a visa regime that lets those looking to feed their families and looking for a better life to enter legally, with a minimum of muss and fuss. When only those who cross the border unlawfully are those who have no good business being in the US, then you can have a secure border.
Co-blogger Joel Newman made some related points when discussing open borders, terrorism, and Islam:
So one argument notes that, unlike our current restrictionist policy which devotes considerable resources and focus on keeping out unauthorized immigrants seeking to work in the U.S., resources under an open borders policy could be focused on screening out terrorists. Another argument is that the free movement of people between countries could lead to the spreading of ideas contrary to those which inspire terrorism; immigrants who move between the U.S. or other western countries and their native countries would share values such as individual rights, tolerance, and democracy with their compatriots who remain in the native countries. A third argument is that if terrorism grows out of weak economies in native countries, the free movement of people from those countries and the resulting economic benefit to those countries (through remittances and immigrants returning to their native country to establish new businesses) could help prevent terrorism.
There is another reason open borders could help combat terrorism. Kevin Johnson, author of Opening the Floodgates, notes that “carefully crafted immigration enforcement is less likely to frighten immigrant communities—the very communities whose assistance is essential if the United States truly seeks to successfully fight terrorism.” (page 35) Without the fear of being the targets of immigration enforcement, immigrants would be more likely to cooperate with authorities in identifying individuals who are potential terrorists in the U.S. and assist with efforts against terrorist groups abroad.
Narendra Modi’s election rhetoric
On February 5, 2014, Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi gives a Hindi speech in Assam from citizenist premises. He argues that Indian citizens should be given preference in jobs, and Bangladeshi immigrants to West Bengal and Assam have been stealing jobs from natives
Narendra Modi assumed office as the Prime Minister of India in May 2014. While campaigning for the election, Modi emphasized repeatedly that, once elected, he would aim to solve the problem of Bangladeshi illegal immigration. It wasn’t clear at the time whether his words, like most political manifestos, were mere promises, or whether he intended to follow through on them. Modi did make these pronouncements only when campaigning in Bengal and Assam, rather than using a national platform, suggesting that it might be more of a device to connect with and win over voters in the affected regions than a key component of his actual agenda.
Modi’s views on immigrants had some interesting twists. For instance, in February 2014, Modi made remarks to the effect that India’s borders would and should remain open for Hindus worldwide, but not for Bangladeshi Muslims. The “open for Hindus worldwide” idea would be similar to Israel’s Law of Return.
“As soon as we come to power at the Centre, detention camps housing Hindu migrants from Bangladesh will be done away with,” Mr Modi told a public rally at Ramnagar in Assam.
“We have a responsibility toward Hindus who are harassed and suffer in other countries. Where will they go? India is the only place for them. Our government cannot continue to harass them. We will have to accommodate them here,” he said.
Stating that this did not mean that Assam has to bear the entire burden, he said “it will be unfair on them and they will be settled across the country with facilities to begin a new life.”
Earlier, Hindus from Pakistan had arrived in Gujarat and Rajasthan, but Atal Behari Vajpayee during his prime ministership evolved schemes to accommodate them in different states, he said.
However, Modi has threatened deportation for the majority of Bangladeshi migrants, who identify as Muslim:
Narendra Modi has said that “Bangladeshis” will be deported if he comes to power, in his sharpest comments yet on illegal immigrants. They have been given the red carpet welcome by politicians just for votes, he said at a rally on Sunday.
“You can write it down. After May 16, these Bangladeshis better be prepared with their bags packed,” Modi said in Serampore in West Bengal, which shares a porous border with Bangladesh.
Modi accuses other political parties in West Bengal and Assam of encouraging such migration and helping the migrants obtain false documents so that they can vote — a variant of the electing a new people argument, a particularly extreme form of the general political externalities argument. I don’t know enough about the extent of actual voter fraud in West Bengal and Assam (although voter fraud in the US seems to be greatly exaggerated, the situation is likely to be quite different in India). I do think, though, that to the extent the problem is real, it is created to quite an extent by the illegal status that these people have. If one political party keeps announcing its agenda to deport you (even if it rarely executes on that agenda), and another political party, openly or tacitly, allows you to stay, who will you swear allegiance to?
Interestingly, even while disagreeing with specifics, most commentators have tacitly endorsed Modi’s overall frame of needing to restrict immigration from Bangladesh. For instance, the answers to a Quora question about Modi’s speech (YouTube video earlier in the post) defend a nation’s right to arbitrary selection of immigration policy, appealing to intuitive versions of the idea we here call citizenism and collective property rights. For instance, Syed Fuad, who identifies as Bangladeshi, writes:
I’m not an Indian, so it’s not for me to decide. But in my opinion, Narendra Modi shouldn’t take it easy. He, being the Indian Prime Minister, is accountable to Indian citizens. Addressing their issues should always come before anything else, even if it means taking strong and often unpopular stands on sensitive issues.
Narendra Modi’s proposed solution
For the first few months after being elected, Modi seemed to be quiet on the subject of Bangladeshi migration. I assumed that, like most campaign trail rhetoric, this too would not actually be executed.
However, around the end of November, Narendra Modi’s proposed solution was released. Quartz has a detailed review. Here are the highlights:
Prime minister Narendra Modi has indicated that his government is open to executing a land swap with Bangladesh that will iron out long-standing border disputes and help thousands of people who live along the 4,096.7 kilometer-long common land boundary.
The deal, once ratified by the Indian parliament (PDF) will redraw India’s boundary with Bangladesh, where New Delhi will cede 17160 acres of land, in return for 7110 acres and swap enclaves. Enclaves are areas which are surrounded from all sides by foreign territories. India currently has 111 enclaves belonging to Bangladesh, while Bangladesh has 51 such areas.
Modi, in a speech in Assam on Dec. 01, also assured that the land swap—which his own party had previously vehemently opposed—would stop illegal Bangladeshi migrants from entering into India.
“The government will utilise the India-Bangla land transfer agreement to seal all routes across the international border through which illegal Bangladeshi migrants have been entering Assam and creating havoc in the state,” the prime minister said.
Quartz notes many problems with Modi’s solution in terms of the stated aim of reducing the illegal immigrant population, but does not question the goals themselves.
What would I suggest?
For good or bad, Narendra Modi, thanks to his generally hardline reputation, has more leeway to make genuine progress with migration liberalization than most other prime ministers. Given his past record of rhetoric and action, he is relatively insulated from the charge of being soft on Bangladeshis or on Muslims. This gives him a Nixon goes to China opportunity.
Modi has made some surprise moves in that direction. I don’t know about the wisdom of the land swap per se, but insofar as it contradicts his own rhetoric and at least apparently concedes land to the other country, it shows how, as somebody with a hardliner image, he is able to take actions that people with a softer image might be afraid to take as it would make them look weak.
But the land swap does not solve the fundamental need for free movement: even after all these years, the villages of Bangladesh and West Bengal are intertwined. People have extended families across the border. People seek economic opportunity across the border (my co-blogger John Lee made a related point about the borders of South-East Asia and the Nusantara a while back).
Modi can take a bold step forward by proposing a free migration zone with Bangladesh of the same sort that India has with Nepal. If Bangladeshis can come and go as they please, they have few incentives to pretend to be Indian citizens or to vote for parties using fraudulent documentation. Most people from Nepal who come to India are secure in the knowledge that they are free to go back and forth, and feel little need to become Indian citizens because it makes very little material difference to them (of course, there will be some who want Indian citizenship after living in India for a long time, or if they want to travel to third countries). Bangladeshis could get to the same point.
Modi could combine the creation of legal channels for migration with user fees that are slightly greater, but not much greater, than the cost of migrating illegally and getting false documentation. He could also come up with creative ways of encouraging greater geographical spread of Bangladeshi migrants. He’s already given the matter some thought with regards to Bangladeshi Hindu refugees. I don’t know offhand what the ideal solutions would be, or even if the problems faced by the states adjacent to Bangladesh are serious enough to warrant action, but it might still be politically expedient for Modi to show he is doing something in that regard. For instance, there could be special trains for immigrants that, at a relatively low cost, transport the immigrants to specific states, and where the immigrants formally enter the country after getting off the train at the new state. (Incidentally, concerns that immigrants who land at a particular part of the country may just stay there rather than migrating to other parts of the country were also voiced by some officers at Ellis Island).
There is also the question of whether the Bangladeshi government will agree to a free migration agreement with India. If it doesn’t, the Indian government can still do something similar unilaterally, but perhaps with fewer bells and whistles, so as to encourage the Bangladeshi government to reciprocate. Overall, I believe that the case for free migration doesn’t depend on reciprocity, but it may still be politically expedient to negotiate the deal that way, to placate voters that India is getting something from the deal. Independently, there is probably some value in making it easier for Indians to move to and from Bangladesh. There are also trade and transportation advantages: reducing border tensions with Bangladesh can allow for easier transportation of goods and people between the North-Eastern states and the rest of India. Currently, due to the way the borders are structured, the North-Eastern states are connected to the rest of India via a very narrow region of land, making economic integration harder. The free migration agreement can accompany greater ease of movement of goods and people through Bangladesh between the North-Eastern states and the rest of India.
The place premium between Bangladesh and India is probably not large (it would approximately equal the GDP per capita ratio, which is less than 2). And the absolute gains per migrant aren’t large either. Why, then, is this important?
The absolute population sizes in question are big enough. Allowing the 150 million Bangladeshis to move to India, seasonally or permanently, is a big deal even if the per capita gains aren’t huge. It creates a larger, more flexible, integrated labor market.
There may also be a peace dividend: with less border tensions, the residents of the countries have more opportunity to collaborate, and the governments can better negotiate on other issues.
The Indian government saves on some border and interior enforcement costs, though there may be some costs to setting up an efficient free movement system. But I suspect that those costs are less than the costs of setting up a border and enforcement process that actually works at the level that the US system does.
The free movement zone can create a precedent for a larger free movement zone. Other countries like Sri Lanka and Burma could be encouraged to join at a later stage. And in the longer run, perhaps Pakistan could be part of the zone as well. Open borders between India and Pakistan are unlikely to happen in the near future, because of the usual problems facing open borders between hostile nations. I think a free migration zone offers the best bet.
This is somewhat niche, but allowing free movement creates an insurance of sorts against adverse weather events, something that Bangladesh in particular is susceptible to because much of its land is low-lying and flood-prone. It is believed that climate change will exacerbate the problems that Bangladesh is facing. Free migration can possibly help avoid disaster striking suddenly. Similar points has been made by co-bloggers Joel and Nathan.
From the open borders perspective, I believe that this is a critical time in the history of India’s immigration enforcement. This is a time when Indian record-keeping is finally getting good enough that the country can start building a systematic enforcement and deportation apparatus. If we start traveling down this road, it can be quite hard (though not impossible) to reverse or change course. I believe that the years immediately before and after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act had considerable importance in terms of the development of the basic immigration enforcement apparatus, as well as the legal precendents they created. India could be going through a similar phase. Putting a brake on the process could yield larger-than-meets-the-eye dividends in terms of an undesirable road not taken.
Some of the links in this section are also present in the body of the article.
Nepal and India: an open borders case study by Vipul Naik, Open Borders: The Case, March 21, 2014.
South-South migration and the “natural state” by Vipul Naik, Open Borders: The Case, November 22, 2014.
Open borders within India (part 1) by Vipul Naik, Open Borders: The Case, March 31, 2014.
Vipul Naik
Vipul Naik founded the Open Borders website in March 2012. See also:
Vipul Naik’s personal statement
Vipul Naik’s description of open borders on his personal site
Page about Vipul Naik on Open Borders
AssamBangladeshclimate changeIndiaNarendra ModiNepalSouth-South migrationWest Bengal
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8 thoughts on “Bangladesh and India: move towards open borders”
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The allegation of immigrants claiming illegal citizenship papers and becoming political vote banks is common in Malaysia too. The large Bangladeshi migrant population in Malaysia has been a fertile target for bigoted attacks in the past: http://openborders.info/blog/electing-a-new-people-in-malaysia-illegal-naturalisation-and-election-fraud/
As you say, the problem in the first place is that these people need to seek illegal papers in order to simply exercise their right to move in peace. If they had a legal avenue to migrate peacefully, they wouldn’t be beholden to corrupt politicians or government officials, and the risk of having their identities used as fraudulent vote banks would be significantly reduced.
(Also, despite claims that immigrants vote illegally in Malaysia, the evidence of actual electoral fraud in Malaysia directly involving immigrants voting is minimal; on our last election day, there were more stories of citizens being mistaken for “illegals” than of actual “illegals” showing up to vote. My take anyway is that if Malaysian authorities wanted to commit voter fraud, they have safer ways of manipulating vote counts that don’t directly involve people showing up at the polls. The immigrants’ identities could be used to register them as voters, but after that the government could just directly manipulate the final vote tallies, without going to the logistical trouble of coordinating hundreds of thousands of illegal voters.)
zopfan says:
What do you do for living Vipul Ji?
Yousuf says:
Vipul- Thank you. Great article. Very informative. Hoping there will be open border. And soon.
I am a Bangladeshi, born in Independent Bangladesh and now living in America. I have been fortunate to have the opportunities to visit Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Germany. Traveled by road and never encountered a border crossing in any of them. Wish I could do the same when I go visit my birthplace in Bangladesh. Wish I could hop on a car and take a joy ride to Gowhatti or take a trip to Calcutta or Darjeeling.
My father was born in 1920s. He was very fortunate. He got to travel and see India before partition. He remembered his youth very fondly and hoped one day there would be open border and his kids would get to do the same.
Jinnah and the British divided the country. I hope the people of this generation can undo their wrongdoing.
Some might say “terrorism” is the main reason why there may not be open border between India and Bangladesh. I think this issue is overblown – primarily used for scoring political points. Both government will save millions of taka/rupee currently wasted on border enforcement which could be used in law enforcement and wipe out terrorist activities.
The Bangla speaking people in Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh, and West Bengal are the same people – culturally, socially, language, and even in religion. Let them move freely. Live freely. Open the border!!!
Bangladesh people can come and make already dangerously polluted India worse. Leading to mass death and famine. There is a difference between why Germany opened borders and worlds beat known immigrant nation USA not accepting open borders. Please look at practical solutions like making Muslim country men wear condom and also have one kid per family and not marry more than one woman. Send their women to job so that your family income becomes better. Stop making this earth overcrowded with babies like ant colonies.
Asian says:
I personally think India and Bangladesh should become one country again…then immigration at least would be a moot point.
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Bangladesh and India: move towards open borders is licensed by Vipul Naik under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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Music Park: Maxwell @ The MGM National Harbor — 10/4/18
Posted on 10/10/2018 by Will Colbert in Live Review and tagged Brooklyn, Maxwell, MGM National Harbor, neo-soul, R&B, soul.
Maxwell performs at MGM National Harbor on Oct. 4, 2018. (Photo by Will Colbert)
Grammy award-winning R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell made a recent stop at The Theater at MGM National Harbor as part of the 50 Intimate Nights Live Tour. It has been over 20 years since the release of his debut album, Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite (1996), but the silky soul singer showed that he’s still got it!
Maxwell, along with artists like Erykah Badu and D’Angelo, have been credited as the originators of neo-soul. The genre that dominated the late ‘90s and early aughts incorporated jazz, funk, and hip-hop into a contemporary R&B sound.
During the Oct. 4 show, Maxwell performed many quintessential neo-soul songs from Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite. The MGM audience danced and sung along to the timeless “Sumthin’ Sumthin’,” as well as the Go-Go infused version of “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” and the sexy “…Till the Cops Come Knockin’.”
Maxwell’s music has always been about adult romance, which can be read as “babymaking music.” During the show, he performed his new single “Shame,” which explored love from a more nuanced perspective. The lyrics were about self-love in an age where social media creates alternate realities that are disingenuous.
“The song is about removing that mask of expectation and letting go of the shame of being real and vulnerable,” Maxwell said in a statement (according to Pitchfork). “Shame,” will appear on the final installment of the blacksummers’NIGHT album trilogy, which has been slated for a 2019 release.
Listen to “Shame” by Maxwell on YouTube:
Maxwell has often been compared to Prince for his vocal delivery. The gifted singer had a perfect falsetto pitch during his performance of “Pretty Wings,” from BLACKsummers’night (2009), as well as “1990x” and “Lake By the Ocean,” both from blackSUMMERS’night (2016).
The charismatic performer is a talented musician, but he also has a sense of humor. “Where are the married people,” he asked the audience. After pausing to gauge the crowd’s response, he smiled and then said, “Good, now I know who’s single.” May we all have at least one day in our lives that we’re as smooth!
Maxwell dedicates “Lifetime,” from the Now album (2001), to those that are wrongfully imprisoned. The song’s lyrics, which at first listen seem to be about a relationship, took on new meaning when presented through a socially conscious lens. “I can let my life pass me by or I can just try and try” can easily be the thoughts of someone looking at the bleak prospects of a life sentence. Maxwell appears to be joining other artists who are using their music to make statements on social issues.
The show was a journey through Maxwell’s hits and a glimpse into things to come. The Brooklynite may be an R&B veteran with many years in the game, but he still has tons to give. His fans across the world and those that were at the MGM last week are here for it!
Here are some photos of Maxwell performing at The Theater at MGM National Harbor on Oct. 4, 2018. All photos copyright and courtesy of Will Colbert.
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The best of both worlds: James Powell, M.D., combines his love of teaching and pediatrics
August 24, 2012 at 3:00 pm aimeec Leave a comment
(L-R) Fred Michel, M.D., ’71, chief medical officer, Medical Group, James Powell, M.D., ’92, winner of the Cheston Berlin Service Award, and Cheston Berlin, Jr., M.D., professor of pediatrics and pharmacology.
While growing up in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, James Powell M.D., ’92, knew he wanted to be a doctor from an early age. His experience with his own childhood pediatrician, Robert Childs, M.D. (also an alumnus of the College of Medicine as he completed his residency in 1975), was another deciding factor for Powell.
As an undergraduate and a College of Medicine student, Powell had the opportunity to shadow Childs and James Caggiano, M.D., ’77, at their Hazleton pediatric practice when he was home on weekends. This experience, along with the wisdom of his College of Medicine advisor, Cheston Berlin Jr., M.D., was influential in Powell’s decision to study pediatrics.
Powell received his undergraduate degree in molecular and cell biology from Penn State. Unsure of a specialty when he started at the College of Medicine, it was this background that ultimately led him to choose pediatric hematology/oncology.
He completed his pediatric residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, followed by a fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in pediatric hematology/oncology.
In 2003, he returned to the Medical Center to work in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. During that time, Powell was instrumental in starting a sickle cell disease clinic. He also spent time working with several satellite clinics, including Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College.
He served on the Penn State Alumni Association’s Alumni Council from 2004-2010 and the College of Medicine Alumni Society Board of Directors from 2005-2010, which was a way for him to give back and stay connected.
“It’s important for me to give back to the school that helped me get where I am today,” Powell said. “I’m glad I chose Penn State for both degrees since I received an outstanding education.”
Powell was hired by Centre Medical and Surgical Associates (now Mount Nittany Physician Group) in 2008 as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and also as a general pediatrician.
In addition to being a member of the Mount Nittany Physician Group, Powell is also the Pediatrics Clerkship site director for the University Park Regional Campus. His solid connection with Hershey means he chooses to send a lot of patients there, which makes treatment and travel easier on both the patients and their families.
Powell gets the best of both worlds: “I still get to teach, which I love. I get to do some general pediatrics and stay active in hematology/oncology. It’s a good mix.”
The Pediatrics Clerkship provides the opportunity for two College of Medicine students to spend six weeks in State College, which includes three-week rotations in outpatient, and inpatient/nursery/sub-specialty settings. In July 2013, the Pediatrics Clerkship will expand to three students.
“It’s come a long way in a short two years, and I see it continuing to grow,” Powell said. “It’s the perfect environment for learning community pediatrics.”
– By Jen Baker
Entry filed under: Alumni. Tags: award, College of Medicine, community, hematology, oncology, pediatrics, Penn State College of Medicine.
Today’s Research – Earlier tracheostomies improve outcomes Collaborating to make central Pennsylvania healthier
As temperatures soar this week, be prepared by learning how to protect children from the heat:… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 hours ago
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Penn State College of Medicine leads transformation of medical education
October 4, 2018 at 11:11 am pennstatemedicine Leave a comment
Amarpreet Ahluwalia, a medical student at Penn State College of Medicine, smiles during a small group session at the American Medical Association conference.
By Katherine Brind’Amour
Being selected to host the American Medical Association’s (AMA) “Accelerating Change in Medical Education” conference both acknowledged Penn State College of Medicine’s hard-won expertise in health systems science and enabled its leaders to share strategies for revolutionizing medical education.
More than 120 medical students, residents, physicians and educators from 27 schools across the U.S. attended the student-led consortium Aug. 3-4 in Hershey.
The College of Medicine has emerged as a leader in the field since receiving a $1 million, five-year grant from the AMA in 2013 to develop and implement curriculum changes supporting health systems science and medical education transformation.
“To me, health systems science is essentially good care. It’s not a separate entity—it’s being cognizant of all facets of your patient’s life, putting the patient at the center of your work and understanding how to make the system work for that patient,” says Amarpreet Ahluwalia, the College of Medicine student chosen to co-lead the planning of the AMA conference.
The AMA’s movement to improve medical education stems from the fact that little change had occurred in medical education in the United States since the early 20th century. For more than 100 years, education focused primarily on biomedical science and clinical science, despite decades of transformation to the health care system. And while doctors graduated well prepared to face the technical aspects of being a physician, it has become increasingly obvious that they are not well prepared for the navigational and administrative sides of practicing medicine.
“You can’t improve a system until you understand how that system works,” says Ahluwalia. “The goal for the conference was to look at the barriers and challenges and to celebrate the successes in health systems science in medical education across the continuum of learning.”
Together with co-leader and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Internal Medicine and Pediatrics resident Dr. Michael McCann, Ahluwalia crafted a unique experience for attendees by broadening the spectrum from its historical students-only guest list to triads of one student, resident and faculty member from each of the 32 schools participating.
“The idea was to get every stage of learner at the table, sharing ideas, interacting and solving problems,” says McCann. “All of the workshops were set up to be engaging and productive, so that each team would go back to their school with an action plan or a list of ideas to begin implementing health systems science into their medical education in at least one practical way.”
See photos of the AMA Conference on Flickr.
College of Medicine students hosted and helped with day-of operations for the August event, and students, residents and faculty from the College of Medicine and many attending universities gave the talks and led the workshops.
“Our goal is to develop ‘systems citizens’—future physicians who see their role not just limited to diagnostics but also as a steward of the medical system to make sure it is safe and high value, so that patients get the best care they possibly can,” says Dr. Jed Gonzalo, associate dean of health systems education at the College of Medicine, who also played a role in organizing the conference.
The College of Medicine instituted a patient navigation training program, designed by Gonzalo and a team of educators, for all its medical students as part of the AMA grant. The program pairs students with at-risk patients to help patients better manage their own health care. What started as a one-week session several years ago has grown into more than a dozen health systems science programs across the medical school—including formal courses in each year of medical curriculum and a continuing education program for health professionals at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Gonzalo also helped lead the writing of the original textbook on health systems science.
“Our model for medical education updates the long-time two-pillar approach of biomedical science and clinical science by adding health humanities and health systems science,” says Dr. Terry Wolpaw, vice dean for educational affairs at the College of Medicine. The aim is not to replace the valued skills and knowledge taught historically but to enrich them.
“Penn State College of Medicine is leading the way in transforming the way physicians are trained,” says Dr. Susan Skochelak, group vice president, Medical Education, at the AMA “The bold, innovative programs created and initiated at schools like Penn State are then shared and implemented across the country, resulting in physicians who are equipped from day one to work in a rapidly changing health care environment.
“Penn State’s Systems Navigation Curriculum, which embeds first-year medical students working as patient navigators in clinical sites throughout central Pennsylvania, was created to ensure students learn not only the basic and clinical sciences but also health systems science. This is an important innovation that allows medical students to add value to the health care system while learning critical skills.”
The College of Medicine is planning to grow the program even further, with efforts underway to create degree and certificate programs in the subject.
“We are proud that Penn State has been able to contribute to this transformation in medical education on the national stage—enough so that the AMA selected us to host the conference,” says Gonzalo. “We believe this work is at the vanguard of medical education transformation.”
From left, Dr. Jed Gonzalo, Dr. Jennifer Myers and Dr. Luan Lawson were the keynote speakers during the American Medical Association conference.
Entry filed under: Features. Tags: American Medical Association, medical education, Penn State College of Medicine.
Team research reveals how cells “eat and sleep” may impact several cancer types “Every day is a gift:” 500th heart transplant patient celebrates milestone with gratitude
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Home Politics Three strategies to fight the tax avoidance revealed by the Paradise Papers
Three strategies to fight the tax avoidance revealed by the Paradise Papers
The first strategy is to require the public disclosure of country by country reporting of company tax affairs.
Roman Lanis, University of Technology Sydney and Brett Govendir, University of Technology Sydney
The release of more than 13 million financial and tax documents known as the “Paradise Papers” show that the Panama Papers last year and LuxLeaks in 2014 were just the tip of the tax avoidance iceberg. It also shows that governments have not learnt their lesson and taken action.
Both the OECD and G20 made recommendations several years ago that would have increased transparency of corporate taxes, and extensive research shows that this is effective in limiting corporate tax avoidance. Recently, we also recommended to a Senate committee that the government limit the use of some financial products that can be re-purposed for tax avoidance.
The Paradise Papers detail the complex offshore financial and tax activities of celebrities, politicians, world leaders, and more than 100 multinational entities. Here are three things that could help curb the problem.
Read more: Explainer: the difference between tax avoidance and evasion
1) Require public disclosure of tax affairs
The first strategy is to require the public disclosure of country by country reporting of company tax affairs (CbCR). This idea comes out of the OECD’s action plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). It would increase tax transparency by requiring corporations to make specific disclosures on the tax paid in different countries, by project and region.
Doing so would allow any interested party to observe and understand how corporations transfer profits from high to low tax jurisdictions. With such specific information it would more difficult for companies to hide their tax affairs and provide impetus and justification for the public to pressure tax avoiders.
This idea was strongly opposed by the majority of multinational entities’ in most countries on the basis of commercial sensitivity of the information, the compliance burden, and that it might distort the view of a company’s true contribution to an economy. However, such argument is spurious as large corporations already have sophisticated systems in place that are capable of producing this information.
Nevertheless, some European countries (notably the United Kingdom and France) do require that large multinational companies publicly disclose their tax affairs, country by country.
The laws in the United Kingdom fostered a 2010 campaign that named and shamed companies who were not disclosing subsidiaries in tax havens. That campaign made the UK authorities tighten disclosure requirements, and after companies started disclosing their tax haven subsidiaries they became less tax aggressive.
Unfortunately, there is no similar mechanism in Australia for the provision of information to the public to pressure corporations that avoid taxes.
2) Create a register of who benefits
The next idea comes from the G20, and is to set up a public register of beneficial ownership (in other words, who owns the companies).
Earlier this year the Australian Treasury released a consultation paper looking at this idea. At the time, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer noted that:
Improving transparency around who owns, controls, and benefits from companies will assist with preventing the misuse of companies for illicit activities including tax evasion, money laundering, bribery, corruption, and terrorism financing.
However, the policy is still at the consultation stage.
Interestingly, a recent comment by ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan seems to both support and dismiss a public register.
A register of beneficial ownership is just, you know, what someone says someone else owns so, you know, it could be good but it could be just a lot of ‘stuff’ that doesn’t really help us.
The United Kingdom has set up a beneficial ownership register, but it is too early to know what the impact has been.
3) Limit some financial products
A third strategy is one we presented to a Senate committee and might have tackled some of what the multinational conglomerate Glencore was alleged to have been doing in the Paradise Papers.
Glencore is alleged to have used cross currency interest rate swaps and is under investigation by the Australian Tax Office. These are financial instruments that may be legitimately used by companies to manage foreign currency risk, for instance when borrowing debt denominated in foreign currencies.
However, these instruments may also be used by multinationals to avoid tax, by shifting profits between subsidiaries in different countries. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine whether these instruments are being used for legitimate purposes or for avoiding tax. Our proposal is to prohibit or limit their use, as has been done in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is a special case, as it has a very low tax rate, but some form of this policy might be adopted in Australia and elsewhere.
Read more: Four things the Paradise Papers tell us about global business and political elites
With three large leaks, spanning a number of years, Australians have a right to ask why the problem of tax avoidance seems to be stagnating, if not getting worse.
Perhaps the hackers who leak these documents are getting better. But the likely answer is that it is the result of inaction by governments around the world, and Australia in particular.
Recommendations from the OECD, G20, and even our submission to a Senate inquiry show there are ideas out there to solve some of these issues. And countries such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and France have made efforts to increase public transparency of corporate tax affairs and limit the use of certain financial instruments.
The research from these countries show that these proposals can be successful if enacted.
In the end, failure to cut down on tax avoidance is not due to a lack of proposals. The failure to enact these proposals feeds into the distrust of all governments as they don’t appear to be doing a very good job at limiting tax avoidance.
Roman Lanis, Associate Professor, Accounting, University of Technology Sydney and Brett Govendir, Lecturer, Accounting Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney
Politics Bob Lee - May 20, 2019
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What lies beneath the cracks in Opal Tower — and buildings...
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Politics March 28, 2018
Corporate Tax Avoidance
Pardise Papers
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A cheat sheet for reading the federal budget
Politics May 6, 2018
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Lord Clinton-Davis: My Lords, I am sorry to say that I heard nothing from the noble Lord that indicated that the matteror something like itcould not be dealt with by order, although the Government ought to have regard to the principles outlined by the noble Lord. I want to consider the matter more than I have done, but I do not think that anything that has been said so far makes it appropriate to amend the Bill. I go a long way with the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, on the issue but not as far as he wants me to.
Lord Hunt of Wirral: My Lords, I follow the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, in a debate that is similar to one that we had in Committee. I have already spoken to the matter in general terms in connection with the previous amendment, but, as Amendment No. 153 is included in the group, I thought that I ought to explain why I tabled it.
The amendment would insert the word "only" into Section 2B(3), so that the list of circumstances in which the Lord Chancellor may make an order is restricted to the list set out in that subsection. That would clarify the Government's acceptance of the previous amendment, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, which took out the Lord Chancellor's power to make an order that operated irrespective of the terms of any court order or agreement.
I want to give the Minister the opportunity to satisfy the House that the Government accept that the section, as now drafted, will permit the Lord Chancellor only to make orders that are within the scope of subsection (3)that is, orders that will only operate wholly or partly by reference to a condition in the court order or agreement. This is the proposed restriction to circumstances equivalent to provisional damages by ensuring that a court order or agreement can be varied only if the original order provides for circumstances in which that variation can take place.
Amendment No. 154 would leave out new Section 2B(3)(d), which would enable the Lord Chancellor to create rules of court in the order. We are aware that the Lord Chancellor will consult widely on the proposed secondary legislation and that such consultation will include practitioners, but we feel that the Civil Procedure Rule Committee is the best place for drafting rules of court. Rules need to work for the judiciary and for practitioners, and I am not sure that the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor is best placed to make those decisions.
12 May 2003 : Column 67
Amendment No. 155 would remove new Section 2B(4), which is, in effect, a Henry VIII clause, entitling the Lord Chancellor to amend primary legislation on provisional or further damages. Can the Minister explain that? Whatever she may say about the restrictive use of such a power, it would enable the Government effectively to change the way in which damages are paid by a substantial extension of the scope of provisional damages. It is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, but I am a little concerned that that is hardly an effective way to amend primary legislation.
Will the Minister give us some reassurance on those points? I thought that it might be helpful if I dealt with those three amendments at this stage.
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Clinton-Davis for his support on the amendments. I agree with him that they are not appropriate. In the interests of clarity on the issue, I shall go through them amendment by amendment. I accept that it is a difficult area. There has been a lot of discussion and debate about this, but we have an opportunity to see whether we can reach a modicum of agreement.
Amendment No. 151 would restrict the scope of any order that the Lord Chancellor can make allowing the upward variation of periodical payments to the circumstances in which provisional damages can currently be awarded. By preventing the making of any order allowing upward variation in any terms different from those specified, the amendment would defeat the purpose of providing for variation through an order-making power.
As I said in Committee, the Government have no plans to extend the scope of variation after the initial order. However, that should not prevent us from keeping open the option of extending or limiting further the extent of variation, for example, in the light of experience and further developments in the insurance market or making any minor adjustments, should they prove necessary. The order-making power provides the flexibility to do this. It is important that this flexibility is not undermined. In relation to the previous group, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, raised the issue of satellite litigation and the need to hone matters to ensure that they are right. There should be flexibility to change by order affirmative resolutions so that Parliament has an opportunity to look at it. That is what we are seeking to do; namely, to get the structure right but retain the flexibility if, from experience, we find that the assumptions we make now are not founded in fact.
Furthermore, by basing the restrictions to the order-making power on provisional damages legislation and by referring solely to increases in payments resulting from a deterioration in the claimant's condition, the amendment would prevent us from making the initial order in the terms which we propose. Provisional damages do not allow for an improvement in the claimant's condition, nor do they allow the defendant
to apply. We believe that variable payments should be available in these circumstances, not least to put claimants and defendants on a level playing field so far as is possible.
Although we recognise the noble Lord's concern that the provisions governing variation should not be too open-ended, we do not believe that restricting them in the way suggested is necessary. The need for consultation and affirmative resolution provides the necessary safeguards to ensure that the order-making power is used reasonably and responsibly.
Amendment No. 153 limits the provisions that may be included in an order to those listed on the face of the Bill. We have all previously said that this is a developing area of law; it is important that the framework for the order-making power is flexible enough to cater for future eventualities that cannot yet be foreseen. We believe that it would therefore be unhelpful to limit the provision in the way suggested.
Amendment No. 154 removes the provision in new Section 2B(3) enabling an order allowing variation to make provision of a kind which could be made by civil procedure rules. I set out the position of the Government on this issue in Committee. The provision will not enable the Government to do any more than can already be provided for under rules of court. But it may be more efficient to deal with all provisions relating to variation wholly by order rather than a mix and match of rules and orders.
As the House is aware, rules of court made by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee must first be allowed by the Lord Chancellor and are then subject to negative resolution by Parliament. However, any provision which is implemented by way of an order will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. As this provides a higher level of scrutiny than is currently provided by the rules, we do not accept that this provision should cause any concern. In fact, we suggest that it should be welcomed.
Finally, I turn to Amendments Nos. 155 and 156. These would prevent the Lord Chancellor making an order which amended legislation governing provisional damages. Amendment No. 155 would also prevent an order applying such legislation. As I said, again in Committee, to ensure that provisional damages can operate effectively alongside variable periodical payments, it may be necessary to make amendments to the legislation that governs those damages. There may be cases where both lump sums and periodical payments are needed. We believe that the best way of ensuring the combatthat was a Freudian slip, was it not?I meant "compatibility" of the two systems is through the order-making power.
I am, of course, aware of the concerns that this power could potentially allow substantive amendments to the scope of provisional damages. However, we believe that the need for consultation and affirmative resolution provide adequate safeguards to its use. They will ensure that any future order for variation, including one that made amendments to provisional damages legislation, would be subject to rigorous scrutiny and debate. If Parliament is not satisfied that
the power is being used appropriately, it will be able to indicate that under the affirmative resolution procedure.
It should give noble Lords comfort that what we have in the procedure that we are now adopting, and have in practice sought to adopt over a number of years, is the practitioner, the courts and the industry working together to obtain the best solutions possible to resolve these issues of personal injury. We should congratulate the committees which have worked together on the rules and orders which have proved to be sensible and workable and have worked to the advantage of all litigants. I reasonably anticipate that this will be the case too. In the light of all that I have said, I hope that the noble Lord, first, is reassured and, secondly, is content enough to withdraw the amendment.
Lord Goodhart: My Lords, I am grateful for the comments made by the noble Baroness and I am partly persuaded. Amendment No. 151 is somewhat too rigid. The residual problem is that there should not be a reopening of the case unless at the time of the original order notice is given, in effect, to the parties that the case may be reopened. It is important that where the court hears a case and makes what it and the parties at the time believe to be a final decision, there should not be a subsequent reopening of the caseexcept, of course, on grounds such as fraud and so forth on which cases can now be reopened.
In the circumstances, in the rather brief time available, I shall consider whether I want to table at Third Reading a more restricted form of amendment which will not put a tight band on the kind of variations which can be made but will limit variations to cases where the court, at the original hearing, has said that variations may subsequently be applied for. Be that as it may, today I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
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10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads
Kenny Wayne Shepherd's reverence for his musical roots are center-stage on Ten Days Out: Blues From The Backroads, a film that features the guitarslinger and Double Trouble rhythm section of bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton performing with some of the greatest blues players of our time as well as lesser-known but historically significant bluesmen. Traveling to their hometowns to record everywhere from juke joints to front porches, from New Orleans to Kansas, Shepherd celebrates and becomes part of blues history with Ten Days Out: Blues From The Backroads.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Available In:
Blues, Documentary
Documentary, Rock, Blues, Hip Hop, Alternative, Folk, Pop, Metal, Classic Rock, Reggae, Latin, Country, Punk
Early Beginnings Prison Blues/Louisiana/Tina Marie
The Feelings Behind the Blues/ Honky Tonk
Keeping the Blues Going/ The Thrill is Gone
Harmonica Song
The Happy Blues
Finding Yourself
Showtime, Howlin' Wolf Band
Grindin' Man/ Got My Mojo Working
Bananaz
In the late 1990's Jamie Hewlett met Damon Albarn and the concept of Gorillaz was born soon after. At the birth of the project, film maker Ceri Levy set about to document this undertaking. The result is Bananaz, 91 minutes inside the remarkable real world of Gorillaz - the most successful cartoon band ever. Levy filmed alongside and behind the scenes from 2000 to 2006, from first drawings, animations, music and the musicians, through to the faces behind the voices of Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. The result is an unsanitized, free-wheeling documentary film; an intimate, honest and often hilarious account of the working relationship between Albarn and Hewlett. With appearances by many of those who occasionally pass through this world: Dennis Hopper, De la Soul, Ibrahim Ferrer, Dangermouse, Dan the Automator, D12, Bootie Brown and Neneh Cherry.
The First Waltz
Hard Working Americans
The film documents the Hard Working Americans' (Todd Snider, Dave Schools, Neal Casal, Duane Trucks, Chad Staehly, Jesse Aycock) beginnings... behind the scenes in the studio as the band collaborates on their self-titled debut album and on the road following the band close-up throughout their national tour. The film live concert highlights from their sold-out stops in Boulder (Dec 2013), Nashville (Feb 2014) San Francisco (Jan 2014) and features music from the HWA, Todd Snider and more...
Final 24: His Final Hours
The most successful hip-hop artist of all time, Tupac Shakur has just finished shooting his latest video in Los Angeles. The ultimate gangster-rapper, Tupac says he will one day go out in a blaze of glory. In 24 hours, his prophecy will come true... Although reluctant about going to Las Vegas to play a gig, Tupac eventually relents, and enjoys some high stakes gambling before attending a heavyweight prizefight featuring his friend, Mike Tyson. Pumped up by Tyson's victory, Tupac is himself involved in a violent brawl, and heads back to his hotel to freshen up. When he finally arrives at the club for his own performance, a white Cadillac pulls up and a gunman fires a heavy round of bullets at the rapper's car. Mortally wounded with a punctured lung, Tupac dies six days later in hospital. He is only 25. Featuring archival footage, dramatic reenactments, and interviews with his family and friends, we document the final moments of Tupac Shakur's life.
"The Life of Riley" narrated by Morgan Freeman and joined by Bono, Bill Cosby, Eric Clapton, Bill Cosby, Dr. John, Bruce Willis and 20+ other heavyweight contributors including appearances by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and President Obama. BB King opens his heart and tells the story of how an oppressed and orphaned young man came to influence and earn the unmitigated praise of the music industry and its following, to carry the title: 'KING OF THE BLUES'. Filmed on location all over America as well as in the United Kingdom, this picture brings to life the heat and gin-soaked plantations where it all began. With the full cooperation of the BB King Museum, owners of vaults and archives so precious and immense, that several trips had to be made to America to revisit the collection and partake of its many gems. Prejudice and segregation has stained the lives of countless black person and BB 'Riley' King made sure that through his music, he never allowed it to mar his spirit. This is the essence of the story that makes an astoundingly beautiful film; extremely informative and visually captivating.
No Distance Left to Run
Filmed throughout the band's 2009 rehearsals and acclaimed summer tour, No Distance Left To Run finds all four members of Blur together for the first time in nine years. With previously unseen archive material alongside new interviews and reportage, the film recounts the highs and lows of a very British band from the late '80s to their headline return at Glastonbury and Hyde Park. The result is a musing on Englishness and identity and a portrait of friendship and resolution.
The Trinity Sessions Revisited
On November 27, 1987 the Cowboy Junkies set up a single microphone inside The Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, Ontario and in one day recorded what would become The Trinity Session, a landmark album of originals and covers grounded in traditional country, blues, and folk, with a clear nod to The Velvet Underground. The album would go on to sell millions of copies worldwide and establish the Cowboy Junkies as one of the most influential bands of the alternative era. Now, 20 years later, the Cowboy Junkies have returned to The Church of the Holy Trinity to celebrate their most famous work with the help of special guests Ryan Adams, Natalie Merchant, Vic Chesnutt, and Jeff Bird.
Queens of Pop
In January 2011, ARTE viewers voted for the ‘Queens of Pop’. 8 pop queens were chosen from 50 proposals and these are presented in a 26-minute documentary: From the 1960s: Diana Ross. From the 1970s: Donna Summer and Debbie Harry. From the 1980s: Madonna. From the 1990s: Britney Spears and Mariah Carey. From 2000-2009: Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The title of the programme, ‘Queens of Pop’, in itself shows where the emphasis lies – none of those simplistic chart rankings, but instead a documentary series that looks at our cultural history, dealing with the women who shaped popular music over the past fifty years.
Frat Party At the Pankake Festival
"Frat Party At the Pankake Festival" features 6 music videos including "One Step Closer," "In The End" and "Cure For The Itch." Also includes live performances of "Points Of Authority" and "Crawling" taped at the Dragon Festival in Southern California in February 2001.
Meeting People is Easy: A Film by Grant Lee about Radiohead
MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY presents a visual diary of Radiohead's 1997-98 world tour in support of their acclaimed album OK COMPUTER. The film includes behind-the-scenes and concert footage of the innovative band in Barcelona, Paris, New York, and Tokyo. Interviews with band members Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Phil Selway, along with director Grant Gee's artfully probing camera, provide candid, revealing insights into the difficulties of dealing with the unwelcome label of "rock star." This often melancholy documentary features clips of songs such as "Lucky," "Airbag," "A Reminder," "Paranoid Android," "Street Spirit," and "Electioneering."
Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears
This film spans the entire career of Tad, featuring archival live footage, interviews, music videos, and lost footage, as well as new footage and interviews with the band members and Krist Novoselic (Nirvana), Mark Arm (Mudhoney), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Chad Channing (Nirvana), and many others. TAD took the idea of playing LIVE very seriously; it was a life or death matter. This documentary not only stands as testimony, but it's also a cinematic document of the world's HEAVIEST band EVER (as Bruce Pavitt so incisively puts it) boldly stretching that assertion beyond any previously known limitations. Better than a tattoo, it's an open scar that roars, a broken alarm bell ringing from the lost event horizon of a long-dead star, one would never see - that is, until this film clipped it back onto the light box of the silver screen, where it can be deciphered and viewed anew. This documentary telescopes the musical pathology of Tad down to the image of an electrocardiograph recording the minor-mode melody of a final infarct, a demented soundtrack that is neither tame nor de-clawed. It was never meant to be. Dare to feel it, and risk bleeding internally.
All Excess
"All Excess" brings fans up-to-date with a visual and aural history of Avenged Sevenfold. This film includes a documentary with footage dating back to 1999, four live performances, along with four music videos, and several outtakes. Also included is exclusive backstage footage and interview material with the band.
The Turning Point captures John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers at a critical point in their hugely influential career. Following from the last tour by the “Laurel Canyon” line up in May 1969, Mayall made two big decisions. Firstly he was going to relocate to the USA and secondly he was going to form a new, more acoustic based line up which would not feature drums. There are interviews with both the old line up and the new and from departed members including Peter Green, John McVie and Eric Clapton as the film follows the first UK dates with the new format Bluesbreakers.
“I always like stories about people that drink and have drug problems and women problems,” said Johnny in the film. “It’s just interesting.” Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty, the definitive, feature-length documentary by acclaimed Lemmy co-director and producer, Greg Olliver, will be available worldwide on March 4, 2016, on DVD and iTunes. The package will feature never-before-seen photos and bonus footage, including extended interviews and his final studio performance, a solo resonator version of the Son House classic, “Death Letter.” Produced independently through Secret Weapon Films in NYC, director Greg Olliver was welcomed into the Johnny Winter family during the final two years of Johnny’s life, capturing the making of his Grammy-winning Step Back (Best Blues Album, 2015), and traveling the world from Beaumont to Hong Kong. Winter continued to perform over 200 sold out shows a year until his death on tour in Switzerland in 2014. The film also features Clive Davis, Edgar Winter, James Cotton, Billy Gibbons, Warren Haynes, Luther Nallie, Joe Perry, Tommy Shannon, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks and more.
Genghis Blues
Paul Pena
Paul Pena heard a sound, something intensely beautiful but disturbing at the same time, coming from his short-wave radio. The sound was that of Tuvan throat-singers, a sound that changed his life forever and sent him on a journey across the world to a land unknown. In his search for harmony and the answer to a mystifying obsession, music helped Pena bridge two cultures. This Academy Award-nominated film is the story of a blind blues musician and his triumphant trek to the forgotten land of Tuva and the mysterious art of khöömei, or throat-singing, a seemingly impossible form of singing that produces multiple vocal tones simultaneously. Paul Pena, who has played with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Jerry Garcia, Muddy Waters and BB King, travels to Tuva to live among the descendants of Genghis Khan and compete in their triennial khöömei contest.
All Day and All Night: Memories from Beale Street Musicians
Blues legends B. B. King, Rufus Thomas, and many friends play jam sessions and tell stories about Beale Street's heyday; revealing the love and respect musicians had, and still have for each other.
Freedom Road
He was and is, without doubt, Jamaica's finest export and in this film we can reveal for the first time the behind the scenes Bob Marley that only his closest confidantes could know. To help us understand a little more about this iconic Jamaican is his long time girlfriend and Oscar nominated actress Esther Anderson who describes in detail their life together at home in Hope Road as well as in London. Of all the people considered closest to him, Esther was probably the person who knew more about the man's innermost thoughts and fears than any; so much was she in tune with him she even helped to write some of his hit records. Also featured is the last interview he would ever give in the UK where journalist Kris Needs questions him about his foot injury (the injury that would eventually lead to the diagnosis of terminal cancer) and many other topics about which Marley held strong views. The DVD also reveals previously unseen home footage plus live performances including 'Lively Up Yourself' which was last seen performed in the 70's.
Texican Style: Live from Austin
Texican Style: Live From Austin finds Los Lonely Boys performing to 25,000 people - the biggest South By Soutwest convention show ever - in Texas’ state capitol. The three brothers perform "Heaven" and more hits from their double-platinum debut album.
Albert Collins
Filmed just a year before his untimely death from cancer, this 1992 concert from Montreux finds the great Albert Collins still in fine form. With his trademark Fender Telecaster and distinctive finger picking style well to the fore "The Iceman" delivers a set that runs from his early million selling single "Frosty" right up to songs from his final studio album "Iceman". As an added bonus there are four lengthy tracks from Albert Collins' 1979 appearance at Montreux.
Live at Montreux 1990
Gary Moore is one of the best rock and blues guitarists ever to come out of Ireland. In 1990 he released Still Got The Blues which went on to be his biggest selling album around the world. This concert from the Montreux Jazz Festival was recorded on July 7, 1990 on the tour for Still Got The Blues. It features the band used on that album and special guest Albert Collins, who had also appeared on the album. Nine of the tracks in the set are taken from that album, three of which were UK hit singles.As a bonus feature three of his biggest rock hits, Out In The Fields, Over The Hills & Far Away and an over 10 minute long version of the classic Parisenne Walkways are included from his concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 9, 1997.
30th Anniversary Tour
Filmed in England on George Thorogood & The Destroyers 30th Anniversary Tour in 2004, this program set combines tracks from the bands then latest album Ride Til I Die with classic tracks from across George Thorogoods glittering career.
Live at the Greek Theatre
Celebrated blues-rock master Joe Bonamassa delivers a musical tribute to The Three Kings Of the Blues (Albert, Freddie, and B.B.) at the legendary Greek Theatre - filmed in August 2015. Bonamassa is backed by a stellar band of blues musicians including Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (Keys), Lee Thornburg (trumpet), Paulie Cerra (saxophone), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), Kirk Fletcher (Guitar), Mahalia Barnes, Jade MaCrae and Juanita Tippins (Vocals).
Ghost Blues: The Story Of Rory Gallagher
The complete and fully authorized story of Rory Gallagher, Ghost Blues follows Rory s life and career from his upbringing in Cork, his early days with a show band, the brief success of Taste and then his legendary solo career leading up to his health problems in later life and tragic death at the age of just 47. There are archive interviews, both audio and visual, with Rory and contributions from many of his friends and admirers including his brother Donal, Bob Geldof, The Edge, Cameron Crowe, Slash, Johnny Marr, James Dean Bradfield, Ronnie Drew, Bill Wyman, Martin Carthy, band members Ted McKenna and Gerry McAvoyand many more.
Steve Azar & the King's Men
Hit singer-songwriter Steve Azar endeavors to record his new album Down at the Liquor Store inside the historic Club Ebony in Mississippi's folkloric Delta. The venue's rustic walls fostered the sounds of artists such as Ray Charles, Count Basie, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, and Sam Chatmon, ultimately possessed and championed by the legendary B.B. King. The film chronicles Azar's lifelong passion for music that set him on the path to success in Nashville—and his devotion to the Delta that would finally draw him home to live, record, and inspire the next generation of musicians. Now, Azar and The Kings Men, a team of storied musicians who have accompanied the likes of Elvis Presley and B.B. King himself, evoke and expand upon this sonic tradition, seeking to illustrate a resolute connection between a fabled past and a promising future in the arts. Download, stream, or purchase here: http://www.steveazarandthekingsmen.com/music/.
To learn more about Steve Azar visit http://www.steveazar.com.
Color Me Obsessed
For some aging music fans and kids with a passion for musical history, The Replacements are rock and roll defined. This Minneapolis quartet took a teenage-punk attitude, threw it in a blender with classic and pop rock, and then poured it into a Middle American pint glass. Over the band's 12-year existence, its live sets were magical, a total mess, or both-depending on your mood and the members' respective blood alcohol levels. Gorman Bechard's remarkable history of the 'Mats takes us from their first show as the Impediments to their 1991 onstage breakup in Chicago, and everywhere in between. Bechard bravely eschews including the band's music, photos, and live footage, instead relying solely on the fans: their well-kept memories, hilarious anecdotes, and differing points of views about the foursome's wildly varied discography and infamous antics. Bechard has recruited an impressive roster of influential fans: musicians such as Husker Du, Babes in Toyland, The Decemberists, The Hold Steady, Archers of Loaf, Titus Andronicus, and Goo Goo Dolls; writers such as Jack Rabid, Legs McNeil, Robert Christgau, Jim DeRogatis, and Greg Kot; and actors such as George Wendt, Tom Arnold, and Dave Foley. Sprinkled in among that esteemed group are the more mainstream fans, who often give the most insightful and heartfelt perspectives of all. Follower or not, after taking in COLOR ME OBSESSED, you'll be ready to run home, gather some 'Mats albums, and design a perfect soundtrack of your own.
Live at V Festival 2008
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Sports Celebrity deaths Celebrity Entertainment Arts and entertainment NFL football Professional football Football Obituaries
New York Jets San Francisco 49ers
Reggie Cobb, former NFL back and Volunteer star, dies at 50
- Apr. 20, 2019 05:14 PM EDT
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Former NFL running back and University of Tennessee star Reggie Cobb has died at 50.
His death was announced Saturday by the San Francisco 49ers. He scouted for the team for the last 10 years, as well as for other clubs before them. Details of his death were not disclosed.
Cobb played in the NFL for seven years. He was drafted by Tampa Bay in 1990 and also played for Green Bay, Jacksonville and the New York Jets.
San Francisco general manager John Lynch called Cobb a "top-notch scout and an exemplary man." He remembered Cobb as someone who could "brighten up a room with his personality and infectious smile."
At college, Cobb finished third on Tennessee's career rushing list. He was part of the Volunteers' 100th anniversary team.
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Home Op-Eds U.S. must support democracy in Venezuela
U.S. must support democracy in Venezuela
by Juan Blanco Prada
On Aug. 15, more than 14 million Venezuelans will be going to the polls to decide whether they want president Hugo Chavez (accent over the a) to finish his six-year term.
Chavez's opposition, led by the Democratic Coordination, supported a brief coup in April of 2002, but it failed to seize power because hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to demand the restoration of constitutional rule.
For several months, the opposition group also led a political strike to demand Chavez's resignation. The attempt failed, and it soon left the country's economy badly damaged.
Only after these unconstitutional and undemocratic actions did the opposition finally settle for the legal option that had been available since day one: get the voters to recall Chavez.
After a signature-gathering period riddled with fraud and irregularities, including the American financial support of a number of anti-Chavez groups through the National Endowment for Democracy, the opposition managed to get enough signatures to force a recall vote.
Despite the fact that Chavez's administration underwent political turmoil and economic troubles, the leftist president has a comfortable lead in the polls. Some recent American pollsters show him winning the recall vote with 55 percent to 60 percent of the votes.
In the unlikely event of his loss, someone from his own party would possibly replace Chavez since the opposition lacks a coherent agenda beyond the "get rid of Chavez" theme.
The same recent polls show Chavez's party, the Fifth Republic Movement, leading with 35 percent of likely voters. The conservative Justice First comes in a distant second with 11 percent. The two parties that ruled Venezuela in the pre-Chavez era each have the support of less than 5 percent of voters.
Some opposition leaders are anticipating a crushing defeat at the polls and are already advocating for other ways to oust Chavez -- from another attempt of a military coup to the use of paramilitaries to destabilize the country to a request for direct U.S. intervention.
The fact that the United States has intervened in the domestic affairs of virtually every Latin American nation makes such intervention a distinct possibility.
Both President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry have described Chavez as authoritarian and anti-democratic, despite the fact that throughout this process, it is the opposition that has failed to accept the democratic process and the rules established in the Venezuelan constitution.
While Bush should use his significant clout with the Venezuelan opposition to ensure that they will accept the result of the recall vote, Kerry must clearly affirm his support for the democratic process in Venezuela, regardless of who wins.
Anything else would reinforce the perception that, when applied to Latin America, democracy and the rule of law are empty, meaningless words unless they benefit American economic and strategic interests.
Juan Blanco Prada is a Latin American writer and activist living in California. He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
Elections Progressive Media Project Latin America
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Artists / Drumset Artists / Mark Rogers
GROUP LMT CONNECTION / NEWWORLDSON
LMTConnection.com
Mark Rogers is the model of versatility, both musically and professionally. Along with full-time gigs anchoring the award winning Gospel Soul of Newworldson and seasoned funkateers LMT Connection, he also finds time to maintain a busy recording schedule and operate his own production company New Century Productions. Life moves fast for the in-demand drummer and producer and he wouldn't have it any other way.
A lifelong native of Niagara Falls, Canada, Rogers started playing drums when he was eight years old; by the age of eighteen, he was recognized by the Canadian Jazz Festival as the top drummer in the country for his age group. Shortly thereafter he began performing with a ten-piece Motown revue touring all over North America with legendary guitarist Leroy Emmanuel. When the Motown revue came to an end, Rogers and Emmanuel, along with bassist John Irvine, formed LMT Connection - Canada's premier funk and soul group producing 4 original albums and headlining 10 European tours. Performing over 4500 shows to date, they have shared the stage with Motown's Temptations, world renowned jazz organist Joey Defrancesco, the reverend Al Green and the king of the blues BB King to name just a few.
In 2005 Mark became a founding member of Newworldson. To say their rise was meteoric would be an understatement. Within four short years, Rogers and Newworldson have been awarded 4 Covenant Awards by the Gospel Music Association, 2 Juno nominations for Contemporary Christian/Gospel Recording of the Year, a # 1 video for the single "Working Man" on the US Gospel Music Channel, and had the biggest selling debut album for EMI CMG in 2008 with their CD "Salvation Station". These accolades, combined with their electrifying live show, landed them headlining spots on festival stages in 2009 in the US, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Holland, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark and Belgium.
Quinton J. Robinson
Avery*sunshine, Peabo Bryson, Algebra Blessett, Anthony David
De'Miyon Hall
Gladys Knight, Joshua's Generation
Lmt Connection / Newworldson
Alberto Vargas
New Wine
Tyrel McCoy
Nenna Yvonne / Dj Omega / Jazmine Sullivan / Benita Farmer & New Journey
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Fucking Religious Liberty, How Does it Work?
Posted on February 9, 2012 by Kaoru Negisa
Let me start by saying that I can never properly express my joy and appreciation to the Insane Clown Posse for the ability to parody their “fucking magnets” line at every turn. It’s so succinct, even more so than Bill O’Reilly’s “tide goes in, tide goes out” routine, and makes the exact same point with exactly the same amount of intention: some people don’t know or don’t want to know how things work because they prefer their made up answers.
Which brings us to religious liberty, what it means, and why we really need to get our definitions straight. To be honest, I’d rather be writing about the return of the horrid Kill the Gays bill in Uganda and this laughable farce of a press release regarding it, especially considering the foreign aid that Uganda is going to give up to pass this thing is necessary to support the corruption sector of their economy.
With a key that large, no wonder they need $44,000. The car must be HUGE!
Instead, I will explore what religious liberty is & is not and, broader, what liberty is & is not.
We’ve heard a lot lately about the “war on religion,” a “secular vision for America,” and similar meaningless phrases. Newt Gingrich is particularly fond of linking secularists to Muslims (because both are, you know, super scary). Mitt Romney thinks that the government forcing religiously-affiliated institutions to cover contraception like everybody else is a violation of conscience. Rick Santorum, who’s religious views are so intertwined with his political ones that he thinks he can rule the country by God’s law and not be “pastor in chief,” agrees.
But those are just the GOP candidates (minus Ron Paul who thinks that state governments can do pretty much anything they want). Let’s instead look at other people. The Liar Tony Perkins recently threw a hissy fit about the Air Force Academy not promoting a sectarian charity. Archbishop Timmy “Apple Cheeks” Dolan has a little bit to say about everything, and it all proves how put upon his international, ludicrously wealthy tax free organization with billions of members is. Muslim students at the UK’s London School of Economics claimed religious discrimination because an atheist group posted a cartoon on their Facebook that portrays an imagine of the prophet Mohammed. Kind of. Sort of. In a way.
The question becomes, what is the common thread with all of theses? I’ll give you a minute to think of it.
If you said, “they all require other people to adhere to the religious doctrines of the speakers,” you’re correct. You get a prize!
It’s this jpg!
“Repsect” and “tolerance” are becoming code words from people like those mentioned above for the demand that others follow the dictates of their faith. It’s a problematic bug (feature?) that a lot of them have. Their faith demands that all people follow it, claims that it is the one true way and all others are false, and puts it upon its followers to wrangle everybody together under this set of beliefs. So, the easiest way for Apple Cheeks or the Liar Tony Perkins is to make it happen by default. If everybody is forced, legally, to act like a Catholic or an Evangelical, even if they don’t actually believe, then that’s good enough for God, right?
I somehow doubt it.
The pernicious way in which this is approached, however, is the real problem. I know that Rick Santorum wants everybody to believe what he believes. The voices in his head have made it very clear that that is the only way to tempt Jesus back to Earth. However, he likes to pretend that there’s some sort of reason that doesn’t stem from his holy book that would make people think that having a father in prison is better than having two gay fathers. It’s not so much that he denies that he thinks God wants things to be this way, but rather that he manufactures other reasons for those of us who think his mythology doesn’t count as an authority.
Listen, we as human beings are going to disagree on things. Disagreement, however, is not intolerance. We’re not saying that your opinions are invalid, we’re saying that they’re wrong, and there is a gigantic difference between those. For example, saying that homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry is saying that their relationship is invalid, that it doesn’t count, since marriage is ultimately a validation of love, especially when done with no facts to support the assertion. Yes, people claim it’s also wrong, but the only evidence presented is provably false or from scripture, and I can point to thousands of works that make the opposite point.
Saying that somebody is a bigot for opposing equality is not intolerance because it doesn’t say that their opinion doesn’t count. Quite the opposite, it says that their opinion is so valid that it defines an essential part of their character. Their words matter, they exist, and they have meaning. The same can’t be said for their opinion of LGBT rights which don’t matter, don’t exist, and don’t have meaning.
This is where religious liberty comes back into the picture. This is an individual liberty, one that affords the exerciser the ability to believe and worship in whatever way they see fit. Liberty in general is an individual exercise, one which permits people to act in a fashion that suits them. This is the opposite of the “religious intolerance” crowd who see liberty as the ability for a group to exercise their preference on others. If it were the government telling them how they had to personally act, they would scream bloody murder, and in fact are screaming bloody murder pretending that’s what’s happening. But the fights being fought aren’t over the actions of the complainers, but rather over the actions of outside third parties that aren’t legally required to act in the fashion those complainers would have them act.
Religious liberty does not obligate the state or other people to believe and worship in the same way as you. Using the above example again, it is a violation of religious liberty to force an Evangelical minister to marry a same sex couple. It is not a violation of the religious liberty of that Evangelical minister to allow an Episcopalian minister to marry that couple.
Neither breaking the leg nor picking the pocket of any Christian anywhere.
The state is under no obligation to protect your sensibilities. It is a violation of religious liberty to force the Catholic Church to use their own money to adopt to same-sex couples. It is not a violation of religious liberty to refuse to pay them to discriminate against LGBT couples. And I’m tired of people who get this wrong (BTW: as of this writing, I’m top of the comments on that last link based on likes. Keep me there, my minions!)
What the behavior of those crying “religious intolerance” the loudest clearly demonstrates is that they have no faith. Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) Dolan doesn’t have enough faith in his God to believe that God can prevent women from taking contraception given the option (he’s right, BTW), so the celibate, virgin man will instead cry like a celibate, virgin baby about how very unfair this is that he might have to give women the option to express their own religious liberty, including their right to reject his authority over them. Jesus apparently doesn’t have the power to keep people going to church (and it offers so many good reasons, let me tell you) if they don’t pick up the habit early, so Newt Gingrich is going to make sure kids get as much exposure as possible, before those anti-religious pagans can affect their opinions.
These people have “faith” in the same way that I’m “straight.” Sure, I’m attracted to women, but I fail to possess the crucial component of being “only or primarily” attracted to women. This is sort of the same way these people of “faith” are perfectly fine in the comfortable trappings of religion, but fail to have any real belief in the power of their divinity. It’s a sham and a farce and entirely unsurprising as they seem dedicated to making everybody else observe the window dressing of their religion and could care less if the home is equally empty inside.
So, when it comes to religious liberty, your freedom exists for your ability to act in the manner that you feel is correct and not to impose that on others. That means that your religious liberty allows you to decide not to marry a same sex partner, not the ability to refuse to do your job in issuing legal licenses. Your religious liberty allows you to decide not to use contraception, it does not allow you to accept public money while refusing to let others use it. Your religious liberty allows you to not portray Mohammed, it does not prevent others from doing so.
Click for larger version
The Liar Tony Perkins has claimed that the Obama administration has “created an atmosphere that is hostile toward Christianity.” Quite frankly, if we’re talking about his idea of Christianity, I hope so. It’s a Christianity that demands obedience. It’s a Christianity that excludes people. It’s a Christianity designed for one purpose and one purpose alone: to give power to Tony Perkins.
Timothy Dolan’s Catholicism is designed to give power to Catholic bishops. Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum are all using their faith in order to leverage power for themselves. And if not allowing them to run rough shod over the rights of people who won’t live by their standards creates a hostile environment for that, I say bring it on and throw their outdated, stupid, and hateful ideas into the dustbin of history to make room for better ones.
This entry was posted in Faith, Human Rights, Politics and tagged Dolan, gingrich, LGBT, Perkins, religious liberty, romney, santorum by Kaoru Negisa. Bookmark the permalink.
1 thought on “Fucking Religious Liberty, How Does it Work?”
Pingback: Human Excommunication: Timothy Dolan | Reasonable Conversation
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~ Reviews & Essays
Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery that Changed Our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks
Posted by stanprager in Reviews
Back in 2014, I took a challenging but rewarding MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), “Human Evolution: Past and Future,” a free online course taught by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of anthropology Dr. John Hawks. Hawks, who might be described as both genial and genius, seems equally devoted to both advancing studies in paleoanthropology, and sharing data cross-discipline for the greater good of scientists, students, and the wider public audience—a heresy that cuts against the grain in scientific as well as academic circles among those who jealously guard their discoveries in order to be the first in line for credit and publication. The course introduced via video clips a leading paleontologist in the field, Lee Berger, whose two remarkable and vastly dissimilar hominin finds in South Africa have each literally shifted the landscape in studies of human evolution.
Berger, who frequently partners with National Geographic, has in common with Hawks an absolute devotion to open access, which has made him unpopular among some of his more traditional peers. Berger and Hawks passionately believe that—especially given today’s technology and speeds of communication, as well as tendencies towards ever increasing specialization—that such free and open access is essential to fostering advances in all of the related fields. This passion also extends to the general audience, as evidenced in Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery that Changed Our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks, a well-written, fast-paced narrative that puts a focus to the latest finds and the cutting-edge technology and techniques of paleoanthropology.
My training is as a historian rather than a paleontologist, but I have been fascinated by fossil finds ever since I was a boy, when I followed the adventures of the Leakey’s in National Geographic, and later bought books by Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson that sit on my shelves to this day. The discovery of the magnificent 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis nicknamed “Lucy” was a big deal for this teenager! So, I have to confess to some delight when Berger reveals in the opening chapters that as a youth, on his somewhat circuitous route to paleoanthropology, he thrilled to these very same volumes. Back in those days, it was once remarked that our entire collection of hominin fossils could be displayed on a single large table. As Berger and Hawks remind us in Almost Human, those days are long past!
This is a very exciting time for studies in human evolution, both because of a plethora of new fossil discoveries, as well as stunning advances in technology that permit a far more detailed knowledge of the lifeways of our early hominin antecedents. For instance, we can now determine with some certainty, based upon carbon isotopes retrieved from fossil teeth, what the owners of those teeth once dined upon. And rather than the familiar “tree of evolution” found in early textbooks, we now know that the model is far “bushier,” with many descendants of a distant common ancestor that turned into dead ends. Modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, are the only surviving species of the genus Homo, but paleoanthropology has revealed that we have many extinct relatives, and we will likely stumble upon many more. In addition to Lucy, there were several other australopithecines, which are not in our direct line of descent, as well as a number of Homo varieties, including the recent surprising and controversial discovery of Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the “Hobbit,” a kind of dwarf hominin that inhabited the Indonesian island of Flores. Far less ancient Denisovans have been found in Asia that are, like Neanderthals, archaic humans. Clearly there is no straight line from our ancestors to us.
Perhaps nothing underscores that more than the two astonishing discoveries directed by Lee Berger. The first, the nearly two-million-year-old fossils of Australopithecus sediba, was actually found not by Berger but by his nine-year-old son in 2008. What is remarkable about sediba is that despite its antiquity, it sports surprisingly modern hands and quite humanlike ankles, yet also—significantly—retains the more ape-like attributes often characteristic to an australopithecine. Such a weird amalgam of features both ancient and more recent are termed “mosaics” by paleontologists, and there was probably no greater example of this than sediba.
At least, that is, until Berger had a look at the fossils of what was later to be called Homo naledi, first discovered in 2013 by recreational cavers exploring the Rising Star cave system, in the vicinity of Johannesburg. Homo naledi, a mere 300,000 years old, nevertheless demonstrated mosaic features far more archaic than would be expected from a hominin significantly younger than other specimens of Homo known for larger brains and more modern characteristics. At the same time, there were also distinct anatomical features that clearly identified it as part of the Homo lineage. What those cavers had stumbled upon, at the end of a narrow chute, was the long-isolated Dinaledi Chamber, littered with fossils that turned out to represent more than a dozen naledi individuals. This extraordinary discovery was the foundation of Berger’s Rising Star Cave Expedition that is the central focus of Almost Human.
The Rising Star Cave Expedition, which included Hawks and a truly remarkable team, was presented with a unique set of excavation challenges. The 650 foot (200 meter) labyrinthine route to the Dinaledi Chamber included a particularly claustrophobic segment tagged as “Superman’s Crawl,” a short tunnel less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) wide, so-called because traversing it requires a bodily contortion with one arm stretched above your head and the other held tight against your body, like Superman flying. This was followed by a vertical climb of some 65 feet (20 meters) up an underground ridge called Dragon’s Back, and then a perilous descent through a 39 foot (12 meter) vertical chute that narrows at one point to only some 7 inches (18 centimeters) wide! Berger brilliantly overcame this daunting hurdle by recruiting the most qualified paleoanthropologists, with climbing and caving experience, who were also physically of the smallest stature, and therefore best suited to probing the narrowest passages. The six who were selected, all women as it turned out, were nicknamed the “Underground Astronauts.”
The story of these intrepid explorers makes for an exciting tale that is sometimes related breathlessly, yet never sinks to pulp. While it is eminently clear that this expedition is underway in the first part of the twenty-first century—replete with state-of-the-art technology and communication—there remains an ever-present palpable element of old-fashioned danger as flesh-and-blood scientists slowly and painstakingly navigate Superman’s Crawl, and then later descend that very narrow chute, to retrieve those precious bones that have lain undisturbed for several hundred thousand years. The narrative is so well-written that the reader can almost hear Berger’s heart thumping in his chest as he monitors the steady progress of his Underground Astronauts, ever alert that there are indeed things that can go very wrong in this extreme environment that could mean injury or death for them.
I must admit just a hint of disappointment with Almost Human at first, for while it is hardly dumbed-down, I had hoped for a bit more emphasis on the fossil morphology, and perhaps a more technical examination of how naledi fit with the rest of the evolutionary bush. But that quickly passed. This is not that kind of book. Instead, Almost Human is an adventure story of discovery in a field that these days is all about breaking news, told by two men with the talent to articulate it. And Berger’s commitment to open access means that the news of such discoveries is actually getting out, at least in his arena, rather than remaining squirreled away for years as had long been standard practice. Homo naledi and the progress of the Rising Star Expedition has been the stuff of social media for several years now; I learned of the publication of Almost Human on Twitter.
Race, we now know, is a meaningless construct: all living humans today are more closely related to each other genetically than the two chimpanzee populations of west and east Africa are to one another. But it was not always that way. The search for human origins is a complex one, and new discoveries and interpretations ever alter the contours of the twigs on that bush. It is a fascinating story, but much of it is often given to the secrecy and arcane jargon of science and academia, and thus lost to a wider audience. Almost Human is a welcome respite from that, and I highly recommend joining Berger and Hawks and their Underground Astronauts on this fascinating journey to resurrect a piece of our past and proudly show it off to the world.
2 thoughts on “Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery that Changed Our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks”
Eileen Shepherd said:
Readers might like to see Bernard Wood’s recent review of Almost Human in the Journal of Human Evolution – http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248417302567
Athena42 said:
I also followed John Hawks’ MOOC (was it really 2014?!) and found it compelling, still the only MOOC I’ve ever completed. Planning to see Lucy in her home country early next year, sounds like this new book will make a perfect accompaniment, thanks for the review
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Review of: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, by Roberto Calasso December 17, 2017
Review of Bush, by Jean Edward Smith December 10, 2017
Review of: JFK’S Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President, by Thurston Clarke November 22, 2017
Review of: The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked and Found, by Martin W. Sandler November 19, 2017
Review of: The Know-Nothing Party in Massachusetts: The Rise and Fall of a People’s Movement, by John R. Mulkern October 5, 2017
Review of: Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, by Bill Schutt September 30, 2017
Almost Human: The Astonishing Tale of Homo naledi and the Discovery that Changed Our Human Story, by Lee Berger and John Hawks September 12, 2017
Review of: The Iliad, by Homer, translated by Stephen Mitchell September 3, 2017
Review of: A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition, by Ernest Hemingway August 26, 2017
Review of: Men Without Women, by Haruki Murakami July 12, 2017
Review of: The Indus: Lost Civilizations, by Andrew Robinson June 23, 2017
Review of: The Sound of One Hand Clapping, by Richard Flanagan June 4, 2017
Review of: Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth’s Earliest Fossils, by J. William Schopf May 14, 2017
Review of: Who Lost Russia?: How the World Entered a New Cold War, by Peter Conradi April 30, 2017
Review of: Across the River and into the Trees, by Ernest Hemingway April 20, 2017
Review of: Atlas of Slavery, by James Walvin March 26, 2017
Review of: Worst. President. Ever.: James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents, by Robert Strauss March 8, 2017
Review of: Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy, by David O. Stewart February 19, 2017
Review of: The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, by Daina Ramey Berry February 11, 2017
Review of: Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth, by Holger Hoock February 4, 2017
Review of: The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire, by Stephen Kinzer January 17, 2017
Review of: Civil War Poetry: An Anthology, edited by Paul Negri December 31, 2016
Review of: Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, by Cynthia Barnett December 26, 2016
Review of: Maude (1883-1993): She Grew Up with the Country, by Mardo Williams December 16, 2016
Review of: The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History, by Paul Andrew Hutton November 24, 2016
Review of: In the Land of a Thousand Gods: A History of Asia Minor in the Ancient World, by Christian Marek November 17, 2016
Review of: American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804, by Alan Taylor October 30, 2016
Review of: The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, by William E. Leuchtenburg October 16, 2016
Review of: The State of Jones, by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer September 25, 2016
Review of: The Great Siege of Malta: The Epic Battle between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John, by Bruce Ware Allen September 5, 2016
Review of: Tara Revisited: Women, War & The Plantation Legend, by Catherine Clinton August 4, 2016
Review of: The Orlando, Florida, Civil Rights Movement: A Case Study in Cooperation and Communication, 1951-1971, by Fred Altensee July 4, 2016
Review of: New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, by Wendy Warren June 26, 2016
Review of: 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents, by David Pietrusza June 4, 2016
Review of: On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads, by Tim Cope May 8, 2016
Review of: Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder, by Jack McLaughlin April 24, 2016
Review of: Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World, by Tim Whitmarsh April 17, 2016
Review of: An Ape’s View of Human Evolution, by Peter Andrews March 20, 2016
Review of: Hornswogglers, Fourflushers & Snake-Oil Salesmen: True Tales of the Old West’s Sleaziest Swindlers, by Matthew P. Mayo March 3, 2016
Review of: King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terrorism and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild February 27, 2016
Review of: The Internal Enemy: Slavery and the War in Virginia 1772-1832, by Alan Taylor February 9, 2016
Review of: This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, by Drew Gilpin Faust January 31, 2016
Review of: Empire of Cotton: A Global History, by Sven Beckert January 2, 2016
Review of: Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir, by John Paul Stevens December 29, 2015
Review of: South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami December 26, 2015
Review of: Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country, by Andrew J. Bacevich December 20, 2015
Review of: Welcome to Braggsville, by T. Geronimo Johnson December 12, 2015
Review of: Iron Rails, Iron Men, and the Race to Link the Nation: The Story of the Transcontinental Railroad, by Martin W. Sandler November 29, 2015
Review of: Hear the Wind Sing, and Pinball, 1973, by Haruki Murakami November 26, 2015
Review of: Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman, by Greg Grandin November 21, 2015
Review of: About Grace, by Anthony Doerr November 2, 2015
Review of: Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War, by Charles Bracelen Flood October 16, 2015
Review of: The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlstein October 11, 2015
Review of: The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies by Alan Taylor October 1, 2015
Review of: A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks, by Stewart Gordon September 13, 2015
Review of: After the Quake, by Haruki Murakami September 9, 2015
Review of: Shosha, by Isaac Bashevis Singer September 6, 2015
Review of: Vanished Ocean: How Tethys Reshaped the World, by Dorrik Stow August 15, 2015
Review of: Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War, by Elizabeth R. Varon August 13, 2015
Review of: All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr July 26, 2015
Review of: Death of a River Guide, by Richard Flanagan July 23, 2015
Review of: The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara July 19, 2015
Review of: Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War, by Joseph Wheelan July 13, 2015
Review of: Our Man in Charleston: Britain’s Secret Agent in the Civil War South, by Christopher Dickey June 21, 2015
Review of: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami May 30, 2015
Review of: Blood of the Tiger: A Story of Conspiracy, Greed, and the Battle to Save a Magnificent Species, by J.A. Mills May 25, 2015
Review of: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami May 17, 2015
Review of: The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman May 13, 2015
Review of: The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman May 2, 2015
Review of: Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital by Nelson Lankford April 25, 2015
Review of: 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric H. Cline April 11, 2015
Review of: Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson April 2, 2015
Review of: The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark March 21, 2015
Review of: Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, by Eric Foner March 1, 2015
Review of: Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison & the Decline of Virginia by Susan Dunn February 9, 2015
Review of: North Korea: State of Paranoia by Paul French February 2, 2015
Review of: River Run Red: The Fort Pillow Massacre in the American Civil War, by Andrew Ward February 2, 2015
Review of: The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Richard Flanagan February 2, 2015
Review of: Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement, by Ousmane K. Power-Greene February 2, 2015
Blog is Born February 2, 2015
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Jumanji: The Next Level Trailer - Welcome Back to the Jungle
A trailer has arrived for Jumanji 3, which is now officially known as Jumanji: The Next Level. The film is a direct sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which revived the Jumanji franchise in 2017 and went on to become Sony's highest-grossing domestic release of all time - a title that Sam Raimi's Spider-Man had been holding onto for the previous fifteen years.
Welcome to the Jungle updated the series' premise by turning the enchanted board game Jumanji into a magical video game that sucks players into a world of jungle traps and puzzles. Stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas are back for the sequel, as are writers Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, and director Jake Kasdan. They're joined by the actors who played Welcome to the Jungle's teenagers (Alex Wolff, Madison Iseman, Ser'Darius Blain, and Morgan Turner), along with Rhys Darby as the NPC and players' guide Nigel.
Related: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw Final Trailer
Sony has now released a trailer confirming The Next Level's title, and will attach it to Spider-Man: Far From Home in theaters this week. You can check it out in the space below, along with the film's official synopsis:
In Jumanji: The Next Level, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to Jumanji to rescue one of their own, they discover that nothing is as they expect. The players will have to brave parts unknown and unexplored, from the arid deserts to the snowy mountains, in order to escape the world’s most dangerous game.
Said trailer reveals that Spencer (Wolff) is the one responsible for fixing the Jumanji cartridge after he and his friends smashed it at the end of Welcome to the Jungle. It also introduces Danny DeVito as Spencer's grandfather Eddie and Danny Glover as Milo Walker, who appears to be Spencer's next-door neighbor. From there, it confirms that "Fridge" (Blain), Bethany (Iseman), and Martha (Turner) enter Jumanji in an attempt to rescue Spencer, only for Eddie and Milo to inadvertently follow and join them on their adventure. The trailer also provides a glimpse at the newly-uncovered levels/settings in Jumanji, and suggests that Martha plays more of a leading role in the film.
The body-swapping element - where people from the real-world play in-game avatars in Jumanji - was a big part of what made Welcome to the Jungle fun, so it's encouraging to see that The Next Level is trying to keep things fresh by changing which characters end up in which avatars, and adding the amusing combination of DeVito and Glover to the mix. Kasdan also seems to be putting the experience he gained on the second Jumanji film to good use by delivering bigger and more complicated action scenes, while still messing around with Jumanji's video game mechanics. Welcome to the Jungle was an unexpected delight when it hit theaters, but The Next Level footage (which further includes a cameo by new addition Awkwafina) suggests the sequel has the potential to be equally enjoyable.
NEXT: Everything You Need to Know About Jumanji: The Next Level
Source: Sony Pictures
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) release date: Dec 13, 2019
Tags: jumanji 3
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MCL New Build
The Macmillan Unit provides palliative care for hundreds of terminally ill patients. Our current building is very old and unable to support the vital work delivered by our staff and volunteers. Our new building will make a huge difference to our patients and their families through end of life care.
Approxmately one year
Charity information: Macmillan Caring Locally
Our current unit is too small and does not have the capacity to provide adequate care for the growing number of patients referred. There is a lack of privacy, difficulty in reaching facilities for treatment and not enough space for the unit to function as effectively as it could. This means that patients have to be transported to other parts of the hospital for treatment and sensitive conversations sometimes need to be held in areas that are too open. Referral numbers also continue to grow.
The new building will mean that patients have all the facilities they need to support them through end of life. Patients and their families will have more privacy and we aim to provide a building that is relaxing, welcoming, peaceful and not like a hospital. In turn, our staff will be able to deliver the high standard of care they already provide but with the space and facilities they need. Our building will be state-of-the-art and the cornerstone for the future of palliative care in our area.
Improve our high level of care to terminally ill patients and their families and carers.
» Build a new unit that has the capacity for equipment and space required for treatment and care.
By delivering all elements of support to our patients under one roof ensuring better patient comfort and less transportation.
Continue to accept the growing number of referrals to our unit.
» Design the building in order to accommodate the growing number of patients referred for now and into the future.
Building a unit that has a greater capacity for patients and for the various pieces of equipment each patient requires for different illnesses.
Support our staff and volunteers in their work.
» Provide space within the new building for staff to work without distraction and provide patients with all the support they require.
Provide office space and private rooms for staff to work and deliver the service to patients.
The building will provide a much improved service to patients and their families - the standard of care currently delivered by our staff and volunteers is exceptional but the support for this work is limiting. It will give patients, families and carers a place to go where they can relax and feel at ease, away from the hospital environment. The building will also allow for a much better working environment for staff and volunteers.
A lack of funding. We have a campaign plan in place and an increase in fundraising staff to manage this risk.
Reports through project updates, opportunities to visit the unit and honouring other individual report requirements
Budget - Project Cost: £9,000,000
£9,000,000 Complete new build Building including furniture, equipment, garden and facilities
Macmillan Caring Locally reserves £5,000,000 Guaranteed
The building will be on the site of Christchurch Hospital in Dorset and will support many people in the surrounding area.
There were 1543 referrals in 2016 - a rise from 581 in 2006. Our patients, their families, carers and visitors, our staff and volunteers will all benefit very much from this project.
We deliver a vital palliative care service in our area and have been awarded ‘Practice Development Status’ making it a Centre of Excellence for Palliative Care. The new building will be designed around our patient's needs and will support the fantastic level of care delivered by our staff and volunteers.
Lin Sharp
Capital Appeal Director
Staff who provide support or a direct service to our patients . All staff are committed to the success of this building for the future of our care.
All our volunteers are dedicated to the work they do at Macmillan Caring Locally and are wholeheartedly supporting our plans for the new building.
Our trustees are supporting our building plan and ensuring that all elements of the build are completed with patients, staff and volunteers in mind.
Yours is a wonderful job – very demanding and often sad, but very necessary and hugely appreciated. Your dedication is humbling and your professionalism is impeccable.
Patient carer
You turned “approaching death” into a less frightening prospect, and when it happened, into a positive experience.
Patient family member
To all of Dad’s Angels at the Macmillan Unit who looked after him so well – thank you.
Contact Macmillan Caring Locally
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God Of War Director Reveals He Learned A Lot From Hideo Kojima Games
By Katerina Tzika May 10, 2018 November 20, 2018 Share
Hideo Kojima is one of the masterminds when it comes to video games and even the biggest names in the industry can confirm it. Cory Barlog, the director of God of War has revealed that he “learned a lot from his games”.
A few days ago, a French Death Stranding fan page on Twitter has congratulated and asked Cory Barlog how has Hideo Kojima and the MGS series have influenced the cinematics of God of War. His answer was just what we expected from a true veteran of the industry. He stated:
I learned so much from Kojima’s games. I remember losing so much sleep binging on MGS2. I was so tired at one point that when the codex conversations started breaking the 4th wall, I literally thought they were talking directly to me. Freaked me out. Master fucking class.
It’s only natural to be thinking of Hideo Kojima when it comes to great cinematics as the Metal Gear Solid franchise is possibly the one with the most cinematic hours in an action game. We expect – and we are almost sure – that Death Stranding will be the same.
What God of War has, on the other hand, is the smooth transition between gameplay and cinematics that we are not used to seeing in Hideo Kojima games. That’s where a defining line between Cory Barlog’s game and Hideo Kojima’s lie. For what it’s worth though, God of War is now one of the most acclaimed video games of this first part of 2018. As we see, Hideo Kojima has played a role in this too.
Interestingly, Sony has helped Hideo Kojima too in a sense, since the father of the Metal Gear Solid franchise has previously stated that his vision of Death Stranding wouldn’t be possible if his partnership with Sony hadn’t been made. Furthermore, the game will be made in the same engine as Horizon Zero Dawn, meaning that this is too an act of Sony.
Elder Scrolls 6 Tease Mentioned By Canadian Toy Manufacturer
Is Sony Taking A Cut Of The Earnings From Mercy’s Overwatch Charity Skin?
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Tag: LA Department of Recreation and Parks
2012: A Year in Review (December 2012 Cover Story)
Photo by John Mattera
It was a year of incredible change and transformation for San Pedro.
A year of gains, losses and continued tradition. The waters brought us a new resident, a home for artisans was built, and a new councilman was chosen to lead us. We faced the challenge of the land sliding beneath us, out of control skateboarders, and the constant threat of crime. We saw a lighthouse and a church reborn, milestones surpassed, and parking meters meeting their maker. Even through the good and the bad, when 2013 rolls around, history will look back on 2012 as the year it all started coming together for San Pedro.
The previous year did not end well. We were still reeling from the Paseo del Mar landslide that happened in November 2011. At the time, no one had any answers as to why the land toppled into the sea and we were still getting used to having a neighborhood divided by the ocean cliffs. And then things got worse.
Eva Tice
San Pedrans were stunned and saddened by the killing of Eva Tice, a 60-year-old mentally disabled woman who was stabbed walking home on Pacific Ave. from a Christmas Eve church service. Police would later announce a $50,000 reward for information leading to her killer, who fled the scene and still has yet to be found.
The good news arrived, when, after months of campaigning and a special run-off election against Assemblyman Warren Furutani, former LAPD Harbor Division Senior Lead Officer Joe Buscaino was sworn in as councilman of the city’s 15th District on January 31, replacing Janice Hahn, who won a seat on Congress the previous year.
Residents also freaked out for a bit when false rumors of a serial killer in the Harbor Area spread on Facebook. It turned out to be the end result of a game of telephone after a young woman was found slain in Wilmington.
Later in January, talks began about a proposed a skatepark in Peck Park. After months of planning, the project got a monetary boost from the Tony Hawk Foundation in October. Construction bids should go out this month. Supporters hope the project will be completed before overpass construction will temporarily close the existing Channel Street Skatepark later next year.
Speaking of skating, the increasingly familiar sight of packs of un-helmeted skaters “bombing” hills at high speeds in traffic around town became a forefront issue this year when Caleb Daniel Simpson, a 15-year-old from Palmdale, became the second teen to die engaging in the activity in San Pedro. A few months earlier, 14-year-old Michael Borojevich died after he crashed skating near 25th St. and Western Ave. The deaths gained widespread media attention and prompted officials to eventually ban bombing throughout the city in August.
In February, the Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities announced its new home at the Warner Grand Theatre. In November, the theatre company announced an indefinite suspension, pulling out of the Warner Grand and leaving existing subscribers in the dark.
Photo courtesy of Boys & Girls Club
Students at San Pedro High School and the Boys & Girls Club got a visit from ballerina and alumnus Misty Copeland, a soloist in the American Ballet Theatre. Copeland returned to her hometown in February to share her experiences getting her start at the Boys & Girls Club and rising to the top of the ballet world, where she is ABT’s first African-American female soloist in decades.
After months of restoration work, St. Peter’s Church, San Pedro’s oldest place of worship, reopened its doors on Easter Sunday at its new home at Green Hills Memorial Park. Originally built in 1884, the church was moved to Green Hills in 2011, where it underwent badly needed repairs.
A much-improved Angels Gate Lighthouse was unveiled in April after a six-month restoration project spearheaded by the Cabrillo Beach Boosters, who fixed the lighthouse’s rusting exterior. Steel reinforcements, a new paint job and zinc coating were just some of the repairs made to help protect the lighthouse from erosion for another 25 years. The Boosters also hope to restore the crumbling interior in time for the lighthouse’s centennial next year.
Point Fermin Lighthouse also made headlines this year when in May, the federal government declared it to be surplus property, basically putting it up for grabs for new ownership. A handful of groups and nonprofits have applied, including the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks and the Point Fermin Lighthouse Society. We’re still waiting to see who will be chosen to run one of San Pedro’s iconic landmarks.
Arguably, the biggest story of the year for San Pedro was May’s arrival of the historic battleship USS Iowa in the Port of Los Angeles. Only two years ago, the Port had rejected a proposal to berth the ship as a floating museum and tourist attraction. Robert Kent, who founded the nonprofit that spearheaded the effort, got the community to rally around the project, eventually getting the Port to come around. With funding in place and the Port’s blessing, the Pacific Battleship Center made a bid for the ship, and was later granted it by the Navy. Repairs were made in Northern California before the ship was towed to Los Angeles.
On June 9, the ship made its final journey down the main channel to its permanent berth as thousands of spectators on shore lined Harbor Blvd. The ship hosted a Veteran’s reunion and opened for public tours in July.
On the heels of the Iowa’s arrival, the Historic Waterfront Business Improvement District (commonly known as the PBID) put on a Swingin’ Salute Block Party in downtown San Pedro. Residents decked out in their 1940’s best came out for free swing music and dance lessons under new decorative lights crisscrossing over 6th St. The San Pedro Bay Historical Society also put together a series of historical window exhibits displayed in shops downtown.
Also in June, nonprofit Harbor Interfaith Services opened a new, three-story facility on 9th Street, where it relocated its headquarters and expanded services supporting struggling families.
Seven months after a 600-ft. stretch of Paseo del Mar slid into the ocean after a rainstorm, the City released a geotechnical report assessing the causes of the landslide and future of the site. Both natural and manmade factors like irrigation and wave erosion played a role in the slide, but no further ground movement was detected. The City later secured funds to stabilize and grade the area and install drains. Whether or not the road will be re-routed is to be determined with the input of a new 50-member community advisory committee appointed by Councilman Buscaino.
Another major story of the year happened in late June, when the first of two WWII-era warehouses near 22nd Street Park re-opened as Crafted, an indoor craft marketplace dreamt up by the same developer as Santa Monica’s successful Bergamot Station. With a 35-year lease, dozens of vendors and far-reaching media coverage, Crafted has already proven to be a one-of-a-kind regional draw. After gripes about its $5 parking fee, Crafted gave away free one-year parking passes to local residents and later offered free parking on Fridays.
After planning this year’s Taste in San Pedro festival for Ports O’ Call Village, the Chamber of Commerce announced its cancellation in July. It would be the first summer without one in more than a decade. The Taste wasn’t the only foodie event cancelled this year. Weeks later, organizers of the Ćevapčići Festival announced its cancellation due to lack of funds. It was especially a bummer since the Balkan sausage fest had some big press lined up. The Port’s annual Lobster Festival went on as usual, drawing thousands of sea foodies to the waterfront.
In early August, an 18-year-old former Mary Star of the Sea High School running back confessed to stealing cash registers from several businesses on Western Ave and Gaffey St. He ran into a slight problem when his dad recognized him on the surveillance video that made the media rounds and convinced his son to turn himself in.
More than 600 parking meters were axed in downtown San Pedro and Wilmington this summer, a move by Councilman Buscaino’s office after a study concluded they did more harm than good. Rates on remaining meters also went down. Business owners had long complained that the overabundance of meters and rate hikes discouraged consumers from shopping downtown. The issue was a talking point in the special election to replace former Councilwoman Janice Hahn.
This year’s Navy Days went much smoother than last, drawing 5,000 people over the course of two days (2011’s event was longer and larger, causing a traffic nightmare and long lines). Tour goers got an inside look at the USS Wayne E. Meyer destroyer and the Coast Guard Cutter George Cobb.
The same weekend, reports came pouring in of a man spotted jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge shortly after 12:30 p.m. on August 19. A few hours later, Port police announced they had recovered the body of Top Gun director Tony Scott, whose car was found on top of the bridge with a note left inside. His suicide drew national media attention. A coroner’s report later confirmed that contrary to reports, he was not battling cancer at the time of his death.
Thousands of young San Pedrans went back to school weeks earlier than usual this year, part of an early start schedule adopted by the L.A. Unified School District that’ll have them out for summer in early June (they were originally slated to get out by the end of May, but Prop. 30 changed that). This was also the first year for the new John M. and Muriel Olguin Campus of San Pedro High School, an environmentally innovative annex campus built to relieve overcrowding at SPHS. Shortly after school started, there was a bit of a traffic controversy in the surrounding neighborhood.
Also in August, San Pedro native and LAPD Deputy Chief Patrick Gannon announced his retirement after 34 years on the force. A few months later, he took a new job as Chief of Airport Police at LAX.
Seventeen-year-old Monica Bender, a senior at Mary Star of the Sea High School, made headlines when she swam the 20-mile Catalina Channel the last week of August.
After a string of residential burglaries over the summer had residents on edge, eight new police officers were assigned to LAPD Harbor Division to help curb property crime. Police eventually arrested an 18-year-old San Pedro man linked to one of the crime scenes.
Astronaut and first-mom-in-space Anna Fisher returned to her hometown in September for the fundraiser opening of Harbor Day Preschool. She also took time to speak with students at several high schools. In other San Pedro space news, the ashes of Allyson Diana Genest, an avid Star Trek fan from San Pedro who died in 1999, were sent to outer space with Space X’s Dragon launch in May. It was her dying wish.
Who could forget the refinery burn-off freakout on September 15? When a power outage set off a controlled burn-off at the ConocoPhillips Refinery in Wilmington, shooting flames and smoke high into the air, many residents wondered if there was a raging blaze to worry about. Some later filed complaints about pollution emitted during the burn-off.
On a related note, the Rancho LPG facility on North Gaffey Street – those two big gas tanks across from the Home Depot – got in trouble with air quality officials after neighboring residents reported smelling what turned out to be a gas leak in October. The facility has been subject to criticism and protest from neighboring residents for decades. Councilman Buscaino held a hearing addressing their concerns earlier this year.
Also in October, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor and Point Fermin Elementary School celebrated milestone birthdays, turning 75 and 100, respectively.
On Columbus Day, eight new inductees were honored at the annual San Pedro Sportswalk to the Waterfront. Later that the day, hundreds gathered outside the Italian-American Club for the councilman’s first Buscaino Block Party and Spaghetti Dinner.
After the Port put out a call over the summer for commercial developers to fix up Ports O’ Call Village, it announced in October that eight had taken interest. A decision on a developer should arrive early next year.
The San Pedro International Film Festival made its debut in October, screening dozens of films and hosting workshops.
On October 10, San Pedro Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, Betsy Cheek, announced her resignation after not having her contract renewed by the Chamber Board of Directors. The Chamber will begin the search for a new president/CEO early next year.
Many San Pedrans were bummed when organizers of the Railroad Revival Tour announced its cancellation weeks before it was set to roll through town (2011’s sold-out Mumford and Sons performance drew thousands to the waterfront). Willie Nelson, Band of Horses, Jamey Johnson, and John Reilly and Friends were set to perform at Ports O’ Call Village on October 27. Band of Horses still wanted to play however, putting on a show at the Warner Grand Theatre the same night instead.
Congresswoman Janice Hahn defeated Congresswoman Laura Richardson in early November in the race to represent California’s newly drawn 44th Congressional District.
Yet another version of the proposed housing development for the long-abandoned Navy housing property along Western Ave. surfaced in early November. The new Ponte Vista is more scaled back than previous incarnations and includes additional lanes to address traffic concerns that have shot down the project in the past.
This month, of course, marks two San Pedro holiday traditions, the 32nd Annual Spirit of San Pedro Christmas Parade, and the 50th L.A. Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade.
We know we missed a few items of note from the past year, but we couldn’t fit everything in. Needless to say, it’s been a year of intense change and challenges. Let’s hope 2013 is just as exciting and full of positive, forward thinking progress as we continue to push San Pedro towards a more prosperous future.
They Shall Be Missed
Sadly, we also lost a number of notable San Pedrans this year. Here’s a list of noteworthy deaths:
Steve Saggiani, longshoreman
Rudy Svorinich Sr., community leader and father of former Councilman Rudy Svorinich, Jr.
“Cheerful” Al Kaye, owner, Union War Surplus
Dr. H. Michael Weitzman, optometrist and philanthropist
Tom Phillips, painter of iconic San Pedro scenes and landscapes
Joseph M. Mardesich III, entrepreneur
Stancil Jones, longtime fire captain
Joe Caccavalla, Tri-Art Festival founder
Ray Patricio, community leader and nature preservationist
Dr. Jerry Blaskovich, dermatologist
Tony Perkov, owner, Ante’s Restaurant
Geoff Agisim, sea chantey singer
John Greenwood, school board member, community leader
Cindy Rutherford, owner, Century Motorcycles
(apologies to those we may have omitted by accident)
Posted on November 29, 2012 January 10, 2013 Author Megan BarnesCategories Cover Stories, Magazine, NewsTags Allyson Diana Genest, American Ballet Theatre, Angels Gate Lighthouse, Anna Fisher, Band of Horses, Bergamot Station, Betsy Cheek, Boys & Girls Club, Cabrillo Beach Boosters, Caleb Daniel Simpson, Catalina, Cevapcici Festival, Chamber of Commerce, Channel Street Skate Park, Cheerful Al Kaye, Cindy Rutherford, Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities, Coast Guard Cutter George Cobb, Columbus Day, Congress, Congresswoman Laura Richardson, ConocoPhillips Refinery, Crafted, Dr. H. Michael Weitzman, Dr. Jerry Blaskovich, Eva Tice, Geoff Agisim, Green Hills Memorial Park, Harbor Interfaith Services, Historic Waterfront Business Improvement District, Jamey Johnson, Janice Hahn, Joe Buscaino, Joe Caccavalla, John Greenwood, John M. and Muriel Old, John Reilly and Friends, Joseph M. Mardesich III, LA Department of Recreation and Parks, LA Harbor Holiday Afloat parade, LA Unified School District, LAPD Harbor Division, Lobster Festival, Los Angeles, Mary Star of the Sea High School, Michael Borojevich, Misty Copeland, Monica Bender, Mumford and Sons, Navy, Navy Days, Pacific Battleship Center, parking meters, Paseo del Mar, Patrick Gannon, Point Fermin Elementary School, Point Fermin Lighthouse, Point Fermin Lighthouse Society, Ponte Vista, Port of Los Angeles, Ports O'Call Village, Prop 30, Railroad Revival Tour, Rancho LPG, Ray Patricio, Robert Kent, Rudy Svorinich Sr, San Pedro, San Pedro Bay Historical Society, San Pedro Ca, San Pedro Christmas Parade, San Pedro High School, San Pedro International Film Festival, San Pedro Sportswalk, Santa Monica, South Bay, St. Peter's Church, Stancil Jones, Steve Saggiani, Swingin Salute Block Party, Tom Phillips, Tony Hawk Foundation, Tony Perkov, Tony Scott, USS Iowa, USS Wayne E. Meyer, Vincent Thomas Bridge, Warner Grand Theatre, Warren Furutani, Willie Nelson, Wilmington1,123 Comments on 2012: A Year in Review (December 2012 Cover Story)
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Ten dead and more injured in central Tibet earthquake
By International Campaign for Tibet|October 8, 2008|
A major earthquake measuring 6.6. on the Richter scale struck Damshung (Chinese: Dangxiong) county in central Tibet on Tuesday (October 7), killing at least 10 people and injuring many more inside collapsed buildings.
Lhasa was later affected by after-shocks, and many people left their houses to gather in a large crowd outside the Jokhang temple. Initial bulletins from China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that at least 30 people had been killed, but that figure was attributed to ‘unauthoritative sources’ and later scaled down. Further reports yesterday state there are thought to be no more people trapped under rubble, and that no further fatalities are expected.
Since the crackdown due to protests in Lhasa and beyond began in March, it has become extremely difficult for non-governmental organizations to function in the Tibet Autonomous Region, meaning that immediate assistance from these organizations was not possible.
One report from the region said most of the dead and injured in the earthquake, which struck at 4.30 in the afternoon local time on October 7, were women, children and the elderly who had been working indoors when the quake struck, while men had mostly been gathering winter fodder for livestock. Another report said Buddhist lamas are traveling to the scene to conduct prayer services for those who had died.
The Dalai Lama issued a statement from Dharamsala yesterday, saying: “I am deeply saddened by the loss of life and property as a result of the earthquake that struck Damshung county and neighboring areas west of Lhasa on Monday. Our prayers go out to those who have lost their lives in this tragedy and offer condolences to their families and those affected by this natural disaster.” The Dalai Lama also said in his statement, “I am exploring avenues to extend assistance as a token of my deep concern and solidarity with the people devastated by these earthquakes.”
A tremor shook Lhasa for around 30 seconds afterwards. Schools were closed, and frightened residents gathered at the Jokhang temple. A Tibetan source said: “Since March, not many people have been seen on the streets of Lhasa due to the crackdown. So it was unusual to have such a large gathering of people. The authorities were quite nervous about the security implications even despite the earthquake.”
The initial quake in Damshung, around 50 miles north of Lhasa, was followed 15 minutes later by a smaller one to the west of Lhasa, according to the US Geological Survey. A large aftershock measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale hit Damshung at 8:10 of the same evening measuring, one of a total 15 aftershocks so far.
According to official reports People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops stationed in Lhasa are leading rescue efforts, as well as hundreds of disaster relief workers once a road to the village had been repaired, providing food, water, tents and sanitation for the victims.
Official accounts from the village at the epicenter of the earthquake, Yangyi village, recount how around 170 buildings collapsed in the first earthquake at 4:30, killing nine people and seriously injuring 11 more, while a further 19 needed treatment for minor injuries.
Another fatality was reported in Nagarze (Ch: Liangkaze) county in Lhokha (Ch: Shannan) prefecture, when a teenager was killed and 15 other students injured as they panicked while trying to evacuate their school during the earthquake.
One of the most devastating features of the huge earthquake that struck Sichuan province on May 12 of this year, killing 79,000 people, was that many school buildings collapsed instantly, killing and injuring thousands of children. The school buildings had been poorly constructed with inferior materials as a result of under-funding and corruption; one official report on the Damshung earthquake stated: “Tibet’s regional government decided Monday night to close all schools in Lhasa on Tuesday due to safety concerns.”
The official media also reported that the earthquake did not affect the running of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which passes through Damshung county. The railway was engineered to withstand, as far as possible, seasonal movements in the ground caused by the freezing and thawing of the soil, as well as a certain degree of seismic activity. However, leading scientists have warned that global warming may render the railway so unstable as to be too dangerous to use within 10 years. In addition, much of the route of the railway passes through areas prone to significant seismic activity. The Kunlun Mountain range which the railway crosses to the north of Damshung county was struck by an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale in 2001, five years before the railway was completed. (See ICT report, ‘Tracking the Steel Dragon‘).
International Campaign for Tibet | 1825 Jefferson Place NW | Washington, DC | 20036 | USA Phone: (202) 785-1515 | Fax: (202) 785-4343 | [email protected] ICT is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Our tax ID is 52-1570071. View our privacy policy. Press Inquies: [email protected]vetibet.org
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Sergei Kuzenko
Professor, MSc PhD Tomsk.
Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Physics
Emailsergei.kuzenko@uwa.edu.au
Sergei Kuzenko is a Professor in the Department of Physics, UWA, and the Leader of the Field Theory and Quantum Gravity group. Since he moved to Australia in 2000, his research team has produced important results on quantum supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories, supergravity-matter systems in diverse dimensions, extended supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models, models for spontaneously broken supersymmetry, and higher-spin gauge theories. He is responsible for establishing research into supergravity theories in Australia.
In 2009, Sergei Kuzenko was awarded a prestigious Australian Professorial Fellowship of the Australian Research Council (2010--2014).
He served as Deputy Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Mathematical Physics (ANZAMP) from 2011--2015. ANZAMP is a Division of the Australian Mathematical Society. It was founded in 2011 for the promotion and extension of mathematical physics in Australia and New Zealand wherever appropriate; and in particular encourage the interaction between mathematical physicists and workers in fields where mathematical physics is relevant.
His monograph with IL Buchbinder ``Ideas and Methods of Supersymmetry and Supergravity or a Walk Through Superspace’’ is a standard graduate text on supersymmetry and supergravity.
Before joining UWA, Sergei Kuzenko spent two years as a Senior Research Fellow in the Physics Department of the University of Munich (1998—2000). In 1994, he was awarded a prestigious Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany on the basis of his research into supersymmetric field theory and supergravity. He served a total of two years of his Fellowship at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Hanover in 1994/95 and 1997.
Sergei Kuzenko received his MSc degree in Physics in 1984 from Tomsk State University, one of the oldest Russian universities (established in 1878). Only one and a half years later, he earned his PhD in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, thus becoming the youngest Doctor of Philosophy in the history of Tomsk State University. At that university he served as Assistant Professor from 1986--1992 and Associate Professor from 1992--1998.
The research interests of Sergei Kuzenko are primarily inspired by one of the central problems of high-energy physics: the unification of gravity with the other fundamental interactions within a consistent quantum theory. The complete structure of such a theory is not yet known despite numerous efforts over several decades. The most interesting models for quantum gravity include string theory and its low-energy approximations known as supersymmetric theories of gravity or supergravity.
The Google profile of Sergei Kuzenko is available at:
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=6In-tbQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
His complete list of publications is given at the INSPIRE database:
http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&p=find+a+kuzenko%2C+s&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=earliestdate&so=d
Supersymmetry and supergravity
supergravity Physics & Astronomy
fine structure Physics & Astronomy
formulations Physics & Astronomy
supersymmetry Physics & Astronomy
tensors Physics & Astronomy
cotton Physics & Astronomy
scalars Physics & Astronomy
harmonics Physics & Astronomy
Conformal geometry and (super)conformal higher-spin gauge theories
Kuzenko, S. M. & Ponds, M., 1 May 2019, In : Journal of High Energy Physics. 2019, 5, 113.
gauge theory
tensors
gauge invariance
Spin projection operators and higher-spin Cotton tensors in three dimensions
Buchbinder, E. I., Kuzenko, S. M., La Fontaine, J. & Ponds, M., 10 Mar 2019, In : Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics. 790, p. 389-395 7 p.
Superconformal vector multiplet self-couplings and generalised Fayet-Iliopoulos terms
Kuzenko, S. M., 10 Aug 2019, In : Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics. 795, p. 37-41 5 p.
supergravity
supersymmetry
Goldstino Superfields in Supergravity
Kuzenko, S. M., 1 Sep 2018, In : Physics of Particles and Nuclei. 49, 5, p. 841-846 6 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article
Higher spin supercurrents in anti-de Sitter space
Buchbinder, E. I., Hutomo, J. & Kuzenko, S. M., 1 Sep 2018, In : Journal of High Energy Physics. 2018, 9, 27.
gravitinos
formulations
View all 188 research output
Advances in HIgher Spin Gauge Theory
Kuzenko, S., Sorokin, D. & Vasiliev, M.
Novel Conformal Techniques in Quantum Field Theory, Gravity and Supergravity
Kuzenko, S., Buchbinder, E., Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli, G., Theisen, S. & Tseytlin, A.
2011 - Extended Supergravity in Particle Physics and String Theory
Kuzenko, S. & Butter, D.
Scientific Visits to Europe - Sweden - New Supercomformal Theories & Their Applications
Kuzenko, S.
Australian Academy of Science
Quantum & Geometric Aspects of Gauge Theories Supergravity & String Theory
Kuzenko, S., Lindstrom, U. & Tseytlin, A.
ARC Australian Professorial Fellow
Sergei Kuzenko (Recipient), 26 Oct 2009
Prize: Other distinction
Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Sergei Kuzenko (Recipient), 1994
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Mexico in a Globalized World
Agustín Carstens, minister of finance and public credit, Mexico, discussed Mexico's place in the global economy and its future needs in order to solidify its role.
Photo Gallery | Presentation (PDF)
Agustín Carstens assumed office as minister of finance and public credit of Mexico on December 1, 2006 with the new Administration of President Felipe Calderón.
Prior to taking up his current position he was Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from August of 2003 to October of 2006.
Previously he was Mexico's deputy secretary of finance. From 1999-2000, Mr. Carstens served as an Executive Director at the IMF (representing Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Spain and Venezuela), after a career at the Banco de México (central bank). He has published articles in collections edited by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the University of London, OECD, IMF, and World Bank. He has also published articles in Columbia Journal of World Business, American Economic Review, Journal of Asian Economics, Journal of International Finance, Cuadernos Económicos del ICE (Spain), and Gaceta de Economía del ITAM (Mexico).
Carstens has a PhD (1985) and M.A. (1983) in economics from the University of Chicago. He has a B.A. in economics from Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) (1982).
This presentation, Mexico in a Globalized World (PDF), was sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The Myron Scholes Global Markets Forum is generously sponsored by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Trust.
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My wife and I were visiting her father who was having an extended stay in a Cedar Rapids area hospital one Sunday. After being with him for awhile, we decided to take off and head east toward the small town of Lowden where her son lives to visit him. We took Mount Vernon Road out of Cedar Rapids - basically the old Highway 30 that was in use as the main east-west road through the city until the bypass around the southern part of Cedar Rapids opened nearly 40 years ago - over toward Mount Vernon. We were getting sort of hungry when we got to Mount Vernon and I seemed to remember a place that was a barbecue joint there, but it didn't show up on my GPS. We did a quick search on my wife's phone and it came up - Big's BBQ & Brew Pub. Oh! A brewpub, as well? I said, "Jackpot!" We found Big's BBQ & Brew Pub and went in to check it out.
Phil Smith grew up in the heart of Texas barbecue country. After eating barbecue for years, he ended up in culinary school to learn every nuance of cooking, including making good barbecue. Eventually moving to Iowa, Smith worked at a number of restaurants in Eastern Iowa. He became friendly with a local brewer by the name of Aaron Gerbo and the two connected on a common culinary/craft brewing level. Smith always wanted to have his own barbecue place and Gerbo was a seasoned craft brewer. The two decided to join forces for a combination barbecue/brewpub.
Searching for places in and around Cedar Rapids, the two found an old house in Mount Vernon just north of the downtown main drag to and from Cornell College. They found a house that was originally built in 1890 and was used as a dental practice by the man who built it. Years later, the main floor of the house was the home of a deli. Two brothers whose father ran the deli now owned the house and they were approached by Smith and Gerbo about an opportunity to put a restaurant back on the main floor. The brothers liked the idea of a brewpub/barbecue joint as it reminded them of their father's deli. They gave Smith and Gerbo the go-ahead and the two set about turning the main floor into a restaurant. By May of 2017, Smith was offering barbecue to go as the building was in the midst of renovations. Within three months, the brewery was up and going, and they were offering sit-down barbecue to patrons.
It was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up to the front of Big's BBQ & Brew Pub at the corner of 2nd Ave. NW and 2nd St. NW. (see map) The stately old residence was pretty hard to miss, especially with a large "Big's" banner out front. Upon entering the building, we found a small dining area that sat - maybe - 20 people. The room was bright with the outdoor natural light shining in the windows. A small kitchen area was in the back of the main floor of the house.
The cozy little dining area had a small television hung on the wall, and a mantle over a closed-up fireplace displayed a number of decorative beer steins. My wife and I took a seat at a table next to the window and a young lady brought us out a couple of menus for us to look over.
In the front room that looks out to the street was a small bar area. The three-sided wooden bar sat nine people and the room had some motorcycle memorabilia on the walls. The bar area was also bright from the natural light coming in the three large windows.
The beer menus for Big's were on chalkboards just as you walk into the dining room and on the wall in the bar area. The nanobrewery operation was housed in the basement of the old house. (Curiously, I looked around the outside of the house as we left and I didn't see a smoker.) They had an Irish Stout on tap, as well a Russian double imperial stout. They had two barrel-aged beers - a bock and another stout - and they had a Mexican Vienna lager on tap that sort of interested me. Big's also has their own cider on tap, as well as a house-made root beer.
They had a kolsch on special that day - the Katfish Kolsch - with pints costing just $2.00. After I took my first drink, I sort of figured out why it was on special. It was pretty flat. I ended up drinking it, but for my second beer I switched to the Double Barrel IPA that my wife had originally ordered. It was a much better beer than their kolsch.
It was standard barbecue fare at Big's BBQ & Brew Pub - baby-back ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, pork sausage, and a brisket platter that they have on the menu over most weekends. With the majority of barbecue places that I'm trying for the first time, I wanted to have a combo plate. I ended up getting the pulled pork and the burnt ends.
The pulled pork was moist, juicy, very tender and very flavorful. The burnt ends were also moist and tender with a nice bark on some of the pieces. I thought the barbecue offerings I had were both very good.
I can't say that about the sides, however. I got the baked beans and the cole slaw. Both were pedestrian, at best. The cole slaw was pretty bland in taste, while the baked beans really lacked any pizzazz in their flavor. But the smoked meats were outstanding and the portions were generous so I didn't feel cheated by having such bland sides.
My wife ended up getting a combo of her own - the baby-back ribs with burnt ends. The ribs were thick and meaty with a bit of a peppery rub that gave them a little zip in flavor. They meat pulled away from the bone effortlessly and it was very tender and not overcooked. My wife liked the ribs immensely. She also liked the burnt ends very much, too. My wife commented that she wasn't certain that she could eat all the barbecue on her platter and that's how I ended up getting one of the baby-back ribs to try.
She got the cole slaw and the collard greens for her sides. She, too, wasn't too enamored with the cole slaw, but she said she liked the collard greens. She offered me a bite of the greens and I thought they were a little too sour in taste for me. I remarked that some vinegar added to the greens might have helped them for me.
They had a couple barbecue sauces available - the sauce they originally served in a small container reminded me of Cookies BBQ sauce with maybe some vinegar and mustard added. It was good, but it wasn't as good as the raspberry sriracha sauce I asked for from our young waitress. That barbecue sauce was simply outstanding. It had a biting spicy taste at first, but the raspberry helped smooth out the spiciness on the back side. I could have had a pint of that just to drink, I thought it was so good.
For the most part, we really enjoyed our visit to Big's BBQ & Brew Pub. We both thought the smoked meats we had were delicious and very generous in their portion size. The sides were bland, but my wife did think the collared greens were good enough. The kolsch beer that I first ordered was flat (I surmised that's why it was on special that day for $2.00 a pint), but the Double Barrel IPA that I got after that was a very tasty beer. Our service was fine, the place was cozy, but the overall bill (a little over $50 before tip) was a bit of a shocker. Still, Big's BBQ & Brew Pub was a great little find and a nice place to take a road trip to.
July 05, 2019 in Barbecue, Brew Pubs, Mount Vernon, IA | Permalink | Comments (0)
On a recent trip out to Indianapolis, I was looking for restaurants not too far from my hotel on the north side of the city for a late lunch/early dinner since I have still been on my OMAD (One Meal a Day) diet to help me continue to lose weight. (I'm down 60 pounds since I started my diet nearly a year ago.) I was sort of hungry for barbecue, but the two places near my hotel I had already been to before. I was looking for someplace new and I found a barbecue place that popped up as a suggestion on my GPS that was about a 10 minute drive away. It was a place called Porkopolis and I wasn't familiar with it. I thought I'd go and check the place out.
Brady Bogen and Matt Hamilton are lifelong friends who grew up together in Columbus, OH. Bogen went into radio broadcasting while Hamilton got his degree from Indiana University and got into the hospitality business. Hamilton worked for a number of restaurant ventures around the United States before settling in Phoenix a number of years ago. Bogen was already living in Phoenix and working as a morning rush disc jockey at a popular hard rock/heavy metal station. Bogen had started to market a line of barbecue sauces that he categorized as "Midwestern sweetness with Southwestern flavors". Brady's Sauce was already a favorite around the Phoenix area by the time Hamilton and Bogen reconnected.
Bogen's direct family lineage dates back to the early 1800's as he is the direct decedent of George Bogen, one of the first meat packers to open in Cincinnati. Hamilton and Bogen thought that maybe they needed to think beyond just sauces and open a barbecue joint in the Valley of the Sun. They enlisted the help of Roger McConnell, a local butcher who moved from Iowa to the Mesa area in the early 90's to open a meat shop featuring corn-fed Midwestern beef and pork. With McConnell supplying the top notch pork and beef for the new venture, the trio opened the first Porkopolis in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler in 2012. The got the name from a nickname Bogen's great-great grandfather called Cincinnati in the mid-1800's. In 2016, the group opened a second location in Scottsdale.
Gavin Hart had gone to college with Matt Hamilton at Indiana and had gotten into the restaurant business, himself. He and his wife had been franchisees of a number of restaurants including Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen and BurgerFi. The Harts owned a Dairy Queen on N. Michigan just north of 465 near Zionsville, but they were sort of getting tired with that format and wanted to do something else.
Hamilton and Hart stayed in touch over the years and Hart voiced his desire to do something else with his Dairy Queen location, possibly a barbecue place. Hamilton suggested that Hart come down to Phoenix to take a look at their Porkopolis operation. Once he was there, Hart immediately liked the concept, down to the sauces they served at the restaurant. Hart immediately signed on board as a part-owner of Porkopolis.
In early 2018, the Hart's closed the Dairy Queen location and started to renovate it into a Porkopolis location. About six months later, the transformation was complete and they opened the Indianapolis Porkopolis in the fall of 2018.
I came across W. 86th Street as the late afternoon traffic on I-465 was bumper to bumper. I turned north on N. Michigan and headed under the interstate and further up the road to the north. On my left, I saw the Porkopolis location, but there was no way for me to take a left hand turn into the place. I went up to the light on 106th Street, did a U-turn and headed back down Michigan toward Porkopolis. (see map)
From the outside, I could still kind of see that the building was one of those pre-fab franchise-type restaurants that, I guessed, was possibly a Kentucky Fried Chicken at one point. Only after I found out that it used to be a Dairy Queen did I realize that I was sort of track with my thinking. The restaurant shared its parking lot with a convenience store/gas station next door.
Walking into Porkopolis, I found a well-appointed and cozy space with a full bar on one end, an open kitchen off to the side and a smattering of tables and booths down the long narrow dining area. An outdoor patio was in front of the building facing N. Michigan Ave. Since it was late in the afternoon, I was the only one in there. In fact, the whole time I was there, I was the only one in there.
I was seated at a booth by Kareem, a soft-spoken young man who would also be my server. Kareem seemed distracted during my visit constantly looking out the window looking at - or for - god knows what. He gave me a menu and I asked what kind of craft beer they had. He really didn't know what they had, so I made my way up to the bar to check out the selection on tap. I spied a Bell's Two Hearted Ale and ordered up a pint of that.
The menu had your normal barbecue specialties - baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken and smoked turkey. They also had a number of barbecued meat sandwiches, as well as a burger, a rib-eye steak and southern fried chicken for people not looking for barbecue. A number of interesting items such as jambalaya with smoked pork and chicken, pulled pork tacos, and an appetizer called fried gumbo - deep fried chunks of shrimp, catfish and okra mixed together and seasoned with a rub concocted by Brady Bogen.
I really wanted to try some barbecue - I normally like to get the combo platter when I do barbecue - but something else grabbed my attention. I ended up getting the smoked meatloaf. It consisted of a mixture of pork and beef cooked in the smoker, then sliced and placed on the grill to finish it off. It was served on a bed of mashed potatoes with green beans as a side. A liberal amount of Brady's sweet and smoky sauce was placed on top of the meat loaf.
The meat loaf was actually pretty good. It had a nice smoked flavor and the char from the grill helped give it a nice finish on the taste buds. The pork and beef mixture - how I like to make my meat loaf at home - was very flavorful. And the sauce was a great complement to all the taste sensations. I'm always dubious of meat loaf on the road, but Porkopolis' meat loaf more than satiated my appetite.
But I still wanted to try some of their barbecue, so along with the meat loaf I ordered the burnt ends appetizer. It was a small bowl filled with tender brisket ends topped with the same sweet and smoky sauce that was on the meat loaf. It was sort of expensive for what I was served, but it was still very good.
They had four different types of sauces on the table - there was a regular sauce in a Porkopolis bottle, the sweet and smoky Brady's sauce, a hot and sweet Brady's sauce, and a very interesting Sriacha chile verde sauce. I tried some of that on the mashed potatoes and I liked it immensely. It was a little too salty for my liking, but the sauce really livened up the somewhat dull mashed potatoes. In hindsight, I should have picked up a bottle of Sriacha green sauce when I was there.
For my first visit to Porkopolis, I come away pretty impressed. I was a little concerned about three things - I was the only one that was in there the whole time I was there (I left around 5:30 p.m.), the server was a little distracted (but he did an OK job of taking care of any request I had), and it is sort of a pain to get to if you're traveling north on N. Michigan. But the smoked meat loaf was very good, as was the burnt end appetizer. It was a nice and comfortable setting and there wasn't much of a hint that the place used to be a Dairy Queen up to a little over a year before. I liked Porkopolis and if you're in the area you probably should give it a try.
June 26, 2019 in Barbecue, Comfort Food, Indianapolis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Reuben's Deli and Steakhouse - Montreal
When we were up in Montreal for a company meeting a few weeks ago, it was our last night in town. Many people had taken off already and a handful of both long time and new colleagues had morning flights as I did. Trying to figure out what to have for dinner, one of our new colleagues came up with a brilliant idea - a good ol' Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich. Now, I had been to Schwartz's Deli, probably the most famous of the smoked meat places in Montreal (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Schwartz's Deli), and I've had a sandwich from the Main Deli Steak House which is literally across the street from Schwartz's Deli (click here to see the entry on Main Deli Steak House). But our new colleague was told by one of the local Montreal guys we work with that the best smoked meat place in downtown Montreal was a place called Reuben's Deli and Steakhouse. And it wasn't far away from the hotel. There were eight of us who made the walk over to Reuben's Deli for dinner that evening.
Constantin Tzemopoulos immigrated from Greece to Montreal in 1955 at the age of 18. His first job was working in a restaurant in Montreal, something that hooked him for the rest of his life. Learning the restaurant business while working at different levels at various restaurants for the next 20 years, Constantine and his wife, Gloria, decided to open their own restaurant that featured both smoked meat sandwiches and steaks. In 1976, the couple opened Reuben's Deli and Steakhouse, a welcome addition to the smoked meat scene in Montreal, but adding steaks, ribs, chicken, burgers, and seafood items to the mix.
The Tzemopoulos family also had three boys that helped out in the restaurant - Dimitris (Jim), Tony, and Adam - all three eventually becoming a large part of the operation. The sons also opened two other restaurants near Reuben's Deli and Steakhouse - DeVille Dinerbar, a refined, yet casual urban neighborhood restaurant, and Anton & James, a chic upscale cafeteria that features breakfast, sandwiches, wraps, salads and pizza. Constantin Tzemopoulos was still a daily presence in Reuben's up to his unexpected and sudden death in 2016 at the age of 82. The three Tzemopoulos boys continue to run Reuben's Deli, as well as the two other restaurants under their RD3 Restaurant Group umbrella.
There are actually two Reuben's Deli along St. Catherine St. W. in what is called the Golden Square Mile of downtown Montreal. There's one at 888 St. Catherine St. W. that is a subterranean restaurant, but I understand it was the original Reuben's Deli. However, we went to the one at 1116 St. Catherine St. W. - a street level restaurant that was more modern in appearance. (see map) I'm not certain the two are related any longer.
Since we were in a large group, we had a bit of a wait to get a table. There was a small bar area toward the back, but there were only a couple of seats available and it was sort of a high traffic area as it was located just off the kitchen area. We ended up congregating toward the hostess stand up front.
The front deli counter displayed a number of items including pickled peppers and other veggies, along with different types of meats and cheese. There was a large upright glass display case near the front door that held dozens of smoked and cured beef. The wonderful smell in the place was almost intoxicating.
It was about 10 minute wait before we were able to be seated at a larger table toward the very back of the dining room. It was a cozy area with banquette seating along a short wall. We had a couple of waiters who came over to introduce themselves, drop off some menus and take our drink orders. Reuben's has their own private branded India Pale Ale and I ordered up one of those.
Smoked meat is sort of an ambiguous term in Montreal. It's basically smoked brisket with seasonings, at least from what I can tell. It's sort of like pastrami, but more like corned beef. I had a former colleague who was a unique eater - I can't call him picky because he would eat some pretty interesting things, but he was particular in what he ate - and he refused to eat a smoked meat sandwich in Montreal because no one could - or would - tell him what the meat really was. Well, from the first time I had a smoked meat sandwich in Montreal, I was hooked. They had four different types of their smoked meat sandwich at Reuben's - a 7 ounce "76" sandwich; the Super Sandwich, which was their most popular; the Big Bang Sandwich, which was the Super Sandwich piled with more smoked meat; or the Builder's Platter where they just bring out a pile of smoked meat and some rye bread and you have at it.
In addition to smoked meat sandwiches, Reuben's also had a number of other sandwiches, burgers, and "piled-high" club sandwiches. Since "steakhouse" is in their name, Reuben's also had a number of steaks on the menu including a 20-ounce bone-in ribeye steak, sautéed tenderloin beef tips that were marinated in whisky, and a 16 ounce ribeye topped with a house-made chimichurri sauce. They also had seafood, chicken, pasta and ribs on the menu at Reuben's.
We started out getting some appetizers to appease our stomachs since we had a small lunch around noon, then a hearty walk in the woods near the Mont Tremblant ski resort area afterward. We got a spinach and cheese dip, some thick-cut onion rings that were stacked high on a plate, and someone ordered up the chopped beef liver. Deep-friend onion straws came on the top of the chopped liver, but I refused to try some. I'm not big on liver, period.
But the one appetizer that I really wanted to try was the smoked meat poutine. When I found that you could get that as a side for an up-charge, that's what I ordered along with my Super smoked meat sandwich. This was a decadent kind of meal. The chopped smoked meat along with the cheese curds and gravy poured on top of some crispy French fries were a heavenly combination. The smoked meat sandwich was more than enough with 10 ounces of thin-sliced meat, crispy on the edges, topped with Swiss cheese on a wonderful rye bread. I normally don't eat this much food, but it was so damned good that I didn't care that I was going to have to revert back to a massive diet once I got back home. (I gained six pounds during this trip to Montreal. That's sort of normal as we always eat well when we go there.)
Most of us ordered the smoked meat sandwiches, but one of my colleagues with with Reuben's center-cut tenderloin beef filet. He got blue cheese on the top and it came with sautéed mushroom caps and was served in a reduction sauce. He was trying to eat healthy, so he got a side of grilled vegetables on the side. He thought the steak was very delicious and was happy with what he got.
Another one of my colleagues went with the ribs. They were big meaty smoked beef ribs slathered with a house-made barbecue sauce. It was a pile of ribs and he liked them so much that he almost finished off the whole plate. Toward the end, he was offering a couple bones to people around the table, but most of us were so full from the wonderful smoked meat sandwiches - and the great smoked meat poutine that I had.
I've now tried three different smoked meat houses in the downtown Montreal area and I'll have to say that out of all of them I liked Reuben's Deli & Steakhouse the best. I'm sure there are others to try, but the lean smoked meat at Reuben's was tender and full of flavor. The smoked meat poutine was just an epicurean delight, and I while I was a little remorseful from the absolute gluttonous display I put on, it was worth going on a crash diet directly after I got home. The wait staff was attentive and professional, and the whole atmosphere at Reuben's was cozy and inviting. If you're going to be in Montreal and want to try a smoked meat sandwich, you can go stand in line for 30 minutes plus at Schwartz's deli, or you can get a great sandwich in a nice setting at Reuben's. Or you can do both!
April 24, 2019 in Barbecue, Montreal, Sandwich Places and Deli's, Steak Houses | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jack Stack Barbecue - Kansas City
I first started traveling on the road in the mid-80's working for a company out of Kansas City. Now, I had been to Kansas City many times previously because I had a girlfriend who lived there for a number of years before distance just made it too hard for us to stay together. But during my trips to see her during our time together, I was too young and culinarily naive to realize that Kansas City had an outstanding barbecue scene. On my first trip to Kansas City working for my new company in the mid-80's, my boss and his wife treated me to a meal at the Jack Stack Barbecue in Martin City, MO. It was the first of what would be many meals I've had at the original Jack Stack location. Over the years, Jack Stack has expanded to five locations around the greater Kansas City area. Staying in downtown Kansas City for a couple days recently, I found that I was walking distance from my hotel to the Jack Stack location in the old Freight House. I decided to head over there for dinner on a cool and somewhat rainy evening.
Years ago before I found a format or a voice for this blog, I had a couple small posts on the Jack Stack location in Martin City, which was actually called the Smoke Stack when I first went there in the mid-80's. But the constant through the history of the Smoke Stack - and then later on with what became Jack Stack - is the Fiorella family.
Russ Fiorella was one of 14 children who grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Kansas City. His parents, Italian immigrants, were originally farmers on the far east side of Kansas City until they were forced to find another line of work when farm prices fell in the 1930's. Like many of his brothers, Russ ended up running a small neighborhood grocery store and worked as the butcher. Russ loved to barbecue the meats he cut, and nearly every Sunday you'd find him smoking brisket, ribs, or pork shoulders for the Fiorella family.
Pictured right - Russ Fiorella standing in front of his neighborhood grocery store/butcher shop. Photo courtesy Jack Stack Barbecue.
As larger grocery stores started to take over, Russ knew that his little neighborhood grocery store couldn't survive. The story goes that Russ took his wife, Flora, to the hospital to give birth to the couples' sixth child. Instead of hanging around the hospital, Russ went over to a small roadhouse on the south side of Kansas City called The Lucky Inn and bought the place. The purchase surprised everyone around Russ, including Flora who had no idea he was even thinking about owning his own restaurant. Russ turned The Lucky Inn from a roadhouse tavern into a barbecue place and named it Smoke Stack BBQ.
The only hitch was that in order to buy The Lucky Inn, Russ Fiorella had to sell the family's seven bedroom, seven bathroom home and move the family - three boys and three girls - into the small apartment above the restaurant. But business started going well for the Fiorella's and by the time the seventh child came into the world around 1963, Russ was able to move the family to a larger home.
A fire destroyed the building in 1966, but the Fiorella's rebuilt and it wasn't long before business started to come back from the devastating fire. By the early 70's, three of Russ' children opened their own Smoke Stack locations around Kansas City with Russ' help, with oldest son Jack opening his place in Martin City, a small town on the far south side of Kansas City just inside the Missouri state line with Kansas.
Jack's location was next door to the famous Jess & Jim's Steakhouse - a destination restaurant that has garnered international fame over the years (and, as a personal side note, I think is overrated) - and that certainly didn't hurt his initial presence in the area. In fact, the location was such a huge success that Jack Fiorella and his wife, Delores, moved to its present day location at 135th and Holmes Road in 1978.
Pictured left - Jack Fiorella. Photo courtesy the Fiorella family and the Martin City Telegraph.
With business up and going at his barbecue place, Jack Fiorella soon opened a second restaurant in Overland Park, KS called Hatfield and McCoys that offered some of the barbecue items that the Smoke Stack restaurants had along with an expanded menu. However, tough economic times in the early 80's forced the closure of that restaurant. In the meantime, Jack had neglected the Martin City barbecue location enough that business was down and they weren't even open for lunch any longer. Crestfallen by his failure at another restaurant and over a half million dollars in debt, Jack directed all his efforts to his barbecue restaurant in Martin City. He came back to the restaurant full time with a small sign outside the restaurant that simply said, "Jack's Back!" People started to come back in droves to his barbecue place and within a couple of years he had paid off his debts from his failed restaurant.
Delores and Jack had always envisioned a more upscale barbecue restaurant compared to the other sit-down barbecue joints that were all over the Kansas City area. They had been one of the first barbecue places in the area to smoke meats with hickory wood after they opened in 1974, and Delores brought a woman's touch to the menu adding items such as seafood, chicken, lamb and steaks. They expanded the Martin City location putting in two additional dining rooms and it became just as popular of a destination restaurant as Jess & Jim's just down the road.
(Russ Fiorella passed away in 1986 and two of his daughters continued to run the original Smoke Stack location until 1999 when they closed the restaurant and the building was torn down soon thereafter. Flora Fiorella was still involved with the business up to the time that it closed and she passed away in 2008.)
By the mid-90's with an eye upon expansion, Jack and Delores had officially changed the name of their business to Fiorella's Jack Stack and opened a second Jack Stack restaurant in Overland Park in 1997. In 2000, a third Jack Stack opened in the renovated Freight House in Kansas City, and a fourth location opened in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City in 2006. In 2016, a fifth location in Lee's Summit, MO was opened. After eating at the one in the Freight House, I have now eaten at all five locations in the greater Kansas City area.
Jack and Delores Fiorella's son and daughter, Kevin and Jennifer, also helped in the business as it grew. Catering and private dining were introduced in the early 90's at a facility just down the street from the Martin City Jack Stack, and by 2000 the company had started a mail order business to ship ribs, burnt ends and other barbecued meats around the United States. In 2009, Jack and Delores retired selling the company to their daughter Jennifer and her husband Case Dorman who is the CEO of the Jack Stack empire today. A fourth generation Fiorella family member, Case and Jennifer's son Keaton, works in the catering department for Jack Stack.
The Freight House in Kansas City is located in the Crossroads Art District, a collection of unique boutiques, restaurants, studios and art galleries on the south end of Kansas City's downtown area. Originally built in the late 1880's, it was used for storage of freight and dry goods that came in on dozens of trains that stopped in Kansas City each day. As the advent of truck freight and outlying warehouses came into being in the 1950's, the Freight House began to see a significant drop in usage. By the 1980's, it was all but closed down and fell into disrepair.
In 1995, a group of investors bought the dilapidated property and began a three year process of repurposing the building into usable space. The owners envisioned three restaurants in the space. Celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich opened the first restaurant, the eponymously named Lidia's, in 1998. The Fiorella family opened Jack Stack in 2000, and a restaurant by the name of City Market opened in 2003. City Market closed in 2010 and was replaced soon thereafter by Grunauer, an Austrian/German restaurant owned by famed chef Peter Grunauer. (Look for an upcoming post on Grunauer at some point in the near future.)
As I said, it was a very short walk - less than five minutes - from my hotel to the Jack Stack BBQ location in the Freight House. (see map). I had never been to that location and as I walked through a vehicle entry way between Lidia's and Grunauer, I walked into a large parking lot that faced Union Station just across the multitude of tracks between that and the Freight House. It was sort of surprising to me that I had never been to this place in all the years I've been coming to Kansas City.
Since I was a single diner, I tried to get a seat in the bar area. But the bar was packed including the sit down areas. I went to the hostess stand to see if I could get a seat in the dining area. She sort of hesitated and said, "Well, we really don't have a booth at this time." I didn't think I heard her correctly and I looked out at the dining area and saw a sea of tables in the center of the room. I said, "I don't really need a booth." She looked at a four-seater table in the center of the room that was empty and asked if I could have that. She escorted me right there and dropped off a menu for me to look over.
The main dining room at the Freight House Jack Stack BBQ is pretty impressive. It's a long and narrow space with a vaulted ceiling with wood truss supports. From the supports were faux candle lighting hanging down above the middle of the dining area. The brick walls had pictures of trains that used to stop at the Freight House and Union Station. There was a large room toward the back of the dining area that could be used for private dining or large groups of up to about 20 people. A statue of the bull depicted in the Jack Stack logo was the centerpiece on the large table.
My server for the evening was a young lady by the name of Tara. She asked me what I would like to drink and I ordered up a Boulevard Pale Ale which is made less than a mile away from the Jack Stack at the Freight House. Then I settled in to take a look at the menu.
Actually, I've eaten at Jack Stack locations so much over the years that I really don't need a menu. The primary barbecue offerings haven't changed much over the years - pork ribs, lamb ribs, beef ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, burnt ends, brisket, as well as smoked ham, turkey and sausage are the barbecue staples of the place. They have a number of sandwiches to choose from with all their smoked meat offerings, as well as a grilled French dip sandwich made with sliced prime rib beef, and a chicken chipotle club sandwich. And, of course, since it is Kansas City, Jack Stack also offers hickory-grilled steaks, pork chops, and seafood entrees. One thing that I've been very tempted to try at some point is their hickory smoked prime rib. I'm guessing that just has to be outstanding.
But like always, I went with the combo barbecue platter. I got the three meat combo with sliced brisket, burnt ends, and pulled pork. Fries come with the meal, but you also get a choice of two sides. The hickory pit beans are always a must, and I really like their cole slaw at Jack Stack. The cole slaw is creamy with a somewhat sweet and somewhat spicy taste with a dash of paprika added.
They have two different types of sauces at Jack Stack, both are served warm. One is a conventional Kansas City sweet and smoky sauce, the other is a hotter sauce that has more of a peppery taste. They don't really emphasize the sauces at Jack Stack and that's OK because the meats are usually very good.
And on this visit, it was not exception to the rule. The pulled pork literally melted in my mouth with each bite. The brisket was tender, lean and full of a great smoky beef flavor. And the burnt ends were done to perfection - large, chunky and tender. I've had some pretty suspect burnt ends around Kansas City over the years, but the ones at Jack Stack have consistently been very good over the years.
The visit to the Freight House Jack Stack BBQ completed my scorecard of eating at all five locations in the Kansas City area. A lot of barbecue places have popped up in the Kansas City area over past twenty years that have tried to emulate the Fiorella family's success in the quality of their meats, the foods other than barbecue that they offer, and the more upscale dining settings that have long defined what Jack Stack is all about. I know there's a lot of choices for barbecue in Kansas City - and I will say that there are a couple three that I may like better than Jack Stack. But if you're going to Kansas City and looking for a starting point where to try barbecue for the first time, I would say start at Jack Stack BBQ and go from there. The consistent quality of the barbecue is one of the reasons why I keep going back time and time again.
April 18, 2019 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (1)
Judy's Barge Inn - Buffalo, IA
There's a number of little towns up and down the Mississippi River that always seem to have one or two places that have good views of the river along with a serviceable food menu along with cold adult beverages. My wife and I went out to Buffalo, west of Davenport, last summer to go have lunch at Judy's Barge Inn. A buddy of mine lives out near Buffalo and he mentioned that we should meet out at Judy's for lunch sometime. We finally got around to doing that during the holiday season late last year.
Judy Van Blaracom and her husband, J.D., characterize themselves as "river people". For years, the couple has lived on Enchanted Island, a small housing development that is right next to - and sometimes in - the Mississippi River on the southwest side of Davenport. When a longtime restaurant in Buffalo became available a little over three years ago, Judy decided to jump in with both feet and buy the place. She convinced her sister Terry Ruth to join her in the venture, and Judy's daughter Michelle soon joined up with her mom and aunt. J.D. Van Blaracom is also involved in the business as sort of a "jack-of-all-trades". Judy and her sister came up with the food menu with the same philosophy they had while growing up - make food that is good because they like to eat.
I met my buddy at the bar around 1 p.m. on a weekday. (Judy's is closed on Monday's.) Judy's is housed in an old river house along Iowa Highway 22 that was originally built back in 1856. (see map) There were a handful of locals milling about the bar area and into the attached dining area off to the side. There's a back patio area that's open in the warmer months that also has a small stage for live music in the summer months. There's also a smoker in the back patio area for barbecue specials Judy's runs from time to time. During the summer months, Judy has a small produce garden in the back that she tends to for fresh vegetables and herbs, but also relies upon local growers to supply her with fresh produce year round.
Judy's daughter Michelle was tending bar that day and recognized my buddy who is a semi-regular in the place. She gave us a couple menus to look over and we both ordered a couple beers. Judy's has mostly domestics, but they did have a few of the local Quad City-area craft beers to choose from, as well.
It's not an extensive menu at Judy's - they feature a couple of burgers, a grilled chicken sandwich, a pork tenderloin sandwich and a sliced turkey, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Appetizers are your usual fare - chicken wings and tenders, spinach and artichoke dip with chips, pulled pork nachos, and house-made pretzel sticks. Soups and salads are also available daily.
When my wife and I first made the pilgrimage to Judy's last summer, I had the Judy's Barge Burger - a 1/2 pound Wagyu beef patty topped with onion straws, a fried egg, bacon, and American cheese served on a butter brioche bun. Lettuce, sliced tomatoes, dill pickles and a slice of red onion also came on the burger. When it was brought out to me, I was blown away by the size. But the one thing that I remember was that the onion straws were outstanding. I prefer onion straws over regular onion rings more times than not and Judy's are very good.
Except this time, I asked Michelle if I could also get a side of the onion straws. Well, that was a mistake. Not because they weren't very good - there was just a ton of them! And there was no way that I could have eaten both the huge burger and the onion straws. I got a side of Judy's house-made barbecue sauce on the side.
The burger was just as good as I remember it was when I first went to Judy's. I took a lot of the onion straws off the burger and asked that the fried egg be made hard as I don't like a messy burger with a soft egg on it. There was a hint of pink inside the burger patty and it was juicy with a great beef flavor. Judy sources her Wagyu beef from nearby Geest Farms in Blue Grass, IA. Geest Farms raise their beef naturally without inducing hormones or antibiotics into their cattle. (My wife and I will get some of their frozen beef from time to time at the Freight House Farmers Market in downtown Davenport during the spring and summer months.)
My buddy ended up getting the chicken quesadilla that was part of the appetizer menu. A side salsa and guacamole came with the quesadilla. It was stuffed with goat cheese and chunks of chicken, then pan-fried to melt everything together. His eyes got huge when Michelle set it down in front of him. "Damn," he exclaimed. "This is going to be two meals for me." He ate about half of what he was served and had Michelle box up the rest for him to take home.
While we were eating, Judy Van Blaracom came into the restaurant. She came over to my buddy and gave him a big hug. He introduced me to Judy, who I had seen before not only in her place, but at events around the Quad Cities. Judy's blonde hair is hard to miss and she has a bright smile with eyes that seem to dance when she talks to people. She seems like a person who would be hard not to like.
Judy's Barge Inn doesn't have an extensive menu, but what they have seems to be very good, very fresh, and served in large portions. Their motto - "Come in Empty, Leave Full" - is certainly an apt phrase for Judy's. Both times I've gotten the Barge Burger from Judy's Barge Inn I've been more than happy with the quality and taste, as well as the size of the thing. I've never been able to fully finish one in a single sitting. Judy's Barge Inn is a friendly place where people can be comfortable just whiling away their time either in the bar area or out in back patio area in the warmer months. One thing that I want to go back to Judy's and try is their bloody mary which is over the top like many of the food portion sizes they serve.
March 27, 2019 in Bar and Grill, Barbecue, Burger Joints, Quad Cities, IA-IL | Permalink | Comments (0)
Flatted Fifth BBQ and Blues (and River Ridge Brewing) - Bellevue, IA
Last fall when I was working a event over a weekend, my wife decided to take a road trip on a warm fall day up along the Mississippi River in Eastern Iowa. She ended up in Bellevue, IA and went to a little brew pub called River Ridge Brewing. She talked about how good the beer was there and how friendly the people were. On a cold and blustery Sunday a few weeks ago with nothing going on for us that day, we decided to get in the car and head up to Bellevue to try River Ridge Brewing. And we ended up having lunch at the Flatted Fifth BBQ and Blues restaurant in the historic Potter's Mill in Bellevue.
Potter's Mill is a former grist mill along Big Mill Creek not far from the Mississippi River. The building - one of the oldest in the state of Iowa - dates back to 1845 and featured six large milling stones turned by water turbines from a dam on the creek. E.G. Potter was the first owner of the mill and he had customers for his ground flour all around the Midwest and extending to the Eastern part of the United States and down to New Orleans. Potter sold the mill in 1871 and it changed hands a number of times over the years before the Mill finally closed in 1969.
The neglected property went up for auction in 1980 and it was bought by Dr. Daryll and Carolyn Eggers who had planned to restore the original mill. However, that turned out to be a task that was unfeasible and, in turn, they transformed the property into a restaurant/gift shop. Historical flooding on the Mississippi in 1993 caused the Eggers to close the restaurant. They eventually opened part of the building as a bed and breakfast destination. A couple parties bought the restaurant on contract from the Eggers, but both defaulted causing the Eggers to shutter the place for good in 2011. The building was offered at a deep discount at auction and the City of Bellevue was offered the building at a low price, but it sat empty for three years.
Mark Herman grew up in Mason City, IA and he and his wife, Rachel, were living in Rochester, MN for a number of years. Mark was working as a business administrator for a local church after being a management consultant and owning his own landscaping business for a number of years while Rachel worked as a clinical nurse. Both shared a passion for good food and good blues music, and the two had long harbored a desire to have a restaurant/music venue.
Pictured right - Mark and Rachel Herman. Photo courtesy Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.
Rachel's mother lived about an hour from Bellevue on the Illinois side of the river and the couple would pass through the small river town a number of times each year to and from her mother's home. They always admired the Potter's Mill building and when they found out it was available, they jumped at the chance to buy the property.
Retiring at the church, Mark Herman moved to Bellevue to oversee the building's renovation while Rachel stayed behind to work her job in Rochester, coming to join him on the weekends. She eventually moved full time to Bellevue to live with her husband and the two opened Flatted Fifth in August of 2014. Their chef since Day One has been Andrew Weis, a Bellevue native who was a bus boy at the original restaurant in Potter's Mill as a teenager. After graduating from culinary school in the Twin Cities, Weis went to work at both the Hotel Julien Dubuque and the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque before joining the Herman's in the Flatted Fifth.
As I said, our main idea going to Bellevue that day was to hit River Ridge Brewing, a nanobrewery that has been in business since September of 2016. Two couples - Nick and Kelly Hueneke along with Kelly's brother Jeremy Roth and his wife Nikki - decided to start the brewery after years of experience both as home brewers and working in the industry. Jeremy and Nikki Roth decided to divest themselves from the business in 2018 and the Hueneke's turned to one of their bartenders, Nic Hockenberry, to join them in the business.
Nic's wife, Alison Simpson, also worked at the brewery and when they told Alison's father, Greg Simpson, and her step-mother, Amanda, that they were going to buy into the business, Greg Simpson jumped at a chance to buy part of the business, as well. Greg Simpson had been a beer enthusiast and a home brewer for a number of years in addition to his normal job in as a health care professional and as a political operative in Dubuque. Hockenberry and the Simpson's joined as owners in late summer of last year.
We pulled up in front of River Ridge Brewing around 1 p.m. on that blustery Sunday. It's located on the main road through Bellevue. (see map) Nic Hockenberry and Alison Simpson were behind the bar with Greg Simpson standing at the end of the bar. They welcomed my wife and I into the place, and Greg Simpson asked if we had ever been in the place before. My wife recognized him from her first visit and she said, "Well, he hasn't, but I was here awhile back and talked to you just after you bought into the place." He gregariously welcomed her back as we settled in at the small bar near the front.
River Ridge is not that big of a place, the bar seats about six and there are tables and seating areas along the side and toward the back. Down a hallway past the brewing room is an exit to a beer garden that is open during the warmer months.
We got a couple of beers - the Iowa Bale Ale, a combination American pale ale and Indian pale; and the Oar What IPA that had a great hoppy taste to it. River Ridge tries to buy local ingredients for their beers when they're available. They don't serve food at River Ridge, but they do have two different types of beer cheese spreads and crackers that are available for $7.00. They work with a local cheese maker to make a mild and a spicy cheese spread. My wife thought she needed a little something to tide her over, so I sprung for the mild cheese spread and crackers. The mild cheese spread had a bit of a spicy bite to it and I could almost imagine how more intense the spicy cheese spread would have been. We had a few crackers with cheese and took the remainder home with us.
After finishing up at River Ridge Brewing we made our way down to the historic Potter's Mill building to have something to eat at The Flatted Fifth. (see map) We went inside and were greeted by LouAnn, a friendly lady who showed us to a table on the upper level with a small stage was in the corner. The Flatted Fifth hosts a number of local, regional, national and even international blues artists on their stage on most Saturday nights. In fact, the restaurant/venue gets its name - Flatted Fifth (also known as the Devil's Interval or Devil's Chord) - from the fundamental chord structure and progression used by blues guitarists.
The interior of the main dining area featured hand-hewn rafters and support pillars with stone walls. Old grist mill machinery was on display in some areas. It was warm, laid-back and cozy in The Flatted Fifth - so cozy that Food and Wine Magazine named the restaurant as the most cozy in the state of Iowa in 2017.
Back behind the main dining area was a smaller dining room that was used for overflow in the restaurant. This room had full stone walls with a handful of tables that could handle groups of 4 to 6 people for food.
Since it was Sunday, they were featuring their brunch menu at The Flatted Fifth. LouAnn said they had a special on bloody mary's that day and we had a choice between ones infused with Flatted Fifth's house-made barbecue sauce or a regular bloody mary mixture. I took the BBQ bloody while my wife got the regular one. I also got a pint of the Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue to go along with my bloody mary. The BBQ bloody was thick and had a spicy taste, but the sweetness of the barbecue sauce was not something that I particularly liked. My wife's bloody mary was also a bit spicy, but I liked the taste of their mixture better than the BBQ bloody mary.
If we would have had access to the regular lunch menu, we would have found a limited selection of Cajun-inspired and barbecued meat sandwiches and some southern entrees such as red beans and rice, chicken pot pie and shrimp & cheesy grits. The dinner menu opens up more choices, especially on the entree side of things including Cajun seafood pasta, chicken Tchoupitoulas, blackened catfish, and a Bourbon Street-style ribeye steak. The brunch menu menu cut down on both the sandwiches and entrees, but featured chicken & waffles, pecan-crusted French toast, and a Cajun omelet stuffed with andouille sausage, shrimp and crawfish meat.
One thing they had as an appetizer that day was a burnt end brisket platter that came with fries. My wife and I decided to give that a try, but we didn't want the fries. She got the cole slaw instead. We were sort of surprised at the number of burnt ends that LouAnn brought out to us. It looked more like a full meal rather than an appetizer. But the burnt ends were very good. They came with Flatted Fifth's sweet and smoky barbecue sauce that had a bit of a spicy kick. The burnt ends were tender and lean, and had a wonderful barbecued/smoked taste quality.
I wanted to try the jambalaya they had on the menu. For brunch you can get a half portion or a full portion. I took the half portion with a side salad that came with it. One again, when LouAnn put the bowl down in front of me I had to ask if this was really a half portion. "It sure is," she replied. I remarked that I could almost imagine how big the full portion would be. "We don't have many people walk out of here who are still hungry," LouAnn commented. The jambalaya was a mixture of smoked chicken and andouille sausage in a creole sauce with the holy trinity of onions, bell peppers and celery on top of a bed of Cajun-style rice. It was good - not the best jambalaya I've had - but it was still passable. Especially when I got it a bit more spicy with some dashes of Tabasco sauce. I concentrated mostly on the chicken and sausage sauce and left most of the rice. Between the burnt ends, bloody mary's and jambalaya - not to mention some of the crackers and cheese spread that we had at River Ridge Brewing - that was pretty much all we were going to eat that day.
After finishing up with our meal, LouAnn invited us to head upstairs to the third floor to the art gallery/coffee shop the Herman's dubbed "A Corner to Fill." This used to be the bed-and-breakfast part of Potter's Mill years ago. There's an elevator that we took up to the third floor that came out on a landing with a view of the mouth of Big Mill Creek with the Mississippi River just beyond.
The third floor space features a cozy little combination gift shop/art gallery/coffee shop and seating area. There was a young girl manning the area and we were the only ones in there.
The rooms featured a number of paintings and artworks by local artists. Rachel Herman's mother and Mark Herman's sister both had a strong connection to the arts and they dedicated the area in Potter's Mill to the two ladies.
This is the type of place where my wife likes to linger and look around. The area featured tables and chairs where people could enjoy coffee and pastries while playing board games. We were kind of surprised we were the only ones there as it was sort of a nice little place to hang.
We made our way down the stairs to the second floor and walked into a large room that appeared to be used for private functions, meetings and receptions. There wasn't really much to see in there other than some of the original woodwork in the room.
It was certainly a good trip to Bellevue that day with a stop at River Ridge Brewing, then lunch at The Flatted Fifth located in the historic Potter's Mill building. While we enjoyed the beers along with the beer/cheese spread at River Ridge, we were more than happy with the burnt ends and the jambalaya we had at The Flatted Fifth. Potter's Mill is still a very unique place to visit, a place we'd been by many times over the years but finally took the time to visit on this trip. If you're ever out on the Great River Road along the Mississippi south of Dubuque, take the time to stop for lunch or dinner at The Flatted Fifth, and then head over to River Ridge Brewing for a good craft beer.
January 22, 2019 in Barbecue, Bellevue, IA, Brew Pubs, Cajun | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Shaved Duck - St. Louis
A place that I've heard about many times during my trips to St. Louis over the past few years is a hip little barbecue spot by the name of The Shaved Duck that goes a step beyond many of the traditional barbecue places in "The Loo". I have tried to go there a handful of times, but each time the place was packed with people waiting outside to get into the small restaurant. On a visit to one of my accounts in St. Louis earlier this year, we lucked out and were able to get a table for 4 people around 6:30 on a weeknight. Much to my wife's consternation, as she will be very upset when she reads this, I finally got a chance to try The Shaved Duck.
Alastair Nisbet grew up in Aberdeen on Scotland's north east coast. It's not quite the hot bed of barbecue where one would cut their teeth on smoked briskets, ribs, or pork butt. In his formative years, he worked in restaurants in Scotland. That is, until he was in his early 20's when he met an American woman and eventually moved to the U.S. It was during his first visit to the U.S. where he not only fell in love with the woman, but he also fell in love with barbecue. The first time he tasted pulled pork, he was blown away. It wasn't long after he moved to the States that he bought his first smoker.
Ally - as he was soon known to friends in his new home of St. Louis - knew he wanted to open a restaurant one day, but he needed to save up some money and also get some health insurance since free insurance isn't available for ex-pats from the U.K. He worked in sales for five years before he went to work at a restaurant to learn the ins-and-outs of the business. Within a year, Nisbet had his plan in place to open a Scottish restaurant - his home away from his hometown of Aberdeen. He found a spot in the Central West End of St. Louis and opened The Scottish Arms in 2005. It featured common Scottish and American fare along with a wide selection of imported beers and live music.
(Pictured Right - Alastair "Ally" Nesbit. Photo courtesy Food Talk STL. Click on this link for a wonderful audio/video/print feature on Ally Nisbet and The Scottish Arms.)
A lot of Scottish food is based upon using the land and sea for the best ingredients. French cuisine is similar to Scottish food in terms of using the land for their food. Once "The Arms" was up and going for a couple years, Nisbet turned his attention to a new concept - a restaurant that offered Americanized French (or French American) foods. He teamed with a couple of young chefs to help out with the restaurant and hired a bar manager that brought in an eclectic beer selection. Coming up with a name for the place proved to be a bit of a conundrum. Sitting around trying beers one evening in a group, Nisbet came up with the non-sensical Shaved Duck name. Everyone laughed at the absurdity of the name, but it stuck. The Shaved Duck opened in the spring of 2008 in a building that started out as a neighborhood grocery store, but had most recently been a small restaurant by the name of Pestalozzi Place.
From its start, The Shaved Duck was a hit. Their beer selection was called by one local publication as the best in town. Their butter-poached filet mignon, their duck confit, their curry tagliatelle, and their duck-fat frites (fries) had critics and food enthusiasts in St. Louis dancing in the aisle. Unfortunately, the Great Recession of 2008 affected a lot of restaurants and The Shaved Duck was not immune from the downturn. By the end of the year, Nisbet decided to pull the plug on the concept and regroup.
Barbecue was still a passion for Nisbet and he thought that he could save The Shaved Duck by doing something along the lines of a barbecue place, but with little twists and by keeping some of the more popular menu items from the first incarnation of The Shaved Duck. Nisbet's two chefs and his bar manager didn't agree with the direction of the new concept, so they ended up leaving before he re-opened The Shaved Duck in late January of 2009.
The re-incarnation of The Shaved Duck proved to be the right one for Nisbet. The barbecue, traditional sides and holdovers like the duck confit brought people in the doors in droves. The place was always packed when I went there three or four times in the past. But tonight, we were lucky to get in right away.
We pulled up across from The Shaved Duck located at the corner of Virginia Ave. and Pestalozzi St. in the heart of Tower Grove East in St. Louis. (see map) Going inside, there was a small bar area that sat six people and featured ornate glass windows behind the bar. For being well-known for their craft beer selection, I was sort of taken aback at how small the bar area was.
On the wall near the bar was a mural of significant St. Louis-area musicians over the past 100 years. The Shaved Duck features live music in terms of a solo artist playing in a corner of the bar nearly every night. The night we were there, a musician by the name of Pierce Crask was playing his guitar and singing in the bar.
We were guided to the back area of the restaurant where the small dining area sits at The Shaved Duck. It was pretty cozy in there, but we didn't really feel like the other diners were sitting on top of us.
Our server for the evening, she was calling herself Claire Bear, came by and dropped off menus for us. The current beer list was on a blackboard on the wall. I got myself the Urban Underdog lager from St. Louis' Urban Chestnut brewery. (I also like their Zwickel Bavarian-style lager very much, as well.)
Since my guests had been there before, but I hadn't, we decided to try just a little bit of everything. The only problem was that the first thing we asked for - the duck confit - they were out of it that evening. Claire said that they were out of the baked beans, as well. Well, as long as they weren't out of anything else, that was fine with me.
Since they do a little bit of everything from the South, they had gumbo on the menu. It was served with a dollop of rice on the top along with some chopped green onions. Chunks of seafood and andouille sausage were mixed in with the great tasting broth. Although they said it was made with Habanero and Cascabel chile peppers, I didn't think it was all that spicy. It was simply terrific, one of the better cups of gumbo I've experienced. Frankly, I could have had a bowl of the gumbo and been perfectly content.
One of the guys couldn't quit raving about the walnut and brown sugar bacon appetizer. We got three orders that. They cure their own bacon in-house and topped it off with walnut chunks, brown sugar, and blue cheese crumbles. Sliced pears come on the side. It was very good, indeed, but also very rich.
We also had to get the smothered fries they have on the menu at The Shaved Duck. Those featured crisp hand-cut fries topped with pulled pork meat and a cheese sauce, finished with shredded sharp cheddar cheese. The taste of this plate was rich and decadent. I had a couple three bites of the smothered fries because I knew if I ate more after the gumbo and a couple strips of the candied bacon, I wouldn't want to eat anything else.
One of the things on the appetizer menu was the brisket burnt ends, but I wanted some of those as part of my dinner offering that evening. In addition to burnt ends, they also had smoked chicken, smoked meatloaf, smoked tri-tip, pulled pork and ribs that evening. We all sort of discussed what we were going to get and we said we'd sort of share things family style.
My plate consisted of the burnt ends, tri-tip and three of the pork ribs. The burnt ends were rolled in The Shaved Duck's house-made barbecue sauce. One of the guys said, "Oh, man, we screwed up. I should have told you to get the burnt ends without the sauce." I could see what he meant. The sauce was a sweet and smoky sauce with some vinegar mixed in, I believe. I actually didn't care for it all that much. But the burnt ends were really tender and had a great smoked flavor to them.
The ribs were just so-so, in my opinion. They were a little dry and the rub they used didn't really do much to enhance the taste of the smoked pork ribs. But I will say that the tri-tip was outstanding. Tender, a touch of a smoke flavor to go along with the juiciness of the beef, the tri-tip was worth the price of admission.
One of the guys got the meatloaf on his plate along with the tri-tip and the pulled chicken. I tried some of the meatloaf and it was also pretty good. It was a little dried out, but it had a nice taste quality. I've thought about smoking meatloaf at home, but I just haven't pulled the trigger on that. The meat loaf at The Shaved Duck pretty much convinced me that I had to do it sometime.
The pulled pork was also very good. Moist with a slight smoke flavor, the pulled pork was very tender and easy to cut with a fork. It tasted all right with their barbecue sauce - better than the sauce went with the burnt ends.
The guys were also big on the sides at The Shaved Duck. Since they didn't have baked beans that night, I had to settle for something else. I got the coleslaw which was pretty bland. They had also sold me on getting a side of the jalapeño cream corn for a small side and I didn't think it was all that great. But two other sides that were great were the sautéed Brussels sprouts and the sautéed green beans. I normally don't like Brussels sprouts, but these were pan sautéed in butter and had a nice roasted flavor to them. The green beans were equally surprising - sautéed similar to the Brussels sprouts, they had a crispy outer shell and weren't chewy or overcooked. I was sort of sad I didn't get to try the baked beans, but two of the four sides I tried were excellent.
Unfortunately, we left a lot of food on the table when we were done with the meal. But that was all right. We ordered a lot of food for the four of us. Some things about The Shaved Duck I really liked - the smoked tri-tip and the smoked meatloaf were both outstanding, as were the sautéed Brussels sprouts and the sautéed green beans. And I can't say enough about the cup of seafood and andouille sausage gumbo I had to start out with. I think I was oversold by my guests on the walnut and brown sugar bacon and the smothered fries, as well as the jalapeño cream corn - but they were all still good. I thought the burnt ends would have been better had they not been in the house-made barbecue sauce, and the ribs I thought were just sort of so-so. But the service we had was exemplary, as Claire took care of us very well with every request or add-on that we had. The Shaved Duck has a great reputation for interesting barbecue, but I may have hit them on an off night with their ribs. But if I would have gotten the meat loaf, the tri-tip, and the burnt ends without the barbecue sauce on them - and tried nothing else - then I would be completely in the bag for The Shaved Duck.
December 21, 2018 in Barbecue, St. Louis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Kue'd Smokehouse - Waukee, IA
One of my accounts in Des Moines had a client who needed some assistance with a pair of speakers he had purchased earlier this summer. The client lived about 20 miles north and west of Des Moines and after I had finished there, I took off to go back to Des Moines for the evening. On the way back, I passed a barbecue place that looked sort of interesting in a strip mall along Hickman Road in the suburb of Waukee. I turned around and went back to try out Kue'd Smokehouse. (see map)
It turns out that Kue'd Smokehouse has some fine Des Moines barbecue in its DNA. Owners Shad and Angie Kirton used to be co-owners of the award winning Smokey D's BBQ on Des Moines' far north side. (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Smokey D's.) Shad Kirton had grown up in Central Iowa and had gone away for culinary school. After stints at restaurants on the west coast, Kirton came back to Iowa to run the kitchen at the Hotel Pattee, an upscale boutique hotel/restaurant in Perry, IA that quickly became a destination for food enthusiasts nationwide.
When the hotel and restaurant fell on hard financial times about a dozen years ago, Kirton left there and got together with Darren Warth - the "D" of Smokey D's - to be the pitmaster at a small barbecue joint and to enter barbecue contests. Warth had already won awards at a couple of the more prestigious barbecue competitions - the American Royal in Kansas City and the Jack Daniels World Barbecue Invitational in Tennessee. But it wasn't until Shad Kirton participated in the BBQ Pitmasters reality-based competition on The Learning Channel (TLC) in 2010 that the legend of Smokey D's took off. Kirton ended up winning the second season of the competition and a $100,000 check for his smoking of a whole pig in a traditional cinder block smoke pit in the season's final broadcast.
With that type of success, Warth and Kirton - who already had two small barbecue places in the Des Moines area - opened their large Smokey D's location later that year just off Interstate 80 on N. 2nd Ave. In a city that quickly became known for the barbecue offerings in the area, Smokey D's was considered by many to be the best. Warth's wife, Sherry, and Kirton's wife, Angie were also partners in the business.
Pictured right - Angie and Shad Kirton. Photo courtesy Des Moines CityView.
In 2015, the Warth's bought the Kirton's shares of Smokey D's. Shad Kirton took a year off from running a restaurant and participating in barbecue contests to concentrate on his family and to plan a new restaurant. The Kirton's found a spot in a new strip mall in the fast growing community of Waukee and they opened Kue'd Smokehouse in March of 2016. Earlier this year (and after my visit), Food and Wine Magazine named Kue'd Smokehouse the best barbecue in Iowa.
It was around 7:30 when I got into Kue'd Smokehouse. It was a pretty small place with counter service. The menu was on a chalk board next to the front counter.
The menu had all the normal barbecue items - pork spare ribs, brisket, pulled pork and chicken, burnt ends, sausage, chicken wings, and smoked turkey. They had a number of house-made sides to choose from including mac & cheese, loaded smashed potatoes, and a German cucumber salad. Their meats were all available in serving sizes of 1/4, 1/2 or 1 pound offerings. They also had a good selection of beer including craft beers. I got a Pseudo Sue pale ale from the Toppling Goliath brewery in Decorah, IA.
Just around the corner was the dining room with the open kitchen off to the side. There were big smoker units along the wall and there was a faint smell of smoke in the place. It was making my stomach jump up and down in anticipation.
The dining area at Kue'd Smokehouse was long and narrow. It featured a small number of two-seat and four seat tables. There was counter/bar seating along the window and all of the two-seat tables were filled, so I took a seat there.
It wasn't long after I sat down that my barbecue plate showed up. I got the two meat sampler - brisket and burnt ends. For my sides, I got the baked beans and the cole slaw - both of which were made in-house. Two pieces of white bread come on the side with thick cut dill pickles. They had three sauces available - a Carolina-style vinegar and pepper sauce that was very good, as well as a sweet and tangy molasses sauce, and a sweet and spicy sauce that I liked a lot.
The brisket was cut thin, and was lean and very tender with a great smoke and spicy flavor to the meat. The brisket was just outstanding. But I was more than pleasantly surprised with the burnt ends. The first few times I tried burnt ends a number of years ago, I felt they were overcooked and somewhat tough. The burnt ends at Kue'd Smokehouse were tender and had a great smoky beef taste. The were big and chunky, and pulled apart very easily. They were simply some of the best burnt ends I've ever had.
The baked beans featured chunks of pulled pork and had a nice tangy taste. I spiced them up a bit with the sweet and spicy barbecue sauce, but on their own they really didn't need much help. The cole slaw was all right, sort of creamy and sweet, but I wasn't too enamored with that side.
As I said, I didn't know until after I went to Kue'd Barbecue that Food and Wine Magazine had recently named them as the best barbecue in Iowa. And from my visit, I certainly couldn't disagree with their assessment. The brisket was lean, tender and flavorful, while the burnt ends were simply outstanding. I really enjoyed the baked beans while I wasn't too crazy about the cole slaw. Still, they had a nice craft beer selection to go along with their wonderful barbecue. The dining room is a little small, but they certainly seemed to be doing a brisk business in carry-out orders. Des Moines is fast getting a reputation for good to great barbecue joints and Kue'd Barbecue may be the best of them all.
October 02, 2018 in Barbecue, Des Moines, IA | Permalink | Comments (0)
Smokin' Hereford BBQ - Storm Lake, IA
The 2017 winner of the "Iowa's Best Burger" contest was a barbecue place in Storm Lake, IA - Smokin' Hereford BBQ. Now, I've been somewhat dubious of a couple previous winners of the annual contest put on by the Iowa Beef Industry Council since 2010. Having a barbecue place be the winner of the Best Burger in Iowa contest last year sort of raised my eyebrows. On a trip between Des Moines and Sioux City earlier this summer, I decided to take backroads through Northwest Iowa with a lunch stop in Storm Lake.
Chad Hustedt and Nathan Jensen grew up together in Galva, IA, a small northwest Iowa town about 15 miles to the south and west of Storm Lake. Chad Hustedt eventually became a coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, while Nathan Jensen took a different course in life. He became a funeral director.
After graduation from mortuary school, Jensen came back to NW Iowa and worked in a funeral home in Storm Lake. When the opportunity to own his own funeral home came up a couple three years later, Jensen bought a funeral home in nearby Sac City with smaller operations in three other towns in the area. In 2001, Nathan and his wife, Nancy, merged their funeral homes with Craig Fratzke of Fratzke Funeral Home of Alta, IA. In addition to the Alta location, the new Fratzke and Jensen Funeral Home also had a location in Storm Lake and three other smaller communities in the immediate area. Craig Fratzke eventually retired and Nathan and Nancy Jensen continue to run all the funeral homes with the help of funeral director Tim Smith. And one of their employees at the funeral home is Jennifer Hustedt, the wife of Chad Hustedt.
The Jensen's and Hustedt's had thought about doing something as a side job and they came up with an idea of running a barbecue place. There was a building that originally was an old train depot on the west side of Storm Lake that was available and the couples opened Smokin' Hereford BBQ in October of 2015. At first, Smokin' Hereford offered a limited menu of barbecue. But as their reputation grew, they added more items to the menu and in early 2016 they added a Friday and Saturday night burger special to the menu.
The seasoned and char-grilled burgers made with ground beef from Coon River Farms, a family-owned beef operation south and east of Storm Lake, became such a big hit with the locals that they added the burgers permanently to the menu later in the year. When the annual nominations for the Best Burger in Iowa came up in February 2017, a local campaign was started to alert the Iowa Beef Industry Council of the great burgers at Smokin' Hereford. Judges later visited the restaurant and determined they had the Best Burger in Iowa for 2017.
It was just after 1 p.m. when I pulled into the dusty parking lot at Smokin' Hereford BBQ. A big sign with "Smoky the Bull" mounted underneath greeted me as I drove up. Inside the place, I found a pretty spacious dining room with a small bar area toward the front door. It was decorated with antique agriculture company signs, neon beer signs, old highway and railroad signage, and a number of old license plates tacked to a cross beam in the dining area. Contemporary country music was playing on the restaurant's sound system.
I ended up taking a seat along the wall in what used to be an old church pew. The seating for their "booths" were all made from church pews either cut in half or in thirds depending upon the size of the table. The one I sat in was a 1/3-sized pew. The floor at Smokin' Hereford was repurposed planks from an old high school gymnasium in the area.
The menu was on the table and I was soon greeted by a young soft-spoken lady by the name of Anita. I ordered a cold beer from her while I looked through the menu. The food served at Smokin' Hereford consisted of barbecue items such as beef brisket, baby back ribs, pulled pork and smoked chicken. They also feature a smoked prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights for around $23 bucks. That has to be outstanding.
The menu also featured barbecue meat sandwiches and tacos, as well as some interesting appetizers that included gizzards (don't see that on an appetizer menu at most places), smoked andouille sausage bites (ditto on that), and fried banana peppers (don't know if I've ever seen that on an appetizer menu). But two things jumped out at me on the appetizer part of the menu - the Mississippi Mud Skins and something directly below the appetizers called the BBQ Sundae.
The Mississippi Mud Skins are potato skins topped with either pulled pork or smoked chicken (beef brisket is available for an upcharge), then the meat is topped with cheese and pico de gallo. They encourage you to top them with barbecue sauce at the table. The BBQ Sundae, I think I've seen at a couple other places in my travels over the year. It consisted of a pint-sized Mason jar filled with Smokin' Hereford's spicy baked beans, then those are topped with a layer of cole slaw or their spicy mac & cheese. From there, it's topped off with a choice of brisket, pulled pork, or smoked chicken. It's for those kind of people who don't mind all their food touching one another.
As tempting as the barbecue sounded to me, I was there to try their award-winning burger. I had a choice of either a quarter-pound or a half-pound burger and I went with the half-pound. "Pink or no pink in the middle," Anita asked. Well, pink, of course! I also had a choice of cheese - I went with pepper jack - and for a small upcharge I could get other toppings such as sautéed mushrooms, onion strings, jalapeño peppers, or a fried egg. I went with bacon.
The burger was delivered on a plastic basket with on a sheet of faux newsprint paper. The bun was toasted - not lightly toasted, but toasted enough that there were burnt marks on the edges. Lettuce, a tomato slice, dill pickles and sliced onions came on the side. The bacon was criss-crossed on top of the pepper jack cheese on the burger.
The burger was thick and juicy and was very delicious in taste. The pepper jack cheese didn't overpower the taste of the burger, nor did the bacon or the toppings I placed on the burger patty. The beef had a robust quality taste and it was a very good burger. If there was one quibble with the burger was that there was a little too much bun for my liking. But with all that was going on with the burger - the oozing cheese, the juiciness of the burger patty, and the condiments on top - the bun held together very well. It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.
I've had some very good burgers from past winners of the Best Burger in Iowa contest sponsored by the Iowa Beef Industry Council. But, I've also had a couple burgers that left me scratching my head and questioning the methods and criteria the judges use to determine the best burger in the state. I know that it gets down to a popularity contest to come up with the 10 finalists for the annual contest, and I'm sure that some restaurants stuff the ballot box with help from customers. But if that's what happened with Smokin' Hereford BBQ, they need to be commended for their effort. The burger I had there was very good - outstanding would be somewhat of a stretch because I think the bun was a little too big. But overall, it was juicy and flavorful. The robust taste of the locally-grown beef stood out even with toppings on the burger. While I can't call it the best burger I've ever had, it was good enough where I didn't question the judging for the 2017 Best Burger in Iowa. But if I ever make it back to Storm Lake and Smokin' Hereford, I'm going to try their barbecue.
September 24, 2018 in Barbecue, Best Burger in Iowa, Burger Joints, Storm Lake, IA | Permalink | Comments (0)
Boyd and Charlie's - Omaha, NE
Over the past dozen or so years that I've been traveling to Omaha for my present job, I've known about a barbecue place that I've really wanted to try called Boyd and Charlie's. The problem was that it was located out in the far northwest Omaha suburb of Elkhorn. It was always going to be kind of a haul for me to get out to Elkhorn to try their barbecue, so I usually just ate at any number of fine restaurants in the greater Omaha area. However, earlier this year, I found out that Boyd and Charlie's had opened a second location last fall - this time it was IN Omaha along S. 60th Street. (see map) I decided to seek out the Omaha location of Boyd and Charlie's to give their barbecue a try.
Whereas most barbecue places pop up because of the demand created by someone who has made the rounds in the competitive barbecue cook-off challenges, it was quite the opposite for Boyd and Charlie's founder Perry Viers. Viers really didn't do much barbecuing at home, but he did have an interest in the cuisine. He found a corner place in downtown Elkhorn that had been basically a social club or a bar over the 100 years the building had been in that spot. He was going to turn that location into a barbecue joint.
Viers had a friend down in Alabama who he turned to for advice on how to start a barbecue restaurant. He helped Viers track down smokers, kitchen equipment and told him what to concentrate on as far as smoking meats. (The one bit of advice that Viers didn't take from his friend - smoke only pork. But Omaha is in the middle of beef country in the Midwest and Viers knew he couldn't get by without beef ribs and brisket.) When it was close to the time he was going to open, his friend was planning on coming up from Alabama to help him get started. However, at the last moment, Viers' friend said he couldn't make it and Perry Viers found himself in a literal barbecue ocean without a paddle. However, jumping in with both feet, he opened Boyd and Charlie's - named after his two sons - in late July of 2003.
The first few months were a learning experience for Viers, but he was able to make a go of things and Boyd and Charlie's started to get a following. Three years into the existence of Boyd and Charlie's, Viers partnered with Kevin Stork to open Bella Vita, an Italian restaurant just across the street from Boyd and Charlie's in Elkhorn. (Bella Vita is "The Good Life" in Italian, and "The Good Life" has been sort of a tourism tag that Nebraska has used for years.)
Viers had been looking to put a second Boyd and Charlie's in Omaha and he found a building along S. 60th St. that used to house a golf shop that specialized in antique hickory golf clubs. After some renovations to the building, he was able to open the second Boyd and Charlie's in the fall of last year.
There's ample parking in front of Boyd and Charlie's Omaha location and the parking lot was about half full when I pulled in around 7 p.m. on an unseasonably warm early Spring evening. Inside Boyd and Charlie's I found a space with rustic decor, mounted wild game heads and fish on the barn board walls (I was told Perry Viers is an avid outdoorsman), and a nice bar area.
It's counter service at Boyd and Charlie's and the menu is located on the wall above the window that looks into the kitchen area. The lady who was taking orders seemed confused as she waited on a couple ahead of me, then when it was my turn to order she was still sort of out of sorts. I'm guessing she hadn't worked there all that long. I asked if she had a beer list and she looked around and then sort of shrugged her shoulders. "We have most of the regular beers, I guess," she said. She started to recite some big brewery domestic beers and after about four beers her voice sort of trailed off.
I saw a sign for Deschutes beer and asked if they had the Mirror Pond pale ale. She said they did and she rang me up for two of them along with my food. I took my number and went out to find a table in the dining area. As I said, it was a rustic feel to the place and the dining area featured a wooden wagon that had sauces, condiments, napkins and utensils. There was some eclectic background music on the sound system featuring some good and diverse tunes by artists such as Two Gallants, Rocky Votolato, Miranda Lee Richards, and Jamtown which features Garrett Dutton - better known as G. Love from G. Love and Special Sauce.
After I settled in for a moment, I went up to the wagon to grab some sauces and a young guy came out from behind the bar and asked if I was the one that ordered the Deschutes beer. He said, "I think she was a little confused. We don't have the Deschutes Mirror Pond." I winced when he said that, but he then said, "We have another pale ale from the Pint Nine Brewing Company down in Papillion (a suburb of Omaha)," he told me. He had brought out a sample for me to try and I thought it was good enough to go with instead of the Deschutes.
The menu at Boyd and Charlie's is very extensive with a number of smoked meats - including chopped pork, sliced brisket (with burnt ends, when available), mesquite-smoked ribs, smoked turkey breast, and sausage. They have a number of sandwiches, burgers, and entrees such as fish and chips, and chicken fried steak. They also feature a number of appetizers, soups and salads on the menu.
I went with the three-meat combo - ribs, brisket and chopped pork. For my sides, I got the fries and some baked beans. For sauces, I tried Boyd and Charlie's regular sauce - a sweet and smoky molasses sauce; their spicy sauce - which I didn't feel was all that spicy; and their whiskey sauce that was basically their regular sauce with a whiskey base to it. It was actually pretty good.
The ribs were meaty, lean and had good bark on the outside. The meat pulled away nicely from the bone and it was tender to the bite. The ribs were very good.
The brisket was cut thick and also had a nice bark to the rim of the meat. It, too, was tender enough and very flavorful. The chopped pork bought up the rear as it was a little dry, but dipping it in the sauces helped out tremendously.
The sides were sort of "meh!" The fries had a coating on the outer shell that made them extra crunchy, but they were just all right. The beans were Alabama-style with beans, large chunks of pork, all mixed in Boyd and Charlie's house barbecue sauce. I added some of the spicy sauce to try to zip up the taste, but it really didn't add much. The beans were better than the fries, but not by much.
I'm glad that I finally was able to try Boyd and Charlie's - without having to drive all the way out of Elkhorn to do so. I was happy with the meats I tried - the ribs were lean, meaty and flavorful, the brisket was thick cut and had some good bark on the outer edges, and even though the chopped pork was a little dry, the sauces helped out very well. The sides I had - the fries and baked beans - were average, at best. The lady working the front register where you order your food wasn't too with it that evening, seemingly lost and somewhat scattered when taking people's orders. But still, it was a nice experience at Boyd and Charlie's - a welcome addition to the barbecue scene in the heart of Omaha.
July 09, 2018 in Barbecue, Omaha, NE | Permalink | Comments (0)
Whole Hog Cafe - Springfield, MO
After a couple of morning meetings with accounts in Springfield, MO, I was getting ready to head up toward St. Louis for an evening meeting there. But I figured I'd better get something to eat since it would be later on before I'd be eating. I was in the mood for barbecue and I punched in barbecue restaurants in my GPS. One place that came up was a place that someone had told me about before - Whole Hog Cafe. There are two locations for Whole Hog Cafe in Springfield and I stopped in at the one on N. Glenstone near Interstate 44.
Well, unbeknownst to me, Whole Hog Cafe is a regional chain of company-owned and franchisee-owned barbecue places based out of Little Rock, AR. You've seen this story before if you've read about other barbecue places on Road Tips - a group of friends get together to barbecue some meat, they get pretty good at it, they enter some contests - and win, they set out for national barbecue competitions - and win those, too. Then they decided to open their own barbecue place that turns out to be a hit. That's what happened with Whole Hog Cafe founders Mike “Sarge” Davis, Ron Blasingame, and Steve Lucchi.
Ron Blasingame - whose daytime job was running an office furniture leasing company - was a former Marine who fell in love with all types of barbecue. In the 1990's, he became a certified barbecue judge for both the Kansas City Barbecue Society and for the prestigious "Memphis in May" barbecue contest held annually in Memphis, TN. During his judging of events, he learned a lot of different techniques for barbecuing meats and worked with a lot of different types of smokers and cookers. He once fashioned a galvanized trash can into a smoker for one of his cooking apparatus.
Pictured right - Ron Blasingame. Photo courtesy Arkansas Times.
Blasingame formed the "Southern Gentlemen's Culinary Society" with Davis, Lucchi, long-time friend Steve Bishop, and Blasingame's brother, Mike in the mid-90's. The team entered barbecue contests across the South and perfected their rubs, sauces and cooking techniques while winning a number of barbecue festival titles.
In 2000, the group entered the Memphis in May barbecue contest for the first time and ended up getting second place for their ribs. Two years later, the group garnered 1st place in the "Whole Hog" competition during Memphis in May, and got another 2nd place nod for their ribs.
After winning the Memphis in May in 2002, Blasingame started to sell his barbecue to the public out of a trailer that was parked at a gas station in the Cantrell Hill neighborhood of Little Rock. Lines formed and word of mouth got around the city that this little trailer had the best barbecue in town. Blasingame partnered with Lucchi and Davis to open the first Whole Hog Cafe later that year in a strip mall in Little Rock's Riverdale neighborhood.
Ron Blasingame bought out Steve Lucchi in 2004 and continued to be the majority shareholder in Whole Hog Cafe with Mark "Sarge" Davis as the managing partner. However, a liver ailment in 2009 put Blasingame in the hospital. His conditioned worsened and he died a week after being admitted. He was just 60 years old.
Suddenly, Blasingame's wife Kathy - who was never really involved in the restaurant - was the majority owner in Whole Hog Cafe and she called upon her brother, Chris Maynes, to come out from New Jersey to help her run the business. Maynes came to Little Rock for a crash-course in running a barbecue restaurant working with Sarge Davis. Maynes convinced Steve Lucchi to come back to help show him the ropes. Maynes stayed for five months and caught the barbecue bug, himself.
Up to the time of Ron Blasingame's passing, Whole Hog Cafe had been expanding with not only company-owned locations around Little Rock, but franchisee-owned locations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and New Mexico. (Chris Maynes returned home to New Jersey and opened a Whole Hog Cafe franchise in Cherry Hill, NJ in 2013.) The Whole Hog Cafe franchise concept eventually caught the eye of Paul Sundy, a Springfield, MO restaurateur/night club owner.
Sundy owned a popular nightclub in downtown Springfield before opening up Big Whiskey's - an American-style restaurant - in 2006 with two partners. Big Whiskey's quickly became one of the more popular destinations in Springfield and Sundy looked at opening other locations around the city and beyond. It was during a trip to Little Rock in 2008 to scout out a possible Big Whiskey's franchise location there that he learned about franchise possibilities for Whole Hog Cafe.
Sundy was also a partner with Jay Hickman in a Springfield restaurant, while Hickman was a partner with Daniel Bryant in another Springfield restaurant. Bryant had also been looking at becoming a Whole Hog Cafe franchise owner, however he had been looking at putting in a location in Tulsa, OK. Sundy, Daniels and Hickman then set their sites at doing a Whole Hog Cafe in Springfield. They found a location that had been a former video rental store and opened their Whole Hog Cafe franchise in 2010 along W. Sunshine Street on the south side of Springfield. The group opened a second location on Springfield's far north side in 2014.
It was that second location that I stopped into on my way out of town that day. (see map) From the outside of the place - and my somewhat faulty long-term memory of what was there before - I thought it used to be a Big Boy or a Bob Evans restaurant at one time. Just inside the front door there were a number of large trophies from previous barbecue contests that Whole Hog's team had participated in over the years.
The dining area was a long room with a bar that looked like it was more designed for people waiting to pick-up "to-go" orders. Checkered table cloths topped the tables in the restaurant. Even though they were playing some Gov't Mule in the background, the atmosphere seemed sort of stodgy and staid.
The menu was on a black board near the front entrance. You place your order at the front counter and they bring it to your table. Whole Hog Cafe features ribs, pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken, smoked pork loins, sausage and burnt ends on their menu. They did have beer, but not what I would call and extensive beer list.
And they did have a combo meat platter, which is what I like to get when I go to barbecue restaurants that I haven't been to before. Unfortunately, the combo meat platter didn't include any of the baby back ribs that I wanted to try, so I ended up getting the pulled pork and brisket. For my two sides, I got some cole slaw and some of their baked beans.
For sauces, they had about a half dozen to choose from. They didn't name their sauces, but numbered them. #1 was a sweet, sort of runny sauce. #2 was a tangy vinegar/tomato-based sauce. #3 was the spicy version of #2. #4 was a traditional Southern spicy/peppery vinegar sauce (which was actually pretty good!). #5 was a heavy sweet molasses sauce, and #6 was a mustard and vinegar sauce that I was not interested in, at all. They also had a "Volcano" sauce that would probably burn your face off. That was only available in small amounts at the front counter. I like to experiment with combining sauces and I thought that the sweetness of #1 and the spicy/vinegar taste of #3 was a great combination.
The brisket was thinly cut, moist and tender. There was a slight smoke ring around the perimeter of the beef and it had a very good flavor. It was easy to cut since the brisket was sliced so thin, but it was some very good brisket.
The pulled pork was sort of dry and stringy. Heaping some barbecue sauce on the pork helped tremendously, but on its own, I wasn't all that impressed with it.
The baked beans also needed a little help with the combination of the #1 and #3 sauces, but the cole slaw was actually very good. It had a sweet and tangy flavor to it, not too sweet and not too vinegary. It was one of the better styles of cole slaw I've had at a barbecue place.
Even though I found out after the fact that Whole Hog Cafe is a chain of barbecue places, I thought it was all right for what it was. The brisket was good, the pulled pork was so-so (as were the baked beans), but the cole slaw was the highlight of the meal. I wished that I could have tried some of their baby back ribs - most place that do combo platters will let you have ribs as part of the meat combination, but Whole Hog Cafe did not. While I thought the atmosphere was sort of drab, they did play some good music (blues, Southern rock) when I was in there. Other than that, I thought the place was clean, the food was serviceable, and it was a typical barbecue place that you'd find just about anywhere.
June 11, 2018 in Barbecue, Springfield, MO | Permalink | Comments (0)
Shigs in Pit BBQ and Brew - Fort Wayne, IN
Out visiting dealers in Fort Wayne a few weeks ago, one of my dealers was telling me about a new barbecue place that had opened up down the road from them. "Actually, it's not new," he explained to me. "But it's a new location for them." He gave me directions to Shigs in Pit BBQ and Brew on N. Maplecrest Road on the north side of Fort Wayne. (see map)
It turns out that they people behind Shigs in Pit BBQ are the same guys who founded Mad Anthony's Brewing Company in Fort Wayne nearly 20 years ago. (Click here to read about Road Tips' visit to Mad Anthony's.) Todd Grantham and Jeff Neels were old college roommates who got together with Blaine Stuckey to open Mad Anthony's in 1999. But it turned out that in addition to brewing beer, Grantham got his kicks smoking meats. He met a like-minded local guy, Stefan Kelley, who was a networks services manager for a local software company in Fort Wayne. Grantham and Kelley entered a local barbecued ribs competition in 2005 naming their team "Shigs in Pit" - a takeoff on the Midwestern phrase "pigs in shit" (as in "happy as pigs in shit"). When they won that competition, they caught the bug and decided to enter other contests around the Midwest.
Grantham and Kelley enlisted Jeff Neels to go to their first Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned event in Madison, IN and picked up a sixth place finish for their smoked chicken. Knowing that they could do even better, the group invested in commercial traveling smokers and took off for barbecue competitions around the country.
Pictured left - Jeff Neels, Todd Grantham and Stefan Kelly. Photo courtesy Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.
Shigs in Pit eventually won eleven Grand Championships and five Reserve Grand Championships in KCBS-sanctioned events in addition to a number of other awards they gathered at other rib contests around the country. Shigs in Pit have also been invited to participate in two of the largest barbecue contests in the nation - the American Royal in Kansas City and the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational in Lynchburg, TN.
Of course, like many other successful barbecue competition teams, the group decided that they needed to let the public try their award winning smoked meats. Along with their Mad Anthony's partner Blaine Stuckey - and with the blessing of Kelley - Grantham and Neels opened the original Shigs in Pit barbecue in 2012 at the corner of Fairfield and Taylor just south of downtown Fort Wayne. (see map)
The success of the original location meant that they could easily sustain two locations in the city. They found a lot along N. Maplecrest Road and built a stand-alone building from the ground up. They opened Shigs in Pit BBQ and Brews - featuring many beers on tap that were brewed at Mad Anthony's - in the summer of 2017.
It was around 1:30 p.m. on a cold, gray day when I made it into the north side Shigs in Pit location. The was plenty of parking around the front of the building. A young guy was attending to the smoker that was attached to the front corner of the building.
I found an open and expansive seating area when I went inside. Barn boards were on the facade of the front counter while corrugated tin wainscoting lined the half walls that partitioned the dining area.
There was a small two-sided bar also with a barn board facade underneath the bar. Flat-screen televisions hung from a barn board overhang above the bar. They had over 20 beers on tap from Mad Anthony's Brewing Company.
Out back behind the place was a large concrete patio with a number of lights hanging above. It was large enough that it could possibly double the amount of patrons the restaurant can serve in the warmer months. More parking was available behind the restaurant, as well.
The drill at Shigs in Pit is order at the counter, they give you a number on a table pole, you find a seat and they bring your food out to you. The menu for both dining in and carry out was on the wall behind the counter with a window that looked into the kitchen along the back wall. (Shigs in Pit also has an extensive menu for catering events such as receptions, parties, corporate events or reunions.) The meats featured at Shigs in Pit included Indiana-raised St. Louis-cut pork ribs, pulled pork, chopped chicken, smoked ham, smoked turkey, and jalapeño cheddar sausage, as well as brisket and burnt ends for a $1.00 upcharge. All the meats could be made into sandwiches, but they also had gourmet sandwiches such a smoked ham Creole po' boy sandwich, a smoked turkey sandwich with a cranberry mayo with cheddar cheese and bacon, and the "Big Shig Pig" which featured smoked bologna, pulled pork, pimento cheese and topped with creamy cole slaw.
After I ordered up my lunch, I was told that I could get my beer over at the bar. (They rang me up at the front counter, but alerted the bartender that I would be coming over to get the beer.) I got an Ol' Woody pale ale that I'd had before on a previous visit to the Mad Anthony Brewing Co. I found a seat at a table near the bar, and set my table pole with my number affixed to the top of it. They had some pretty good music playing that day - some good blues that varied from the likes of Peter Green (a founding member of Fleetwood Mac), Chicago's Lil' Ed and Blues Imperials, and classic blues from Willie Dixon, and Freddie King.
I had about a 10 minute wait before they brought out my lunch order. I got the ribs and brisket combination. I also ordered a side of their fries and a side of their interesting sounding green chile mac & cheese. A slice of garlic bread came with the meal. The lunch was served on a small metal tray on top of a piece of wax paper.
They had three different types of barbecue sauce to go along with the smoked meats at Shigs in Pit. They had a tangy sauce that was vinegar-based. I usually shy away from vinegar-based sauces, but this was actually pretty good. Their original barbecue sauce was a sweet molasses and smoky sauce, while they had a "hot" sauce that was basically the original sauce with a hot pepper mixture added. I thought it was very good.
The ribs had a rub on the outside that gave the meat a bit of a spicy kick. But it was far from overpowering. I'd have to say that I liked the combination rub they used. But the ribs, themselves, were very dry. It was like they had either cooked them too long, or had left them in a warming pan too long. The meat on the ribs was tough and chewy. The couple of good bites that I was able to get were very good. But the ribs were just too tough for my tastes. Even with putting sauce on the ribs didn't help that much.
The brisket, however, was very good. It was moist, tender, and had a great smoky beef taste. I found that I didn't need to put much - if any - barbecue sauce on the brisket as it was very good on its own.
The fries were thin cut and fresh, but I didn't concentrate too much on them. I was sort of surprised they didn't have baked beans as an option for sides, but they did have some something that caught my eye - green chile mac & cheese. I ordered that for my second side, but what I thought I was getting and what I got were two different things. I thought that the mac & cheese would be topped with a green chile sauce, but it appears that they just put chopped green chiles in the mix. I mean, it was all right. But I was expecting something completely more Southwest in a culinary nature.
While I didn't care for their dried out ribs, I thought the brisket at Shigs in Pit was very good. I should have tried the pulled pork, but I have a funny feeling that I'll be back there at some point. The beer selection from the Mad Anthony's Brewing Company was wide and varied giving beer lovers a chance to have about any style they wanted. It was a nice place on the inside, open and airy; and the played some very good blues music over the sound system. And while I thought their sauces were also very good, I just wish the ribs wouldn't have been so tough and chewy.
May 31, 2018 in Barbecue, Beer Bars/Pubs, Fort Wayne, IN | Permalink | Comments (0)
Armored Gardens - Davenport, IA
We're always excited to get a new place to eat in the Quad Cities, especially one that features barbecue and a huge beer list - as in 100 beers on tap. A new place like that opened up last fall and we finally got around to trying the place recently. Here's what we encountered on our first visit to Armored Gardens.
Armored Gardens is the third downtown project spearheaded by Dan Bush, a 30-something native of Davenport who also is a co-owner of Analog Arcade Bar - a grown-ups version of an arcade that features over 50 contemporary and classic pinball and video games; and the Triple Crown Whiskey Bar and Raccoon Motel - a live music venue and drinking establishment with an unnecessarily long and unwieldy name. Along with his father-in-law Rich Cooksey - who has done the build-outs of the first two establishments, as well as the build-out of Armored Gardens - Bush is joined in ownership of his barbecue and beer establishment by Marc Kopcho who worked with Bush in some Jimmy John's outlets that Bush's family owned a few years ago. The executive chef for Armored Gardens is Daniel Cuneo, a Connecticut native who got his culinary training in New York City before moving out to the Midwest to work at Black Dog Smoke and Ale House in Urbana, IL. (When I read that about Cuneo in the local paper before the place opened up, it immediately piqued my interest in the place. I thought Black Dog Smoke and Ale House is one of the finest barbecue joints in the Midwest. And if you click here, you can read the Road Tips entry on the place.)
Armored Gardens is located on Pershing Ave. in downtown Davenport, between E. 3rd and E. 4th Streets, and across a parking lot from the Hotel Blackhawk. (see map) We were able to find some parking on Pershing just down from the restaurant. The front of the restaurant looks elegant - it was designed to sort of look like a 1960's country club from the outside with large columns flanking the front door.
The drill at Armored Gardens is that if you want food, they have a counter to the left as you come in. The menu is on the wall and it consists primarily of smoked meats such as beef brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, burnt ends and sausage. You can also get ribs, but it's by the bone and not available in slabs or half-slabs. Sandwiches and burritos are also available to order, as well as two different sizes of mac and cheese. Sides such as fries, baked beans, Mexican cornbread, and blue cheese and bacon potato salad are also available.
They have a small selection of beers on tap at the food counter. However, if you want a much larger selection, you'll need to go to the main bar. This is where they have 100 beers on tap including a large selection of local, regional and national craft beers. The beer menu is shown on flat screens on the wall high behind the bar, and you order by the number, not the name of the beer. The only problem was that they weren't in alphabetical order and it was sort of difficult to figure out all they had. I probably stood there for two minutes looking over the beer menu before settling on a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale. My wife ended up ordering a Dale's Pale Ale from the Oskar Blues Brewing Company. I got a pint and the pint glasses at Armored Gardens are a heavy plastic. My wife asked for a half-pint of her beer and she actually got a glass.
The dining room features a number of community style picnic tables in the middle of the room with a few tables along the wall. We took a seat at one of the tables. It was a spacious area and I'm sure that it could get pretty loud if there were a lot of people in there.
Out back, they have a very nice patio area that will, no doubt, be used very heavily in the warmer months. It also featured a number of community-style picnic tables, but they also had fixed umbrellas that will probably cover tables. There was also a small concrete stage for live music. Yeah, this is going to be a very nice place to hang in the summer months.
Well, on to the food. After we ordered at the food counter, got our beers from the main bar (which is sort of a hassle if you're paying by credit or debit card - you have to basically pay twice), and finding a seat in the dining room, our food was brought to our table. We got a half-pound of the pulled pork and a half pound of the brisket. We also got a side of their baked beans and my wife wanted to try their Carolina slaw.
They had three different sauces at a sauce bar in the dining area - a sweet red sauce, a Carolina mustard sauce, and a Carolina white sauce. I don't care for either mustard or white sauces with barbecue, so I got some of the sweet barbecue sauce. It was all right - I would have liked for them to have another sauce that would have been a little more spicy.
The pulled pork was tender and moist, but it was very bland in taste. There wasn't much of a smoky taste to the meat. Even putting some of the sweet barbecue sauce didn't do much in zipping up the taste. The brisket was thick cut, tender and moist, but also lacking in taste. Once again, there wasn't much of a smoky taste - it tasted like it was cooked more in a conventional oven than in a smoker. My wife - being the more adventurous of the two of us - got some of the Carolina white. She said, "Maybe this will help the brisket." She tried it and immediately said, "Oh, no. This won't do." She didn't like the sauce and didn't like the brisket.
The baked beans were also just all right with a healthy amount of kidney beans mixed in with other beans. There were chunks of pork in the beans, but the baked beans were just OK. My wife liked the cole slaw at a couple barbecue joints we were at when we were in North Carolina last year. The combination of the sweet and spicy nature of the Carolina slaw was what she really liked. But the Carolina slaw at Armored Gardens wasn't all that sweet, but it did have a bit of a spicy bite. Interestingly, it seemed to have more shaved carrots in the mixture than cabbage. She decided she didn't care for Armored Gardens version of Carolina cole slaw.
I hate to say this, but we were underwhelmed with the barbecue offerings at Armored Gardens. We felt the brisket and pulled pork - while moist and tender - were bland in taste. The baked beans were basically just OK in my book, and the Carolina slaw had a nice spicy bite, but there wasn't a lot of sweetness to offset the spiciness and the shaved carrots overwhelmed the cabbage in the mixture. Their sauces were more Carolina-centric with a white and a mustard sauce, and they only offered a basic red sweet barbecue sauce. The beer selection is vast and impressive, but ordering can be a little tedious as the beers are not in alphabetic order on the beer menu board. If I were invited to go to Armored Gardens to have a beer with friends - especially in the summer months when the wonderful beer patio is open - I would have no problem. But I'd suggest that we go elsewhere if we want to have food.
April 09, 2018 in Barbecue, Beer Bars/Pubs, Quad Cities, IA-IL | Permalink | Comments (3)
ZZQ Smokehouse - Eagan, MN
Staying out near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport the last couple of times that I've gone to the Twin Cities, I was looking for a sit-down barbecue place one evening last fall. I did an on-line search and found a place in nearby Eagan that sounded interesting to me - ZZQ Smokehouse. I took off toward Eagan to find the place.
Zak Zeug - the ZZ in the name of the place - grew up in a household where both parents worked full time and he was usually left to fend for himself when he was hungry. He hated having to make his own food and he had absolutely no dream of working in a kitchen when he got older.
However, as he grew into a young man, Zak started to experiment with barbecuing ribs. The first few times he tried to make good ribs, they turned out not too great. He was upset that he had spent all that time and effort to make ribs, but they weren't that good. That's when he decided he'd study up on the art of making barbecue.
Zeug went out and bought a smoker and he experimented with different types of meat - ribs, pork shoulder, brisket, and chicken, primarily. He eventually became pretty good at smoking meats and cooking foods. Suddenly, he found his calling - he actually DID like working in a kitchen. And his dream became owning his own barbecue place. The only problem was that he had absolutely no professional kitchen or restaurant experience. He knew that he'd have to learn how to walk before he ran with his barbecue.
In 2007, Zeug bought a concession trailer and he outfitted it for his barbecue offerings. He didn't have the overhead of a regular restaurant while he was learning about the process of working in a kitchen, the costs involved, planning a menu - all the things that are needed to survive in the restaurant business. The mobility of the trailer allowed him to be able to go to fairs and events in the area where he garnered a following for his barbecue. By 2015, he decided it was time to take the plunge into a brick-and-mortar building and he found a place in south suburban Eagan that was attached to a convenience store/gas station at the corner of Yankee Doodle Road and Coachman Road. (see map) Zeug opened ZZQ Smokehouse in December of 2015.
I had put in the address in my GPS and it took me right to the corner of Coachman and Yankee Doodle. The only problem was the it was sort of hidden and I drove around buildings on both sides of Coachman looking for it. I finally found it on the far side of the convenience store - I couldn't see it as I was coming from the west on Yankee Doodle, but it was easy to see if you were coming from the east.
Inside ZZQ, I found a pretty nondescript place with an L-shaped dining room. There were tables and chairs up front, but along the wall in the back there were some old-style booths that looked like they came out of a 1984 Hardee's. There were architectural drawings of smokehouses and smokers on wall next to the booths.
The menu is located on boards on the side wall and behind the counter. You order at the counter at ZZQ and they bring the food out to your table. They had the staple barbecue fare - beef brisket, pulled pork, pork spare ribs, and chicken to choose from. The brisket, pulled pork and pulled chicken were all available in sandwiches, as well. They did have beer available at ZZQ, many of which were beers from local craft breweries. I got a Heart of Glass, a blonde ale from the nearby Bald Man Brewing Company.
I went with a combo platter - brisket and ribs. I got two sides with the combo plate - baked beans that turned out to be pretty good, and fries that were basically a throwaway. After I sat, I saw that the guy behind the counter preparing my meal had pulled out aluminum foil-wrapped meat from the refrigerated case behind the counter and heated the meat up on a grill. I know some places will do that with their barbecue, but I'm not certain if I like that or not.
They also had a sauce bar at ZZQ Smokehouse that offered eight different types of sauces. They had sauces such as a garlic sauce, a Carolina-vinegar sauce, a Buffalo-style sauce, and a mustard dill sauce. I took four sauces to the table with me - the hot (which wasn't all that hot, but had a noticeable bite to the taste), the spicy (which was was vinegar-based and nowhere as spicy as the hot), the smokey (sweet and not much of a smoke taste), and the sweet (that was pretty syrupy in consistency).
The ribs were meaty, lean and very tender. The only problem was that even with a rub on the outside of them, they weren't very flavorful. The barbecue sauce certainly helped, but on their own they needed something to give them a little more excitement in taste.
The brisket was all over the place. There was a lot of brisket slices on the platter, and some pieces were tender. But other slices were tough, others were fatty. And there was a distinct petroleum taste to the brisket that I noticed. I've smoked enough meats, had enough barbecue in my day, and have judged a number of amateur rib contests over the years to recognize the fact that if the meat has a slightly petroleum taste, it's probably been in a smoker with too much smoke. Frankly, the slight petroleum taste detracted from the overall flavor in the brisket.
The one good thing were the baked beans. I usually like to season up baked beans that I have at barbecue restaurants with some of the spicy barbecue sauce. But the baked beans at ZZQ Smokehouse didn't need any help. They were sweet with a bit of a spicy bite to them.
I hate to say it, but I was disappointed in the barbecue at ZZQ Smokehouse. I really wanted to like it, but I found the ribs to not have that good of flavor even though they were meaty, tender and lean. And the brisket slices I was served were alternately tender, tough or fatty. And the brisket had the taste that they had too much smoke during the cooking process. The different sauces - 8 of them - were a nice touch, but I can't say that any of the ones I tried really zinged my taste buds. But the baked beans were delicious and they had a very good selection of local craft beers to choose from. I'm hoping that it was an off-night for ZZQ Smokehouse because I really like to see places like this succeed.
March 22, 2018 in Barbecue, St. Paul | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mark's Feed Store - Louisville, KY
My wife and I spent some time in Louisville in the late summer going around to different places that I don't usually get to see when I travel there for business. We were up exploring the Highlands neighborhood in the middle part of the day and found a barbecue place that we wanted to try. Except that it didn't really look like a barbecue place, and the name wasn't really indicative of it having barbecue - Mark's Feed Store. Still we wanted to give it a try.
Mark Erwin had been working in the service industry and had been on management teams that opened new restaurants. One thing that he noticed that Louisville didn't really have was a good barbecue joint. Erwin had gone around to visit barbecue masters across Kentucky to learn the tricks of the trade. But while smoking meats was one thing, he also realized that if he didn't have the sauces to go along with the barbecued meats his restaurant wouldn't survive.
For months, Erwin worked in his kitchen to come up with the right combination of ingredients for his signature sauce. One concoction - which consisted of 26 ingredients including 13 secret spices - was the one he deemed as the sauce that he would like to pair with his smoked meats.
Finding a spot for his barbecue joint turned out to be somewhat easier. He found a historical building that once housed a feed store in the Middletown neighborhood in Louisville and decided to incorporate the concept into his barbecue joint. He put in an old style barbecue pit in the place and opened the first Mark's Feed Store in 1988.
Erwin grew the business by opening up more locations around Louisville, as well as in Lexington and Elizabethtown, KY. But after 25 years of running Mark's Feed Store, he was looking for a change in life. That's when Ulysses "Junior" Bridgeman came into the picture.
Junior Bridgeman was a basketball star at the University of Louisville and enjoyed a 12 season career in the NBA, primarily with the Milwaukee Bucks. After Bridgeman retired from the NBA at the age of 33, he bought five Wendy's locations in the greater Milwaukee area. Milwaukee fans grew accustomed to seeing the former basketball star working behind the counter at one of his Wendy's restaurants.
Bridgeman's Wendy's franchise stores in Milwaukee were doing anywhere between $400,000 and $800,000 in annual sales - not too good for comparable stores in similar markets. Bridgeman instilled a team concept in his stores empowering his workers to take pride in their jobs and offering bonuses if certain goals were met. Within a short while, Bridgeman's Wendy's locations were taking in a minimum of $1.5 million in annual sales.
Pictured right - Junior Bridgeman. Photo courtesy Fortune Magazine.
As business grew for Bridgeman, so did the number of locations he owned. At one point, Bridgeman Restaurants (now called Manna, Inc.) owned 160 Wendy's franchises - many of those in Wisconsin where he played professional basketball - the second most by any single franchisee in the U.S. for Wendy's - and nearly 125 Chili's locations. He also held franchises in Fazoli's, Perkins, Fanny May Chocolates, and Blaze Pizza. At its height, Bridgeman's company - with offices in Milwaukee and Louisville - owned around 450 different restaurant locations and employed 9000 people.
Bridgeman also owned the Napa River Grill - an upscale steak and wine place in the Westport Village shopping area on Louisville's east side - when he found that Erwin was looking to sell Mark's Seed Store. Bridgeman's company took over ownership of Mark's Seed Store in October of 2013 from Erwin who is now in commercial real estate specializing in restaurant properties. In 2016, Bridgeman divested many of his holdings in Wendy's and Chili's to become an independent bottler for Coca-Cola owning the rights to distribute Coke products in southern Illinois, Missouri, eastern Kansas and Nebraska. However, he still owns Mark's Seed Stores with 8 locations in Kentucky and southern Indiana, as well as a number of franchised restaurants.
It had just started to rain pretty heavily when we pulled up to the Highlands location of Mark's Feed Store along Bardstown Road at Sherwood Ave. (see map) We went around the block and found a parking spot on Sherwood next to Mark's Feed Store.
The Highlands location of Mark's Feed Store is in an older building with a long and narrow dining area. There was a set stairs that went to a dining room upstairs that we didn't visit. Booths were along the walls with tables in the center of dining area, all of which had vinyl checkerboard table coverings.
Our server that afternoon, Dylan, came over with a couple lunch menus for us. I ordered up a pint can of the West 6th IPA from the West 6th Brewery over in Lexington, KY. My wife just stayed with water, but I like to have a beer when I have barbecue.
The lunch menu is more condensed than the dinner menu at Mark's Feed Store. They feature a sandwich lunch special daily with a choice of either pulled pork, brisket or chicken with one side for $6.99. (Add .50 cents for brisket.) All in all, the lunch menu was pretty basic with no combo plates, no burgers, and no dinner entrees available. But one thing they did have was burgoo as an appetizer.
For those who don't know, burgoo is a stew that is more of a social event than anything. It's similar to booyah, a stew that is found in northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota. Burgoo has its roots in Kentucky where people long ago would combine the bounty from wild game hunts - usually deer meat, squirrel meat and game bird meat - then added vegetables such as corn, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and okra to the mix. The concoction was simmered low and slow - sometimes as long as two days - in a large vat that had to be stirred on a regular basis. The burgoo was generally served to large groups during harvest season.
Today, burgoo is still found throughout Kentucky, but you will also find it in parts of central and southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. Game meat burgoo from long ago has been replaced by a modern day recipe featuring a combination of chicken, pork, lamb, and sometimes beef, with a myriad of vegetables. And depending upon the recipes used it can be made with a little bit of a spicy bite. Most of the time these days, burgoo is made as part of a fund-raiser or a local celebration. My sister-in-law comes from the town of Winchester, IL and they have an annual burgoo festival that draws hundreds and hundreds of people. And the highlight is the making of the burgoo a couple days in advance. I understand that getting a two to three hour shift manning the vats of burgoo during the overnight is usually an excuse to drink heavily during that time.
The burgoo at Mark's Feed Store was very good. I ordered a cup of it and it was more like a small bowl of burgoo than a cup. Like good burgoo, it was thick - so thick that the spoon could literally stand up in the center of the stew. It featured smoked pieces of pork, chicken and brisket with corn, peas and other veggies mixed in. It did have a bit of a spicy kick to it, but it didn't overpowering the overall taste of the burgoo. I would have had no problem coming back to Mark's to enjoy just a bowl of burgoo. It's a great comfort food, for sure.
For lunch, they had a "Bar-b-que Lite" platter that featured a choice between smoked brisket, smoked pork or smoked chicken with a choice of one or two sides. I got the brisket along with a side of baked beans and spicy fries. The brisket was served in a small paper food boat and was cut thick. But it was tender and had a good smoky flavor to it. The fries, however, didn't seem to have much - if any - spicy flavor to them. And the baked beans were simply dreadful. They didn't appear to be anything more than Van Camps pork and beans from a can warmed up and served. Even adding barbecue sauce didn't help those out.
My wife ended up getting the 4 Bone Baby Back Ribs lunch platter. The ribs had a lot of meat on them, but they were covered with what appeared to be a glaze. They didn't appeared to be smoked, but I tried a bite of one of the ribs and they had a good smoky flavor to them. The meat pulled apart from the bone rather easily and were very tender to the bite. For her side, she got the mac and cheese, but she wasn't too enamored with it. "It tastes like it's been warmed up in a microwave," she told me. "It's all rubbery."
Since Mark Erwin felt that good barbecue also had to have good sauces, there were three different types of sauces on the table. There was a tangy sweet that I liked quite a bit; a hot sauce that really snuck up at the end of the flavor; and a honey mustard that I didn't try because, well, I don't like a honey mustard sauce. I usually like to combine the spicy and sweet sauces together, but they didn't seem to go well together. I ended up sticking primarily with the tangy sweet sauce as I finished up the brisket.
The highlight of the lunch was - I felt - the excellent burgoo they had at Mark's Feed Store. While the brisket and baby back ribs were good, the sides were simply abysmal. It tasted like the baked beans were nothing more than canned pork and beans, the "spicy" fries didn't have hardly any spicy taste to them, and my wife's side of mac and cheese was overcooked and rubbery. But the service and the atmosphere was fine at Mark's Feed Store, as was the barbecue we had. I just wish they would have offered a combo plate during lunch as I would have liked to have tried some of the pulled pork barbecue, as well.
December 13, 2017 in Barbecue, Louisville | Permalink | Comments (0)
City Butcher and Barbecue - Springfield, MO
In Springfield, MO earlier this year, I sought out a place that I had read about in a local magazine on a previous visit there. This place was a combination artisan butcher shop and a Texas-style barbecue place - two of my favorite places to visit. It sounded intriguing enough for me to give City Butcher and Barbecue a try.
Jeremy Smith and Cody Smith both grew up in small towns outside of Springfield, but they weren't related, nor did they know each other growing up. Both studied at the prestigious (and now closed) Le Cordon Bleu culinary school - albeit at two different locations - and both had held positions at high-end restaurants around the U.S. before moving back to Springfield. Jeremy Smith was the sous chef at Metropolitan Farmer, a farm-to-fork organic restaurant in Springfield, while Cody Smith was the man behind Le Cochon Charcuterie, a popular artisan meat vendor at a local farmers market.
Cody Smith actually had a background working as a manager of a barbecue restaurant in his teens. After attending culinary school, Cody found himself working in Austin at actress Sandra Bullock's now-shuttered Bess Bistro. It was during his time in Austin that Cody discovered that central Texas barbecue was significantly different than the barbecue he was used to growing up in southwest Missouri. It was all about the quality of the meats and not necessarily about the sauces or rubs.
Pictured right - Jeremy Smith (left) and Cody Smith (right). Photo courtesy Feast Magazine.
Once they decided to partner in their butcher shop/barbecue joint venture, Jeremy Smith and Cody Smith traveled to Austin to visit the artisan meat shops and the famed barbecue joints of the city to learn more about the style of barbecue they wanted to bring to Springfield. They learned about the proper way to season the meat (mainly just salt and pepper), smoking techniques, and how to properly carve the meat. Cody Smith came up with a number of different types of sausages, cured meats, and unique selections such as duck pastrami to sell in their artisan butcher shop. The two found a space that housed a former restaurant in the Kickapoo Corners shopping center along S. Campbell Ave on Springfield's south side and opened City Butcher and Barbecue in December of 2014. (see map)
(In August of 2016, the Smith's opened a satellite restaurant operation - CB Social House - in downtown Springfield. It wasn't long after the place opened that Jeremy Smith sold his stake in both City Butcher and Barbecue and CB Social House to Doug Riddle who had been the brewmaster at Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield.)
It was around 1 p.m. when I pulled into the lot in front of City Butcher and Barbecue. The parking lot was full and I was having a bit of trouble finding some place to park. I thought that it must be a pretty popular place to eat. But going inside the restaurant, I found it to be less than half full and figured that people must be shopping or eating at other establishments in the shopping center.
Inside the entry way was an ordering area with the menu on a chalk board on the wall. Tubs of beer were near the counter and they also had beer on tap. City Butcher and Barbecue will stay open until the smoked meats run out for the day.
Around the corner from the ordering counter was the artisan meat counter. It was small and had exotic sausages and meats, but not a lot of them.
The dining room was on the same side as the meat counter. It was a long, narrow space with wooden booths and a long communal table in the center of the room. There were some picnic tables out in front of the place for outdoor dining, but they were empty that day.
The drill to order food was a bit confusing. With any new barbecue place that I find, I like to order a combination platter of two or three meats to try with a couple of sides. Only at City Butcher and Barbecue, they didn't offer any combo plates. They sold their smoked meats by the pound or in any increment under a pound, but I didn't want to order up a quarter pound of this and a quarter pound of that.
They had a brisket and pork belly specialty sandwich on the menu along with an option to get a couple of pork ribs. Evidently, they had sides available on the menu, but I didn't see the options. They cut the ribs, pork belly strips and brisket in front of me and placed the sandwich and the ribs on a platter. I got a beer to go along with the barbecue and took a seat in a booth along the wall of the dining area.
I pulled the brisket and pork belly - two pieces each - off the sandwich. The brisket was, in a word, heavenly. It had a great smoked flavor to it, the salt and pepper rub helped enhance the taste of the beer, it was tender and pulled apart very easily. It was some of the best brisket I'd ever had. The ribs were equally as good as the brisket. The pork meat easily pulled away from the bone on the two pieces I got. The ribs, too, had a great smoky taste to them, but it wasn't overpowering.
The disappointment was the pork belly. The pork was excessively fatty. I was able to pull some meat away from the fat, but there was a lot more fat than meat on the pieces. The meat that I had was very moist and flavorful. But it was just too fatty.
City Butcher and Barbecue does offer barbecue sauce at the tables, but quite frankly you didn't really need them. The ribs and brisket were so good with just the simple salt and pepper rub that I didn't feel the need to put any sauce on them. And nearly every barbecue pit master will tell you that the best barbecue is the kind that you don't need to sauce up.
My first visit to City Butcher and Barbecue won't be my last. The ribs and brisket that I had were outstanding, but the pork belly that I tried was just too fatty for my liking. Other than that, City Butcher and Barbecue offered some of the best barbecue I've had in the Midwest. Their philosophy of having select cuts of meat to smoke, the use of only salt and pepper to season the meat before it's smoked, and keeping the choices as simple as possible all add to the experience of great barbecue.
November 09, 2017 in Barbecue, Butcher and Meat Shops, Springfield, MO | Permalink | Comments (0)
Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon - Eldridge, IA
Just north of Davenport is the small bedroom community of Eldridge. There's a small public golf course along U.S. Highway 61 called Rustic Ridge and it has a combination clubhouse/restaurant/bar between the parking lot and the first tee. A little over two years ago the owners added Memphis-style barbecue items to the menu. My wife and I had been talking about going out there to try their barbecue for some time and one recent evening we decided to go have dinner at Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon.
Kevin and Sandy Wohlford bought the Rustic Ridge Golf Course in 2001, the third owners of the golf course that began back in the 1970's. Initially, Sandy was the clubhouse manager while Kevin kept his day job and worked at the course when he could in the spring, summer and fall months. But improvements to the course in 2006 and a remodel of the clubhouse/restaurant four years later meant that Kevin needed to be more hands-on with the golf course. The Rustic Grille restaurant was famous for their delicious sandwiches and their Friday night fish fry, and their bar area was a favorite for golfers and non-golfers alike.
In early 2015, they changed the decor of the restaurant and bar area to more of a barn wood motif and decided to add barbecue to their menu. They continued with some of their more popular items on the menu, but the focus was more on the Memphis-style dry-rubbed barbecue they began to feature. They decided to call it Lynn's Barbecue because the Wohlford's middle names were both Lynn.
Now, I'd been out to Lynn's Barbecue with my wife and friends of ours on a couple of occasions to have drinks and to hang out, but we'd never had the food. While it's easy to see the golf course and the old style water tower with the Lynn's BBQ sign on the side from Highway 61, it can be a bit confusing getting back to the entrance of the golf course/restaurant. Many people have made the mistake of taking a right onto Country Club Court - like I did the first time I went out there. But you continue on E. Iowa Street until it curves around toward the parking lot for the golf course. (see map)
The outside of the building still has sort of a country/rustic look to it - almost like it was an old barn at one point. Inside the bar/restaurant, the walls have a faux barn board look to them. There's a handful of booths along one wall with a various sized tables in the middle of the room.
The bar is always popular at Lynn's Barbecue and there is a line of high-topped tables near the bar for drinkers and diners. In the corner of the dining area is a small stage they used for karaoke or live music from time to time.
There's a patio just outside the bar that looks out onto the No. 1 tee box and onward out onto the first fairway. It's a quaint little golf course with tree-lined fairways. It almost makes me want to take up golf again so I can enjoy the outdoors at Rustic Ridge.
We sat at one of the booths in the restaurant and we were greeted by Taylor, a young lady who would be our server that evening. She dropped off menus for us to look over. The beer selection at Lynn's Barbecue is actually pretty good with a number of craft brews to choose from.
The menu is pretty extensive at Lynn's Barbecue. As I said, they kept many of the items on the menu when they added more of a barbecue-centric fare. Burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads, and appetizers were included on the menu. But we were there for the barbecue. They had pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork and burnt ends on the menu, as well as pulled pork and brisket sandwiches.
I got the beef brisket with a side of baked beans. The brisket was powdered on one side with a slightly spicy rub that somewhat overpowered the taste of the beef. It was put on after it was sliced and I thought that was a bit strange. The barbecue places I've been to in Memphis usually lets the customer add more rub if they desire. A slice of cornbread with a small tub of honey came with the barbecue. The brisket was all right - once again, the rub sort of masked the true taste of the beef, but it was tender enough and wasn't dried out. The cornbread was dried out, but I didn't care about that. I'm not much of a cornbread person. The beans were also good and I was able to zip them up in taste by putting some of Lynn's hot and tangy sauce in there. I wouldn't call it hot as much as a bit of a spicy taste to the sauce. (They also featured Lynn's original sauce - a sweet Kansas City-style sauce - and a honey-mustard barbecue sauce that I didn't care for as much.)
My wife got the burnt ends and she thought they were just all right. She likened them more to beef tips like you'd get with noodles. They didn't have as much of the rub on them, but they were tender enough. She got the cole slaw that she thought was sort of bland, and she definitely wasn't happy with her very dried out cornbread. At the end of the meal, she was like, "Eh! It was OK. But I don't think I'd be beating a path out here on a regular basis to have barbecue."
The barbecue we had at Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon was just all right, in our opinion. They had so much of the Memphis-style rub on the brisket - put on AFTER they cut it into slices - that I really couldn't taste the beef. My wife thought the burnt ends were sort of like regular beef tips like you'd find in a beef stroganoff dish and didn't have much of a smoky flavor. The baked beans I had for a side were fine, but better when I added some of Lynn's hot and tangy barbecue sauce to them. My wife felt the cole slaw was bland, and we both thought the cornbread was way too dry. Even the honey in the small tubs that came with the cornbread couldn't save the taste. But it's still a nice place to go get a drink with nice views and a sort of rustic feeling to the place. And the service was prompt, friendly and efficient. We'll probably go out to Lynn's again at some point to have drinks again and maybe a burger, but I don't know if I'd get the barbecue. We really wanted to like the smoked meats at Lynns as there's not a lot of barbecue options around the Quad Cities. But the barbecue we had at Lynn's was just average, at best.
November 01, 2017 in Barbecue, Quad Cities, IA-IL | Permalink | Comments (0)
Big Hoffa's - Westfield, IN
Out in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis earlier this summer, I was in the mood for some barbecue. I did a search on line to find something in the area around Westfield and Carmel, and I found a place that sounded intriguing to me - Big Hoffa's. It wasn't far from the hotel where I was staying and I decided to head over to Big Hoffa's for dinner.
Adam Hoffman grew up in California and started out his food career at an early age. In grade school, the young Hoffman would sell candy and beef jerky treats to friends. When he got old enough to work in a restaurant, he found work in a variety of coffee shops near his home. Hoffman's restaurant career evolved over the years and he eventually became an corporate operations manager for California Pizza Kitchen. However, working in the corporate office in Los Angeles wasn't for him and Hoffman longed to get back into working in restaurants.
About 14 years ago Hoffman took a trip to Indianapolis and stayed a few days in the Hamilton County area north of the city. He liked the area so much that he went back to Los Angeles, quit his job and moved halfway across the United States and ended up in an apartment that he had never seen until he got there.
Hoffman decided his new life would be doing barbecue. He studied techniques and played around with some different barbecue styles when he was living in California. His barbecue gatherings with friends out there were always a big hit. Once he moved to Indiana, he procured a smoker and a truck, and he began to sell his barbecued ribs, smoked brisket and pulled pork in parking lots and at events around Indianapolis.
Pictured right - Adam Hoffman. Photo courtesy Indianapolis Star
Like most people who do barbecue contests or have a food truck that features barbecue, Hoffman discovered a following that would allow him to serve barbecue from a store front. He found a small place for his first location, but he quickly outgrew that. In 2007, Hoffman moved into his current location along East Main Street in Westfield in what is basically a pole barn with a number of other businesses in it. (see map) Big Hoffa's has been there ever since. (Hoffman announced last year that he was going to break ground on a new location in Westfield with an opening in the Spring of this year. But as of now, Big Hoffa's is still in the E. Main Street location.)
It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Big Hoffa's. The lot had a number of motorcycles parked in it with a handful of patrons dressed in their road leathers eating barbecue out in front on some picnic tables. The electric smoker for the establishment was sitting out in front. Hoffman says that he slow cooks his ribs for 12 hours, his pork shoulders for 25 hours and his beef brisket for 30 hours ensuring tender, fall-off-the-bone quality to his meats. In addition to barbecue at Big Hoffa's, they also have a small ice cream parlor - cleverly called "Skull and Cones" - that serves ice cream cones and cups.
Inside Big Hoffa's, I couldn't decide whether I had walked into a shrine for the Oakland Raiders or the recreation of a pirate's den. Jolly Roger flags were hanging all around the dining area and pirate artifacts where on shelves on the wall. Hoffman once explained that pirates were possibly the original barbecuers, and that a pirate decor doesn't get dated and is always interesting. I'll have to say that he had an interesting variety of pirate objet d'art.
Big Hoffa's features counter service with a menu on the wall behind the counter. In addition to pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken, ribs and rib tips, Big Hoffa's has a number of sandwiches with the meats, and also features a number of specialty dinners including a rice teriyaki entree with a choice of barbecued meat on top, a mac and cheese dish with pulled chicken on the top, and something called the Hoffanator - seasoned French fries topped with mac and cheese, in turn topped with pulled pork, baked beans, barbecue sauce, and somewhat interestingly, ranch dressing.
As I like to try different things when I first go to a barbecue joint, I got a half-pound of pulled pork and a half pound of beef brisket. For sides, I got baked beans and some potato salad with cayenne pepper mixed in. The young lady who was working the counter (Adam Hoffman was there, too, but he was talking with some people about some catering) sold me on the cayenne potato salad. I also got a bottle of Bell's Two Hearted Ale. They also had a number of the local Sun King beers available, as well
When they brought the food out to me moments later on a small baking sheet, my eyes must have grown double their size. "This is a lot of food," I exclaimed as the young lady sat it down in front of me. "Don't worry. We have to-go boxes," she assured me. I knew there would be no way I'd be able to eat all of this in one sitting. But I made a good go of it.
The brisket was good - thick slices of beef that had a bit of a smoky taste. I added some of their sweet barbecue sauce to the brisket, but they had a spicy sauce that had a subtle kick on the back side. Mixed together, they were perfect. The brisket was good, but it wasn't as good as the pulled pork.
The pulled pork was outstanding. It was moist, tender and had a nice smoky flavor to it. I do like sauce with my barbecue, but the pork was so good that I didn't want to taste anything else with it. Whatever technique Adam Hoffman did with his pork butt, I have to say he had it down. And then some.
The baked beans were heavy in brown sugar and needed some help with the sauce. I added in both the sweet sauce and the spicy sauce and they perked up in taste rather well. But the cayenne potato salad had a great mustard taste on the front end and a surprising spicy kick on the back end. The young lady did not undersell the cayenne baked potato, they too, were very good.
Big Hoffa's Barbecue was a great find in my travels. While the brisket was good, the pulled pork was outstanding. The baked beans needed a little help with a mixture of the sweet and the spicy sauces, but the cayenne potato salad that the young lady at the counter sold me on had an excellent taste sensation. It's not fancy and if pirate memorabilia upsets you, you're not going to like the interior. But I found it all rather interesting. Big Hoffa's has some very good to excellent barbecue, the portions are more than generous, and I would highly recommend a visit if you're in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis.
August 07, 2017 in Barbecue, Indianapolis | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Smoke Pit - Concord, NC
On our recent trip to North Carolina, we had flown into Charlotte arriving in the late afternoon after a delay in Detroit. After picking up our rental car, we took off toward Winston-Salem, our destination for the first weekend we were there. However, my wife was famished from having little to eat since breakfast and we decided to stop somewhere along the way to get some Carolina barbecue. I brought my personal GPS with me and east of Charlotte near the city of Concord I did a quick look for barbecue places in the area. The first name that popped up was a place called The Smoke Pit. We took a chance on it, pulled off the interstate and a few moments later we pulled up in front of The Smoke Pit.
With Concord also being the home of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, we were in the heart of NASCAR country. And The Smoke Pit has a NASCAR connection with co-owner Devin Barbee.
Devin Barbee started out in motor sports in the mid-80's after graduating from high school. His uncle, Ray Fox, Jr., was building engines for NASCAR teams and he took in his young nephew to have him learn the family secrets of engine building. (Fox's father, Ray, Sr., was the longtime engine builder for NASCAR legend Junior Johnson, and also built engines for NASCAR pioneer Fireball Roberts before becoming a NASCAR race car owner in the 60's.) Ray Fox, Jr. was the primary engine builder for car owner Robert Yates whose main driver at the time was Davey Allison. Young Devin Barbee was a jack man in the pits for Allison during races.
After Ray Fox, Jr's untimely passing in 1990, Devin Barbee went on to work for car owner Jack Roush as an engine tuner before going to work for the Hendrick Motorsports team in 1996, eventually becoming the primary engine builder for racers Terry Labonte and then Kyle Busch. But long hours and incessant travel made it tough on Barbee and his young family back in Concord.
Knowing that he needed a change and a new challenge in life, Barbee sat down with his sister to sort out what he may want to do. His sister said that people need to eat, so why not do something to do with food? When they were growing up, there was a grocery store in the Concord area - Dover's Supermarket - that had fresh cut meats, seafood and a reputation as being the best butcher department in the area. But there was no place like that any more in Concord and Barbee decided to open a butcher shop in the former Faggart's Hardware Store on Concord Parkway North. Renovating the space and putting in a butcher shop in one side of the building, Barbee opened The Stock Market in the spring of 2009. The other side of the building was left vacant because Barbee had a plan for that side at some point down the road.
About four years after Barbee opened The Stock Market, business was going very well when he was approached by Joey Graham, a barbecue aficionado who had worked in restaurants to pay his way through college and eventually managed a number of restaurants over the years. Graham had been to barbecue places in Kansas City and Memphis, as well as all across Texas and his native South Carolina to come up with his own style of barbecue. It turned out that Devin Barbee's plan in the back of his head was to open a restaurant in that space. In 2014, Barbee and Graham opened The Smoke Pit next door to The Stock Market. In early 2017, the two - along with partner Jeremy Beaver - opened a second Smoke Pit location in Salisbury, NC. And possibly by the time this post is published, the trio will have opened a third Smoke Pit in Monroe, NC.
We pulled into The Smoke Pit just before 6 p.m. (see map) It looked nice from the outside and there seemed to be a lot of cars in the parking lot. There was an outside dining patio, but no one was seated outside. Sharing a front door with The Stock Market, we went inside The Smoke Pit. I took a quick look into The Stock Market and decided that I'd like to go in there to look around after we finished dinner, but unfortunately the meat shop closed moments after we went into The Smoke Pit.
It's counter service at The Smoke Pit with a big menu board on the wall near the cash register. There was a sign that asked patrons to order first and then pick out a table. But we didn't have to worry about that as the restaurant was about 3/4's full and we were the second people in line. The Smoke Pit's menu was what I would call Texas-style barbecue with brisket, ribs (wet or dry), pulled pork, barbecued chicken, and burnt ends on the menu. Unfortunately - for me - there wasn't any beer available. I do like a cold beer with good barbecue, but I was not going to get that at The Smoke Pit.
The restaurant, itself, was nice and open, but the tables were a little close together. There were a number of colorful paintings of longhorn cattle, bison, horses and other livestock on the walls above the booths. After we ordered our food, we ended up getting a table in the center of the restaurant. As we waited for our food, the line to the front counter to order had grown to more than a dozen deep with people standing out in the joint entry way between the barbecue joint and the butcher shop. We realized that we had gotten there right before the rush and people were now waiting on tables to open up. The Smoke Pit was a very popular place.
My wife ended up getting the burnt ends - a healthy portion of burnt end parts of a beef brisket slathered in a sweet and smoky barbecue sauce. The burnt ends were thick cut and tender with a bit of a burnt bark to the outer side. She thought they were absolutely delicious, but there was way more than she could eat. I had to try a couple of them and I thought they were moist and flavorful - better than some burnt ends I've had in Kansas City, the home of good burnt end brisket.
For her sides she got a piece of corn bread and something they called "red" cole slaw. They had two different types of cole slaw for sides and the girl explained that the "white" cole slaw was just regular creamy cole slaw, while the red cole slaw was a vinegar base with a spicy taste to it. She liked the spicy cole slaw a lot and offered me a bite. It was very good.
I went with the brisket and pulled pork combo with a side of mac 'n cheese and some baked beans. Cut slices of Texas toast came on my platter that was served on butchers paper on a tray. They had three sauces on the table - the same sweet and smoky sauce they had on my wife's burnt ends, a sweet and smoky sauce that had a little spicy kick to it, and a Carolina-style peppery vinegar sauce that I have to say was not too bad on the pulled pork.
The portions they served at The Smoke Pit were huge. I had five or six thick strips of brisket that were all tender, most and full of a great barbecue flavor. The outer bark of the brisket gave the beef a nice smoky taste. The chopped pulled pork was also moist and smoky in flavor. Adding some of the spicier sauce with the beef was a nice palate pleaser, but you really didn't need any sauce for the brisket. And, as I said, adding some of the Carolina-style peppery vinegar sauce to the pork made the taste even more enjoyable.
My baked beans were all right - nothing great, but certainly not bad. I added some of the spicy sweet sauce to them to zip up the taste and it helped them out. The mac 'n cheese side was also just all right, but I would have liked to have gotten the red cole slaw instead of the mac 'n cheese.
We were about halfway through the meal when I remembered that we were going to have barbecue the next evening as part of the rehearsal dinner/family gathering that was taking place the night before the wedding. "Oh, well," my wife said. "If it's half as good as this barbecue, we'll be all right." (Side note - the catered barbecue we had the next night may not have been as half as good as the barbecue at The Smoke Pit.)
Our GPS search for a nearby barbecue joint didn't steer us wrong - The Smoke Pit was top notch. The brisket, pulled pork and burnt ends that we had were all fabulous. The best side of all that we tried was the spicy "red" cole slaw that had a vinegar taste. I enjoyed trying all three of the sauces they had on the table and I surprisingly liked the vinegar/pepper-based sauce on the pulled pork the best. About the only quibble I had was that they didn't sell beer to go along with the barbecue - a minor inconvenience, though, for a guy who likes a cold beer with his barbecue. Nonetheless, the barbecue at The Smoke Pit was very, very good and the portions were huge. I felt bad leaving some of the meat behind since we were traveling, but I'd put their barbecue up against many of the very good to excellent barbecue places I've been to in my travels.
July 10, 2017 in Barbecue, Concord, NC | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Drake - Burlington, IA
We had a couple that used to live next door to us who we became very good friends with. To our dismay, they moved back to their hometown in Southeastern Iowa about six years ago. We still stay in touch and when our friend was having a significant birthday earlier this year, we went down to help surprise him at a bar in his hometown outside of Fort Madison. After we'd been there for about 90 minutes, we took off and started back home. However, we ended up in Burlington to go have dinner at a place we had tried to get into last summer, but it turned out they were closed on Sundays. This time we were able to get into The Drake for dinner.
Burlington is an old river city whose first permanent settlers date back to 1834. Just four years later, the city had grown precipitously and when Iowa was named a territory that year, Burlington was named the territorial capital. In 1841, the territorial capital was moved to Iowa City, but Burlington continued to grow thanks to river and rail commerce. One of the companies that was founded in Burlington was Drake Hardware. Dating back to 1864, Drake Hardware became one of the largest hardware distributors in the Midwest by the turn of the 20th century. In 1906, they built a large building taking up about a half a block along Front Street between Washington and Columbia along the river front in downtown Burlington. Drake Hardware continued in business until 1980 when they closed their doors.
In the early 1920's, Dan Riley and his brothers started an oil company in Burlington getting his product from Pennsylvania. Riley Pennsylvania Oil Company became regionally famous for their slogan, "Riley Brothers, That's Oil!" By the 1950's, the Riley Brothers had branched out to manufacturing paint for farms and homes. And by the 60's, the Riley Brothers were involved in selling industrial coatings to manufacturers around the Midwest.
In 1971, partners Sam Jennison and Ken Bartels purchased Riley Brothers and renamed the company Riley, Inc. When lightning struck their oil production facility in 1976 destroying the plant, Jennison and Bartels refocused their business with the paint operation renaming the company Riley Paint continuing to service home, farm and industrial paint needs.
The big building that once was the home to Drake Hardware had sat empty for five years before Sam Jennison decided to move the offices of Riley Paint into the building. But the large warehouse in the back was what Jennison really wanted to develop. The original thick brick walls were still in place throughout the space, the five-foot-wide foundation of the building was still solid, and the Southern white pine support posts and beams were in great shape. Jennison plotted out the floor plan of the restaurant so that every seat in the place would have a river view. Not all would have an expansive view of the Mississippi, but at least you'd see some water with every seat.
Pictured right - Sam Jennison. (Photo courtesy Iowa Restaurant Association)
In addition to being the owner of Riley Paint and The Drake, Sam Jennison is also on the board of directors for the Iowa Restaurant Association and is also an author, penning his book "This Way to Happiness" in 1978. Jennison is also an adventurer who once solo canoed on the Mississippi between Minneapolis and St. Louis. Jennison is currently semi-retired with his three sons now running Riley Paint, but there's a good chance you'll see him most nights at The Drake which is run by his son Jim "Jimbo" Jennison.
We got into The Drake around 8 p.m. on a Saturday night. We parked on Washington in front of the Riley Paint offices. (see map) We entered the door and no one was at the hostess stand. We looked around the lobby area and found a number of antiques and historical items that were on display.
We took a quick look around the corner to a large room that was evidently used for a banquet room. A smaller room was off to the side with a bar. While the banquet room was empty, there was a party going on in the smaller room.
A hostess finally showed up and she said there would be no wait for a table. We were taken past the open kitchen that featured the essence of smoked wood in the air.
Along the wall across from the kitchen were a number of plates on display with autographs of famous performers, politicians and personalities who had dined at The Drake over the years. We saw autographs from the groups Styx and Lady Antebellum, as well as politicians such as Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, and an autographed plate from the 2004 British Open winner Todd Hamilton who grew up in nearby Oquawka, IL.
The dining areas at The Drake are sort of split up into different areas. There was a step-up room across from the front of the kitchen that was sort of reminiscent of dining on a rail car. Along one wall of the restaurant were a number of booths for dining.
We were seated at a table along the north wall of the restaurant. It had a paper covering and crayons were supplied at the table. We played Tic-Tac-Toe a couple three times as we settled in. The exposed brick walls gave the restaurant an old-time feeling, yet it was comfortable. We were given menus to look through and it wasn't long before our server for the evening came over to greet us. She was a young lady with an even demeanor who looked like she may have been a bit overwhelmed. My wife ordered a glass of the house pinot grigio while I ordered up a beer while we looked through the menu.
There was an Iowa basketball game going on that evening and I got up to check the score in the bar. The bar area was also expansive with a number of tables and booths throughout. There is also a patio that is open in the warmer months that give diners a great view of the Mississippi.
I went back to the table and my wife asked what the score was. "I don't know," I said. "They didn't have the game on. They had the ESPN game on." I thought it was rather odd considering the vast majority of places in Southeastern Iowa would have had the game on.
Our server was serving our drinks as we were talking and she asked, "Are you talking about the basketball game?" I told her that I was. "Oh, our owner is a big Iowa State fan," she explained. "When he's here, the Iowa game usually isn't on the TV's in the bar." Well, that explained that!
The menu at The Drake consisted of a number of wood grilled meats, as well as ribs, seafood, pasta, sandwiches and even pizza. They featured a number of barbecued items such as burnt ends, smoked pork chops, wood-fired chicken, and a slow-smoked brisket. Steaks included ribeyes, tenderloin filets and New York strip cuts. Seafood featured on the menu included a Jamaican-jerk seared ahi tuna, grilled grouper, and an almond-crusted walleye. On Friday and Saturday nights they also feature smoked prime rib, but we were informed by our server that they had run out of the prime rib about a half-hour prior.
We ordered our main entrees and after basic dinner salads for openers, our food came out. I ordered the beef tenderloin filet with my customary rare temperature. It was 12 ounces in size and it came with a side of the Drake fries. I got a glass of the house cabernet to go with the meal.
The outer shell to the steak was rather dry and tough, but inside it was cooked to an acceptable temperature with a deep red center. There was something missing in the taste of the steak, however. It was very lean and not very juicy. It was almost like bison in its taste. I added some fresh ground horseradish to the outer layer of the steak to help with the taste, but seemed rather lifeless. For as dry as the outside was, I'm glad I didn't order the steak medium-rare as it probably would have been even more dry.
The Drake fries were - from my guess - nothing more than leftover potatoes that had been wedged and deep-fried. They, too, were just all right. I'm not a big potato guy, but these were dry and somewhat overcooked.
My wife ended up getting the 4 ounce grilled salmon with vegetables. She thought the salmon was fine, but once again it was a bit dry on the outside from the high heat from the wood grilling process. Her mixed vegetables she deemed to be just "all right". She said they were overcooked and sort of mushy.
We passed on dessert as we were both pretty full from our meals. Before we left, we took a look around the restaurant to see what it was all about. Actually, it was a pretty neat place. The decor and use of the original building gave The Drake a wonderful ambience.
As we were taking pictures of the place, Jimbo Jennison came over to see why I was taking pictures of the place. I didn't identify myself as a restaurant blogger, but I told him that I like to take pictures of interesting places where we've eaten. He was gracious and told us a bit about the history of the building, as well as about the outdoor deck that they have open in the warmer months. "You need to come back when the weather gets nice," he said.
While we really wanted to like our meals at The Drake, we just felt that they were slightly above average, at best. The beef tenderloin filet I had was sort of dry on the outside, but nice and tender inside. But it was sort of lifeless in its taste. The Drake fries were bland and also somewhat overcooked. My wife's salmon also had a tough outer shell, but the filet was flaky and wasn't fishy in taste. However, she thought her vegetables were mushy and overcooked. I couldn't complain about the service we had, although our server's demeanor was almost void of personality and robotic. But the ambience and decor at The Drake was worth the visit. I only wish our food would have lived up to the anticipation we had for the place. (Picture courtesy The Great Lakes Casual Traveler.)
June 08, 2017 in Barbecue, Burlington, IA, Seafood, Steak Houses | Permalink | Comments (0)
Smoking Barrels Barbecue - St. Louis
In St. Louis recently, I was in the mood for some barbecue and I decided to seek out a place that I'd read about a couple years ago that was getting a bit of a following in the area. I ended up heading over to Smoking Barrels BBQ which was located in the Princeton Heights neighborhood on the south side of St. Louis.
Usually, the back story of a barbecue restaurant usually centers around a team of weekend competitive barbecue aficionados who are convinced to open their own place. Or maybe the guy behind the restaurant learned how to barbecue from his grandfather who had an old smoker in his backyard. Well, the story behind Smoking Barrels is far from that.
Dennis Machado grew up in poverty in his native country of Honduras. His father passed away when Machado was a young boy and he was forced to find work to help his widowed mother raise his seven other siblings. As a teenager, Machado literally walked into the United States to find work north of the border.
He ended up in St. Louis and opened a short lived Mexican restaurant along Cherokee Street. After that closed down in the mid-90's, Machado found work in the kitchen of a new barbecue place on the far south side of St. Louis - Bandana's. He found that working in a barbecue joint was much more to his liking. He worked at Bandana's for 17 years getting enough money saved up to send for some of his brothers to join him in the U.S. and to build a house for his mother in Honduras.
17 years on the job at Bandana's taught Dennis Machado the art of smoking meats. Along with his friend Fernando Ordonez, they decided to open their own barbecue place in St. Louis' South City. They found a place on the corner of S. Kingshighway and Milentz Ave. in Princeton Heights that had been a number of restaurants, most recently - and somewhat ironically - a Mexican restaurant. They opened Smoking Barrels BBQ in late March of 2013.
It was about a 10 minute drive from my hotel to Smoking Barrels BBQ. I found a parking spot on Milentz Ave. next to the restaurant. (see map) Behind the restaurant was a large smoker and up front near the street was a smaller smoker on a trailer with a wood-covered top and a family of pig statues peering out to the cars traveling along S. Kingshighway.
Inside the restaurant, I found a chair at a four-seater table in the middle of the restaurant. The place wasn't all that big, but the tables were spread out enough that you didn't feel like someone was sitting in your lap at the next table. There was a small bar area toward the back of the restaurant. Smoking Barrels BBQ was well lit with industrial lights hanging from the ceiling.
I was greeted by my server - Dylan - who dropped off a menu for me to look through. I ordered up a beer - a Budweiser, of course - to have while I looked to see what I was going to get that evening. Smoking Barrels has ribs, pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken, smoked turkey, and smoked sausage for their barbecue items. They feature many of their meats in sandwiches and they also have a number of "barrel" specials on the menu for family or group dining, or for those with a ravenous appetite.
I ended up getting the three meat combo plate - chopped pork, sliced brisket, and ribs. For my sides I got baked beans and battered French fries. Grilled garlic bread also came with the meal. There was a lot of food on my plate.
The chopped pork was moist and tender, but sort of bland in taste. The sauces - a Midwest sweet and smoky sauce and their Texas spicy sauce that wasn't all that spicy and was rather thin and runny - helped the taste of the pulled pork a bit. The brisket, on the other hand, was very good. The beef was tender and had a nice smoky taste to the meat. The ribs were probably the best part of the meal - they were meaty with a sweet glaze on the outer bark of the meat. The pork pulled away easily from the bone and it was moist and far from overcooked.
I sort of liked the battered fries - they had a crispy outer shell and a nice flaky inside. I enjoyed dipping them in a combination of the sweet and spicy sauces. The baked beans I would call "church lady" beans - they were sort of sweet and runny, the kind that I remember getting at church pot lucks when I was a kid. I did add some spicy sauce to zip them up a bit, but they were still sort of what I call unoffensive.
Smoking Barrels BBQ was good - maybe not the best I've had in St. Louis - but still good enough to be put into the conversation about the better place in the city. The ribs were meaty and cooked perfectly with the meat easily falling away from the bone. The brisket was also very good with a great smoky taste to the meat. The pulled pork was a little bland, but the sauces Smoking Barrels provides helped with the overall taste. The service I received that evening was prompt and efficient, and my server also had a good sense of humor. I'd have to say the barbecue I had at Smoking Barrels BBQ was enjoyable and satisfying.
June 01, 2017 in Barbecue, St. Louis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Frick's Tap - Davenport, IA
The oldest bar in the state of Iowa happens to be Breitbach's in Balltown (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Breitbach's). After a recent renovation of a long-time bar on Davenport's west end, I learned the second oldest bar in the state is in the Quad Cities - Frick's Tap. We had heard that the new owners had done a wonderful job renovating the building that has housed the bar since the late 1880's, and on a snowy Saturday afternoon we decided to go down and take a look for ourselves.
The west end of Davenport in the late 19th century was a neighborhood influenced by German immigrants who settled in the area. There were a number of breweries in downtown Davenport and in 1888 Charles Frick opened his eponymous tavern - in what was originally a bakery - with the credo of "Good Beer Served Properly". With meat packing plants in the immediate area, Frick's served countless plant workers well into the 20th century. When Prohibition took effect in 1919, Frick's stayed open as a root beer and ice cream joint. (I was told by an elderly neighbor years ago that Frick's operated a grain alcohol still in the back of the place during Prohibition.) In 1924, Charles Frick passed away and his son Edwin "Ed" Frick took over ownership of Frick's.
Surviving Prohibition, Frick's began to sell beer again in 1933 and became a landmark watering hole for local politicians and community leaders in Davenport. In 1942, Ed Frick ran for mayor of Davenport and won. Ed Frick turned over his interest in the bar to his son, Edwin "Ross" Frick. Ed Frick served only one term at mayor of Davenport - I'm not certain but it appears that he may have passed away in 1944.
Pictured right - the second and third generation of Frick's ownership. Edwin "Ed" Frick and his son, Edwin "Ross" Frick.
In the subsequent years, Ross Frick continued to host many of the city's movers and shakers at his long, narrow tavern on the west end. Ross Frick also tried his hand at politics twice running as the Republican candidate for mayor of Davenport, but he lost both times.
Ross Frick and his wife, Floy, lived in the apartment above the tavern. It was said that Floy Frick kept an immaculate garden in the area behind the tavern for many years. When Ross Frick died in 1986, Floy sold Frick's to Chuck Fogle.
Chuck Fogle ran Frick's for six years until he passed away from a heart attack in 1992. Fogle's wife Betty -who was a devout Baptist and an avowed teetotaler - suddenly had a tavern with monthly bank payments on her hands. She didn't want anything to do with the over 100-year-old tavern and ended up leasing it out to the first of what turned out to be five different people who ran the place for the next 22 years. When the person who was running Frick's in 2014 didn't have his liquor license renewed, Frick's Tap ceased to be.
The building sat vacant for well over a year before an investment group headed by Nathan Sharp bought the property from Betty Fogle. Sharp and the two other investors were Davenport "west-enders" who grew up watching Frick's and the surrounding area along W. 3rd St. slowly decay. The building that housed Frick's was listed in 1974 on the National Register of Historic Places, and Sharp and his fellow investors wanted to bring back the glory days of Frick's Tap.
They started out gutting the two floors of the nearly 5,000 square foot building and updating the electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling in the place. They upgraded the infrastructure tearing out walls to expose the original brick, put in new flooring and expanded the lower floor for more seating. Construction crews spent over seven months restoring and rehabbing the building, and in late August of last year the new Frick's Tap opened its doors. (Still a devout abstainer well into her 80's, Betty Fogle was quoted in the local paper as saying that while she was happy for the work that was done to the building that houses Frick's, she had no plans to go see the renovations.)
We parked on W. 3rd just west of Fillmore where Frick's stands on the northwest corner. (see map) What we found was a very nice place with a lot of new stone masonry mixed in with the original brick on the wall near the bar. While they did a good job of integrating new features in the place - such as nearly two dozen televisions hung on walls throughout the bar - they also kept the architectural integrity of the original building that was built over 135 years ago. A vintage neon sign that says, "Good Beer Served Properly" hangs above the door at Frick's. (I don't know if it's the original neon sign that used to hang in the front window, but it might be.) Interestingly enough, there was an multi-colored LED panel that hung on the wall opposite the bar above a chalk board that scrolled the current stock prices of Quad City-based companies.
There was a small dining area off to the side of the bar up front. It was well lit with the large front windows letting in natural light. A smaller room behind a stone wall had some extra tables in that area.
Upstairs, they tore out the apartment that housed the Frick family for years and made the space an overflow bar area/party room. There was a small deck off the back of the space that would be open in warmer months. Reclaimed barn boards hide the support columns around he rectangular bar that features corrugated tin underneath.
We were getting more than a few looks from some of the local regulars as we walked in and proceeded to a table in the back of the bar. Even after we sat at a high four-seat table in the back near the back door that went out to the parking lot behind the building there were people leaning back to get a glimpse of the two new visitors to Frick's.
One of the ladies from behind the bar came over to greet us and to see if we were going to eat. At the time we were there, the kitchen was still not 100% completed and they were selling only appetizers and some barbecued items that were made on a smoker that was sitting behind the building. They had a number of craft beers on tap including local beers from Great River Brewery, Bent River Brewing Company and Green Tree Brewery. We ended up ordering a couple of beers on tap while we looked through the abbreviated menu.
Most of the main entrees were barbecued meats such as brisket with a mustard-based dry rub; chopped pork shoulder seasoned with their house-made "None of Your Frick'n Business" dry rub; baby back pork ribs with a similar dry rub; and half of a smoked chicken. Appetizers included wings - boneless and bone-in; chili with smoked beef included; potato wedges topped with a Monterey Jack cheese; and something they called the "Frick'n Heart Attack" - 1/2 pound of in-house cured, smoked and sliced bacon with barbecue sauce.
We thought about getting the meat sampler appetizer - a choice of three different types of smoked meats served with three different types of sauces and sweet rolls. But we ended up getting two other appetizers - the "Frickles" - fried pickles covered with panko bread crumbles - and the brisket nachos - tortilla chips covered with chopped brisket, cheese, barbecue sauce and Frick's house-made baked beans.
The fried pickles were actually pretty good. They came with a side of ranch dressing and the taste of the panko bread crumbs was a nice touch to the crisp warm pickle inside. They were some of the better fried pickles we've tried.
The brisket nachos - and I'll use a term that was first coined by my fellow blogger, The Slakingfool - was a glorious mess. The brisket chunks were large, but tender and flavorful. The sweet barbecue sauce had a bit of a spicy back taste, but was very good. Along with the cheese and the tasty baked beans mixed in, we thought this was a great appetizer. Both appetizers were more than enough for us as the portions were good-sized and generous.
We're going to get back to Frick's once they get their full kitchen up and running and they've expanded their menu. The neighborhood around Frick's can still be a little "iffy", especially at night, but they've done a wonderful job rehabilitating the old building and breathing life into what is called the second oldest bar in the state of Iowa. The appetizers we had were tasty, the service wasn't bad, they had a good craft beer selection, and we certainly liked the homey, neighborhood atmosphere (even though some of the regulars kept checking out who the two "strangers" were). Frick's Tap has injected a bit of fresh air into what has been a stale part of Davenport for a number of years.
March 27, 2017 in Bar and Grill, Barbecue, Quad Cities, IA-IL | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jon Russell's BBQ - Overland Park, KS
On my (seemingly) never-ending quest to try all the barbecue places in Kansas City, I had been reading about a place in Overland Park that has been open for over 4 years that was supposed to have top quality barbecue. Jon Russell's BBQ is the culminating effort of two high school friends who started on the barbecue competition circuit over 25 years ago.
Jon Russell's is named after the two owners - Jon Niederbremer and Russell Muehlberger - who started out in 1990 as a competitive barbecue team. In just their second year of competition, Niederbremer and Muehlberger were named Grand Reserve Champions at the prestigious American Royal barbecue competition held annually in Kansas City. The following year in 1992, the pair won the coveted Grand Champion award at the competition. Over the years, the two have won numerous local and regional barbecue competitions and continue to compete when they can today.
It turns out that Muehlberger is the one with a culinary background working for years as a chef in upscale restaurants and as a consultant for other restaurants. Niederbremer was in the building trade before they opened Jon Russell's BBQ in the summer of 2012 in a former Quizno's location in the Prairie Center office, retail and restaurant complex at the corner of Quivira Road and W. 135th in Overland Park (see map). Jon Russell's is part of the 39BevCo group that also includes the Club 1000 event and reception center in downtown Kansas City, MO; and two upscale convenience stores - the Prairie Market in Lenexa, KS (which also features Jon Russell's barbecued meats to go) and the 39th Street Market located in World of Spirits near the Westport neighborhood in Kansas City, MO.
It was just before noon on a sunny weekday when I pulled into the parking lot in front of Jon Russell's BBQ. It was a little confusing getting into the parking lot at Jon Russell's from Quivira, but I was able to find it with a few twists and turns in the Prairie Center complex.
Walking into the place, you'll find a large chalkboard behind the front counter with the menu on it. It's your typical Kansas City barbecue fare such as ribs, burnt ends, brisket, pulled pork, chicken, sausage, ham, and turkey. They have platters available as well as barbecued meat sandwiches and salads on the menu. Sides include baked beans, mac and cheese, cole slaw (when available), house-fried potato chips, onion rings and fries.
After I ordered at the counter, I found a seat in one of the booths along the wall. The dining area wasn't anything fancy, but it was comfortable enough. There was a pop dispenser, utensil station (plastic utensils, at that), and a barbecue sauce counter along the opposite wall from the booths.
One of the workers in the kitchen brought my lunch out to me. I had ordered the Blue Ribbon Combo Platter - brisket, burnt ends and ribs. For sides, I got the baked beans and an order of fries. I got a Boulevard Pale Ale to go along with my meal.
The ribs at Jon Russell's BBQ are their signature item and I have to say they were very good. They were meaty with a hint of a smoky taste and they were very tender. Not "fall-off-the-bone" tender, but tender enough where they easily pulled away from the bone with each bite. The outer bark on the ribs was crispy, but not burnt.
The burnt ends were equally as tasty. The thick chunks of brisket ends were moist and tender. They were very good. And the brisket slice that I got was thick and juicy, and it easily cut with the plastic fork they provide at Jon Russell's BBQ.
For the sides, the French fries were seasoned and pretty good. I used the to dip into the different barbecue sauces they had to offer at Jon Russell's BBQ. (More on the sauces in a bit.) And the baked beans were thick and sweet with a spicy bite on the back end. They also had chunks of meat in the baked beans. Normally, I like to zip up the taste of baked beans with a spicy barbecue sauce, but these were fine as they were served.
Being a sauce guy, Jon Russell's had a number of different sauces to choose from. However, many of the sauces were fruit-based - a nod to Russell Muehlberger's barbecue mentor - the late Karen Putnam - who was a charter member of the Kansas City Barbecue Society and a competitive barbecue chef on her own. I'm usually not big on fruity barbecue sauces, but I have to say the spicy blueberry sauce was very good. It had the sweet and tart blueberry taste with a spicy zing on the back end. The combination of the blueberry and the spicy hot pepper taste were a great combination.
They also had a cherry chipotle sauce that had that great smoky chipotle taste that was cut with the sweet and tart cherry flavor. There was a honey and spice sauce that I thought was pretty good. The pineapple poblano sauce was an interesting combination, but I was too chicken to try the Smokin' Ghost sauce - a sweet sauce mixed with ghost peppers. Out of the sauces, I liked the spicy blueberry and the cherry chipotle the best. But I would have also liked to have had a good ol' sweet and smoky Kansas City-style sauce, as well.
Trophies and awards line the walls at Jon Russell's BBQ and it's no wonder why they have won so many barbecue competitions over the past 25 plus years. I thought the ribs were some of the best I've ever had in the Kansas City area, the burnt ends were also top-notch, and the brisket was moist, tender and flavorful. The sauces - especially the spicy blueberry and the chipotle cherry - were also very good. Jon Russell's BBQ can easily go up against the more famous and established barbecue places in Kansas City, possibly very well surpassing some of those in the quality of their barbecue. Jon Russell's BBQ is one of the better barbecue places I've found in Kansas City.
February 23, 2017 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (0)
Dalie's Smokehouse - Valley Park, MO
I was reading in Sauce Magazine (I call Sauce my restaurant bible for St. Louis) in late 2015 about the newest addition to the family tree of barbecue places that is headed by pitmaster-extraordinaire Skip Steele - Dalie's Smokehouse. It was in the far western part of St. Louis County in what is called Valley Park and I decided to head there for lunch one day on a trip to St. Louis last fall. Any barbecue place that has the DNA of Skip Steele and his partner Mike Emerson, I'm up for giving it a try.
Skip Steele, of course, is the godfather of all the good barbecue places to eat at in St. Louis. Along with Emerson, they are famous for two of the best places for barbecue in "the Loo" - Pappy's Smokehouse and Bogart's Smokehouse. (Click here for the Road Tips entry on Pappy's and here for the entry on Bogart's.) Steele got his start cooking barbecue as a 14-year-old when he made his first smokers out of 100-gallon propane tanks salvaged from a metal scrap yard near his home in Georgia. He had his first restaurant - a carry-out barbecue place - when he was going to college. After college, Steele worked in restaurants, but then found work with a freight company that shipped products around the world via ocean going freighters. Steele worked for the company for nine years before being able to retire and get back into his first love - barbecue.
Steele joined his college roommate Terry Black at Super Smokers helping to open locations around St. Louis. (Click here for Road Tips' entry on Super Smokers.) It was at Super Smokers that Steele met Mike Emerson and the two forged a friendship that eventually took them to a partnership that continues today. In addition to Pappy's and Bogart's, Steele and Emerson's parent corporation - Mothership - holds shares in other St. Louis restaurants such as Adam's Smokehouse (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Adam's), as well as Southern, a southern-style "hot chicken" eatery next to Pappy's that opened last summer; as well as the Notorious P.I.G. in Missoula, MT. They also have a stake in a barbecue restaurant in Nuremberg, Germany - Boogie's - a restaurant run by Falk Norris, a German native who worked at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis for over 20 years before heading up the food and beverage service at Washington University. Norris fell in love with Pappy's Barbecue and he wanted to open something similar to it back in Germany. Norris studied under Steele for 18 months and he went back to Germany to open what is thought to be the first true barbecue smokehouse in that country. (Above right - Mike Emerson and Skip Steele. Picture courtesy St. Louis Magazine.)
For their seventh restaurant, Steele and Emerson found a spot that used to house the former Squeakers BBQ and Bar in a strip mall at the corner of Big Bend and Dougherty Ferry Road. (see map) They had a soft opening on June 30 of last year ramping up throughout the summer to get the kinks out of the business.
Steele paid homage to his maternal grandfather "Papa Joe" Dalie Wells by naming the new barbecue joint after him. Wells was born into a wealthy family who had interests in manufacturing, insurance and banking. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, the Wells family lost everything and Joe Dalie turned to teaching, then running a taxi company before he got into the restaurant business. As a 12-year-old, Skip Steele learned the art of cooking and barbecue from working in the kitchen at his grandfather's restaurant. There's a corner of the restaurant that is set up as sort of a shrine to Joe Dalie Wells. (Picture at left courtesy St. Louis Magazine.)
Dalie's is in a corner spot in the strip mall and while it's nothing fancy, it was comfortable enough. Large windows allowed for the natural light to come in. Sturdy tables and chairs were interspersed around the place and the walls were adorned with posters and beer signs. A couple three flat screen televisions also hung from the wall.
Being a Dalie's rookie, I made the mistake of taking a table instead of going to the cash register to order. A young lady came out and explained to me that it was similar to Pappy's and Bogart's - you place your order at the cash register and they bring it out to you. The menu is on a chalkboard behind the cash register. Like Pappy's and Bogart's, Dalie's Smokehouse will run out of meat during the course of a day and they immediately put up "86ed" next to the meat that they've run out of.
Ribs, pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, smoked ham, beef & pork belly pastrami, and smoked roast beef are the meats on the menu. Sandwiches and platters are available with nearly all the meats. Combo plates include a half-side or a full-side of ribs with your choice of a meat, or a half-rack of ribs and a half chicken, or you can get "The Judge" - a full slab of ribs or a full chicken, your choice of three-sandwiches and four sides. Sides include baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, potato salad, apple sauce, thick cut fries, cole slaw and "fire-and-ice" pickles - sweet and spicy pickles that Skip Steele found on a trip to barbecue joints in Mississippi a few years back.
They had a "Pick 2" platter on the menu and I got the pulled pork and the brisket. I was sort of at a loss as to get other than baked beans and the young lady who took my order said, "Our mac 'n' cheese is a big seller for us." I took her advice and got that. I also got a cold beer to go along with the barbecue. (Barbecue and cold beer are just made for one another.)
Similar to the other restaurants Steele and Emerson are involved in, the meats I had at Dalie's were delicious. The brisket was thin and lean with a hint of a smoke ring around the edges. It was easy to cut and tasted wonderful. The pulled pork was tender and juicy with a hint of a smoky taste to it. The meats were fabulous.
The baked beans were also a winner - thick and saucy with chunks of meat mixed in. And the mac 'n' cheese that the lady at the counter suggested were also very good. The cheesy mixture of macaroni noodles, bread crumbs and real bacon bits had a rich and decadent taste. (I would have liked to have tried the fire and ice pickles. Well, there's always next time.)
Being a big sauce guy, Dalie's didn't disappoint. They had six sauces on the table and I tried them all. Papa Joe's Original sauce was thick, sweet and tangy with a pepper taste on the backside; the Cranberry Cayenne was fruity, sweet with a spicy taste on the backside; the Voodoo had a little bit of sweetness with a very spicy backside; the Sweet Hope was sweet and smoky; the Dalie's Vinegar was a somewhat spicy vinegar-based sauce; and the Carolina Sweet was a Carolina-style sweet mustard sauce. I didn't care at all for the Carolina Sweet, and I wasn't thrilled with the Dalie's Vinegar sauces. But I really did like the Cranberry Cayenne where the sweet fruity taste of the cranberries tamped down the spiciness of the cayenne spice. And I liked mixing up the spicy Voodoo with both the Sweet Hope and the Papa Joe's Original sauce. There were a lot of taste sensations going on with the mixture of the sauces.
Well, Skip Steele and Mike Emerson have done it again. The owners of the arguably best barbecue places in St. Louis have another winner with Dalie's Smokehouse. The pulled pork and brisket platter was delicious, as were the mac 'n' cheese and baked beans sides that I got. I enjoyed the variety of sauces Dalie's had to offer and the place had the comfortable barbecue joint vibe. Now people in West County don't have to drive deep into the city to try some of Steele's and Emerson's barbecue. They have pretty much the same thing at Dalie's Smokehouse.
February 13, 2017 in Barbecue, St. Louis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Spitfire Bar & Grill - West Fargo, ND
I was driving between western North Dakota and the Twin Cities last fall and decided to stop at Fargo to get some lunch. I was sort of hungry for barbecue, so I did a search of barbecue places in the area and one place - Spitfire Bar & Grill - caught my eye. I set my GPS to the address for Spitfire Bar & Grill and headed there for lunch.
Like many places, Spitfire came to be because the owners got their start on the barbecue competition trail. Tim and Mary Olson were chiropractors in Fargo, but they loved barbecue ever since Tim sampled some of the best smoked meats he'd had while he was living in Oklahoma and Texas before settling back in his home state of North Dakota. Knowing that he couldn't get Texas-style barbecue in Fargo, he ended up having his own smoker shipped up from Texas and placed in his backyard. Soon, he was feeding friends and neighbors who raved about his barbecuing prowess.
In April of 2007, an Uno Pizzeria & Grill location closed in West Fargo. The Olson's along with managing partner Gordy Ferkul then turned it into a barbecue place. They procured a Southern Pride SPK-500 industrial smoker and installed it in the kitchen area. Spitfire Bar & Grill opened with a soft opening in the summer of 2007 to help get the kinks worked out before they had their grand opening in the fall of 2007.
About the same time they opened Spitfire Bar & Grill, the Olson's came across a television program one evening that showed the highly competitive barbecue circuit in parts of the United States. The barbecue bug had hit him hard and he was determined to get into competitions around the Upper Midwest. Nearly from the start, the Olson's "Team Spitfire" began to win the competitions they entered. More wins meant bigger and better equipment and they got their big competitive smoker trailer in 2011.
The Olson's continue to run the competition circuit around the U.S. and have participated numerous times in two of the biggest barbecue competitions - the Jack Daniels World Barbecue Championship in Lynchburg, TN; and the American Royal Barbecue Championship in Kansas City. Team Spitfire garnered a sixth place overall finish at the Jack Daniels WBC in 2009 and his ribs earned a third-place finish in that category the same year.
Spitfire is technically in West Fargo along 13th Ave. E. (see map) It was around 1 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot and went inside. The main dining area had a cozy contemporary look and feel to the place. The focal point of the dining area was the large wood burning cooker for Spitfire's wood-fired steaks, seafood, and spit-roasted chicken. Many of the trophies the Spitfire barbecue team has won in competitions were on display in the dining room.
I ended up taking a seat at the bar. The bar area was spacious and bright with a number of flat-panel televisions hanging on the wall. My bartender server that day was Ambar, a pleasant blonde-haired lady who dropped off a menu for me to look through. I saw that they had my favorite beer - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - on tap and I ordered one of those. I like places that have Big Wave on tap.
As I alluded to earlier, there's more than just barbecue on the menu at Spitfire. In addition to wood-fired steaks, seafood and chicken, they also feature flat bread pizzas, pasta dishes, sandwiches and wraps, wood-fired burgers, soups and salads. But I was there for the barbecue that day and I wanted to sample a little bit of everything. The only problem is that they didn't have a sampler platter at Spitfire. They only seemed to have sandwiches with pulled pork or brisket. And the only rib combo they had on the menu came with either steak and ribs or chicken and ribs.
I finally found a beef brisket platter they had on the menu and I ended up ordering that. The only problem is that it was expensive - $19.95 for the platter with two sides. I figured there must be a lot of beef that came on the plate.
There really wasn't. Oh, it was probably a little over a half pound of brisket on the plate, but I still didn't think it was that good of a value. For my sides, I got a bowl of the Spitfire baked beans and some fries.
The brisket was tender, but it was dry. It almost tasted like cafeteria-style roast beef. I didn't get much of a smoky flavor to the beef. It was somewhat disappointing.
To add to the disappointment of the brisket, they gave me a small 2 ounce container of barbecue sauce. It was a vinegar-based sauce that was just all right in my book. And because the beef was so dry, I had to use a lot of the sauce to help get the beef down. I needed a couple of the containers to help out the beef, but I quit once I ran out of the first container of sauce. And they didn't have any sauce in bottles. Being a sauce guy, I like to try different types of sauce on my barbecue. The brisket needed all the help it could get.
The fries were also sort of "meh!", but the baked beans saved this meal from being a complete dud. The beans were great - thick and meaty with chunks of pork with nearly every bite. Even the sauce they used in the beans was very good. The beans were - unfortunately - the only saving grace for what was otherwise a forgettable meal.
I don't know if Spitfire is known as much for their brisket as they are for their ribs, but I was disappointed in the brisket I had on my visit. The baked beans were the highlight of what was otherwise a bland-tasting meal. While the service as attentive and prompt, I thought the barbecued brisket was underwhelming. Spitfire wins local awards for the best barbecue in Fargo and has won a number of regional barbecue competitions, but the barbecue I had was not what I would call award winning.
January 26, 2017 in Barbecue, Beer Bars/Pubs, Fargo, ND | Permalink | Comments (0)
Burnt End BBQ - Overland Park, KS
I came across a barbecue place that has been open for awhile in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Burnt End BBQ. I was sort of surprised that I hadn't been there before, but I just happened to look over to my left as I was sitting at a traffic light and saw the sign. When I went in to try the place, I asked one of the workers how long they'd been open. "Oh, I don't know. Four years, at least," is what he told me. So, here is the story of my visit to try the barbecue at Burnt End BBQ.
Burnt End BBQ is one of a handful of restaurants under the PB&J Restaurants banner that includes YaYa's European Bistro with locations in Kansas City, St. Louis, Denver and Little Rock, the Newport Grill with locations in Kansas City and Wichita, and the Paradise Diner in Kansas City. The head of PB&J Restaurants Paul Khoury also has a hand in Red Robin and Twin Peaks franchises around the Kansas City area.
Khoury has had a long career in the restaurant business starting in the mid-70's with the Gilbert/Robinson corporation that oversaw Houlihan's and the Bristol Seafood Restaurants. In 1978, he got into the management-trainee program with Gilbert/Robinson and met another management trainee by the name of Bill Crooks. For the next nine years, Khoury and Crooks managed restaurants for Gilbert/Robinson, but they eventually decided to do something for themselves. In 1987, they opened their first restaurant - the Paradise Grill - in the Oak Park Shopping Mall in Olathe.
Kansas Citians didn't take to Paradise Grill right away as it was more of an upscale diner featuring a fusion menu of Southwestern and American fare. But as more of the population got used to the out-of-the-box thinking that Khoury and Crooks were conjuring up in the kitchen, Paradise Grill became a popular destination.
From there, the duo were contacted by a local developer who was building an upscale shopping complex in suburban Mission. It was there that they opened the Coyote Grill in 1989. Two years later the same developer had built the Town Pavillion in downtown Kansas City and Khoury and Crooks opened their City Scene restaurant there. The same year, another developer worked with them to open the first Grand Street Cafe location in Kansas City. They also had a Southwestern restaurant called Paulo & Bill in the Kansas City area, and they opened two restaurants in St. Louis - Cafe Eau (now known as the Chase Club located in the luxurious Chase Park Plaza) and Eau Bistro. From there, they opened the first YaYa's Mediterranean Bistros in Memphis and Denver. (The original name of Ya'sYa's was Yia's Yia's. They transitioned over to the Ya Ya's moniker with openings in St. Louis and Little Rock a few years later.)
9/11 hit the restaurant business hard in 2002 and Khoury and Crooks started to look at restaurant opportunities where the check amounts would be much smaller than the $25 to $35 per person meals they had been working with at their restaurants. That's when the partners became Red Robin franchisees. They sold Paulo & Bill and the two St. Louis restaurants in 2002, then sold the Grand Street Cafe in 2003 and opened the first Red Robin restaurants in the Kansas City area.
Crooks, growing weary of the restaurant business, sold his shares in PB&J to Khoury in 2006. (Today, Crooks heads Good Food Good Future, a consulting firm for start up restaurants in the Kansas City area.) Khoury continued on with the restaurants, soldiering on through the recession of 2008 and in 2009 opening a YaYa's in St. Louis and in Little Rock. Some of the PB&J restaurants closed during that period, but by 2010 Khoury was ready to start a new upscale restaurant venture opening the first Newport Grill in Wichita. When the Prairefire shopping and entertainment district opened in 2014, PB&J put in two restaurants in the complex - a new Paradise Grill concept that focuses on seafood, and a Newport Grill.
Pictured right - Paul Khoury. Photo courtesy Kansas City Business Journal
PB&J has also garnered a reputation in the Kansas City area for giving long-time employees Harley-Davidson motorcycles as an appreciation gift. Once an employee hits 15 years of working for one of the PB&J restaurants, they receive a free motorcycle. This started when one of the chefs at one of his restaurants asked Khoury if there was any bonus for 1 year of employment, 5 years of employment and 10 years of employment. Khoury said, "I suppose one extra week of vacation." When the chef asked Khoury what he would get at 15 years, he said, "Well, what would you want?"
The chef told him that he wanted a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Khoury got to thinking that keeping employees in an industry where turnover happens at a furious place, maybe something like a Harley-Davidson would be an incentive to those who would stick with him. Even though the chef who put the idea in Khoury's head didn't make it to the 15 year mark, Khoury has now given away well over 40 Harley-Davidson motorcycles to employees who have stuck around for at least 15 years.
Steven "Smokey" Schwartz got his start in the barbecue business as a co-owner of Joe's Barn Barbecue in suburban Olathe in the early 80's. After Joe's Barn closed, he went over to the famed Fiorella's Jack Stack in Martin City working his way up to executive chef and pit master. (Click here to read Road Tips' entry about Fiorella's Jack Stack. This was from 10 years ago and, admittedly, it was not that good of an entry. The place deserves a better write-up with pictures.) After 10 years at Jack Stack, Schwartz went to PB&J Restaurants in 2005 to work on barbecue concepts for their restaurants. Schwartz helped open Burnt End BBQ in 2011 at the corner of W. 135th and Nieman Road in Overland Park. Their catering business was a hit, but the walk-in traffic they experienced was not up to par. They moved to a much higher profile location at the corner of Metcalf and W. 119th St. in Overland Park in February of 2014. (see map) Earlier this year, PB&J opened a second Burnt End BBQ location in Denver's Tech Center area.
I got into Burnt End BBQ around 8 p.m. on a warm evening in Kansas City. It's counter service to order your meal and there was no line in front of me when I got in there. The dining room was contemporary, well-lit and comfortable enough.
The menu is printed on back-lit boards as you walk into the restaurant. They have all the typical Kansas City-style smoked meats available at Burnt End BBQ - brisket, pulled pork, ham, spare ribs, turkey, chicken, sausage, and, of course, burnt ends. Most of the meats are available either on their own or in sandwiches. They also have steak burgers on the menu, as well as specialty sandwiches such as The Chop - a blend of brisket, burnt ends, pulled pork in Burnt End's traditional Kansas City-style barbecue sauce and topped with onion straws, or The Stack - brisket, ham and turkey topped with smoked bacon slices and a pepper jack cheese sauce.
I like to try a little bit of everything when I go to a barbecue joint for the first time and they had a two meat platter with a choice of two sides on the menu. However, one of the meats I wanted to try - the brisket - I was informed that they were out of that night. "Just ran out about 15 minutes ago," the guy behind the counter told me. Somewhat crestfallen, I ended up getting the burnt ends and pulled pork. For my sides, I got baked beans and I couldn't decide what else to get. They had items such as both a classic-style potato salad and a baked potato salad, mac & cheese, white cheddar grits, and a cucumber-tomato salad. Fries, potato wedges and onion straws were also available, but they weren't part of the "sides" package with the platter. I ended up getting the baked beans and the sweet and spicy cole slaw on the recommendation of the guy who took my order. The meats were served on a slice of Texas toast and dill pickle slices also came with the platter. I got a Boulevard Frequent Flier Session IPA to go along with my meal that evening.
When I first started to go to Kansas City a number of years ago - over 35 years ago now - I didn't care much for burnt ends cut from brisket. The first ones that I tried were so dried out and tasteless that I was sort of turned off to burnt ends after that. I started to work for a company in Kansas City in the mid-80's and my boss used to take us to Fiorella's Jack Stack in Martin City for barbecue and he always ordered the burnt ends. I was more of a brisket, rib or pulled pork kind of guy and never really got into burnt ends. But I'm starting to come around to burnt ends after having some at other Kansas City and St. Louis area barbecue joints over the past few years. The namesake burnt ends at Burnt End BBQ were thick and meaty, tender and smoky with a nice bark on the outer shell. These were some of the better burnt ends I'd ever had.
The pulled pork was equally as good - moist, flavorful and a slight smoky flavor. This was shaping up to be one of the better barbecue meals I've had during my visits to Kansas City area barbecue joints.
If you're a regular reader to Road Tips, you know that I'm a sauce man. Many barbecue chefs say that you generally don't need barbecue sauce on the meat if it's flavorful enough. And I agree with that. I generally start out eating the meats without any sauce to experience the overall taste. But if they have some interesting barbecue sauces, I'll give them a try. (Many times I like to dip fries into the sauces and try them that way. But I didn't get fries this time.) They had three different sauces at Burnt End BBQ developed by pit master Steven "Smokey" Schwartz - a traditional Kansas City sweet and smoky sauce, a sweet honey glaze sauce, and a spicy Southwest style sauce that had a bit of a sweetness to the front end of the taste with a somewhat spicy and peppery bite on the backside. I liked the southwest spicy sauce the best with the traditional K.C.-style sauce right behind it. While the honey glaze sauce was good, I didn't think it was as good as the others.
I usually like to add some barbecue sauce to the baked beans at most barbecue places to give them a little sweet and spicy zip to the taste, but the beans they had at Burnt End BBQ didn't need any help. They were already sweet and a little spicy with a hint of hickory smoke. The consistency of the baked beans were thick helped by the sauces and the chunks of brisket and pork mixed in with the beans.
But I have to saw that the sweet and spicy cole slaw even topped the good taste of the baked beans. The sweet/sour/spicy combination that was going on with the cole slaw was an outstanding taste sensation. Overall, this was a very good to outstanding barbecue meal.
You can't think of Kansas City with out thinking of barbecue. And because there are so many good barbecue places in the city, it would be very tough to go wrong with wherever you go. But some stand out more than others and I have to say that I would very much recommend Burnt End BBQ if you go on a barbecue quest in the greater Kansas City area. Although I was disappointed they didn't have brisket that evening, the namesake burnt ends were a wonderful substitute. The pulled pork was some of the best I'd had in Kansas City, and the sides - superb baked beans and an excellent sweet and spicy cole slaw - were a great compliment to the meal. Burnt End BBQ more than holds its own against some of the more famous and established barbecue joints in Kansas City.
December 23, 2016 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (0)
Swine Dining, Bellevue, NE
I've driven by a barbecue place a handful of times in the south Omaha suburb of Bellevue - Swine Dining. And reading about the place in local travel magazines in the Omaha area, it turns out that Swine Dining has won a number of barbecue competition and people's choice awards over the past few years. Leaving Omaha late one morning and heading toward Kansas City, I stopped off at Swine Dining for lunch before I left the area.
Eric Ging got his start - like many barbecue chefs - working the competition barbecue circuit. Working out of his mobile barbecue truck - the Pig Rig - Ging was a regular barbecue competitor and also offered up his barbecue at special events and fairs, and was usually seen in parking lots around Bellevue and near Offutt Air Force Base. When a chance to open a restaurant came up, Ging opened Swine Dining just east of the Olde Towne area of downtown Bellevue. (It appears that there may have been a change in ownership in April of 2015, but from what I could find on-line it still lists Eric Ging as the owner.)
It was just before noon when I pulled up in front of Swine Dining on Mission Road just west of the Missouri River bridge that takes you across to Iowa. (see map) I was able to park on the street across from the restaurant and went inside. It's counter service at Swine Dining and the order window has the menu just above it. It's a pretty short menu for a barbecue place and they don't sell beer to go along with the smoked meats.
There are two dining areas at Swine Dining - a smaller one in the same room as the counter and this room off to the side that featured some worn booths and tables with ice cream parlor chairs. A number of awards were on the walls along with some signage from other barbecue places.
As I said, the menu at Swine Dining isn't deep featuring pork ribs and 1/2 chicken for main entrees and a handful of sandwiches including brisket, pulled pork, barbecued chicken, and smoked sausage. They didn't have combo plates available for individual diners, but they had combos that would feed 3 to 6 people available. But that was going to be way too much food and it was too pricey to try three meats and a couple of sides. On given days, Swine Dining also has specials such as a traditional southern Brunswick Stew made with smoked meats, barbecued pork tacos, and feather bones - small pork riblets taken from the back of the tenderloin of a pig.
I decided to get the brisket sandwich and two sides lunch special they had that day. The brisket was served dry and open-faced on a small hoagie bun. I got the baked beans and fries to go along with the brisket sandwich. They had two different types of barbecue sauce at Swine Dining - a Kansas City-style sweet sauce and a spicy sauce that I didn't think was all that spicy.
The brisket was thin, lean and had some pretty good flavor. The spicier of the two sauces went very well with the taste of the meat. The beans were pretty good, as well. They were heavy in molasses and had a very sweet taste. I mixed in some of their spicy sauce with the beans to zip them up a bit. And finally, the fries were also pretty good. They were a thicker, steak-fry style with a crispy outer shell and a nice flaky inside to them. The overall taste of the barbecue was above average.
I'm the kind of guy who likes to try different types of smoked meats when I go to a barbecue place. I was somewhat disappointed in that the cheapest combo plate was around $40 bucks at Swine Dining, so I just ended up getting the brisket - which was available only as a sandwich option. And I'm also the kind of guy who likes a cold beer with my barbecue, something that Swine Dining also doesn't offer. Other than that, I thought the brisket sandwich, baked beans and the fries were all above average compared to other barbecue places I've been to. Swine Dining was a good place to try, but I don't think I'd drive out of my way to have a meal there again.
December 16, 2016 in Barbecue, Omaha, NE | Permalink | Comments (1)
Brobeck's BBQ - Overland Park, KS
When you talk barbecue, you have to talk about all the great places that are in and around the Kansas City area. There are so many excellent places to choose from, if a barbecue place falters even a tiny bit, they're usually out of business sooner than later. One place that has been around for nine years in Overland Park is Brobeck's BBQ, but they have a number of years prior experience on the barbecue contest and catering circuit before they opened their restaurant.
Doug Brobeck grew up in eastern Tennessee and understood the importance of good pork barbecue in the culture of the Appalachian Mountains. He perfected his technique of pork barbecue as a young man and eventually ended up in the Kansas City area. Brobeck entered a handful of barbecue contests and won many awards in the early 1990's. Buoyed by the accolades he received from the barbecue competitions, Brobeck opened Stilwell Smokehouse on the far south side of Kansas City in 1994. Soon, Stilwell Smokehouse was known as one of the top places in the Kansas City area to get pork barbecue.
But they did more than pork at Stilwell Smokehouse - they were also famous for their smoked sausage, chicken and they held their own in the barbecued beef category versus some of the more prominent barbecue places in the Kansas City area. But by 2004, Doug Brobeck decided that he'd had enough and sold the restaurant to two young men. Unfortunately, the two guys had different ideas as to do barbecue and it didn't jive with the loyal customer base that Doug Brobeck built up over a 10-year-period. The Stilwell Smokehouse closed not long after Doug Brobeck sold the restaurant.
But with barbecue in his blood, Doug Brobeck knew that he had to have another barbecue place. In 2007, Brobeck - along with his sons Dave and Dean - opened Brobeck's BBQ in a small strip mall just east of Roe Ave. on Indian Creek Parkway in Overland Park. (see map)
I got into Brobeck's BBQ around 7:30 one evening when I was in Kansas City. I was staying less than five minutes away from Brobeck's and I was able to find parking in front of the restaurant. The interior of the L-shaped restaurant features a bar area with a number of tables, as well as a long narrow space toward the front of the restaurant that featured a number of booths.
I was seated in one of those booths by the young hostess who dropped off a menu for me. I ordered a Boulevard Single Wide IPA, but was then told by my server that they were out of the IPA, but they had the Boulevard Frequent Flier Session IPA. I do like the Single Wide IPA, but the Frequent Flier was fine enough.
One of the signature appetizers at Brobeck's BBQ is their house-made ham salad dip. My server brought out a small sample of the ham salad after she asked me if I had ever been to Brobeck's before. She said that they sold over 200 pounds of the ham salad dip weekly. She said, "It's our most popular appetizer and people buy it by the pound to take home." A guy and his wife seated near me ordered a pound container of the ham salad to take home with them after they finished their dinner. The ham salad was tasty, it had a sweet taste to it and it would have been a good opener for any meal.
They also had the ham salad available as a meat choice for sandwiches and platters as well. Their most famous sandwich is the pulled pork "Tennessee Porker" sandwich served on a large hoagie bun. But I just wanted to get some barbecue and I went with the sampler platter with smoked sausage, three pork ribs and sliced beef brisket. I got a side of their baked beans and some steak fries as my sides.
Brobeck's has a proprietorial spice rub that they use on their meats. They are served dry with a choice of either their sweet molasses barbecue sauce or a mustard-based sauce. Brobeck's also has a barbecue sauce bar featuring a number of locally based barbecue sauces such as KC Masterpiece, Gates BBQ, Arthur Bryant's and some other places. I stuck with the Brobeck's sweet KC-style sauce.
I normally don't get smoked sausage, but I had some outrageously great smoked sausage in Chicago the week before I was in Kansas City. When I found out that the barbecue sample platter came with sausage, I thought that would be fine. And it was. The sausage at Brobeck's had a great smokey and spicy taste. I liked the sausage tremendously.
The ribs were also fine - the rub on the outer bark of the ribs had a slightly spicy and peppery taste. The meat pulled away from the bone rather easily and it was tender and flavorful. The ribs were above average in my book.
The brisket, however, left a lot to be desired. The beef was thinly cut, but it was dry and tasted like buffet-style roast beef. A lot of sauce was needed to help get the brisket down. As good as the sausage was, the brisket was very disappointing.
Maybe they need to concentrate on just pork products at Brobeck's BBQ. The sausage - I thought - was excellent and the pork ribs were very good, as well. The brisket, aaaah, not so good. It was the only disappointing aspect about Brobeck's BBQ during my visit there. The service was adequate and the ham salad sample was a nice touch. And it was also very tasty and it's easy to see why they go through so much of it during the course of a week. I think I'd recommend just sticking with the pork barbecue on visits to Brobeck's BBQ. That seems to be in their wheelhouse - more so than the beef brisket.
Pork Shoppe - Chicago
Earlier this year, one of my dealers in the Chicago area was telling me about a Christmas party they had for their staff at a barbecue place that had opened last year. I wasn't familiar with the place - Pork Shoppe - but I soon found that it was the second location of a highly acclaimed barbecue place in Chicagoland. One afternoon when I was in the area, I stopped into Pork Shoppe in the Andersonville neighborhood for lunch.
The thing about it - I should have been familiar with Pork Shoppe. They've been heralded as one of the top barbecue places since they opened the first Pork Shoppe in 2010 in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. Co-owners Steven Ford and Mike Schimmel have been in the restaurant business for a number of years, teaming up when Ford hired Schimmel to work at the hip Moroccan restaurant Tizi Melloul on N. Wells St. in downtown Chicago.
Ford started in the restaurant business when he was just 12 years old washing dishes and at 15 he was bussing tables. He worked at a series of restaurant jobs over the years rising through the ranks, and by 1996 he was the maitre d' at the upscale Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial. He left Le Colonial in 1999 to open Tizi Melloul. Schimmel, who also got his start in the restaurant business at an early age, went to work at Tizi Melloul not long after it opened and eventually partnered with Ford in the restaurant. They closed Tizi Melloul after a nearly 11 year run to open the first Pork Shoppe location in 2010. Jason Heiman, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and the longtime chef at Tizi Melloul, was brought along to run the kitchen at the new restaurant.
In Andersonville, the Kingfisher Restaurant closed its doors in 2011 and the building sat vacant for a couple three years. A couple of possible restaurants looked hard at the space, but never pulled the trigger. Sensing a need for barbecue in the neighborhood, Ford and Schimmel thought the building would be a good place for a second Pork Shoppe location. But they needed help in the venture, so they approached Ford's mentor Joe King whom Ford worked for at Le Colonial. King - who founded the upscale King Cafe, and who is the owner of Rockit Bar and Grill - partnered up with Ford and Schimmel to make the Andersonville Pork Shoppe happen. They opened the doors in May of 2015.
The Pork Shoppe in Andersonville is located on N. Clark near where Clark breaks off as a diagonal and Ashland heads straight south. (see map) There is a parking lot off to the side of the building that makes it easy to get into Pork Shoppe quickly without having to search for parking along the street.
While the original Pork Shoppe is a small counter-serve place with an emphasis on take-out, the second location in Andersonville is a much larger space with a full service bar, and two larger dining rooms. Barn-boards adorned part of the walls of the dining rooms, interesting wooden half-barrels were used as light fixtures, plaid-covered seating in corner booths, and some playful murals that depicted three wolves chasing a pig as a take from the old children's story/fable The Three Little Pigs.
It was around 1:30 when I got into Pork Shoppe and it was nearly deserted after the lunch crowd departed. I was told I could sit anywhere and I took a booth across from the bar. A pleasant young woman by the name of Molly came over to greet me and drop off a menu. I ordered up a Lagunitas IPA from a long list of locally brewed beers they offered and enjoyed music playing in the background by the likes of Glass Animals, Phantogram, BØRNS, and Peter, Bjorn and John while I looked through the menu.
They had a number of lunch specials on the menu including brisket tacos, a pulled pork sandwich, and an interesting pork belly pastrami sandwich. But I was more interested in getting the meats to try. In addition to the meaty St. Louis-style and tender baby-back ribs on the menu, they also had chopped brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, a mustard and spice rubbed beef try-tip, and the aforementioned pork belly pastrami that brined and spiced in house.
I ended up getting an a la carte platter of a quarter pound each of the beef brisket and the pulled pork with a side of the baked beans. The baked beans were mustard-based and it was a healthy sized bowl that was served to me. The meats came in basic paper boats and the meal was served on a small cooking tray - the new hip thing that I'm seeing at a number of restaurants. (I have to admit - last year we went out and bought four of these smaller metal trays to have at home because they're easy to handle, especially when we're taking food out to the deck for meals outdoors.)
The beef brisket was moist and tender, as was the pulled pork. I liked the flavor of the brisket a tad more than the pulled pork, but both were very good in their flavor. I wasn't sure that I liked the taste of the baked beans with the mustard-base, so I added some one of the three barbecue sauces they had on the table to get them more to my liking.
The three sauces - a Kansas City-style thick sweet sauce, a Southwest-style spicy sauce, and a Carolina-style tangy vinegar-based sauce - were all very interesting. The spicy sauce had a noticeable bite that was sneaky hot on the back end. The tangy Carolina sauce was fine with smooth taste, but the sweet Kansas City sauce - I thought - was the best of all three. Mixed with the spicy sauce, the taste of both had that sweet and spicy combination that I like in a good barbecue sauce.
But the meat was truly the star of my meal at Pork Shoppe. The brisket was very good, as was the pulled pork. I want to go back at some point and try the pork belly pastrami. I liked the baked beans well enough, but I wasn't quite sold on the mustard-base they use. Adding some of the very good sweet sauce and the sneaky hot spicy sauce to the beans made them more to my liking. The atmosphere at the Andersonville Pork Shoppe was fresh and inviting, and the service I received from Molly was top-notch. For my first visit to Pork Shoppe, I was sort of kicking myself that I hadn't tried the original location before this. There will definitely be more visits to Pork Shoppe in my immediate future.
(Update - I was driving by Pork Shoppe in the Spring of 2018 and saw that it was closed. I found out that they had closed in February of 2018. I had been there a couple times since my initial visit, so I'm sort of bummed they're gone.)
August 22, 2016 in Barbecue, Chicago, Rest In Peace | Permalink | Comments (0)
Q Fanatic - Minneapolis
I was up in Minneapolis earlier this year heading back to my hotel along S. Nicollet Street on the city's south side. On my left, I saw a restaurant that I hadn't noticed before - Q Fanatic Barbecue. It turned out that they had been open for about a month - their sign was a temporary sign on the side of the building. I decided to go back the next evening to give them a try.
It turns out that this Q Fanatic is the second location of what is a sort of famous barbecue joint in the Twin Cities. Charlie Johnson grew up in Central Minnesota, the son of parents who ran an organic farm. In addition to growing vegetables that his parents would can, the family also raised sheep and goats for dairy products. Johnson's first true job in a kitchen was working in a pizza restaurant when he was 16. The restaurant bug caught him and he took culinary courses at a local community college. He then landed a job working at a resort in Vail, Colorado.
It was while Johnson was in Vail that he decided to go the route of being a chef and he enrolled in the two year culinary program at the Culinary Institute of America. Before graduating, Johnson had an externship at Disney's Epcot in Florida. After graduating, he went back to Minnesota to find work, but nothing of interest was available. He decided to go back down to Central Florida and he ended up as the sous chef at the opening of Capriccio, in the Peabody Hotel (now the Hyatt Regency Resort) in Orlando.
After a couple of years at Capriccio, Johnson moved on to Boca Raton and worked at several high-end restaurants. His high school sweetheart, Jodi, had moved down to be with him and they ended up getting married when they were living in Florida. Both wanted to get back to Minnesota to raise their family (they have five children) and Charlie took a job developing the restaurant and kitchen at the-then new Radisson Hotel (now the Courtyard Marriott) in downtown St. Cloud. From there, he took a stint as the Executive Chef and Events Coordinator at the Green Haven Golf Club in Anoka, MN on the far northwest side of the Twin Cities.
After four years at Green Haven, an opportunity arose when the Johnson's had a chance to buy a bankrupt Italian restaurant in Bloomington, MN. They successfully ran The Italian Cafe for 8 years before Charlie developed a case of ulcerative colitis. Due to the longterm uncertainty of his medical condition, they were forced to close the restaurant and Charlie spent a couple years trying to beat his debilitating condition.
During his downtime, Charlie saw a growing trend of barbecue places around the nation and he felt there was a void of barbecue places in the Twin Cities area. (He's a smart guy - there still IS a void of barbecue places in the Twin Cities.) He dove headfirst into learning the art of low and slow cooking over a six-month period. When they found a former pizza place in a strip mall in Champlin, a suburb on the far northwest side of the Twin Cities, Charlie and Jodi were ready to take their next step in life. They opened the doors to Q Fanatic in 2007. At first they didn't have a lot of money - Charlie had no income during the time he was recuperating from his medical condition - so the inside of the restaurant was pretty spartan. It took them a couple of years to get enough money up to buy a second smoker.
Q Fanatic turned out to be a big hit. It was consistently voted as one of the best - if not THE best - barbecue in the Twin Cities year after year. It was even featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on The Food Network, but I didn't see that episode. (I'm not a huge Guy Fieri fan, but I have visited some places in the Midwest that he's been to.) In 2015, the Johnson's found a building at the corner of 60th and Nicollet in South Minneapolis that used to house a former Peruvian restaurant. Once again, they put together a restaurant on a shoestring budget and eventually opened their second location in March of this year at 6009 S. Nicollet. (See map)
The Q Fanatic location in South Minneapolis is not a large place by any means. It features just a handful of tables and possibly sat only a dozen people. It was my guess that they were hoping a number of people would get their barbecue to go. It was clean, well-lit and somewhat cozy. They had some good music playing in the house - American-roots and blues music from the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Johnson and Johnny Cash.
Had I known that they were still undergoing a soft opening, I probably would have waited going in for my first visit. They didn't have their beer permit as of yet (Johnson said in an article that he needed to sell more brisket), and the regular menu they had at the new location was pretty limited. In fact, the menu was basically a sheet of paper stapled to the board above the counter.
They only had brisket, pulled pork and pulled chicken available that evening. Sides included baked beans, fried potato wedges and a house-made potato salad. Since beer wasn't available, they did have pop or water.
They didn't really have a sampler platter available yet, but the guy at the counter suggested that I get a 1/3 pound of brisket and a 1/3 pound of pulled pork. I also got a side of baked beans to go along with it. "Do you want a couple biscuits," he asked holding up what looked like two cut pieces of French bread. Sure, I took the biscuits. He served it up in an aluminum foil container tray. The presentation wasn't fancy, but I don't care for fancy barbecue that much.
Q Fanatic makes all their sauces in house - they have up to seven different barbecue sauces at their main location (and they may have all of them now that they've been open for awhile in South Minneapolis), but that evening they only had their espresso sauce (sort of a sweet sauce with a touch of a coffee taste), and mild honey barbecue sauce. I tried some of the espresso sauce with my meats.
The brisket was tender and moist, it had a nice smoke ring around the outer edge, and the bark on the outside had a nice combination spice rub. It was slightly spicy, but it wasn't overpowering. This was some pretty good brisket.
The pulled pork, too, was moist, tender and tasty. It had a nice little smoky taste to it and it went well with the sweet espresso sauce. I certainly enjoyed the pulled pork, but I thought the brisket was even better.
The baked beans were also very good. I added some of the sweet espresso sauce to the beans, but they didn't really need it. The sauce wasn't that thick, but it had a bit of a spicy edge. Mixed in with the beans were chunks of meat. Not the best I've had at a barbecue joint, but still well above average.
I'm hoping the next time I make it back to Q Fanatic they'll be up and running on full steam. As I said, had I known that they were open for less than 45 days, running a limited menu, and still not having a license to sell beer, I may have waited a few more months before going in. But what I had on my initial visit was very good. The brisket was excellent, the pulled pork and the baked beans were very good, and I liked the sweet espresso barbecue sauce. Q Fanatic's South Minneapolis location isn't big, nor is it fancy, but it's all about the barbecue. Damned fine barbecue.
August 12, 2016 in Barbecue, Minneapolis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Q39 BBQ - Kansas City
Kansas City is the capital of barbecue - plain and simple. If you asked someone from Kansas City to name the five best barbecue places in the city, they'd come up with seven. One would think that a place could become saturated with barbecue joints, but that's not the case in K.C. New ones seem to pop up on the landscape every year and one that opened a couple years that has been generating a lot of buzz in the barbecue community in Kansas City is Q39.
Rob Magee grew up in New Jersey and at a very young age he figured out that he wanted to be a chef, mainly because chefs can go wherever they want to and the young Magee always thought he'd end up in Hawaii. He took courses at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and after he graduated 30 years ago he took a job in Dallas. It wasn't quite Hawaii, but Rob stayed in Dallas for seven years before moving on to become an executive chef and a food and beverage director for hotels in Houston, Charlotte, Denver and Nashville. In 2000, he ended up getting hired on as the food and beverage director at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. A year later, he ended up as the executive chef at the Kansas City Airport Hilton hotel and it was there where he caught the Kansas City barbecue bug.
Pictured right - Kelly and Rob Magee. (Picture courtesy Kansas City Business News.)
In 2002, Magee formed Munchin' Hogs, a competitive barbecue team that ended up competing in up to 40 different barbecue competitions annually. Twice Munchin' Hogs was named as the top team in the nation and they were consistently in the Kansas City Barbecue Society's Top Ten on an annual basis.
Magee continued to run the restaurant at the Kansas City Airport Hilton - Cafe Weatherby - but he had many of his Munchin' Hogs favorites on the menu alone with other American dishes. Of course, like many other rib joints that I've eaten at over the years, people told Magee that he needed to open his own place and focus just on barbecue. In April of 2014, Magee - with his wife, Kelly - opened Q39 in the old Oriental Feast restaurant on W. 39th Street in the Midtown/Westport neighborhood of Kansas City. (see map) About two months ago, Magee announced they would be opening a second Q39 location in Overland Park, KS in the former
It was just before noon when I made it into the parking lot for Q39 and it was already packed. I found a space behind the building situated in a small strip mall area along W. 39th St. and went in. The interior of Q39 was completely gutted by the Magee's and with the help from REALM Architecture + Design based out of Phoenix (they were the ones who also did the internal work on the BRGR Kitchen + Bar restaurant that I visited here) they transformed the space into what it is today - an open dining room with sort of a rustic/contemporary industrial look with an open kitchen area in the back. Communal tables were set up in the middle of the dining area with a bar area up toward the front.
Along a back wall of the dining room, Magee has many of the trophies he garnered in his years of competitive barbecue competitions on display. From 2006 to 2012, Munchin' Hogs won over 50 Grand Champion trophies and countless Reserve Champion trophies at competitions around the U.S.
I ended up seated at the bar for this visit to Q39 as many of the table were filled in the dining area. I squeezed in between a couple guys finishing up their early lunches and I have to say the barbecue on their plates looked scrumptious. The bartender/server - Ryan - gave me a menu and asked what I wanted to have to drink. I gave a quick glance to the beers they had on tap and immediately ordered up a Boulevard Pale Ale.
They do barbecue a little differently at Q39. For the lunch crowd, they smoke their meats over night to assure the barbecue is fresh and flavorful for the noontime crowds. For the dinner crowds, they begin smoking their meats in the morning to make sure that they'll be serving fresh barbecue that evening. They never smoke their meats and hold them to warm up later at Q39. Everything served at Q39 - from their bacon (which is brined for 3 days and then smoked), their sausage (it took Magee four months to learn how to make sausage), their burger meat (it's ground in-house with a mixture of Black Angus certified brisket and chuck), and even their sides including a potato salad made with tarragon and a spicy pickle slaw with jalapeños that they put on top of their burgers. They also make their own smoked chipotle ketchup in house at Q39.
If you read Road Tips regularly, you know that I like to try a little bit of everything when I try out a new barbecue place in my travels. Q39 has a sampler plate on their menu that allowed me to pick three meats for my lunch. I picked brisket, pulled pork and a small rack of ribs. For my side, I got baked beans. A small square of corn bread came with the meal - I don't care much for corn bread at all. (How's that for a guy who grew up in Iowa?)
The brisket and the pulled pork was moist, tender and flavorful. They were both served with a bit of a very good house-made Kansas City-style sweet and smoky sauce with a small container of sauce on the side. The portions were generous - the brisket slices were thick and about 8 to 10 inches in length. The ribs were meaty with a smoky flavor and easily pulled from the bone. This was top-notch barbecue in my book.
The highlight - for me - were the baked beans that Q39 makes in-house. The baked beans featured pinto beans, burnt beef ends and a nice sauce that I didn't have to doctor up with barbecue sauce. I loved the baked beans at Q39, they were some of the best I've ever had at a barbecue restaurant.
It was a lot of food for lunch - I don't think I had dinner that evening when I got up to Omaha later in the day. I was still stuffed from lunch. But it was all good at Q39. The brisket, the pulled pork, the rack of pork ribs - all were excellent in flavor and texture. Ask me what my favorite rib joints are in Kansas City and Q39 has now joined the mix of the ones that I really like that I can recite off the top of my head. There are some world-class barbecue places in Kansas City and Q39 is easily part of that top echelon of rib joints. Rob Magee never did end up working at a restaurant in Hawaii and it's a good thing for those in Kansas City that he didn't.
August 01, 2016 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse - Chicago, IL
I like to get barbecue for one of my big dealers in the Chicago area from time to time they will have barbecue delivered from a joint that's not too far from their place, Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse. I've always thought their barbecue was very good and I wanted to go directly to the source at some point to give it a try fresh out of the kitchen. I finally had a chance to go to Rub's on a warm afternoon on a recent visit to Chicago.
The man behind Rub's is Jared Leonard, a former ski-bum who was living in Vail, CO. He befriended some guys from Alabama who were selling barbecue out of a food truck near the ski slopes. Leonard was hooked and he began to smoke meats for his friends. He got pretty good at it - or so he thought.
He eventually moved to Chicago and became an on-line stock trader. But on weekends in the summer, he was manning a smoker at any number street festivals around the greater Chicagoland area. After awhile, he decided to change vocations and turned in his stock trading job to run a barbecue place full time. He and his wife Amanda found a small place on Lunt Ave. off of Western Ave. in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, installed a gas smoker behind the place that was surrounded with a chain link fence and barbed-wire at the top of the fence, and opened the doors to his barbecue joint six years ago.
Pictured right - Jared Leonard
One of his first customers was Chicago barbecue guru, Gary Wiviott. Wiviott was doing reviews of barbecue places for the Chicago Reader, a local free weekly newspaper, and he thought that Leonard's barbecue was, well, not that great. But Wiviott saw potential in the young guy's barbecue. Leonard admittedly didn't know the first thing about the "low and slow" cooking method using wood that Wiviott championed in his book "Low & Slow" that he co-wrote with Colleen Rush. But he dove deep into learning the cooking technique, so much so that he ended up hosting a number of classes teaching the low and slow smoking method to backyard barbecue enthusiasts. Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse Cooking Classes teaches "Barbecue 101" which dissects regional barbecue styles, the types of wood to use in smoking, the time and temperature needed for different meats, and what types of rubs and sauces to use. The three-hour class costs $120 per person and comes with tastings and a diploma given to each attendee at the end of the session. Sessions are usually held on Friday and Saturday, and Leonard has taught over 500 classes over the years. Leonard also has a barbecue supply shop at Rub's where people can pick up wood, rubs, sauces and even meats to make their own barbecue at home.
Gary Wiviott knew what he was talking about when he said he saw a lot of potential in Leonard after his initial visit six years ago. Wiviott teamed with Jared Leonard to found the Windy City BBQ Classic, the only Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned barbecue event in the Chicago area. The event doesn't allow gas or electric smokers - it's a wood only event. Wiviott and Leonard started the event in 2013, but the event was suspended for this year as they are going through a reorganization of the event. The organizers hope to have another event next year.
As Leonard's classes grew in popularity, so did his little restaurant. A year after opening, Leonard was able to move both of his wood smokers into a small store front that had opened up around the corner on Western Ave. And in 2013 when the space next to the smokehouse opened up, he was able to move his restaurant to the spot effectively giving the restaurant double the seating space. Amanda Leonard runs the catering operation of Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse while raising the Leonard's two children.
In May of this year, the Leonard's opened a second restaurant - The Budlong - a Nashville-hot style chicken eatery on N. Broadway in the Lakeview neighborhood. The restaurant is named after the family who used to own 500 acres of farmland where modern day Lincoln Square is located. Eventually, Jared Leonard would like to have a larger Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse location complete with a brewpub and a stage for live music.
When the Leonard's opened Rub's six years ago, a number of people were puzzled by their location of a barbecue restaurant. They were on the southern edge of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood with a number of kosher restaurants and grocery stores north of them at the corner of Western and Touhy. To the south around the corner of Western and Devon, a large South Asian population lived with a number of Indian restaurants and grocery stores. It turned out that being the only place of its kind in the area was a plus for Rub's. It stood out against the other restaurants in the area.
I found a parking spot just south of Rub's along Western Ave. (see map) I went into the small store front to see what it was all about. And it's none too big. There's a handful of wooden tables with banquette bench seating along the wall with a picnic table along one wall. State flags from the likes of Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina - all barbecue hot spots - were hung on the brick wall.
I took a table along the wall with the banquette bench seats and the young lady who seated me gave me the album cover of Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt. I was a little confused at first, but opening the cover was the menu for Rub's. It turned out that all the menus were inside double record album covers (or single albums that were inside double covers). I thought it was a pretty cool way to show the menu's off.
The first thing I discovered is that Rub's doesn't serve alcohol, but is a BYOB place. That wasn't that big of a deal for me, but I do like a cold beer with my barbecue. On the table, however, were fresh house-made dill pickle slices. They were very good.
Rub's features meaty St. Louis-style ribs, pulled pork, sliced brisket, pulled chicken and smoked sausage. Their sides - made fresh every day - feature truffled mac & cheese, giardiniera cole slaw, meaty baked beans and Rub's signature custard-filled cornbread. They also have a ground brisket burger on the menu, a pork or chicken panini sandwich, a reuben made with pulled pork, and the brisket melt with beef brisket topped with provolone cheese.
As I'm wont to do when I try a barbecue joint for the first time, I like to try at least a couple different meats - sometimes three if I can also get a couple ribs. Rub's had a Big Guy's Meal with 1/4 pound each of the pulled pork, pulled chicken and brisket slices along with three rib bones. That seemed like a lot of food for me on that visit, so I ended up getting the 1/2 + 1/2 platter with pulled pork and sliced brisket - a quarter pound of each. Cole slaw came on the side along with smoked kettle chips - there's no fryer at Rub's. But I also wanted to try their baked beans, so I got a side of those, as well.
It wasn't long before the food was brought out to me. The brisket slices and the pulled pork nearly filled the plate - it seemed like it was more than a 1/4 pound each. A fresh-baked bun came with the platter in case you wanted to make a sandwich.
They had four different types of barbecue sauce on the table at Rub's - a smoked jalapeño that had a bit of a back bite in taste, a smoky sweet sauce that I thought was just all right, and a Carolina mustard sauce that I didn't try. However, I was happy to see that they had their citrus chipotle sauce on the table. I'd had that before when I'd had barbecue brought in to my dealer and it is just outstanding. The smoky spiciness of the chipotle side of the sauce is noticeable, but is cut back at the end of the taste by a touch of the sweet citrus. It was, by far, the best of the sauces they had at Rub's.
The brisket was tender with a hint of a smoky flavor. The pulled pork was moist and also a bit smoky in taste, but it wasn't overpowering to the overall flavor of the pork. I wasn't certain what I liked better - both were outstanding.
But the baked beans were off the hook excellent. They featured three different types of beans and were mixed with smoked pork, sausage and beef chunks along with chopped green peppers. I added a bit of the citrus chipotle sauce, even though they didn't really need it. The beans were so good that I finished all of them without even touching the smoked kettle fries or even opening the container of cole slaw.
I was going to take a picture of the front of Rub's, but a fierce thunderstorm had begun - complete with hail - when I was in the restaurant. I needed to get to my next appointment and I made a mad dash to the car instead of stopping to get a picture of the outside of the restaurant. I figured that I could get the picture on my next visit and put it in the entry.
And there will be a next visit to Rub's. Having the barbecue catered in and having it taste wonderful is one thing, getting it fresh out of the kitchen is another. Everything I had at Rub's was very good to excellent. I enjoyed but the sliced brisket and the pulled pork, but the meaty baked beans were outstanding as was their excellent citrus chipotle barbecue sauce. Jared Leonard has a great little place going here and he's figured out the true ways of low and slow barbecuing with wood. Either if you get it catered for 35 or have it in-house - Rub's is outstanding barbecue.
July 13, 2016 in Barbecue, Chicago | Permalink | Comments (0)
Salt + Smoke - St. Louis
We were down in St. Louis a couple summers ago for our annual Cardinals baseball weekend and while our wives were shopping in the Delmar Loop, my friend Scott and I were seated at Blueberry Hill having beers and bloody mary's. I looked directly across the street from Blueberry Hill and saw a place that I hadn't noticed before - a place called Salt + Smoke. I asked the bartender about the place. "Salt and Smoke," he replied in the phrase of a question. "Yeah, that just opened about a month ago. It's basically a barbecue and bourbon place." He said it was very good.
Earlier this year, I had called one of my dealers in St. Louis to let him know that I would be down to see him. He said, "Hey, I went to a barbecue place the other night with a friend of mine and I think it may be the best barbecue I've ever had." I asked him the name of the place and he said, "Salt and Smoke. It's in the Delmar Loop in U City." When I asked if it was the place just across from Blueberry Hill and he said, "Yep! That's the place!" We immediately agreed to head there for dinner a couple nights later.
The official name of the place is Salt + Smoke, but everyone seems to forget there's a plus sign in the name and just calls it Salt and Smoke. In any event, the restaurant is owned by Tom Schmidt who also owned Franco, a popular French-cuisine restaurant that closed earlier this year that was located in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Schmidt had run Franco for 10 years before deciding to close the restaurant to focus on Salt + Smoke which was growing in popularity by leaps and bounds.
Pictured right - Tom Schmidt (Photo courtesy Riverfront Times.com)
Salt + Smoke actually started out as Nico, a Mediterranean-themed restaurant that Schmidt opened in 2012. At both Franco and Nico, Schmidt - along with Executive Chef Jon Dreja - would cure their charcuterie in house. Not thinking that Nico was working out after a couple of years, Schmidt decided to do an about-face and transform the restaurant into a an urban barbecue joint. Nico closed in June of 2014 and a week later Salt + Smoke opened in the same spot. Dreja was the original pit master and Chef Haley Riley was in charge of the kitchen. Riley is now both the head chef and pit master at Salt + Smoke. All the meats served at Salt + Smoke are smoked and cured in-house.
We got to Salt + Smoke around 6:30 that evening. My dealer and I we were escorted to a table in the middle of the dining area. The restaurant was dimly lit and pictures that I took of the place didn't turn out very well. I was able to get a picture of the liquor stock behind the bar, even with the Edison lights glowing in the shot. It was an impressive array of bourbons and whiskeys. (Click here to see the liquor and beer menu.)
Our server for the evening was an outgoing guy by the name of Tim. He took our drink orders as we took a look through the food menu. I ended up ordering a Schlafly Kolsch beer, one of the better Kolsch's I've had. My dealer ordered the same.
When Tim brought our beers to us, my dealer immediately ordered up a couple appetizers - the smoked chicken wings and the burnt end toasted ravioli. They take burnt ends from the brisket, wrap them in breaded ravioli shells and flash fry them. They were served with a mayo-based sauce that had a bit of a peppery bite to the taste. I thought they were just all right.
The wings were large and meaty with a great smoky flavor to the meat. I'm not big on smoked wings, but the ones they have at Salt + Smoke were very good. This was a nice start to the meal.
In addition to the appetizers on the menu at Salt + Smoke, they have a number of sandwiches including a pulled pork sandwich, a smoked trout sandwich, a falafel burger for the vegetarians in the crowd, a fried jalapeño and cheddar bologna sandwich, and - of course - a brisket sandwich. Main entree plates include pulled pork, brisket, pulled chicken, and St. Louis-style ribs. I ended up getting the three meat combo - brisket, pulled pork and ribs. I got two sides with the platter and I selected baked beans and, on the recommendation of my dealer, I got the white cheddar cracker mac. A popover roll came with the meal.
My dealer got the brisket and the pulled pork with a side of the creamed corn and the white cheddar cracker mac. He put some of the peppery white barbecue sauce on the pork before I was able to get a picture. In addition to the white barbecue sauce, Salt + Smoke also had a sweet sauce - My Sweet Bestie - that had a nice sweet and smoky flavor to it, as well as a mustard-based sauce - Mustarolia - and what turned out to be my favorite, the Hotangy that was exactly as it is named. Adding a bit of the Hotangy with the sweet and smoky sauce was a nice combination.
The brisket was heavenly. They had a nice bark on the outside of the meat with a nice smoky flavor. The brisket was moist and tender. It was simply excellent. The ribs were thick, meaty and tender with the meat easily pulling away from the bone. The rub they use on the pork ribs was a nice combination of salty with a bit of a bite. The pulled pork - although very good - was my least favorite of the three meat items I had.
As you can see in the pictures, they don't scrimp on serving sizes at Salt + Smoke. I was able to sample some of the beans, which were very good. The white cheddar cracker mac was excellent, but it was very rich. I think I had maybe three bites of the beans and mac & cheese because I was trying to concentrate on the excellent barbecue. By the time I threw in the towel, I was stuffed. It was too much food. Too much GOOD food.
For a city that for a number of years had a couple three good barbecue joints to choose from, over the past few years there have been a number of great to world-class barbecue places pop up in the St. Louis area. Salt + Smoke just adds to that ever growing number. The brisket and ribs were some of the best I've had. The pulled pork was very good, but not as good as the ribs or brisket. The sauces were interesting, the burnt ends toasted ravioli and smoked chicken wings were good to excellent, and Tim's service was efficient and friendly. It would be so tough to say which barbecue joint in St. Louis is at this juncture, but Salt + Smoke definitely is in the conversation.
Smokehouse BBQ - Columbia, MO
I was in the mood for barbecue when I was in Columbia, MO on a recent visit. I knew there were a couple of good ones in the city, but one I hadn't been to was the Smokehouse BBQ on the west side of Columbia. I ended up going there one evening to try their barbecue.
It turns out that I had been to a Smokehouse BBQ a couple three times before. One of my dealers in Kansas City was telling me of his love for Smokehouse a number of years ago and I ended up going to their location in the Zona Rosa shopping and entertainment district on the city's far north side. (Click here to read about that visit to Smokehouse BBQ.) Since then, I've been back there twice to have some barbecue and I've always found the place to be good and reliable.
Smokehouse Bar-B-Que has been in business since 1986. Owner Darioush Ghasemi knew that in order to stand out in one of the barbecue havens of the U.S. he was going to have to do something a little different. He went upscale with his first restaurant offering steaks, seafood and pork chops along with brisket, pulled pork and baby back ribs. Ghasemi once had five Smokehouse BBQ locations with four in the Kansas City area and a foray into Tulsa, OK in 2012. However, he closed the Tulsa location about a year after it was in business and closed the Overland Park, KS location in September of 2014. About a week after closing the Overland Park location, Ghasemi opened the new Columbia, MO spot.
The Columbia Smokehouse BBQ is located in a strip mall at the corner of N. Stadium Blvd. and W. Worley, just south of the Columbia Mall. (see map) It was just after 8 p.m. when I walked in. It was a sparse crowd in there that evening. A couple three tables in the dining area were filled, but that was about it.
I ended up sitting at the bar. There were four other people at the bar when I got there and they were all gone by the time I finished up that evening. Five flat screen television were hung over the back wall of the bar, each of them had a basketball game on. The bartender that evening, Brannon, came over to drop off a menu and to take my beer order. They had Schlafly beer on tap and I got a pale ale.
The menu at the Columbia Smokehouse BBQ seemed to be similar to the one in Zona Rosa that I've been to before. They had spare ribs and baby back ribs, barbecued meat sandwiches, as well as pulled pork, brisket, chicken, turkey and smoked sausage platters. It was more than just your basic barbecue fare on the menu.
I ended up getting the two meat combo platter - brisket and burnt ends. I've not been a big fan of burnt ends over the years, but the ones that I've had at Smokehouse BBQ in Kansas City have been pretty good. I got a side of fries with some baked beans, as well. And like good barbecue places, Smokehouse BBQ provides half slices of white bread to help sop up the sauce, and dill pickle slices to have a vinegar taste to counter-balance the barbecue sauces.
The brisket was tender and flavorful, but was served with Smokehouse BBQ's house sauce mixed in. I would have liked it to be plain and then I could add my own sauce. The brisket, I felt, was very good.
The burnt ends, however, were another story. I've smoked enough meats and judged enough barbecue contests to detect a petroleum taste to the meat if it's been over-smoked. That was clearly the case with the burnt ends. They were meaty and moist, but that faint taste of petroleum turned me off to them. I know it's not petroleum, but a by-product of the smoking process. Too much smoke on the meat and it develops this sort of taste. That was the burnt ends at Smokehouse BBQ that evening.
The fries were very good - crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. And the baked beans were also very good. I like to doctor up my baked beans at most barbecue places by adding some barbecue sauces - usually a spicy one and a sweet one. But the baked beans at Smokehouse BBQ didn't need much help.
Brannon came over to check on me and see how everything was. He asked if I had ever had the barbecue at the Smokehouse before. I told him that I'd been to the one in Zona Rosa a couple three times, but this was a my first trip to the one in Columbia. He said, "I used to work at the one over in Gladstone (MO). I had a chance to transfer over here and I really like the area." (It's tough not to like Columbia.) He admitted that business has been a challenge, but that things seemed to be picking up over the past few months.
So, other than the faint petroleum taste on the burnt ends, the brisket at Smokehouse BBQ was pretty good - moist and flavorful. The baked beans and the fries I had for sides were also good. The place was clean, comfortable and a little nicer than most barbecue joints. It wasn't great, but it was far from bad. And that's what I've come to expect from my visits to Smokehouse BBQ in the Kansas City area and now in Columbia. It's consistently good, not great, but good.
April 07, 2016 in Barbecue, Columbia, MO | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wobbly Boots Roadhouse - Osage Beach, MO
A friend of mine had taken a motorcycle vacation down to the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri last year and he sent some pictures via Facebook from a place he was at in Osage Beach - Wobbly Boots Roadhouse. I'd seen the signs for Wobbly Boots going through Osage Beach on my trips between Jefferson City and Springfield, MO a few times over the past couple of years and often wondered how the food was there. When I saw my friend after he got back from his motorcycle road trip, I asked him out Wobbly Boots was. "You haven't been there," he asked incredulously. "I figured that as many times that you go down that way that you'd been there a couple times before." Nope, I'd never been but on a subsequent trip between Jeff City and Springfield late this past year, I stopped into Wobbly Boots for lunch.
The brother duo of Mark and Brian Barrett are the owners of Wobbly Boots. They've been in the restaurant business in the Osage Beach area for over 20 years running popular restaurant/bars such as Dog Days on the Lake and Shorty Pants Lounge. In 2002, the brothers bought out J-J Barbecue and the recipes of John Hangley who also owns the Dickie Doo Barbecue in Sedalia, MO. Using J-J Barbecue as the basis of Wobbly Boots, they eventually closed that restaurant and opened Wobbly Boots in the summer of 2012. Tom Livingston is the pit master for Wobbly Boots, which opened an Iowa location in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines, in late 2014.
The Wobbly Boots in Osage Beach opened after the new Highway 54 Bypass opened in 2012. Before the bypass, travelers had to lurch through Osage Beach passing shops, hotels and restaurants. Now with the bypass, it shaves as much as 20 minutes of the travel time it took to get through Osage Beach to Camdenton - sometimes longer during the height of the vacation season in the Lake of the Ozarks. In order to let travelers know that Wobbly Boots existed, the Barrett brothers had a plan - they put up Wobbly Boots billboards in both directions coming into Osage Beach on the new bypass. It's those billboards that piqued my interest over the past couple of of years of traveling through the area.
Getting off the bypass onto the Osage Beach Parkway just before the bridge, I had to double back to get to Wobbly Boots. (see map) It was around noon during the week when I stopped and the large parking lot was half full of cars. Entering Wobbly Boots, I was greeted by a hostess and I asked if I could just sit at the bar which was part of the main dining area. She gave me a menu and I took a seat at the bar. Amy was the bartender that day and I saw that they had Schlafly beers on tap. I got a Schlafly Pale Ale while I looked through the menu.
In addition to barbecue at Wobbly Boots, they also feature a number of appetizers - award winning chicken wings, brisket quesadillas, and bacon-wrapped shrimp stood out on the menu. They also have a number of burgers, wraps and sandwiches, as well as rib-eye steaks, a brown sugar teriyaki salmon dinner, and prime rib that is sold on Friday and Saturday nights.
But barbecue is their big draw and they feature baby back and spare ribs, barbecued chicken, brisket, pulled pork, turkey, ham and smoked sausage. I ended up getting the two meat combo plate - pulled pork and brisket. I had a choice of one side to go along with the meat and I got the baked beans. Had I gotten two choices I also would have the Texas fries along with the beans.
The pulled pork - in my estimation - was great. It was moist, tender and had a slightly-smoked pork flavor. The brisket - though not as good as the pulled pork - was also very good. It, too, had a subtle smoky taste to the beef. The barbecue sauce that was given to me was robust with a bit of a spicy bite on the back end. It went well with the pulled pork and brisket, which, quite actually, were very good on their own without the sauce.
Usually, I feel a need to zip up baked beans at most barbecue places with some of the sauce. But the baked beans at Wobbly Boots were very good on their own. They were thick and sweet with chunks of pork mixed in. This was some pretty darned good barbecue in my book.
I really didn't know what to expect with the barbecue from Wobbly Boots, but I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised with both the brisket and especially the pulled pork that I had. The baked beans were good, as well, and the sauce was adequate. It was a lot of food for the combo plate and I was definitely full when I finished. The Osage Beach location of Wobbly Boots more than acquitted themselves admirably in the world and ways of barbecue. With a number of barbecue places to choose from in the Lake of the Ozarks area, I don't think you can go wrong with Wobbly Boots.
March 14, 2016 in Barbecue, Osage Beach, MO | Permalink | Comments (1)
The North End Barbecue and Moonshine - Indianapolis
On a recent trip to Indianapolis, I was staying out on the north side of the city. I was sort of hankering for barbecue that evening and I did some looking around on line to see if there was anything in my immediate area. I found a place that I wasn't familiar with - The North End Barbecue and Moonshine. I thought that the name alone was intriguing enough. When I saw that they billed themselves as a "regional" barbecue place, I decided this was the place I'd try that evening.
One of the reasons that I hadn't heard about the place until this particular time was that it opened in June of 2014. Owner/chef Ryan Nelson started his love for the finer aspects of culinary delights as a youngster in Minnesota going to Canada and Wisconsin on family fishing trips. Walleye became the young Ryan's favorite and he later fell in love with seafood of all types and varieties.
While attending the University of Minnesota, Ryan worked at the Italian-inspired Seattle-based Palomino restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. (The Minneapolis Palomino is now closed, but there is one in Indianapolis. Click here to see Road Tips' review on Palomino.) After graduating from college, he moved to Indianapolis and got a job in the kitchen at the Oceanaire Seafood Room. He worked his way up to sous chef, then eventually he was named as the executive chef and operating partner of the Indianapolis Oceanaire location.
But Nelson - still in his 30's - was looking to have his own restaurant. He wanted a menu that was based upon fresh sustainable food that changed seasonally. Nelson wanted to use locally sourced foods when he could, and he built his restaurant out of reclaimed wood, bricks and stone sourced within a 500-mile radius from Indianapolis. In 2011, Nelson and his wife, Laurie, opened Late Harvest Kitchen near the Fashion Mall at Keystone on Indianapolis' north side.
Pictured right - Ryan Nelson
Bouyed by the success of Late Harvest Kitchen, Nelson and Late Harvest Kitchen chef Mitch McDaniel began to experiment with barbecue techniques in the kitchen. There were barbecue places in Indianpolis, but Nelson didn't think they were to the standards of true "low and slow" techniques found in North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City or St. Louis. Using a variety of spices on the meats during the smoking process, Nelson and McDaniel thought they had come up with a winning barbecue taste.
After procuring a space that used to house Cafe Nora in north Indianapolis' Nora neighborhood, not far from Late Harvest Kitchen, Nelson installed two large Southern Pride smokers that could each handle up to 500 lbs. of meat. After remodeling the space giving it a rustic, yet contemporary industrial look, The North End Barbecue and Moonshine opened in June of 2014. In addition to traditional barbecue, the restaurant focuses on a large selection of eclectic bourbons - over 50 different ones I counted - and a nice variety of craft beers on tap and available in cans and bottles.
It was around 7:30 p.m. when I walked into The North End Barbecue that's located in a small shopping complex off 86th St. (see map) It was an exceptionally warm fall evening and there were some people out on the patio and the bar area was rather packed. I opted to get a seat in the dining room.
The hostess guided me to a table in the long, narrow dining room that featured some interesting rustic decor including some interesting circular light fixtures with Edison light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The crowd in the dining room was and interesting mix of families, couples and friends hanging out.
I was looking through the menu when my server for the evening - Bobby - showed up to greet me. I ordered a Stone Brewing Co. Delicious IPA from him to enjoy while I decided what I wanted to eat.
As with other barbecue places that I'm visiting for the first time, I like to have a little bit of pork and beef to try. However, The North End Barbecue didn't have a sampler plate on the menu. They featured baby back and spare ribs, Carolina-style pulled pork, brisket, smoked turkey and Texas-style sausage. Keeping in Ryan Nelson's wheelhouse of seafood, The North End Barbecue also offered a smoked salmon entree on the menu.
I saw something on the menu that piqued my interest - the Texas Red Chili. It featured chunks of brisket and house-made bacon with chopped spicy chiles. I got the cup size of it to give it a shot. It was topped with "The Works" - cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions. It had a good spicy bite to the taste and it was some excellent chili.
Since I couldn't get a sampler plate, I decided to get the Texas beef brisket entree. I got two sides to go along with the brisket - baked beans and fries with bone marrow butter and jalapenos. It was all served on a small baking sheet that are becoming increasingly popular to served foods in barbecue - and non-barbecue restaurants. (And at our home.)
When I ordered the baked beans, Bobby told me that their baked beans weren't like regular basked beans. "They're not the soft beans like other baked beans you've probably had." I told him that I still wanted to try them. "I like to let people know about the beans," he explained. "We make 'em in house and soak 'em over night before we put them in the baked beans." But it turned out that they weren't all that hard, but had a good texture and consistency.
There were four different types of barbecue sauce available on the table. They had a Kansas City-style sauce that was thick and sweet with molasses; a Carolina mustard sauce that I didn't care for (I don't like mustard sauces at all); a Texas Red that was supposed to be spicy, but it really wasn't; and a Classic barbecue sauce that was, well, pretty basic. None of the sauces really jumped out at me as being significant in taste.
The brisket probably didn't need much sauce to help enhance their taste. It came with both sliced and chopped beef. The beef brisket was moist, flavorful and had a hint of a smoky taste and it was very good. Possibly not the best I've had, but admirable for a place like Indianapolis that really isn't known as a hot bed of barbecue.
But the French fries with the bone marrow butter and jalapeno peppers were just outstanding. The overall taste of the fries were heavenly combined with a spicy kick from the jalapeno slices. I like to put barbecue sauce on my fries, but I didn't have to with these fries. They were simply some of the best French fries I've ever had.
About the only thing that went wrong with the meal was that it was supposed to come with fresh dill pickles and white bread - the proper way to serve Southern style barbecue. Bobby came over to check on me and said, "Oh, my gosh! I forgot to get your bread and pickles!" I was nearly done with the brisket and I was filling up pretty quickly. I told him not to worry about that. It definitely wasn't a deal breaker.
The North End Barbecue and Moonshine was an interesting place. The brisket was good - not the best I've had - but good. The chili was also very good with the brisket and house-made bacon chunks. The baked beans were just all right, but the bone marrow butter French fries with jalapeno slices were simply excellent. With a good variety of craft brews to choose from and Bobby's efficient service (even with forgetting the bread and pickles), The North End Barbecue and Moonshine was a wonderful find in my travels. My only wish is that I could have had a sampler platter to try something else with my meal. I guess I'm going to have to go back to try the ribs or pulled pork at some point.
March 04, 2016 in Barbecue, Indianapolis | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sol Irlande's - Dallas, TX
After a long day at the annual CEDIA Expo in Dallas last year, we didn't really want to venture anywhere far away from the hotel in downtown Dallas. We had seen a restaurant that billed itself as a Mexican chop house that was a block away from the hotel on Main St. - Sol Irlande's. (see map) There were six of us from our company with a couple of stragllers that joined us that particular evening.
It's sort interesting how an Irish guy from Long Island ended up in Dallas running a unique Mexican restaurant. Tom McGill grew up on the South Shore in Nassau County who knew that he wanted to get into the restaurant business when he was working for a small family-owned Italian restaurant in his teens. After graduating from St. John's University, McGill started to work as an accountant in Manhattan. Realizing that he didn't care much for a behind the desk job, he quit commuting and turned instead to bartending. He eventually became a restaurant manager, then a maitre d' at a high-end banquet hall.
When the restaurant business turned sour in New York in the mid-90's, the then 30-something McGill was talking with some friends who were living in Dallas. They were telling him about how the restaurant business was booming in the Big D. He moved to Dallas and was immediately hired by Nick Galanos, the owner of Tia's Tex-Mex restaurant chain.
What McGill eventually wanted to do was to open an Irish bar in Dallas. But working at Tia's for Galanos, he found that Texans really did like their Mexican food. But if he was going to do a Mexican restaurant, he wanted it to be unique. With the mentoring and blessing of Galanos, McGill struck out on his own and opened the downtown Dallas location for Sol Irlande's in 2006. His wife actually came up with the name - which roughly means Irish Sun - because of two factors, 1) The McGill's daughter was named Ireland; and 2) His wife knew that he really wanted to open an Irish bar due to his love for the old Irish bars in his native New York. (McGill also had a short-lived Sol Irlande's in suburban Richardson, TX.)
Sol Irlande's is located next to an urban park with a walkway along the side. In the park is a sculpture of a large human eye made by Chicago artist Tony Tasset. The "eye" is part of an exhibition brought to Dallas by the Joule Hotel, a boutique hotel (with a unique swimming pool that hangs out away from the building) just across from the gated park where the sculpture is on display. It's been in Dallas for a little over two years after being on display in Chicago as part of that city's Loop Alliance Public Art program since 2010. As a friend of mine who was at the trade show remarked earlier in the week, "There's something that you just don't see every day."
The building that Sol Irlande's is in dates back to the late 19th century and is one of the oldest buildings in downtown Dallas. For years it was a drug store, then it was taken over as part of an expansion by the F.W. Woolworth Five and Dime store next door. The original Italian-style facade that was popular with Dallas builders in the late 19th century and the early 20th century still graces the front of the building.
We had to wait for a table to be set up on the patio for our group and we passed the time in the bar area that also doubled as an indoor dining area. My colleague John and I both got a Herradura silver/Cointreau/lime juice margarita while we waited and it was outstanding. Sol Irlande's had a lot of flat screen televisions hanging around the bar area and out in the patio. It was sort of like a Mexican restaurant/sports bar.
It was unseasonably warm in Dallas while we were there and sitting on the patio on a warm evening was rather pleasant considering we were deep into fall. Our server for the evening, a young guy by the name of Gino, came over to greet us while we looked over the menu.
The food at Sol Irlande's is an interesting mix of Tex-Mex favorites such as mesquite-smoked ribs; fajitas with a choice of steak, chicken, shrimp or veggies; mesquite-grilled shrimp; chicken, ground beef or smoked brisket chimichangas; and something called Tommy's Bowl that featured a mixture of Spanish rice, Borracho beans, sliced avocado and grilled vegetables with a choice of a grilled chicken breast, grilled sirloin, blackened tilapia, blackened shrimp or grilled shrimp on top. They also feature a number mesquite grilled steaks, enchiladas, and good ol' Texas chicken fried steak.
I got the brisket tacos - 4 small tacos with pulled smoked brisket inside. A sliced avocado, jack cheese, onions and cilantro was folded in with the tacos. A side of the Borracho beans and Spanish rice came on the side along with a jalapeno salsa relish. The brisket tacos were scrumptious as there were a lot of flavors going on with each bite. The brisket was full of flavor and moist to the bite.
For good measure, I got a beef enchilada with a green tomatillo sauce that was served warm on the enchilada. It was topped with some jack cheese and served on a single plate. It was good, but not as good as the tacos.
My colleague John went with the mesquite-smoked baby back ribs. They were slathered with a housemade sweet and smoky barbecue sauce. They pulled off the bone rather easily and he made a mess while eating them. He offered me a bone to try, but I declined. He said, "Fine with me. More for me to eat."
One of our straggler guests that evening - I can't even remember his name - got the fish taco wraps. The flour taco shell wraps were filled with grilled tilapia, chopped cabbage, sliced carrots, avocado slices, and pico de gallo, and a housemade cream sauce came in a small tortilla shell. I thought about those for a moment, but I was more than happy with my brisket tacos and the beef enchilada.
My colleague Matt got the chicken mole. It featured a couple of grilled chicken breasts covered with Sol Irlande's housemade mole sauce that features 20 different spices and has to literally sit for days before it's served to allow all the flavors to co-mingle. Matt said it was an excellent tasting dish.
Another one of the guys seated at my end of the table got the El Jefe burrito - a large burrito with ground beef, refried beans, Spanish rice, a cheese mixture, and sour cream mixed in. A queso sauce was on the top of the burrito. It looked like a mess, but it also looked like the quintessential Tex-Mex meal.
One problem that we had was that Gino's service was a little less than desirable. He fouled up a couple of orders, but was quick to get things rectified. Where he was really having problems was with the drinks. He was pretty slow to get drink orders and to get the drinks back to our table.
John and I both ordered the same Herradura silver/Cointreau/lime juice margarita as we did at the bar from Gino. When he finally brought them back, well, they tasted horrible. We got his attention and told him that the margaritas were not the same ones that we had gotten before. He asked again what it was and we told him. "I swear, that's what I told him," Gino said. He took the drinks away and came back about 10 minutes later - of course, our food was all gone by this time - with two more margaritas. They were just as bad as the ones he served us before.
We immediately got his attention and said, "Huh, uh. No good." We told him that the first ones we were served by the bartender when we were waiting for the table to open up were stellar. These, well, they were just nasty tasting. Gino had the manager come over and we told him the situation. He was gracious and apologetic, claiming that he doesn't know how the first ones we got were so good and the ones we were served later on were not to our liking. In any event, he didn't charge us for the ones we were served at the table.
Some of our guys weren't happy with the service and if the 18 percent gratuity hadn't been included on the bill, our server probably wouldn't have gotten much more than a 10 percent tip from us. I didn't think they were all that busy, but he seemed to be a little slow on the switch. Other than the poor margaritas and the choppy service, I thought the food that I had at Sol Irlande's was very good. The brisket tacos were great and the beef enchilada with the tomatillo sauce on top was very good. Everyone seemed to like their food, but the somewhat poor service sort of bummed us out. If you can get a good server, I'm sure that the experience at Sol Irlande's would be much better than what we experienced that particular evening.
February 25, 2016 in Barbecue, Dallas, TX, Mexican | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sonny Bryan's - Dallas, TX
Well, of course we had to get barbecue when we were in Dallas for the CEDIA Expo last fall and the Godfather of Dallas barbecue joints is quite possibly Sonny Bryan's whose family has been doing barbecue in the Big D for over 100 years. There happened to be a Sonny Bryan's in the historic West End entertainment district, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Our group took off on foot on an unseasonably warm evening to go have barbecue at Sonny Bryan's.
It was 1910 when Elias Bryan moved from Cincinnati to Dallas with his family and opened his barbecue place in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Elias Bryan had come up with a new way to smoke meats with sausage being his specialty. He would place the meats in large pans and smoke them over a mesquite fire. Bryan's oldest son, William Jennings - also known as Red - (and not the former Presidential candidate, but named for him) helped his father out in the barbecue business, but had dreams of doing something else with his life after he graduated from Oak Cliff High School in 1920. The younger Bryan went to Southern Methodist University and studied botany in hopes of being a florist after college. And he did just that, graduating in 1924 and opening his own floral shop.
Pictured right - Elias Bryan. Photo courtesy Texas Monthly BBQ.
After Elias Bryan passed away in 1929, Red Bryan realized that the Oak Cliff area was growing and the residents had an insatiable appetite for his father's barbecued meats, Red Bryan decided it was time to get into the barbecue business to continue his father's legacy. He sold his floral shop and bought an old tin street car that he set up on W. Jefferson St. as Red Bryan's Smokehouse in 1930. "The Tin Shack" served all walks of life from captains of business to blue collar workers trying to make their way through the Great Depression. Red Bryan sold burgers for 5 cents and barbecue sandwiches for a dime.
As World War II raged, Red Bryan started to think that it was time to get out of the barbecue business. He put this business up for sale in November of 1942 for just $1500. His sales were averaging around $800 a month, so it was clear that Red wanted to sell and sell fast. However, there were no takers for the business and the Bryan family barbecue legacy stayed intact.
Pictured left - William Jennings "Red" Bryan. Photo courtesy Texas Monthly BBQ.
In 1946, Red decided that it was time to get out of the old street car and he commissioned famed Dallas architect Charles Dilbeck to come up with a new building that would seat up to 200 people. The new Red Bryan's Smokehouse opened down the road on Jefferson at Llewellyn on February 13, 1947, the exact same date that his father had opened his barbecue place 37 years prior.
The new building didn't come without a healthy cost. Estimates are that it cost around $50,000 to build (that's around $535,000 to $550,000 in 2016 money) and because of that Red had to raise prices, but he also added items to the menu such as ribs, smoked chicken, steak sandwiches and - the most important item when it comes to barbecue (in my book) - cold beer. The restaurant was open from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. seven days a week. It featured cowhide booth seats, table-top warmers for the barbecue sauce (can't have cold or even room temperature barbecue sauce on Texas barbecue), and had a huge stone fireplace near the entrance. Much of the stone work on the outside of the ranch-style building was salvaged from an old East Texas courthouse.
Red Bryan's son, William Jennings II - who was known as Sonny - worked for his father in the new building. Sonny Bryan lived in the apartment above the restaurant and learned all the family secrets of barbecue. But Sonny saw that the new place was zapping the life out of his father. When Red was in the "Tin Shack", he was making the sandwiches and interacting with the customers. In the new building, all the meals were made in the kitchen and sent out to customers via servers. Sonny Bryan observed that his father wasn't happy in the new place, even though business was booming. Red Bryan had literally handed the keys to the place over to his son and he began a career as a prominent member of the Dallas City Council.
But it was beer that was possibly the cause of Red getting out of his eponymous restaurant. In 1957, a temperance group headed by members of churches around the area voted to make Oak Cliff dry. By this time, Red had had enough of the business and he ended up selling the place in 1958. (The original building is still there - it houses a Mexican restaurant.)
While all this was going on over a 10 year (or so) period, Red's younger brother, Fred Bryan, had moved to the West Coast in the early 50's and began selling barbecue sandwiches - made with the Bryan family barbecue sauce recipe - out of a stall at the Los Angeles Farmers Market. (Even though Fred Bryan's family sold the spot in 2011 after 60 years of ownership, Bryan's Pit Barbecue is still located at Stall 740 in the market.)
After Red sold the restaurant in Dallas, he got into the frozen meat business where he made a line of pre-cooked frozen barbecued meats and sold them in grocery stores. The Bryan brothers must not have gotten along very well because Red Bryan began to send frozen packages of barbecue to Los Angeles to sell against his brother at the L.A. Farmers Market. That only lasted for a couple three years up to the time that Red sold the frozen meat business to another company.
To carry on the Bryan family name in barbecue, Sonny Bryan decided to strike out on his own. In 1958, Sonny convinced his wife Joanne that they needed to open their own barbecue place. But they needed to raise capital to do so. Sonny and Joanne sold their house, sold their beloved 1955 Ford Thunderbird car, and sold a collection of antique Colt rifles and pistols to get the money to open the business. They had only been able to put $6500 into the new place which was located at Inwood Road and Harry Hines Blvd, not far from Parkland Hospital. The Bryan's opened their barbecue place on - yep, that's right - February 13, 1958. They were on such a tight budget that they didn't even have the electricity turned on for their opening day.
Pictured right - William Jennings "Sonny" Bryan II. Photo courtesy Texas Monthly BBQ.
Five years after Sonny opened his smokehouse, he found himself in direct competition with his father who was flush with money from the frozen barbecue meat business he had just sold. Red Bryan - who also doubled as a distributor for rotisserie smokers - opened up what became four locations of a new rendition of Red Bryan's Smokehouse. But he also had a franchise idea that he tried to get off the ground - literally. He devised a complete barbecue restaurant on a trailer and called it The Bar-B-Q House. The "pop-up" barbecue smokehouse wasn't like the food trucks of today - they actually had seating in a dining area, they were air-conditioned, and they were outfitted with an Oyler rotisserie smoker - the same ones that Red was the distributor for. He tried to franchise the concept, but it never really caught on.
A Dallas Cowboys fan since they came to town in 1960, Red Bryan was enjoying a Cowboys game in his plush seats at the then new Texas Stadium in 1973 when he suffered a stroke and died not long after. But his barbecue legacy continued with Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse.
Sonny had two sons, William Jennings III - known as Bill - and Burt. They both began to work in the restaurant as 10-year-olds starting out as dish washers. Bill and Burt learned enough about the restaurant business that they decided that they didn't want to follow in the family tradition. Both became doctors - Bill is now Dr. Bill Bryan, the Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Southern Methodist, while Dr. Burt Bryan is on the faculty at Texas A&M's Health Science Center's Baylor College of Dentistry as an assistant professor in the school's Department of Restorative Sciences.
Sonny Bryan once said the smartest thing he ever did was not expand or franchise out his restaurant. He continued to run his smokehouse until his health began to deteriorate. In 1989, he ended up selling the Sonny Bryan's business, complete with the family recipes, to a group of four long-time customers to carry on the Sonny Bryan's name. Sonny Bryan died of cancer at the age of 63 just a few months after selling the business. (Joanne Bryan passed away in 2005.)
Even though Sonny Bryan never wanted to expand his business, the group of investors did just that. In addition to the original Sonny Bryan's on Inwood Rd, there are six other locations in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The group of investors - headed by CEO Brent Harman - continues to run the Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse restaurants.
(For those of you worried about the legacy of the Bryan family in the barbecue business, there's actually another Bryan family member that is involved in making barbecue. David Bryan Harris - the son of Red Bryan's youngest of two sisters, Mildred - opened David's Barbecue in Arlington, TX in 1988 using the same family recipes and smoking methods that were started by his grandfather, Elias Bryan. Today, David Bryan Harris' son, Jimmy Harris, is the owner and pitmaster of David's Barbecue.)
The Sonny Bryan's location in the West End is located on N. Market Street at the corner of Elm. (see map) Being from the Quad Cities, I saw the name "Moline" above the front door of the entrance to Sonny Bryan's. It turns out that this Sonny Bryan's location is housed in what was the old Moline Machinery office building that was used for the Dallas operations in the early 1900's.
Inside the restaurant, it featured a long and narrow dining area with an open kitchen in the middle. Our hostess took us toward the back part of the restaurant and sat us at a large table that was entirely too close to other large tables. Getting up to go to the bathroom was sort of a hassle - you had to sort of zig-zag around tables and then had to push in a code to activate an elevator that took you to the restrooms on the lower level of the building.
The menu at Sonny Bryan's is your typical barbecue fare - there isn't a lot of things to choose from and that was fine with me. Ribs, barbecue sandwiches, pulled pork, brisket and chicken entrees were available. Of course, we had to get a couple large orders of Sonny Bryan's huge and thick onion rings to start out. The onion rings were big and delicious. You almost needed a knife and a fork to eat them.
For my meal, I got a combo plate that consisted of two pork ribs, pulled pork, sliced brisket (I could have also gotten chopped brisket - East Texas-style) and a side of baked beans and green bean casserole. I had ordered a Deep Ellum IPA, a locally brewed India Pale Ale when I first sat down. Then I pulled my head out of my butt and ordered a Lone Star - the National Beer of Texas - to go along with my Texas barbecue.
The ribs were good - not the best I've had, but good for where we were. They had a nice smoke ring along the edge and were easy to chew off the bone. With the warm barbecue sauce - naturally - served in a Corona beer bottle, the ribs were pretty tasty.
I got about three slices of the brisket. The brisket was yummy. It, too, had a nice smoke ring around the outer edge of the meat. It was easy to cut with a fork and tasted good with the rather basic sweet and tangy Sonny Bryan's sauce.
But the best thing on the plate was the pulled pork. Moist and flavorful with a good smoky taste, I didn't put much of the barbecue sauce on the pulled pork because it was good on its own. In fact, there was a lot of meat on the plate and I didn't eat much of the baked beans - which were good - and the green bean casserole - which was, basically, just green bean casserole.
Our marketing guy who hails from Montreal was seated next to me and he got the rib dinner. It consisted of 7 or 8 meat pork ribs with a couple of sides of his choosing. He didn't really know what fried okra was and a couple of us talked him into getting the okra along with the mac & cheese side. He sort of chuckled that mac & cheese was considered a side at a barbecue restaurant. But he seemed to like the ribs just fine. He pretty much devoured them and still had room to eat some of the okra - which he discovered that he liked - and the mac & cheese.
I believe everyone was happy with their meals at Sonny Bryan's. For the first stab at real Texas barbecue I think it's probably best to go to Sonny Bryan's and then go out from there. My barbecue was good - not the best I've had considering I've had some great barbecue in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Memphis in my travels over the past few years. But there's something sort of religious about Texas barbecue and while the West End Sonny Bryan's isn't quite like worshiping at the barbecue alter at the original location, this was good enough barbecue on its own.
February 15, 2016 in Barbecue, Dallas, TX | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sun Wah BBQ - Chicago
During our Asian cultural and culinary tour of the Argyle Street area in Chicago last fall (click here to see that entry), our guide - Judith Dunbar-Hines - took us to a Chinese barbecue place that specialized in roasted barbecued duck. It was actually a "breakfast" for us at 10:30 at the start of our tour. After meeting up at the corner of N. Broadway and Argyle, we walked down the street to Sun Wah BBQ. (see map)
When we got to Sun Wah BBQ, Judith told us a story of how the founder of the restaurant, Eric Cheng, came from China to the U.S. to open his restaurant. Getting there was a harrowing experience. Cheng grew up in southeastern China near Hong Kong and as a student he was sent to work on a collective farm. Fearing that he would be sentenced to working on the farm the rest of his life, Cheng and a friend decided to make a run for the freedom of Hong Kong and beyond.
The two set out on a journey that promised them freedom at the end. However, the two came to a mountainous region. Over the mountains was Hong Kong. Or they could go around the mountain, but it would mean a long swim through a shark-infested channel. It was there where Cheng and his friend split up - the friend went up the mountain while Cheng took off toward the channel to swim. It took him 8 hours of being in the water - sometimes clinging onto a discarded tire - before he made it to Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, Cheng worked in some restaurants, cooking many foods that he was taught to make by his father. It was in Hong Kong when he started to learn the art of Chinese barbecued duck. He ended up marrying a Hong Kong girl, Lynda, and his biggest hope was to eventually move to the U.S. to have his own restaurant there.
In the mid-70's, the Cheng's moved to New York City and Eric found work in a Chinese restaurant. When Lynda gave birth to the couple's first child (a daughter, Kelly), Cheng asked his boss for time off to help his wife. When the boss refused, Cheng quit on the spot.
Cheng eventually did open his own restaurant and named it "Sun Wah", which means "New China" in Mandarin. It was a small space - only nine feet wide - but to Cheng it was a huge space for him. After a few years in business at this location, the landlord tried to raise his rent. Knowing that he couldn't sustain his business by raising prices for such a small space, he decided to look elsewhere to put a new restaurant.
Elsewhere was Chicago. He knew people in Chicago and he took his family - now with three kids - to the Windy City to start a new life. Lynda was pregnant with her fourth child and Eric knew he needed to get some income going until he was able to start his restaurant.
He walked into a Chinese restaurant in the Argyle neighborhood of Chicago and told someone that he was a barbecue master and he was looking for a job. The person called for the owner to come out from the back and when he did, Eric couldn't believe his eyes. It was his friend - the same guy with whom he ran away from the collective farm years before, and who went up the mountain while Eric went around the mountain and swam to freedom. It was an unbelievable reunion.
With the help of the Asian American Business Association, Cheng was able to finally open his Sun Wah BBQ on Argyle Street in 1987. It was much larger than his place in New York City - about 1500 square feet. But the restaurant immediately became popular with all different types of people for his barbecued entrees, especially the barbecued duck.
In 2009, an old auto repair shop around the corner on Broadway became available and the Cheng's jumped on the chance to grow their business. Eric Cheng was in his late 50's and three of his children - Kelly, Mike (fresh out of a 3-year stint in the U.S. Army), and Laura (who took culinary classes before joining the restaurant) - were now involved in the business. Only Cindy Cheng, who is a marketing executive, was not involved in the business. They moved to their present space on N. Broadway in October of 2009 giving the family nearly three times the space they had at their old Argyle Street location.
Today, Eric and Lynda Cheng are effectively retired from the business. Kelly - being the oldest child - is the de facto "face" of the restaurant, Mike is learning to become a Chinese barbecue master with help from his father, and Laura is the one who runs the kitchen. I understand the family arguments in the kitchen between siblings can be highly entertaining to the staff and patrons alike.
Along with Cindy's good friend from Indianapolis, Pam, and her husband, Jay, we got into Sun Wah BBQ around 10:45 a.m. Jay and Pam are much more in-tune with authentic Asian cuisine, we were not. That's one of the big reasons why we wanted to take the Argyle tour with Judith. The five of us took a seat in the main dining area. I understand there is an upstairs part to Sun Wah where they hold private dinners and receptions.
Judith didn't even bother with a menu. She had pre-ordered the food for us, knowing exactly what to get. This flustered our server who was out of sorts with the procedure. Judith explained to us that we were there a little early and the two Cheng sisters - Kelly and Laura - weren't there to handle the order. But once the waiter figured it out, everything was fine.
There is a lot to choose on the menu if we had gone in that direction. They had pork, chicken and duck barbecue specialties. You could get them plain or over rice. They also had traditional Hong Kong-style lo mein on the menu, as well as beef, pork, and chicken entrees. They also had an abundance of seafood entrees including Chilean sea bass, steamed white fish, sweet & sour shrimp, a blue crabs in a black bean sauce.
Mike Cheng came up with something that is one of the more popular items at Sun Wah - Mike's Chicken - which consists of a roasted chicken with a combination of spices and a honey-glaze sauce, then fried until the skin is a deep brown color. And they're also famous for the table-side carved Beijing duck dinners at Sun Wah. They estimate on weekends that they serve a Beijing duck about once every five minutes.
The most interesting thing about Mike's Chicken or the Beijing duck at Sun Wah BBQ - they aren't even on the menu. And you have to make plans well in advance to get Mike's Chicken, usually when you make a reservation for dinner.
They do a thriving "to-go" business at Sun Wah BBQ. Duck, pork and chicken meat by the pound is available. The carry-out menu offers many of the same things that people can have in the restaurant. Already at 10:45 in the morning there were people coming in to get barbecued duck.
There are two kitchens at Sun Wah BBQ. The back kitchen is full of woks, ovens and stoves, while the front kitchen is where they smoke and cure their meats. This is the kind of place where they hang the ducks in the front window after they have been barbecued - head, neck and all. It's quite the process to barbecue the ducks. After the internal organs have been removed and the duck has been seasoned, the lower opening of the duck gets sewn up to keep the juices from escaping. The duck is dipped into a mixture of boiling water, vinegar and more seasonings. The duck then gets hung for several hours in a well-ventaliated area before it's hung in a smoker for several more hours. Once the duck is finished, the lower opening is cut open and the dark brown-skinned duck is hung in the window up front on display until it's served.
Chinese-style barbecued duck is prepared from whole ducks in which the neck and head are left intact. The internal organs of the duck are removed and the lower opening is sewed or pinned closed to hold in the juices and seasoning. Air is pumped underneath the duck‟s skin to separate the skin and flesh, allowing the fat to render out during roasting. The duck is seasoned and then dipped in or basted with a boiling water mixture containing vinegar and other ingredients. The duck is hung to dry for several hours in a well ventilated space or in front of electric fans. The whole duck is then roasted suspended in an oven until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Once the duck is finished roasting, bungs or pins are removed from the lower opening of the duck and the final product is hung on display until served.
The first thing we got was some seafood congee. Judith explained to us that food doesn't get wasted in Asia. "There's no such thing as leftovers," she said. "They simply recycle any additional food from the previous evening into breakfast the next day." Congee is basically a porridge that is made with any combination of things - oats, cornmeal, buckwheat or rice - then foods from the previous evening are added to the broth along with chopped onions, ginger, salt and some good ol' Monosodium Glutamate - or MSG. (I usually don't like MSG on my Chinese food and ask - when I can - that my dish is made without it.)
The porridge looks creamy, but then Judith told us something that I didn't know - most Asians are lactose intolerant. Their diet makes it so they can't process dairy items. So the cooking process for the porridge - or "jook" as it's known in China - is somewhat of a painstaking procedure. Sun Wah BBQ's congee recipe is one that is followed to the letter by the Cheng siblings. Eric Cheng impressed upon his children the importance of how the rice is cooked and how to properly make the porridge. Sun Wah gently simmers the "jook" for three hours and only three hours before they deem it ready to serve.
From there you can add whatever to the porridge. Judith had ordered up the seafood congee for us - filets of white fish chopped and added to the porridge. The fish was fresh and the overall taste was very good. The rice was almost fluffy in its consistency. One of the more popular congee's at Sun Wah BBQ is the pork and egg congee. The pork is smoked (they smoke whole hogs at Sun Wah) and the egg they used in the congee is preserved - cured with smoked ash. I understand the combination of the fresh smoked pork and the cured egg in the congee is an unbelievable taste sensation.
The other thing that I was introduced to is Hoisin sauce. Now, I've seen Hoisin sauce on the table at many Chinese or Thai restaurants in the past, but I've never had it before. At Sun Wah BBQ, Laura and Kelly Cheng make their own. "It's out of this world," Judith described to us before we put some into the seafood congee. Jay was very familiar with hoisin sauce and he said that he'd never had hoisin so good before. I tried it and - to me - it was a combination of the thick, soy/teriyaki taste with a hint of garlic in it and kind of sweet at the same time. I instantly liked it and wondered out loud why I had never tried hoisin sauce before.
From there, we got one of their roasted duck breasts cut into strips. They came with fresh shredded carrots, pickled radish strips and steamed buns - also known as gwa bao. (The waiter, when we first got there, was thoroughly confused when Judith asked for five of the buns. But, as I said, once he figured out what she was trying to do for us, he knew exactly what to bring.)
Judith showed us how to split open the bun, take a slice of the roasted duck breast and top it off with the pickled veggie strips. It was absolutely heavenly. The duck was moist and tender and - OH! - so flavorful with the combination of spices on the skin of the duck. I'm usually not big on duck, but this was fantastic. The soft steamed bun was pliable and chewy and held together very well with the duck, the shredded carrots and the pickled radish strips. Jay put a little of the housemade Hoisin sauce on his and I followed suit. It made the taste even better. I didn't know how this small meal could have been topped.
We had to continue on to other stops of our Asian cultural and culinary tour, and I immediately told my wife that I wanted to go back to Sun Wah BBQ at some other time. There were many interesting things on the menu that would make me want to go back at some time. This thoroughly authentic Chinese food, as in "artisan" Chinese cuisine. I can very easily see why you would need a reservation to the place - especially on weekends. The seafood congee and the roasted duck in the steam buns were just heavenly. But they have so many interesting items on the menu that you could probably go 20 times and not have the same thing once. Once again, our guide turned us onto a phenomenal restaurant that we would have had no idea was this good. Words alone can't express how much we enjoyed our first visit to Sun Wah BBQ. It definitely won't be our last.
January 11, 2016 in Barbecue, Chicago, Chinese | Permalink | Comments (0)
Lester's Restaurant and Sports Bar - Ladue, MO
During our annual baseball trip to St. Louis earlier this summer, our group (my wife, our friends Scott and Marcia, and myself) met up for lunch with my friend who works for the St. Louis Rams. We decided to try a place that I learned about after writing the entry on Dave and Tony's Premium Burger Joint in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur, MO (click here to see that entry). One of the owners of Dave and Tony's is the grandson of St. Louis entrepreneur/restaurateur Lester Miller, the man who owns Lester's Restaurant and Sports Bar in the Ladue area of St. Louis. I was sort of intrigued reading about Lester's that I suggested we all go there for lunch.
Lester Miller's back story is pretty amazing. He rose from the dirty streets of New York where he sold papers for a 2 cents, to becoming a caterer at the age of 14, at the age of 17 he landed a job as a sales rep for a company selling cleaning and sanitation products.
Miller's company sent him to St. Louis on sales calls in his early 20's and he immediately fell in love with the city. He fell in love with a St. Louis girl and was married when he was 23. He and his first wife had seven kids - a boy, then six girls - and Miller started a business - supplying condoms in gas station restroom vending machines. He eventually started a company that made the condoms, but he also had a restroom cleaning service on the side.
His big break in business came when a friend introduced him to someone from a plastics company that was in the process of developing a thin-walled plastic bottle. Miller found that the new bottle design could hold toilet-bowl cleaner without shattering and splashing cleaning acid everywhere. He and his friend partnered to make cleaning products contained in the new plastic bottles.
Recognizing the low cost of production in Japan, Miller had the products made overseas. The company eventually became Contico Plastics and developed the first trigger sprayer for household cleaners. He imported cleaning bottles from Japan, then Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan changing factories whenever he could get a better deal.
Miller found out that Union Carbide was wanting to sell its plastics division. He made a cursory offer of $800,000 and they countered with $1,000,000. Miller didn't have a million dollars, let alone $800,000. But he scraped up enough money from banks and investors and bought the plastics division. For years, Contico was undercapitalized, but they eventually began to make money. Miller eventually sold Contico and related companies in 1999 and 2000 for $350,000,000.
In 2000, Miller was approached by four men looking to buy land that Miller owned in Springfield, MO to build a plant to make high-industrial batteries for cellphone towers. Miller took a look at the deal and instead of selling the property, he invested $35,000,000 in the company. In 2007, Miller and the minor partners sold NorthStar Batteries to an equity firm for an estimated $250,000,000.
Miller was also a land developer and owned tracts of lands in Florida and Georgia, as well as in and around the St. Louis area. He got into the restaurant business in 2005 when one of his favorite restaurants - Busch's Grove - had closed, fallen into disrepair and was scheduled to be demolished for a boutique shopping center. He bought the building, spent millions of dollars on the renovations and reopened in December of 2005. (Miller sold Busch's Grove and it is now closed.)
In 2007, Lester Miller opened his eponymous restaurant - an upscale sports bar that featured New York-style deli sandwiches and barbecue - on Clayton Road in Ladue. He outfitted the place with memorabilia and commissioned a six and a half foot statue of his good friend and former St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial in front of the place.
Pictured right - Lester Miller in front of the original Lester's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Ladue with the statue of Stan Musial over his left shoulder.
Miller opened a second location in west suburban Chesterfield in 2008 and a third Lester's location opened in the Central West End in 2011. However, he closed the Chesterfield location in the fall of 2014 and the Central West End location closed just a few weeks after. But the Ladue location is still going strong.
We met up with my friend around 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon at Lester's on Clayton Road in a small shopping mall that abutted up to I-64/40 Highway. (see map) I'd been by the place, well, dozens of times over the past few years and never knew it was there. We found our friend in the bar area just inside the front door of Lester's waiting on us. The bar area was rather large and featured a number of flat panel televisions. The place sort of looked classy for a sports bar.
The hostess took us into the main dining area that featured a number of tables in the middle with booths along the outer walls. An open kitchen was situated in the back of the dining area. Sports memorabilia hung on the walls along with flat screen televisions hanging high throughout the room. We were given menus to check out and ordered up some drinks.
Lester Miller wanted authenticity when it came to his meats at his restaurant. His head chef was sent to New York City to learn the art of smoking and preparing meats from the person who once ran the famous Carnegie Deli. The meat is brined and smoked in-house daily over applewood chips. They make everything from scratch at Lester's from the bread used in their sandwiches, to the salad dressings, to the sides, and to the baby back ribs that are smoked nearly 5 hours daily. It was no wonder I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what to get.
I really wanted to try a deli sandwich, but the barbecue offerings on the menu were calling my name, as well. It's not that I didn't think that I'd ever be back to Lester's. It's just that everything sounded pretty damned good and I wanted to try a couple of things.
We let everyone order up before I ordered a pastrami on rye with Swiss cheese. They have two sizes of sandwiches - a regular and a colossal. I went with the regular sized and by looking at the picture below left one can almost imagine what a colossal sized sandwich would look like. I also asked the server if I could try some of the beef brisket that they had as part of their barbecue menu. He said that he could come up with a 3 ounce plate of brisket. That would be perfect! I just wanted a taste of the brisket, not a whole meal.
Cindy was as much in a quandary about what to get. She wasn't overly hungry, but she knew she needed to get something. She saw something on the appetizer menu - the deli slider combo - that was a sampling of the corned beef and pastrami sandwiches. When the server set the plate down in front of her, she realized that may have been a mistake. They were four small sandwiches - two each of the pastrami and corned beef. We could have easily gotten this for ourselves. She was a tad embarrassed when she realized what it really was that she ordered and I told her that we could get what she didn't get to go and take it back to put in the fridge in our hotel room.
I have to say that my sandwich was very good. I'm a sucker for good pastrami and this was some of the finest pastrami that I've ever had. It was tender and had a great beef taste with a hint of pepper and not a lot of salt. The beef had some good marbling, but it was overly fatty or greasy. The rye bread was equally impressive with the laste of fresh caraway seeds throughout.
The brisket was equally as good as the pastrami. It was lean and tender with a small smoke ring around the edge. The spices they use as a rub on the brisket helped enhance the overall taste of the beef. This was some excellent brisket.
The other thing that was pretty good on my plate was the cole slaw. It had a good creamy and vinegary taste and the cabbage was crunchy and fresh. It was some of the better cole slaw that I've ever had.
We spent a good portion of the afternoon at Lester's catching up with what had been going on with my friend. The staff was very accommodating, allowing us to sit there for nearly two and a half hours before we realized how much time had passed and we needed to get going to the ball game. The pastrami sandwich and the brisket at Lester's was surprisingly very good to excellent. I'm worried about restaurants that have an extensive menu, but what I had at Lester's was all good. I can't believe that I haven't tried Lester's before this visit and it certainly won't be the last time I go there.
November 04, 2015 in Barbecue, Sandwich Places and Deli's, Sports Bars, St. Louis | Permalink | Comments (1)
Real Urban Barbecue - Oak Brook, IL
I had an early morning meeting in Oak Brook, a suburb on the west side of the Chicago metro area, and I ended up staying the night at a hotel that I hadn't been to in years and years. I did some scouting around the area to see if there was something that I might like to get and I found a barbecue place that sounded sort of interesting - and a name that I remembered later on for seeing one of their locations in the far northern suburbs of Chicago - Real Urban Barbecue. I headed over there to try some barbecue that particular evening.
Like most barbecue places, Real Urban Barbecue came out of what was an award winning team on the competition barbecue front. Jeff Shapiro was a native of the north shore Chicago suburb of Highland Park who loved barbecue. He started to enter competition barbecue events with the team name of Dr. Deckle and Mr. Hide. Shapiro also expanded his knowledge of barbecue as visited famous barbecue places in Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, the Carolinas and St. Louis. After winning some events, he did what the majority of other barbecue circuit winners do - he opened his own barbecue place. The only difference between Shapiro and many of the same barbecue competitors who opened their own places is that he actually had extensive restaurant experience prior to opening his own barbecue joint.
Pictured right - Jeff Shapiro. Photo courtesy Illinois Restaurant Association.
As a young man Shapiro started in the restaurant business working for the Lettuce Entertain You conglomeration of restaurants in the Chicago area that included stops along the way at R.J. Grunts, Bub City, P.J. Clarke's and the now closed Papagus and Bones (now known as L. Woods) restaurants. After leaving Lettuce Entertain You, Shapiro became the operations manager at Carmichael's Steakhouse that was located near the United Center which was a popular destination for people going to or coming from a Chicago Bulls or Blackhawks game. (Carmichael's was open for 18 years before closing earlier this year.)
Shapiro sensed that an urban barbecue place was something that people were clamoring for and he opened his first Real Urban Barbecue location in Highland Park in November of 2010. He opened his second Real Urban Barbecue in far north suburban Vernon Park in July of 2012. (I actually saw that location not long after it opened up and it sort of piqued my interest.) And in November of last year, he opened a third location in Oak Brook.
The Oak Brook location is on Clearwater Drive near the corner of York Road and 22nd St., about a half mile east of the Oakbrook Center shopping and entertainment complex. (see map) It's located on the west end of a strip mall that's visible from 22nd St.
It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Real Urban Barbecue. It's a cafeteria-style place where you place your order with a guy who cuts the ribs, slices the brisket, dollops the pulled pork and dishes out the sides and plops everything down on a tray. The menu is located along the wall above the counter and their main feature are the pork ribs that you can get either wet - with the barbecue sauce served on them; dry - with nothing on them; rubbed - a Memphis-style dry rub blend of spices; or "perfection" - which is basically Memphis-style and wet together. As I said, they also feature brisket and pulled pork along with smoked turkey, burnt ends, chicken and sausage.
I went with a combo plate of ribs - I got them wet, but I should have just gone for the Memphis-style rubbed - pulled pork and brisket. I had the guy put some barbecue sauce on the brisket and pork, too. But I found that was a mistake. They had barbecue sauce on the table and I wanted to try the different styles that they had on the meats. They had a number of sides in steamers along the cook line that included mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, a walnut/sweet potato souffle, and a sort of scalloped corn side. I ended up going with the dirty rice (something I don't think I've encountered at a barbecue place in the Midwest) and, of course, the baked beans. I also got a couple cans of the Revolution Brewing Company Anti-Hero IPA. Finally, a big handful of dill pickles came with the barbecue. I love dill pickles with my barbecue.
I sat down on a long community table in the main dining area. There are two rooms to dine in at the Real Urban Barbecue location in Oak Brook. On the walls there's corrugated metal wainscoting and above that are signs and pictures of places that Jeff Shapiro visited on his barbecue pilgrimages. I recognized many of the ones from Kansas City and Memphis that he visited. Seated at the end of the same table I was at was a guy working on his computer. I recognize him now from the picture above - it was Jeff Shapiro. Wish I would have known it was him. I would have loved to have talked to him about his trips to barbecue places.
The sauces they had on the table were sort of interesting. The Original sauce is a Kansas City-style sweet sauce. The Texas Roadhouse sauce had a nice spicy bite to it. There was a Carolina vinegar sauce called Piedmont. The Mustard sauce featured a blend of 3 different types of mustard. And something that they just happened to have on the table along with their four regular sauces was a Bloody Mary sauce that had elements of a bloody mary mix with some horseradish mixed in.
First of all, this was a lot of food. The ribs were big and meaty, the slabs of the brisket were thick, and there was a good helping of the pulled pork. The pulled pork had some of the burnt outer side of the pork butt mixed in that gave the pork a nice smoky caramelized taste. It was a shame that I got the barbecue sauce on it at the counter because I would have loved for the full taste of the pork to shine through before I put barbecue sauce on it on my own.
The ribs were all right - they were a little tough and dried out. They probably had been lying there a good portion of the day in a holding oven. They were pretty disappointing.
But the brisket and the pulled pork more than made up for the ribs. The brisket was tender and had a great taste. The pulled pork - in addition to the smoky caramelized chunks - was moist, tender and scrumptious. I couldn't make up my mind what I liked more - the pulled pork or the brisket. If I had to say, I'd go 1) brisket; 1A) pulled pork; 3) ribs.
Trying the different barbecue sauces, I determined that I liked the spicy Texas roadhouse sauce the best, followed closely by the Original sauce. The vinegary Piedmont sauce had a nice peppery taste and I liked it better than the Bloody Mary sauce that would have been a nice addition to, well, a bloody Mary. Finally, the mustard sauce was down on my list only because I don't care for mustard-based barbecue sauces. But each of them were a unique taste in their own right.
I almost forgot to comment on the sides I got - the dirty rice was a nice surprise that they had it as a side, but it was sort of bland and sort of "meh!" It, too, may have suffered from being in a steam bin a good portion of the day. And the baked beans featured five different types of beans (by my count) and all had a distinctive flavor. A flavor that I didn't care for, but some people may.
The brisket and the pulled pork were the stars at Real Urban Barbecue. Next time I'll get them served dry and put my own barbecue sauce on them. The Texas Roadhouse and the Original sauces were my favorite, but I was disappointed in the ribs and somewhat in the sides, as well. Overall, this was a good barbecue experience - not as good as some I've encountered in the St. Louis/Memphis/Kansas City triangle of great barbecue places. But Real Urban Barbecue acquitted themselves very well compared to others in the Chicago area.
October 19, 2015 in Barbecue, Chicago Suburbs | Permalink | Comments (0)
JD's Q and Brew - Arlington Heights, IL
One evening when I was in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago last winter, I passed a barbecue place that I'd never known about, a place called JD's Q and Brew. I turned around and went back to get something to eat, but found that they had closed for the evening at 8 p.m. (winter hours). I made a mental note to go back there at some point and I had the chance to do so earlier this summer.
The two men behind JD's Q and Brew are cousins Peter Veremis and Thanos "Tom" Grigorio. Veremis and Grigorio both have extensive backgrounds in barbecue - Veremis has been in the restaurant business for over 25 years and ran a barbecue place in Calumet City on Chicago's far south side before opening JD's in the fall of 2012. He brought in Grigorio because of his extensive knowledge around a barbecue place - over 30 years of expertise.
Veremis wanted a place that also had an extensive selection of beers. A restaurant consultant told him to keep the beer menu to a minimum, but Veremis dismissed the advice and went with a large number of bottled beers from craft breweries around the Midwest and beyond. The beer menu at JD's features over 100 different beers to choose from.
JD's Q and Brew is located on Rand Rd. in Arlington Heights, just north and west of Palatine Rd. (see map) I had just come from a dealer in the area and decided to grab some lunch at JD's around 1:30 one afternoon. The dining area was spacious with a number of tables and chairs in the middle with comfy booths along two walls.
The menu is located on a board behind the front counter where you order. They serve all the regular barbecue items at JD's - ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken and turkey. Sandwiches include pulled pork or pulled chicken sandwiches, a smoked turkey breast sandwich, and smoked Cajun sausage. They also feature hamburgers, shrimp, grilled tilapia, and beer battered cod on the menu.
Having such a large selection of beers can be troublesome for a restaurant - just as the restaurant consultant told Peter Veremis when he opened for business about three years ago. I ordered a Lagunitas IPA that they had on tap, but the first taste told me that the keg had turned flat. I took it back to the counter and the young lady had a manager come over to try the beer. He poured some from the tap into a glass and took a swig. "Yep! That's gone flat," he pronounced.
From there, I had to pick another beer. I looked through the beer menu that they had and saw that they had the Three Floyd's Dreadnaught IPA in a bottle. Well, it's turned out that no, they didn't have that particular beer in stock. I was trying to find something else to have and I noticed in the glass doored cooler that they had the Lagunitas IPA in a bottle. After some confusion with the girl taking my order as to whether I could actually change from a Lagunitas draft to a Lagunitas bottle, I ended up getting one of those. It was a bit of a hassle, but at least I got a beer.
I ordered the brisket and burnt ends combo platter and got baked beans and onion straws for sides. I hadn't sat down for anymore than three minutes before they brought my plate out to me. The first thing I noticed was that the onion straws - plenty on my plate - were woefully burnt and I found them to be inedible. That was a bummer because I really like onion straws. Frankly, I'm surprised the person back in the kitchen even let these get put onto a plate with the other food. (Click on the picture to get a closer look. Some of the onion straws appear to be black from overcooking.)
I've never been big on burnt ends, but I've sort of grown to like them on a couple recent trips to a couple of my favorite barbecue places in Kansas City. The burnt ends at JD's Q and Brew were tender and tasty. I added some of their chipotle sauce to give it a little kick in taste. The chipotle sauce had a nice smoked pepper flavor to it, but it wasn't all that spicy in taste. The regular house sauce was actually sort of bland and lifeless.
The brisket was also moist and tender, easily cut with a fork. It had a nice smoke ring on the outer edge and was good without any sauce added. I'm a sauce guy with my barbecue and while the chipotle sauce was fine, it wasn't anything that jumped out and made me go "Wow!"
The baked beans had chunks of bacon and pork in them. They were all right - sort of bland in taste. I added some of the regular house sauce that did nothing to add to the bland taste. Adding some of the chipotle sauce only made them marginally better.
The confusion with the server on the beer choice after the draft beer I'd ordered turned out to be flat, the overcooked onion straws and the simple barbecue sauces sort of put a damper on the overall meal at JD's Q and Brew. The interior and exterior were very nice and inviting. The brisket was all right, as were the burnt ends. The barbecue at JD's was average - at best - and I don't think I'd go out of my way to go have barbecue there again.
October 07, 2015 in Barbecue, Beer Bars/Pubs, Chicago Suburbs | Permalink | Comments (0)
A Little BBQ Joint - Independence, MO
I was traveling with a colleague in the Kansas City area recently and he wanted to try some good authentic KC-style barbecue. We were on the east side of the metro area in Independence and a place that I'd heard about wasn't far from where we were. We drove to a place called A Little BBQ Joint along U.S. Highway 24 in the heart of Independence, not far from the Harry S. Truman Library. (see map)
Like many barbecue places, A Little BBQ Joint got its start in the backyard. Don Bauer and his son Fabian are the owners of Glory Days Custom Shop, a company that restores classic cars. In their spare time, the Bauers would do some barbecue in their backyard for family and friends. Fabian was the main guy with the smoker, mentored by Ed "Fast Eddy" Maurin, a long-time championship pit master in the Kansas City area. Fabian impressed enough people who eventually talked him into opening his own barbecue place in Independence.
The Bauers opened A Little BBQ Joint in April of 2013. Fabian Bauer installed a pellet smoker, one that was designed by "Fast Eddy" Maurin and marketed by Cookshack. On their first day they sold out of everything. It got to a point that they were selling up to 500 pounds of brisket, 300 pounds of pork and 14 cases of ribs each week. To help out in the restaurant, Fabian's sister Amy joined the family business, and he hired Nick Alonge as a pit master for the restaurant.
The building that A Little BBQ Joint is housed in looks like it could have been an old repair shop at one point in time. A large garage door faces the east side of the building. The Bauers used their expertise in metal fabrication of classic cars to outfit the restaurant. Car seats from classic cars are used in the booths, one of the bench seats up front for people waiting for tables to open or for "to-go" is from a 1967 Cadillac. Forged into the bar is the front end of a 1965 Chevrolet Impala.
The decor is fantastically creative. The Bauers fabricated everything in the restaurant from the bar to the tables to much of the automotive-inspired decor. Everything from old car doors to shop tools to the top of an old school bus are used inside and out of the building for functional, yet whimsical decorations. Even if you weren't hungry, a stop for a beer and a look around at the decor would be worth it. And I would be remiss in telling you that the men's restroom is one of the nicest - and most interesting - that I've encountered in a barbecue joint.
We were seated at a table in the center of the restaurant during the noon lunch rush. A lot of people were getting barbecue to go, but the restaurant was over half full on what was a beautiful Spring day in Kansas City. Our server, Margo, came over with a couple menus. She asked if we wanted anything to drink and my colleague spied that they had Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap. How appropriate for a barbecue joint with a decided blue collar feel! We both got a PBR while we looked through the menu.
While the food offerings aren't overly extensive at A Little BBQ Joint, but there's enough of the staples of barbecue to appease most customers. Ribs, pulled pork, brisket, burnt ends and chicken are the main attractions. A number of sandwiches are available as well as a handful of appetizers such as onion rings, chicken tenders and chili cheese fries.
It was Wednesday and the special that day was the bacon-wrapped smoked meatloaf for $8.99. That's what my colleague ordered that came with two sides. He got fries and potato salad for his sides. And it was a thick slab of meat loaf, at that. They definitely didn't skimp on the size of the meat loaf served at A Little BBQ Joint.
I went with a two meat sampler plate with brisket and pulled pork. I knew I wanted baked beans as my side, but I wasn't certain what I wanted for my second side. The spicy cole slaw caught my eye and I asked Margo how it was. "Oh, my gosh," she gushed. "It's my favorite!" I took her word for it and got the spicy cole slaw.
All the meats at A Little BBQ Joint are smoked without sauce. But they provide three different sauces on the tables. The Sweet Sister had a nice Kansas City-style thick and sweet taste to it. The Mad Housewife sauce had a bit of a zippy taste with what seemed like the Sweet Sister base. But the Mad Mother-in-Law was definitely an attention getter. It snuck up on the back end with a definite spicy taste. I mixed some of the combinations to test with the brisket and pulled pork.
I'm big on barbecue sauces, but if you aren't then you'll still like the brisket and the pulled pork at A Little BBQ Joint. The brisket was thick sliced with a nice little smoked taste to the beef. It was tender and cut easily with a fork. It was excellent brisket. The pulled pork was on par with the brisket. Moist and flavorful, the pulled pork also had a distinct smoky flavor that was pleasant but not overpowering.
The two sides didn't disappoint either. The spicy slaw was, well, spicy! I mean REALLY spicy, but in a very good way. The sweetness of the slaw helped balance the overall spicy taste. It was simply outstanding. But I can't even begin to tell you about how much I liked the baked beans. Normally, I have to add some sweet and spicy barbecue sauces to most baked beans that I get at other barbecue places. But the baked beans they have at A Little BBQ Joint were an exception. They had a sweet, somewhat spicy and nice smoky taste to them. I did add a bit of the Mad Housewife sauce to the beans, but they didn't need the boost in taste or texture. They were very, very good on their own.
My colleague was more than happy with his smoked meat loaf. He remarked that he was going to get some ribs, but he couldn't pass up the temptation of the smoked meat loaf. And he was glad he went in that direction. It did look good and I may have to go back there on a Wednesday at some point to give it a try.
A Little BBQ Joint is certainly getting a following for diners on the east side of the Kansas City metro. I've eaten at a number of outstanding barbecue places in the greater Kansas City area over the years and I'd have to put A Little BBQ Joint up there with some of the best. The barbecue was outstanding and I can't say enough about the taste sensations of the spicy cole slaw and the baked beans. The sauces they have were also very good. Margo's friendly and efficient service just heightened the experience we had at A Little BBQ Joint. Go for the food, linger for the decor and enjoy your visit to A Little BBQ Joint.
June 15, 2015 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rack House Kitchen and Tavern - Arlington Heights, IL
I was calling on an account in the far northwestern suburbs of Chicago on a recent visit there and it was past 7 p.m. when I left the dealer. I was making my way back toward my hotel when I passed a place on Algonquin Road in Arlington Heights (see map) that piqued my interest. I took a turn and headed back to try a place by the name of the Rack House.
With a name like the Rack House, I figured that it was probably a barbecue joint. I was partially correct - they do feature smoked meats in the restaurant. But the focus of the sports bar/restaurant centers upon the number of food items they serve that are flavored with bourbon. A "rackhouse" (also known as a "rickhouse") is a building where aging barrels are stored in whiskey making operations. The Rack House has a long drink list that features "moonshine" drinks, bourbons, Irish whiskey, and single malt Scotch.
But they also have an in-house Southern Pride smoker that allows them to smoke ribs, brisket, pork butt, chicken and sausage. They also smoke chicken wings and salmon in the larger smoker. The Rack House uses hard woods to smoke the meats allowing for a "low and slow" cooking technique.
The Rack House opened in March of 2013 in what was a former Boston Blackie's location. When the father-son owners of Boston Blackie's were indicted on a nearly $2 million bank fraud scheme in 2010, all of their Chicago-area restaurants closed up. Partners Luke Johnson - who owned the LM Bistro in the trendy River North area of Chicago - and Matt Lewandowski - who owned the Trademark Tavern in Lombard - bought the building and renovated it into the Rack House. They closed their respective eateries and concentrated on their new venture in Arlington Heights.
It was around 7:30 when I got into the restaurant. I was greeted by a hostess who asked if I wanted to eat in the bar area - filled with a lot of flat screen televisions and a lot of people - or in the dining room which was a little more laid back and rather quiet. I went with the dining room. And I'm glad I did. I was escorted to a dining area that featured a gas fire place with a large flat screen television above the hearth that was tuned to a basketball game. The hostess dropped off a menu and soon thereafter my server for the evening, Rachel, came to take my drink order. I got a Lagunitas IPA, one of nearly two dozen beers they feature on tap It was served to me in a pint-sized Mason jar.
In addition to the barbecue items on the menu, the Rack House also features the normal sports bar/restaurant appetizers, a number of burgers, salads and wraps, and a number of sandwiches. They also had a handful of entrees that included a ginger/soy-marinated skirt steak, apple cider-glazed pork chops, and a smoked beer-can chicken (available on a limited basis).
I was leaning toward getting the "Over Easy" burger which consists of a burger patty topped with Swiss and cheddar cheese, strips of bacon, caramelized onions, a fried egg and finished with a whiskey BBQ sauce. But I had been getting burnt out on burgers up to that point and I thought I needed something else.
That's when I saw that they had grilled fish tacos. I'm a sucker for good grilled fish tacos (you know that if you're a regular reader of Road Tips) and the ones at the Rack House seemed promising. The fish was seasoned with a blackening spice, then topped with shredded pepper jack cheese, garlic aioli sauce, and shredded cabbage and served in three soft flour taco shells. A medley of tortilla chips came on the side, but those were mainly throw-aways - the fish tacos were actually pretty damned good. The blackened seasoning gave the tacos a bit of a bite, but the garlic aioli was a great touch. I usually make my fish tacos at home with a chipotle/mayo sauce that really gives it a bite. But the garlic aioli may have turned my head in a different direction. It was far from a heavy meal - something that I didn't need that evening. It was simply a spot hitter.
For taking a chance on a place that I just happened to spy as I was driving by, I can't say that I was disappointed in the Rack House. Far from it - I liked the laid-back and welcoming atmosphere, Rachel's service was professional and efficient, and the blackened grilled fish tacos were very good. I wasn't full, nor was I hungry after I finished my meal. I would like to get back to try some of their barbecue at some point. But for what I had this particular evening, I was very happy with what I got. (Picture courtesy The Daily Herald)
June 05, 2015 in Barbecue, Chicago Suburbs, Sports Bars | Permalink | Comments (0)
Smoky's House BBQ - Savoy, IL
I was calling on a dealer in the Champaign area recently and afterward I decided to head to the Friar Tuck liquor store in nearby Savoy and do a little "beer hunting". When I pulled up in front of the Friar Tuck located in the Savoy Plaza shopping center (see map), I noticed that there was a barbecue place next door - Smoky's House BBQ. After making my purchases in Friar Tuck, I took the beer out to my car to put it in the trunk. I thought for a moment, "Hmmm... I AM kind of hungry and it IS close to dinner time..." I decided to give Smoky's House a try that evening.
Joe Evans is the owner of Smoky's House BBQ in Savoy. He has a long resume in the restaurant industry in that part of Illinois - he was the General Manager for Hickory River Smokehouse in nearby Urbana for a number of years, then he became the G.M. of the Buffalo Wild Wings location in Savoy that just happens to be on the other side of Friar Tuck. Evans and his wife opened the first Smoky's House BBQ in Charleston, IL, about 50 miles south of Champaign in April of 2011. Feeling a need for a full menu barbecue place on the south side of Champaign/Urbana, the Evans' opened their second Smoky's House BBQ in July of 2013 in a spot that used to house a Thai restaurant. (UPDATE - I got a message from Joe Evans who told me that he sold the Savoy location in 2014. He still owns the location in Charleston, IL.)
I entered Smoky's House BBQ around 7 p.m. and there was a moderate crowd of people in the place. The sign at the hostess stand said to take a seat anywhere and I found a booth toward the front corner of the restaurant. Not long after I sat down, my server for the evening - Staci - came over with a menu. I ordered up a beer and took a look through the menu.
All of Smoky's House BBQ's meats are smoked in-house and many of the side dishes are made from scratch. The menu is very extensive with a number of appetizers (the "Cow Pattie" caught my eye - it consisted of jalapeños, cheese, black beans and sweet corn), salads, and smoked meat sandwiches including specialty sandwiches as a smoked turkey reuben and a pulled pork sandwich topped with Swiss cheese, grilled onions and a spicy ranch dressing and served on marble rye bread. They also had burgers, smoked meat wraps, wings, and their variations on the Horseshoe sandwich - a staple of Central Illinois cuisine only made with smoked meats.
For smoked meats, Smoky's House offers everything from baby back ribs, pulled pork, and brisket to smoked turkey, chicken and sausage. Burnt ends are also available from time to time at the barbecue joint. Smoky's also offers full catering for big and small events.
I'm glad the menu was so large because it took me a long time to get through it. But once I figured out what I was going to get, I noticed that Staci still hadn't brought my beer to me. It turned out that she was the only waitress in the place that evening. They needed - at least - one more server to work the crowd that was in there. When she finally did get to me to give me my beer, she apologized. "I'm the only one here tonight," she said. "The other girl called in sick." It was a minor inconvenience.
I ordered up the sampler platter with sliced beef brisket and pulled pork. For an extra $5 bucks I could get a sample of the pork ribs, so I ordered that, as well. For sides, I had a number of choices and I ordered the pit beans and I started to order the vinegar and oil cole slaw. But then I saw the au gratin potatoes. Then I saw the steak fries. For some reason I went with the steak fries.
About 15 minutes after I ordered my food, a young man from the kitchen brought out my food. Now, for just two meats and two sides for the sampler platter Smoky's charges $15.00. To add some ribs to the sampler platter is an additional $5 bucks. I looked at the plate and said to myself, "That's it? For $20 bucks?" There were three small end bones from a rack of ribs, four small slices of brisket and probably 3 ounces of pulled pork on the plate. I've had more food on sampler platters at other barbecue joints for a lot less money in my travels. This was not a good value.
And the ribs were pretty basic. They were small, somewhat dry and short of meat off the bone. They were far from the best ribs I've ever had. The brisket tasted like basic roast beef. There was no pizazz to the taste of the brisket. The pulled pork was the best of the bunch. It was moist and tender, and had a bit of a smoky taste to the meat.
To help things along, Smoky's House BBQ offered six made-in-house barbecue sauces to put onto the meat. The first sauce I tried was the Memphis Sweet sauce. It had a hint of a sweet smoky taste and was thick and rich. It was pretty good.
They had three sauces that had some kick to them - the Little Heat, Chipotle Mango and the Perfectly Hot. The Chipotle Mango had a subtle chipotle taste that was tamped down by a nice fruit aftertaste. But I think they got the Little Heat and the Perfectly Hot mixed up. I thought the Little Heat had more of a spicy taste - especially on the back end - than the Perfectly Hot. I mixed some of the Memphis Sweet with both the Perfectly Hot and Little Heat to try with my brisket and pulled pork. All three were above average sauces.
They also had two other sauces that I didn't care for. One was a root beer-based barbecue sauce that was sweet and a little runny. The other was a vinegar based sauce called the Hogwash that I put on some of the pulled pork to give it a try. It was all right, but I don't care much for vinegar barbecue sauces.
The steak fries came in handy to try some of the combinations of sauces that I came up with. They had a crisp outer shell with sort of a spicy seasoning and a moist and flaky inside. The beans had a heavy mustard base that I didn't care for at all. Even adding some of the Little Heat and the Memphis Sweet sauce with the beans didn't help them.
Other than being disappointed in the overall value of the meal, the barbecued meats I had at Smoky's House were average to just above average, at best. Some of the sauces were good and Staci's service - even though she was overwhelmed at times since she was the only one working the dining area - was acceptable. I'm sure some people like the barbecue at Smoky's House, but it's my opinion there are better places to get barbecue in the Champaign/Urbana area.
May 15, 2015 in Barbecue, Champaign/Urbana, IL | Permalink | Comments (2)
Papa Bob's Bar-B-Que - Bonner Springs, KS
Kansas City has long been my favorite place for barbecue. The last couple of visits to the city, I've gone in different culinary directions searching out burgers, Mexican food and Indian cuisine. On my last visit to the area, I made it a point to search out a barbecue joint that has been on my radar for quite sometime, a place on the far west side of Kansas City, KS called Papa Bob's Bar-B-Que.
Bob Caviar is the man behind Papa Bob's, a nickname bestowed on him by his seven grandchildren. A big guy with grey hair and a pony tail, Bob Caviar fell in love with barbecuing and smoking meats when he was in his mid-teens. He opened up his barbecue joint along a stretch of Kansas state highway 32 near Bonner Springs (see map) and not far from the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater (a.k.a. Sandstone Amphitheater) where Papa Bob's maintains a concession booth to sell their barbecue during concerts.
To help call attention to his little barbecue place, Bob Caviar came up with a sandwich called the Ultimate Destroyer. It is over five pounds of a combination of pulled and sliced pork, smoked turkey, three smoked burgers, smoked brisket, smoked sausage, a bunch of bread and barbecue sauce, and topped with Papa Bob's homemade horseradish dill pickles. Oh, and for good measure they throw in a pound and a half of fries on the side. Dozens of people have failed to finish the behemoth sandwich in the allotted 45 minute time period including Adam Richman from the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food program. (Pictured right) Only five people have been able to finish the Ultimate Destroyer including Omaha's Molly Schuyler who is one of the best competitive eaters in America.
Finding Papa Bob's - which is just about two miles west of the Kansas 32 exit along Interstate 435 - I pulled into the parking lot only to find the lot was full of cars. This was good thing, I thought initially. However, I couldn't find a parking spot and ended up heading in toward Bonner Springs to get some gas. By the time I made it back out to Papa Bob's about 15 minutes later, a car was pulling out of a space near the front door. I took that spot, parked the car and went inside.
As I walked in the front door, I figured out why the parking lot was full. I was met by a large crowd of men who were standing in line to pay their food checks. They had just finished a dinner meeting for some club they were involved in. I took a seat in a booth in the back corner of the front dining room (there was a back dining room that the men had just come from) and waited patiently for the young lady - who was both cashier and waitress - to finish up to come over.
The main dining room at Papa Bob's kind of has a 60's-diner motif to the place. Brightly lit with a series of vinyl-topped booths and tables, it also had an old style counter that looked like it was more home to a malt shoppe than a barbecue joint. On the wall near the door that went into the side dining room were dozens of pictures of the people who tried - and failed - to eat the Ultimate Destroyer, as well as pictures of the five who were able to eat everything in under 45 minutes.
While the girl was still cashing the rest of the men's dinner checks, a worker from the back came over with a menu and asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I ordered up a draft beer and figured that I had a lot of time to take a good look at the menu.
The menu at Papa Bob's Bar-B-Que is rather extensive. First of all, the featured nine or ten appetizers including fried okra, sweet potato fries, chicken fingers and mini corn dogs. For barbecued and smoked meats, they featured brisket, ham, turkey, sausage, pork, pulled pork and, of course, ribs including baby back ribs. And they also serve a Kansas City barbecue staple - burnt ends. I've never been a big fan of burnt ends, but there are tons of people who love 'em.
Papa Bob's also features a number of sandwiches including a grilled chicken sandwich, a breaded pork tenderloin, and hickory-smoked corned beef or pastrami served on rye bread. They also have smoked burgers on the menu, as well as a long list of sides that include tater tots, creamy or sweet and sour cole slaw, pesto pasta salad, onion rings, and potato salad.
When the young lady finally finished up at the cash register, she made it over to the table to greet me. She apologized for the wait and I told her it was no problem. I asked what the large group was all about and she said that she got a call around 5:30 to see if they could accommodate 16 people at 6 p.m. She said that it wasn't any problem until she found out that it was more like 28 people instead of 16. "We've been running around here like we've had our heads cut off for the last hour and a half," she told me.
I was ready to order my dinner and I went with the deluxe meat platter - your choice of two types of smoked meats and with it you get two ribs and two sides. I picked pulled pork and brisket for my meats and I ordered fries and something they called "Brooke's Bad Ass Beans" - slow simmered baked beans that were full of chunks of pork and beef. I also had to get a side of the horseradish dill pickles. The young girl asked me, "Do you like horseradish?" I said that I did. "And you like dill pickles?" Again, I said that I did. She said, "OK, well, some people order them up and say they don't like them." She said the description is pretty self-explanatory - horseradish dill pickles - but people are still somewhat surprised by the taste. I told her that I would give them a shot.
About 10 minutes after I ordered, Papa Bob, himself, brought my platter of food out to my table. As you can see by the picture, it was a ton of food. The ribs were big and meaty, there was easily a 1/3 pound of both the pulled pork and the sliced brisket. A large plate of fries accompanied the smoked meats along with a cup of the baked beans. The horseradish dill pickles were in a small dish - about nine or ten chips in total.
There were two different bottles of barbecue sauce on the table so I asked Bob Caviar what the story was on the sauce. He said one of the two bottles was their sweet barbecue sauce, the other was sort of a sweet and spicy sauce. "And..." he said as he hesitated for a moment looking back behind him, "...she's bringing out some of the Bob-anero sauce for you." Some what? "Bob-anero sauce. It's a special concoction I came up with that's sort of sweet with a spicy bite from chopped habanero peppers." I told him that I'd like to give that a try.
"We've got others that are hotter," Bob volunteered. He named a couple - H2 OMG sauce, Crazy Dog chipotle sauce. "We got this stuff called Blazin' Butt sauce, too. I can bring some samples of that our for ya." I declined his offer. I was fine with the three sauces that were on the table.
The first thing I ripped into were the ribs. The ribs were huge with a lot of tender meat that pulled easily away from the bone. The meat had a slightly smoky taste and I enjoyed them with the little bit of the regular sauce that was on them.
The next thing I tried was the brisket. Thinly sliced, the brisket had a slight smoke ring along the outside rim and the taste was very good. I like a good brisket and Papa Bob's had some very good brisket.
The pulled pork was slightly dry and copious amounts of the barbecue sauce helped make it a bit more moist. Of the three items on the plate I'd put the pulled pork at the bottom. It was still good, but the ribs were outstanding and the brisket was very good.
I'm a sauce guy when it comes to barbecue and the sauces at Papa Bob's were all very good. The regular sauce was a thick sweet and smoky Kansas City-style that hung onto the meat very well. The "hot" sauce at Papa Bob's had sort of a black pepper aftertaste to it and had a nice lingering spicy bite. Surprisingly, the Bob-anero sauce had a lot of things going on. It had a sweet front end that slowly turned into a spicy back side. There seemed to be a lot flavors going on between the initial sweetness to the lingering spicy taste on the Bob-anero. Quite actually, I thought the "hot" sauce was more spicy than the Bob-anero sauce.
The fries were crisp and I ate just a handful of them, primarily using them to test the sauces. I probably should have gotten the sweet and sour cole slaw instead of the fries, but the fries served their purpose in allowing me to try the different sauces with a more neutral taste.
The baked beans - served in a common coffee cup, an interesting twist - were thick and had a lot of chunks of pork and beef mixed in. On their own, the beans were very good. As I'm wont to do with baked beans, I added some of the hot barbecue sauce to them to zip them up. The beans were outstanding.
But the winner of the evening at Papa Bob's were the horseradish dill pickle chips. They had a slight - but not overpowering - taste of fresh ground horseradish. Mixed with the vinegar dill flavor, the overall taste of the pickles was immensely heightened. Looking back, I should have just bought a quart jar of the horseradish dill pickles to take back home with me. But I still had three more days on the road and I was worried that they wouldn't last the week.
The barbecue at Papa Bob's, well, I'd put it up against many other places I've tried in the Kansas City area. I don't know if I can call it the best I've had - the pulled pork was really the only thing that I can say held it back from being a truly memorable meal. But the ribs and brisket were very good, as were the baked beans and the sauces provided. And the horseradish dill pickles? They were to die for. I'm going to make it back to Papa Bob's to try more barbecue at some point, as well as picking up a quart jar of the horseradish dill pickles. I'll have to hide them in trunk of the car, though - out of sight, out of mind. That way I wouldn't be tempted to eat them as I'm driving down the road.
March 09, 2015 in Barbecue, Kansas City | Permalink | Comments (0)
Chicago q - Chicago
I was traveling with one of my European manufacturers over a three day period not long ago and we were in Chicago seeing one of my dealers. The dealer has a condo in the upscale Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago where he has some displays and will put up clients when they come to town. We met at the condo one evening and ended up going down the street to a barbecue place that he talked highly about - Chicago q.
Chicago q calls themselves an "urban barbecue restaurant" and is owned by chef/partner Lee Ann Whippen and developer Fred Latsko. Both are somewhat famous in both of their fields - Whippen has been featured on The Learning Channel's BBQ Pitmasters and on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Latsko is a major developer of prime real estate in the downtown Chicago area.
Lee Ann Whippen is sort of an anomaly in the barbecue business. You don't see a lot of ladies running their own barbecue place. But she got her start in the business as a hotel catering manager for 15 years before she started Wood Chick's BBQ Catering Company and Wood Chick's BBQ Competition Team based out of Chesapeake, VA in 2002. Whippen and her team won a number of regional barbecue competitions in the Southeast and was the 2009 Grand Barbecue Champion in Virginia.
Pictured right - Lee Ann Whippen
In 2010, Latsko offered Whippen an opportunity to move to Chicago to open Chicago q. It meant that she had to eventually close her Wood Chick's restaurant in Chesapeake, but she still enters some national competitions from time to time. Whippen won the Grand Champion honor at the Safeway National BBQ Battle in Washington, D.C. in June of 2012 and won second place overall at the 2013 World Food Championships held in Las Vegas.
Chicago q is located just south of the corner of Dearborn and Division street in the heart of the Gold Coast's entertainment district. (see map) The place is far from being just a barbecue "joint". As you enter the restaurant, you go into the bar area you find an upscale lounge with leather seats, contemporary lighting and a lot of dark wood furnishings.
The dining room is a long narrow room with the kitchen in the back. You can see the workers through a big serving window. Lush leather seating for both booths and tables offer an upscale barbecue dining experience. There's an upstairs dining area for private functions and receptions. I took a peek up there before we left and it was very nice.
There were four of us that evening - my dealer and a client of his, my manufacturer and myself. We were seated in a large booth in the corner of the dining room and given menus. After a short while, our server for the evening, Daisy, came over to greet us. Right off the bat, my dealer said, "Hey, let's get a couple orders of the smoked chicken wings going."
Chicago q also has a somewhat impressive beer menu as well as an even more impressive menu of bourbon, rye and Scotch whiskeys. I ordered up a Capital Supper Club lager, one of my favorite beers and something I didn't expect to see on the menu.
The chicken wings are dry-rubbed and cooked low and slow in Chicago q's smoker. Now, I'm not usually big on smoked chicken wings, but these were absolutely delicious. The chicken meat was most and tender, easily falling off the bone when pulled. The rub spices had a definite spicy flavor to them, but nothing oppressive. Along with the smoked chicken wings, we also got bowls of spicy bread & butter pickle slices that were excellent, and housemade potato chips that were lightly sprinkled with the housemade rub they use on their meats. But compared to the smoked chicken wings and the spicy pickle slices, the potato chips were just all right.
Three of us went with barbecue - I had the American Kobe beef sliced brisket with a half-rack of Chicago q's St. Louis style ribs. It featured three long slices of the brisket and seven or eight meaty rib bones. Some pickled red onions came on the side and I got a bowl of French fries on the side. The brisket was fine - tender and moist - but it was missing something that I like in my brisket. It didn't have much of a smoky taste and it was more like well done roast beef than brisket. The ribs had a plentiful dusting of the rub spices from Chicago q and were also tender and moist. The bones were rather small, though, and didn't yield a lot of meat. But what pork I did get off the bones was very good.
My dealer's client went with the q burger. The classic American style burger features a huge beef patty char-grilled and topped with Swiss cheese, bacon and cole slaw and served on an onion bun. Quite seriously, I almost got that when I was reading about it on the menu. But I had to do the barbecue. The beef patty was - quite probably - 3/4's of a pound and the client couldn't eat the whole thing. He ended up taking what was left home for him. "I can have the rest for breakfast," he said. "I'm not about to let this go to waste."
My manufacturer colleague got the smoked half-chicken. I couldn't get a picture of it as he was clear on the other side of the rather long table in the booth, but the four large pieces covered his plate. It looked similar in style to the smoked chicken wings in regard to the rub spices on it. He, too, couldn't eat the whole thing but since we were traveling he didn't take any of the left overs with him.
There were four sauces that were brought to the table. Chicago q's original sauce is a sweet and tangy sauce that is pretty mild. They had a spicy barbecue sauce that was a little more forward in taste and left a bit of a spicy aftertaste. I tried a bit of the vinegar sauce on one of the rib bones, but didn't like it as much as the spicy barbecue sauce. And Chicago q also has a mustard barbecue sauce that I didn't try because I really don't like mustard-based barbecue sauces.
I have mixed feelings about upscale barbecue places. Chicago q was very nice and the food was quite good. But I sort of like the downhome feel of a good ol' barbecue joint a little bit better. Barbecue is messy and I sort of got the feeling while eating at Chicago q that you couldn't get too messy with their barbecue. Would I return if I had the chance? In a heartbeat! But I'd still feel more comfortable in a casual and folksy barbecue joint.
February 12, 2015 in Barbecue, Chicago | Permalink | Comments (0)
Doc & Eddie's BBQ - Omaha
I was in Omaha on a recent fall evening and I had a hankering for some barbecue. I was staying on the southwest side of the city and I was looking for places that were in the immediate area. I found a place called Doc & Eddie's BBQ that wasn't far from the hotel. I made it over there to find out a pretty interesting back story on how the place came to be.
Dr. Jeff DeMare is a renowned critical pediatric care doctor at Children's Hosptial and Medical Center in Omaha. When Dr. DeMare began to work at Children's Hospital in 2002 he befriended a security guard by the name of Eddie Vacek. It turns out that DeMare and Vacek had a number of things in common - they liked to talk about sports and about girls. But they also found out that they both had a deep appreciation for good barbecue. This unlikely friendship turned into a partnership where DeMare ended up buying a portable professional smoker and Vacek and he would spend their summer weekends in 2006 along side a road in the Omaha suburb of Gretna drinking beers, smoking meats and selling it to the people who would stop by.
The two decided that they needed to have a full time barbecue joint. They found a spot in a strip mall on the southwest side of the city, but just before the place opened up Eddie Vacek suddenly passed away. DeMare was determined to soldier on in remembrance of his friend and he opened Doc & Eddie's BBQ in July of 2007. (There is a former chain of sports bars that was called Doc & Eddy's, but they're not affiliated with DeMare's barbecue joint.) DeMare ended up hiring Lynette Hughes to be the manager and part-owner of Doc & Eddie's.
Doc & Eddie's is located in a strip mall just northwest of the corner of 168th and Harrison. (see map) It's set back from the street a bit, so there was a bit of driving around the parking lot before I found the small storefront of the restaurant. If I'd had my window down in my car I would have been able to find the place a lot quicker. The smell of the smoke of there restaurant was wafting in the cool fall air.
I got there at the right time - it was around 7:30 and they were only open until 8 p.m. that evening. A couple other people were in there eating when I got there and, interestingly, a number of cops came in to pick up orders to go from the time I got in there up to the time I left.
The place isn't all that big - it probably seats three dozen or so people. There are a number of tables and booths between the brick walls. The kitchen area is open behind the front counter.
The menu is located on the wall above the counter. Doc & Eddy's specializes in meaty St. Louis style ribs as well as beef brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage and turkey. They also have grilled chicken sandwiches and burgers on the menu. As I'm wont to do with most barbecue places that I visit, I want to try a couple three things. I was looking at getting the ribs, brisket and pulled pork platter, but I was told by the young girl at the front counter that it was a lot of food. The guy manning the kitchen in the back said, "Yeah, if you're really hungry, go for it."
I decided to just go with the pulled pork and brisket combo. I got two sides with it - I chose baked beans, but was having trouble figuring out if I wanted fries, cole slaw, potato salad, corn fritters, or a handful of other sides. I asked the girl for a suggestion and she said, "We sell a lot of the mac and cheese." OK, I'll do the mac and cheese as a second side. And the one great thing about Doc & Eddy's - they had beer. I like a cold beer with barbecue so I was happy they could accommodate me that evening.
The barbecue platter was brought out to me about five minutes after I ordered at the front counter. The first thing I noticed was that they had chopped brisket rather than sliced brisket. I normally don't go for the chopped brisket, but that's what I got. But the first bite pretty much allayed any trepidation I had toward chopped brisket. The brisket had a great smoky taste, it was moist and tender, and it literally melted in my mouth. It was some of the finest brisket I've ever tasted.
The pulled pork was also moist and tasty, but it wasn't as good as the brisket. The pulled pork and chopped brisket were served on pieces of white bread, a nod to Southern-style barbecue places.
Doc & Eddie's BBQ had three different types of sauces - their original sauce had a sweet taste with a bit of spiciness on the backside; the chipotle sauce had a faint chipotle taste with more of a spicy kick, but nothing that was overbearing; and a sweet pineapple sauce that was sweet and fruity. I didn't care for the sweet pineapple sauce, but found myself going more toward the chipotle sauce than the original Doc & Eddie's sauce.
For the sides, the girl steered me wrong on the mac and cheese - it was pretty pedestrian and bland, but the baked beans were good. And they were made even better when I added in a mixture of the chipotle and original barbecue sauces.
I'll have to say that my meal at Doc & Eddie's surpassed my expectations. The brisket was outstanding, the pulled pork wasn't that far behind the brisket, the sauces were above average - not outstanding - but still good, and the beans totally saved the sides over the limp tasting mac and cheese. I'll say Jeff DeMare has done a wonderful job keeping the memory of Eddie Vacek alive with the fine barbecue at Doc & Eddie's BBQ.
(Update - Doc & Eddie's closed in December of 2015 without any announcement as to why they shut their doors.)
January 26, 2015 in Barbecue, Omaha, NE, Rest In Peace | Permalink | Comments (2)
Corky's Ribs and Barbecue - Memphis, TN
I wanted to try a couple three place for barbecue when we were on our short vacation to Memphis last year. We had been to the famous Rendezvous on our first visit over a dozen years before, but we wanted to try another venerable Memphis place that had been open for 30 years - Corky's Ribs and Barbecue. After a morning visit to the Memphis Zoo, we went to Corky's for a late lunch.
Don Pelts was a Memphis native who worked at his parents furniture store while he was going to college believing that he'd someday own the story. However, the store closed in the late 60's and Pelts suddenly found himself out of work. After a year or so of figuring out what he wanted to do, Pelts and his brother-in-law, David Soren, bought a famous barbecue place in Memphis called The Public Eye. It wasn't long after starting at The Public Eye that Pelts had his own vision of the type of barbecue joint that he'd like to own at some point. He wanted a premium, sit-down barbecue restaurant that had sort of a 50's fun flair to the place.
It took him a few years later to realize his dreams, but he found a building on Poplar Ave. that had previously housed a failed barbecue restaurant. He outfitted the restaurant with a rustic look, put a bunch of neon signs up on the walls, played 50's and 60's music over the restaurant's speakers and offered up a mix of wet and Memphis-style dry-rubbed ribs and barbecue. It was a sit down place where waiters wore white shirts and bow ties. And after seeing the success of fast food restaurants with drive-thru windows along Poplar Ave., Pelts put in a drive-thru pick-up window at Corky's. The place became one of the most popular barbecue places in Memphis and a destination for travelers who came to town.
Pictured right - Don Pelts
Over the years, Don Pelts influenced a number of off-shoot barbecue places in Memphis and the South. People who worked for Pelts at both Corky's and The Public Eye started a number of restaurants such as the Pig and Whistle, Sticky Fingers BBQ, and Buckley's Grill. When a group of Washington D.C.-based politicians wanted to bring good ol' Southern-style barbecue to the nation's capital, they turned to Don Pelts for help and advice in starting what turned out to be the Red Hot and Blue barbecue chain.
Corky's grew to two more locations in Memphis and a number more outside of Memphis over the years with franchise locations opening in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi. He also started his own meat packing company to ship Corky's ribs, meats, spices and barbecue sauce around the U.S. And Corky's has been a featured partner on the QVC home shopping network selling a Corky's cookbook as well as Corky's sauces and spices.
In 2013, Don Pelts was enjoying a game of bridge - a passion of his - at a local bridge club in Memphis when he experienced a fatal heart attack. Pelts was revered by thousands in the community and the outpouring of grief and sympathy from around Memphis and beyond overwhelmed his family. The Pelts family, including son Barry, daughter Patricia Woodman, and her husband, Andy, continue to run Corky's today.
We had passed Corky's a number of times on our trips up and down Poplar Ave. to and from our hotel on the far eastern side of Memphis. (see map) We pulled in just after 2 p.m. to get something to eat. After being greeted at the hostess stand, we we taken to a booth in the main dining room.
The interior of the original Corky's probably hasn't changed much from the day Don Pelts opened the place. There is the barn board walls, still a lot of neon signs giving the dining area a sort of eerie glow, polished brass railings and a number of sturdy pinewood booths and tables. We were given menus and it wasn't long before our server, Joy - an outgoing middle-aged lady - came over to greet us. I needed a beer and I saw that they had something called Corky's Memphis Brew. I asked Joy about that and she said it was an amber beer that was brewed for them by the Abita Brewing Company in Louisiana. I signed up for one of those. It was actually a pretty good beer, but I like many of the Abita beers.
All of Corky's barbecued meats are cooked low and slow over a combination of charcoal and hickory wood. They featured rib platters, barbecue combo plates and sandwiches on the menu. They also had a number of appetizers on the menu including a staple from nearby Mississippi, tamales and chili.
Cindy got the pulled pork dinner plate. It came with a side of cole slaw that she thought were pretty bland and a side of baked beans. The pulled pork was slathered in some of Corky's sweet and smoky barbecue sauce.
I got the ribs and brisket combo - a half slab of ribs in rubbed with Corky's proprietary dry-rub spices and seven or eight slices of brisket. I also got beans and cole slaw and we also got some butter basted housemade rolls with our meals. This was a lot of food.
The ribs were all right for me. They probably had too much of the rub to my liking and I couldn't really get a lot of the good pork rib taste to the meat. The brisket was fine, tender and somewhat moist and juicy. I wasn't certain I cared for the barbecue sauce, it was pretty weak compared to other comparable sweet and smoky sauces that I've enjoyed in the past.
We shared food back and forth and Cindy didn't care for the ribs, but did like the brisket. I tried some of her pulled pork and it was moist and tasty. Not the best I've had, but certainly not bad. But both of us decided that the baked beans were pretty weak and that the very bland cole slaw was even more "blah!"
I've eaten in a lot of barbecue places over the years and I'd put Corky's sort of in the middle of the ones I've tried in the past. The barbecue was fine, but it didn't exactly make me pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time. There was too much of the dry rub on the ribs to my liking. The pulled pork and brisket were fine, but not outstanding. We enjoyed Joy's service and the ambiance of the place was fine. We'll try other barbecue places in Memphis on our next visit, but Corky's was all right for what they're trying to accomplish.
January 08, 2015 in Barbecue, Memphis, TN | Permalink | Comments (0)
Adam's Smokehouse - St. Louis
Skip Steele is the Godfather of St. Louis barbecue. He was one of the co-founders of the very good Super Smokers barbecue place (click here to see the entry on Super Smokers), then he became involved with former Super Smokers general manager Mike Emerson in Pappy's Smokehouse. (Click here to see the entry on Pappy's.) Steele and Brian Scoggins then opened Bogart's Smokehouse with Emerson as a partner in the place. (Click here to see the entry on Bogart's.) While at Pappy's, Steele mentored the two men who went out on their own and opened Adam's Smokehouse in October of 2013. I had Adam's Smokehouse on my "have to visit" radar for a number of months before I finally went there on a recent visit to St. Louis.
Emerson and Steele are two of the partners in Mothership, the corporation that oversees the operations for Pappy's and Bogart's and sold the license for Adam's Smokehouse to Frank Vinciguerra and Mike Ireland, both of whom worked at Pappy's for several years working with Emerson and Steele learning the trade from two masters. (Pictured right - Mike Ireland and Frank Vinciguerra. Photo courtesy Riverfront Times.) Their close friend and co-worker at Pappy's, Adam Gaffney, died unexpectedly in 2012 at the age of 25 and to honor his memory they wanted to open their own place to celebrate Adam's love for both barbecue and sports. They found a small location in St. Louis' Clifton Heights neighborhood and opened their doors about 15 months ago.
Adam's Smokehouse is located on Watson Road, literally across the street from Chris' Pancake and Dining. (see map) I first spotted Adam's when my wife and I dined at Chris' earlier this year, making a note because I had it on my "to-do" list of restaurants to visit. (Click here to see the entry on Chris' Pancake and Dining.) Parking is available on Watson Road, so I parked just down the street and walked back to Adam's Smokehouse.
It's not a big place - probably seating a couple dozen people, tops. Dozens of pictures and posters of St. Louis sports teams adorn the walls. The large windows up front help shine natural light into the place with fluorescent ceiling fixtures augmenting the brightness in the dining area. The smell of the smoker was prevalent in the neighborhood on the cool day that I was there.
Like both Pappy's and Bogart's, Adam's Smokehouse opens at 11 a.m. and is open until around 6 or 7 p.m., or until the meat runs out. (They're closed on Monday and open until 4 p.m. on Tuesday.) And, unfortunately for me because I like beer with my barbecue, Adam's - like Pappy's and Bogart's - doesn't sell beer. I'm going to have to find out if these places are B.Y.O.B. establishments.
The menu at Adam's Smokehouse is your typical barbecue fare, but both Vinciguerra and Ireland insist that it's different from Pappy's and Bogart's in both the cuts of meat and offerings. One thing that I saw on their menu is tri-tip, something you just don't see at barbecue joints. Like I'm wont to do at most barbecue places, I wanted to get a meat combo platter to try their brisket and pulled pork. When I ordered at the counter I was told I got two sides. Their pit beans were a given for me, but I wasn't certain what I wanted for my second side. They had something called Billy Goat chips that were sort of a fried potato side, cole slaw, housemade applesauce, a pasta salad and potato salad. When I asked the guy at the counter what I should get for my second side he immediately said, "We sell a lot of our potato salad. It's got a little spicy kick to it." Potato salad, it is!
Not long after I found a table to sit at, a person brought out my barbecue plate. There were ample amounts of sliced brisket and pulled pork piled on a bun crown. The beans and potato salad also looked good to me.
The first thing I tried was the pulled pork. Although it was a tad dry to my liking, it still sort of melted in my mouth. It had a hint of smoky flavor and was very good. A bit more moisture in the pork would have made it outstanding.
The brisket more than made up for the very slight problem with the pork. It was tender and moist with a bit of a smoke ring along the outside. The brisket was some of the best I've had.
They have three barbecue sauces at Adam's Smokehouse. The Sweet Jane sauce is their regular sweet and smoky sauce. They have a cranberry cayenne sauce that had an interesting blend of a fruity taste with a bit of a spicy taste on the back side. I liked it, but not as much as other spicy sauces that I've had in the past. The third sauce was a Carolina vinegar sauce that had a bit of a peppery taste. Runny in its consistency, the Carolina vinegar sauce was actually pretty good, especially on the pork.
Now, I normally like to jazz up most of the baked beans I get at barbecue joints with a combination of the sweet and spicy sauces. But the pit beans at Adam's Smokehouse didn't need much help. They had a nice sweet and smoky taste to them with bits of pork in with the thick sauce. Not quite as good as the baked beans that I make at home, but these were excellent for a barbecue place.
The potato salad did have a bit of a spicy taste to it, but it wasn't my favorite. They were good, but I should have gotten a double order of the pit beans.
As I was getting ready to leave, I was taking my plate toward the trash receptacle by the front counter. Frank Vinciguerra came out and said, "Here, let me take those from you." Then he asked, "How was it? Did we do all right for you?"
I'll have to say that they did very well for me. As big of a fan that I am of both Pappy's and Bogart's, I'll now have to include the barbecue at Adam's Smokehouse in my favorites in St. Louis. The pork was very good - not the best - but still very good. The brisket was outstanding. And I really enjoyed the baked beans. Pappy's and Bogart's are 1A and 1B in my book when it comes to barbecue in St. Louis. Adam's Smokehouse is now 1C. I don't think you can go wrong at any one of those places.
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Wednesday’s Transfer Rumor Roundup: Tevez to Atletico, Mandzukic to Manchester United
By Joe Prince-WrightJun 10, 2015, 9:58 AM EDT
The first two pieces of gossip involve Atletico Madrid as the La Liga side look to chop and change their strikers. According to their own manager Diego Simeone, Atleti are in talks with Argentine striker Carlos Tevez about moving to the Vicente Calderon. Tevez, 31, started last Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final for Juventus but the Italian champions lost 3-1 to Barcelona. Simeone has since told Spanish newspaper AS that officials at Atletico are talking to Tevez’s agent about joining the Spanish side who finished third in La Liga last season and reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. The former Manchester United, Manchester City and West Ham United forward has never played for a Spanish club so far in his career and his presence alongside the likes of Antoine Griezemann would suit Atletico’s style of a rapid counter-attacking team perfectly. Tevez has scored 50 times in 95 outings for Juve since joining the Italians in 2013 from Man City. Surely linking up with his Argentine compatriot Simeone would be a match made in heaven…
[ RELATED: Monday’s transfer gossip ]
What about the player moving out of Atletico? Well, the Sun newspaper in the UK have dedicated their entire backpage to Mario Mandzukic and claim the Croatian international is on his way to Manchester United. Mandzukic, 29, has only spent one season at Atletico after arriving from Bayern Munich last summer and despite scoring 20 times in 48 appearances, he ended the 2014-15 campaign without a goal in 11 matches. It is believed United want Mandzukic to freshen up their attack and with Robin van Persie’s future uncertain, Radamel Falcao returning to AS Monaco on loan and Javier Hernandez not fancied at Old Trafford. That could leave Louis van Gaal short in the strikers department. Mandzukic arrived at Atletico for $30 million last summer and they will want to recoup most of that transfer fee to let him go just a year later.
Another played United have been linked with is Southampton and England right back Nathaniel Clyne. The 24-year-old defender has just one year left on his current deal at Saints and has been stalling over a new deal with the Premier League outfit. Liverpool have already had a $15 million bid for Clyne turned down by Saints but now the Daily Express claim that United are to renew their interest in the speedy full back after missing out on Dani Alves. Clyne has been a regular for Southampton since signing for them in 2012 on their arrival back into the PL. He also made his debut for the English national team last season and is expected to be first-choice for Roy Hodgosn’s side for years to come. United played Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia at right back for most of last season after Rafael suffered injuries and was left out of the team by van Gaal.
Tags: Antonio Valencia, Carlos Tevez, Javier Hernandez, Manchester City, Manchester United, Nathaniel Clyne, Premier League, Radamel Falcao, Rafael, Robin van Persie, Southampton
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Frederick Wherry
Professor of Sociology.
Departmental Representative, Sociology.
ffwherry@princeton.edu
102 Wallace Hall
Frederick Wherry is a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and Director of the Dignity and Debt Network (www.dignityanddebt.org), a partnership between the Social Science Research Council and Princeton. He, Kristin Seefeldt, and Alvarez Alvarez are the authors of Credit Where It’s Due: Rethinking Financial Citizenship. The book includes a Foreword by José A. Quiñonez. Wherry is also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Consumption (with Ian Woodward, forthcoming September 2019) and he is editor of the four-volume Sage Encyclopedia of Economics and Society as well as Money Talks: How Money Really Works (with Nina Bandelj and Viviana A. Zelizer). He is the author or editor of four other books or volumes. He edits a book series at Stanford University Press: Culture and Economic Life, with Jennifer Lena and Greta Hsu. He was the 2018 President of the Social Science History Association (ssha.org) and the past chair of the Economic Sociology Section and the Consumers and of the Consumption Section of the American Sociological Association. He has served on numerous editorial boards and on the policy board of the Journal of Consumer Research. He participates in a working group on work and wealth at the Aspen Institute and serves in an advisory capacity to the Boston Federal Reserve (Community Development Research Advisory Council) and the Lloyds Banking Group Centre for Responsible Business at the Birmingham Business School (UK). Before joining the Princeton Department he was a Professor of Sociology at Yale University and Co-Director of the Center for Cultural Sociology. He has also served on the faculty of the University of Michigan and Columbia University. He currently serves as a Selector for the Luce Scholars Program (Henry Luce Foundation). He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar, his MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and his PhD in Sociology from Princeton. He tweets @ProfessorWherry and his latest article in Social Forces can be found here: http://academic.oup.com/sf/advance-article/doi/10.1093/sf/soy127/5308436
Photo Credit: Michael Marsland
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Paragraph 2 reads: "US-based software engineer, A Venkat Ram Kashyap (30), who jumped to his death from the sixth floor of the Taramandal Complex, opposite the Secretariat, on Thursday night, was on anti-depressants drugs for one year."
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=NRI+techie+was+bogged+riding+high+down+by+slowdown&artid=jZ7bdBAtOGk=&SectionID=xAV59odivTs=&MainSectionID=wIcBMLGbUJI=&SectionName=BUzPVSKuYv7MFxnS0yZ7ng==&SEO =
NRI techie was bogged riding high down by slowdown
P Hareesh
First Published : 30 May 2009 09:19:08 AM IST
Last Updated : 30 May 2009 10:53:03 AM IST
HYDERABAD: He planned to return to his roots and settle down in Hyderabad with his family. But health problems coupled up with the stress of being an IT professional at the time of a global slowdown led him to the extreme step. And he chose to end his life rather than be resilient and fight.
US-based software engineer, A Venkat Ram Kashyap (30), who jumped to his death from the sixth floor of the Taramandal Complex, opposite the Secretariat, on Thursday night, was on anti-depressants drugs for one year.
Kashyap, however, kept his folks back home in the dark about his depressed state of mind.
His suicide came as a rude shock to his family members who did not have the slightest inkling about what their son was going through till he came to the city on Wednesday.
“Kashyap came to the city only on Wednesday and his parents came to know that he was on anti-depressant drugs after his arrival,” Kashyap’s aunt, Lakshmi, said. On Thursday too, Kashyap along with his wife, Subhadra, and another relative visited a psychiatrist at Banjara Hills. “Kashyap dropped his wife and sister-in-law at the Prasad’s multiplex and asked them to return home on their own stating that he wanted to catch up with a friend. That was the last time that the family saw him, Lakshmi said.
A few hours later, the news of Kashyap’s death came from the police much to the shock of his family and parents.
“Kashyap was suffering from a thyroid problem and was undergoing treatment in the US.
Though the ailment had a cure, it might be the stress of his job at the time of recession that made him take the extreme step,” Kashyap’s uncle and vicepresident of Quantum Asia Private Limited, P V S Balasubramanyam said.
Balasubramanyam, who is also into the IT sector, said that Kashyap was well placed in his job. “It is the lack of resilience on part of the 30-year-old which might have prompted him to take the extreme step. Kashyap was planning to shift to the city along with his wife, Subhadra, who is doing her chemical research in the US and five-yearold son, Abhijit Kashyap, by the end of this year,” he added.
The family was in the city to spend the summer vacation.
Kashyap was a resident of Malakpet and had completed his engineering from a private institute in Aurangabad, family members said.
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Own a Piece Of Hannah Montana
In celebration of the thirteenth anniversary of the television phenomenon “Hannah Montana,” Julien’s Auctions, the world record-breaking auction house, has announced that Music Icons: The Hannah Montana Collections will headline their rock and roll auction event of the year taking place on Saturday, May 18, 2019 live at Hard Rock Cafe New York and online at juliensauctions.com.
The auction will feature costumes, props, concert tour ephemera, memorabilia and more used from the 2006-2008 seasons of the hit television series “Hannah Montana,” starring Miley Cyrus. The collection comes from Jason Gluck, who ran the MileyWorld fan club during the show’s production. It was also announced today that all proceeds of this auction will benefit Wilder Minds Inc., an international not-for-profit organization chosen by Gluck that strives to make a better place for all of earth’s inhabitants and aids the world’s at risk animals through youth education, art and entertainment initiatives and programs.
“Hannah Montana,” (Disney Channel, 2006-2011) followed the adventures of Miley Stewart, played by Miley Cyrus, a young California teenager who lived a secret double life as pop star Hannah Montana. The show became a worldwide sensation and one of the top-rated kids shows of all time, launching Cyrus’ career as a teen pop singer and a mega franchise that included merchandise, films, albums, concert tours and more. The 2006 “Hannah Montana” soundtrack, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart (a first for a TV soundtrack) and went double-platinum and in the following year, Cyrus’ two disc set, “Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus,” became her second No. 1 album on Billboard. She starred in the commercial hit film based on the series, Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2009) that earned $169 million in worldwide box office revenue.
Highlights of the auction include items from Miley Cyrus’ “Best of Both Worlds” tour – her debut concert tour – such as an ensemble consisting of a customized black satin jacket monogrammed “Miley” in the front and “M” on the back, a shocking pink tank top and rose/white striped knee high socks (estimate: $3,000-$5,000); her customized high top “Best of Both Worlds” Converse sneakers (estimate: $2,000-$4,000) and a large globe shaped inflatable that reads “Miley” used on the tour (estimates: $300-$500); costumes and ensembles Cyrus worn on Hannah Montana (various estimates: $400-$1,200) many of which include the original wardrobe tags and test shots of Cyrus wearing the costumes, ncluding an army green floral print top with dolman sleeves and a pair of pale yellow jeans worn on season 2, a pair of mint green Cleo stretch jeans, a floral print crepon top with deep red halter strap, a Love on a Hangar shocking pink terry cloth mini dress, a black bustier embellished with painted flowers and faceted glass, a turquoise sweatshirt with floral embroidery and a signed in marker “Miley Cyrus” American Apparel grey zip front jacket with H2M applied to the front and Crew 2007 in the back, “The Ultimate Miley Party” varsity black jacket (photo top left); a stratocaster style electric guitar with three single coil pickups and colorful Six Flags logo (estimate: $500-$700); a coral tank top that reads “Let’s Rock and Roll” worn by Cyrus back stage at Miley Cyrus Live at MGM Grand Las Vegas in 2007 (estimate: $300-$500) (photo above right); a black and white floral print boot signed in silver marker “These boots are made for Rockin’ xoxo Miley” (estimate: $300-$500) (photo left); various personal handwritten notes including one written by Cyrus on the subject of acquiring a driver’s license (estimate: $400-$600), jewelry, backstage passes, T-shirts and more.
“Julien’s Auctions is celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of ‘Hannah Montana’ in a big way with this special event,” said Martin Nolan, Executive Director of Julien’s Auctions. “We’re thrilled to offer this exclusive and exceptional collection of items owned and worn by Miley Cyrus as her most famous and iconic television persona that launched her career as one of the most influential and exciting pop divas today.”
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Tag Archives: Mona Lisa
“Paris is always a good idea.” ― Audrey Hepburn
Paris is always a good idea, quote Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina
Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France
Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Antoine Blanchard, Impressionism, Paris, France
Avenue des Champs-Élysées, sign for the home of Brazilian aviation pioneer who won In 1901 the prestigious Deutsche de la Meurthe Prize, a contest that called for flying from the Parc St. Cloud and around the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France
Eiffel Tower, built by Gustave Eiffel, Paris, France
Eiffel Tower, view from the top, Paris, France
Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris, France from http://musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/home
Jacquemart-André Museum, The Beach at Villerville 1864 Eugène Boudin, Exhibit, Paris, France from http://musee-jacquemart-andre.com/en/home
Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Louvre Museum, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, 2nd-century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory), Paris, France
Louvre Museum, Paris, France from the Louvre, http://www.louvre.fr/
Louvre Museum, Psyche revived by Cupid’s kiss by Antonio Canova, 1757-1822, Paris, France
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Louvre Museum, view from the upper terrace, Paris, France
Louvre Museum, Map, Paris, France
Marc Chagall, Chagall between War and Peace, Exhibit, Paris, France from the Guardian
Musée Rodin, Auguste Rodin, Hôtel Biron, Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, The Cathedral by Auguste Rodin (1908), Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, Rose Garden, Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, The 3 Shades (before 1886) by Auguste Rodin, Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, The Gates of Hell (1917) by Auguste Rodin, Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, The Kiss by Auguste Rodin (1882), Paris, France
Musée Rodin, Hôtel Biron, The Thinker by Auguste Rodin (1903) Paris, France
Musée Rodin, The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin, Hôtel Biron, Paris, France
Place des Vosges, Paris oldest public square in Marais, France from http://maisonsvictorhugo.paris.fr/en
Place des Vosgues, Maison de Victor Hugo-museum, Marais, Paris, France from http://maisonsvictorhugo.paris.fr/en
Rudolf Nureyev’s version of “The sleeping beauty-La Belle au bois dormant,” composer Tchaikovsky, Paris Opera Ballet 2013, Paris, France from Opéra national de Paris | Page officielle’s photo.
Rudolf Nureyev’s version of the ballet ‘The Sleeping Beauty – La belle au bois dormant,’ Josua Hoffalt and Ludmilla Pagliero, Paris Opera Ballet, 2013 Paris, France
Musée d’Orsay, ‘Regattas at Argenteuil’ by Claude Monet, circa 1872, Paris, France
Musée d’Orsay, indoors, Paris, France
Musée d’Orsay, outdoors, Paris, France
TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, high-speed train) operated by SNCF voyages, France
Un Dimanche à Paris, cours-de-cuisine, Paris, France from http://www.un-dimanche-a-paris.com/
Un dimanche à Paris, Paris, France
Salon du Chocolat, Paris, France from http://www.salonduchocolat.fr/
A great advantage of living in Dijon is its straightforward access to interesting travel locations. France has one of the best rail systems in Europe. One can take a direct train from Dijon to Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) or simply take a TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse, high-speed train) operated by SNCF voyages to a major station in Paris, “Gare de Lyon.” This particular trip takes about 1 hour and 35 minutes and: “Voilà, you are in Paris!”
Paris, “the city of lights,” has always inspired great accolades of love and wonder. Compositions and lyrics have been written by an array of composers and musicians including Gershwin, Offenbach and Louis Armstrong. Gifted authors as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Scott Fitzgerald and one of my favorite poets, the Prague-born poet Rainer Maria Rilke visited Paris. A classic account depicts that Rilke came to Paris to write a monograph on the artist Auguste Rodin. After, Rilke became Rodin’s secretary while Rilke’s wife, the sculptor Clara Westhoff, became the great master’s pupil. All of these architects of excellence shared an enduring attachment to Paris whilst becoming immersed within its ethos. As result, they stayed for longer engagements with some lasting quite a few years.
Initially, it is important to experience Paris as a tourist. Incomparable monuments welcome the visitor throughout its city-center famously designed by Baron Haussmann. This visionary and extravagant prefect of the Seine Department was chosen by Emperor Napoleon III to beautify the city with boulevards and parks, museums, bridges and so much more. Certain places should be a priority when visiting Paris such as the symbol of glories past: the Arc de Triomphe, followed by a stroll across the bustling Avenue des Champs-Élysées where trendy shops and cafés serve the tourist crowds. Next in the agenda: the Louvre Museum. This renowned art museum is one of the oldest in the world and the place where Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” dwells. Staying with the fine-arts motif, one cannot miss the Musée d’Orsay. This unique museum, is located in the interior of the former Orsay railway station and holds one of the finest Impressionists collection in the world. Thereafter, one should steer toward the most recognizable emblem of the city: the Eiffel Tower, built by Dijon’s native, Gustave Eiffel. Often, the Eiffel Tower has long moving lines. Still, it offers one of the best topographic views of the city. Another splendid and perhaps less crowded vista is located at the observation deck on top of the Arc de Triomphe. There, one can behold the impressive panoramic spectrum of La Defense, the Avenue Champs-Élysées and the Sacré-Coeur Basilica.
An additional museum is the Musée Rodin. This museum displays the superb works of the celebrated master, Auguste Rodin, at the Hôtel Biron. Historically, this mansion and garden museum was occupied by several artists since 1905 including the painter Henri Matisse and the dancer Isadora Duncan. In 1908, Rodin establish his sculpting studios within a few rooms. By 1911, he occupied the entire building. Rodin also adorned the outside gardens with some of his work. Today, in the midst of roses and shrubberies, some prominent pieces grace the grounds including the Thinker (1903), the Burghers of Calais (1889), Gates of Hell (1917) and the Three Shades (before 1886). The shades appear in Dante’s Divine Comedy and represent the souls of the dammed standing at the gates of hell whispering: “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” Inside the mansion, several acclaimed pieces can be viewed such as The Kiss (1882) and the Cathedral (1908). Moreover, distinguished pieces of Rodin’s assistant-artist-muse-mistress, the talented and tragic Camille Claudel are exhibited.
The Parisian experience is multidimensional! Last year alone, I was able to dissect the Louvre Museum, by visiting one wing at a time over an eight-month period which allow me to fall in love with its collections. I have also relished noteworthy events: the sumptuous version of Rudolf Nureyev’s ballet “La Belle au bois dormant/The sleeping beauty (composer Tchaikovsky)” by the Paris Opera Ballet at the Bastille Opera in Paris; and the outstanding exhibit of the Jewish-Russian-French artist Marc Chagall: “Chagall between War and Peace” at the Paris’ Musée de Luxembourg. Additionally, a smaller museum, the Jacquemart-André museum, displayed a delightful exhibit of Eugène Boudin, Claude Monet’s master-teacher. Thematic classes/workshops are taught throughout the city for short periods or even during weekend breaks including: the gratifying “travel sketchbooking” with Pauline Fraisse Art & Culture; and “Un Dimanche à Paris” where I spend diverting weekends learning to make scrumptious chocolate morsels, the famous macaroons and French pastries in the heart of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Unique pursuits also flourish in Paris. Chocolate aficionados will be delighted to visit the “Salon du Chocolat” exposition. It usually runs for 5 days in autumn around October/November. Visitors step into the marvelous world of cocoa while observing the work of internationally renowned chefs and pastry chefs. Victor Hugo’s fans will appreciate the elegantly designed Place des Vosgues, Paris oldest public square in Marais where Victor Hugo lived between 1832 and 1848. The Maison de Victor Hugo and museum is housed here and it provides a glimpse into the author’s quotidian life. Similarly, riverside admirers will welcome a river cruise along the Seine passing through historical sites and bridges while savoring a refined French cuisine feast and enjoying live music performances.
Paris is always a good idea. The French capital will always welcome guests desiring to unveil its social and cultural assets.
Tags: Arc de Triomphe, Auguste Rodin, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, ballet, Baron Haussmann, Boulevards, Camille Claudel, Chagall between War and Peace, Charles de Gaulle Airport, chocolate, city of lights, Clara Westhoff, Claude Monet, cooking classes, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Eiffel Tower, Ernest Hemingway, Eugène Boudin, France, French pastry, Gare de Lyon, Gates of Hell, Gershwin, Gustave Eiffel, Hôtel Biron, Impressionism, Impressionists, Jacquemart-André museum, James Joyce, La Belle au bois dormant, La Defense, Leonardo da Vinci, Louis Armstrong, Louvre Museum, Luxembourg Gardens, macaroons, Marc Chagall, Mona Lisa, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de Luxembourg, Musée Rodin, Napoléon III, Offenbach, Paris, Paris Opera Ballet, Parks, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rudolf Nureyev, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Salon du Chocolat, Scott Fitzgerald, SNCF voyages, Tchaikovsky, TGV, the Avenue Champs-Élysées, the Burghers of Calais, the Cathedral, The Kiss, The sleeping beauty ballet, the Three Shades, Thinker, Travel & Leisure, Travel and Tourism, Travel sketchbooking, Un Dimanche à Paris | Permalink.
by mcjq 2 Comments
The Loire Valley: Spellbound by French History & its illustrious Châteaux
Loire Valley Map, France
Joand’Arc Monument, Orléans, Loire Valley, France par http://www.ploync.de/reisen/401-orleans-jeanne-darc-kathedrale-sainte-croix-festspiele.html
The Voice told me that I should raise the siege laid to the city of Orléans, Joan d’Arc
John Calvin at Orléans, Loire Valley, France
Cathedral, Orléans, Loire Valley, France
Place Victor Hugo, Blois, France
Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Grand façade of the Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Map, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
King Louis XII Wing, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
King François I Wing, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Gaston d’Orléans’ Wing, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Architectural Design Plans, Gaston d’Orléans’ Wing, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
King François I, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Catherine de Medici “Medicine/Poison” parlor, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Salle de États Généroux, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, Fran
Salle de États Généroux, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Porcupine Motif, Louis XII’s Wing, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Ermine motif, Queen Ann, duchess of Brittany motif, Porcupine Motif, Royal Château de Blois, Blois, Loire Valley, France
Blois, Loire Valley, France
Chambord, Loire Valley, France
Chambord, Loire Valley, France par http://chambord.org/
Double Helix Staircase, Chambord, Loire Valley, France
Chenonceau, Loire Valley, France
Catherine de Medici, Chenonceau, Loire Valley, France
WW I memorial, Chenonceau became an army hospital, Loire Valley, France
Hall on the bridge, Chenonceau , Loire Valley, France
Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse of Valentinois, King Henry’s II favorite mistress, Chenonceau, Valley Loire, France
Chenonceau’s early painting, Loire Valley, France
Chenonceau’s flower arrangement & Tapestry, Loire Valley, France
Chenonceau’s Gardens, Loire Valley, France
Château de Villandry, Loire Valley, France
Château de Villandry, Loire Valley, France par http://www.chateauvillandry.fr/en/
Château de Amboise, Amboise, Loire Valley, France
Clos de Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci’s home in France, Amboise, Loire Valley, France par http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
Mona Lisa, John the Baptist by Leonardo de Vinci, Clos de Lucé, Amboise, France par http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
Leonardo de Vinci’s movable bridge, Clos de Lucé, Amboise, Loire Valley, France par Mona Lisa, John the Baptist by Leonardo de Vinci, Clos de Lucé, Amboise, France par http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
Leonardo de Vinci’s garden, Clos de Lucé, Amboise, Loire Valley, France par Mona Lisa, John the Baptist by Leonardo de Vinci, Clos de Lucé, Amboise, France par http://www.vinci-closluce.com/en/
As in any city or country, the desire to discover a new region may surface enthusiastically if one is blessed with a long weekend. One such weekend, (from Dijon: going north and then west), to my surprise: I found the middle segment and valley of the river Loire. Visiting the Loire Valley it is easy to grow enamored with its flawless vineyards, traversing smaller rivers (Cher, L’Indre, and La Vienne), orchards, asparagus and artichoke cultivated farmsteads which garland the river’s banks. Further allure may surface while reading the following statement on a local brochure: “Numerous châteaux were built here for multifarious purposes using distinct architectural designs and sizes.”
Traditionally, the region was a magnet for decisive events that change the course of history at manifold periods in time. Orléans, a celebrated city in the Loire Valley, became a pivotal location for major historical events. In 1429, the English laid siege and controlled Orléans. Later, on the 8th of May 1492, Joan d’Arc “la pucelle d’Orléans” (the maid of Orléans) followed by the French army liberated the city. It was said that she even went to mass at the Orléans Cathedral (Basilique Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d’Orléans) while the city was occupied. Another historical personage walked through the streets of Orléans around 1525: John Calvin began his law studies at the University of Orléans, later he would become an influential reformer of the Christian protestant faith.
My journey began by visiting the city of Blois. Passing the massive cedar trees at place Victor Hugo, I could at last catch my first glimpse of the Royal Château de Blois. Yet, one cannot grasp the appeal of this remarkable building until reaching the main courtyard. The châteaux has 4 grand wings coordinated with harmony while representing different time periods, kings, and styles. A diagram at the entrance explains the evolution of this amazing structure: the Salle de États Généroux is built in gothic style; the flamboyant gothic Louis XII wing built the 15th century; the François I Italian Renaissance wing built in the 16th century and the Gaston d’Orléans wing built in the 17th century. The Salle de États Généroux is one of the oldest parts of the château and where the earl of Blois receive its guests around 1214. The equestrian statue of King Louis XII is a prominent marker in the courtyard as well as his royal symbol, the Porcupine: a symbol of invincibility for throwing darts at enemies and its motto, “Cominus et eminus (from near and afar).” Later in his wing, his wife and Queen Anne, duchess of Brittany, one of the riches woman in Europe at the time, had her own symbol carved and painted: the Ermine, a small animal with silky white fur used by nobility and symbolizing dignity.
King François I was Louis XII cousin who became heir presumptive as the king did not have any male heirs. He married Louis XII’s daughter Claude heiress to the duchy of Brittany and upon Louis XII death he inherited the throne. King Francis I is a central French historical and royal figure. He initiated the Renaissance movement in France by becoming a generous patron of the arts attracting and bringing to France some of the best artist and architects of Italy, including the great Master Leonardo De Vinci. In addition, he was also a great patron for the sciences and considered as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres (the “Father and Restorer of Letters”) for his fervent endorsement of the standardization of the French language. At the François I wing, his desire for innovation is established. François I assembled one of the finest library for the period (later transferred to Fontainebleau) and the building itself shows the remarkable Italian architectural influence. During the building and renovation of this wing, his wife Claude was became involved in the decor and refurbishing, including motifs exhibiting François I symbol, the crowned Salamander among the flames with the motto, “Nutrisco et extinguo,” meaning “I nourish the good and extinguish the bad,” symbolizing bravery.
Gaston, duke d’Orléans had large aspirations for the building/remodeling of Blois castle and the celebrated architect François Mansart was hired. Mansart had plans to create a classical structure with four wings around the courtyard. The construction was never finished, yet one can visit the wing and review Mansart’s plans, the classical columns and staircases. The entire châteaux de Blois became the stage for dramatic intrigue. Joan d’Arc stopped at Blois castle to receive a blessing from the Archbishop of Reims before going to battle at Orléans; here, King Henry III had his guards attacked and killed his main rival Henry I, duke of Guise, after inviting him for a meeting; Catherine de Medici presumably had within a small parlor her pharmacy of “medicines/poisons” which she dispensed toward her enemies and she also died here.
About 15 km from Blois, are the gaming estates and natural sanctuary of Chambord. After parking, I strolled peacefully until the panoramic view of this incredible architectural landscape and beautifully kept grounds engrossed my senses. Indeed, I stood quietly for a moment admiring this enormous structure which from a distance could pass as the skyline of a thriving metropolis. The writer Henry James declared “the towers, cupolas, the gables, the lanterns, the chimneys, look more like the spires of a city than the salient points of a single building.” Chambord is indeed a French and Italian style Renaissance masterpiece and King François I’s crown jewel. Of noticeable sophisticated maneuver is the double-helix staircase credited to Leonardo de Vinci: someone going up the stairs will never meet another person going down.
As a Renaissance château, the major focus of Chambord was entertainment via hunting of wild games and elaborate festivities. François I however, spent only a few short hunting trips in this castle before he died. After François I death, a period of decline ensued. About 80 years later Gaston d’Orléans directed a much needed facelift and renovation. Afterwards, Louis the XIV, the sun king, decorated the royal chambers. Sadly, the château was neglected for long periods of time becoming a military lodge at one setting and then during WWII, art collections belonging to the Louvre museum such as the Mona Lisa were hidden within its massive walls. Today, this is one of the most visited sites on the Loire Valley.
After spending the night in Blois, I drove to my next destination: Chenonceau, the 15th century Renaissance castle inspired by feminine hands and design. Two of the most famous women dominating the course of its early survival were: Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse of Valentinois, King Henry’s II favorite mistress and Catherine de Medici, his wife and Queen. Diane adjoined an impressive bridge over the river Cher which runs through the property. Diane also made the grounds of Chenonceau a haven for the cultivation of orchards, vegetables and flower gardens. Upon Henry II’s death, Catherine maleficently banned Diane Poitiers from her beloved château Chenonceau. Not to be outdone by her rival, Catherine built a three-story addition over Diane’s bridge and created extraordinary gardens to outshine her husband’s mistress. Catherine also transformed the château into a center for cultural nobility and festive gatherings. One of the first exhibits of fireworks in France took place at Chenonceau thanks to Catherine. Upon Catherine’s death in 1589, the chateau went to her daughter-in-law Louise of Lorraine married to Catherine’s son King Henry III. Not long after, Henry was killed leaving Louise who adored her husband broken-hearted and inconsolable. Historical claims testify that she wondered the halls of Chenonceau dressed in white, the mourning colors of queens, and she became known as the “White Queen.” Like the other châteaux in the area, Chenonceau suffered from periods of neglect, being a hospital during WWI and a prisoner exchange shelter in WWII. Today, is well preserved and inside there are always grand bouquets of flowers from its illustrious mistresses’ gardens.
After the beauty of Chenonceau, my journey continued on to a delightful chateau on the Loire Valley: Villandry. Initially, this was feudal fortress on the banks of the Loire where in the 12th century Henry II of England, upon his defeat, signed the treaty “La Paix de Colombiers” (The Peace of Colombiers) before King Phillip Augustus of France. Fast forward to the 16th century: Jean Le Breton, the Minister of Finance for King François I acquired the property. Breton who had had extensive architectural and financial experience in building castles, including Chambord, planned a marvelous Renaissance château that remained in his family for two centuries. After, Villandry had different owners including emperor Napoleon who purchase it for his brother Jérôme. Finally, in 1906, Joachim Carvallo, a Spaniard and his American wife Ann Coleman purchased this property pouring a substantial fortune into the renovation of the chateau and its glorious grounds. The Carvallo family still owns Villandry and the beautiful building certainly exhibits their personal touch and dedication. Nonetheless, it is the gardens that deeply fascinate me and make this estate a personal favorite! It is simply delightful to walk throughout the property sensing assorted aromas while admiring the shrubberies shaped with geometrical precision and revealing accents such as a water garden, decorative mazes planted with arbors, colorful vegetables and flower gardens. Garden lovers as well as conventional visitors will completely appreciate the marvelous formal Renaissance gardens at Villandry.
On my last day I visited the city of Amboise. There, the Royal Château de Amboise proudly parades its façade above the city center. This was one of François I most popular homes. I did walk through the castles’ ground but my main focus was another residence: the Château du Clos Lucé. This elegant manor house became the residence of Leonardo da Vinci for the last three years of his life. King François I who brought Leonardo to France visited Leonardo often at this manor since he was captivated by his genius. As a matter of fact, there is a secret passage between the Royal Château de Amboise and the manor. Here, Leonardo worked not only on his art but on his inventions and studies in engineering, physics, mechanics, cartography, botany, philosophy and so much more. There are models of his inventions displayed in 3D format thanks to IBM: the airplane, helicopter, and automobile among others. The gardens are amazing with the two-level bridge created and designed by Leonardo. There is so much to see at Château du Clos Lucé that I highly recommend spending time to encounter a glimpse into this man’s brilliant intellect and vision.
The Loire Valley definitely takes a visitor through a stimulating intellectual and farseeing journey. Each day, this region brings to life its illustrious past against the backdrop of history, culture, Renaissance and architectural splendor.
Tags: Amboise, Ann of Brittahy, architecture, Blois, Brittany, Castles, Catherine de Medici, Chambord, Châteaux, Chenonceau, Claude of Brittany, Clos de Lucé, Diane de Poitiers, England, François I, France, Francis I, French, Gardens, Gaston d'Orleans, History, Inventions, Italian, Italy, Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Loire Valley, Louis XII, Manor Houses, Medici, Mona Lisa, Orleans, Renaissance, Royal Château de Amboise, Royal Château de Blois, Siege of Orleans, Travel and Tourism | Permalink.
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Home MLB HOUSTON vs. BOSTON 5/17/2019 MLB Odds, Pick & Preview
HOUSTON vs. BOSTON 5/17/2019 MLB Odds, Pick & Preview
The HOUSTON and the BOSTON will both be gunning for a victory on 5/17/2019 at 7:10 PM when they meet in a game matchup.
HOUSTON vs BOSTON
GAME: Houston Astros (29-15) at Boston Red Sox (23-20)
WHERE: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
921 HOUSTON 9.5 (115)
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network; AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), NESN (Boston)
PREDICTION: Astros 5, Red Sox 2
Oddsmakers currently have the BOSTON listed as 115 point favorites versus the HOUSTON, while the game’s total is sitting at 9.5.
The Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox took turns knocking each other off in the playoffs en route to a World Series title the last two seasons, and both teams look primed for deep runs again in 2019. The teams will meet for the first time this regular season when the Astros visit the Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series Friday.
Houston owns the best record in the majors at 29-15 and comes in hot with wins in eight straight after No. 9 hitter Jake Marisnick keyed a 5-1 win at Detroit on Wednesday with a pair of hits and two RBIs. “It’s a testament to how good this lineup is,” Marisnick told reporters. “I mean, it’s a dangerous lineup. It’s long. We make pitchers work all the way through.” The Red Sox boast a similar attack and won for the 12th time in 15 games on Wednesday when rookie Michael Chavis – a rookie batting out of the No. 7 spot in the lineup – provided the walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning of a 6-5 triumph over the Colorado Rockies. Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole will try to hold Chavis and company in check while Boston’s Rick Porcello deals with Marisnick, George Springer, Alex Bregman and the rest of the stacked Houston lineup.
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Gerrit Cole (4-4, 3.88 ERA) vs. Red Sox RH Rick Porcello (3-3, 5.15)
Cole struck out 12 over six innings against Texas on Saturday and was charged with one run and four hits to earn his third straight win. The UCLA product leads the majors with 86 strikeouts and fanned at least nine in each of his last four turns. Cole lost his lone start at Boston in the ALCS last fall, surrendering five runs – four earned – on six hits and a pair of walks in six innings while striking out five.
Porcello allowed four runs on five hits in the first inning against Seattle on Saturday but settled down and did not allow a hit the rest of the way while lasting 6 2/3 innings and earning the win. The former Cy Young Award winner went 0-3 with an 11.12 ERA in his first three starts but is 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA in his last five outings. Porcello made two appearances – one start – in the ALCS against Houston last October and allowed a total of four runs and seven hits in five innings.
1. Red Sox LHP David Price (elbow) is expected to come off the injured list next week, when the team visits Toronto.
2. Bregman homered four times in the last four games, bringing his season total to 14.
3. Boston DH J.D. Martinez homered four times in the last three games and scored at least one run in each of the last five contests.
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Wed 19 Jun, 2019, 3:40 PM (EDT)
San Diego Padres vs. Milwaukee Brewers - 6/19/19 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction
Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres
Wednesday June 19, 2019, 3:40 PM (EDT)
The Line: Milwaukee Brewers -117 / San Diego Padres -105 -- Over/Under: 8.5
FSWI, FSSD
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
The Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres meet Wednesday in MLB action at Petco Park.
The Milwaukee Brewers could use a win after losing five of their last seven games. The Brewers have scored six runs in their last three games and four or more runs in eight of their last 11 games. The Milwaukee Brewers have won six of their last eight games when scoring four or more runs. Christian Yelich leads the Brewers with 83 hits and 57 RBI while Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain have combined for 143 hits and 72 RBI. Zach Davies gets the ball, and he is 7-1 with a 2.60 ERA and 50 strikeouts this season. Davies is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA and 19 strikeouts in his career against the Padres.
The San Diego Padres look for another win after winning four of their last five games. The Padres have scored 20 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six of their last eight games. The San Diego Padres have won five of their last eight games when scoring four or more runs. Eric Hosmer leads the Padres with 79 hits and 48 RBI while Manny Machado and Hunter Renfroe have combined for 127 hits and 84 RBI. Matt Strahm gets the ball, and he is 2-6 with a 4.66 ERA and 60 strikeouts this season. This will be Strahm’s second career game against the Brewers.
The Brewers are 25-9 in their last 34 during game 3 of a series, 4-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games and 4-1 in Davies' last 5 Wednesday starts. The Padres are 1-4 in their last 5 Wednesday games, 0-6 in their last 6 during game 3 of a series and 1-4 in Strahms last 5 starts. The Brewers are 6-1 in the last 7 meetings in San Diego, 9-4 in the last 13 meetings and 4-0 in Davies' last 4 starts vs. Padres. The under is 11-4-2 in Strahms last 17 starts overall. The under is 34-15-3 in Davies' last 52 starts overall.
Davies consistently gives the Brewers a chance when he takes the mound, and he has a 2.25 ERA in 48 innings on the road this season. Strahm has a 5.60 ERA and a .260 allowed batting average at home, and he's given up 14 hits and 13 earned runs in his last 7.2 innings overall. The Padres have lost four of the last five games Strahms has pitched. The Milwaukee Brewers are also due for a bounce back performance to snap out of this little funk they've gotten themselves into. This feels like a game the Brewers should win.
Milwaukee Brewers -117
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Italy wants answers as anger mounts over killing of student in Egypt
He was found dead with ‘signs of torture’
ROME - Italy on Monday warned Egypt it would not allow the fate of Giulio Regeni to be brushed under the carpet as anger mounted over the Cambridge University student's torture and killing in Cairo.
With the media publishing gruesome details of Regeni's treatment and pointing the finger at Egyptian security services, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was under pressure to authorise a state funeral for the slain 28-year-old.
Regeni disappeared on January 25 and was found dead on February 3. An Italian autopsy carried out following his corpse's repatriation at the weekend concluded that he was killed by a violent blow to the base of his skull having already suffered multiple fractures all over his body.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said that Egypt appeared to be collaborating with a team of Italian detective and forensic investigators dispatched to Cairo.
But he warned: "We will not settle for alleged truths."
Gentiloni, in an interview with daily La Repubblica, added: "We want those really responsible identified and punished on the basis of law."
La Repubblica reported that, as well as being systematically beaten, Regeni had his finger and toe nails pulled out in a pattern of torture which the daily said suggested that his "death squad" killers believed him to be a spy.
Regeni was in Egypt working on a doctoral thesis on Egyptian trade unions. It has emerged since his death that he was also writing, under a pseudonym, for a communist Italian daily Il Manifesto, fuelling speculation that links to local opposition figures may have resulted in him being targeted.
Italian officials' anger over Regeni's death was exacerbated by their being initially informed the student had been killed in a road accident.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has been particularly outspoken, describing seeing the results of the autopsy as a "punch in the stomach" and Regeni's killers as "inhuman and animalistic."
Alfano said he was in favour of Regeni being given a state funeral later this week.
"There is a protocol to be respected and the President of the Council of Ministers (Renzi) decides, but I would say this is about the death of a young man who honoured all of Italy and the idea of a state funeral should be taken very seriously."
Renzi faces a difficult balancing act in handling the fallout from Regeni's death. Too much overt criticism from Rome of the military-backed regime in Cairo could jeopardise the hopes of the murder inquiry ever getting to the truth.
Italy also has major business interests in Egypt and will need Cairo's support if a planned Italian-led peacekeeping force is sent into neighbouring Libya to help stabilise the country, if and when a new national unity government is established there.
"Egypt is our strategic partner and has a fundamental role in the stabilisation of the region," Gentiloni said.
"But here we are confronted with a different problem, the duty of Italy to defend its citizens and to ensure that when they are victims of crime, the guilty are brought to justice."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has insisted Cairo is committed to finding the killers. "People are jumping to the conclusion that he was interrogated but that has not been proven," he told Corriere della Sera's Sunday edition.
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Amber Heard Net Worth
Amber Laura Heard was born on April 22, 1986. Amber Heard Net Worth is $12 million. she is an American actress. She made her film debut in 2004 in the sports drama Friday Night Lights. After little jobs in North Country and Alpha Dog, Heard assumed her first driving job in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) and showed up in The CW TV program Hidden Palms (2007).
Heard’s achievement came in 2008 with jobs in Never Back Down and Pineapple Express. She got the Breakthrough Award at Young Hollywood Awards. Her appearance in movies, for example, The Informers, The Stepfather, Zombieland, and The Joneses brought her further consideration. She next featured in John Carpenter’s The Ward, close by Nicolas Cage in Drive Angry, and nearby Johnny Depp in The Rum Diary, for which she won a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival. In 2014 she showed up in 3 Days to Kill, and in 2015 in Magic Mike XXL and The Danish Girl. She played Mera in the 2017 hero film Justice League, which she will repeat in Aquaman.
Amber Heard Important Information
Name Amber Laura Heard
Date of birth April 22, 1986
Nationality American
Profession Actress
Heard was born in Austin, Texas, the girl of Patricia Paige (née Parsons), an internet researcher, and David Clinton Heard, a contractor. She has a sister, Whitney She dropped out of high school, eventually earning a diploma through a home-consider course. When Heard was 16, her closest friend died in an auto collision; Heard, who was raised Catholic, along these lines pronounced herself an atheist. Her then-boyfriend introduced her to crafted by novelist Ayn Rand, of whom she said, “I’ve read all of her books. Ever since then, I have been obsessed with her ideals. All I’ve ever needed is myself”.
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Dream Team Of Children’s TV Producers Create PlaySquare, “Touchable TV” For The iPad
What do you get when a team of Emmy winning children’s TV producers are introduced to the iPad? You get a company that has a whole new vision for the future of television. That company, PlaySquare, is working on something they’re calling “touchable TV.” It’s the idea that the child shouldn’t just be watching television, they should be interacting with it. And it’s not a second screen experience, where the iPad app serves to complement the show a child is viewing. It’s a television network on the iPad, where the show itself becomes personalized to the child, growing with them the more they play, and even “leveling up” as they learn new things.
Before delving into the details of what PlaySquare actually does, it’s important to highlight who’s behind this thing. The CEO, Alex Kay, founded the three-time Emmy award-winning PBS TV show WordWorld. Creative Director Scott Webb was EVP and Worldwide Creative Director at Nickelodeon for 17 years. CTO Tinsley Galyean has a Ph.D. in interactive media from MIT Media Lab, and has built multi-touch experiences for Disney, Discovery Kids, Scholastic, and MOMA. PlaySquare Exec Producer Tina Peel has over thirty years in television, including 15 at Sesame Workshop. She also produced Max and Ruby for Nickelodeon.
So when Alex Kay refers to this group as a “dream team,” he’s not really exaggerating. Kay says that he started working on the idea about a year ago, and apparently, it wasn’t hard to attract talent to the project. “Everybody in the television industry has been feeling like something like this was necessary, and also right around the corner,” he says. “The concept of interactive television has been around for 20-plus years,” Kay adds, “but we never had the technology platform to do it.”
Sesame Street, of course, was a leader in bringing forth the idea that kids’ TV wasn’t something presented to the child, but something which engaged the child directly. Puppets looked into the camera. It was groundbreaking. Now it’s almost par for the course to see “interactive” TV programs, like Dora the Explorer who blinks and goes quiet after asking the child questions like “where do we go next?” and “what was your favorite part of the day?” But this is nothing compared with what could happen on the iPad.
“We think the next children’s network is going to be on a tablet or a smart device,” says Kay. “Because these devices are smart, we can have more interactive content. But we can also have a totally different relationship between the parent and the child. It’s no longer broadcasting to the masses. It’s very personal, it’s on demand, it’s interactive, and it’s leveled. It will know what the child likes so it can make suggestions, so it can be a curator of content.”
In PlaySquare, whose name derives from the square shape a child draws on the screen to enter the interactive episode, characters don’t just ask questions, they engage the child to participate in the episode itself. This in and of itself, isn’t hugely divergent from some of the interactive kids’ iPad games on the market now. (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally’s “appisode” comes to mind). But the difference here is that while eventually the child will master Road Rally and become bored with it, PlaySquare’s TV appisodes could adapt as the child learns.
“What we’re doing is that, over time, we’re actually building a ‘play world.’ What that means is that each episode will have a land – a panorama – where the child will play, discover and find things,” explains Kay. “And the panoramas will be additive.” For example, in the first episode, a character walk by a cave which he doesn’t go into until the second episode. But after watching the second episode, the cave in the first episode comes alive and can be interacted with.
PlaySquare will also set up a backchannel for parents, through a second app, which will allow them to keep up with what the child is learning.
Much of this – the leveling up, the parent-facing app, and the full lineup of shows, is not yet available. The plan is to have many of these things ready by year-end. Today, the PlaySquare app is just introducing the concept of “touchable TV.” Pricing for future episodes and “season” discounts are still in the works. Talks with other children’s’ TV producers are underway.
In the app that’s out now, children (ages 3-6) can only interact with WordWorld. (Kay has the rights to those assets, so it was the easiest to get started with, he says). But the vision is much bigger than what you’ll see today.
The company is currently bootstrapped, and is talking to investors now.
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Computer scientists find that physicians' "gut feelings" influence how many tests they order for patients
by Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Many technology companies are working on artificial intelligence systems that can analyze medical data to help diagnose or treat health problems. Such systems raise the question of whether this kind of technology can perform as well as a human doctor.
A new study from MIT computer scientists suggests that human doctors provide a dimension that, as yet, artificial intelligence does not. By analyzing doctors' written notes on intensive-care-unit patients, the researchers found that the doctors' "gut feelings" about a particular patient's condition played a significant role in determining how many tests they ordered for the patient.
"There's something about a doctor's experience, and their years of training and practice, that allows them to know in a more comprehensive sense, beyond just the list of symptoms, whether you're doing well or you're not," says Mohammad Ghassemi, a research affiliate at MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES). "They're tapping into something that the machine may not be seeing."
This intuition plays an even stronger role during the first day or two of a patient's hospital stay, when the amount of data doctors have on patients is less than on subsequent days.
Ghassemi and computer science graduate student Tuka Alhanai are the lead authors of the paper, which will be presented at the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society conference on July 20. Other MIT authors of the paper are Jesse Raffa, an IMES research scientist, and Roger Mark, a professor of health sciences and technology and of electrical engineering and computer science. Shamim Nemati and Falgun Chokshi of Emory University are also authors of the study.
How to measure feelings
Doctors consider a huge number of factors—including symptoms, severity of illness, family history, and lifestyle habits—when deciding what kinds of exams to order for their patients. In addition to those factors, Ghassemi, Alhanai, and their colleagues wondered whether a doctor's "gut feelings" about a patient also plays a role in their decision-making.
"That gut feeling is probably informed by a history of experience that doctors have," Ghassemi says. "It's sort of like how when I was a kid, my mom could just look at me and tell that I had done something wrong. That's not because of something mystical, but because she had so much experience dealing with me when I had done something wrong that a simple glance had some data in it."
Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
To try to reveal whether this kind of intuition plays a role in doctors' decisions, the researchers performed sentiment analysis of doctors' written notes. Sentiment analysis, which is often used for gauging consumer attitudes, is based on computer algorithms that examine written language and tally positive or negative sentiments associated with words used in the text.
The researchers performed their analysis on the MIMIC database, a collection of medical records from 60,000 ICU patients admitted to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston over a 10-year period. This database includes doctors' notes on the patients as well as severity of illness, diagnostic imaging exams, and several other factors.
The researchers wanted to determine what, if anything, the doctors' notes added on top of the information available in the medical records. They computed sentiment scores from the notes to see if there was any correlation with how many diagnostic imaging tests the doctors ordered for patients.
If medical data alone was driving doctors' decisions, then sentiment would not have any correlation with the number of tests ordered. However, the researchers found that when they accounted for all other factors, the doctors' sentiments did indeed help predict how many tests they would order. This effect was strongest at the beginning of a patient's hospital stay, when doctors had less medical information to go on, and then declined as time went by.
They also found that when doctors felt more pessimistic about a patient's condition, they ordered more testing, but only up to a certain point. If they felt very negatively about the patient's condition, they ordered fewer tests.
"Clearly the physicians are using something that is not in the data to drive part of their decision making," Alhanai says. "What's important is that some of those unseen effects are reflected by their sentiment."
Sentimental machines
Next, the researchers hope to learn more about just what factors contribute to doctors' gut feelings. That could potentially lead to the development of artificial intelligence systems that could learn to incorporate the same information that doctors are using to evaluate patients.
"The question is, can you get the machine to do something like that? It would be very interesting to teach the machine to approximate what the doctor encodes in their sentiment by using data not currently captured by electronic health systems, such as their speech," Alhanai says.
Nursing notes can help indicate whether ICU patients will survive
More information: How is the Doctor Feeling? ICU Provider Sentiment is Associated with Diagnostic Imaging Utilization. ghassemi.xyz/static/documents/ … assemi_EMBC_2018.pdf
Citation: Computer scientists find that physicians' "gut feelings" influence how many tests they order for patients (2018, July 20) retrieved 16 July 2019 from https://techxplore.com/news/2018-07-scientists-physicians-gut-patients.html
New iPad app could improve colon cancer screening rates
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NoStrings
Spare me. Confuser scientists determine anything that may have data to attach to one of their standard models. Sometimes result is meaningful, other times not, yet for the model it is always meaningful. You never know which one is which.
This is because the models are design to produce a meaningfoolish result based on whatever data. Ignore.
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New 100% online training course from FishVet Group and Benchmark Knowledge Services on The Health and Welfare of Atlantic Salmon
Queensland shrimps hit hard by white spot
Biosecurity Health
3 May 2017, at 1:00am
New outbreaks of white spot disease have been found in the wild prawn populations of Moreton Bay, Queensland, prompting fears that an additional number of shrimp farms in the area could face closure.
The disease has already closed seven prawn farms - leading to estimated losses of £25 million-worth of stock - along the Logan River in Southern Queensland and has been identified in the area’s wild prawn populations too.
While the disease is not harmful to humans, infected prawns die within 4 days of the disease being detected. The effects to the farmers are also devastating, with Biosecurity Queensland indicating it is unlikely the infected farms can recommence operations until at least 2018.
The disease is highly infectious and easily spreads to other crustaceans such as crabs, yabbies and lobsters. Each Australian State has implemented bans on importing Queensland prawns in an attempt to prevent further damage to the country's $360 million shrimp aquaculture industry.
At this stage, the only way to treat white spot is to destroy the infected animals, then drain and decontaminate the affected farms, with ultra-violet disinfection amongst the best options, according to UV-Guard, Australia’s top supplier of UV water disinfection systems.
The Health and Welfare of Atlantic Salmon course
It is vital that fish farm operatives who are responsible for farmed fish are trained in their health and welfare. This will help to ensure that fish are free from disease and suffering whilst at the same time promote good productivity and comply with legislation.
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This interactive course is divided in to bite sized modules, so students can study at any time, on any device with internet access
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Posts Tagged ‘Kick Six’
Alabama, Auburn, Cam Newton, College Football, Florida St., Georgia, Kick Six, LSU, Mississippi St., Ole Miss, SEC, Troy
LSU-Auburn: Home Field Advantage
In College Football, General LSU, Preview, Rivalry on September 14, 2018 at 6:23 PM
I’ve discussed the LSU-Auburn series before. A lot of people don’t realize it was rarely played before the famous Earthquake Game in 1988. That’s one reason why when Auburn won in 1999 (the Cigar Game), it was only their third win in Baton Rouge in 60 years. Details of the interesting games before 2008 are in the link above.
Auburn has won 12 of the 19 games in the series that have been played in Auburn. LSU has only won at Auburn twice since 1998, both against teams that finished with losing records. Those happened to be the last respective years that Tommy Tuberville (2008) and Gene Chizik (2012) coached there.
LSU WR Stephen Sullivan dives into the end zone on 4th down to put the Fighting Tigers on the score board in Baton Rouge last year.
LSU was about one second of clock management away from winning in their last trip to the Plains, and that was not only Les Miles’ last season but his last game.
When this first became an annual series in 1992, it was typically the first SEC game for LSU; but this is a rare instance in which it is also the first SEC game for Auburn. From 2001 to 2011, the game was only played in September three times, but it seems September is going to return to being the default going forward.
Two years ago, LSU was the more experienced team, and the Fighting Tigers (that’s how I will refer to LSU in this blog) lost. As I discussed in my preseason blog, this time the roles are reversed. It’s only a difference of 3 returning starters though.
Although they were generally in Baton Rouge, I wanted to highlight some instances in which LSU has done relatively well against Auburn given the respective results of the teams for the season.
One that was in Auburn that was a really good game was 2010. Both teams were undefeated going into that game, but the Fighting Tigers were only ranked #6 and the Plainsmen (how I will refer to Auburn) were #4. LSU would later lose to Arkansas, and Auburn would win out.
The game started disastrously for LSU as Auburn capitalized on a Jordan Jefferson interception in LSU’s opening drive and scored the game’s first touchdown on the ensuing drive.
The score was 10-10 at the half though. Especially given the start of the game, this seemed to be an advantage to LSU since the game was a battle between the top SEC offense and the top SEC defense, but the Fighting Tigers struggled even more offensively in the second half. Nonetheless, on a halfback pass by Spencer Ware, LSU was able to tie the game at 17 with 12:16 left.
The LSU defense came through one more time when Auburn turned the ball over on downs at the LSU 40 with 7:51 left. The LSU 3-and-out that followed was just too much for the Fighting Tiger defense though. It only took 3 rushing plays (Newton 16 yards, Dyer 4 yards, and McCalebb 70 yards) for Auburn to drive 90 yards for the winning touchdown with 5:05 left. The Fighting Tigers were again unable to get a first down in the next possession, and the Plainsmen ran out the clock.
When Auburn was 80 seconds away from the national championship Florida St. won in 2013, their only prior loss had been to LSU in Baton Rouge. It was only an upset in retrospect though, because Auburn was unranked going into the game, and LSU was #6. LSU led 21-0 at the half and was never seriously challenged. (This game is not to be confused with the 2015 game in which LSU lead 24-0 at the half.) LSU’s Jeremy Hill rushed for 184 yards (and other backs combined for another 51 yards), so even though Auburn got within a couple of possessions, losing 35-21, it was too easy for LSU to control the clock in the second half.
LSU would finish 10-3. The Fighting Tigers would lose close games to Georgia and Ole Miss before Alabama pulled way in the last third of the game to beat them by 21. Auburn would advance to the SEC Championship game on the famous Kick Six against Alabama.
Finally, last year, Auburn again got to represent the SEC West in the championship game after beating Alabama. Once again though, when you look back, the one regularly scheduled loss was against LSU. The Fighting Tigers had already lost to Mississippi St. and Troy (although looking back those two teams combined for 20 victories), and Auburn was undefeated and #10 in the country.
This time it was the Auburn Tigers who scored the game’s first 20 points. If you don’t remember what happened next, feel free to see last year’s blog under the heading “LSU-Auburn Game Recap and Analysis”.
I’m going to list the games since and including that 2010 national championship season for Auburn. LSU had won the prior 3 games and 6 of the last 9 in the series. In 4 of those 6 years LSU won the SEC West, and after 1 of those Auburn wins they won the SEC West. 2010 was the last year in which this game was basically (in hindsight) the SEC West championship game.
2010: @Auburn 24, LSU 17
2011: @LSU 45, Auburn 10
2012: LSU 12, @Auburn 10
2014: @Auburn 41, LSU 7
Bold = Represented the SEC West in the SEC Championship Game
Underline =team beat Alabama
(Apologies for not making a neater chart, but I didn’t want to publish this any later than necessary.)
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Tag Archives: sexual violence
What’s going on in our universities … and what does the crisis around campus sexual harassment say about our society?
Posted on November 18, 2016 by staceydingwall
Image by Christian Mayrhofer via Creative Commons
One of the most worrying elements of Donald Trump’s election campaign was his apparent attitude towards women. Critics have highlighed a wide range of sexist comments made by the now President-elect over the years – comments he now claims to regret and has apologised for.
The continuing problems of ‘isms’
Sexism is just one of the ‘isms’ that we seem unable to get rid of, despite efforts to create a more tolerant and diverse society. We’ve highlighted this several times on the blog this year; from the persistent gender pay gap to an increase in hate crime. Yet it seems we are still frustratingly far from living in an equal society.
Trump’s critics have suggested that it is in fact insecurity that has driven him to make some of his remarks. Although it is true that large numbers of (white) women voted for him, it has also been argued that part of his success is down to “angry white men” who feel threatened by the progress made by women, ethnic and other minorities towards the creation of a more equal society.
Sexual violence on campus
The all too frequent accounts of sexual harassment on university campuses around the world represent a particularly ugly aspect of enduring inequality within our society. While the media may focus on incidents occurring within the fraternity system in American campuses, the problem is just as bad in Britain. In September, a poll conducted by the charity DrinkAware indicated that 54% of the female students they surveyed had experienced some form of physical or verbal sexual abuse. 15% of male students reported similar experiences.
It’s not only male students who are subjecting their peers to this abuse, or female students who are on the receiving end. Last month, more than 100 women – students and academics – shared their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of male university staff. The stories depict a culture dominated by the male voice, in which women are frightened into silence rather than taking action against their abusers. Many of the victims indicated feelings of futility in terms of reporting their experience, due to the perpetrators’ power and status. Those who did have the courage to make a complaint reported their frustration at the limited action taken.
How is this being addressed?
Recent reviews by the National Union of Students (NUS) and Universities UK have made recommendations to universities on how to tackle sexual harassment on their campuses. A particular focus has been on implementing policies to prevent and deal with the issue: both reviews found that institutions sometimes didn’t have a sexual harassment policy at all, or it was ineffectively tied in with an overarching policy on bullying and harassment.
Universities UK’s review highlights several examples of good practice from universities in terms of improving the reporting process (the University of Cambridge), implementation of policy (SOAS, University of London), and establishment of taskforces to both raise awareness of and deal with sexual violence on campus (Durham University Sexual Violence Task Force).
More prevention work needed
While it’s encouraging that universities are taking action to respond to this problem, and work is also being done in terms of communicating that campuses should be a safe space for all, the majority of initiatives are focused on dealing with the aftermath of abuse rather than prevention. This is similar to the message often communicated by the media and others that people (predominantly women and girls) should take steps to ‘avoid’ being attacked or raped, rather than communicating to men and boys that they shouldn’t perpetrate these crimes in the first place.
While girls are fed these messages from an early age both at home and at school, there is no similar onus placed on their male peers to learn about consent at the same time. The fact that the debate over the provision of a sex education that is appropriate for the society in which we currently live remains unresolved unfortunately means that these depressing statistics on sexual violence in our universities are unlikely to improve in the near future.
Posted in Crime, justice and rights, Education and Skills, Equality and Diversity | Tagged Donald Trump, girls, higher education, inequality, lad culture, sex education, sexism, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, universities, university campuses, violence against women and girls, women | Leave a comment
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2019: It’s Game Over For Cabals In Politics – Mike Onoja |The Republican New
Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Benue South senatorial candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Mike Onoja, has said that his emergence as a senatorial candidate marks the end of cabalism in the zone.
Onoja stated this at the Nocros Primary School, Otukpo, during the decamping ceremony of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members from the Benue South senatorial district commonly known as Zone C to the SDP.
“The era of cabals in Zone C and in the state is ended. We don’t believe in cabalism in SDP and we will not tolerate it. The motor of SDP is good governance, sustainable development and social justice for all. We will make sure that everybody in our party is fairly treated.”
Onoja who noted that this is the first time he was emerging as a candidate of any party, said the SDP had come to change the narrative of underdevelopment that had been known to be the norm in the zone, in the state and in the country at large since 1999 till date.
“I have never participated in a general election before. I have only been participating in primary elections and as you know, primary election is highly manipulated because a few people who are connected sit together and decide who to vote for irrespective of your capacity.
“Since (the return of) democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Idoma has nothing to show for it. This is now time for change and SDP stands for change in Zone C which will bring about development in all spheres of human endeavours. Idoma land is going to see great development if SDP is voted into power.”
The senatorial candidate who expressed optimism of winning the election said the people of the zone were eager to see change in terms of dividends of democracy.
Speaking earlier, state Chairman of the Party, Mr. John Enemari, promised the new entrants that there would be equal opportunities for every member of the party.
In his remark, the senatorial candidate of the party for the Benue North East senatorial district, Chief Barnabas Gemade, disclosed that everyone he campaigned for had always won elections. He urged the people to vote for all candidates of the SDP in the forthcoming elections.
Dignitaries who graced the occasion include Chief Gemade, SDP governorship candidate, Dr. Stephen Hwande, his running mate, Amb. Dickson Akor, and a delegation from the party’s national secretariat among others. (The Sun)
http://www.twitter.com/RNNetwork1
December 23, 2018 Ike A. Offor Benue south Senatorial zone, Benue state, Cabalism, Mike Onoja, Political cabal, Social Democratic Party SDP
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Khap Review
2011 23 Sep 2011
in favor
Ajai Sinha
Khap is a 2011 Hindi film starring Yuvika Chaudhary Om Puri, Govind Namdeo, Manoj Pahwa, Mohnish Bahl. Directed by Ajai Sinha, the film is a socio-political drama based on the Manoj-Babli honour killing case and Khap Panchayats in villages of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which order honour killing to prevent marriages within the same gotra. Wikipedia
Yuvika Chaudhary
Omkar Singh Chaudhary
Govind Namdeo
Daulat Singh
Khap Reviews
Shubhra Gupta
‘Khap’ is a film that ostensibly sets out to challenge the notion of ‘honour killings’, taking us to a Haryana village where such activities seem to over-ride all else. But it is so shoddily done that the opposite is achieved, giving those who practice it with impunity a platform from where they can preach.
IBNLive
"Khap" should be commended for attempting a socially-relevant theme with some amount of detachment and equanimity.
Gaurav Malani
You can't have an issue-based film which invests more runtime on a campus song, a love ballad, a honeymoon song, a separation song, a hogwash love story and what not. Khap certainly doesn't leave any chaap (mark) on your mind. Pardon me if that sounds corny, the film's been an inspiration!
Shakti Salgaokar
There are films that shake you up and force you to realise that by virtue of being born in urban areas or during comparatively progressive times, we get a lot of freedom and that we must not take it for granted.
Komal Nahta
KoiMoi
On the whole, Khap is a dull and dry drama even though it is well-intentioned. At the ticket windows, it will fail to make any mark whatsoever.
Taran Adarsh
Bollywood Hungama
On the whole, KHAP is an honest effort that deserves to be encouraged. Of course, it may not be the most persuasive film that portrays an issue, but at least it makes a sincere effort to be there.
Anaam
Glamsham
KHAP is an artistic as well as a box-office disaster.
Subhash K Jha
Bollyspice
Khap should be commended for attempting a socially-relevant theme with some amount of detachment and equanimity. Should love between cousins or people from within one family be sternly discouraged just because the village panchayat feels it is damaging to the social framework?
All Critic Reviews (8)
Audience Reviews for Khap
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‘Arrival’ to release digitally later this month
Arrival is ready for the home box-office
John Stewart January 10, 2017
Slanted > Film > ‘Arrival’ to release digitally later this month
Denis Villeneuve’s thriller “Arrival” will get a 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand release this Valentine’s Day. The studio will first release the film on Digital HD on January 31, then release the film in other formats on February 14, 2017 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.
The film stars Five-time Academy Award nominee Amy Adams as expert translator Louise Banks. When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team races against time to decipher their intent. As tensions mount between fearful governments, Banks discovers the aliens’ true purpose and, to avert global war, takes a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity. Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker co-star in the film.
“Arrival” has been named one of the best films of the year by the American Film Institute, National Board of Review, New York Times, USA Today and many more. In addition, Adams was named Best Actress by the National Board of Review and received Golden Globe and SAG nominations for her performance. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer has won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and received a Writer’s Guild nomination.
“Arrival” premiered in theaters back in November, the film made $94.12M domestically before going on to make $63.27M overseas. The film was directed by Denis Villeneuve, working off a screenplay by Eric Heisserer. The film is an adaptation of an original story written by Ted Chiang called the “Story of Your Life”. The cast includes Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jadyn Malone.
The ARRIVAL 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Combo Packs include over an hour of special features, with in-depth explorations of the film’s subject matter, sound, score, editing and more. Fans of the film, or anyone that hasn’t seen it, can pre-order the thriller in any format on sites like Amazon.com.
Tags : Digital HD & Blu-Ray Release DatesParamount Pictures
John Stewart January 10, 2017
Austin Butler to Play Elvis Presley in Biopic with Tom Hanks
Awkwafina’s ‘The Farewell’ Tops ‘Avengers’ Theater Average Record
Oliver Jackson-Cohen to Star in ‘The Invisible Man’
Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Offers First Look at Ariana DeBose as Anita
Sith Troopers Head to Comic-Con for ‘Rise of the Skywalker’
‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’ Discovers a New Trailer
Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren Return for ‘Fast & Furious 9’
Renée Zellweger Hits the Stage in ‘Judy’ Trailer
‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ Conjures up a new Trailer
Disney Shares a ‘Mulan’ Teaser Trailer with Yifei Liu
Marvel Studios Returns to Comic-Con for a Surprise Hall H Panel
‘Aladdin’ Nears $900M at the Box Office
‘Spider-Man Far From Home’ Swings Towards Independence Day Record
Halle Bailey Expected to Star in Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ as Ariel
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New ‘Fire Emblem’ games coming to Nintendo Switch, 3DS and mobile devices
Its a great day for Fire Emblem fans
Sean Thomas January 18, 2017
Slanted > Gaming > New ‘Fire Emblem’ games coming to Nintendo Switch, 3DS and mobile devices
Nintendo held another Nintendo Direct this afternoon, announcing several games from the hit strategy-RPG franchise “Fire Emblem”. The new games will launch on smart devices, the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS over the next few years.
“In recent years, the popularity of the Fire Emblem franchise has grown exponentially,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The devoted fan base and series newcomers alike will soon have an abundance of new games to play on a variety of devices. There’s never been a better time to be a Fire Emblem fan or jump in for the first time.”
The mobile game will be called “Fire Emblem Heroes,” and will be an original strategy RPG about two warring kingdoms. As a summoner, players build their army by calling upon popular Fire Emblem heroes from worlds that span the breadth of the series. Players will wage tactical battles streamlined for on-the-go play and level up a mix of new combatants and legendary heroes. Nintendo stated that “some familiar hero characters” will become allies in the game, while others will become enemy generals. Players will lead their armies with touch-and-drag controls, including the ability to attack by simply swiping an ally hero over an enemy. If they manage to defeat every enemy on a given map, victory will be theirs. The heroes are depicted in new art hand-drawn by a variety of illustrators, and their voices have been newly recorded. Beyond the main story mode, players can engage in other modes to strengthen their army or to compete against others. Nintendo also stated that “Free and timely updates” will add new characters and content. Fire Emblem Heroes will be available as a free download with optional in-app purchases available.
“Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia” will be the American version of the 1992 hit “Fire Emblem Gaiden,” which launched exclusively in Japan. “Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia” was inspired by the 1992 original, reimagined “on a grander scale” according to Nintendo’s announcement today. Every aspect of the Fire Emblem Gaiden game’s presentation has been updated, along with the game being fully voiced.
“Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia” recreates classic Fire Emblem gameplay with a modern twist, mixing in exploration of dungeons with classic design elements. Nintendo confirmed that the new installment will launch on the Nintendo 3DS on May 19, 2017. Characters from the game, Alm and Celica, will be available as amiibo figures in a two-pack, also on May 19. You can also watch the “Fire Emblem Direct” presentation below.
Fire Emblem meets KOEI TECMO GAMES’ Warriors series: Fire Emblem Warriors is coming to both the Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS systems, which includes New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL. It’s being developed by the team that created Hyrule Warriors, and is scheduled to launch this fall.
Also, for the first time since “Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn” on the Wii console in 2007, a new mainline game in the series is being developed for a Nintendo home system. The new game is scheduled to launch in 2018.
It’s a great time to be a “Fire Emblem” fan, if you missed any of the newer installments and want to join in before the new releases, you can find them on-sale on authorized retailers like Amazon.com.
Tags : Game Trailers
Sean Thomas January 18, 2017
Nintendo Celebrates ‘Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3’ at Comic-Con
Octavia Spencer’s ‘MA’ Goes Digital in August
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Home Campus Conversation – ESPN, Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick, Peter Burns
Campus Conversation – ESPN, Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick, Peter Burns
Campus Conversation provides an all-access pass into the world of college football with ESPN’s stable of reporters and analysts.
Campus Conversation – ESPN, Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick, Peter Burns was last modified: July 16th, 2019 by Kurt Laufer
Here's the Latest Episode from Campus Conversation – ESPN, Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick, Peter Burns:
Spring Check-In
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Jake Trotter discuss the rule changes we'll be seeing this year (4:05), high impact transfers (14:20), the ripple effect of a new AD at LSU (25:06) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (41:40) and Extra Points (54:06).
Power Of The Portal
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Adam Rittenberg talk about Jalen Hurts' decision to transfer to OU (1:47), other transfers around the sport (16:40), more turnover on the Alabama coaching staff (19:15), the newest CFP selection committee members (23:48) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (27:15) & Extra Points (35:53).
Marty Smith's America: Greg Sankey
Marty Smith is joined by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey to talk about CFP expansion and paying players. Plus, Greg talks about his first day in office.
Before Imagine Dragons performed at the halftime show for the CFP National Championship, they sat with Jason Fitz to discuss their preparation for this massive event, the Las Vegas sports scene and much more. Plus, the group offers a shocking admission about the future.
The Year That Was
After discussing the latest coaching news (3:20) and the 2019 CFB HOF class (10:57), Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee, Chris Low and Jake Trotter recap the most memorable games, players, moments and stories of the 2018 season (18:21). Plus, the season finale of Walk-Ons (57:52).
Tiger Beat
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards recap every angle of Clemson's dominant win over Alabama. Plus, Walk-Ons (48:21) & Extra Points (57:57).
Natty Preview
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards break down every angle of the National Championship and welcome Phil Steele for his final impressions of the 2018 season (30:55). Plus, Walk-Ons (42:46) and Extra Points (54:12).
Where We Thought We'd Be
Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee & Chris Low discuss the CFP Semis (3:03), the rest of the NY6 (16:30), coaching moves (21:16) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (35:58) and a special Extra Point dedicated to Tyler Trent (44:09).
The Big Six
Ivan Maisel and Adam Rittenberg discuss the College Football Playoff Semifinal matchups and the potential suspensions that may define them (8:15), in addition to the rest of the "New Year's Six" (16:48). Plus, Urban Meyer gets a new gig in Columbus (20:49), Phil Steele offers his picks (29:20) and the guys answer Walk-Ons (44:11) as well as give their Extra Points (52:13).
Put A Bow On It
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards share their thoughts on the early signing period (2:42), weigh in on the failed UF/UCF negotiations (16:38) & more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (27:51), Walk-Ons (42:20) & Extra Points (52:38).
Early Signing Special
Matt Schick, Tom Luginbill & Tom VanHaaren react to a dominant early signing period for the SEC (1:35), a big message from Oregon (18:30), the schools that came up short (23:45) and much more.
Ivan Maisel and Ryan McGee remember those that were lost over the past year in the world of college football.
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards & Jake Trotter, discuss the start of bowl season (3:46), weigh in on the significance of Oregon landing the top recruit in the country (8:16), debate which coach is most worthy of COY honors (17:44) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (30:16) and Extra Points (37:40).
Flashback Friday (1/5/2010)
Check out this old episode featuring Ivan & Beano referenced at the end of Walk-On-A-Palooza. Originally published 1/5/2010. Thanks to Robert Magette for finding it.
Expansion Coming?
Peter Burns, Brad Edwwards & Chris Low discuss contract extensions for a pair of ACC coaches (1:45), debate the feasibility of actual CFP expansion (7:23) and more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (25:32), Walk-Ons (41:20) and Extra Points (50:15).
Walk-On-A-Palooza
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee answer the best remaining Walk-Ons questions from the file on a variety of topics around the game.
Sooner Enough
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Jake Trotter discuss Kyler Murray's Heisman win (2:39), the Sooner QB's future (11:33), Will Grier's decision to skip WVU's bowl game (17:43), another Army/Navy classic (28:30) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (33:22) and Extra Points (44:13).
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Chris Low discuss new hires at GT & Liberty (1:03), debate awards (12:55), discuss Kyler Murray's future (17:36) break down Greg Sankey's UCF take (26:42) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (33:19) and Extra Points (42:02).
Heavy At The Top
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards discuss the flurry of de-commitments at OSU (3:07), the B1G power structure (10:50), familiarity within the CFP (16:10) & more. Plus, Phil Steele (29:19), Walk-Ons (42:21) and Extra Points (53:06).
Done, Done?
Brad Edwards, Jake Trotter & Chris Low discuss Urban Meyer's comments, his future & more (1:40). Plus, they delve into other coaching moves (11:28), remaining vacancies (24:30), Walk-Ons (33:11) and Extra Points (41:16).
Meyer To Retire
Ryan McGee, Brad Edwards & Heather Dinich weigh in on Urban Meyer's decision to leave Ohio State (1:54), debate Meyer's legacy (9:00), wonder if he'll ever coach again (20:40) and more. Plus, they discuss the Heisman finalists (26:45), answer Walk-On questions (33:04) and kick their Extra Points (43:08).
Beserving
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Peter Burns discuss Bill Snyder hanging up the whistle (2:30) the CFP field (7:50), Kyler Murray's case for the Heisman (24:04) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (38:04) & Extra Points (49:18).
CFP Selection Special
Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Jesse Palmer, Joey Galloway and David Pollack reveal the field for the College Football Playoff and debate if the Committee got it right.
Settle It
Ryan McGee, Jake Trotter & Chris Low discuss Texas Tech's new coach (1:45), Rob Mullens' response to Mike Leach 7:00), preview championship weekend (16:25) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (37:40) and Extra Points (44:21).
Coming Home... Not!
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Adam Rittenberg close the loop on some coaching news (1:35), discuss Mike Leach's gripes with the CFP Selection Committee (8:10), the ramifications of Championship Weekend (17:15) and more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (32:22), "Talk Nerdy To Me" (44:15), Walk-Ons (50:52) and Extra Points (59:41).
Coaching Carousel Special
After brief reaction to the latest CFP rankings (1:53), Adam Rittenberg, Chris Low & Ryan McGee discuss the latest coaching developments and rumors around the country (7:10). Plus, coaching related Walk-Ons questions (40:46).
Recuse Yourself
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Heather Dinich discuss the latest coaching speculation (2:50), weigh in on the CFP recusal process (8:34), talk about Dabo Swinney's aggravation with Clemson detractors and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (28:49) and Extra Points (36:50).
Matt Schick, Peter Burns & Jake Trotter discuss the latest coaching news (2:20), weigh in on Ohio State's drubbing of Michigan (16:25), note the CFP implications from the weekend (24:30) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (42:35), Walk-Ons (49:34) and Extra Points (55:33).
Best Week Ever Week 13
Ben and Peter review Rivalry Weekend in CFB in their own unique way.
Now Or Never?
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards discuss the latest CFP rankings (1:30), The Game (14:27), West Virginia's chances (21:50) and more. Plus, Phil Steele (42:47), Walk-Ons (57:32) and Extra Points (1:04:40).
Ivan Maisel, Chris Low & Ryan McGee discuss the pleasant surprise of Ed Oliver returning to the field (3:32), varying degrees of trash talk at Texas and Michigan (7:40), awards races (17:26) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (29:40) and Extra Points (39:16).
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Heather Dinich discuss Kansas' hiring of Les Miles (2:00), Clay Helton's status at USC (9:30), the meaning of Week 12's results (12:20) & more. Plus, Talk Herdy To Me (32:21), Walk-Ons (37:51) and Extra Points (43:31).
Best Week Ever 11/18/18
Did Alabama set themselves back by playing a cupcake like The Citadel? Should Urban Meyer remain at OSU after this year? Heather Dinich breaks down CFP scenarios.
Out In The Cold
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Jake Trotter discuss Ed Oliver's emotional outburst (2:30), the cupcake schedules (13:28), coaching rumors (21:40) and more. Plus, a #Walkons question to remind us why we fell in love with CFB (33:40), Predictions (41:15) and Extra Points (46:22).
Weak 12
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Adam Rittenberg discuss the scheduling issues that led to such a weak slate (3:10), the upsets we'd love to see (12:19) and more. Plus, Fill-In-The-Blanks (23:26), Phil Steele's Picks (36:14), Talk Nerdy To Me (45:59), Walk-Ons (53:09) and Extra Points (59:28).
Get Used To It
Brad Edwards, Jake Trotter & Heather Dinich react to the stagnant CFP rankings (4:15), discuss Oklahoma's defensive deficiencies (8:00), delve into "What-If Wednesday" (22:05) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (34:49) & Extra Points (45:26).
Always Greener?
Adam Rittenberg, Brad Edwards & Chris Low discuss the rumors swirling around Mike MacIntyre & Colorado (3:06), the impact of Tua's health (9:30), whether Bama or OU has a more potent offense (19:35), Mike Gundy's comments on transferring snowflakes (27:10) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (34:05) and Extra Points (50:14).
Calm At The Top
Peter Burns, Ryan McGee & Chris Low discuss a great finish at Bedlam (1:58), the top-10 taking care of business (7:00), Bobby Petrino getting the axe (24:40) & more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (33:06), Walk-Ons (39:36) and Extra Points (46:47).
Ben and Peter break down week 11 in CFB in their own you unique way on Best Week Ever.
Ryan McGee, Chris Low & Jake Trotter discuss NC State stubbing its toe (again) (3:10), the chaos potential of Week 11 (7:40), the magnificent Kyler Murray (13:44) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (23:07) and Extra Points (36:15).
Book Of Chaos?
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg & Peter Burns discuss the implications of the injury to Ian Book (2:05), Fill In The Blanks for Week 11 (18:00) & more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (36:12), Talk Nerdy To Me (47:04), Walk-Ons (53:15) & Extra Points (59:08).
Matt Schick, Brad Edwards and Ivan Maisel discuss the CFP rankings, including Michigan entering the Top 4, which teams can better their positions and play "What If Wednesday." Plus, Walk-Ons and Extra Points.
The Election Of Cool
Peter Burns, Heather Dinich & Adam Rittenberg make their CFP rankings predictions (1:50), discuss the coolest coaches in the sport (19:52), present their platforms to be czar of college football (27:23) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (33:58) & Extra Points (41:34).
Statements Made
Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee & Chris Low discuss Alabama's dominant win (3:58), UGA claiming the East (13:48), a wild weekend in the Big 12 (19:05), Michigan continuing to roll (31:00) and more. Plus, Talk Nerdy To Me (35:11), Walk-Ons (42:33) and Extra Points (51:28).
Dari fills in for Peter Burns to help break down all things CFB Week 10. Peter Burns and Heather Dinich join the show
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Ryan McGee share their thoughts on the latest at Maryland (2:38), UCF's win from Thursday night (13:18), a partial appeal victory for Ole Miss (17:36) and Alabama-LSU (20:22). Plus, Phil Steele makes his picks (28:58) and the crew answer their Walk-Ons (40:12) as well as Extra Points (45:03).
Major Consequence
Before chatting with CFP Committee Chair Rob Mullens (17:49), Adam Rittenberg, Jake Trotter & Heather Dinich discuss the firing of DJ Durkin (2:43), debate if this weekend is the greatest CFB regular season weekend ever (13:34) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (31:33), Walk-Ons (37:39) and Extra Points (44:48).
Head Scratchers
Matt Schick, Peter Burns & Ryan McGee react to the initial CFP rankings (2:12), chat with Adam Rittenberg about Maryland's decision to retain D.J. Durkin (15:02) & more. Plus, Week 10 Fill In The Blanks (30:50), Walk-Ons (44:00) & Extra Points (50:08).
Brown Nosing
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards & Chris Low discuss the shakeups on the USC staff (3:20), whether the Browns could hire a premiere CFB coach (14:25) and more. Plus, Adam Rittenberg with an update from Maryland (26:00), CFP rankings predictions (31:00), Walk-Ons (38:40) and Extra Points (47:50).
What Are We Doing, Here?
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Ryan McGee discuss the best (2:52) and worst (9:00) of Week 9, weigh in on UK continuing to defy the odds (15:25), Willie Taggart's damning comments (17:35) and more. Plus, Talk Nerdy To Me (29:50), Walk-Ons featuring Mike Gundy (36:36) & Extra Points (45:30).
The biggest stories of CFB Week 9, including Willie Taggart calling out his players, Penn State's win over Iowa, and UGA's win. Peter Burns hates Halloween & Halloween music.
Peter Burns, Ryan McGee & Chris Low welcome Adam Rittenberg to discuss the Maryland findings (1:00) before delving into the best games on the Week 9 slate (9:34). Plus, Walk-Ons (26:15) and Extra Points (34:05).
Play To Win The Data Point
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Jake Trotter try to translate statements from conferences (2:10), fill in the blanks for Week 9 (11:43) & more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (26:39), Talk Nerdy To Me (38:20), Walk-Ons (44:12) & Extra Points (51:57).
Feeling Tense?
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards & Chris Low discuss the internal strife at Ohio State (4:00), discipline for a key player at TCU (14:40) & Florida-Georgia's return to relevancy (17:56) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (31:00) & Extra Points (40:27).
Southern Conspiracy
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards discuss the latest from Maryland, (2:33), weigh in on the conspiracy theories surrounding the Devin White suspension (8:48), share their thoughts on the continued war of words between Michigan & Michigan State (21:13) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (28:21) and Extra Points (37:44).
The Rubicon of Trust
Ivan Maisel, Peter Burns & Ryan McGee discuss Purdue's upset of Ohio State (4:23), Michigan's performance against Sparty (13:12), the Pac-12 puzzle (21:45) & more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (33:00), Walk-Ons (40:01) and Extra Points (47:59).
Peter Burns & Ben Hartsock react to the weekend that was in college football that saw OSU upset by Purdue and Michigan and Michigan State going at each other
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Chris Low discuss Stanford's win over ASU (2:10), weigh in on the importance of Michigan/Michigan State (14:49), reminisce about the glory days of Tennessee/Alabama (20:09) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (29:08) & Extra Points (40:21).
Shake 'Em Up
Matt Schick, Ryan McGee & Jake Trotter discuss potential Heisman shake-ups midway through the season (3:50), fill in the blanks for Week 8 (12:42) and more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (24:16), "Talk Nerdy To Me" (37:45), Walk-Ons (43:04) & Extra Points (51:54).
Bye Bye Buckeye
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee take a deep dive into Nick Bosa's decision to leave Ohio State (2:48), discuss Lane Kiffin recruiting Matt Leinart's son (14:38) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (26:57) & Extra Points (34:18).
Care To Re-Phrase?
Matt Schick, Peter Burns & Heather Dinich discuss Tua's health (2:00), debate who was helped the most by last weekend's results (8:01), react to Nick Bosa leaving OSU (28:10), "Jump To Conclusions" (30:30) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (42:48), Walk-Ons (49:19) and Extra Points (54:42).
Shaking Things Up
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Chris Low share their thoughts on the weekend of chaos including LSU's win over Georgia and Michigan's dominance over Wisconsin. Plus, how did Week 7 shake up the Big Ten, ACC and SEC. Also, the crew answers #WalkOns and more.
Best Week Ever Week 7
Peter Burns and Ben Hartsock look back at Week 7 in college football in their unique way. Ryan McGee joins the show.
Up At Night
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Adam Rittenberg react to Texas Tech' win on Thursday (1:28), continue the discussion of concerns for top teams (22:25) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (38:00), Walk-Ons (44:58) and Extra Points (52:09).
Price Of Admission
Matt Schick, Ryan McGee & Brad Edwards discuss issues with Pac-12 officiating (1:50), the biggest concern for a couple of contenders (15:43) and more. Plus, they "Fill in the Blanks" for Week 7 (24:15), and chat with Phil Steele (35:12) before Walk-Ons (48:46) & Extra Points (55:41).
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Chris Low channel their inner Robert Stack to discuss what we still don't know about several relevant teams this season (1:57), debate which CFB teams should be relegated EPL style (21:20) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (32:50) & Extra Points (43:24).
Zero. Point. Zero
After putting a bow on the Stoops situation at OU (3:01), Matt Schick, Jake Trotter & Heather Dinich discuss what differentiates a quality win (9:43), weigh in on the remaining unbeatens (16:25), "Jump To Conclusions" (25:15) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (41:07) and Extra Points (51:27).
Back, Folks!
Ivan Maisel, Peter Burns & Chris Low discuss Texas' big win and the demise of Mike Stoops (2:50), Notre Dame's big win (12:20), how coaches are separating themselves (20:10) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (31:27), Walk-Ons (38:50) & Extra Points (49:03).
Best Week Ever 10/7/18
Multiple CFB teams had huge statement wins this week. Which current Top 4 teams could end up on the outside looking in? Plus, producer Mike A is building a man cave.
...Rivalry
Matt Schick, Ryan McGee & Peter Burns discuss what they're looking forward to this weekend (4:28), explain why everybody should root for Notre Dame (13:10), delve into Nick Saban's criticisms of Alabama's student section (20:00), fill in the blanks (28:16) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (47:31) & Extra Points (56:29).
BONUS: The Program
Jake Trotter and Jeremy Willis talk to actor Duane Davis, who played the role of Alvin Mack in the CFB cult classic "The Program" about the film and why it's so beloved.
Pay The Man His Money
Ivan Maisel, Chris Low & Jake Trotter discuss the latest publication of coaches' salaries (3:08), debate if Washington is flying under-the-radar (14:23) & more. Plus, Phil Steele's picks (23:44), "Talk Nerdy To Me" (36:07), the best Walk-On question of the season (41:25) and Extra Points (49:50).
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards & Ryan McGee discuss Mike Leach's comments on offensive balance (2:58), weigh in on the positive (10:24) & negative (21:35) surprises of the 1st month and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (30:02) & Extra Points (41:57).
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Heather Dinich discuss Trevor Lawrence's health (3:25), Nick Saban's comments on Jalen Hurts (10:45), Jimbo Fisher & Scott Frost's tempers (18:38) & more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (28:59), Walk-Ons (35:40) & Extra Points (41:30).
Elusive Greatness
Brad Edwards, Heather Dinich & Chris Low discuss big wins for Ohio State (3:02) & Notre Dame (11:29), discuss what "chalk" would create for the rest of the year (17:00) & more. Plus, questions about Clemson's QB situation (23:10), Walk-Ons (33:02) and Extra Points (38:57).
Best Week Ever: Week 5 Review
Peter Burns and Ben Hartsock review Week 5 in College Football in their own way.
Surviving The Storm
Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee & Chris Low discuss Miami's easy win (3:30), discuss the stakes for Stanford/Notre Dame (5:55) & Ohio State/Penn State (14:35), wonder if LSU should be on upset alert vs. Ole Miss (19:52) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (24:57) & Extra Points (31:30).
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg & Peter Burns discuss the continuing fallout from Kelly Bryant's transfer (2:55), Mike Gundy's odd request at Oklahoma State (15:01) & more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (33:19), Phil Steele's analysis of the best games of the weekend (39:18), Walk-Ons (50:58) and Extra Points (57:02).
Leaving The Valley
Peter Burns, Brad Edwards & Jake Trotter discuss Kelly Bryant's decision to transfer from Clemson (1:20), chat with former Tigers QB Tajh Boyd about it (8:14) and more. Plus, the guys delve into what's at stake for Ohio State/Penn State (23:45) & Stanford/Notre Dame (30:05) before Walk-Ons (34:24) and Extra Points (42:46).
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich discuss what's at stake for Ohio State & Penn State (4:09), the big showdown in the Big 12 (15:32), issues at Oklahoma (21:35), Clemson's handling of their QB decision (24:00) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (27:30) and Extra Points (33:12).
Unexpected Victories
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel and Chris Low weigh in on Old Dominion's upset over Virginia Tech, Stanford's unexpected victory, Nick Saban's call for assistance and more. Plus, a new "Talk to Nerdy" and #WalkOns questions.
Peter and Ben react to week 4 in College Football.
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee discuss the impact of Nick Bosa's injury (3:49), the dynamics of the Auburn transfers and how it could pertain to Alabama (8:37), Nebraska's revised schedule (14:40), more fallout at Maryland (22:30) & much more. Plus, Walk-Ons (31:08) & Extra Points (39:14).
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Jake Trotter discuss the verbal spat between Brian Kelly & Derek Mason (2:45), the games that excite them the most in Week 4 (8:20) and more. Plus, the crew fills in the blanks (16:20), gets a dose of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (20:23), chats with Phil Steele about the best games of the week (36:04) answer walk-on questions (47:12) and give their extra points (53:29).
Love Is All You Need?
Matt Schick, Brad Edwards & Chris Low discuss the importance of Bryce Love as Stanford prepares to take on Oregon (1:52), Chip Kelly's reaction to criticism at UCLA (7:22), how Urban Meyer will handle future critics of Ohio State (9:25) and more. Plus, the guys "Jump To Conclusions" (14:50), answer Walk-Ons (35:25) and share their Extra Points (42:46).
Peter Burns, Heather Dinich & Adam Rittenberg react to Urban Meyer's press conference (1:30), explain why Ohio State is the Big 10's best hope at the CFP (12:56), whether things are worse for Florida State or UCLA (21:25) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (31:44) and Extra Points (38:02).
B1G Problems
Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick & Chris Low discuss Urban Meyer's conversation with Tom Rinaldi (3:25), a terrible weekend for the B1G (8:10) & Pac-12 (13:52), struggles for Scott Frost (26:06) & Willie Taggart (28:24), a big win for LSU, Texas (33:26) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" tackles the biggest risers & fallers (39:39), Walk-Ons (44:30) & Extra Points (51:45).
Peter Burns and Ben Hartsock react to the big story lines of week 3 in CFB.
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel & Ryan McGee discuss BC's win on Thursday (4:00), Week 3's biggest games (14:05) and more. Plus, Wright Thompson & John T. Edge discuss their new show "True South" (31:01), Walk-Ons (44:46) & Extra Points (53:34).
There's A Chance
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Chris Low break down TCU vs. Ohio State (2:50), discuss what's at stake for Boise State (6:33) play "Fill in the Blank" (10:13) & more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (29:10), Phil Steele's biggest games (35:12), Walk-Ons (45:07) & Extra Points (53:47).
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Jake Trotter get you caught up on Hurricane-related changes to matchups for this week (3:24), discuss Bryce Love's waning Heisman candidacy (9:00), Forbes listing Texas A&M as the most "valuable" college football brand (13:43) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (29:05) and Extra Points (35:55).
Big... Big
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Brad Edwards discuss the weather wreaking havoc in Week 3 (2:30), Nick Saban's plea to his squad (9:08), a crucial Week in the Big 12 (14:43) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (28:40) & Extra Points (37:08).
Jump To Conclusions
Matt Schick, Peter Burns & Heather Dinich discuss their biggest takeaways from Week 2 (10:05), their superlatives for the week (12:59), jump to conclusions about the season (24:10) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" on the Playoff predictor (38:52), Walk-Ons (44:24) & extra points (50:42).
Best Week Ever: Hour 2
Peter and Ben do a little Sunday Morning therapy and react to the big Kentucky win with Matt Jones. Plus, the Greatest Game of the Week EVER!
Best Week Ever Hour 1 9/9/18
What a week for football! Herm Edwards and Arizona State upset #15 Michigan, plus Rapid Fire Water Cooler on some of the best games of Saturday.
2 For The Show
After remembering Burt Reynolds (3:47), Peter Burns, Ryan McGee & Matt Schick discuss the most intriguing games in Week 2 (7:17) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (30:03) & Extra Points (41:43).
No Fakers
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg & Jake Trotter discuss Willie Taggart's criticism's of Virginia Tech (2:58) & more before playing Week 2 fill-in-the-blank (6:53). Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" tackles the highest impact games of the week (24:47), Phil Steele makes his picks (29:17), Walk-ons (37:40) & Extra Points (45:00).
Take A Mulligan
Brad Edwards, Heather Dinich & Chris Low react to the latest AP Poll (4:55) & reassess their early predictions for OU (7:30), Washington (11:02), the ACC (16:59), Big Ten (21:34) and Notre Dame (25:15) with what they know now. Plus, walk-ons (29:12) and Extra Points (34:53).
Overreaction Tuesday
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee discuss a brutal loss for FSU (4:50), the sudden influx of SEC QBs (7:39), another reality check for Miami (14:10), Auburn's big win over Washington (16:04), Bryce Love's Heisman stumble (23:35) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (28:16) and Extra Points (35:50).
Best Week Ever - Hour 2
Ben and Peter discuss Nick Saban's testy interview with Maria Taylor and talk about the best and worst games of the weekend so far.
College Football is back! Nick Saban gets angry at Maria Taylor after she asked him about his QB's. Plus, Ian Fitzsimmons on Auburn vs. Washington.
Ryan McGee, Peter Burns & Chris Low discuss another statement by Urban Meyer (5:20), UCLA's QB decision (9:26), the under-the-radar games of Week 1 (28:00) & more. Plus, Walk-Ons (34:40) and some unconventional Extra Points (41:06).
Lets Get To It
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter breakdown Zach Smith's recent break of silence, Bobby Petrino and Louisville's season opener against Bama and more. Plus, Phil Steele makes picks and "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Brad Edwards.
Favorite Of Many, Starter Of None
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards & Jake Trotter discuss Tom Herman's embarrassment (1:20), the QB impacts at Michigan and Notre Dame (7:10), the programs that could bounce back this season (14:10), the Alabama QB battle's impact on the Heisman front-runners (20:43) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (28:35) and Extra Points (38:43).
Pressure Pac'd
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee discuss the QB decisions around the country (2:49), the Pac-12's CFP hopes (10:37), the coaches facing the most pressure (18:23) and more. Plus Walk-Ons (30:56) and Extra Points (40:28).
Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick & Heather Dinich recap Week 0 (2:15), discuss another apology by Urban Meyer (5:46), weigh in on the trend of true freshmen starting at QB (11:37), debate conference supremacy (18:42) and more. Plus, Walk-Ons (26:02) and Extra Points (32:13).
Ivan Maisel, Heather Dinich & Adam Rittenberg discuss Urban Meyer's suspension, react to the Buckeyes' press conference and more (2:36). Plus, they discuss potential issues at Texas A&M (24:35), the initial AP poll (32:23) and answer "Walk-Ons" questions (34:42).
Tragedy & Triumph
Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick & Jake Trotter welcome Heather Dinich to discuss the latest surrounding Maryland (1:27). Plus, thoughts on the various QB battles around the country (21:45) and more.
O-H-Oh-No
Before chatting with Stanford's David Shaw (28:11), Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Heather Dinich discuss the latest at Ohio State (2:47), discipline for UNC (19:13), Jalen Hurts' interesting comments about his status at Alabama (23:06) and more.
Swinney & Saban
In addition to catching up with Clemson's Dabo Swinney (9:53) & Alabama's Nick Saban (23:03), Ivan Maisel & Chris Low discuss coaching changes at Ohio State, Larry Fedora's CTE comments and more.
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg & Ryan McGee discuss the evolution of eligibility rules (1:58), Tyler Hilinski's CTE diagnosis (15:10), John Ward's legacy (26:21) & much more.
Legacies And Impacts
Ivan Maisel, Heather Dinich & Chris Low discuss the legacies of Mike Slive & Billy Cannon (3:08), gambling's impact on the sport (17:00), the transfers that will shape the 2018 season (26:08), the Alabama/UCF beef (45:35) and more.
Tough Choices, Tough Talk
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg & Jake Trotter discuss the Alabama QB battle (2:34), Jeremy Pruitt's tough talk at Tennessee (12:19) and more. Plus, a rapid-fire look at the squads with the most intriguing spring story lines (15:30).
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss spring action, observations from Penn State (10:38), Ohio State (12:45), Alabama (18:10), Clemson (23:28), Georgia (28:38) and more.
BASKETBALL: A Champ Is Crowned
Jeff Goodman, Jeff Borzello and Rob Dauster react to Villanova's dominant win (3:30), discuss their takeaways from the season (15:50), look ahead to next year (30:59) & more. Plus, the last installment of "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Seth Walder & Paul Sabin (22:20).
One Shining Moment
Jason Fitz and Elle Duncan have a conversation with singer-songwriter David Barrett about "One Shining Moment" just in time for the Final Four.
BASKETBALL: Slippers & Crowns With Jay Williams
Jeff Goodman and Jay Williams break down Loyola's run, Villanova's excellence and all things Final Four (2:14). Plus, K vs. Cal (34:34) and a Final Four edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (28:31).
BASKETBALL: Wild Weekend, Looking Ahead With Rece Davis
Jeff Goodman & Rece Davis look back on a crazy first weekend of the Tournament (1:08), look ahead to the regional semis (23:16), examine some coaching moves (31:52) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" shares analytical perspectives on what to expect moving forward (26:35).
BASKETBALL: Tourney Talk With SVP
Jeff Goodman and Scott Van Pelt discuss the teams who got left out of the tourney (7:30), if UK has legit seeding beef (16:00), the best games of the first weekend (30:56), Final Four predictions (38:20) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" tackles the B1G's tournament profile (24:13).
BASKETBALL: The Final Check-In
Jeff Goodman and Jeff Borzello discuss which teams have the most to gain & lose in Championship Week, whether Michael Porter should try to play, the beginning of the coaching carousel and much more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" examines tournament projections.
BASKETBALL: Matt Painter & LaPhonso Ellis
Before a conversation with Purdue coach Matt Painter (22:18), Jeff Goodman and LaPhonso Ellis discuss the fallout of the FBI investigation, March contenders and more (:56). Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" breaks down the Big Ten Tournament (49:36).
On a small batch emergency edition of Courtside, Seth and Dan call in from the road to react to the bombshell news from Yahoo! Sports of a scandal that is engulfing CBB. Players from more than 20 programs have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules through violations that were uncovered by the FBI's investigation into corruption in the sport. The guys give you the latest.
BASKETBALL: Medcalf & Hancock
Before a conversation with former Louisville star and 2013 NCAA Tournament MOP Luke Hancock (25:56), Jeff Goodman and Myron Medcalf discuss the Louisville fallout, where the Cardinals could turn next and more (1:17). Plus, a breakdown of the Tournament bubble with the "Talk Nerdy To Me" guys (41:13).
FOOTBALL: Coaches, QBs & FPI
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter weigh in on the latest coaching news (5:02), discuss some burning QB questions (19:30) and more. Plus, Seth Walder stops by to weigh in on preseason FPI (27:49).
BASKETBALL: Jay Bilas & The Hurley Brothers
Jeff Goodman talks to Jay Bilas about the current state of the NCAA (2:07), Coach K beating Coach Cal at his own game (5:52), POY & COY frontrunners (19:49) and more. Plus, Bobby & Dan Hurley (37:01) and "Talk Nerdy To Me" on Xavier's chances to get a No. 1 seed (32:01).
FOOTBALL: Signing Day Reaction
Matt Schick, Tom Luginbill and Tom VanHaaren recap National Signing Day including Georgia's great day (2:28), the rest of the top classes (16:02), Jacob Copeland's eventful commitment to Florida (44:07) and much more.
BASKETBALL: Chris Mack, Sean Farnham
Before a conversation with Xavier coach Chris Mack (34:04), Jeff Goodman talks to Sean Farnham about the strength of the SEC, the Pac-12's down year and more (:58). Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" (27:31) and Jeff's thoughts on Duke/UNC (49:29).
FOOTBALL: National Signing Day Preview
Matt Schick and Tom VanHaaren preview key uncommitted players from the ESPN 300, which schools are most likely to land the best prospects for National Signing Day and more.
BASKETBALL - Greg Oden & Jay Williams
Before a conversation with Ohio State student assistant Greg Oden (25:16), Jeff Goodman talks to Jay Williams about the biggest story lines in the sport so far this year, the time he got chewed out by Mike Krzyzewski and more (1:00). Plus "Talk Nerdy To Me" examines the most overrated and underrated teams according to the metrics (20:22).
The Education of Marvin Bagley III
Doubletruck Stories: Three high schools, one year at Duke and the unconditional love of his family have freshman sensation Marvin Bagley III prepared for anything the world throws at him. By Liz Merrill.
BASKETBALL - Robbie Hummel, Chris Beard
Before a conversation with Texas Tech's Chris Beard (30:11), Jeff Goodman talks to Robbie Hummel about conference supremacy, Trae Young and more (:58). Plus, the debut of "Talk Nerdy To Me" hoops style (26:51).
Patrick Ewing Has The Floor
Doubletruck Stories: Georgetown's favorite son now leads the program he put on the map, bringing a wealth of experience -- though none of it as a head coach -- and high hopes of restoring the Hoyas to prominence. By Ian O'Connor.
BASKETBALL - Bill Self & Bruce Pearl
After a conversation with Jeff Borzello about Trae Young, coaches on the hot seat and top prospects (1:25), Jeff Goodman talks to Kansas' Bill Self about the Jayhawks' streak and more (20:49). Plus, Auburn's Bruce Pearl on the depth of the SEC and the Tigers' strong start (40:18).
Ivan Maisel, Chris Low and Jake Trotter discuss Nick Saban's legacy (3:03), whether this was the best CFP ever (16:10), UGA's future (25:47), the too early top-25 (33:00) and much more.
Roll Along
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg and Brad Edwards discuss Alabama's thrilling win over Georgia, the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa and much more.
ICYMI: Charles Woodson, CFB Hall of Famer
In light of Charles Woodson being named to the College Football Hall of Fame, we revisit Ivan Maisel's conversation with Woodson from earlier this season.
Crown 'Em
Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick and Adam Rittenberg discuss the National Championship matchup (2:30), UCF's title claim (29:36), Dave Aranda's new contract (39:10) and more.
Instant Classic(s)
Ryan McGee, Heather Dinich and Brad Edwards discuss Georgia's thrilling win over OU (2:46), Alabama's thumping of Clemson (26:16), UCF's statement (33:53) and much more.
See Ya Next Year
Ivan Maisel and Adam Rittenberg recap some bowl games, discuss the news that LSU is parting ways with OC Matt Canada and look ahead to the rest of the bowls this weekend, including the NY6. Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Brad Edwards giving you a look at the numbers behind the semi-final matchups.
Big Turnaround
Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low look back on Fresno State's win in the Hawaii Bowl and Army getting to 10 wins on the season. Plus, they share their thoughts on Josh Rosen's comments about sitting out bowl games, the future of Bill Snyder and more.
Early Signing Period Special
Matt Schick, Tom Luginbill and Tom VanHaaren break down the first early signing period and discuss which schools took advantage, and which ones left something to be desired.
Dusty Trail?
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Heather Dinich discuss day 1 of the early signing period (3:30), the recruiting dust-up between Dabo Swinney and Urban Meyer (15:16) and more. Plus, Phil Steele breaks down the pre-Christmas bowl games (26:04).
See The Signs
Ivan Maisel, Matt Schick and Jake Trotter discuss drama surrounding the early signing period (5:10), Lane Kiffin's statement at FAU (11:50), injury concerns at Bama (21:07) and more.
Ivan Maisel and Ryan McGee remember the members of the college football community who were lost over the course of the past year.
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss who is helped and hurt by the early signing period (3:30), weigh in on UGA's prowess (15:10), talk about their best and worst predictions of the season (23:00), debate who the best college QB ever is (36:00) and much more.
College Football Playoff Preview Special
Kevin Winter is joined by 7 college football experts, including Mel Kiper Jr., Paul Finebaum, Brad Edwards, Booger McFarland, and more, who deliver their unique perspectives and predictions of the Rose and Sugar Bowls.
No ReGERTS?!
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter discuss early signing developments (3:10), teams with the most and least regrets this season (12:27), the start of bowl mania (23:50) and more.
Everybody's All-Americas
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Brad Edwards discuss Shea Patterson's potential impact on Michigan (3:05), the significance of Sonny Dykes at SMU (10:51) and more. Plus, a conversation about the ESPN All-America team (24:48).
Great American Weekend
Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee and Chris Low discuss a classic Army-Navy game (3:21), Baker Mayfield's Heisman legacy (10:51), Oregon's hire of Mario Cristobal (23:31) and more.
After chatting with Phil Steele about CFB awards, Army-Navy and the FCS playoffs (2:02), Brad Edwards, Jake Trotter and Chris Low answer dozens of #Walkons questions on a variety of topics (17:32).
T'd Up
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter discuss Tennessee finally getting its man (3:30), debate if there's any awards drama (20:23) and more.
Peter Burns, Brad Edwards and Adam Rittenberg discuss the latest coaching hires (1:58), debate the best and worst hires on this year's carousel (28:55) and much more.
Peter Burns, Brad Edwards and Chris Low discuss this year's Heisman finalists (2:57), weigh in on the Jimbo and Herm introductions (7:30), react to UCF hiring Josh Heupel (19:43) and much more.
Split Decision
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel and Ryan McGee react to the CFP selections (3:19), discuss the latest coaching news (26:33) and more. Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (42:45).
1997 Heisman Retrospective
Ivan Maisel and Ryan McGee look back at the historic 1997 Heisman class and chat about the memorable season with Heisman winner Charles Woodson (10:21) and finalist Randy Moss (29:47).
CFP Selection Show
Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway, Jesse Palmer and Booger McFarland recap the unveiling of the CFP Top 25 including the Top 4 of Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama, debate if the committee had it right selecting Alabama over Big10 Champ Ohio State and more. Also, Kirby Hocutt, Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley and Nick Saban join the show.
World War T
Matt Schick, Ryan McGee and Jake Trotter discuss another wild turn of events at UT (3:18), penalties for Ole Miss (15:48) and more. Plus, they preview championship weekend (21:36) and get Talked Nerdy to by Brad Edwards and Seth Walder (45:43).
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg and Jake Trotter examine the latest coaching drama (2:00), look ahead to the weekend slate (19:39), resurrect the confidence meter (32:36) and more. Plus, Phil Steele's weekly visit (38:34).
On Your Marks
Ivan Maisel, Peter Burns and Brad Edwards react to the penultimate Playoff rankings (2:30), begin to look ahead to championship weekend (20:05), examine the latest coaching news (25:53) and more.
Keep On Spinning
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss more coaching developments across the country (2:55), forecast the CFP rankings (25:45) and more. Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Brad Edwards and Matt Morris (29:50).
Rabidity
Ryan McGee, Matt Schick and Heather Dinich discuss the mess at Tennessee with Chris Low (2:25). Plus, they weigh in on the rest of the coaching carousel (19:58), how the weekend impacted the CFP picture (27:02) and much more.
Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap the Iron Bowl and its implications for the CFP (2:50), Ohio State's comeback win over Michigan (18:50), the guys give you a ride on the coaching carousel (19:30) and Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about the Iron Bowl, the weekend in CFB and what to make of the CFP Rankings for this week.
Feast!
Ivan Maisel, Peter Burns and Jake Trotter react to the latest CFP rankings (2:15), address the rumors surrounding Kevin Sumlin (7:11), preview the weekend (25:05) and more. Plus, an early visit from Phil Steele (31:26).
Consequences And Actions
Ryan McGee, Adam Rittenberg and Brad Edwards discuss how the Baker Mayfield situation could impact Oklahoma on the field (3:30), discuss the best first-year head coaches (26:07) and much more.
Adam Rittenberg, Chris Low and Mark Schlabach discuss the coaching vacancies in college football and break down the most likely candidates to fill the slots.
The Search Is On
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel and Brad Edwards recap UCLA firing Head Coach Jim Mora (3:00), Baker Mayfield's inappropriate gesture vs Kansas and if it will cost him the Heisman (17:30), the guys review the Top 10 (31:00) and Brad Edwards brings us "Talk Nerdy To Me" (46:00).
Double Secret Probation
Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 12 of CFB including Baker Mayfield's inappropriate gesture vs Kansas (2:00) Wisconsin cruising past Michigan (8:50), the guys take you behind the curtain on the latest coaching rumors (22:30) and Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Jim Harbaugh, the weekend in CFB and his Iron Bowl prediction.
Cupcake Weekend
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss Wisconsin-Michigan and other matchups that stand out this weekend, Lane Kiffin's impact at FAU, the Tennessee and Florida coaching jobs and more.
Don't Sleep On It
Ivan Maisel, Heather Dinich and Jake Trotter explain why even though the Week 12 slate looks weak, there are plenty of major implications (2:55). Plus, Phil Steele with his weekly picks (22:18).
Wait... What?!
Ryan McGee, Adam Rittenberg and Brad Edwards voice their confusion over the latest CFP rankings (1:30), react to Arkansas parting ways with Jeff Long (18:35) and much more.
Peter Burns, Heather Dinich and Matt Schick preview the next CFP rankings (3:00), discuss some worthy COY candidates (22:02) and more. Plus, a chat with Austin Peay coach Will Healy (26:07).
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Ryan McGee discuss the most impactful results of Week 11 (4:22), Butch Jones getting canned by Tennessee (24:40) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" on the chances of a conference getting two teams into the Playoff (36:23).
The U Is Back
Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 11 of CFB including Miami dominating Notre Dame (2:50) huge shakeups in the Top 5, are people's opinions changing on Oklahoma (7:50), the guys give their CFP Rankings (15:30) and Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Miami's defense, the weekend in CFB and his CFP Rankings.
Don't Forget About Us
Breaking free from the Notre Dame-Miami hype train, Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee and Jake Trotter examine the other big games in Week 11 which carry the most weight (4:00). Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (26:00).
Peter Burns, Ryan McGee and Jake Trotter discuss the best aspects of the old-school Miami/Notre Dame rivalry (3:30), weigh in on the grass not being greener in the SEC (9:17) and more. Plus, the Thursday confidence meter (20:41) and Phil Steele's picks (30:48).
Matt Schick, Heather Dinich and Brad Edwards react to the latest Playoff rankings (2:15), discuss how Notre Dame ends up fitting in (20:49) and more. Plus, how several realistic scenarios could shape the final Playoff picture (29:29).
Could You Contend?
Before chatting with West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen (29:24), Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss whether Miami or Wisconsin could put up a fight in the CFP (7:34), debate which program will make the most progress next year (12:29) and more.
Hoping For W's
Matt Schick, Ryan McGee and Chris Low discuss the precarious position of the Big Ten (3:58), Bedlam living up to the hype (15:53), Miami's big win (30:40) and more. Plus, "Talk Nerdy To Me" tries to make sense of the metrics (40:26).
True Bedlam
On the Sunday edition of Campus Conversation, Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 10 of CFB including Ohio State getting blown out by Iowa (3:45), Miami and Wisconsin remaining undefeated (12:45), the offensive explosion in Bedlam (9:00) and former Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Ohio State, Bedlam and his pick for Miami vs Notre Dame.
Let 'Er Rip
Peter Burns, Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich discuss the best Games of Week 10, weigh in on Malik Zaire getting the nod at Florida (7:30), debate the most attractive jobs (14:40) and more. Plus, the Friday edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Brad Edwards and Seth Walder (29:29).
Who Do You Root For?
Matt Schick, Jake Trotter and Ryan McGee, discuss how the rankings impact who teams should root for (1:00), hop on the confidence meter (26:26) and more. Plus, Phil Steele on the week's best games (33:01) and Houston QB D'Eriq King (44:00).
Initial Reactions
Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Jake Trotter react to the first CFP rankings (2:15), discuss what can be taken from them and more. Plus, BC coach Steve Addazio (27:01) and Northwestern QB Clayton Thorson stop by (38:45).
Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss who will be in the initial top-4, debate which teams truly control their own destiny and more (3:00). Plus, they weigh in on Mark Emmert's revealing commentary about the state of the NCAA (28:15).
BONUS: 30 for 30 Season Two Sneak Peek
Campus Conversation shares the trailer for Season Two of 30 for 30 Podcasts, launching November 14th, as well as one of our favorite episodes from Season One, Dan & Dave.
SEChairs
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel and Chris Low react to Jim McElwain and Florida parting ways (3:10), discuss the impact of Ohio State's comeback (18:41), another Iowa State upset (23:28) and more. Plus, Playoff predictions (36:31) and another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (42:36).
Is Barrett Heisman Bound?
On the Sunday edition of Campus Conversation, Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 9 of CFB including #6 Ohio State erasing an 18-point deficit to upset #2 Penn State (2:00), the big picture for coaches in CFB (17:30), the guys give their CFP Rankings (15:30) and former Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Ohio State and his CFP rankings.
Last At A First
Ryan McGee, Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg discuss the impact of Stanford's close call (3:04), why Georgia can't be haunted by cocktail parties past (13:34), the real importance of the last weekend before the first Playoff rankings (19:54) and more.
Matt Schick, Ivan Maisel and Ryan McGee discuss which teams pass the ever-ambiguous "eye test" (18:29) hop on the confidence meter (22:55) and more. Plus, Phil Steele (31:40).
Revenge Factor
Before conversations with former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel (25:25) and Rutgers QB Gio Rescigno (37:39), Ivan Maisel, Brad Edwards and Jake Trotter talk revenge for Penn State-Ohio State (4:00), debate true blue bloods (15:24) and more.
Gator Hate
Before a conversation with 1996 Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel (24:47), Ryan McGee, Chris Low and Jake Trotter discuss threats against Florida (2:04), Sam Darnold's decision about his future (8:27), Notre Dame's Playoff hopes (12:21) and more.
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg and Chris Low discuss which teams we learned the most about in Week 8 (4:02), play the CFP "what if" game (32:13) and more. Plus, a fresh edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" (40:06).
A Very Happy Valley
On the Sunday edition of Campus Conversation, Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 8 of CFB including the Penn State beatdown of Michigan, ND rolling over USC, they talk the big picture of CFB and former Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Penn State, Notre Dame and Miami.
An Important Stretch
Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee and Chris Low discuss Week 8's importance on multiple levels (8:54), have a fascinating discussion with ESPN's Dave Wilson (23:25), listen to Brad Edwards talk nerdy (35:13) and much more.
Can You Repeat That?
Matt Schick, Peter Burns and Ryan McGee discuss James Franklin's approach to Michigan (11:40), whether Wisconsin is legit (20:51), get on the confidence meter (32:36) and more. Plus, Phil Steele stops by to preview the week's biggest games (45:10).
Cracks In The Foundation?
Before catching up with West Virginia's Will Grier (27:20) and Syracuse's Steve Ishmael (37:03), Ivan Maisel, Adam Rittenberg and Brad Edwards discuss potential concerns at Auburn (3:20), what's on the line in South Bend this weekend (10:30) and more.
Sorry, Not Sorry
Peter Burns, Heather Dinich and Jake Trotter discuss who should be the most sorry through the first 7 weeks of the season (1:52). Plus, they debate the scenarios the rest of the way which could cause complete Playoff chaos (14:06).
Unlucky Week 7
Matt Schick, Adam Rittenberg and Ryan McGee discuss how Week 7's stunning upsets re-shaped the landscape (13:48), Nebraska's new AD (4:31) and much more. Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" with Brad Edwards (41:12).
Top 10 Shake-Up
On the Sunday edition of Campus Conversation, Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum recap Week 7 of CFB including all of the upsets in the Top 10, the guys pick the Playoff 4 as they see it, talk big picture of CFB and former Rutgers DT Eric LeGrand stops by to talk about Clemson and Ohio State.
Whooooo's OU?
After an update on UNC from Ryan McGee (1:57), Peter Burns, Matt Schick and Heather Dinich discuss who runs the biggest risk of being this week's version of Oklahoma (14:34) and much more. Plus, another edition of "Talk Nerdy To Me" focusing on Miami's conference title hopes (43:17).
Take The Fork Out
Matt Schick, Peter Burns and Chris Low discuss the coaches that have best resurrected their seasons (5:43), check in with great American orator Mike Leach (16:09) and more. Plus, the confidence meter (34:00) and Phil Steele's weekly visit (45:30).
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Attractions in Peru
Inca city of Machu Picchu, perched atop a remote mountain northwest of Cusco. This World Heritage Site and was rediscovered in 1911. This monumental archaeological site is one of the most important in South America, not to mention the most dramatically located. Be prepare for a serious hike in but it is so worth the venture.
Tambopata Candamo Reserve Zone
45km from Puerto Maldonado by river, which specialists say contains the largest and richest biodiversity of the world. The flora and fauna within includes more than 2,000 flower varieties, 1,000 birds and 900 butterflies and dragonflies.
Church of San Franciso
The church was one of the only buildings to be spared by the 1746 earthquake. Inside are a vast library, extraordinary domed roof, masterpieces by Jordeans, Rubens and Van Dyck, and catacombs complete with ghoulish circular displays of the bones of some 70,000 souls.
Five centuries of colonial history in Lima, receive an insight into the plazas and opulent mansions with their Moorish latticed wooden balconies. Plaza de Armas, is home to the impressive 18th-century cathedral and the lavish Government Palace.
City of Caral
The city is 5,000-year-old, near Lima. Caral was only discovered in 1994 and has recently opened to tourists following years of excavation.
Inca Empire, Cusco
This World Heritage Site, founded in AD1100, is a fascinating mix of Inca and colonial Spanish architecture.
Is a UNESCO-protected and the largest pre-Inca mud city (20 sq km/8 sq miles) and the nearby huacas (religious centres) of the Sun and the Moon. The beautifully restored Huaca Arco Iris is covered with pre-Inca hieroglyphics.
Manu national Park
Is Peru's greatest treasure in biodiversity. Covering 20,000 sq km of tropical rainforest, this World Natural Heritage Site is home to around 1,200 butterfly species, 2,000 plant species, 200 different mammals, 800 bird types and including monkeys, tapirs, sloth, jaguar and capybaras.
The world's highest navigable lake, and visit the unique waterborne reed islands and boats of the native Uros people. Covering 8,379 sq km. Lake Titicaca is home to 19th-century steamship surrounded by ancient ruins and, the Yavari.
Back to Peru Travel Insurance page
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Alaska Airlines is the title sponsor of the iconic race Bay to Breakers
Posted on March 31, 2017 by Travel PR News Editor
2017 Race Commemorates 50th Anniversary of the “Summer of Love”
SEATTLE, 2017-Mar-31 — /Travel PR News/ — Bay to Breakers announced today (Mar 30, 2017) that Alaska Airlines is the title sponsor of the iconic race, which will be renamed the Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers. The multi-year partnership allows Alaska Airlines to meaningfully connect with the passionate Bay Area community via one of the area’s most celebrated and iconic events.
This year’s race will honor another iconic Bay Area event – the 50th anniversary of San Francisco’s “Summer of Love” movement. The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 young people promoting peace and new ideas converged in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. In keeping with the 50th anniversary theme, all aspects of the race will commemorate the Summer of Love. From the official runners’ T-shirt to the finisher medal and everything in between, the Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers will emulate the distinct identity of the 1960s that so many young people adopted during that era.
“As the premier airline on the West Coast, we continue to grow Alaska and Virgin America’s Bay Area network with the addition of service to 13 new cities this year,” said Ben Minicucci, president and COO of Alaska Airlines. “It’s important for us to connect with and support our guests in the communities where they live. As the official airline of this footrace, we are honored to be able to be part of such an iconic Bay Area event that builds and strengthens communities through shared experiences.”
Entering its 106th consecutive year, Bay to Breakers is a San Francisco institution and the ultimate celebration of Bay Area culture. The event will take place on Sunday, May 21 with more than 40,000 spirited participants from all over the world racing from the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of spectators.
“Bay to Breakers has a rich cultural legacy and unites the community of San Francisco every year,” said Matt Wikstrom, Executive Vice President of Endurance at Wasserman, which owns and operates the race. “We couldn’t think of a better partner for this event than Alaska Airlines and look forward to kicking off the Summer of Love 50th anniversary celebration with them.”
For more information about Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers, please visit www.alaskaairlinesbaytobreakers.com.
About Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines, together with Virgin America and its regional partners, flies 40 million customers a year to 118 destinations with an average of 1,200 daily flights across the United States and to Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. With Alaska and Alaska Global Partners, customers can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 900 destinations worldwide. Learn more about Alaska’s award-winning service and unmatched reliability at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).
About Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers
San Francisco’s Alaska Airlines Bay to Breakers is one of the oldest annual footraces in the world, a staple to the City by the Bay since May 1912. With a starting point near the San Francisco Bay, a few blocks from The Embarcadero, the 7.46 mile race runs west through the city and finishes at the Great Highway where the breakers crash onto the Pacific Coast’s Ocean Beach. A quintessential San Francisco experience for 106 years, the race is interwoven into the fabric of the city and is a true reflection and celebration of life between the breakers and the Bay. For more information, please visit www.baytobreakers.com.
About Wasserman
Wasserman is a culture-centric agency, serving the best talent, brands and properties in the world. Founded in 2002 with roots in sports and entertainment, Wasserman has evolved beyond those categories. They are an agency not just of advisors, but creators, developers, influencers and innovators who work across music, art, entertainment, social, tech, content and beyond. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Wasserman also operates in Carlsbad, Doha, Dubai, London, Miami, New York, Portland, Raleigh, São Paulo, The Hague and Toronto.
Media Relations:
newsroom@alaskaair.com
Source: Alaska Airlines
This entry was posted in Airlines, Business, Festivals and Events, Travel, Travel Marketing, Travelers and tagged Alaska Airlines, Bay to Breakers, Ben Minicucci, iconic race, Matt Wikstrom. Bookmark the permalink.
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Innovations in Nutrition Programs and Services Department of Health and Human Services
Deadline Passed 07/17/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. Funding Opportunity #: HHS-2018-ACL-AOA-INNU-0300. This funding opportunity is for competitive grants to be awarded under the OAA Title IV authority to increase the evidenced based knowledge base of nutrition providers, drive improved health outcomes for program recipients by promoting higher service quality, and increase program efficiency through innovative nutrition service delivery models. Funding will support innovative and promising practices that move the aging network towards evidenced based practices that enhance the quality, effectiveness of nutrition services programs or outcomes within the aging services network. Innovation can include service products that appeal to caregivers (such as web-based ordering systems and carryout food products), increased involvement of volunteers (such as retired chefs), consideration of eating habits and choice (such as variable meal times, salad bars, or more fresh fruits and vegetables), new service models (testing variations and hybrid strategies) and other innovations to better serve a generation of consumers whose needs and preferences are different. Through this program, funds may be used to help develop and test additional models or to replicate models that have already been tested in other community-based settings.
nutrition, health, community health, efficiency $250,000 National Link
Tribal Public Health Capacity Building and Quality Improvement Umbrella Cooperative Agreement Department of Health and Human Services, CDC
Deadline Passed 4/24/2018. Deadline for 2019 Unknown. Funding Opportunity #: CDC-RFA-OT18-1803. CDC announces a new cooperative agreement (CoAg) for eligible federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribal nations and regional AI/AN tribally designated organizations to strengthen and improve the public health infrastructure and performance of tribal public health systems. The intent of this program is to assist in public health infrastructure improvement; workforce development; tribal data and information systems enhancement, including surveillance; and development and adaptation of evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions to increase the long-term sustainability of the collective tribal public health system. This program’s ultimate outcomes are 1) decreased morbidity and mortality among AI/ANs; 2) advanced capacity of Indian Country to identify, respond to, and mitigate public health threats; 3) improved capacity of the workforce to deliver essential public health services; 4) increased culturally-appropriate practice-based evidence programs and policies that are effective and sustainable throughout Indian Country; and 5) improved capacity to collaboratively and strategically address AI/AN health needs and advance health equity.
Tribal Health, public health, infrastructure, development, tribal data, adaptation, capacity building $20,000-$500,000 National Link
Tribal Management Grant Program Department of Health and Human Services, IHS
Deadline Passed 08/17/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. Funding Opportunity #: HHS-2018-IHS-TMD-0001. The purpose of this IHS grant announcement is to announce the availability of the Tribal Management Grant (TMG) Program to enhance and develop health management infrastructure and assist Tribes/Tribal Organizations (T/TO) in assuming all or part of existing Indian Health Service (IHS) Programs, Services, Functions, and Activities (PSFAs) through a Title I contract and assist established Title I contractors and Title V compactors to further develop and improve their management capability. In addition, TMGs are available to T/TO under the authority of 25 U.S.C. § 5322(e) for (1) obtaining technical assistance from providers designated by the T/TO (including T/TO that operate mature contracts) for the purposes of program planning and evaluation, including the development of any management systems necessary for contract management and the development of cost allocation plans for indirect cost rates; and (2) planning, designing, monitoring, and evaluating Federal programs serving the T/TO, including Federal administrative functions.
health management, infrastructure, development, capacity building, planning, monitoring $50,000-$100,000 National Link
Homeland Security National Training Program Department of Homeland Security, FEMA
Deadline passed as of August 22, 2016. Deadline for 2017 unkonown. The Department of Homeland Security Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Homeland Security National Training Program (HSNTP), Continuing Training Grants (CTG) program plays an important role in the implementation of the National Preparedness System by supporting the building, sustainment, and delivery of core capabilities essential to achieving the National Preparedness Goal (the Goal) of a secure and resilient Nation. Delivering core capabilities requires the combined effort of the whole community, rather than the exclusive effort of any single organization or level of government. The FY 2016 HSNTP/CTG supports efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery mission areas, with specific focus on addressing the training needs of our Nation. Objectives: FY 2016 HSNTP/CTG training programs will provide training solutions to address specific national preparedness gaps, correlate training needs with exercise activities and outcomes, incorporate the core capabilities identified in the National Preparedness Goal, and ensure training is available and accessible to a nationwide audience.
homeland security, mitigation, hazard preparedness, natural disaster Awards vary. Total program funding: $11,521,000. National Link
Healthy Homes Production Grant Program for Tribal Housing Department of Housing and Urban Development 08/09/2019
The purpose of the HHP program is to assist American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments identify and remediate housing related health and safety hazards. This program will assist American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments to develop comprehensive programs to identify and remediate housing issues that contribute to health and safety issues in urban, tribal communities. The Healthy Homes Production (HHP) Program is part of HUD’s overall Healthy Homes Initiative launched in 1999. The program takes a comprehensive approach to addressing multiple childhood diseases and injuries in the home by focusing on housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time. The program builds upon HUD’s experience with Lead Hazard Control programs to expand the Department’s efforts to address a variety of high-priority environmental health and safety hazards.
housing, environmental health, public health, weatherization, sustainable development, community health $500,000-$1,000,000 National Link
Native American Affairs: Technical Assistance to Tribes for Fiscal Year 2018 Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
Deadline Passed 1/17/2017. Deadline for 2018 Unknown. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), through the Native American Affairs Technical Assistance to Tribes Program (Technical Assistance Program [TAP]), provides technical assistance to Indian tribes and tribal organizations. The TAP is intended to establish cooperative working relationships, through partnerships with Indian tribes and tribal organizations, to ensure that tribes have the opportunity to participate fully in the Reclamation Program as they develop, manage, and protect their water and related resources. Reclamation’s Native American and International Affairs Office, Washington, D.C., plans to make fiscal year (FY) 2018 funds available for the TAP through Reclamation’s five Regional Offices. The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations to submit proposals for financial assistance, in the form of grants and cooperative agreements, for TAP projects and activities that develop, manage, and protect tribal water and related resources.
development, management, protection, water, natural resources Up to $200,000 National Link
Stanislaus River Salmon Project Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service
Deadline passed as of October 26, 2016. Deadline for 2017 unknown. Staff that work pursuant to the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) in California's Central Valley have a need for timely access to standardized, high-quality adult and juvenile salmonid monitoring data. To address that need, this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will provide funds used for: (1) collecting and reporting new juvenile Chinook salmon and steelhead monitoring data collected with rotary screw traps deployed near Caswell State Park on the Stanislaus River in California's Central Valley, and (2) data entry and management activities that transfer historical adult Chinook salmon escapement data from a variety of paper and digital data formats to a standardized database structure.
Salmon, restoration, climate change, rehabilitation, $279,580-$790,000 California, Pacific Coast Link
Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid to Tribal Historic Preservation Offices Department of the Interior, National Parks Service
Deadline Passed 06/30/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. This funding program supports the operation of Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPO). The purpose of this program is to provide grants to THPOs for the identification, evaluation, and protection of historic properties by such means as: survey, planning, technical assistance, development, education, expansion of the National Register of Historic Places, and to assist THPOs in carrying out the historic preservation activities that the Tribe agreed to assume from the State Historic Preservation Office, on tribal lands, under their Partnership agreement with the National Park Service. Awards under this program must comply with and support 54 USC 301 et seq. (commonly known as the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended).
historic preservation, protection, THPO, planning, education, surveys Up to $112,000 Untied States, National Link
Solicitation of Project Proposals for the Low or No Emission (Low-No) Program Department of Transportation
Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): Solicitation of Project Proposals for the Low or No Emission Program (Low-No) Program. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of $85 million of Fiscal Year 2019 funds for the purchase or lease of low or no emission vehicles as well as related equipment or facilities. The main purpose of the Low-No Program is to support the transition of the nation’s transit fleet to the lowest polluting and most energy efficient transit vehicles. The Low-No Program provides funding to State and local governmental authorities for the purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, including acquisition, construction, and leasing of required supporting facilities.
transportation, efficient, low emissions, pollution, facilities, construction, acquisition Total Program Funding: $85,000,000 Expected number of awards: 45 National Link
Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program Department of Transportation
Deadline Passed 09/10/2018. Deadline Unknown 2019. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of approximately $5 million in funding provided by the Public Transportation on Indian Reservations Program (Tribal Transit Program (TTP)), as authorized by 49 U.S.C. 5311(c)(1)(A), as amended by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST), Public Law 114-94 (December 4, 2015). This is a national solicitation for project proposals and includes the selection criteria and program eligibility information for Fiscal Year 2018 projects. The primary purpose of these competitively selected grants is to support planning, capital, and, in limited circumstances, operating assistance for tribal public transit services. Funds distributed to Indian tribes under the TTP should not replace or reduce funds that Indian tribes receive from states through FTA’s Section 5311 program.
transportation, roads and highways, accessability up to $300,000 Link
Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Tribal Grants- FY 2019 Department of Transportation
Deadline Passed 05/24/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), requests applications from federally recognized tribes to increase Tribal effectiveness in safely and efficiently handling hazardous materials incidents, enhance implementation of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), and encourage a comprehensive approach to emergency training and planning by incorporating the unique challenges of responses to transportation situations.
hazardous materials, emergency planning, training, transportation Award floor: $10,000 National Link
Climate Program Office FY 2019 Dept. of Commerce
Deadline Passed 11/20/2018. Deadline Unknown for 2019. This funding opportunity is focused on conducting and supporting weather and climate research, oceanic and atmospheric observations, modeling, information management, assessments, interdisciplinary decision-support research, outreach, education, and partnership development. Climate variability and change present society with significant economic, health, safety, and security challenges and opportunities. In meeting these challenges, and as part of NOAA's climate portfolio within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the Climate Program Office (CPO) advances scientific understanding, monitoring, and prediction of climate and its impacts, to enable effective decisions. These investments are key to NOAA's mission of "Science, Service, and Stewardship" and are guided by the agency's vision to create and sustain enhanced resilience in ecosystems, communities, and economies. Letters of intent are due by 5pm Eastern Time on September 10th by email.
climate administration, climate change, adaptation, climate science, planning, management $50,000-300,000 National, United States Link
Saltonstall-Kennedy Competitive Research Program Dept. of Commerce
Deadline passed as of December 9, 2016. Deadline for 2017 unknown. The objective of the S-K Grant Program is to address the needs of the fisheries and fishing communities in optimizing economic benefits by building and maintaining sustainable fisheries and practices, dealing with the impacts of conservation and management measures, and increasing other opportunities to use existing infrastructure to support keeping working waterfronts viable. Proposals submitted to this competition must address at least one of the following priorities: Marine Aquaculture; Fisheries Data Collection; Techniques for Reducing Bycatch and other Adverse Impacts; Adapting to Climate Change and Other Long Term Ecosystem Change; Promotion, Development and Marketing; Socio-Economic Research; and Territorial Science.
marine health, fisheries, management, sustainability, climate change, adaptation $25,000-$300,000 United States Link
Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Tribal Grant Program DERA, EPA
This year the National Clean Diesel Campaign will issue a stand alone Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Tribal Competition Request for Proposals (RFP) for a total of up to $1 million. Proposals must be submitted electronically via www.grants.gov no later than 4 p.m. ET on July 15, 2015.
Diesel Emissions Reduction/Control, Carbon footprint up to $1,000,000 National Link
Office of Tribal Self-Governance Negotiation Cooperative Agreement DHHS, IHS
Deadline passed on June 18, 2018. Next deadline unknown. The purpose of this Negotiation Cooperative Agreement is to provide Tribes with resources to help defray the costs associated with preparing for and engaging in Tribal Self-Governance Program (TSGP) negotiations. TSGP negotiations are a dynamic, evolving, and tribally driven process that requires careful planning, preparation and sharing of precise, up-to-date information by both Tribal and Federal parties. Because each Tribal situation is unique, a Tribe's successful transition into the TSGP, or expansion of their current program, requires focused discussions between the Federal and Tribal negotiation teams about the Tribe's specific health care concerns and plans. One of the hallmarks of the TSGP is the collaborative nature of the negotiations process, which is designed to: 1) enable a Tribe to set its own priorities when assuming responsibility for IHS Programs, Services, Functions and Activities (PSFAs), 2) observe and respect the Government-to-Government relationship between the U.S. and each Tribe, and 3) involve the active participation of both Tribal and IHS representatives, including the Office of Tribal Self-Governance (OTSG).
health, self-governance, planning, collaboration $48,000 National Link
Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Teachers (Admin Supp) DHHS, NIEHS
Deadline Passed 01/31/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences hereby notifies Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) with R01, R21, R15, R35, R37, or P01 awards that funds are available for administrative supplements to support summer research experiences in environmental health science for high school students, college undergraduates, master’s degree candidates, medical students, secondary school science teachers, and science professors from R15/AREA grant eligible institutions. Administrative supplements must support work within the scope of the original project.
environmental health, education, training, research experience varies National Link
Hazard Mitigation Assistance Programs DHS
FEMA provides funds to assist states and communities in implementing measures that reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings, manufactured homes, and other structures insured under the National Flood Insurance Program. Three types of FMA grants are available to States and communities:
• Planning Grants to prepare Flood Mitigation Plans. Only NFIP-participating communities with approved Flood Mitigation Plans can apply for FMA Project grants
• Project Grants to implement measures to reduce flood losses, such as elevation, acquisition, or relocation of NFIP-insured structures. States are encouraged to prioritize FMA funds for applications that include repetitive loss properties; these include structures with 2 or more losses each with a claim of at least $1,000 within any ten-year period since 1978.
• Management Cost Grants for the State to help administer the FMA program and activities. Up to ten percent (10%) of Project grants may be awarded to States for Management Cost Grants.
Adaptation, Research, Mitigation, Water, Disaster, Emergency Management, Land Varies Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, National, Alaska Link
FY17 WIC Special Project Grants Full Mini DOA- Food and Nutrition Service
Deadline passed as of September 11, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknown. The purpose of the fiscal year (FY) 2017 WIC Special Project Grants is to help WIC State Agencies develop, implement, and evaluate new or innovative methods of service to meet the changing needs of WIC participants, with special attention to the improved delivery of program services and demonstrate national or regional significance.
food, nutrition, food security, food assistance, community health, wellness, diet, WIC, Up to $500,000. National, United States Link
Coastal Resilience Networks (CRest) DOC
Grant Status Unknown. The purpose of this notice is to solicit grant proposals from eligible organizations to implement activities that enhance resilience of coastal communities to natural hazard and climate risks through a regional or national network. Proposals must leverage, enhance, or create a system in which one or more coastal hazard issues can be addressed through partnerships to improve coordination and collaboration throughout the region. Partnerships must include multiple institutions, disciplines, and sectors at the local, state, and federal level. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement should provide beneficial public outcomes for coastal communities to address existing and potential future climate and hazard risks to coastal infrastructure, local economies, vulnerable populations, and the natural environment.
Coastal, Conservation, Disaster, Research, Water Individual awards of up to $100,000 Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, Pacific Islands, Coastal, National, International (US Territories) Link
Marine Mammal Commission Grants DOC
The Marine Mammal Commission carries out a small research program that supports projects aimed at meeting the conservation and protection goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Commission’s research program includes all relevant activities including basic and applied research, workshops, literature reviews, compilation of expert opinion, and drafting manuscripts.
The Commission encourages the submission of proposals for innovative and well-designed projects that address important conservation issues for marine mammals or marine ecosystems but that may be unlikely to obtain funding through traditional research agencies. On occasion, the Commission provides start-up or seed money for promising research projects that, once proven feasible, may be supported later by other federal agencies. The Commission encourages applicants to obtain additional support by collaborating with, or soliciting funds from, other institutions, organizations, or agencies.
The research program awards grants based on proposals submitted in response to general Requests for Proposals (RFPs), unsolicited proposals, and specific research topics identified by the Commission.
Natural Resources, Wildlife, Research, Education, Conservation, Coastal, Water The amount of funds available varies from year to year, depending on the level of congressional appropriations. Since it was established in 1972, the Commission has supported more than 1,000 projects. Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, National, Alaska Link
FY 2014 Economic Development Assistance Programs DOC
EDA (Economic Development Administration) solicits applications from applicants in rural and urban areas to provide investments that support construction, non-construction, technical assistance, and revolving loan fund projects under EDA's Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance programs. EDA's investment priorities are: Collaborative Regional Innovation, Public/Private Partnerships, National Strategic Priorities, Global Competitiveness, Environmentally-Sustainable Development, and Economically Distressed and Underserved Communities. Please note that there are multiple funding cycle deadlines: 3/14/14; 6/13/14; 10/17/14.
Development, Infrastructure varies Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, National, Alaska Link
FY 2012 Disaster Relief Opportunity DOC
The Economic Development Administration intends to award investments in regions experiencing severe economic distress as a result of natural disasters, which are often exacerbated by climate change. The program supports development and implementation of regionally based, long-term economic development strategies in response to Federally Declared disasters. This opportunity stems from a $200 million investment to support communities that received a major disaster designation in Fiscal year 2011 (between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011). Applicants must demonstrate a clear nexus between the proposed project work and disaster recovery/resilience efforts.
Disaster Relief Varies Northweest, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast, Alaska, National, Mdiwest Link
FY 2019 Community-based Restoration Program Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Grants DOC, NOAA
Deadline Passed 04/16/2019. Deadline Unknown for 2020. The principal objective of the NMFS Community-based Restoration Program Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration solicitation is to support habitat restoration projects that use an ecosystem-based approach to foster species recovery and increase populations under NOAA’s jurisdiction. Proposals submitted under this solicitation will be primarily evaluated based on their ability to demonstrate how the proposed habitat restoration actions will help recover threatened and endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act, including species identified by NMFS as “Species in the Spotlight”, sustain or help rebuild fish stocks managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and contribute to the sustainability of saltwater recreational fisheries.
habitat restoration, ecosystem, species recovery, threatened and endangered species, fisheries $75,000-$3,000,000 National Link
Fort Wainwright AK Climate Change Baseline Analysis DOD
Deadline passed as of March 6, 2017. Deadline for 2018 unknonwn. The U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Wainwright, Alaska (USAG FWA) owns and manages approximately 1.6 million acres in Interior Alaska. The USAG FWA is requesting assistance to facilitate a climate change baseline analysis with requirements to analyze climate change effects and management strategies for Fort Wainwright and its Training Lands.
climate change, climate science, outcomes, policy, adaptation, mitigation, baseline, analysis, conservation, $181,190 total for 1 available award. Alaska, Northwest Link
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Black Bear: Out of Hibernation: WINNER: Aboriginal Peoples Choice Best Contemporary Powwow 2011
Black Bear Singers is a drum group from the community of Manawan, of the Atikamekw nation in the province of Quebec (Canada). We began singing together in the year 2000, and our style is northern contemporary. We are very proud of our Atikamekw culture and our heritage, as well as our language that is still commonly spoken today. One aspect of our rediscovered cultural identity is vocal expression accompanied by drumming. We sing strong and we gather strength from our song. Kokum, our spiritual grandmother, has always told us to sing, to try hard, and to never give up. We take this very much to heart, and carry her always in our memory.
We have entitled our album “Out of Hibernation” because we conceived it in the spring, when the black bear wakes from its winter sleep. We refer also to the beginning of our powwow season. Spring is a time for us as well to leave home and begin our travels.
We work hard with the hope that we will inspire the younger generation to aspire for excellence using the tools of our culture, within our culture!! (le traduction en Akikamekw vien bien tot!!)
Notcimik
Where we are from. This is where the Atikamekw people had lived. Their children were born, the first words were said Notcimik. Ancestors always relied on it to live. Our culture, our language and our medicine swear by it. Hunting, healing and everything else we need to survive is notcimik. We hope and pray it remains this way, that we always defend and keep our lands so we forever can have what we call home.
https://tribalspiritmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1-BlackBear_Straight-Crow-Hop.mp3
Buy on iTune
Buy Physical CD
We grew up on a reserve called Manawan in mid Quebec. Our first language is Atikamekw, in school we were taught french and on the powwow tail we learned english. As a contemporary powwow group we write songs in Atikamekw which is a language under the Cree language group. Our words are very dynamic and flow very well with the drum. See if you can figure out the Atikamekw word for dance…
https://tribalspiritmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/01-FLying-Shawl.MP3
Spring medecine
The Black Bear and the Atikamekw people of Manawan are inseperable from the subtle changes of the seasons. Our last album “Out of Hibernation” was dedicated to the time of year when we all come out to be reborn. We dedicate this album to the next stage of our annual process, Spring Medicine, when the Black Bear replenishes himself as he roams the land in search of medicine which will heal him after the long hibernation.
https://tribalspiritmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1-Ki-Meskinam.MP3
Rez Road
Originally from Manawan, Black Bear: Makate Masko have been on the powwow trail for 13 years. We have evolved tremendously within our group. Slowly Black Bear’s family grows with the arrival of new descendants. Some of us go to school and others to work. Today our goal is to show our children and the world what we like to do, so that it continues in the generations to come. It is our duty to demonstrate perseverance (or to be an example of perseverance). We would like to share with you our songs and our Atikamekw words. Please accept our most heartfelt greetings.
https://tribalspiritmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/01-On-the-A-40.mp3
Come & Get Your Love
We have been interested in pow wow music since 2000 and we have never seen such a thing as a pow wow drum group working with musicians from different styles of music until now. Meeting members from A Tribe Called Red was very eye-opening for all of us. We discovered a new style of making music and we are really happy to be part of their music. This album was recorded in St-Zénon where we did two things at the same time. As a drum group, we decided to record our songs live in the studio. As for A Tribe Called Red, we recorded voices and drum separately and many other things so they can create music from there.
We would like to thank Pierre from the Wild Studio for receiving us and letting us record, Robert Todd from Tribal Spirit for his big contribution, Ian, Bear and Tim from A Tribe Called Red for their collaboration and musical sharing
https://tribalspiritmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/01-Mano.MP3
CD | Come & Get Your Love
We have been interested in pow wow music since 2000 and we have never seen such a thing as a pow wow drum group working with musicians from different styles of music until now.
CD | Rez Road
We are a Northern Contemporary Drum group and most of the songs in this CD are word songs sung.
CD | Spring Medecine
The Black Bear and the Atikamekw people of Manawan are inseperable from the subtle changes of the seasons.
CD | Out Of Hibernation (Out of Stock)
We grew up on a reserve called Manawan in mid Quebec.
CD | Notcimik
Where we are from. This is where the Atikamekw people had lived. Their children were born, the first words were said Notcimik. Ancestors always relied on it to live.
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Tags: capcom, hollywood, monster hunter, sony pictures
Monster Hunter is currently one of the most popular franchise for Capcom and it is getting a Hollywood movie by the director of Resident Evil. The first look at the film in action has leaked online.
Monster Hunter movie will star Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa, Diego Boneta, and Ron Perlman. From the leaked trailer, we can see that they are going for a similar concept to the recently released Monster Hunter World.
During the Shanghai International Film Festival as discovered by Siliconera, the producers for the movie had a short teaser trailer that they premiered to the audience. Someone from the audience has shared snippets from this teaser trailer that is very brief and doesn’t reveal much. It does give us an overview and hint that the movie is targeting the same style as the newly released MH World.
While the movie tries to keep it grounded, it uses an alternate dimension as a story point to pit the humans against the various monsters.
The premise of the movie is that a group of military personnel gain access to a portal that transports them to an alternate dimension. This new dimension is full of violent beasts and predators which have to be stopped from reaching the newly discovered portal in order to save earth from an invasion of these monsters.
Paul W. S. Anderson is directing this video game adaption based on the popular Capcom franchise. Monster Hunter World has sold more than 12 million copies for Capcom and they are working on a brand new expansion for it which is out later this September.
Ali Haider
Ali Haider loves to dabble in multimedia projects. He has a passion for editing and managing YouTube videos and loves writing in his spare time.
Rage 2 Update 1.03 Adds Cheat Codes, Improves Replay Value, and More
PS5 Devkit Is More Powerful Than Xbox Scarlett But That Might Change
Devil May Cry 5 Update 1.08 Silently Released Today
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IRS Makes Taxpayer Friendly Change to the R&D Tax Credit Regulations
The tax credit for research and development can provide a valuable tax benefit to taxpayers in a variety of industries. A recent change by the IRS has now made the credit more widely available.
There are two methods taxpayers can use to compute and claim the available credit.
These are the “regular” credit and the “Alternative Simplified Credit” (or ASC). The regular credit was originally the only one available to taxpayers. Congress later added the ASC to make the credit calculation less burdensome.
However, IRS rules provided that only the regular credit could be used on an amended return filed to claim the credit.
Recent Development
The IRS recently announced it had received numerous requests to amend its regulations, and allow taxpayers to make an ASC election on an amended return. The requests explained that the burden of substantiating expenditures and costs for the base period under the regular credit approach were costly, time-consuming, and difficult. The requests also suggested that taxpayers often needed additional time to determine whether to claim the regular credit or the ASC.
In TD 9666, the IRS responded to these requests by changing the applicable regulations. The IRS removed the rule that prohibited a taxpayer from making an ASC election for a tax year on an amended return. In its place, the regulations now provide a rule that allows a taxpayer to make an ASC election for a tax year on an amended return.
There are certain restrictions placed on this new taxpayer option that should be reviewed prior to any filing. In changing the rules, the IRS also noted that taxpayers must still maintain sufficient books and records to substantiate the credit on any amended return.
In general, however, the new rule will make it far easier for companies to file amended returns to claim the tax credit. This could be especially beneficial to smaller companies, which may find the requirements of the regular credit calculation too onerous. As suggested by its name, the requirements of the ASC method are less complex than the regular method, which had been the only approach available for an amended return.
Legislative Origins
Interestingly, this IRS change was also advocated in legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) These Senators included this change in the bipartisan “Innovators Job Creation Act”, which was introduced earlier this year.
“I am glad the IRS agrees with me that small businesses, the most dynamic part of our economy, should be able to take fuller advantage of the Research and Development Tax Credit,” commented Senator Roberts. “The sensible change in the IRS’ regulations – a change I have long pushed for – will provide funds to allow innovative small business owners to create new jobs, expand businesses and keep businesses growing.”
Senator Coons added that “Research and development are the lifeblood of innovation, and many of today’s most successful innovations are coming from the small business world. Our tax code should encourage job-creating R&D, but until now, IRS regulations prevented many small companies from claiming the most user-friendly version of the R&D tax credit. This simple change will help thousands of small manufacturers access the capital they need to invest in innovation, grow their businesses, and create good jobs. I’m grateful to Senator Roberts for his partnership on the Innovators Job Creation Act, and look forward to working with him to enact the other important provisions of this bill.”
For more information regarding this topic, please contact your local UHY LLP professional.
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Information published on 15 October 2013 in the UIC electronic newsletter "UIC eNews" Nr 369.
Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia, a.s. (ZSSK CARGO) establishes two subsidiaries with subsequent declaration of the international tender for qualified partners to enter them
In the near future ZSSK CARGO will establish subsidiaries for the management of freight wagons and for the operation of intermodal transport. Part of the subsidiary shares will then be offered to potential partners in the international tender, with the completion and evaluation of binding offers expected in March 2014. The actual sale of the shareholding should take place in the second half of 2014. Potential partners can express their preliminary interest as described on web page www.zscargo.sk (http://www.zscargo.sk/en/public/news/subsidiary-companies-zssk-cargo.html).
The aim of the measures in terms of government material on the consolidation of rail freight in the Slovak Republic is the entry of the qualified and reputable partners in subsidiaries which are expected to increase management efficiency of the freight wagons, to increase service quality and volume of intermodal transport. The parent company ZSSK CARGO plans to use the funds obtained from the sale of equity share primarily for economic consolidation and reduction of its debt to 30 % in comparison with the situation in 2012.
Establishment and sell-off of equity shares within subsidiaries results from the Government Resolution 390/2013, adopted on 10 July 2013 in the framework of measures to consolidate rail freight transport in Slovakia.
(Source: ZSSK Cargo)
UIC Director General meets several high-level Brazilian representatives to discuss the role of UIC in Latin America JSC Russian Railways RZD is 10 years young PROTECTRAIL final demonstration held from 8 – 11 0ctober 2013 in Poland TRA VISIONS: Organising Transport Research Awards for the TRA Conference Infrabel Belgium, one of ILCAD’s partners, organised another safety campaign in September 2013 Last reminder! UIC members are invited to enter their latest film productions for the 20th CINERAIL, the International Railway Film Festival
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DU Home » Latest Threads » Behind the Aegis » Journal
Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's Journal
Member since: Sat Aug 7, 2004, 03:58 AM
Semitic Anti-Semitism
At the risk of preaching to the choir (or the “minyan,” we guess?), there is an issue that we at the Jewish Voice would like to clear the air about, and that is, exactly what constitutes anti-Semitism, and when, if ever, it “doesn’t count.”
Anti-Semitism is defined as “Hostility and prejudice directed against Jewish people; (also) the theory, action, or practice resulting from this.” (Thank you, Oxford English Dictionary.) Note that nowhere in the definition of the term is it stipulated that the source must be non-Jewish, or “non-Semitic.” While one may assume that most instances of anti-Semitism involve non-Jews, this needn’t necessarily be the case, just as a person expressing racist views about people of African descent wouldn’t be rendered any less of a bigot by being black. A self-hater of any race or religion might be confused, but they still hate.
Why do we bring this up now, you ask? Comedienne Roseanne Barr, in her ongoing attempts to stay “edgy” and culturally relevant, managed to make waves last week with a Tweet about “Jewish mind control.” Now, Roseanne has a history of making nonsensical remarks (such as “I’m running for president”), some of them anti-Jewish or anti-Israel. What really bothers us, however, is her defense against critics: “I’m a Jew, so refrain from calling me an anti-Semite.” Maybe if Roseanne would refrain from acting like (and probably, being) an anti-Semite, perhaps people would stop calling her one. Being Jewish can’t shield you from factually-based accusations of anti-Semitism, any more than a rich person could rob a bank, then get away with it by telling the Judge “I can’t possibly be a thief; I already have money!”
On a related note, Arab activists will sometimes deflect charges of anti-Jewish bigotry by explaining that, being “Semitic” themselves, they are incapable of anti-Semitism. As world-renowned historian and Mid-East scholar Bernard Lewis once put it (and I’m paraphrasing here): this is the logical equivalent of saying that a translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion printed in London is anti-Semitic, but one printed in Cairo is not because Hebrew and Arabic are cognate languages.
more: http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1858:semitic-anti-semitism&catid=101:jv-editorial&Itemid=284
Posted by Behind the Aegis | Thu Aug 30, 2012, 11:03 PM (0 replies)
Austria investigates alleged anti-Jewish cartoon
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities are investigating a cartoon on a rightist political leader's Facebook page that critics say smacked of anti-Semitism by showing a repulsive fat banker with a large hooked nose and what appeared to be Star of David patterns on his cufflinks, an official said Tuesday.
The rightist Freedom Party has called criticism of the caricature politically motivated and said its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, denies the cartoon posted on his Facebook page Sunday was directed against Jews.
Strache accused his detractors of "trying to link me to something insidious" and said they were seeing Stars of David where there were none. He also said that anyone who automatically assigns ethnicity or religion to a hooked nose is a racist.
Still, the investigation could lead to legal action against those who were responsible for the cartoon.
Thomas Vecsey of the Austrian Prosecutor's office said Tuesday that legal experts will decide in the next few days whether to charge those responsible for the posting with incitement to religious or ethnic hatred, a criminal offense in Austria.
For the real 'good read', read the comment section.
Posted by Behind the Aegis | Sat Aug 25, 2012, 02:08 AM (3 replies)
The Sounds of Hate: The White Power Music Scene in the United States in 2012
The recent tragic shooting spree at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which Wade Michael Page killed six people before killing himself after a shootout with police, has drawn attention to the shadowy world of white power music. Page, a committed white supremacist and member of the Hammerskins, a hardcore racist skinhead group, was heavily involved in the white power music scene in the United States. He played in a number of white power bands over the previous 12 years, most prominently the bands Definite Hate and End Apathy.
Page was just one of hundreds of white supremacist musicians listened to by thousands of white supremacists in the United States and beyond. Today, white power music permeates the subculture of the white supremacist movement. Not all white supremacists enjoy white power music, but many of them do, especially neo-Nazis and racist skinheads. For listeners, white power music is not simply entertainment. It is music with a message, a medium used to express an ideology suffused with anger, hatred and violence.
White Power Music in the United States
Today, white power music is well established in the United States, where it has existed for three decades. Hate music arose originally in Great Britain in the 1970s as the skinhead subculture that originated there diverged into two different streams: a traditional skinhead stream and a racist skinhead stream. As racist skinheads emerged, they created a white supremacist variation of the skinhead-related music genre called Oi! (sometimes also known by the deliberate euphemism “Rock against Communism” or RAC). In the late 1970s, and more so in the early 1980s, both the racist skinhead subculture and its music crossed the Atlantic to the United States and Canada.
During the 1980s, the racist skinhead subculture grew and evolved, especially on the West Coast, where it also interacted with the punk music scene that was strong there at the time. As a result of this intermixture, another genre of white power music was born: hatecore punk, a racist version of hardcore punk. Hate music grew as the racist skinhead movement spread, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By this time, a number of American hate music bands had formed—some of which, such as Bully Boys, still exist today.
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The Thing Is
A blog about anything and everything
Premier League Manager of the Season
The 2017-2018 Premier League was won at a canter by Manchester City, who played some sublime football and never looked like relinquishing their place at the top of the English football pyramid once they were there. Pep Guardiola, having struggled in his first season in England, has brought his philosophy that has been tried and tested successfully in Spain and Germany to bear on Premier League teams, with resounding triumph. It is therefore fair to assume that many would call for Pep to be given the Manager of the Year award and be done with it. However, I believe that there are others that deserve at least a mention, or might even challenge Pep more than the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool did his City side.
1 – Pep Guardiola
It is fair to say that Man City have walked to Premier League triumph this year. Yes there have been blips in an otherwise stellar season, their exit in the Champions League quarter final to Liverpool and the 3-2 derby defeat to Man Utd being examples, yet one cannot argue against the claim that they are one of the best Premier League sides of the modern era. Much of this has been down to Pep Guardiola, the players he has bought have slotted into his system with relative ease, plus the old guard of Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero have shown their experience and quality once again. City’s defensive frailties have been highlighted but haven’t been as much of a problem as they were last season, due to their attacking prowess which has been delightfully orchestrated by Kevin De Bruyne. A League Cup and Premier League title is a great return and puts Pep in the driver’s seat for the Manager of the Year competition.
2 – Sean Dyche
What a year it has been for Burnley!! Many tipped them for relegation at the beginning of the season, but with a few games left, they have a fighting chance to get themselves a Europa Cup spot. Now, who would have predicted that! All of that is down to the spirit created by Dyche as well as his tactical nous, especially seeing as he does not have a huge budget. Chris Wood was a shrewd purchase from Championship side Leeds United last summer, whilst goalkeeper Nick Pope has been putting in performances that might well see him at this year’s World Cup for England, at the expense of teammate Tom Heaton. It is truly commendable that a club such as Burnley will most likely finish just a few points behind Arsenal and above the likes of Everton or Leicester City. It is for this reason that Sean Dyche is my manager of the year, what he has done with Burnley is astonishing, and I am surprised that his efforts have not been picked up by a “larger” club.
3 – Rafael Benitez
When Newcastle United were relegated a couple of seasons ago with Benitez at the helm, I thought it was a shame that the Premier League lost such a managerial talent, but felt safe in the assumption that if anyone was going to bring Newcastle back up at the first attempt it would be Rafa. Newcastle, at the time of writing, are sat in 10th place, which is a remarkable achievement when you consider the budgetary restrictions in place at Newcastle. It is a testament to Benitez’s abilities that United went from looking like relegation candidates around Christmas to a mid-table side. In order to continue this upward trend, Newcastle need to back Benitez with a sizeable transfer budget otherwise I can easily see him plying his trade elsewhere next season, especially when you consider some of the jobs that may be available come the summer.
4 – Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool have played some great attacking football this season, and boast the league’s top scorer and PFA Player of the Year winner in Mohammed Salah. They are the only team to have done the double over Manchester City in the league this year; and the way they dismantled the league winners over two legs in the Champions League quarter final highlight the attacking quality that Klopp has at his disposal. Liverpool are one of the best counter-attacking sides in Europe this season, and if they can successfully negotiate Roma I believe they can beat anyone in a one off match, meaning the Champions League is a real possibility. However, the same problems still plague Klopp’s team. A shaky defence and questionable keeper mean that the ability to mount a serious title challenge is debatable at best. Although, I do fancy Klopp to rectify those problems in the summer transfer market. Jack Butland is potentially going to be available on the cheap if Stoke City are relegated, and a smart buy at right back would potentially solve their defensive problems. Overall, Liverpool have had a brilliant season, and can boast the title of “Man City Slayers”, something they share with such a small number of teams that you could count them on one hand.
5 – Chris Hughton
Brighton, like Newcastle, were pipped for relegation at the beginning of the season. However, under the calm guidance of Chris Hughton they have negotiated themselves to what seems like safety. Having found goals from Glenn Murray and a keeper who in Matt Ryan looks to be made for the Premier League, Brighton and Hughton have the building blocks to build on what can be seen as a successful season in the Premier League. Of course they will have to strengthen heavily in the summer in order to keep up with the other teams around them, but I feel that as long as they have Hughton at the helm then they can be confident of giving Premier League season number two a good go and surviving for a third season.
Published by thethingisblog1
20-something writer, writing about anything and everything. View all posts by thethingisblog1
Football, Premier League, Sport
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2 thoughts on “Premier League Manager of the Season”
Michael McKeown says:
Good article! I’d put Pochettino forward too; third place in the league, a cup semi-final and taking his team through as winners of the Champions League ‘group of death’, all on a net spend less than that of West Brom and Stoke.
But, then, I am biased…
thethingisblog1 says:
I had considered Pochettino, but I think Hodgson is up there too seeing what he managed to do with Crystal Palace.
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Illustration of “The Talking Cave” episode,
by an unknown Tibetan artist in Gyantse at
the very beginning of the 20th century.
The Monkey & the Crocodile Turtle...
Dear children, if you're looking for the Story of the Monkey and the Crocodile, this may not be what you were expecting exactly. Go to Buddhanet instead (when you go there, click your mouse on the picture to go to the next comic book page) and you'll probably be happier. And say "Thank you!"
Fool me once? Shame on you!
Fool me twice? Shame on me!
Long ago when the good king Brahmadatta was ruling Varanasi, a monkey was born and, fed by the plentiful figs, grew to maturity in the forest inside a huge bend in the holy river Gangga.
A certain crocodile also lived in that section of the river together with his wife. One day his wife happened to see the monkey swinging its powerful limbs through the tops of the fig trees on the opposite side of the river and she thought to herself. ‘Just imagine, of all the most sweet and exotic fruits in the world, the sun-ripened fig is the most tasty. But imagine just how much sweeter would be the heart of a monkey who had fed on nothing but figs. I simply must taste that monkey’s heart.’
She told her husband of her secret longing, so he hatched a plan how he might get the monkey down from the trees and bring its heart to his dear wife.
Crossing the river, he was lucky enough to find the monkey taking a drink at the edge of the river. He addressed the monkey in a kind tone of voice, “My dear fellow, king of all monkeys, are you not somewhat tired of having figs for breakfast, lunch and dinner? On the other side of the river we have the most wonderful fruits. Have you even heard about jackfruits, mangos or papayas? What about rose-apples? No? Oh, good gracious, you don’t know what you are missing.”
“Sir crocodile,” the monkey said with genuine respect and a tiny bit of doubt, “the Gangga is the widest river in the whole country, as deep as the sea and, they say, just as difficult to cross. Aw well, I suppose I shall have to stick with my figs.”
“You seem to forget that we crocodiles are the most excellent swimmers. Why, you could just hop on my back and we would be there in no time.”
Remembering a thing or two he had heard about crocodiles, he thought once about how they could be true, then twice about the colorful and tasty fruits awaiting them, and decided he was game for a little adventure. “Alright! I’m ready. Where do I sit?”
“Just over my shoulders. And hold on tight!”
Half way across the river and the crocodile suddenly went under the waves carrying the poor monkey with him. When at last they surfaced again, the thoroughly soaked simian said in a shivering voice, “What the hell was that? You could have drowned the both of us! Are you crazy or what?”
“Well, you know, I’m really quite a mellow laid-back sort of fellow, all my friends tell me so, and normally I wouldn’t be doing this kind of thing, but my wife told me I shouldn’t come back home without bringing her a monkey heart. Anyway, she’s my wife and I love her very much. But you seem like a nice enough sort, so I was having second thoughts.”
Temporarily at a loss for words, and sailing quickly toward the far bank of the holiest of rivers, the monkey thought of something. He said, “Good thing you told me this, because as you probably know we monkeys don’t travel around with our hearts inside. While swinging through the trees there is far too much danger of them getting snagged by thorns, and when we bathe in the river we fear they might get scraped by a rock. So for their own safety we hang them up in the highest branches of the tree. But if it’s monkey hearts that you need, I know where there are plenty of them. Just take me back home and you’ll get all you want.”
In truth, as the crocodile was swishing its powerful tail back toward the monkey’s side of the Gangga in the evening dusk, the distant figs looked like nothing so much as little monkey hearts hanging there ripe for the plucking.
The monkey jumped off and raced up his own fig tree, laughing all the way. “Silly croc! You truly thought monkey hearts grow on trees? You pitiful fool! The bigness and clumsiness of your body are more than compensated for by the smallness of your lizard brain. Take this home to your hungry wife!” he taunted, throwing a shriveled-up over-ripe fig, making a bullseye out of the crocodile’s cold, but nonetheless for that, sensitive nose.
Rose-apple, jack-fruit, mangoes too
across the water there I see;
Enough of them, I want them not;
my figs are good enough for me.
Great is your body, verily,
but how much smaller is your wit!
Now go your way, Sir Crocodile,
for I have had the best of it.
I retold the story to suit myself, as people have been doing for thousands of years. I based myself on translations of the Pali Jataka version, and since this is the word of Buddha, I didn’t feel free to introduce anachronisms or very substantial innovations — well, maybe a few small ones. The ending verses — each Jataka story in the Pali collection has them — are copied word-for-word from the old translation of Cowell.
Now that you’ve heard my own version of the story, I thought you might like to try this alternative version, which I translate directly, and I hope faithfully, from the 13th-century Tibetan version by Lorepa:
Deceived by bonds of friendship.
Like the Monkey and the Turtle...
In ancient times in the first eon, there was a monkey of the forest and a turtle of the ocean who became friends. They even took an oath of friendship, promising to never do anything bad to one another. On one particular occasion, the Naga King became ill, and it emerged that the one medicine most necessary for his recovery was the heart of a monkey. The turtle came up with a wicked idea. He went and called to the monkey at the edge of the forest. “There is a wonderful show going on in our Naga country. Let’s go see it. You and I have become the best of friends, but if you haven’t at least once seen my country, then, they say, the friendship cannot be finalized.”
He took the monkey to Naga Country and, upon their arrival, the turtle said, “The king of we Nagas is sick, so they said, ‘A monkey heart is needed for medicine,’ so I must beg you as a friend.”
The monkey replied, “We monkeys are quick-tempered creatures, easily angered, so we have to leave our hearts at the top of the deodar — ‘Tree of the Gods’ — for protection. It needs to be picked up. I have one, we just need to go and take it.”
Together with the turtle he returned to the forest. There, the monkey said, “You stay here and keep your mouth opened wide. I’ll toss the heart down to you.”
The monkey climbed up to the tip of the deodar tree. The turtle shouted up at him, “Did you find the heart?”
The monkey answered with this verse.
Keeping the friendship of the evildoer spells defeat.
For no good reason he takes you down into the sea, into the depths of it.
He separates you from your most precious thing, your life.
If it’s monkey heart you wanted, Here! Take this monkey shit.
Then into the turtle’s open mouth the monkey squeezed off a big fresh turd.
So the turtle, not getting the heart he was looking for, went to the cave where the two of them had been staying. He was thinking that the monkey would return there, so he stayed there quietly, lying in ambush.
The monkey came down from the tip of the deodar tree and was thinking to himself, ‘Maybe he’s in the cave?’ So he shouted out, “Brave Mister Cave! Brave Mister Cave!” Then after he started destroying the cave he shouted the same thing again.
The turtle thought, ‘He is expecting to get an answering ‘Ah’ from the cave.’ So the turtle said “Ah!”
The monkey said,
The one who destroys first is the wise one.
He who regrets later is the more foolish by far.
A rock cave with a human voice? What an evil omen!
Monkey, don’t stay here. Get to the top of that deodar!
He climbed the tree.
So, you know, even close friends are not to be trusted.
Let’s just call it “misplaced trust”! Still, I hope you're in a mood to trust me when I tell you that there have been thousands of versions of the story told all over the world. One of the most interesting transformations took place in Korea ("Sorry, my good sir the turtle, but I'm sorry to have to tell you I've left my liver behind, drying on a rock" — see Grayson's article), where the monkey's heart became a rabbit's liver, and among African slaves in the American South, where the monkey also became a rabbit, the internal organ in question the gizzard. I just wanted to say something about the rabbit, since I know there are other bloggers lurking around here who are very fond of rabbit stories. Well, here you go.
I don't feel like pounding in the point too vigorously, since I like to think of the remaining readers of Tibeto-logic blog, both of you, as sensitive people, able to come to conclusions on your own without coaching or coaxing. Put bluntly, the story is all about desires — thirsts or addictions if you prefer — coming in tandem with delusions, as they do.
In some versions we get a different motive that sets the plot in motion, something all cultures know about, but most unlike Sanskrit don't have a particular term for it. The Sanskrit (or is it Prakrit) word is dohada (see Bloomfield's article), which is explained as probably being a Prakritic reduction of an original Sanskrit term *dauhṛd, which has been further interpreted a ‘sickness at heart.’ I’m not sure my Indo-logical friends will agree, but I think the initial do- stands for dva, meaning ‘two’ (as in the word doha, which means ‘couplet’). The pregnant woman is believed to have two hearts — hence two wills, two ways of thinking — within her body. This doubles the craving levels, and perhaps could go toward explaining her urge for strange combinations of two things that don't normally go together. In the U.S., women are said to crave pickles and ice-cream. The point here is just that, in some versions of our story at least, dohada explains the crocodile/turtle wife's craving for monkey heart.* And as everybody knows, the husband is responsible for going out, overcoming all obstacles, and getting whatever it is she wants. As Bloomfield says (p. 4):
“All the young woman has to do is to express longing for some rare article of food, or a fruit out of season, and the deluded husband, as he is in duty bound, sets out to procure it.”
In some Indian stories, the pregnant woman wants badly to consume her husband's intestines. Or his favorite pet peacock. In another she feels she simply must drink the moon. Sometimes, omens are divined in the items the expectant mother craves for. There is a sense of ambiguity about the source of the craving. Is it really something the mother is wanting, or is she being influenced by the will and the wants of the child? Sometimes, too, the husband is forced to trick his own wife into thinking her desire is, or will be, fulfilled before the spell of the dohada can be lifted.
*(In other tellings of the story the turtle wife believes her husband is spending too much time in the company of female monkeys, making jealousy the prime motive.)
So, to close up shop for today, we may conclude that the story of the monkey and the turtle is one about cravings and desires... and that those cravings lead both ourselves and our loved ones into situations in which we are left wide open to deception. The paw next time, I promise. Have I ever let you down before? Do rabbits have gizzards? Would getting one for you convince you of my love?
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
More to Tell —
Samuel Beal, “The Story of the Foolish Dragon,” contained in: The Romantic Legend of Śākya Buddha: A Translation of the Chinese Version of the Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra (London 1875), pp. 231-234. Here the Buddha recognizes His past incarnation as the monkey. Try downloading this internet archive version.
Maurice Bloomfield, The Dohada or Craving of Pregnant Women: A Motif of Hindu Fiction, Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 40 (1920), pp. 1-24. Two versions of the monkey and crocodile story are told on pp. 11-13 as examples of the pregnancy craving motif.
James Huntley Grayson, Rabbit Visits the Dragon Palace: A Korea-Adapted Buddhist Tale from India, Fabula, vol. 45, nos. 1-2 (2004) 69-92. If you don’t have any way to get the article from JSTOR, you might try the same author’s book, Myths & Legends from Korea, at Googlebooks here.
(But, I am sorry to say, you will probably not be able to read the complete story there, and the book is terribly expensive. The article is important for tracing the East Asian versions of the story, which reached China by 251 CE, in which the monkey's liver, not his heart, is the desired organ. In the earliest written Korean version, of the early 12th century, the monkey has already become a rabbit. The monkey remains a monkey in Japanese versions, and the organ is the liver, although a modern version does replace the turtle with the dog. A modern Tibetan version is also told (p. 84), but on the basis of a Chinese translation that apparently turns the turtle into a frog. This last version has ‘The Talking Cave’ episode including the monkey turd incident, just like Lorepa’s. And the Mongolian version also largely agrees with it, even if the monkey becomes a female, and the jealousy motive comes into play.)
Lorepa Dragpa Wangchug (1187-1250 CE), ’Brel-ba’i Gnyen-gyis Bslus-pa, Spre’u dang Rus-sbal Lta-bu, contained at p. 21 in: Dam-chos Thub-pa Lnga’i Sngon-’gro’i Skabs-kyi Gtam-rgyud Rgyu-’bras-la Yid-ches Bskyed-byed, in its turn contained in: Smad ’Brug Bstan-pa’i Mnga’-bdag Rgyal-ba Lo-ras-pa Grags-pa-dbang-phyug Mchog-gi Gsung-’bum Rin-po-che, Ven Khenpo Shedup Tenzin & Lama Thinley Namgyal, Shri Gautam Buddha Vihar, Manjushri Bazar, Kathmandu, Nepal (2002), vol. 3, pp. 1-292. If you are interested in my listing of the titles in Lorepa's collected works, look here.
W.F. O’Connor, collector and translator, Folk Tales from Tibet, with Illustrations by a Tibetan Artist and Some Verses from Tibetan Love-Songs, Ratna Pustak Bhandar (Kathmandu 1977), reprint of 1906 edition. The 20th story is the one we care most about right now, at pp. 141-146. It tells the story of ‘The Tortoise and the Monkey’ in two episodes, the ‘monkey heart’ and ‘talking cave’ episodes. In this it resembles our Lorepa version. The book has been archived here, but I recommend ordering a reprint from your favorite New Delhi book wallah anyway.
Patrick Olivelle, translator, The Pañcatantra: The Book of India’s Folk Wisdom, Oxford University Press (Oxford 1997). The first few pages of chapter 4, “On Losing What You Have Gained.” A book worth having for its very worldly wisdom.
José Rizal (1861-1896), The Tale of the Tortoise and the Monkey. The author is one of the most famous national figures in the Philippines. He argued, in his 1889 essay Two Eastern Fables, that the story as widely told in the Philippines served as source of the Japanese folktale, The Battle of the Monkey and the Crab (this archived version is the most charming).
John Alexander Stewart, Talaing Folklore, Journal of the Burma Research Society, vol. 3, no. 1 (1913), pp. 54-64. I haven’t seen it. If you have access to this rather rare old journal issue, I’d love to know what it says about the Mon version of the story of “The Monkey and the Turtle,” which ought to be part five of the article, to judge from the outline. (Thanks to J.S. for sending me the article.)
Herman W. Tull, The Tale of ‘The Bride and the Monkey’: Female Insatiability, Male Impotence, and Simian Virility in Indian Literature, Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 3, no. 4 (April 1993), pp. 574-589. I didn't go into this especially obscene but related monkey story. Hey, be my guest, have a look at it if you so desire.
From the Fables of Bidpai
Online stuff:
The younger kids might like the comic-book version hung up on the web by Buddhanet. Illustrated by Jeffrey Fowler. I put this link up front, since I imagine it will suit them better.
For several stories corresponding to no. 91 in Aarne-Thompson folktale typology, see D.L. Ashliman’s The Monkey’s Heart here or here if you prefer. This includes Swahili and southern U.S. versions.
Can you see the monkey on that crocodile’s back in this relief from Borobudur? Where does that phrase “monkey on my back,” as a way of alluding to drug addiction, come from? Reminds me of that Beatles’ song, the one with the line “Everybody’s got something to hide, ’cept for me & my monkey.” Have you heard the story that the original line said something about the Maharshi before they changed it to ‘my monkey’?
“The Curious Jew” blog entry for January 15, 2007, is entitled “Literary Fun with the Apocrypha.” It’s literally fun finding a version of our story in The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, in which Leviathan gets a fish to bring him a fox so he can eat its heart to become wise. You know ahead of time that it is just •because• the fox is wise that it won’t prove possible to cheat him out of his heart. Try here.
Or try the entry by Crawford Howell Toy & Louis Ginzberg at JewishEncyclopedia.com, here, where you will also find a discussion of the story’s debt to India.
t the creation of the world God consigned a male and a female of every kind of animal to the sea. When the Angel of Death (“Malak ha-Mawet”), who was charged with the duty of sinking them in the water, was about to take the fox, that animal began to cry. The Angel of Death asked him why he did this. The fox answered that he wept because his friend had been condemned to live in the water; and going to the shore, he pointed to his own image in the water. The Angel of Death, believing that a fox had already been sunk, allowed him to go. Leviathan, the ruler of the sea, now tried to lure the fox into its depths, because he believed that if he could eat the heart of so cunning an animal he would gain in wisdom.
One day, while the fox was walking by the sea, some fishes came and spoke to him. They told him that Leviathan was nearing his end and wanted the craftiest of animals to be his successor. They promised the fox to carry him to a rock in the sea where he could erect his throne without fear of the surrounding waters. When he reached the high seas the fox knew that for once he had been tricked; but he did not lose his self-possession. “What!” said he, “It is my heart you want, is it? Well, why did you not say so before? I would then have brought it here; for usually, you know, I do not carry it with me.”
The fish quickly conveyed him back to the shore, and in exultation he leaped about. The fish called to him to fetch his heart and come with him; but the fox replied: “To be sure, I went with you when I had no heart” (the ancients considered the heart the seat of wisdom); “but now I have my heart, I’ll stay here. I got the better of the Angel of Death; how much easier, then, to fool stupid fish!”
For the older version in Bidpai’s Kalila and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai, if you prefer) I couldn’t yet find a good online resource. Wait, perhaps this one will do. This story collection arrived in Europe more or less at the same time Padampa arrived in Tibet.
Delusions are nothing if not dissolvable, I'd say.
That's Buddhist optimism for you.
Labels: cravings, Crocodile, Delusions, folktales, gizzards, Hearts, Monkey, suckers, trickery, trust, Turtle
Short Person Saturday, August 08, 2009
Oh Professor,
I perceive recurring themes of monkey and turtle these last many posts (chuckle, smile). Is this intentional chuckle), unconscious (chuckle, chuckle), or inspired (hmm ....)?
I bet Padampa has something to do with this.
Kiran Paranjape Sunday, August 09, 2009
What a nice read.
Ancient books have many pearls of wisdom hidden in them. Thanks for bringing them to the forefront for all to benefit from the moral of the story.
Webmaster-Translations:
http://freetranslationblog.blogspot.com
Dan Sunday, August 09, 2009
Dear Short,
You might be on to something (cluck, cluck). I'll bet Padampa does have something to do with it (wink, wink). We'll get there (wait, wait).
And Dear Kiran-ji,
Thanks for writing. I'd rather to use the word 'consequence' rather than 'moral' since we can't say that word without thinking about (socially sanctioned or endorsed or enforced) morality. We have to draw the consequences. All karma/action has consequences. Correct?
Sometimes very immoral consequences may be drawn from stories such as this. Here's what Patrick Olivelle says in his introduction to the book I mentioned;
"The Pañcatantra and its stories depict human life with all its ambivalences and contradictions, and that is its beauty and the reason for its popularity" (p. xxxii)
and, he says, the book conveys the basic message
"that craft and deception constitute the major art of government." (p. xxxv)
This is stuff I suppose we ought to learn about, in stories like those in the Pañcatantra as in life, in order to be worldly-wise. But I wouldn't say that it was moral. Only moral people can draw moral consequences from them. Politicians find justification for the immoral 'moral' they want to hear here.
And Dear Third Reader:
I just wanted to add that I just now bothered to check in Eric Honeywood Partridge's infamous 1949 or '50 "Dictionary of the Underworld" — there's a wiki entry on the author — where I found that the expression "have a monkey on [my] back" is indeed attested, with meaning of 'addiction' in an earlier dictionary of American slang dating to 1942. But the variant expression might seem surprising: "have a Chinaman on [my] back." I suppose this is a reference to opium and opiates, which were once often associated with China. I wonder which of the two expressions came first. Was the Chinaman version considered by some to be an ethnic slur, so they substituted the less offensive monkey? I wonder. Still wondering.
Oh, look what I just found! I found it here:
http://tinyurl.com/kke6mb
""To have a monkey on one's back "be addicted" is 1930s narcotics slang, though the same phrase in the 1860s meant "to be angry." There is a story in the Sinbad cycle about a tormenting ape-like creature that mounts a man's shoulders and won't get off, which may be the root of the term.""
So maybe it originally meant 'irksome burden'? I wonder if the Sinbad story belongs to our monkey-turtle type of story no. 91? Should look into this.
OK, I just found the Sinbad story, the account of the Fifth Voyage, here:
http://tinyurl.com/mm2m8h
It's not an ape, but a decrepit old wrinkled man "with skin like a cow," who demands to be carried across the brook on Sinbad's back in order to pick some fruit (hear any bells ringing?)
Anyway, instead of going to pick fruit himself, the old man stays on his back strangling his neck with his legs and refuses to get off. He makes Sinbad pick the fruits for him.
It's true that apes appear later in this same story segment, and Sinbad tricks them into throwing down coconuts for him. (He and his friends throw rocks at the apes, and the apes fight back with coconuts from the palm tree... Finally Sinbad collects enough coconuts to pay for his next trip out to sea...)
TENPA Monday, August 10, 2009
Rabbits do not have gizzards, but they do have a caecum. Does that count?
By the way, I would like to see more rabbit stories.
You had better tell me if caecums count. Perhaps they can also spell? I'd like to oblige you on the rabbit stories, but sometimes I think there really is something of the rabbit in the monkey, or the monkey in the rabbit... Let's try to finish up this monkey business, or there will be ends of threads left dangling all over the blog like the byssus of the Pinna nobilis. Not that I'm suggesting you'll find any sea silk. Sow's purses if anything. And even those may not make sense.
Dan Saturday, May 15, 2010
Just wanted to make a note of a more recent study of Indian pregnancy cravings or dohada. This one is on a set of five pregnancy cravings experienced by Mâyâ, the mother of Shâkyamuni —
Hubert Durt, The Pregnancy of Māyā: 1. The Five Uncontrollable Longings (dohada), Journal of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies, vol. 5 (March 2002), pp. 43-66.
It's possible to access this article as A free PDF download (try a schmoogle... It's available at the CiNii site).
Uncontrollable craving is an irksome burden, that's for sure.
Dan Friday, May 28, 2010
Oh, I just found •THIS• nice one-page bit about dohada - Dohada (Pregnancy Cravings) - by Jerome Bauer. I recommend it especially for people who imagine I make this stuff up.
(And sorry Viagra guy, no covert commercials will go up on Tibeto-logic blog if I have anything to say about it. And, well, I do. Trying to make a living off other people's cravings are we? Let's see, how new is that?)
conceição gomes Tuesday, April 26, 2011
a rose croc?
Janus Monday, February 13, 2012
Late discovery of your article (thanks to a link in your latest one).
For those who are interested, I scanned a Tibetan edition of the story of the monkey and the crocodile in a children's book published with the support of Unesco in 1979. I didn't succeed to find new copies of the book and there is no mention of a copyright, hence the scanning. I use it for my Tibetan students. Here's the link :
http://tinyurl.com/7e7668o
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January 2nd, 2010 #1
Alex Linder
Trying to get the dummies to grasp that facts don't go away because opinions ignore them.
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[Scratch a libertarian, find a neocon?]
Robert Sirico and the Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance
by Thomas J. Herron
“Greetings from Michigan! I'm blogging briefly from the rectory of St. Stanislaus parish before we go to lunch in Kalamazoo and I meet (among others) Fr. Robert Sirico (thereby confirming the darkest suspicions of Thomas Herron and other Culture Warriors. After our Scheming Neocon Catholic Lunch we will synchronize watches, split up, and do our bit to fatten ourselves on the Da Vinci Code, subvert the Church with Zionist sympathies, and act the Court Prophet for the glories of George Dubya Bush, Democratic Capitalism, and the American Way. All in a day's work for a simple-minded half-Protestant convert who does not fully grasp the mind of the Church.”
June 8, 2006, Mark Shea of Seattle, WA, noted Catholic convert and writer on his blog Catholic and Enjoying It!
“On Renton Hill, Robert Sirico proclaimed, ‘Who says God doesn’t answer the prayers of gay people?’”
Gary L. Atkins, Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2003, p.206. (Gay Seattle was a winner of a 2004 Washington State Book Award and, as the author is professor of communication at Seattle University, was also a 2004 winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu, Jesuit Book Award of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU).)
I suppose I have to understand it as the victory of the new electronic media over the old paper magazines like the one you’re currently reading. Because in these very pages, I discussed the Acton Institute’s president, Father Robert Sirico’s history in the space of a long article and nobody jumped. But when I did repeat these findings on my blog in cyberspace it caused two noted Catholic web authors to arrange a pie-eating contest at a restaurant in Kalamazoo, Michigan during June, 2006 at which Catholic acceptance of laissez faire economics and denouncing, while sitting across from the famous cleric who leads the Acton Institute. Judging from the girth of the two noted Catholic bloggers, one a local priest of the Kalamazoo diocese and the other a noted layman from Seattle, I suspect the photo must have been taken with a wide angle lens. Maybe no one reacted because people in eastern Pennsylvania are too subtle in their writings, leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions, when compared to folks out near Pittsburgh who call a spade a spade. In this instance, Randy Engel, who lives near Pittsburgh, asked the Vatican to investigate how a onetime gay activist can be ordained a Catholic priest and then maneuver from religious life to at least two dioceses to become the founder of an institute devoted to the advancement of free-market economic theories explicitly condemned by various popes.
Two years ago, in articles that appeared in two successive issues of Culture Wars, I expressed concern about whether some recent high profile converts or returnees to Catholicism were bringing in a trendy Evangelical theology known as premillenial dispensationalism which would dispose its adherents to supporting combined American and Israeli aggressive wars in the Middle East as a harbinger of the Second Coming of Christ. Did these individuals, along with conservative cradle Catholics, believe in “one, holy, neoconservative and Republican Church”? Needless to say this question generated some discussion on Catholic blogs, along with unfavorable comments, which I fully expected. One of the people I profiled was the Rev. Robert A. Sirico, a priest of the Kalamazoo, MI diocese as well as the founder and president of the aforementioned Acton Institute of nearby Grand Rapids. I included Father Sirico because I thought, from what I had read on the internet, that he was a convert to Catholicism, having served as a minister in two Protestant denominations. It turns out I was wrong again, and I discovered this when Randy Engel went public with her letter.
My comments on Father Sirico caused nary a ripple among traditional Catholics, hardly any more than did my internet source, the left-wing writer Bill Berkowitz did when he gave some background on the Michigan priest who was becoming a powerful intermediary between conservative Catholics and Protestants in the early days of the George W. Bush administration, with its original thrust for favoring “faith based institutions,” much as Dr. Deal Hudson, editor of Crisis magazine, filled a similar role between the Bush White House and right-wing Catholics. Dr. Hudson, too, had an interesting history involving the sexual assault of a coed at Fordham University, and he had to resign his magazine and political connections when he was outed by the National Catholic Reporter in the summer of 2004. The fact that Father Sirico has an even more interesting history in Seattle and Los Angeles has, to date, not impacted his role as an intermediary between the younger Catholic clergy in this country and wealthy non-Catholics, similarly connected to the Republican Party and the Bush Administration. And this is where Randy Engel of Export, Pennsylvania entered the picture.
Ms. Engel was an investigative reporter and writer who had long published on the intersection of Catholic and pro-life themes with books on sex education, and the betrayal of the pro-life movement by the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference to her credit. Her most recent tome, The Rite of Sodomy: Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church, attempts to update and expand on the work attributed to Father Enrique Rueda of the Free Congress Foundation, The Homosexual Network: Private Lives and Public Policy, in the early ‘80s. Shortly before the publication of Rite, which is almost as large as Atlas Shrugged (more on that shortly), Ms. Engel sent out an email to a number of conservative Catholic organizations which contained a February 7, 2007 open letter to the Vatican congregation regulating religious life, asking them to investigate the 1989 ordination of Robert A. Sirico as a priest of the Paulist congregation, his subsequent release from religious vows, and his incardination into two Michigan dioceses, as well as his current involvement in the establishment of St. Philip Neri House in the Kalamazoo, Michigan diocese with its ultimate goal of being accepted into the world-wide Oratorian congregation. This document gave a more extensive history of the life and works of Father Sirico than I had alluded to in my article, with numerous details of his highly publicized career during the 1970s as a leading gay activist in both Seattle and Los Angeles. It pulled no punches in saying that he should never have been ordained a priest in view of the Vatican’s long-standing directive on not ordaining homosexuals. It also raised questions about the true nature of the Kalamazoo oratory and recommended an immediate investigation and possible suppression if the allegations were borne out.
While there was no immediate public reaction to the Engel email there was a number of comments at the blogs of young, theologically orthodox American priests and laity which reminded their readers of the traditional Church teachings on “calumny and detraction” in light of a recent email concerning what a priest did when he was a minister “in another denomination.” Most interesting these comments didn’t identify the priest, or the denomination, or what where the specific theological points of this denomination. One priest attributed his vocation to Father Sirico, claiming he had previously worked at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, and went on to say that Ms. Engel should “be ashamed of herself” for sullying the reputation of good priests. Missing from this testimonial was the exact nature of the denomination in which Robert Sirico formerly exercised ministry, because if the nature of the Metropolitan Community Church was openly discussed, it would immediately counter the accusation that Randy Engel was committing detraction. Detraction, as we know from our catechism, means revealing the hidden faults of others for no good reason. There was nothing hidden about Father Sirico’s involvement with the MCC or the MCC’s position as the theological vanguard of homosexual aggression.
The fact that a lot of young American priests would immediately come to the aid of Robert Sirico should in no way indicate that I have drawn any inferences on their sexual orientations; it does however mean that the Acton Institute is having the desired outcome in Catholic circles for which the newly ordained Robert Sirico founded it with wealthy and influential corporate backers in 1990. These same young clerics, who are very loud in their support for the two most recent popes and express their theological orthodoxy by reintroducing Latin chants to their congregations while wearing birettas, turn out to be abysmally ignorant of the fact that the nineteenth century British Catholic, Lord Acton, was a theological as well as a political and economic liberal – as those terms were then defined – who almost got excommunicated by his archbishop, Cardinal Manning of Westminster, for expressing doubts of the newly defined doctrine of papal infallibility at the time of the First Vatican Council. Or perhaps they do know this – as well as that the Metropolitan Community Church is a gay denomination – but choose not to discuss it and accuse those of us who do of “calumny and detraction” as a way of derailing discussion.
But how did an Italian kid from the ethnically diverse Coney Island section of Brooklyn get to be the front man for a WASP “country club Republican” CEO-funded attempt to subvert Catholic social teaching? Well perhaps it’s not right to call these wealthy people from western Michigan WASPs, since they appear to be largely Dutch Calvinists, with a lot of the staff of the Acton Institute, according to their web site, having graduated from Grand Rapids’ Calvin College. Did John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion actually say that “God would prosper his predestined elect”? It may not really matter if he wrote that any more than whether Lord Acton actually said “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” What matters is your theological or ideological idée fixe. Maybe it would surprise the great Reformer from the shores of Lake Geneva to learn that a Romanist cleric was hired by a group of his remote religious descendants on the shores of Lake Michigan, precisely because he wore a Roman collar and didn’t have any advanced theological or economics degrees to make him qualified to be president of an institution that deals with the intersection of economics and morals.
But the history of how that Italian kid from Coney Island got to a position of responsibility in western Michigan is a story unto itself; a story that has to be told by reading in between the lines of the official Acton Institute biographical disinformation campaign. A case in point would be the current entry for Robert A. Sirico on Wikipedia. Up until the time Randy Engel sent out her open email to the Vatican, no one knew that Father Sirico has a brother, Tony, who currently plays the Paulie Walnuts character on HBO’s series The Sopranos. Tony Sirico has had a long history of playing Mafioso hoods. You could even say the role comes natural for him since he was jailed for twenty months in Sing Sing for extorting money from Manhattan night club owners. While in prison, Tony saw an acting troupe perform and decided he would give it a try when he got out. What the Tony Sirico biography used to state was that Tony Sirico, and therefore Robert Sirico, had a cousin in Brooklyn “named Santo ‘Buddy’ Sirico, who is an alleged Gambino family loan-shark.” That used to be in Tony Sirico’s biography at the wiki site until one “DickClarkMises” deleted the part about the ties to the Gambino family for lacking “citations”. Since successful TV shows spawn spin-offs, perhaps there is a new series in the making about Father Robert A. Sirico being the link between the Italian Catholic Gambino family of Brooklyn, with their many known enterprises, and the Dutch Calvinist DeVos family of Grand Rapids of the Amway direct sales pyramid. Both families (a) don’t take a ‘no’ answer from their customers and (b) don’t like government interference in their pursuit of profits. However “DickClarkMises” won’t let me use the current wiki entries on the Sirico brothers as a source for this statement.
Who you may ask is “DickClarkMises”? Is he just another handle from the shadow world of cyberspace? No, there really is a young man named Richard Clark and until January, 2007 he used to work for the libertarian Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama and, according to his own wiki bio, had run for a local office in Alabama as a Libertarian Party candidate. The Mises Institute publishes the daily libertarian lewrockwell.com web site which claims to be “anti-state, anti-war and pro-market,” and Mr. Clark, who has recently relocated to Boston to attend law school, has served as writer and editor for over 40 wiki entries of many libertarians, including Thomas Woods. Many of these individuals I had written about in my previous Culture Wars articles on the internecine wars on the right between neocons, paleocons, and libertarians, particularly my review of Justin Raimondo’s biography of the late libertarian economist Murray Rothbard, An Enemy of the State (“Intellectual Entrepreneurs” Culture Wars, July/August 2003, pp. 28-47). Robert Sirico had been down these roads in the ‘70s and ‘80s in the years before he studied for the priesthood, and his secular career after ordination is just a continuation of his devotion to right-wing economics. But more on that as we proceed. The interesting thing about Mr. Clark’s entry is that, while he makes no claim of expertise about the media, Mafioso character actors or Brooklyn crime families, according to the editing history at Tony Sirico’s wiki entry, “DickClarkMises” deleted the reference to the loan shark cousin when he rewrote Father Sirico’s biography and added a link to him in his brother’s entry.
One of the things that we know about Italian kid from Coney Island is that he “went to school in a multicultural and ecumenical context, long before the words multicultural or ecumenical were employed in common parlance” and had as a neighbor a Jewish lady who had numbers tattooed on her arm from her time in a concentration camp, and who had baked him cookies when he was six years old. Father Sirico, always quick to make a Jewish connection in his talks, would make these remarks about the deprival of liberty at the retirement dinner of a clergyman who had become something of a professional role model for him, the Reverend Edmund Opitz, who was called by the cleric who had just recently founded the Acton Institute “one of the patriarchs of liberty-promoting clergy.” Reverend Opitz was connected with a prototype free market think-tank, the Foundation for Economic Understanding, in Irvington, New York which was founded in 1946 and had Henry Hazlitt, author of the laissez-faire best seller Economics in One Lesson on the board and would ultimately publish The Freeman, a prototype right-wing journal of opinion, which William F. Buckley would use as a model for National Review. Interestingly F.E.E. became the model for an international free-market organization which was founded by Fred Hayek, author of the contemporary best-seller, The Road to Serfdom, the following year, the Mont Pelerin Society of which Father Sirico is currently a member. Interestingly, Frank Knight and Ludwig von Mises named the society for the Swiss village where the conference occurred because they didn’t like the original name, “the Acton-Tocqueville society,” because it took its name from two “Roman Catholic aristocrats.” Fortunately the Acton label was free for Father Sirico’s use forty-three years later and despite anti-Catholic sentiment on the part of the great Mises, whose Human Action played a role in his conversion to free-market economics. This occurred, Sirico related in his speech on Reverend Opitz’s retirement, on his birthday while he was in his mid-twenties when someone gave him copies of books by Mises, Hayek, and Opitz. This conversion, as we will soon examine, long preceded his return to Catholicism and his study for the priesthood.
But doesn’t this prove that Christians are the natural enemies of totalitarianism and allies of liberty and that conservative Catholics should abhor looking into Father Sirico’s ideological development? After all he was the friend of another Christian minister, the Reverend Opitz wasn’t he? Well the question might be what kind of a Christian Edmund Opitz was, as he first was a Unitarian minister and then switched to the Congregational Church, which after all are the two descendants of the original Puritans who split over the Trinitarian question when the Enlightenment hit Boston in the late eighteenth century. It appears that he was something of a theological liberal, or “not a theocrat of any variety” in Father Sirico’s words, whose major role was to recall the Puritan-Calvinist past on the successful entrepreneur being blessed by God when allowed the liberty to contract away from the predations of the state. This is something that is constantly found among people who call themselves politically conservative, dogmatically orthodox American Catholics: criticize someone who writes for National Review or another conservative or libertarian outlet on the grounds that what they’ve stated is against Catholic social teaching and you’ve got a fight on your hands. These self-described orthodox Catholics will side with National Review every time against Church teachings. By the way, when the Reverend Opitz died in February, 2006 at the age of ninety-two, Father Sirico wrote a tribute to him in that magazine. Being a clergyman, it seems, gives a distinct advantage in presenting ideologies to the masses.
So the ultimate biography of the Reverend Robert A. Sirico has yet to be written. However, some interesting facts have recently been surfacing faster than Richard Clark can do his imitation of Winston Smith for the electronic age and which can’t be dismissed as “unsourced rumors” concerning Mafia connected cousins in Brooklyn. Ms. Engel, for example, discovered that Robert Sirico served as an enlisted man in the Navy for the period of about a year during the Vietnam War era. Now for anyone who lived through this period as I did – I’m a year younger than Father Sirico – a one year hitch in the Navy is most interesting. Back then if you didn’t get a II-S deferment and go to college, the alternatives for most young men who graduated from high school was to be drafted for two years into the Army and sent to Viet Nam. If you could pass the aptitude tests, you could enlist in the Navy or Air Force and thereby usually avoid ground combat. However, enlistment in the elite services was for four years, not two. Why Robert A. Sirico was separated from the Navy after only one year remains an unresolved mystery.
What is not a matter of dispute is that Robert Sirico was estranged from the Catholic Church when the first official documentation on his career as a religious figure appears from 1972. Interestingly, he became a minister in the major city of the United States that is traditionally described as being the most unchurched; its residents largely described as nature worshipers who would rather spend their Sunday mornings hiking in the mountains or coastal rain forests than attending religious services. The territory of coastal California, Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia, and Alaska, between San Francisco to Anchorage had been christened “ecotopia” by Joel Garreau in his 1981 The Nine Nations of North America. But there were exceptions to the neo-pagan tree-hugger stereotype in the area between the Cascade Range and the Pacific Ocean, there were some representatives of earlier American Protestant revival movements. That is evidenced in the fact that Robert Sirico was noted as a miracle working twenty-year-old Pentecostal minister packing crowds into a downtown Seattle theater. Young Pastor Sirico was attracting Seattle priests and mainline Protestant ministers to his services in the theater. The fact that Sirico would not long remain a Pentecostal preacher can also be gleaned from information contained in a 2003 book by Gary Atkins, a professor of communications at the Jesuit University of Seattle, titled Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging. For some reason Richard Clark has not put this documented reference into Father Sirico’s wiki biography at present. “By early 1971,” Atkins writes,
the Reverend Robert Sirico had become a darling among Seattle’s charismatic ministers. Already an ordained Pentecostal minister though only twenty, he filled churches and even auditoriums at the Seattle Center. He led other ministers and priests in sessions where they called and sang in spirit-inspired tongues. He performed miracle healings on those who came to him. Seattle’s Charismatic Presbytery, an organization of about seventy clergy and laymen, praised him as ‘a spirit-filled young man whom God has blessed with a marvelous healing ministry’… It helped that he was handsome in a boyishly fervent way. His hair fell well-tamed and closely cut to his ears, different from his many tousled hippie contemporaries. His eyebrows could angle either passionately or thoughtfully. His smile and carved chin worked together in a single disarming grin (Gay Seattle, p. 161).
When Reverend Sirico came out of the closet as a homosexual and stated that he had been that way since he was thirteen, this did not go over well with his brother Pentecostals, who concluded that the miracles he performed were done through the power of the Evil One, after they attempted to perform an exorcism on him. Rather than quote the words of Christ in Mark 3:24-26 that “if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand… And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him,” Pastor Sirico didn’t defend himself or change his behavior; he simply left the Pentecostals and established Seattle’s first gay church, saying “the blessings of the Holy Spirit are being passed onto the homosexual community.” He also offered to “cast the heterosexual devil out” of one of his would-be exorcists (Atkins, p. 162).
Sirico’s congregation originally met in a local Methodist church in a gentrifying area of Seattle known as Renton Hill, which would become the first hub of that city’s gay community. Their pastor would plunge into the gay rights scene of the Puget Sound area and his community would ultimately become part of the Metropolitan Community Church founded in Los Angeles in the late ‘60s by another former Pentecostal preacher, Rev. Troy Perry, who also was expelled from that denomination and divorced by his wife when he declared himself a homosexual. As was stated earlier, the main reason why the young priests who are so quick to defend Father Sirico for statements and actions he made in “another denomination” can’t talk about what that other denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church, is that to do so would be to discuss what is after all the gay liberation movement at prayer. All that needs to be known about the MCC’s distinctive beliefs is contained in the title of Elder Perry’s autobiography, The Lord is My Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay; in this case we’re not dealing with “believer’s baptism” of the Baptists or consubstantiation of the Lutherans when we discuss his church’s distinctive doctrines. Which I suppose is why when, these biretta-wearing young orthodox priests are alluding to Father Sirico’s former denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church must remain a church “that dare not speak its name.” Pastor Sirico at the time of the founding of his gay congregation was under no such compunctions when he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that, “‘Homosexuality is real, and you can’t cast it out. And we didn’t crawl out of a sewer.’ Two men in bed together, he continued, was a holy experience – ‘to hold one another close and confess together, Isn’t God wonderful?’ Sirico refused to beg for understanding.” (Gay Seattle, p. 162) We may wonder if Mark Shea, a noted Catholic apologist who is a native of Seattle who grew up when Robert Sirico was making headlines in the P-I, could have been unaware of this history when he made that lunch date with the now Father Sirico in Kalamazoo in June, 2006 during the course of an evangelistic campaign at a local parish and proudly recorded the event on his blog while using it as an opportunity to throw some mud on Culture Wars.
Robert Sirico was never far from his Catholic roots during the ‘70s when he was a leading gay rights crusader in the Emerald City; one of his closest associates was, according to Gay Seattle, a former priest from Los Angeles. In retrospect it was probably inevitable that a clash between the American liberation movements of the ‘60s and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church would take place in southern California, home at that time to not only Hollywood but the military-industrial complex. Millions of Americans, like my father’s siblings and their large families, flooded the Los Angeles area to work in the aerospace plants from the Northeast and Midwest, and the number of non-Hispanic Catholics in those areas rose dramatically after 1940. Soon, Los Angeles became an archdiocese, and its new cardinal archbishop, James McIntyre, was also, like much of his flock, a transplant from New York City. At the Second Vatican Council McIntyre was a conservative who opposed the liturgical reforms being proposed; when he got back to the City of Angels he found that a group of nuns, the Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters, were in open revolt against the traditions that he loved. The media, with a story in their own backyard, presented it as a fight been an arch-reactionary cardinal and a group of independent-minded progressive sisters. What didn’t come out until later was that the IHM sisters had been psychologically conditioned in their dissent by followers of the American psychologist Carl Rodgers (c.f. Culture Wars, “Carl Rodgers and the IHM Nuns”, October/November 1999). For Catholics who remember the stories coming out of the L.A. archdiocese in the sixties, Cardinal McIntyre also had a nemesis in a local “radical priest,” a blond, boyish-looking Father William H. DuBay.
Father DuBay knew how to grab the headlines in Time, whose L.A. bureau chief was Robert Blair Kaiser, a former Jesuit seminarian, who had recently covered the Second Vatican Council for that magazine with such fervor that he ignored the fact that progressive Irish Jesuit scripture scholar Malachi Martin was conducting a torrid affair with his wife. The late Dr. Martin, who served as a religion editor of National Review, is now an uncanonized saint to much of the American Catholic conservatives and any negative references will bring forth hate mail as the editor of Culture Wars recently found out. Fortunately, these stories, which scandalized me when I read them as an early teen, now are up on the internet to aid my failing memory. And what stories they were! Milwaukee had Father Groppi, Boston had Father Shanley and L.A. had Father Bill DuBay who in 1964 called on the Vatican to remove Cardinal McIntyre as he had failed to support the Negro Civil Rights revolution. This declaration led to five transfers in two years followed by a call for a labor union for priests to collectively bargain with their bishops on salary, living conditions and ministry in a book titled The Human Church. McIntyre ordered DuBay to withdraw the book as it had no imprimatur. Unfortunately for Father DuBay, the Catholic head of the AFL-CIO, George Meany, had no interest in organizing priests. When L.A.’s radical priest threatened to sue the archdiocese, Time noted on August 19, 1966 there was, at that time, “little precedent” for such actions. Ultimately the cardinal suspended the rebellious priest. In view of the fact that Father DuBay would soon be a close associate of an individual who would someday become the head of the union-busting Acton Institute, the call for a labor unions for priests as being in line with Catholic social teachings is, in retrospect, most humorous indeed.
After his priestly suspension Bill DuBay drifted north to Oakland, California where he went to work as a counselor for the cultish Synanon drug and alcohol rehab organization. According to Gary Atkins, the new counselor didn’t like Synanon’s treatment of homosexuality as another addiction to be dealt with by very coercive means (Gay Seattle, p. 163). Heading northward again, DuBay ended up in Seattle, where he married the daughter of a local city councilman, Mary Ellen Rochester, in 1970; here his national prominence appears to have ended as a married priest is no longer in the power structure of the Catholic Church and is of no great value to the media and its controllers as a fifth columnist. From what can be gleaned from the internet, the now 73-year-old William H. DuBay is a successful technical writer in his native southern California and is apparently an agnostic secular humanist who publishes pieces in the libertarian Reason magazine, to which he writes emails or amazon.com book reviews, where he expresses distaste for religious people who claim to have “absolute truth.” But according to Gay Seattle, Bill DuBay had a successful second career in the ’70s as a gay activist in that city when he teamed up with Pastor Robert Sirico to challenge sodomy laws and the psychological definition of homosexuality as aberrant in their bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Getting listed as a disorder in the DSM was an improvement for the then closeted Seattle homosexual community because, as Atkins notes, they used to be routinely lobotomized at the local state mental hospital. My copy of Gay Seattle, which I bought second-hand through amazon.com from a Washington state reseller, came with a book mark from the previous owner: a card with the twelve steps and twelve traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcoholism and drug abuse remained mainstays of “gay culture,” no matter how mightily people like Bob Sirico and Bill DuBay labored to change the image.
While preaching at a Seattle Unitarian church in November, 1971 Bill DuBay came out of the closet about a year after his marriage, which of course ended it. He stated that he knew he knew of his homosexual inclinations at the time of his marriage, but marrying a woman was the thing to do for radical priests, along with claiming that the repression in the seminary made him emotionally neutered. Apparently DuBay has always been something of a problem to the official gay movement as he holds that the gay lifestyle is a free-will choice and not an inevitable genetic predisposition as the movement’s propaganda now holds. Indeed, in the early ‘70s, homosexuality would have been a logical choice for a revolutionary priest. DuBay went on to become a columnist for the national gay newspaper, The Advocate, and establish a gay-affirming Synanon-style drug and alcohol treatment center named Stonewall, which tellingly would be housed in a former Carmelite monastery on Renton Hill. Under DuBay’s command, the rehab “became its own sort of monastery” (Gay Seattle, p. 165), which has eerie similarities to Father Sirico’s “oratory” in Kalamazoo.
During the ‘70s, former priest, Bill DuBay and future priest Robert Sirico took a “culture” in Seattle that centered on what went on in the mens’ rooms of seedy basement bars on Skid Row and made it part of that city’s establishment by staging media events in an ultimately successful campaign. They presented the homosexual lifestyle as one more choice to the mental health professionals, courts, police, media and religious leadership of liberal Seattle. These events included the picketing of the home of the very conservative police commissioner, George Tielsch, who was imported from Orange County, California, to get the vice squad arrests stopped in the gay neighborhood. As a result, Pastor Sirico of the local MCC was incarcerated in October, 1973 for interfering with an arrest for homosexual soliciting and sang We Shall Overcome in the holding tank until one of his parishioners bailed him out (Gay Seattle, p. 200). The fact that both gentlemen could front as clergymen to the press, DuBay from his Catholic past and Unitarian present, and Sirico, with at that time no academic degrees but the public image of a cleric from the Pentecostal revivals and the ecclesiastical front of the homosexual movement, could give Seattle’s gays a dignified façade for what really went on in those seedy bars’ mens’ rooms. The lesson that Reverend Sirico never forgot is that being a clergyman gives you a public forum to front for an ideology, no matter how repugnant, even if his Seattle history is now officially consigned to the “soft Marxist” phase of his life.
Atkins’ narrative continues after both Sirico and DuBay had left the Emerald City. At that point, a new gay leadership that made connections with the politicians and business leaders emerged and pushing their agenda on a “privacy” right that worked so well with legalizing abortion to abolish the sodomy laws and get the gays covered by the equal opportunity ordinances as well as appeals to the Northwest’s tradition of “tolerance.” It worked fairly well in finding a libertarian exception to bedroom issues among liberal Democrats to their normal micromanaging of society; it worked to beat back an Anita Bryant-inspired referendum to take away the equal protection provisions for homosexuals in the late ‘70s. Ultimately with the gays entrenched in the power structures of big cities like Seattle, they would use the same equal rights ordinances to crush religious based opposition to homosexuals by churches and the Boy Scouts through hate crimes laws and speech codes. The image that gays were just like everybody else, only very entrepreneurial with discos, coffee houses and other businesses, with the exception of what they did privately in their bedrooms, lasted through the ‘70s and early ‘80s until the HIV/AIDS plague arrived.
According to Atkins, the full story of Robert Sirico’s role in the religious life of Seattle was played out after he left town. For in those final years of Archbishop Connolly’s long reign, Dignity, the Catholic gay group, was gaining a foothold in Seattle and would come out in full force when the new archbishop, Raymond “Dutch” Hunthausen, arrived from Montana in 1975. Gay Seattle has a whole chapter on the Hunthausen-Wuerl controversy that rocked not just that archdiocese but the whole American Catholic Church in the late ‘80s. The sixteenth chapter is titled “On Catholic Hill” (pp. 272-293), and that is a story in itself. When Seattle was laid out in the late 19th century it was thought that the state capitol would move there and so a neighborhood was called Capitol Hill. Actually it was the home of a large ethnic influx and was also called Catholic Hill with two Jesuit parishes, Seattle University, Catholic high schools for boys and girls, and hospitals making it the center of the Church’s institutional presence; the imposing St. James Cathedral sat on another hill downtown. The Catholics started heading for the suburbs by the ‘60s and the area was gentrified in the next decade with a large gay influx and this brought the question of the role of homosexuals in the Church to a head.
As I remember the American Catholic scene from the ‘80s, there was no one who inspired more loathing for those of us on the Catholic right than “Dutch” Hunthausen; after all he was an archbishop and not just a priest like Charles Curran or Richard McBrien. What’s more he was a pacifist who withheld part of his income tax to “Dutch” Reagan’s buildup of the military industrial complex and made very loud comments that the Navy’s nuclear submarine base in Bremerton was the “Auschwitz of Puget Sound.” So people who read Fidelity and The Wanderer cheered when Archbishop Hunthausen was subjected to investigations originating on the orders of Cardinal Ratzinger and involving Cardinal Hickey of Washington, D.C. The fact that we were in such haste to condemn him for his heterodox opinions, both theological and political, caused us to lose sight of the fact that he was really was a very devout, sincere man who drove a VW, ate in Mickey D’s, and lived in a room at the cathedral rectory. We cheered when Ratzinger sent out a Roman trained auxiliary bishop from Pittsburgh, Donald Wuerl, who was pointedly ordained by Pope John Paul II to “assist” Hunthausen with “special powers.” What those powers were, as Atkins shows in Gay Seattle, related to the archbishop’s beliefs about “compassion” for those who followed the gay lifestyle; he allowed Sunday night Mass at the Jesuit St. Joseph’s parish in the Capitol Hill neighborhood besides allowing the use of St. James Cathedral for the national Dignity convention held in Seattle in 1983. The gay liberation movement’s penetration of the Catholic Church dated from the ‘60s, as Gay Seattle shows, and involved a long march through the religious orders and their parishes and educational institutions, which involved the Dominicans, the Redemptorists, and most centrally the Jesuits. The reason the mainlining of the gay movement in the Catholic Church got further in Seattle is that they had a very sympathetic archbishop.
Unfortunately Donald Wuerl, who wrote an orthodox catechism to oppose a string of heterodox works in the ‘70s like Christ Among Us by ex-Paulist Anthony Wilhelm, was outmaneuvered by Hunthausen and other archbishops like Bernardin in Chicago, O’Connor in New York, and Quinn in San Francisco, and so could never exercise the special powers the pope had granted him in Seattle on the homosexual question. It didn’t help that the new auxiliary, as Atkins relates, came off aloof and princely in his dress and deportment in comparison to the ascetic Hunthausen and made demands to have the archdiocese rent him an apartment in the choicest condominium in downtown Seattle and renovate his office, plans which got leaked to the press. Ultimately, Wuerl got shipped back to Pittsburgh and didn’t reemerge to become archbishop of Washington, D.C. until after John Paul II’s death. Hunthausen got his full powers back as well as a coadjutor, Thomas Murphy, picked by Cardinal Bernardin. The Sunday night gay Mass at St. Joseph’s continued; however, now it was under the sponsorship of the archdiocese and not Dignity. By the end of the ‘90s, long after DuBay and Sirico had departed, Wuerl was back east, Hunthausen in Montana after early retirement, and St. James’s cathedral was, according to Atkins, used for the funeral of a local non-Catholic gay politician who had died from AIDS, with the drag queens from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence attending in full habit.
According to Randy Engel’s open letter to the Vatican Congregation Pastor Sirico moved from Seattle to Los Angeles in 1975 and became the director of the Los Angeles Gay Community Center while continuing his ministry in the M.C.C., which had its mother church in that city. Sirico, during this time, would make gay history by performing the first same sex marriage at the First Unitarian Church of Denver, Colorado on April 21, 1975. During one of these years on his June birthday, he was given a gift of books of some of the laissez-faire authors he would mention in the 1992 retirement speech for Reverend Opitz that would cause his conversion to free market economics and away from his self-described “soft Marxist” phase. However, the unretouched record of Robert Sirico’s life shows no deep commitment to any leftist philosophy – only a leading role in the homosexual movement of two cities. When gays were protesting police crackdowns on public soliciting and demanding repeal of sodomy laws, they were part of a general left-wing coalition against police brutality which included gays, feminists, black militants, campus radicals, anti-war activists, extreme environmentalists and other similar groups that were very much in evidence in the West Coast cities of this era. There was a press clipping in Engel’s letter about Reverend Sirico protesting a April 10, 1976 LAPD raid on a sadomasochist Leather Fraternity “slave auction” at the Mark IV Health Club in Hollywood which led to arrests for public nudity and paid sex acts in the club’s dungeons. Pastor Sirico, pictured in black suit and Roman collar, said the cops were “out to get” the gay community during a “harmless fund-raising event.” Perhaps even at this time, Robert Sirico felt that a new philosophy was needed to enhance homosexual liberation rather than the, by now, stale left-wing ranting about “police brutality.” The more thoughtful gay leaders would come to realize that there is a philosophy known as libertarianism that stated that the state had no authority in private exchanges between individuals, and so gay activists would be drawn to the libertarianism that serendipitously was developing an intellectual base in another California city, San Francisco, during the late ‘70s.
Speaking of serendipitous things, I did mention that I wrote a review of a biography of a major player in the American libertarian movement, Murray Rothbard four years ago. The author of that biography, Justin Raimondo of San Francisco, is an openly gay man who operates the antiwar.com web site and is a frequent contributor to paleoconservative journals like The American Conservative and has been a leading supporter of Patrick Buchanan’s various presidential campaigns. Like Father Sirico, Mr. Raimondo was a homosexual from the New York City area who moved west in the ‘70s. Raimondo goes on to mention in his book, An Enemy of the State, that in the late ‘70s San Francisco became not only a gay Mecca but a libertarian one as well and that the wealthy Koch family, who made their money in oil, founded the think-tank for that movement, the Cato Institute, in that city during this era. Rothbard and Raimondo, among others, relocated to San Francisco, and a nationally established Libertarian Party was headquartered there. The LP started to become a force in California gubernatorial and local elections and there were high hopes that it might achieve takeoff velocity as a viable third-party alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. However, as Raimondo relates, this was not to be because the libertarian movement was rent by factionalism that destroyed its ability to reach out to mainstream America; this factionalism led to the Koch family defunding their institute and Cato consequently moving to Washington to be yet another think-tank on the “K Street corridor.”
LIFESTYLE LIBERTARIANS
What caused the factionalism was what Justin Raimondo called the intransigence of “lifestyle libertarians,” particularly the California gays who were coming into the Libertarian party in disproportionate numbers and demanding that their issues, like abolition of marriage or same-sex unions and gay adoptions, be made the first priority of their new party. This led to the disenchantment of lifetime movement people like Murray Rothbard, who soon departed San Francisco, and homosexuals like Raimondo, who could see the bigger picture of concentrating on rolling back the federal government presence in the political and economic spheres of life, a subject on which Middle America would concur with the Libertarian Party. So the libertarian movement lost its moment to become the authentic voice of the highly taxed American middle class due to the “lifestyle libertarians” of San Francisco for whom legalization of gay marriage, stopping vice squad arrests, repealing sodomy laws, lowering the age of consent, legalizing drugs, and the rest of the issues they pushed when they were “soft Marxists” were still paramount for them when they moved to the right. And during this period Robert Sirico was doing more than reading Human Action and The Road to Serfdom. Randy Engel has another newspaper clipping from that era showing that he was head of a gay libertarian group in San Francisco. Besides knowing what assistance a Roman collar can give your ideology, the newly converted laissez-faire advocate would also see from the implosion of the Libertarian Party and the Cato Institute’s departure after the loss of the Koch money, namely that your institutions need wealthy benefactors whom you shouldn’t upset with making extreme demands which need to be implemented instantaneously.
How Reverend Robert Sirico came from being a minister of the Metropolitan Community Church on the West Coast to being ordained a priest in May, 1989, as a member of the American religious order devoted to media, preaching, and Newman Club chaplaincies, The Paulists, is still a little murky. From his published statements it appears that Sirico regained his childhood faith and went to confession after reading the tracts of the apologists for free market economists. When I first investigated him, his biography at the Acton Institute’s web site said that he received a B.A. in economics from University of Southern California and did work at the University of London, although that web site now does not give an undergraduate major. When in February, 2006 I inquired of the website that handles USC’s degree verifications, I received a reply that Robert A. Sirico had attended that university from 1979 through 1981 and received a bachelor’s degree in May, 1982. His major was English. And then the ever-helpful Richard Clark, as if he was somehow privy to my inquiries, gave Father Sirico’s complete educational history at the wikipedia entry; unfortunately his entry would raise still more red flags to anyone who knew anything about Catholic priestly ordinations.
Robert A. Sirico did indeed study English at the University of Southern California, having first received an A.A. degree from Los Angeles City College in 1978, or around the time he was involved with the gay center and M.C.C. in that city. He really did study literature at a college of the University of London in 1980. And the wiki entry does verify that he did receive a Masters of Divinity from the Catholic University’s Theological College in 1987. The only problem in that Mr. Clark states that Father Sirico wasn’t ordained until 1989, and Ms. Engel has information that he was, as a seminarian, stationed at a Paulist parish in Minneapolis in November 1987. As most priests are awarded their M.Div. degrees upon completion of their theological education concurrent with their ordination, we may ask why was there a delay in Robert Sirico’s case? Perhaps his ordination was delayed as he was doing research in the “soft Marxist” attitudes among priests and seminarians. “During his studies and early ministry,” his Acton biography notes, “he experienced a growing concern over the lack of training religious studies students receive in fundamental economic principles, leaving them poorly equipped to understand and address today's social problems.” Is this the real reason, or did the Paulists know, with his background in the leadership of the gay movement, that Sirico’s ordination was specifically forbidden under the 1961 Vatican guidelines? Was a dispensation required, or were they required to shop the ordination around to a friendly bishop? Whatever the case, Father Robert A. Sirico, c.s.p. didn’t keep the Paulists initials after his name for very long.
We do know definitely that the newly ordained Paulist priest Robert A. Sirico was assigned to the Catholic Information Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is run by his order. We know this from a tape recording of talk given at the Center, originally copyrighted in 1989, by two Paulists on the staff, Father Sirico and Father James Fisher, titled “Who Was Ayn Rand?” That the tape was made proves that the lecture wasn’t just for the benefit of Catholics or inquirers in Grand Rapids: the tape is still offered as a clearance item by a Christian Libertarian group, The Advocates for Self Government of Cartersville, GA, on their website. The Wikipedia entry for this group, which was edited by DickClarkMises in 2006, notes that it was founded in 1985 by Fresno, CA businessman Marshall Fritz, who personally introduces the tape of Fathers Sirico and Fisher’s talk by saying it is offered by the Advocates for Self Government for the use of Christian Libertarians for them to defend their religion to their brother libertarians and their ideology to their fellow Christians. If the tape was made in 1989, the year of the original copyright, it would show that the newly ordained Robert Sirico’s Catholic seminary training had absolutely no impact on his intellectual outlook. He was still pushing Ayn Rand’s “virtue of selfishness” in Christian form, which he had learned when he was the minister of a gay church.
Mr. Fritz may be best known as the founder and chairman of a group known as The Alliance for the Separation of School and State. In good libertarian fashion it offers you the opportunity to sign a simple declaration which states “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.” As a point of full disclosure the names of Thomas J. Herron, Philadelphia, PA and E. Michael Jones, South Bend, IN and other noted orthodox, conservative Catholics are on Marshall Fritz’s list. But does the libertarian goal of getting government out of the education business really comport with Catholic social teachings? No, it does not. What the Church has always taught is that the parents are the first teachers of their children. Due to economies of scale, division of labor and the fact that the parents may not be competent in every subject, people have been entrusting their children to schools since the dawn of civilization to be taught by others. The Catholic Church says that it should be involved with the doctrinal and moral training of Catholic youth but that government also has a legitimate role to play in the process in seeing that schools are properly funded and functioning, particularly in secular subjects, in order to make sure that the next generation is properly trained to become productive citizens for the common good. To ensure that common good, the Catholic Church would hold that the state, to complete this important work of education, has the right to tax all its citizens to support schools, even those without children or whose children are not of school age. The fact that in America today, due to Supreme Court misinterpretation of the U.S. Constitution, we have a monopoly of government funds going to state sponsored schools that indoctrinate more than educate does not negate the fact that the state does have a legitimate role in the education process. Abusus non tollit usum. I hope that’s the correct phrase as I never had Latin in my entirely Catholic school education, but I wouldn’t expect Father Sirico to help me out; in the tape that Marshall Fritz says is a help to Christian Libertarians, he calls Ayn Rand an original philosopher.
That the two Paulist priests were using their talk at the Grand Rapids Catholic Information Center as a venue to reach a wider audience of Christian Libertarians is an abusus non tollit usum that never got addressed. Compared to his elder confrere, Father Fisher, the newly ordained Robert Sirico is an intellectual lightweight who basically is confined to cheerleading by claiming that certain of Rand’s novelistic characters are Christ figures, “John Galt is Jesus Christ!,” or making catty comments about the state of Notre Dame’s philosophy department when a clip of Phil Donahue’s interview with Ayn Rand was played. Yes, Donahue is a pompous bore and fallen-away Catholic but he retained enough of his Catholic school training to try and pin Rand down on her atheism and hyper-rationality. What comes out in the tape is that Father Fisher may have been the key to Father Sirico’s brief Paulist vocation. He states by way of background that he discovered Atlas Shrugged in a used book store while he was doing a retreat at a university in Arizona in 1963 and quickly devoured the thousand plus pages. Fr. Fisher felt that Rand was a first-class philosopher and novelist and told his Paulist brethren about her besides lecturing about her philosophy, Objectivism, at the Berkeley and Clemson Newman Centers where he was assigned. Since the Paulists had the Catholic Center in Berkeley as well as a parish in San Francisco it ad since Father Fisher spoke as a Christian follower of Ayn Rand to libertarian groups in that city, it’s safe to assume that he met the then Reverend Robert Sirico of the Metropolitan Community Church, newly converted to laissez-faire doctrines, and impressed on him the “ominous parallels” between Rand’s philosophy and Christian doctrine, borrowing from the title of a book by one of her chief disciples. This comparison linking the Lord to John Galt and Howard Roark was the third of Father Fisher’s talks on the tape.
Father Fisher was prescient enough see that the Reagan Revolution, which had occurred by 1989, and Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution, which was yet to come, both had their base in Rand’s atheistic theories glorifying the wealth producer. In the tape, Father Sirico’s major contribution is to show that an argument for design for the existence of God can be made compatible with the Randian centrality of reason. In other words, Sirico accepts basic Christian doctrines when they can be shown to be congruent with Objectivism. Besides that, Father Sirico claims that Aquinas, whom Rand respected as an Aristotelian, got his ideas from Maimonides, who was just like the Jewish lady in Coney Island who baked him cookies as a child! Father Fisher, however, situates Rand among contemporary Jewish pseudo-messiahs like Marx, Freud and Einstein, who have abandoned the certainty of the Old Testament prophets about the existence of one, true God for more mundane matters like capitalism and rationality.
There is no indication that either of the Paulists knew that Rand’s philosophy of man alone in a godless universe is hardly original with her and ultimately little more than a plagiarism of Nietzsche and Heidegger, something that had already been done by Rand’s French contemporaries, Satre and Camus. Father Fisher may or may not have known, but he comes off as at least an educated and literate person; Father Sirico, on the other hand, comes off as his intellectual inferior, a man who seems to have acquired his knowledge as part of ideological indoctrination with no deep philosophical or theological studies in his past. If that is the case, how did Robert A. Sirico, with an undergraduate degree in English and no graduate studies in economics, philosophy or theology get to become the president of an institute designed to show the compatibility of free market economics with Catholic social teachings to future generations of Catholic priests and seminarians? Well, for that we must follow the secular career of Father Sirico, which was starting in Grand Rapids in the days he was briefly a Paulist and at the Catholic Information Center of that city.
Because Father Sirico had the burning desire to correct the misconceptions about free market operations that he found among clergymen of all denominations he co-founded the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids in 1990. The fact that a Catholic priest would choose the name of a 19th century theological liberal who was almost excommunicated for doubting the wisdom of the definition of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council has already been noted, we have already learned that the name Acton was considered but discarded by the Mont Pelerin Society so it was in the public domain on the right’s political spectrum. We may wonder what Pope Pius IX would have thought if he had seen that a branch of an institute dedicated to his liberal nemesis, Lord Acton, was opened near the Vatican late in 2006 to proselytize the Catholic clerics studying in Rome. For that is what the Institute does, according to what DickClarkMises wrote at Acton’s wiki entry, “The Institute organizes conferences and events targeting [sic] religious and moral leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, university professors, and academic researchers.”
It is presumably with this mission statement in mind that Paulist Father Robert Sirico petitioned to be secularized and incardinated into the clergy of the Grand Rapids diocese. Unfortunately, the bishop of Grand Rapids did not want Father Sirico in his diocese as a secular priest. He did, however, become incardinated into the Lansing diocese and was assigned to a rural parish which we may assume allowed him a short commute to his job in the newly founded Acton Institute. When the chancellor of the Lansing Diocese, James A. Murray, was appointed bishop of Kalamazoo in 1998 he took Father Robert Sirico with him and allowed him to be incardinated into that diocese. Feeling a call to return to religious life after leaving the Paulists, Sirico established a religious house in that city, in addition to being the pastor of a Kalamazoo church, St. Mary’s, that only offers Mass on two days during the week. The religious foundation is St. Philip Neri House, and it describes itself on its web site as attempting to gain admittance to the worldwide Congregation of the Oratory or Oratorians, which was founded by the aforementioned St. Philip in Rome in the Counter-Reformation era, and which had two of its members ordained by Bishop Murray in 2006. So it would appear that after a lifetime of wandering about the country, Robert Sirico has put down firm roots in western Michigan. And to answer the question of why he would prefer cities where the winter weather is dominated by the words “lake effect snow” of the sort he did not experience in Seattle or Los Angeles, we would do well to remember what was said by an Irish bank robber who was also a native of Brooklyn. When they asked Willie Sutton why he robbed banks he replied, “because that’s where the money is.”
Western Michigan, home of the DeVos family, the Meijer family, and other Dutch Calvinists, is where the money is if you want to be the Catholic roman collar promoting the gospel of capitalism. The DeVos family and the Acton Institute were major players in the early initiatives of the George W. Bush administration to off load government functions onto “faith based” agencies and served as the center of a network of Republican office holders and right-wing religious figures like James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Novak, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Seattle. Berkowitz related in 2001 that four years previously 94 per cent of Acton’s $1.8 million budget was funded with grants from wealthy right-wing individuals, corporations and foundations such as Scaife ($100,000), Olin ($50,000), and Bradley ($40,000), plus the DeVos Family Foundation ($50,000). And as mentioned above, the Dutch Calvinist DeVos family of Grand Rapids, founders of the Amway sales pyramid, are represented on the board of the Acton Institute and other similar groups such as Wilmington, Delaware’s Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), as well as playing a major role in the Michigan Republican Party. Betsy DeVos, a former member of Acton’s board of directors, is also the former chair of the Michigan Republican party as well as the wife of the unsuccessful 2006 G.O.P. candidate for governor of that state, Dick DeVos. Admittedly 2006 was not the year to be a Republican candidate in almost any state, as the unpopularity of President George W. Bush and his endless wars in the Middle East were causing the voters to take out their frustrations on anyone associated with that party. It also may not have helped Mr. DeVos that his wife made a public statement about the economic problems of Michigan that may not have gone over well with voters there, even if it was totally consistent with the published statements of the Acton Institute. What Betsy DeVos stated in an April, 2004 press release was, "Many, if not most, of the economic problems in Michigan are a result of high wages and a tax and regulatory structure that makes this state uncompetitive." The DeVos’ are leading advocates of school choice initiatives and apparently support various evangelical Christian causes.
BATTLING THE “ISLAMOFACISTS”
Not only is Betsy DeVos a good Republican official who supports the Bush White House party line, a member of her family directly profits from doing battle with the “Islamofascists” in the Middle East. Ms. DeVos didn’t just marry into money. Her father, Edgar Prince, was also a capitalist who made automobile components in Holland, Michigan. Her brother, Erik Prince, attended the conservative Hillsdale College in that state, which is known as a center of conservative thought, even if its late president, George Roche, had to resign when his daughter-in-law committed suicide in 1999 after a 19-year-long affair with him. Erik was commissioned a Navy officer and served in their elite SEAL commando unit, skills he put to good use when he founded Blackwater USA, which is listed by the Department of Defense as a “military support contractor.” In former times Blackwater’s “military support contractors” would be known as mercenaries, and it was four Blackwater employees whose corpses ended hanging from a bridge in the Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah on March 31, 2004. While many libertarians would no doubt celebrate the rise of mercenaries as privatizing yet another of the state’s functions, it would appear that Republican logic dominates Erik Prince’s Blackwater enterprise and so the Bush administration sent in the public sector, U.S. Marine Corps to sack Fallujah the following November in Operation Vigilant Resolve as punishment for killing the “contractors,” in what was called a war crime in former times.
But, back from Iraq to Michigan and to the intersection of theology and economics which Father Sirico’s Acton Institute covers, what do all those wealthy individuals, corporations, and foundations who bankroll it get for their tax-deductible dollars? Do they need essays on the primacy of private sector philanthropy over statist solutions to helping the poor? Well no, Acton’s outreach isn’t directed to the wealthy, it is as Richard Clark stated in its wiki entry, designed to evangelize clergy and seminarians with the free market gospel. And despite what Acton’s clerical president says about reaching seminarians of all faiths “from Mormons to Muslims,” the evidence shows that it’s an outreach of people with basically a Calvinist worldview to the Catholic clergy and seminarians. The first overseas Acton Institute office isn’t in Mecca, Salt Lake City, Jerusalem, Geneva, or Benares; it’s in Rome. And that would be a good investment for these capitalists, who would know that the Catholic Church has condemned “Manchesterian liberalism” since Pope Leo XIII issued his encyclical Rerum Novarum. Since the Church was equally fervent in her condemnation of Marxism and socialism, there has been an attempt by socially conscious people, particularly Catholics, to develop a “third way,” often called Christian Democracy, which tries to articulate an alternative to the extremes of statism and the free market. These people probably understand that they can’t get educated Catholics to accept the atheistic ravings of Randian Objectivists, who worship the wealth producer and condemn the poor as responsible for their own lot. They might also know that spokesmen for Catholic social teachings from the past, like Msgr. John A. Ryan and Michigan’s own Father Charles Coughlin, no matter how they battled each other in the past, would immediately recognize the liberalism that Father Sirico fronts for as incompatible with Church teachings. No, instead of confrontation and rejection, what the backers of the Acton Institute wanted was a slow perversion of Catholic social thought, which could be brought about most effectively by getting a priest to work on the subversion of the minds of young clergy and seminarians. And who better to run the operation than a proven pervert who converted to laissez-faire thought before he ever entered a Catholic seminary? As the story of Cambridge apostles like Sir Anthony Blunt makes clear, homosexuals make the best traitors. They’re already used to living double lives. The only thing that has changed since the 1930s is the ideology that the homosexuals are now promoting.
Thanks to Father Sirico’s efforts as a homosexaul activist in the ‘70s, gay “marriage” is now the cutting edge social issue in places like Indiana. As just one indication of the corrupting effect that Sirico’s Acton Institute has had, Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in March, saying they made too much money and would be replaced by new hires who would work for less. Steven Rashaid was one of 11 Circuit City employees fired in Asheville, North Carolina, where he made $11.59 an hour. What would Catholic priests like Charles Coughlin and John A. Ryan have said about this? Most probably that it was an instance of withholding wages from the laborer and, as a result, a sin that cried to heaven for vengeance.
And why aren’t any Catholic priests saying that now? The short answer to that question is Father Robert Sirico, who has become the master at combining the seduction of Catholic economics with the economics of Catholic seduction. If you want to know why a man with Father Robert Sirico’s flagrant background has staunch supporters among otherwise orthodox, traditional young priests, you need only examine the Acton Institute’s web site, which offers travel stipends to conferences and fellowships to young scholars who are willing to study the wonders of free market economics as congruent with their religious traditions. The Acton Institute website makes the mechanics of seduction clear enough. The big question, however, is how did a man with this type of background ever get ordained a Catholic priest back in 1989? What does this say about the Diocese of Kalamazoo and its bishop? How separate are church and state in western Michigan? Who runs the show there? The Vatican or Betsy DeVos?
It has been nearly a month since Ms. Engel sent her letter to the Vatican requesting a full investigation of the history of Father Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute. An independent investigation of the Acton Instute is not based on detraction (It is not detraction when you quote from a book that won the Washington State and Jesuit book awards in 2004.); it is long overdue. Sirico’s homosexuality was hardly a momentary lapse; it was a career, and in an uncanny way, Sirico has maintained a certain consistency throughout his life in spite of its apparent vagaries and the obfuscations put up by libertarian gatekeepers like Richard Clark in wikipedia. The main thing that the libertine cleric of the Metropolitan Community Church in Seattle and the libertarian Catholic priest from Grand Rapids have in common is a career based on promoting sins that cry to heaven for vengeance, whether it be sodomy in the ‘70s or depriving workers of a just wage in the ‘90s and beyond. At this point all we can hope is that eventually those cries will be heard and answered.
Thomas J. Herron is a frequent contributor to Culture Wars.
This article was published in the May 2007 issue of Culture Wars.
Click on the following link to listen to a May 2007 interview of Randy Engel and Tom Herron entitled (Rev.) Robert Sirico and Sins that Cry to Heaven: The Real History of Sirico and the Acton Institute.
http://www.culturewars.com/2007/Sirico.htm
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Rick Ronsavelle
gingrich no randian
Newt's Roots
Llewellyn Rockwell, President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and publisher of The Free Market, observes that, rhetoric notwithstanding, "Newt Gingrich is a Rockefeller Republican," a big-government `Conservative' who talks a good line, but like Ronald Reagan will give us higher taxes, more government, and more spending. His `Contract with America' is a fraud; it should be called a `Press Conference with America."' Or, perhaps, a "Contract On America." Newt's "Contract" with its calls for amendments to balance the budget and impose term limits, seems to imply that our original contract, the U.S. Constitution, is gravely deficient. This could give new impetus to the dangerous movement for a constitutional convention. *
Gingrich's activities outside Congress are equally distressing. Alvin Toffler is a New Age guru and dear friend of Newt. In an upcoming issue I will lay out this "New Age" issue, from both sides and you can be the judge regarding the relationship between New Age and the New World Order. Alvin Toffler's book, Creating A New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave, is a bizarre, revolutionary view and blueprint for the 2lst century. Gingrich WROTE the forward for this book - it's frightening and you should read both editions. These books became best sellers in Communist China because they mirror Mao.
On page 433 of Toffler's bilge, we read: "The founding fathers as the architects of the political system which served so well, this system of government you (founding fathers) fashioned, including the very principles on which you based it, is increasingly OBSOLETE and hence increasingly if inadvertently, OPPRESSIVE and DANGEROUS to our welfare. It must be RADICALLY changed and a NEW SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT INVENTED - a democracy for the 2lst Century." How frightening. And who constantly talks about "re-inventing government?" Why, Al Gore, our illustrious tree kissing Vice-President. Mr. Toffler wants to convert our form of Republican government to a democracy. Who died and made him King?
On page 74 of the 1994 version of Toffler's book: "You (again referring to the founding fathers) would have understood why even the Constitution of the United States needs to be reconsidered, and altered - NOT TO CUT THE FEDERAL BUDGET OR TO EMBODY THIS OR THAT NARROW PRINCIPLE, but to expand i's Bill of Rights, taking account of threats to freedom unimagined in the past, and to create a whole new structure of government capable of making intelligent, democratic decisions necessary for our survival in a Third Wave (New Age jargon), 2lst Century America...."
Referring back to the 1980 version of this book by Toffler and praised by Gingrich, I quote from page 227: "...the nuclear family can no longer serve as the ideal model for society.: The explanation then given for a solution is "more exotic possibilities" for the future family, i.e. "Homosexual marriages, communes, elderly people sharing expenses sex and families with several husbands and one wife."
Don't take my word for it, order Gingrich's voting record and read Toffler's book - both versions. Actions speak louder than words.
http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd450.htm
>>>Gingrich has been sucking the pee-pee of Al Toffler for around 40 years. Toffler is a "former" marxist. He is a real new-age kike, with typical kike
btw It was young Toffler who interviewed Rand in Playboy.
IMHO the Sirico piece is vomit. Anyone writing stuff like that is not playing with a full deck. It reads like a word salad- and word salad is associated with schizophrenia. Anyone reading the entire thing is also messed up mentally, and in need of treatment.
Here, the Playboy interview:
http://ellensplace.net/ar_pboy.html
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Originally Posted by Alex Linder
Could not understand the point of the article. What's the main points?
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New parish hall a long-awaited dream for parishioners at St. Francis Church in Gallup
Suzanne Hammons June 24, 2019 News
Bishop James Wall blesses the new San Damiano Hall in Gallup, NM.
On May 31, 2019, the parish community of St. Francis of Assisi in Gallup formally celebrated the opening of their long-awaited parish hall.
The celebration began with a Mass celebrated by Bishop James Wall, who noted during his homily that the parish had been working towards the construction of the hall for at least ten years – as long as his tenure as bishop of the diocese.
“That might seem like a long period, at least in our life,” the bishop said. “But if you think about in the ancient times, when they would build these great churches, these great edifices. Think about a place like the Cathedral in Florence, in Italy. It took 175 years to build that building.”
Builders of great medieval churches often gave their time and efforts to a structure that only future generations would see. And in Gallup, many individuals and organizations helped to fund the long-term project through donations, volunteer work, and by sponsoring bricks that now decorate the outside of the new hall.
Friars from around the diocese concelebrated the Mass, including Fr. Jack Clark Robinson, the provincial leader of the Franciscan Friars of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose territory includes New Mexico and Arizona.
The celebratory Mass fell during the Feast of the Visitation, which commemorates the reunion between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, both in the early stages of pregnancy – Mary with Jesus and Elizabeth with John the Baptist. During his homily, Bishop Wall drew parallels between the virtues of the two women and the intended purpose of the parish hall, especially the virtues of charity, humility and hospitality.
The blessing of the San Damiano Cross.
Bishop Wall blesses the parishioners of St. Francis.
Fr. Abel Olivas, pastor of St. Francis.
The brick monument with names of donors and workers who contributed to the project.
“We see hospitality in the Gospel in the beautiful welcoming of St. Elizabeth, when she sings that she is glorifying God that the mother of her Lord should come to visit her. And so we pray today as we bless our new building that our new building might always be a place of hospitality. Hospitality where we welcome all. We welcome the stranger, we welcome those whom we know, and in doing so, we are always practicing the virtue of humility as our Lady shows us, and most especially the virtue of charity.”
Bishop Wall concluded by asking the parishioners of St. Francis to always seek the protection and aid of Mary.
“And so let us ask for her intercession as we call her blessed, that she will intercede on our behalf, so that we might be a hospitable people, we might be a people who are deeply rooted and grounded in humility, and we might be a people – especially this community – one of charity, in imitation of our Lady.”
At the conclusion of the Mass, the bishop, priests and parishioners processed from the church to the new hall, where Bishop Wall blessed each room and the people in attendance. At the head of the procession and later placed prominently inside the hall was a replica of the San Damiano cross, from which the new hall takes its name.
Fr. Abel Olivas, pastor at St. Francis, explained first in English and then in Spanish to those in attendance that the name San Damiano was chosen because of the significance of the cross to St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan order.
Church history famously teaches that it was when he was praying in front of the San Damiano cross that St. Francis received the command from God to “rebuild the Church”. The San Damiano cross remains a popular symbol for Franciscans as a reminder of their service to the Church.
“Each of us are called to do the same, to rebuild our church” Fr. Olivas said. “And because of that, the name of the hall is beautiful.”
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Suzanne Hammons
Suzanne Hammons is the editor of the Voice of the Southwest and the media coordinator for the Diocese of Gallup. A graduate of Benedictine College in Kansas, she joined the Diocesan staff in 2012.
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Statement regarding list of credibly accused clergy of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara
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Catholic News Agency November 22, 2017
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Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young Web Service Takes Off
The interactive business program has attracted 250 organizations, nearly 90 of which are new customers
By John Makulowich, Contributing Writer
Catching its competitors asleep at their servers, Ernst & Young LLP, New York, is picking up a nice piece of change with its World Wide Web-based Internet service named Ernie: Your online business consultant (http://ernie.ey.com).
At $6,000 for an annual subscription, Ernie has racked up impressive numbers in its first six months: more than 1,000 queries, over $1 million in revenues and more billings for the firm.
Launched last May, the interactive business program has attracted 250 organizations, nearly 90 of which are new customers. It covers areas such as accounting, corporate finance, human resources, information technology, personal finance, process improvement and taxes.
With its overnight success, Ernst & Young added a customized business research and analysis function to Ernie in October. It lets subscribers commission an in-depth analysis of information, custom-tailored and interpreted with the specific needs of the client's unique business situation in mind. The price of this service depends on the scope of the project. Future plans for Ernie include strategic alliances with content providers. The company also is planning to go international with its model; Ernie is currently limited to the U.S. market.
Judged by their Web sites, none of Ernst & Young's five competitors among the Big Six accounting firms (Arthur Andersen, Coopers & Lybrand LLP, Deloitte & Touche LLP, KPMG Peat Marwick and Price Waterhouse LLP) nor top-tier management consulting firms such as Booz-Allen & Hamilton or McKinsey & Co. offer anything like Ernie.
Officials at the companies who responded to telephone queries about competing services said they did not offer similar services. While none of those interviewed visited the Ernie Web site, all said it was unlikely that their firms would offer such a service.
Marie Lerch, director of public relations for Booz-Allen & Hamilton, McLean, Va., said, "We have a Web site and are expanding into a constellation of sites with more content. We do not have any plans to sell consulting services over the Internet; we serve a more targeted client set."
More direct was Bill Matassoni, the partner responsible for communications at McKinsey and Co., New York. When asked whether the firm had any plans for offering a service like Ernie, he replied, "I doubt that we would do anything like that. Our reputation rests on personal contact and follow-up with clients." New York-based KPMG Peat Marwick Webmaster Dave Goessling said, "This is not something the firm is planning in the near
future."
According to Brian J. Baum, director of Internet Service Delivery for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneurial Consulting Practice, New York, Ernie targets entrepreneurial firms, defined as fast-growth companies with $200 million or less in annual revenues.
"Ernie responds to a market need for a one-stop shop for business questions and helps expand the capability of our staff. While we designed it for more established high-growth companies in consumer products, we are starting to see international interest," says Baum.
Ernst and Young tracks subscriber usage and finds the majority of questions come from the human resources department and sales. From the outset, the primary target was the 9,000 clients with whom Ernst & Young enjoyed a tax or audit relationship. In the first six months, 65 percent of subscribers are existing clients and 35 percent are new, according to company data.
The online service gives subscribers access to a password-restricted Web site. The subscribing companies can sign up any number of users. Once in, users fill in forms by choosing a category, asking a specific question and providing background information. Typical questions include: What's the best way to gear up for an initial public offering? How do I find out about reciprocal import duty regulations? Where can I explore trends in office design for software developers?
Visitors to the Web site find a "Q of the day" and the Ernst & Young answer. A recent query was "What are considered 'best practices' for reducing the administrative effort for purchasing small dollar items?"
The opening paragraph of the 422-word answer read: "Several thoughts come to mind regarding the reduction of administrative effort for purchasing small dollar items. A number of companies have significantly automated the process by using systems that will automatically generate an order within simple minimum/maximum ordering rules. The system is linked to an [electronic data interchange] tool, which transmits the order automatically to the vendor. The vendor acknowledges electronically, in the most sophisticated environment, and invoice and payment are electronic."
After users type in the information and press the submit button, the high-tech, high-touch combination begins. Through a program written in Java, the questions are sent to Ernie, sorted manually by broad subject category and routed by e-mail through Ernst & Young's intranet by a focal point knowledge provider, or fkp, to the professional most knowledgeable about the industry, topic or issue. Replies are sent back through the company's intranet and placed in the user's account within two business days, where the subscriber logs in and picks it up.
In another part of the service, subscribers can scroll through a database of answers to frequently asked questions or FAQs. Ernie also offers a news clipping service in cooperation with Farcast, a news retrieval service that subscribers themselves can custom-design. Users specify the information they want to gather by selecting key words to search among press clippings and articles produced by a variety of news sources, such as AP and BusinessWire. Once the items are collected, Ernie transmits them by e-mail to the user's Internet address.
Baum believes Ernie is an excellent example of a learning organization practicing knowledge management by leveraging its knowledge assets - more than 21,000 people in 89 offices in the United States.
"One of the most difficult challenges was defining what a question was, that is, what constituted a question," says Baum. "Our intent was to offer a first level service. We are now in the process of stabilizing the model and getting a better grasp of how to manage and introduce this type of service for clients and other interested parties."
The Ernie platform integrates the Internet, a corporate intranet and Lotus Notes. The Internet is the interface between the subscriber and Ernst & Young. Client questions are routed via the company's intranet to its network of knowledge workers. That person then uses his or her experience and resources, as well as a proprietary Ernst & Young, Lotus Notes-based knowledge web, to gather and package their reply. When completed, the answer is sent by the knowledge worker back to the client through the Internet.
According to Ernst & Young Web materials, online sales of goods and services are expected to top $60 billion in 1997. Industry observers project that figure will grow to $1.65 trillion over the next decade. And a recent survey of CEOs conducted by Forbes magazine predicted that businesses will derive 40 percent of their revenues from the Internet within 10 years. Further, over the next three years, many companies and individuals who exchange information electronically in electronic commerce or electronic data interchange are expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 46 percent.
Nearly 90 firms beta tested Ernie during a four-month live pilot test in the fall of 1995. Users asked questions on subjects ranging from new product launches and pending business legislation to human resources issues and methods of cost accounting.
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Mr. Monk and the Naked Man
Monk must confront his prejudice against nudists when he’s called to investigate a murder on a nude beach.
Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan Jul. 13, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Rapper Jul. 20, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Naked Man Jul. 27, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Bad Girlfriend Aug. 03, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Birds and the Bees Aug. 10, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Buried Treasure Aug. 17, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Daredevil Aug. 24, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Wrong Man Sep. 07, 2007
Mr. Monk Is Up All Night Sep. 14, 2007
Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus Dec. 07, 2007
Mr. Monk Joins a Cult Jan. 11, 2008
Mr. Monk Goes to the Bank Jan. 18, 2008
Mr. Monk and the Three Julies Jan. 25, 2008
Mr. Monk Paints His Masterpiece Feb. 01, 2008
Mr. Monk Is On The Run (1) Feb. 15, 2008
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Classical music: Teenage violin prodigy Julian Rhee performs the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra this Friday night. Also on the program are works by Stravinsky and Haydn | February 20, 2017
Over the years, The Ear has heard quite a few child prodigies, many of them impressive.
But he has heard only one Julian Rhee (below).
Rhee, from Brookfield, is a young Milwaukee area violinist who has won numerous awards from and has performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Rhee will perform again with the WCO (below), playing the complete Brahms Violin Concerto — not just separate movements or excerpts — this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
What makes Rhee so outstanding is that the level of his musicality matches his high technical mastery.
When he performed some of the Brahms concerto in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte competition, which he won two years ago, all eyes and ears popped open with the first notes. You just knew right away who was going to win.
(You can hear the Final Forte introduction to Julian Rhee, which aired on Wisconsin Public Televisi0n, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Rhee’s playing exuded a maturity that even seasoned listeners did not expect. And the Brahms is a perfect vehicle to display his interpretive maturity as well as his technical virtuosity. Surely Rhee still has room to grow musically. But his mastery is already something to behold.
If you enjoy being able to say “I heard him when …,” this concert has all the hallmarks of being a must-hear, do-not-miss event.
But there are other attractions on the program, to be played under music director Andrew Sewell, who has again combined works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Igor Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du soldat” (The Soldier’s Tale) will be performed with guest narrator Jim DeVita (below) of American Players Theatre in Spring Green. The story involves a soldier who sells his soul to the devil.
And there will also be the Symphony No. 102 in B-Flat Major by Franz Joseph Haydn, a composer whose style brings out the best in WCO music director and conductor Sewell (below), an accomplished interpreter of music from the Classical era.
To read Julian Rhee’s complete and impressive biography, and to find out more information about the program, the performers and tickets, go to:
http://www.wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-iii-2/
Tags: American Players Theatre, Andrew Sewell, Arts, award, Brahms, Brahms Violin Concerto, Child, Classical music, Competition, concerto, Devil, Final Forte, Haydn, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Jim DeVita, Johannes Brahms, Julian Rhee, L'histoire du soldat, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, musicality, narrator, Orchestra, prodigy, soldier, Spring Green, Stravinsky, symphony, tale, technique, teenage, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, virtuosity, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Public Televsion, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Opera’s annual FREE Opera in the Park returns this Saturday night, July 20, in Garner Park and celebrates 18 years plus a glimpse of the upcoming season July 15, 2019
Classical music: Happy Bastille Day! But instead of militarism, let’s celebrate the holiday with revolutionary French music by a revolutionary French composer. What French music would you choose? July 14, 2019
Classical music: YOU MUST HEAR THIS: Three piano pieces by the forgotten American composer William Mason that are worth rediscovering July 12, 2019
Classical music: After opening on Friday night, the Willy Street Chamber Players will perform a FREE and PUBLIC concert at Oakwood Village West on Saturday night at 7 July 10, 2019
Classical music: Was Bernard Herrmann’s love theme in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” influenced by Antonin Dvorak’s “American Suite”? July 8, 2019
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New Rapper Sounds Like Tyler The Creator
Tyler. In a new interview with Zane Lowe, the now veteran rapper broke down his development from Bastard to IGOR: "It kind of all led up to this. It’s so interesting too, a lot of people were like,
Oct 18, 2018. Tyler, the Creator is an exuberant rap star and a thoughtful polymath. more new music; he's expanding his relationship with Converse (his first five. out of the U.K. making music that sounded like it came from people with.
May 17, 2019. Tyler, The Creator has achieved his final form on "IGOR.". For the better part of a decade, the Odd Future rapper crafted his unique sound using his. Tracks like "NEW MAGIC WAND" and "WHAT'S GOOD" contain much of.
May 22, 2019. Tyler, The Creator's 'IGOR' may just be the album of the summer. fans to a brand new sound full of experimental instruments, brilliant guest artists. Songs like “I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE” tackle the issue of unrequited. A common staple of rap music is sampling other songs, which Tyler employs in.
Tyler, the Creator. Bastard. 25-12-2009. OFWGKTA. Today’s review is on Tyler, the Creator’s mixtape Bastard on which he and some members of his crew, Odd Future, have made a name for themselves among hipsters and which led to Tyler getting signed to XL records to record his debut album Goblin.Tyler, the Creator is a rapper from L.A. who paints vivid pictures of some pretty fucked up shit.
May 18, 2019. is a writer and musician from Rochester, New York. This album doesn't sound like anything that Tyler Okanma has ever done before. In fact, it.
Apr 21, 2015 · Tyler, the Creator – Cherry Bomb. After a while, it starts to feel like Tyler came up with a checklist of sounds he wanted to include on the album regardless of the results. the restless.
Aug 17, 2017 · It sounds like Tyler doesn’t want to put a label on it, which is fair enough, but we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a little curious about Tyler’s previous relationships and how that manifested itself in his music. Guess we’ll just have to wait it out until.
Everything about this track is flawless, the soft jazz, that takes on an uncomfortable tone, a very elevator music sound, with a dark story that reveals the curtain behind Tyler. Obviously his best song.
Tyler, the Creator. a [bass sound]. I was like, ‘Kanye should take this song. He would sound so much cooler saying, “I ain’t got time!” than me.’ He didn’t like it.” Though he enthused about the.
Tyler, the Creator is an American rapper who, in recent years, has risen to incredible popularity. Chances are, you’ve probably already heard of him; whether it be hearing just his name (online or in person), or being a fan yourself. Personally, I wasn’t a fan until very recently. It’s not that I.
Tyler, The Creator is on a hot streak. and Drake’s Mike Will Made-It-produced single "Bring It Back." Like "OKRA," "Bring It Back" finds Tyler pitch-shifting his vocals so it sounds like he’s.
Tyler, The Creator’s fifth. Ericcson quality on “Some Rap Songs”) Pharrell’s influence on Tyler is well documented and it is apparent here as well, specifically from the N.E.RD. era(s) and.
Jaden, who previously went by the artist name Jaden Smith, has released his new album. kind of like, don’t really care at.
From stark, iconic imagery—like devouring a giant. everything about Tyler, The Creator’s growth suggests uncertainty. IGOR is the next step on this journey, one without a single to foreshadow the.
Jul 05, 2019 · Jaden, who previously went by the artist name Jaden Smith, has released his new album Erys featuring a number of high-profile features. The 17-track record was released today (5 July) via MSFTS.
May 21, 2019. 2011: Tyler, the Creator's debut album “Goblin” becomes the most. 2019: His new album “IGOR” is his second in a row to feature lyrics suggesting he's queer, its warm, melodic sound was a surprise, but lyrics like “This next line will have. but he's gone past the punk-rap aesthetic of his first few albums.
the Creator has teased what sounds like new music in two short video clips titled “_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _” and “_____.” Check them out below. Tyler’s latest studio album, Flower Boy, came out in 2017. The.
Music News. Tyler, The Creator's Odd Future Involves His Own Ice Cream. Jaden Smith Is Bringing Along Tyler, The Creator, A$AP Rocky, And More On New Album Erys. Monstrous first single 'Again' sounds like if Godzilla rapped. The rapper talks to MTV News about WANGSAP and how he's making babushkas a thing.
Aug 02, 2017 · Tyler, the Creator’s new Converse collaboration drops August 3rd. You don’t have to be able to rap his songs to love his take on a Converse classic.
Mar 29, 2018 · Tyler the Creator Shouts Out Timothee Chalamet in New Song ‘Okra’ – Listen Now! It looks like Tyler the Creator is a huge fan of Timothee Chalamet! The 27-year-old rapper surprised fans by dropping his new song “Okra” on Thursday night (March 29) and gave the 22-year-old Call Me By Your Name star a shout out in the song.
Sonically, it feels like Tyler, the Creator has reached another level as a composer, like Brian Wilson when he followed Pet Sounds with Smile.
Tyler, the Creator has dropped several new projects recently, including an album and clothing. according to entertainment.
Oct 21, 2016. This summer, Earl Sweatshirt launched a new monthly show on Red Bull Radio. From the outside, it looks like Earl and Tyler have had more of a Nietzschean. Listen: Earl Sweatshirt with Tyler the Creator, "Couch". it shows the young Earl rapping on a soul-sampling beat that sounds boom bappy.
May 21, 2019. On his sixth full-length IGOR, Tyler the Creator grapples with what's become. Today it serves as a time capsule for the kind of abrasive DIY rap indebted to. IGOR sounds nothing like Bastard, but it sounds very much like the music. See the pointed “New Magic Wand,” or the moment on “A Boy is a Gun”.
Jun 5, 2019. Since Okonma, better known as Tyler, the Creator, first emerged on. Odd Future was by no means the world's first rap collective, but along with New York's menacing. stage for other online-bred hip-hop collectives like Brockhampton. chaotic nature while introducing new sounds and themes that both.
Jan 15, 2019. Tyler, the Creator, real name Tyler Gregory Okonma, is a rapper and producer with. In this article, I'll recreate some of Tyler's sounds from his newest. I got like a Juno, a Roland, I got a bunch of random stuff at home that I'll.
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith‘s son Jaden Smith is openly gay while telling the world that he’s in a relationship with Tyler The Creator. It sounds like Tyler has that “Good-Good,” and Jaden wants the world to know? The 20-year-old hip-hop artist and actor stopped by Apple Music Beats 1 Radio show on Friday to promote his new mixtape.
The trio all started in the radio industry as sidekicks to Wendy Williams (Charlamagne), Miss Jones (DJ Envy) and Cipha Sounds (Angela Yee). The Trio is topical and sought after by everyone from.
Most Beautiful Classical Music About Love Sep 4, 2017. Most likely, it's strains of Mendelssohn's "The Wedding March" or Pachelbel's " Canon in D." Classical wedding music provides an elegance. May 19, 2016. Love & relationships. Classical music and studying: The top 10 pieces to listen to for exam. Classic FM reveals which pieces of classical music will help students get
Southern Gospel Music Concerts In Alabama Picture Of Father And Son Dancing Wildly He is always making the headlines either because of his acting chops or his dancing skills. Recently, he had even shared photos of a swimming pool that his father got made for Allu’s son. He even. Classical Music Influenced By Gypsy Music Oct 11, 2016. From classical music
Sep 02, 2011 · Hopsin does kill it on rhythm though, he can do almost anything. Though I can’t put Tyler out for it either, check out Steak Sauce and Transylvania. They are dark and grimy sounding, but Tyler has an unusual fast rhythm compared to his other songs. You’re right Tyler can’t right a chorus, but fuck a chorus, they’re almost all annoying anyway.
A Change.org petition urging the rapper’s release was shared by artists from all corners of the hip-hop world, including his.
May 17, 2019 · Advertisements Tyler The Creator IGOR Album Tyler The Creator has finally released his highly teased fifth studio album, IGOR. Advertisements Igor comes after Tyler’s most successful album, 2017’s Flower Boy. The project debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and notched a Grammy nomination for best rap album. You can now stream the album […]
I know I sound like a Tyler The Creator Stan times 100, but i promise I’m not writing this in a green golf hat and some Golf Le Fleurs (even tho they are kind of cool). I just really like to see an artist go through such an artistic evolution and bloom into something truly unique. Gives me hope for the rap.
Stax Museum Of American Soul Music Hours Southern Gospel Music Concerts In Alabama Picture Of Father And Son Dancing Wildly He is always making the headlines either because of his acting chops or his dancing skills. Recently, he had even shared photos of a swimming pool that his father got made for Allu’s son. He even. Classical Music Influenced By Gypsy Music
Dec 10, 2018. Earl Sweatshirt's new album, “Some Rap Songs,” offers listeners no easy inroads. On “I Don't Like Shit,” Earl wrestled with the death of his grandmother and the. attention with a pugnacious and gritty New York street-rap sound, including Tyler, Frank Ocean, and Syd, are somewhere in the murky.
Tyler The Creator. new flavor, named Snowflake” is a two-toned ice cream comprised of sweet spearmint, cool peppermint.
Enjoy the best Tyler, The Creator Quotes at BrainyQuote. I don't like people around me sad. I don't want my name mentioned next to other rappers at all. Tyler. when I'm rappin', I'm creating a big story or a concept song that sounds like a.
May 20, 2019. Tyler, The Creator's “IGOR” offers a satisfying 40-minute playlist that has an. “ NEW MAGIC WAND” plays like songs of Tyler's past, specifically, with Tyler turning to rapping over what sounds like a higher-octave turn signal.
May 17, 2019. Tyler The Creator's new album has fans in their feelings. the LA rapper/singer employed on the album, which features tracks like “Earfquake”. Igor sounds so. joyful but the lyrics are so. sad…. thats my aura thats my.
The Harlem rapper talked about Yams’s vision, what he thinks about the rap game, and his relationship with Tyler, the Creator.
May 23, 2019. Tyler, the Creator performed an Apple Music-sponsored show Wednesday night in Van Nuys as part of the rollout of his moving new album, "Igor. begun to look more like a pile of Top Ramen plopped on his head. At least that was the judgment of one of the rapper's fans, who offered his style assessment.
May 17, 2019 · Tyler, the Creator has never been one for delivering on expectations. For the better part of a decade, the Odd Future rapper crafted his unique sound using his gritty-yet-inviting voice with.
Tyler, the Creator has never been one for delivering on expectations. For the better part of a decade, the Odd Future rapper crafted his unique sound. Upon first listen, IGOR doesn’t sound like the.
Jun 29, 2019 · XXXTENTACION is the new Tyler The Creator. Started by Tyler, Feb 17, 2017, in Music Add to Reading List –
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, Okonma won Best New Artist for " Yonkers" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. it was not going to be included on any upcoming album, and was not an indication of the sound of any future projects.
A letter sent to Tyler’s manager by May highlighted lyrics in the rapper’s albums ‘Bastard. Meanwhile, Tyler, The Creator has revealed that his recent single, ‘EARFQUAKE’, taken from new album.
Tyler the creator, the slightly unnerving kid eating cockroaches, and his unique crew of rap talented friends making Odd Future made major waves almost right from the beginning. Odd futures unique production style combined with their cast of songs full of memorable lines, unique voices and a youthful energy made them a sensation.
Data shows that Tyler has been way more influential with Supreme than Chance the Rapper. the Creator Is Really the One Who Brought Supreme Back, Not Chance the Rapper. shows that Tyler…
His sister Willow, Tyler, the Creator, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky and Trinidad James are guest collaborators for Smith’s new studio.
Tyler, the Creator always said. Yet in this new synthesis of sounds, Tyler too often leaves behind some of the raw, uncompromising humanity that distinguishes his best work. He was never the.
Tyler, the Creator unveiled a swaggering new song, “435,” that clocks in at just 90 seconds. The brief track boasts a soulful beat and finds Tyler throwing down a string of punchlines like. how.
May 20, 2019. Tyler the Creator, former leader of the defunct rap group Odd Future, While it starts out sounding like it's going to be great, Tyler doesn't do.
Dec 8, 2018. On Some Rap Songs, Earl creates a sound that is unlike anything out now in hip- hop. The instrumental sounds like samples from soul music mixed with a slow drum beat that pushes the listener to pay. Tyler, the Creator.
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William Weher
William F Weher served his country in World War II with the 15th SG 885th Squadron.
Information on William Weher is gathered and extracted from military records. We have many documents and copies of documents, including military award documents. It is from these documents that we have found this information on 2LT Weher. These serviceman's records are not complete and should not be construed as a complete record. We are always looking for more documented material on this and other servicemen. If you can help add to William Weher's military record please contact us.
Forrest Hills, Long Island NY
The information on this page about William Weher has been obtained through a possible variety of sources incluging the serviceman themselves, family, copies of military records that are in possession of the Army Air Corps Library and Museum along with data obtained from other researchers and sources including AF Archives at Air Force Historical Research Agency and the U.S. National Archives.
If you have more information concerning the service of William Weher, including pictures, documents and other artifacts that we can add to this record, please Contact Us.
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Welcome to Wise Guys
WISE GUYS - An Online Magazine
Culture / Society
Politics / Economics
Overcoming Discomfort with Disability
Posted on February 25, 2016 in Culture and Society // 6 Comments
Ron Berger, with David Travis and Jon Feucht —
Most of the students in Professor David Travis’s physical geography course were there to fulfill a general science elective requirement. David is a popular professor, known nationally for his work in meteorology, and the small room in which he taught was filled to capacity. It was an intimate setting, and though David had had other students who used wheelchairs in his class before, as well as students with disabilities who didn’t use wheelchairs, Jon Feucht was clearly “the most severely disabled, from a physical appearance, student that [he] had ever had in a class.”
Almost immediately, David noticed the other students’ discomfort: they didn’t want to sit by Jon. Besides his non-normative appearance, Jon occasionally made guttural sounds, noticeably breathing and swallowing, with an occasional drool, which they found off-putting. The awkwardness left David at a loss.
Jon Feucht
The Enigma of Disability
Disability is a social enigma. Throughout history, people have felt compelled to stare at disabled people, then turn their heads in discomfort. Many consider Franklin Delano Roosevelt one of the greatest presidents of the United States, but he had to hide his polio-induced paralysis and use of a wheelchair, lest the public think him too weak to lead the free world. While the Hebrew Bible teaches “Thou shalt not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus), it also warns, “If you do not carefully follow His commands and decrees … the Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind” (Deuteronomy). And the institution of the “freak show,” which reached its heyday in the nineteenth century but lasted in the United States until the 1950s, featured people with disabilities, as well as tribal nonwhite “cannibals” and “savages,” displayed for public amusement and entertainment. As a social institution, the freak show helped reinforce onlookers’ sense of normality and superiority and helped construct disability as the ultimate form of deviance.
So it was that the rise of a medical approach to disability—what the academic field of disability studies calls the medical model—helped change this state of affairs. People with disabilities were deemed worthy of medical diagnosis, treatment, and benevolence. But benevolence may breed pity, and the pitied are still stigmatized as “less than” fully human. Hence, the contemporary disability rights movement has advanced an alternative social model of disability, believing that it is not an individual’s impairment, but rather the socially imposed barriers—the inaccessible buildings, limited modes of communication and transportation, and prejudicial attitudes—that construct disability as a subordinate social status and devalued life experience. On the macrosocial level, this new model advocates policy reforms aimed at the institutional contexts of disability. On the microsocial level of everyday life, it seeks strategies for undermining stereotypes and expanding people’s “personal comfort zone” with disability.
Because of a sordid social history, though, disabled people are still often viewed in terms of a negative social type—as physical or cognitive deviants—that attributes a common symbolic meaning to many disparate individuals. In sociologist Erving Goffman’s terms, the stigma associated with disability is constituted by a “spoiled identity” whereby the person is “reduced in our minds from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one.”
More generally, nondisabled people can find themselves uncomfortable, even fearful, around people with disabilities, as if the disabling condition might be contagious. Anthropologist Robert Murphy thinks they see disability as a “fearsome possibility.” In this way, “the disabled person becomes the Other—a living symbol of failure, frailty … a counterpoint to normality [and] a figure whose very humanity is questioned.”
According to psychologists Nancy Miller and Catharine Sammons, it is natural for people to notice others who look different. Indeed, they argue, the human brain is hard-wired to scan the environment and notice differences from the routine or expected average. “Everybody reacts to differences,” they write. “In the whole universe of differences, some attract us, some surprise or frighten us, and some aren’t important to us at all… We often want to be open-minded and feel comfortable about other people’s differences but find that some unfamiliar differences make us feel tense and judgmental instead… It can cause anxiety, uncertainty, and even a wish to avoid the other person.” However, Miller and Sammons think we can all learn to override these reactions.
Transforming Perceptions of Disability
Jon Feucht offers one such story of transformation. The setting was an undergraduate university course at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater taught by Professor David Travis and recounted by David to me. Jon has a rather significant disability due to cerebral palsy (CP), a condition caused by trauma to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth.
The brain trauma that comes under the rubric of CP impairs an individual’s motor functioning, with some people affected only in their lower body, some in their upper body, and some in both their lower and upper body. Some people with CP have low muscle tone, or hypotonia, and some have high muscle tone, or hypertonia (also called spasticity). Some people have involuntary muscle twitching or an exaggerated startle response to external stimuli. CP may also, but not necessarily, be accompanied by neurological problems that include intellectual and learning disabilities, visual and hearing impairments, attention deficit-hyperactivity, seizures, and difficulty or inability to swallow or speak. CP is not a degenerative disease, as is Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, but the normal deterioration of the body that occurs with aging can be more challenging for those with this condition.
Like any disability, people with CP fall on a continuum that ranges from mild to severe. In terms of physical impairment, Jon falls on the more severe end of the continuum, although there are people who have more significant impairments than he does. He uses a power wheelchair for mobility and has limited use of his hands, and he relies on a paid caregiver or his wife to meet his daily needs of living. Jon cannot speak without use of a computerized communication device, or what is also called augmentative communication, that translates his typewritten commands into audio speech, and it takes him about a minute to type 10 to 12 words. Cognitively, however, he is highly intelligent, and he has earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s degree in special education and is currently working on his doctorate in educational leadership and policy.
Jon and Sarah Feucht on their Honeymoon in San Francisco
Early in the semester of David’s course, Jon was not yet talking in class, but he did speak to David after class to ask questions. This is how David began familiarizing himself with Jon’s manner of speech, learning to be patient as he completed his remarks and developing a rapport with his student. Jon also came to David’s office hours to set up the accommodations he needed through the Center for Students with Disabilities, including an in-class note taker and provisions for taking exams.
The turning point in the class occurred during a story David was telling about chasing a tornado, one of his professional interests and personal avocations. He told the class he’d been driving with his infant daughter in the rear seat when a tornado warning came on the weather radio he kept in his vehicle. His wife was at work, and he thought about taking his daughter to her office before proceeding with his chase. But he didn’t want to wake her—so he decided to follow the tornado with his daughter in the car!
At this point, Jon was frantically waving his arms. “Do you have a question?” David asked. Jon was grinning, and the entire class waited to hear what he had to say as he carefully typed, then played his response: “I really feel sorry for your wife. How has she not left you by now?” The whole class broke out in laughter. At that moment, the other students finally recognized Jon’s humanity, that he was attuned to everything David was saying and had the same reaction to the story as everyone else. Indeed, many of the other students had been shaking their heads in disbelief as if to say, “Are you kidding?” and “What kind of father are you?”
What Jon had inadvertently accomplished was what other studies of social interaction have revealed: that people with disabilities are sometimes able to ward off a “spoiled identity” through intentional or unintentional impression management. That is, they may refuse assistance to demonstrate competency or use humor to make others feel comfortable, and they become “just another person.”
Prior to this epiphany, David had noticed that when the students were asked to select a lab partner and work in pairs, Jon ended up working on his own (with his student aide who wrote down the results of Jon’s lab work). David felt bad, but didn’t know how to remedy the problem. After the tornado story, though, the students all started interacting with Jon. Jon became more verbal in class, offering his opinions on topics from global warming to overpopulation. When David posed a question, Jon was the first to raise his hand.
Interestingly, a new dilemma arose: with just 50 minutes available for each class, David had to be mindful of how much time he allocated to Jon. So he decided to restrict Jon to one question per class, with one follow-up to David’s response. Often, Jon merely asked for a clarification, but he continued to make humorous observations as well, provoking the other students to laugh.
By mid-semester, the other students came to see Jon as a witty and intelligent young man, as well as someone who could help them with the course material. David recalls a lab in which a half dozen or more students were standing around Jon talking to him and trying to understand how he got the answer to a particular lab assignment. Jon was typing as fast as he could, with some verbal assistance from his student aide, and the other students were saying, “Oh, okay, yeah. That makes sense.” In many respects, David observed, Jon had become one of the leaders in the class, and the students seemed to have completely forgotten their discomfort. They even began helping Jon with some of the fine-motor-skill physical work required to manipulate the lab instruments. Needless to say, David was delighted with this transformation.
David pointed out that this transformation happened only because of Jon’s willingness to “put himself out there.” David had had other students in classes with less severe disabilities who were, nonetheless, shy and afraid to interact with nondisabled students. They seemed to want to blend into the background, trying not to be noticed. But Jon wanted to make his presence known, in some ways forcing “his way into becoming an accepted part of the class.” But David, too, is to be given credit for skillfully negotiating a successful outcome to what was an initially challenging situation.
Interacting with Difference
Miller and Sammons identify three general types of differences that provoke varied responses from observers in social interaction. Unfamiliar differences are those that are new to the observer, unexpected differences are those that are familiar to the observer but in a different context, and unsettling differences are those that are disturbing. In Jon’s case, other students were likely to have seen someone with his level of disability before, but not necessarily in a close-knit classroom for four days a week. That this encounter with an unfamiliar or unexpected difference was unsettling for some, causing them to physically separate themselves in the classroom, is a lasting legacy of disability history. The disability rights movement notwithstanding, discomfort with disability penetrates our society’s collective conscious in subtle and not so subtle ways. At the same time, it is also likely that David’s physical geography students had never encountered an articulate individual using a computerized communication device; and once exposed to Jon’s intelligence and wit, the differences that at first seemed unsettling seemed benign.
More generally, displacement of the fear of the Other may be just the first step in accomplishing desirable encounters with disability differences. As sociologists Spencer Cahill and Robin Eggleston found in their study of wheelchair users, much of the awkwardness of encounters between disabled and nondisabled people stems not from fear or malicious intent but from uncertainty. For example, should an able-bodied person offer assistance to someone who uses a wheelchair by opening a door for them or asking them if they need help retrieving something from a shelf, though that means putting themselves at risk of rebuke for thinking that the wheelchair user is less competent than they are? In Travis’s case, should an instructor with an augmentative communication user in his class stop talking when he notices the student typing into his device, waiting for him to finish before moving on, or should he continue lecturing until the user is ready to speak? There is no standard protocol for these situations, but acknowledging the uncertainty seems a necessary precondition for satisfactory interactive outcomes.
In their research on the phenomenon of staring, cultural studies researchers Michael Lenney and Howard Sercombe shed light on this issue. They note that nondisabled people often feel a “conflict between the ‘desire to stare’ and the ‘desire not to stare’” at disability differences. On the one hand, it is impolite to stare. On the other hand, it is impolite to act as if the disabled person is invisible. Choosing to interact or not interact, then, “requires a complex level of communication, both visually and verbally.” Lenney and Sercombe suggest we all be mindful about what motivates us to engage or avoid those who appear different, with an eye toward understanding that interaction with those who are different is replete with possibilities for expanding our personal comfort zones. Thus, psychologist Carol Gill hopes not for the day when her disability will be deemed irrelevant, but when it will provoke “a respectful curiosity about what I have learned from my difference that I could teach” others. And journalist John Hockenberry wonders, “Why aren’t people with disabilities a source of reassurance to the general public that although life is unpredictable and circumstances may be unfavorable, versatility and adaptation are possible?”
This article is adapted from The Society Pages, Sept. 28, 2012 (thesocietypages.org) and Ronald J. Berger, Jon A. Feucht & Jennifer Flad, Disability, Augmentative Communication, and the American Dream: A Qualitative Inquiry (Lexington Books, 2014).
Ronald J. Berger. 2013. Introducing Disability Studies. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Spencer E. Cahill & Robin Eggleston. 1995. “Reconsidering the Stigma of Physical Disability: Wheelchair Users and Public Kindness.” The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 36, pp. 681-698.
Doris Zames Fleischer & Frieda Zames. 2001. The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Erving Goffman. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Michael Lenney & Howard Sercombe. 2002. “Did You See that Guy in the Wheelchair Down in the Pub? Interactions Across Difference in a Public Place.” Disability & Society, vol. 17, pp. 5-18.
Nancy B. Miller & Catherine C. Sammons. 1999. Everybody’s Different: Understanding and Changing Our Reactions to Disabilities. Paul H. Brookes.
Robert Murphy. 1987. The Body Silent. Henry Holt.
augmentative communication
disability and difference
About Ron Berger (35 Articles)
I am a professor emeritus of sociology and criminology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I have published numerous books and articles on topics that include crime and criminal justice, disability, and the Holocaust. In my retirement, I also write about politics and economics.
6 Comments on Overcoming Discomfort with Disability
davidreinhart // February 26, 2016 at 6:01 pm // Reply
The article reminds me that interacting with difference is facilitated by overcoming fear of the Other. Also that addressing our discomfort with disability “that penetrates our society’s collective conscious in subtle and not so subtle ways” is so important in many ways. My take away is that once there is a more comfortable interaction with the disabled persons then there is possibility for some reassurance from what we humans overcome by way of versatility, perseverance, adaptation, and such creative capabilities.
Dolly Prenzel // February 26, 2016 at 7:15 pm // Reply
A very interesting article. I was born in 1946. My brother, Tracy, was born in 1950. He suffered brain damage at birth and was classified as “mentally retarded.” At that time, individuals with this disability were kept at home, or put in institutions. Early on, even those in our extended family, people shunned Tracy for various reasons. With the advent of the Kennedy administration, things began to change. Now, people continue to be uncomfortable around Tracy, but I think it is because many do not know how to relate to him. Those who talk with him will enjoy the conversation. The mostly untold story about people with childhood disabilities is the impact on their families. The siblings often suffer significantly. It is a subject which deserves discussion and research.
Ron Berger // February 26, 2016 at 8:32 pm // Reply
Thanks for sharing your story, Dolly.
Ron Berger // February 27, 2016 at 12:35 pm // Reply
In response to Dolly’s comment, I thought I’d mention that I have a chapter on “The Family and Childhood” in my Introducing Disability Studies book:
https://www.rienner.com/title/Introducing_Disability_Studies
And here’s something uplifting from a young woman who has posted YouTube videos about what she has learned from having a brother with Down syndrome:
Charles Cottle // March 2, 2016 at 9:06 pm // Reply
The discussion in this article focuses largely on differences between the nondisabled and the disabled as the source of discomfort in the non-disabled. These are specified in the typology identified by Miller and Sammons, i.e, unexpected differences, familiar differences in a different context, and unsettling differences. Overriding the discomfort did not require an elimination of, or the non-attention to, these differences, but rather the recognition of “unexpected similarities.” Once Jon’s fellow students recognized that he was, in important ways, just like them, the discomfort dissipated.
I’m not sure how this fits into a theory of overcoming discomfort, but in this case, it seems key to understanding what happened.
Ron Berger // October 3, 2016 at 3:37 pm // Reply
f you have an interest in disability issues, you might want to check out the new ABC sitcom “Speechless,” which focuses on a teenager with cerebral palsy who cannot speak. The few people with disabilities I’ve talked to about it like it.
Comments are encouraged. Cancel reply
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Category: Free speech
I never learnt to swim
This is the text of an email received by Woman’s Place UK ahead of A Woman’s Place is on the Podium #WPUKFairPlay.
With the writer’s permission we are sharing it with you. It has been edited to preserve her anonymity.
I’d like to share some thoughts with you, so you understand how deeply I appreciate what you’re doing and also just because I previously felt so abandoned by the feminism I’d encountered.
I live on a boat. I never learnt to swim. Tried to as an adult so I don’t drown when I fall off my boat, but I was unteachable by then.
My younger sister can swim. This is because some 30 years ago, a group of mums hired out a sports centre so that mothers and daughters/nieces/girls could learn and go swimming safely and without any BS from their blokes. I was, and still am, jealous of not learning how to swim then.
I missed out on that because, as what-would-now-be-called a ‘gender non-conforming girl’, in a conservative religious community here, with general non-conforming behaviour (what my parents would call ‘trouble’, what I now realise is Asperger’s) I was instead married off as a teenager.
If I was born later, and to different parents, I’d have long ago been packed off to the Tavistock Clinic. I’m grateful I wasn’t because I am happy to be me and a woman. There are so many parallels even across time and dogmas. I’m not surprised I didn’t want to become a woman then; am not surprised so many young girls don’t want to become women now.
Never, ever did I think I would be grateful for what happened, but it’s true. It seems a better fate than some of what I see here now.
I did escape the marriage, and abandoned religion, but not religious women.
I learnt that the word for what I’ve instinctively always known was feminism. That liberal, happy-clappy feminism supposedly I was told, but that feminism wouldn’t listen to me because my existence contradicts their dogma.
I’m inconvenient. I make their intersectional-hierarchical nonsense implode, so they’d rather attack, just like they attack what you are doing.
I understand that you are putting yourselves in danger, and I am grateful. I am grateful because you are doing it for all women and I had lost hope that was a thing.
My sister now lives in a country that does not permit women to swim. She knows how to swim, but can’t, because she’s a woman. I don’t want that for my nieces. I wish I could teach them how to swim when they visit, but I can’t. Because I was a girl once and there was no safe space then.
It isn’t only about girls being able to compete in, say, swimming, but also sometimes, just being able to learn.
Thank you for fighting for all girls and women. Some of us who are usually quiet and who prefer to be invisible sometimes are also very grateful.
womansplaceuk children, Discrimination, Free speech, Meetings, sport, Uncategorized Leave a comment July 16, 2019 July 16, 2019 2 Minutes
In defence of Michele Moore
This is the text of a letter we sent to the publisher of Disability & Society in support of Professor Michele Moore, the editor, who is being targeted because of her campaigning on rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) and the rights and safeguarding of children.
Michele spoke at our Sheffield meeting and the film of her speech has been viewed nearly 26,000 times.
We are the co-founders of a campaign group called Woman’s Place UK founded to ensure women’s voices were heard in the discussions around the GRA Consultation. Our campaign has now expanded to take on concerns about oppression that women and girls face in society. We have over 19,000 followers on Twitter and have held 23 meetings which have attacted over 3,500 attendees.
We are from a range of backgrounds including trade unions, women’s organisations, academia and the NHS. We are against all forms of discrimination. We believe in the right of everyone to live their lives free from discrimination and harassment.
We are alarmed to hear of the concerted campaign against Prof. Michele Moore as a result of the questions she has been raising publicly about young people and rapid onset gender dysphoria. She is not alone in these concerns. The government itself has announced an inquiry into the very high increase of teenage girls indicating a desire to transition.
As part of our campaign we organise meetings and Prof. Michele Moore spoke at the Sheffield event. You can see the video here. It has been viewed over 25k times.
Over the last few years we have worked closely with Michele and know her to be a compassionate, knowledgeable and principled person.
Michele is also courageous, speaking out when others have been silenced, and who is motivated only by concern for the welfare of all young people. This attack on her is a deliberate and concerted attempt to silence and intimidate Michele but it will also have a silencing effect on anyone who wants to critique or question ideologies which affect our young people.
We urge you to look at Michele’s long record as an academic and equality campaigner and reject all attempts to have her removed as Editor of Disability & Society.
WPUK
womansplaceuk children, Free speech, GRA, Speeches, Videos Leave a comment June 21, 2019 June 21, 2019 1 Minute
Freedom of speech – a brief guide to the law
Please note, this is for general guidance only and to:
• give an overview of the law in general;
• provide some pointers.
If you become involved in any legal action, or anything which could become legal action (for example, if you are spoken to by the police, you receive a letter of claim or court papers), you should speak to a lawyer as soon as possible.
In this country, freedom of speech and expression is enshrined in law under the Human Rights Act 1998. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into UK law by the HRA 1998, covers the freedom to receive and impart information.
Hate speech is covered by different laws and the bar is set high. Only hate speech towards the categories of race and religion can be prosecuted as a crime in itself and that requires an incitement to hatred to be proven.
The police and Crown Prosecution Service, in general, record data on hate crimes for five characteristics, including transgender status. The list of 5 is:
• disability
• race
• sexual orientation
• transgender status
The category of transgender status is only specifically included where hatred is deemed to be a motivation of a criminal offence. This results in an increased sentence (Criminal Justice Act 2003).
Other laws that have been used to charge those accused of ‘transphobic’ speech are the Communications Act 2003, the Harassment Act 1997 and the Public Order Act 1986. All cases brought under these laws so far have been dismissed by the courts.
Intention and context (EHRC Guidance 2015) are important when assessing a hate incident, but caution should be applied.
Individual clashes, particularly ongoing ones, with a single person who has an opposing view on trans-issues and women’s rights may make a charge of harassment under the Harassment Act 1997 more likely.
Framing public comments objectively in a political discourse and referring to facts and arguments rather than personal critiques vastly increases the protection of freedom of speech under the Human Rights Act 1998.
‘No platforming’ can and should be reported to the University’s main board and they should be reminded of their duty under the Education Act 1986 section 43.
You could also refer them to this recent guidance on free speech in universities agreed by a wide coalition of bodies including the EHRC, the Department for Education, the National Union of Students and Universities UK.
Holding a meeting anywhere to discuss the current trans debate is wholly lawful. There should be an emphasis on respect, avoidance of discussion of individuals, and no use of violent or threatening language (Communications Act 2003, Public Order Act 1986).
Knowing a little of these bits of law should be helpful if you find yourself being censored, refused a meeting or even cautioned.
The key protection is that of freedom of speech under the Human Rights Act 1998.
EHRC Freedom of expression legal framework
Protecting the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights
womansplaceuk Free speech, Law Leave a comment June 19, 2019 June 20, 2019 2 Minutes
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Author: krs5603
The Physical Nature of Poetry
If you are an IT professional, you are probably used to reading about computers, software, and other things of that nature. I am used to reading about science myself, and I always dread reading poetry because I can never understand what is going on. My attitude towards poetry was like that of one of my favorite physicists, Paul Dirac, who said, “The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way.” When you can understand it, poetry can be interesting, but I can seldom understand it without help. The Fairie Queene is an example of incomprehensible poetry, that completely baffled me when I first read it. However, I gradually began to understand. Here are some tips that someone with a background of science can use to read The Fairie Queene:
1. Read each passage slowly, and read it at least twice
When read quickly, the poem seems like a haphazard jumble of strange words, without any meaning or discernable story. After multiple readings, sometimes you can pick up meanings or themes that you may have missed the first time.
2. Look up words that you do not understand
You cannot ignore words you do not know, just as when working an equation, you must look up constants that are necessary for calculations. Although you may think that skipping a word every now and then won’t affect your understanding of the poem, they can be crucial to it.
3. Understand the symbols
The poem is full of words that are not meant to be taken literally, but instead are symbols for something else. In science, equations are also full of letters or symbols that stand for a number or quantity. It is important to understand from the context what these symbols mean if you do not know what they are.
4. Get help from others
Sometimes, no matter how much you try, you cannot understand a passage. At this point, it is best to consult with a peer, someone who does understand the poem, sort of like having a science paper peer-reviewed by other scientists.
Like an extremely complicated equation, The Faerie Queene takes a lot of effort to read or understand, and you may not even want to read it. If you do, however, these tips can help you enjoy and comprehend the poem a little bit better.
-Kashyap Saxena
Author krs5603Posted on November 5, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags Edmund Spenser, equations, math, Paul Dirac, physics, symbols, The Faerie QueeneLeave a comment on The Physical Nature of Poetry
The Lost Joy of Gaming
I have been playing video games since when I was eight years old, and I still remember the day that I got my first Game Boy Color. It was the most fun toy I had ever gotten up that point, and I spent hours playing all my favorite games on it. When I was 12, I got my Xbox. It was like a completely different experience for me when I saw the 3D graphics, complex storylines, and real music. It was as if I had literally found another dimension. The upgrade to the Xbox 360 was just as good; it opened up a whole new level of gaming for me. Although video games weren’t a huge part of my life, they were still a great way to relax and could always be counted on to provide fun when I was bored.
Although it wasn’t my first or second choice for a writing seminar, I was looking forward to my first Worlds of Wordcraft class, where it would be fun to talk about, write about, and most importantly, play video games. Since my other classes were chemistry, physics, and multivariable calculus, I thought it would be a welcome change from the equations and formulas that usually occupy my thoughts during class, and talk about video games instead.
When we first started playing LOTRO, I was excited that we were finally able to start playing games. However, when I first started playing it, I was getting bored within a few minutes. I was totally confused about what I was supposed to do, and I didn’t really care to find out. After trying for about five minutes to get out of the first room, I closed the game and did not play it for another week. I kept getting reminded that I had to join the kinship, so I eventually had to complete the introduction, which took me about two weeks. Games are usually fun for me, but playing LOTRO felt more like homework than fun. After I joined the kinship, I thought I was done with the game, but when I found out that I had to go back in it to write the essay, I was fairly annoyed. I ran through the Old Forest and Barrow Downs quickly, took some screenshots, and closed the game for good.
I thought this class would make me enjoy games more, but instead it has made me indifferent towards them. Since I arrived at Vanderbilt, I have not really played any video games, and I didn’t even bring my Xbox 360. I barely played LOTRO, and I haven’t started Never Winter Nights. I’m not entirely sure why my attitude towards video games has changed; it may be because I didn’t like LOTRO, or maybe because I have no experience with MMORPGs, or maybe I just don’t have time for them. However, I think the main reason is that this class has turned video games into work instead of play. To me video games are a way to have fun and relax, not a serious topic to analyze and write essays about. When I think about games now, writing five page papers and long reading assignments come to mind, not the enjoyment and carefree fun they provide. I really do like games, so I hope I start enjoying them for what they are when this class is over. On the plus side, games have not affected my academics, social life, or athletics at all, so it might be a good thing that I’m not playing video games.
Author krs5603Posted on October 29, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags game boy, Lord of the Rings Online, Never Winter Nights, Video Games, Worlds of Wordcraft, xboxLeave a comment on The Lost Joy of Gaming
Story vs. Gameplay
When talking about the role of story in a video game, I think it just depends on the type of person you are. For example, many people just play Halo for the shooting and killing. While this is the primary and most fun part of the game, there is a lot more to the game than that. I actually do sometimes stop and look at the “beautifully-rendered trees” and the wide variety of expansive environments. The story is also a lot more complex and interesting than most other games, but it is up to the gamer how much they want to know about it. For example, in Halo 3 there are numerous hidden “terminals” that the gamer can find. These terminals reveal a lot about what happened before the games, especially about the war between the ancient Forerunners and the Flood parasite thousands of years ago. There are also dozens of Halo books that further explicate the history and legend of Halo. It is not necessary to find these terminals, and many people just skip the terminals and cutscenes to just concentrate on the combat. If a player chooses to ignore the story, the game is just an action-packed alien-killing shooting rampage.
Someone in class also said that “no one plays Grand Theft Auto for the missions”, which I completely disagree with. When I first got Grand Theft Auto IV, the first thing I did was go through the missions, because I was interested in what the protagonist, Niko Bellic, would be like. The evolution of Niko’s character really interested me, along with all the shooting, stealing, and car chases the missions involve. I was emotionally invested in his story, and towards the end of the game, I really wanted him to get revenge on Dmitri. After I had completed all of the missions, killing people just wasn’t as fun anymore. Niko was just killing people because he was bored, not because an Italian mob boss was paying him to do it (as in the missions). Sure, it can be fun to drive expensive cars at over 100 mph while running over the pedestrians, but there aren’t really any repercussions to it, and gets boring after while if it doesn’t advance the story. Although gameplay is important, the story is what sets a game apart from others.
– Kashyap Saxena
Author krs5603Posted on October 15, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags aliens, gameplay, grand theft auto IV, guns, halo, missions, mythology, niko bellic, shooting, story, terminals, Video Games1 Comment on Story vs. Gameplay
A Clash of Swords
Combat is a significant part of both the novel Snow Crash and the game Lord of the Rings Online, but it is implemented in very different ways. Sword-fighting is used in both, but that’s just about the only similarity between the two. In Snow Crash, the combat is like an art form, with both combatants using various strategies and complex movements. In LOTRO, the combat is much more simple, with the character having a smaller repertoire of possible attacks. This makes combat a much simpler affair than in Snow Crash. Another major difference is that in Snow Crash, the characters not fighting in real life, just in the metaverse. This detracts from its intensity somewhat, making it more like a “video game” for Hiro. LOTRO really is a video game, but for my level 6 hobbit, it is a fight for survival as deadly enemies try to end his life.
Also, combat in LOTRO is a more interactive, because you are controlling the character yourself, making you more interested in the outcome of the fight. In the book, you are merely a passive observer, with no vested interested in the outcome unless you want the story to turn out a certain way. However, you are more aware of the medium in LOTRO; there is a low level of “transparency” or “immediacy”. The many icons and buttons, coupled with the awkward turn based combat system, make the player very aware of the fact that he is playing a video game. In the book, the simple interface makes it easier to forget that the story is just from a book.
Combat is certainly a big part of both stories, but I felt it was a bigger part of LOTRO. To get anywhere in the game, you almost certainly have to defeat a few enemies. When I was in the Old Forest and the Barrow-Downs, it felt like the enemies were never-ending and fighting was the only thing I was doing. In the book, the main focus is the plot to stop the virus, with episodes of fighting throughout.
Although combat was interesting for both stories, I personally found it to be more engaging in LOTRO, mainly because you are doing the fighting yourself and it carries much more importance.
Author krs5603Posted on October 8, 2009 October 8, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags combat, enemies, fighting, Lord of the Rings Online, Neal Stephenson, role playing game, Snow Crash, swords, turn basedLeave a comment on A Clash of Swords
I have never played an online role-playing game, so I was a little confused when I started playing Lord of the Rings online. I didn’t who exactly I was, where I was, and who the people that were running around the map were. I started out as a Hobbit, since that was the race I was most familiar with. When the actual game started, I saw that I was in a small room with a number of other people. I spent about five minutes trying to either leave the room or talk to someone, before I finally figured out I had to talk to the postmaster. I didn’t read what he was saying, because I was anxious to start playing the game. After leaving the post office and meeting Bounder Boffin, I got my first taste of combat. It was mostly just jabbing the mouse button, but it was still fun. I then fought some more spiders, talked to some people, and discovered a town, before getting bored and logging off.
As for my impressions of the story, I didn’t see enough of it to make a judgment, and I did not really see the dialogue because I wanted to see what the game was like. However, I did like the fact that you got to make your own character and your own story. If I had been forced to play as Frodo or Sam or any of the other characters in the story, I would have felt I would not be able to make my own choices. With your own character, you can project your own personality and character onto him. Another thing I liked was that I had freedom to walk around and explore the world. I recognized a number of places from the movies and book, and it was interesting to explore the game’s setting, and I suspect I’ll be able to do quests in a variety of locations on the map.
Overall, I think I’ll like the game. The story will probably get more interesting, the setting is dynamic and diverse, and I have my character just the way I want him: a guardian Hobbit.
Author krs5603Posted on September 24, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo, games, Hobbit, Lord of the Rings Online, online, Sam, storyLeave a comment on A New Story
A Living, Breathing World
When I was younger, my parents had never bought a video game console for me despite me begging for it every year, and I would always feel jealous when my friends at school talked about video games. However, I did get to go to the arcade sometimes. I would hop from one game to the other, sampling all the different styles from shooting games to racing games to the older classics. Although I had a lot of fun at the arcade, none of the games could ever really capture my attention for more than ten minutes, and I was constantly looking for a better game. To me, the games were just terribly monotonous and static, with every level looking the same. There was sometimes an explanation for why I needed to do something, but it was always very brief and could not be considered an actual plot. Why did Pac-man need to eat the dots? Why is it important that I save the princess? Why did I have to perform the same basic action dozens of times? There just didn’t seem to be a point to it. The gameplay itself provided some amusement, but playing just to get a higher point total did not give me any incentive to keep playing.
When I finally got my first Xbox a few years later, the first game I played on it was Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I expected it to be somewhat like an arcade game: interesting for the first few levels then quickly becoming repetitive. However, after playing through the first few levels I was completely blown away. The gameplay was complex and challenging, requiring constant focus and good hand-eye coordination. The levels took place on a variety of different planets from a frozen ice world to a lush tropical rainforest. The story was engrossing, making me feel like every mission I completed was a vitally important task. Why did I need to destroy that building? Because the Separatists are producing tanks in there. Most importantly, it made me feel as if I was part of another world where the characters seem like actual people (or sometimes aliens), not just a group of colored pixels on a computer screen. The missions seem important, the setting feels alive, and the enemies really do seem scary. When I complete a mission, I feel satisfied knowing I advanced the plot and get to see what happened next, something that I don’t get from arcade games. Some of my favorite console games, such as Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto, and Halo all give me this feeling of being fully immersed in a complex world, while arcade games just never do.
Kashyap Saxena
Author krs5603Posted on September 10, 2009 September 10, 2009 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on A Living, Breathing World
The Ring and the Heart
At first glance, the Lord of the Rings series and Pirates of the Caribbean series appear to be very different. Pirates is set in the real world, while Lord of the Rings is set in a complete fantasy world. Magic and the supernatural are common and accepted in the Lord of the Rings, while at the beginning of the Pirates series, most of the characters did not even know magic existed. Overall, it seemed like Lord of the Rings is completely immersed in fantasy, while Pirates is mostly based on real life with bits of fantasy sprinkled in.
There is, however, one area where the two films are almost alike: the presence of an object of great importance that brings the holder power over others. In Lord of the Rings, that object is the One Ring. Made by Sauron, it controls all of the other rings of power. Throughout the course of the film, most people who come into contact with it desire it immensely, with the notable exception of Frodo. In the Pirates series (especially Dead Man’s Chest) the object is the heart of Davy Jones. Since Davy Jones rules the seas, whoever controls his heart controls the seas. Throughout the movies Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and others battle for control over it.
There are still some differences between how the two objects are treated. The One Ring is treated as if it were an object of divine power that no man can control, but every man desires. Meanwhile, Davy Jones’s heart is treated as an object that can be used to accomplish a specific goal or objective. For example, Will wants it so he can get his father back, Norrington wants it to get his honor back, Jack needs it to settle his debt with Davy Jones, and Cutler Beckett uses it to try to rid the world of pirates.
Although the two series are different in many ways, one of their most important ideas is an important object that gives the holder great power and control over others, a plot point that makes them unique when compared to other films.
Author krs5603Posted on September 3, 2009 September 3, 2009 Categories UncategorizedTags caribbean, control, cutler beckett, davy jones, dead man's chest, Fantasy, Fellowship, Frodo, goal, jack sparrow, Lord of the Rings, magic, Movies, norrington, one, pirates, power, Ring, sauron, series, trilogies, will turner3 Comments on The Ring and the Heart
New Media: Storytelling in Literature, Films, and Games Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
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Partial shut down of US Government – 8 lac workers affected
Posted by VAN NAMBOODIRI in General
US Partial shut down
Washington, December 22 : In an attack on the US working population, most directly targeting the federal workforce, the Trump White House and Congress triggered a partial shutdown of the government at 12:01 AM Saturday. On the eve of the Christmas and New Year holidays, some 800,000 of the nation’s 2.1 million federal employees have been hit by the failure to fund a quarter of federal departments and agencies past a midnight Friday deadline.
Of these, an estimated 380,000 are indefinitely furloughed, i.e., put on unpaid leave, and another 420,000 workers deemed essential personnel are required to work without being paid. It is unknown at this time how long the shutdown—the third just in 2018—will last, but President Trump in an early morning tweet and a bill signing event later on Friday said it would continue “for a very long time.”
There was a three-day shutdown in January of this year, followed by a one-day shutdown in February. There have been 20 federal shutdowns over the past four decades, the longest extending for three weeks in the winter of 1995–96.
The main author of the current closure of federal services is Trump. Last week he insisted that he would shut down the government unless Congress allocated $5 billion for his wall along the US-Mexico border as part of any bill to keep the affected government departments and agencies funded.
Earlier this week, he appeared to reverse himself and signal his willingness to accept a potential deal being worked out between congressional Republicans and Democrats to temporarily extend funding without the wall money. In line with this, the Senate, by a voice vote Wednesday night, approved a bipartisan continuing resolution that would have kept the agencies open until February 8, following next month’s installment of the new Congress, with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.
Trump then came under concentrated attack from far-right personalities on Fox News and outlets such as Breitbart News, as well as the extreme-right Freedom Caucus in the House. On Thursday morning, he told congressional Republicans that he would refuse to sign a bill based on the Senate measure and would veto any bill that did not allocate $5 billion for the wall. He accompanied this with a new round of fascistic denunciations of immigrants as murderers, drug pushers and rapists.
This was part of a calculated move to counter mounting political and legal threats associated with the anti-Russia special counsel investigation by appealing for popular support outside of the normal two-party channels, including among racist anti-immigrant elements of his base. To this end, the White House sent its fascist adviser Stephen Miller to defend Trump’s ultimatum on the wall on CNN and other news channels.
At the same time, Trump sought to tap into broad anti-war sentiment by ordering the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and cutting in half the troop level in Afghanistan.
The House Republican leadership dropped its plans to push through a continuing resolution along the lines of the Senate bill and instead passed a funding extension that added $5.7 billion for the wall and $8 billion in disaster relief spending. This was adopted Thursday night on a near-party line vote of 217 to 185, with all Democrats voting against and eight Republicans joining them. This set the course for a shutdown.
On Friday, the Republican Senate leadership suspended voting on the House bill with the wall funding in order to continue negotiations with the Democrats on a possible resolution. However, the House adjourned at 7 PM, agreeing to reassemble at noon Saturday, thereby foreclosing any possibility of legislation being approved before midnight to avert a shutdown. The Senate adjourned soon thereafter.
The Democrats are complicit in the shutdown. They have aided Trump’s anti-immigrant witch hunt with their silence on his mass incarceration of children, his deployment of troops to the border and his illegal evisceration of the right to asylum. Last January, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to give Trump $25 billion to build the wall in return for protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought into the country without documents when they were children—the so-called “dreamers” covered by the Obama administration’s DACA program. However, Trump eventually rejected the deal.
Since winning control of the House in last month’s midterm elections, the Democrats have repeatedly declared their readiness to work with Trump, even as they escalated the reactionary anti-Russia campaign, including their attack on Trump for his alleged “softness” toward Moscow. They agreed to give the White House an additional $1.6 billion to further militarize the border in the Senate bill that was rejected by Trump.
Neither the Democrats nor the federal employee unions, such as the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), have made any attempt to mobilize opposition in the working class either to the attacks on immigrants or to the government shutdown. The home page of the AFGE website does not even feature the lockout of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and requirement that hundreds of thousands more work without pay.
Nine of the 15 cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies are impacted by the shutdown. The affected departments include Homeland Security, Transportation, Commerce, State, Agriculture, Justice, Interior, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development. Impacted agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Peace Corps, the Small Business Administration, the General Services Administration, the National Archives and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Other departments, including Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services have already been funded for the next year and will be spared.
The shutdown will not affect the repressive operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol, the vast majority of whose personnel will work without pay for the duration. The same applies to federal law enforcement personnel in the Justice Department.
However, the National Park Service will be decimated, with more than 80 percent of its employees on furlough, resulting in the partial or total closure of national parks and federal monuments. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC will be hit, potentially forcing the shutdown of its museums.
Ninety-five percent of Housing and Urban Development workers are being furloughed, as well as 95 percent at the EPA, 96 percent at NASA, 80 percent at the Forest Service, 87 percent at Commerce, 83 percent at Treasury and 76 percent at Interior.
After previous shutdowns, new funding bills included provisions for back pay for federal employees who were furloughed, but there is no guarantee of that happening in the current instance. (Coutesy: Ganashakti)
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Akamai Appoints Rick M. McConnell as EVP
Akamai Appoints Rick M. McConnell as Executive Vice President, Products and Development
Former executive at Cisco, McConnell brings 25 years of product and business development expertise, with focus on Internet communications and collaboration technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, announced today the appointment of Rick M. McConnell as Executive Vice President, Products and Development, effective November 1, 2011.
Mr. McConnell will be responsible for leading Akamai's product divisions, including the company's Site, Enterprise Cloud and Media divisions, and will oversee all development and management of Akamai's market-leading product lines. Mr. McConnell will report to Paul Sagan, Akamai President and CEO.
Having served in a number of senior executive positions at Cisco Systems, Mr. McConnell was Vice President and General Manager of the Unified Communications Business Unit in Cisco's Voice Technology Group, managing over 600 people around the globe with a focus on engineering and product management. His time at Cisco also includes having led strategy and operations for the company's $5 billion Communications and Collaboration business. He also served as Vice President, Collaboration Software Sales, responsible for global WebEx sales and for Cisco's workspace applications, including conferencing and client software.
"Rick's strong background in complex Internet technologies and products will be a major asset to Akamai," Mr. Sagan said. “He has played a significant role in transforming product development and sales throughout his career, and in leading cross functional product teams. We believe Rick will be an invaluable addition to our team as we continue to drive faster innovation of new products and solutions to help our customers succeed in today's hyperconnected world."
"Given the rapid pace of progress in mobility, cloud technologies, security and online video, Akamai is well positioned for continued growth and making a real difference in how businesses leverage the Internet," Mr. McConnell said. “They have an impressive team, and I'm excited to help drive innovation and market leadership with Akamai's world-class products and solutions."
Mr. McConnell joined Cisco in 2004 when Cisco acquired Latitude Communications, a provider of fully integrated voice and web conferencing solutions. He served as Latitude's President and Chief Executive Officer beginning in 2002, and prior to that was the company's President and Chief Operating Officer.
Earlier in his career, Mr. McConnell was an executive at Storm Technology, and he was a financial engineer at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Mr. McConnell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Quantitative Economics and a Masters of Business Administration, both from Stanford University.
He will be based in Akamai's San Mateo, CA, office.
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company’s solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.
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Spain: Is this the end of the Socialists?
A 'sense of duty' may not be enough for Spain to overcome the crippling political impasse.
by Gina Benevento
Pedro Sanchez, greets supporters upon his arrival to a election rally in Galicia, Spain [EPA]
The tail was definitely wagging the dog on September 26 after regional elections in Galicia and the Basque Country resulted in improving chances for Spain's acting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and his Conservative party to finally break nine months of political deadlock.
It's not often that a regional election can hold the key to Spain's top job. But in Spain's first ever election with four political parties, small changes proved decisive.
The Conservatives' strong showing in Galicia was not surprising. Rajoy is a native Galician, as was General Francisco Franco, Spain's military dictator whose death in 1975 paved the way for Spain's transition to democracy.
Spain's leftists make huge gains in election
That move to democracy gave birth to a two-party system: Conservatives and Socialists. And the past year with its two inconclusive elections have proved disastrous for the Socialists, which alternated in office for more than three decades.
Rise of Podemos
When Spain's economic crisis hit in 2007, a competitor to the Socialists, Podemos, emerged. For years, Socialist policies had drifted to the centre, abandoning unions and other protectors of the working class.
With unemployment at record levels and poverty reaching new segments of the population, left-leaning Spaniards abandoned the Socialist leadership of Pedro Sanchez, a party man, for the charismatic Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, a young university professor able to channel the street anger into a new political force.
OPINION: Spain - searching for Garcia Lorca
When last December's government elections were inconclusive, a second election was held in June. And while June's election did not see Podemos take over the top left spot as had been predicted in the polls, its votes continued to split the left in two.
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez [EPA]
A new party also emerged on the right, Ciudadanos - with another young leader, Albert Rivera, who currently enjoys the highest popularity ratings of any Spanish politician. But Rivera's popularity has not translated into votes: Spanish conservatives have overwhelmingly stayed with the traditional Conservative party of Rajoy.
Hence, a political impasse which has baffled - and worried - world leaders. Enough so that last week Spain's King Felipe VI addressed the United Nations General Assembly to assure the western world that Spain's prolonged lack of government would shortly be overcome through "dialogue" and a "sense of duty".
Those comments earned more than a few chuckles - and curses - back home as Spanish citizens saw themselves working ever longer hours for ever smaller pay cheques while their elected leaders sit in Parliament, refusing to do what many Spaniards complain "they were elected to do".
With the Socialists' weak showing in Galicia and the Basque Country, Rajoy can now force the Socialists' hand.
'Cuts and more cuts'
For the past nine months, Rajoy has insisted on the need for the Socialists to let the Conservatives form a national government, either by voting for him or at least abstaining at the investiture vote for a new prime minister.
In June, a close aide of Rajoy first stated his willingness to "lead a minority government if he fails to secure support for a grand coalition with the Socialists, because there is no other alternative".
Rajoy has repeated this threat like a mantra. And with the Socialists' weak showing in Galicia and the Basque Country, Rajoy can now force the Socialists' hand.
To vote in favour of Rajoy's Conservatives would mean the end of the Socialists - and no one knows that better that Sanchez. For months, Sanchez has argued that while Spain urgently needs a government, it doesn't need a bad government.
Describing Rajoy's leadership as being driven only by "cuts and more cuts", Sanchez has played to the impact of heavy cuts to health and education, sacrosanct services for the Spaniard public.
OPINION: Spanish leftists join fight against ISIL
And Sanchez had hoped for Rajoy's party to fall in popular support due to a series of major corruption cases - all involving Conservative party members - finding their way to court this autumn.
Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy [Reuters]
The most famous case is that of Rita Barbera, now under indictment for money laundering offences allegedly committed during her 24 years as mayor of Valencia.
Spain's top tribunal will investigate her supposed role as part of an illegal money network thought to have operated out of Valencia's City Hall. Most of Barbera's team has already been accused of corruption.
Perhaps most damning to public opinion is the close link between Rajoy and Barbera. They are close personal friends, making it difficult for many Spaniards to believe that Rajoy knew nothing.
Natural part of politics
Yet it seems that Spaniards accept corruption as a natural part of politics.
"Around 70 percent of politicians who have been arraigned for corruption were subsequently re-elected in the next elections," wrote Jesus Lizcano, head of the Spanish division of Transparency International, back in 2013.
Rajoy and the Conservative party appear unaffected - at least for now.
The Socialists have not been so lucky. As party leader, Sanchez repeatedly refused to either join - or abstain from preventing - a Conservative government coming to power.
That decision is now being openly questioned by leading figures within his own party. Six out of seven Socialist regional premiers oppose Sanchez´s calls for the formation of a left coalition, arguing that it’s better to be in the opposition than to struggle to form an alternative government with Podemos and regional separatists.
Watching the Socialists experience their worst ever results in Galicia and the Basque Country, Rajoy surely anticipated forcing Sanchez's hand. But that pleasure was taken away from Rajoy by none other than Felipe Gonzalez, Spain's longest-serving prime minister and the most powerful man inside the Socialist party, during an interview on SER radio.
Deceived and let down
Angered by the direction that Sanchez was taking the party, Gonzalez didn't hold back.
OPINION: Brexit and the view from Spain
"I feel deceived and let down by Pedro Sanchez," said Gonzalez. "He explained to me that he would go into the opposition and would not try to form an alternative government. I really feel tricked because he said one thing, and then it turned out to be another."
Gonzalez brought the Socialists' internal battles out into public view, and soon there was no turning back. By early evening, more than half of the Federal Executive Committee - representing Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia - had officially resigned.
Many expected Sanchez to respond to the resignations by stepping down.
A just published "El Pais" opinion piece by Ruben Amon describes Sanchez as isolated and self-absorbed, and blames him for refusing to see the conspiracy right under his nose.
There is no precedent for what has happened within the Socialist Party - it's a first. So no one can predict with certainty what will happen next.
But if political progress is not made soon, Spaniards will have to go to the polls for the third time on December 25.
Sanchez is fighting a losing battle - and he knows it.
Gina Benevento is a former UN diplomat based in Jerusalem, now living and working in Madrid as a strategic communications consultant.
The views expressed in this article are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Gina Benevento
Gina Benevento is a former UN diplomat living and working in Madrid as a strategic communications consultant.
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: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926-1966
Chicago Review Press;
From the publisher...
The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926-1966
Maximum Volume offers a glimpse into the mind, the music, and the man behind the sound of the Beatles. George Martin’s working-class childhood and musical influences profoundly shaped his early career in the BBC’s Classical Music department and as head of the EMI Group’s Parlophone Records. Out of them flowed the genius behind his seven years producing the Beatles’ incredible body of work, including such albums as Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road.
The first book of two, Maximum Volume traces Martin’s early years as a scratch pianist, his life in the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War, and his groundbreaking work as the head of Parlophone Records, when Martin saved the company from ruin after making his name as a producer of comedy recordings. In its most dramatic moments, Maximum Volume narrates the story of Martin’s unlikely discovery of the Beatles and his painstaking efforts to prepare their newfangled sound for the British music marketplace. As the story unfolds, Martin and the band craft numerous number-one hits, progressing toward the landmark album Rubber Soul — all of which bear Martin’s unmistakable musical signature.
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For some Americans, issues of race represent one of the greatest challenges facing the country. For these (especially progressive-leaning) people, race is a structure that undergirds and influences many other aspects of American life.
For other Americans, issues of race have been over-emphasized and have come to receive far more attention than they need. For these (especially conservative-leaning) people, the role of race in America is being exaggerated to an extent that the over-focus has become a significant problem.
That being said, the left-right duality does not actually capture the nuances of how race is understood by Americans across the political spectrum. The following categories begin at the far right, generally outside the U.S. political mainstream, and move gradually toward the left. The labels are intended to reflect a combination of groups’ self-identification and how they are generally regarded and classified.
White (and sometimes other) Supremacists. Those who identify with any of the many white power groups typically see race as something that is determined by God. Similarly those in this group believe that God created racial differences and intended for the races to be arranged in a hierarchy (with their own group at the top). Since God created such differences, trying to eradicate racial inequality or even having relationships across racial lines is seen as acting against God’s will. There is sometimes differentiation in this group between racists (who endorse racial superiority) and racialists (who endorse racial separation); but these distinctions tend to be mostly about self-presentation and are not visible or meaningful to those outside this category.
Conservatives (in regard to race) generally see race as biologically determined, even if they are strongly religious. They tend not to self-identify as “racist” or endorse racial superiority, but may believe that groups should stay with their own. They typically attribute race-group differences to biological differences in individual traits (e.g., intelligence) rather than environmental influences. They frequently believe in a just world in which both individuals and social groups get what they deserve.
Neo-conservatives (in regard to race) believe that race is socially constructed (by human social groups). They believe that racial inequality used to exist due to institutional and scientific racism but typically report that this is no longer the case. They generally see color-blindness as the correct path towards racial justice and equity.
Neoliberals (in regard to race) believe structural racism continues to exist. They also want a path towards racial justice but believe the best way is a social agenda that provides assistance and support based on need rather than race (e.g., need-based affirmative action).
Liberals (in regard to race) are similar to neoliberals but believe the social intervention should be explicitly race-based in order to “level the playing field” (e.g., race-based affirmative action).
Radicals (in regard to race) tend to see race not only as a social construction but as a social construction that was intentional and purposeful. They are also likely to take the position that the institutional and structural racism that continues to exist in all major systems (e.g., criminal justice, education, housing) is also intentional and purposeful, as well as unconscious. They believe that these systems are damaged beyond repair and should be taken down and rebuilt from scratch rather than reformed.
-Do you consider issues of race central challenges facing America? If so, why? If not, why?
-Do you believe we focus too much energy - or not enough - on race in America?
-If you see race as receiving too much attention, what deserves more attention comparatively?
-If you see race as receiving too little attention, what takes attention away from it?
Racism - Racist
Racial Inequity
Living Room Conversation Guide:Race & Ethnicity
Ten Ways that Thoughtful, Good-hearted People Disagree about Race Disagreement Map prepared by Jacob Hess and the team at Village Square Utah
Racial and Ethnic Tensions: What Should We Do? (NIF Issue Guide) National Issues Forums Institute
Mikhail Lyubanksy, Jacob Hess
Improve this page! The definition for "Race" is not complete.
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Egypt's former president Mohammed Morsi dies in court
Photo: Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, pictured in 2014, died suddenly in court. (AP: Tarek el-Gabbas, File)
Related Story: Egypt sentences deposed president Mohammed Morsi to death
Related Story: Prison sentence for Mohamed Morsi upheld
Related Story: Three killed as Morsi supporters rally in Egypt
Map: Egypt
Egypt's former president, Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who rose to office in the country's first free elections in 2012 and was ousted a year later by the military, has collapsed in court during an espionage trial and died, according to state TV and his family.
Morsi collapsed in a glass cage minutes after warning he had "many secrets" he could reveal
He was the first democratically elected leader in modern Egypt
The Muslim Brotherhood accused the Egyptian Government of "assassinating" Morsi through years of poor prison conditions
Morsi died from a sudden heart attack during the court session, state television reported early on Tuesday (local time), citing a medical source.
The source said Morsi, who was suffering from a benign tumour, had been given continuous medical attention.
Just before his death the 67-year-old had addressed the court, speaking from the glass cage he was kept in during sessions and warning he had "many secrets" he could reveal, a judicial official said.
A few minutes afterwards, he collapsed in the cage, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the press.
In his final comments, Morsi continued to insist he was Egypt's legitimate president, demanding a special tribunal, one of his defence lawyers, Kamel Madour, said.
State TV said Morsi died before he could be taken to the hospital.
Morsi's son, Ahmed, confirmed his father's death in a Facebook post, adding, "we will meet again with God".
The former president was buried in Cairo early on Tuesday, one day after his courtroom collapse.
Death was 'full-fledged murder', Muslim Brotherhood says
Photo: Morsi had been sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of ordering Brotherhood members to break up a protest against him, leading to deaths. (AP: Maya Alleruzzo, file)
The Muslim Brotherhood said the death of Morsi — the first democratically elected head of state in Egypt's modern history — was a "full-fledged murder" and called on Egyptians to gather for a mass funeral.
Who was Mohammed Morsi?
An engineer who was born in 1951 and won a parliamentary election after a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak and his military-backed establishment in 2011
Morsi was a last-minute candidate in the 2012 elections, thrown into the mix when the Muslim Brotherhood's preferred candidate was disqualified
He had promised a moderate Islamist agenda to steer Egypt into a new democratic era in which autocracy would be replaced by transparent government
Instead, he alienated millions and was accused of usurping unlimited powers, imposing the Brotherhood's conservative brand of Islam and mismanaging the economy, all of which he denied
He was removed from office in July 2013 by then-defence minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi
ABC/Reuters
In a statement on its website, the Brotherhood also called for crowds to gather outside Egyptian embassies around the world.
The Brotherhood accused the Egyptian Government of "assassinating" Morsi through years of poor prison conditions during which he was often kept in solitary confinement and barred from visits.
Since his ouster, Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have been in prison, and put on multiple and lengthy trials.
Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of ordering Brotherhood members to break up a protest against him, resulting in deaths.
Multiple cases are still pending. Monday's session was part of a retrial on charges of espionage with the Palestinian Hamas militant group.
Morsi was held in a special wing in Cairo's Tora prison nicknamed Scorpion Prison. Rights groups say its poor conditions fall far below Egyptian and international standards.
Morsi was known to suffer from diabetes.
Photo: Morsi's supporters run away from tear gas during clashes in Cairo in 2013. (Reuters: Louafi Larbi )
In audio leaked from a 2017 session of one of his trials, Morsi complained he was "completely isolated" from the court, unable to see or hear his defence team, and the lighting inside his cage hurt his eyes.
"I don't know where I am," he is heard saying in the audio.
"It's steel behind steel and glass behind glass. The reflection of my image makes me dizzy."
Morsi's rise and fall
Photo: Pictured in May 2012, then Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi holds a rally in Cairo. (AP: Fredrik Persson, file)
What about Egypt? The forgotten revolution
With the world's focus squarely on Islamic State, it's easy to forget about an Egypt still reeling in the post-Mubarak, post-Morsi era. But this week provides an opportunity to speak out against the continuing injustice, writes Diana B Sayed.
It was a dramatic end for a figure who was central in the twists and turns taken by Egypt since its "revolution" — the pro-democracy uprising that in 2011 ousted the country's long-time authoritarian leader, Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful Islamist group, won the elections held after Mubarak's fall.
It gained a majority in parliament and Morsi squeaked to victory in presidential elections held in 2012, becoming the first civilian to hold the office.
Critics accused the Brotherhood of seeking to monopolise power, enshrine an Islamist constitution and use violence against opponents, with massive protests soon growing against its rule.
External Link: Twitter Sarah Leah Whitson
In July 2013, the military — led by then-defence minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi — ousted Morsi, dissolved parliament and eventually banned the Brotherhood as a "terrorist group".
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director with the Human Rights Watch, said in a tweet that Morsi's death was "terrible but entirely predictable" given the Government's "failure to allow him adequate medical care, much less family visits".
Mohammed Sudan, leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in London, said Morsi was banned from receiving medicine or visits and there had been little information revealed about his health.
"This is premeditated murder," he said. "This is slow death."
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, death, world-politics, egypt
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Sing Up wins Making Music Sir Charles Groves Prize 2011
The National singing programme, Sing Up, has won Making Music's Sir Charles Grove Prize for its outstanding contribution to British music in recognition of its efforts to ensure that singing is at the heart of the primary school curriculum
Posted: Thu 20th January 2011 | Read More
The Wellensian Consort crowned Choir of the Year 2010
The Wellensian Consort has been crowned Choir of the Year 2010 – winning the title at the competition’s Grand Final held at the Royal Festival Hall on 28 November 2010. The Consort beat 156 other choirs of all styles and ages, made up of over 6,000 singers taking part in the competition.
Posted: Tue 04th January 2011 | Read More
Sue Hollingworth wins Gramophone’s new Choirmaster’s Prize
Following the success of last year’s inaugural ‘Music in the Community’ prize, the Gramophone 2010 Awards were extended this year to include a new category: ‘Music in The Community: The Choirmaster’s Prize’, which was given in association with abcd and The Times newspaper.
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Home » Media » Newsroom » 2016 press releases » Ireland aims to become the world leader in Whiskey Tourism by 2030
Ireland aims to become the world leader in Whiskey Tourism by 2030
Creation of a new Irish Whiskey trail and tourism infrastructure around distilleries.
Develop an embassy network of hotels, restaurants and pubs.
Whiskey tourism has the potential to grow to 1.9 million visitors every year by 2025, spending an estimated €1.3 billion.
7 December 2016: The Irish Whiskey Association together with Michael Creed T.D. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine today launched the Irish Whiskey Tourism Strategy which sets out how Ireland can become the world leader in whiskey tourism by 2030. The strategy sets out four recommendations which are required in order to achieve that objective:
Support the growth of Irish whiskey distilleries and visitor centres
Develop an all island whiskey tourism product
Create an Irish whiskey trail and tourism infrastructure around distilleries
Develop an embassy network of hotels, restaurants and pubs
The strategy forecasts that the future of Irish whiskey tourism is dependent on a collaboration of local communities and state agencies supporting the growth of Irish whiskey distilleries and visitor centres all around the island. It proposes innovative ideas including the establishment of an all-island whiskey trail that will attract a significant number of tourists to Ireland, similar to the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky, which attracts nearly a million tourists every year. It highlights the paramount importance of working with tourism bodies to develop the necessary infrastructure to facilitate this growth.
The strategy recommends the development of a hospitality embassy network connected to the Irish whiskey trail will make it easier for visitors to undertake specialist whiskey tours, while extending the benefits of whiskey tourism to local businesses and cultural hubs around each distillery. The Scotch whisky embassy network for example has created 1,370 jobs and contributes over £43 million to the local economy. With these support systems and solid foundation structures in place, Ireland will be able to offer an even more distinctive all Ireland-whiskey product with global appeal, setting it on the path to become the world leader in whiskey tourism by 2030.
“What we’ve witnessed over the past few years truly is a renaissance in the industry”, said Head of the Irish Whiskey Association, Miriam Mooney. “This strategy sets the conditions for the next step in growth for the industry. In 2013 there were just 4 distilleries in Ireland, today there are 16 in production and 13 in planning in 18 counties across Ireland. With national and local government support, Irish whiskey tourism has the potential to grow from 653,277 visitors every year up to 1.9 million visitors by 2025, spending an estimated €1.3 billion every year”.
Speaking at the launch, Chairman of the Irish Whiskey Association, and CEO of Walsh Whiskey Distillery, Bernard Walsh said “Irish whiskey is a real success story, we are reaching new markets and new consumers. We have an authentic story to tell and a great opportunity to capitalise on growing sales and to drive more tourists to this country by developing the right environment for whiskey-trail tourists. To do this we want to work with state agencies to put the right supports in place and with Government to create the right policy environment to enable the sector to grow and thrive”.
“Our current excise rates mean that a bottle of Irish whiskey that costs €42 in Ireland, costs just €27 in the US. This makes no sense in the context of encouraging whiskey tourism. Also, new proposals under the Public Health Alcohol Bill will restrict the new entrants and smaller distillers that are needed to promote sustainability through depth and diversity in the Irish whiskey category and so stymie growth in the sector.”
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Home » Media » Newsroom » 2017 press releases » Most buoyant sales for years’ predicted for Irish cream liqueur this Christmas – ISA
Most buoyant sales for years’ predicted for Irish cream liqueur this Christmas – ISA
Pre-Christmas cheer for Irish cream liqueur as it recovers from ‘lost decade’
Love Irish Cream Liqueur campaign launched by Irish Spirits Association to protect and promote the spirit
Campaign seeks to clampdown on fake Irish cream liqueur
The Irish Spirits Association (ISA) launched a Love Irish Cream Liqueur campaign today. Ahead of Christmas, which is a very important time for Irish cream liqueur sales, the campaign aims to restart a conversation about the uniqueness of the product category, its importance to Ireland, and the need to protect it against fake products.
To coincide with the launch of the new campaign, the Irish Spirits Association has revealed that that Christmas sales period of 2017 is set to be one of the most buoyant for Irish cream liqueur in years. According to the ISA, Irish cream liqueur is growing in popularity at home and abroad, after recovering from a ‘lost decade’ during which growth stagnated. Between 2012 and 2016, sales of Irish Cream Liqueur in Ireland (across both on and off trade) fell by 11.2 per cent, from 108,000 cases to 95,900 cases. This trend has now been halted. Over 90 million bottles of Irish cream liqueur were sold globally in 2016. Preliminary figures from Nielsen show that the value of Irish cream liqueur sales in the important Irish off-trade sector have increased by 3.4 per cent during 2017.
The contribution of the Irish cream liqueur industry to the Irish economy is significant. In 2016, Irish cream liqueur producers purchased 316 million litres of fresh cream from Irish farmers, sourced from 46,000 dairy cows.
The Love Irish Cream Liqueur campaign aims to highlight the fact that Irish cream liqueur is protected by an EU-recognised Geographic Indication (GI) and to seek enhanced protection of this GI in international markets. A GI means that Irish cream liqueur must be produced on the island of Ireland in accordance with certain standards (EU-approved technical file). The GI protects the integrity and quality of this spirits category and the investment being made in production and employment on the island of Ireland.
John Harte, chairman of the Irish Spirits Association stated:
“Since its origin in 1974, Irish Cream Liqueur has been one of Ireland’s most successful spirits categories, loved by millions of people around the world.
“After a lost decade, during which growth in the category stalled, I am delighted to see that Irish Cream Liqueur sales are once again growing in Ireland and globally.
“In the lead-up to Christmas, we are delighted to launch this campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of Irish cream liqueur and protect the category.
“We hope this campaign will be accompanied by increased efforts by industry and stakeholders to monitor the markets and crackdown on fake, non-GI produce.”
Last week, the Irish Spirits Association facilitated a meeting between Irish cream liqueur producers and the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine to progress efforts to tackle fake, non-GI produce.
A further event will take place in London on Wednesday. Further details to follow.
Media queries:
Colin Taylor, Q4PR, 0864671748/014751444, colin@q4pr.ie
Notes to the Editor:
Photography issued by Julien Behal and is available upon request
About the Irish Spirits Association
The Irish Spirits Association is an All Island body representing 38 spirits producers and brand owners who directly employ over 1,550 people. Established in 1997, the ISA works to promote the interests of the Irish spirits industry in Ireland and internationally. The ISA provides a strong and effective voice at both national and EU level on issues such as taxation, labelling, trade and the ongoing international protection of Ireland’s Geographic Indicators (GIs). The ISA is part of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland (ABFI) which is part of Ibec, Ireland’s largest business representative body.
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Welcome! Please pardon the dust as we work to set the site up again
► General Category
► General Discussion
► What comics have you been reading?
archiebettyandgodzilla
Posted by: daren
Posted in album: daren
What comics have you been reading?
Started by irishmoxie, March 30, 2016, 10:49:35 pm
Go Down Pages 1 ... 34 35 36 37 38 ... 111
irishmoxie
Location: OH
Favorite Character: Sabrina, Josie and the Pussycats
Bank Credits: 0
Re: What comics have you been reading?
August 14, 2016, 04:42:20 pm #525 Last Edit: August 14, 2016, 04:50:22 pm by irishmoxie
Haven't updated this in awhile. I've been unbelievably busy with work.
Flintstones #1 and 2 - Different take than I was expecting and not as comical as previous Flintstones reiterations. Lots of connections drawn between this ancient society's race relations and commercialism and modern society. I'm intrigued. I'll keep reading.
Mae #1-3 - Split between 2 parallel worlds. A bit like Narnia in a way.
Shrek #1-2 - These are ok. Writing could be better.
Black Hammer #1 - I wanted it to be my replacement to tide me over between issues of Harrow County and it just wasn't. A weird mix of farm stories and superheroes.
The Hunt #1 - Also really weird.
Lumberjanes #28 - I think they're trying to stretch this series out way too much and not much happens in each issue or even arc. But I'm excited about the upcoming movie.
Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy #1 - Big disappointment. Hopefully subsequent issues improve.
Powerpuff Girls #1 - Cute.
Socute the Corgi #1-2 - I'm a sucker for animal stories.
Space Battle Lunchtime up to #4 - Started out great. My interest is kinda waning. I think this would be better as a cartoon.
Action Lab Dog of Wonder #3 - Not as great as the previous 2 issues.
Ghoul Scouts #1 and #2 - It has all the elements I would like (kid friendly scary stories) but the series just isn't hooking me.
Girl Over Paris #1
Goldie Vance #4
Jonesy #5 - Agree with DeCarlo Rules on this one. This issue isn't as great as previous.
Harrow County up to #15 - Still a great series. It's going in a whole new direction now with new characters and I'm excited to see where it goes.
Jem up to issue #17 - Jen Bartel's interiors weren't as great as I was hoping. Excited for the spinoff series The Misfits. Excited to see Shouri getting more work as she's my favorite colorist and a pretty good artist too. Hopefully she can do the interiors as well.
Jughead up to issue #8 - Look forward to this series every month now. Can't wait for the Sabrina issues.
Lady Killer Vol 2 #1 - Art is still top notch. So far pretty much the same as the previous series.
Paper Girls up to #8 - Still loving.
Ultracat #2
Betty and Veronica #1 - I think Adam Hughes was trying really hard to go in a direction no one was expecting. I'm trying to read and think of this series from an outsider perspective of someone who is not familiar with the franchise. I think they would be very confused as to why the dog was narrating.
Snotgirl #1 - Love the art, the girliness of the story. The end is a cliffhanger.
Really missing great series like Black Magic and Mystery Girl and even Wayward. Comics seem to be a bit dry lately as far as great storytelling goes.
My Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/15308100-kristin-el
DeCarlo Rules
"Archie Comics are COMICAL comics"
Credits: 580
August 14, 2016, 05:49:35 pm #526 Last Edit: August 14, 2016, 08:25:06 pm by DeCarlo Rules
I kinda liked Black Hammer #1. It established a little mystery as to why these former superheroes had to flee from the world/dimension/earth on which they originated, and there's someone from back in their home world setting out to find them and prove that they're still alive. It was a little slow-moving, but enough of a hook to intrigue me for a few more issues at least (not sure if it's a miniseries or an ongoing).
I passed on Snotgirl #1 originally simply because the title of the book itself was off-putting to me, but now I'll pick it up and give it a look-see, at least, to see what I think.
I've already read a few of those Bronze Age ACP comics I picked up at the con, and I'm going to try to review most (if not all) of them one or two at a time. The thing that immediately hits me about those early-70s "Archie Giant Series" format issues of Archie's T.V. Laugh-Out and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (besides the mere fact of them having more pages and more stories) is that in those early Giants, there always seems to be a story or two where Archie or some of the gang interacts with Sabrina, and you simply don't see much of that in the stories in those titles after they were reduced to the standard price and page count, so that makes the Giants extra-special to have.
Another thing notable about those early Sabrina issues is that the main source of conflict in many, if not most, of the stories revolves around the fact that Sabrina (although a witch) is just a sweet, nice, normal teenage girl who wants to get along with people, be "one of the gang", have fun and date boys like Harvey, and help out those in trouble, but her Aunt Hilda (and even more so, Head Witch Della) is trying to influence her or mentor her to be a "good witch", which is to say, a bad person. A good witch does bad and makes mischief for people with her magic powers, so when Sabrina does good things with her magic to help people, that makes her a very bad witch, and many of the stories involve penalties threatened against her by Head Witch Della, the most dire of which is the removal of her magic powers. Sabrina doesn't want to be bad, because it runs counter to her sunny disposition, but she still feels a sense of responsibility towards her aunts who are raising her, to fulfill that obligation to them by being a good witch and making them proud of her. Cousin Ambrose frequently takes on the role of her protector, trying to balance these opposing directions and secretly help her. That struck me immediately in reading a bunch of these stories together, as something that's been largely lost in the later Sabrina stories, and something I'd greatly like to see restored.
BettyReggie
Betty & Reggie forever
August 14, 2016, 08:09:09 pm #527 Last Edit: August 15, 2016, 06:56:41 am by BettyReggie
Archie #10-Fish
Betty & Veronica #1-Coover
Morning Glories #38
Black Canary #9
Jughead #1-Covention Variant
Jughead #4-J Bone
Jughead #7-Cully Hamner
August 15, 2016, 07:00:28 am #528 Last Edit: August 17, 2016, 11:05:25 am by BettyReggie
I'm going read some more Betty & Veronica #1's I read
Betty & Veronica #1-Tom Bancroft
Betty & Veronica #1-Rian Gonzales
I'm going read
Morning Glories #44 & #48
Invincible #122 & #123 & #128
August 16, 2016, 12:08:21 am #529 Last Edit: August 16, 2016, 12:44:07 am by DeCarlo Rules
Yesterday I read LOVE-O-RAMA 2000, which is a B&W, 96-page TPB collection of Dan Parent-written stories (except for 2 of them, I think) sub-titled "Romance Stories That Will Touch You In A Special Place!". Most of the stories are drawn by Dan as well, but except for a couple, you probably wouldn't recognize them as his art, because it's not really done in "the Archie style". Three-quarters of those are inked by Kim De Mulder, and I'm not sure exactly how much of the difference in Dan P's usual style is due to his original pencils for the stories, and how much is due to Kim De Mulder's inking. These stories had previously appeared in some obscure comics: Secret Fantasies #1 (1998) and #2 (1999), and Dumbass Express #1 (and only). I guess you could probably say most of these stories were R-rated (definitely not for kids), and for the most part, I found them pretty funny, and found them to reflect Dan's peculiar sense of humor (which I love), just a little more unrestrained and uncensored. Maybe "adult situations" is the best label here, because there's no actual "graphic depictions" or any "adult language" or anything like that, but remember that's just using ACP standards as a yardstick.
The story that interested me the most personally was one called "My Love Is Alien", which was about 2 female friends, a plain but brainy & nerdy sci-fi fangirl and her pretty but shallow roommate who has absolutely no interest in SF, but who had promised her friend she'd go the the science fiction con with her. So the nerdy girl shames her friend into going anyway, after she tried to wheedle her way out of her promise. Marina reluctantly gives in and goes to the SF convention, where she all of a sudden gets interested, when she meets a hunky-looking guy wearing what she thinks is an alien costume at the con. So she finds every excuse to give in to him and spend time with him (and of course, she doesn't realize that he's an actual alien). As I'm reading the first few pages of the story, I'm looking at the girls and what they are saying to each others, and I'm thinking "Wait a minute... Isn't this really just a Veronica story guest-starring her sci-fi loving cousin, Marcy McDermott?", because in this story Marina is pretty but kind of a snob. However, in trying to place the story among the chronology of Veronica stories, this story would seem to precede cousin Marcy's first appearance in the early 2000s (which - I think - was in VERONICA #137, May 2003). As far as the personality and behavior of the girls at the beginning of the story, they interact almost just like Marcy and Veronica, even though the story later goes off in a different direction with Marina (the pretty one) having a one-night stand with this alien guy she's smitten with, and then having his baby while he disappears (it turns out later that he was drafted to fight in some kind of space war). I should mention that as far as how they're drawn in the story, the characters don't actually resemble Marcy and Veronica, it's just that one is a nerdy girl into sci-fi and the other is pretty, but totally disinterested in that kind of stuff, and is snobbish and puts it down. Still, there's this germ of an idea there in this independently-produced work of Dan's, that it seems like he later reworked into his stories in VERONICA, which I found interesting. In this story however, instead of mentioning "Space Trek" or some kind of obvious euphemism, the actual names of science fiction TV shows and movies are used (and the context in which they are referenced helps to make the story funny).
Despite the adult situations, there's still a distinct Archie-like feel to most of these stories, just the fact that they're short, sitcom stories with romantic elements, and Dan Parent's signature sense of humor (which in these stories, he's allowed to get pretty wacky with). There are lots of stories with takeoffs on things like the Patrick Swayze movie Ghost, daytime talk shows like The Jerry Springer Show, the self-explanatory "Vampire Girls Need Love Too", "Drastic Plastic" about plastic surgery, and other weirdness, including one set in the 1970s that crams every TV show and pop culture reference from that time into a short farce. The nature of Dan's humor spares no one's sensibilities in the arena of political correctness, so if you're easily offended by a gay superhero like "Interior Decorator Man", this probably isn't for you. The back page has an utterly hilarious text piece called "A Little About Dan Parent" that totally cracked me up.
BETTY AND VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #246 came in the mail yesterday, and I'm about halfway through reading that. Spent most of the day catching up on sleep I missed over the weekend while I was either at the Boston Comic Con or working.
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 16, 2016, 12:08:21 am
I was supposed to get this from Kickstarter but Dan never sent it.
Quote from: irishmoxie on August 16, 2016, 02:58:42 pm
If you email him, I'm sure he'll send it, assuming you already got the rest of your Kickstarter reward package. Dan and Fernando are still in the process of mailing all these out to the pledges, one at a time, and they split up the mailing labels between them, but not necessarily by what supporter was getting original art by which creator, so there's a little confusion between the two of them. One of the things missing from my package was Fernando's sketchbook, which Dan tells me is still at the printers, so packages that got mailed out already will be missing those. This is their first Kickstarter, so maybe they're not as well-organized as some others who've done it before, and there were a lot of bonuses and add-ons to the packages, so there's a list of different stuff that has to go in depending on your pledge level. If you didn't get your rewards package yet, be patient, either Dan or Fernando could have your mailing label.
Then too, these guys are both still doing the convention circuit at the same time. Dan was at SDCC last month, then in Boston last weekend (Aug. 12-14), and will be at TerrifiCon in Connecticut next weekend (Aug. 19-21), then he's off to Hyderabad, India for a big con (Sept. 24-25), and then New York Comic Con (Oct. 8-9), plus who knows all what else -- while continuing to turn in 5 page stories and covers for the digests.
The best thing to do is contact them through the Kickstarter page and let them know, if you got the rewards package already and it was missing that TPB.
SNOTGIRL #1 - I liked the artwork. Couldn't relate to the story at all. It's pretty much all social media and 20something angst -- subtract those from it and there's really nothing left, so thumbs down for me.
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 16, 2016, 04:24:50 pm
I haven't gotten the rewards package yet just the DKD hardback. I ordered a second copy (outside of the Kickstarter) and haven't gotten that either yet. I'll keep waiting.
I might still be waiting on mine, if I hadn't contacted Dan and made arrangements to pick it up in person at Boston Comic Con. Funny thing, I bumped into a guy I know at Dan's table (whom I had no idea had pledged the DKD Kickstarter) on Friday and he mentioned he hadn't got his rewards package yet. On Sunday, I was at Dan's table again, and the same guy came back and told Dan that his DKD rewards package had arrived at his house on Friday while he was at the con. I think the original plan was to have all these packages out much earlier, but the printer took longer on the hardcovers than they expected, and now both of them are knee-deep in convention season. To be honest, I haven't even had time to go back to check the list of the rewards I was supposed to get, so if there's anything missing (were there pins or buttons?) from mine besides Fernando's sketchbook then I'm not even aware of it. Besides the hardcover book and some original artwork, I got a DKD lanyard, 2 stickers, 12 trading cards, and Dan's sketchbook (and the Love-O-Rama 2000 TPB was an add-on).
Also, the original commission I got (and am now using as my avatar) from Dan isn't the original drawing that he first handed to me. I had requested Betty as Superteen, and Dan somehow had drawn an original of Betty as SuperGIRL... as he was about to hand it to me, he was saying "... and I've got your drawing of Betty as Supergirl right here (looking in portfolio) ..." and I said "You mean Betty as SuperTEEN..." and there was some momentary embarrassment as he realized he'd made a mistake. He showed it to me, but then put it aside and said "It's no problem, I can do it for you and have it later today". Then we started chatting for a while, and at some point, I decided I'd like a 2-figure drawing of both Betty as Superteen and Veronica as Powerteen (because they'd never actually been in a story together), so I agreed to pay him extra for another figure. Then I wanted him to base the pose on a particular image (that I hadn't thought to bring with me beforehand) so I told him that when I went home that night I'd find the image I was thinking of, and email it to him. Oddly enough, I couldn't find that exact image that I had in mind, and wound up changing my mind, so I had him base the pose on the "Wonder Twin powers, ACTIVATE!" image (which basically got repeated in every Super Friends cartoon they were in). Dan does a lot of superhero commissions, or Archie/superhero mash-up commissions, which you'll see when you check out his sketchbook (and he'll obviously have no problem selling that drawing of Betty as Supergirl).
Hey, this is my 1000th post (since the meltdown and reboot) -- which would have made it my 5000th post if the meltdown had never happened.
I read these books for 12 minutes each
Archie's Funhouse Jumbo Comics Digest #20
Archie 1000 Page Comics Blowout
Archie 75 Years 75 Stories
What's in those sketchbooks? DKD art? Now I'm curious.
Dan's sketchbook is mostly stuff like preliminary cover layouts (some you'll recognize, some not... because they were never used), and commissioned artwork. One of the things I noticed in looking through it again yesterday were three different cover layouts for ARCHIE'S GIRLS: THE PIN-UPS book. I remember that had been announced at one time as a follow-up to the hardcover art books THE ART OF BETTY & VERONICA, and its sequel THE ART OF ARCHIE: THE COVERS, but it never happened.
Dan's sketchbook (which is the same dimensions as those small Archie TPBs in the ARCHIE & FRIENDS ALL-STARS series) "Volume 1" was printed back in 2014, so you won't find anything really recent in it. I told him it was time to do a Volume 2, and he agreed, but as to when that might happen... who knows. I haven't seen Fernando's sketchbook since (as I think I mentioned somewhere before) according to Dan it was still at the printers. Presumably that means it contains some of Fernando's really recent stuff, maybe Kitty, but I can't be sure.
In case you missed it, Dan & Fernando sent out another DKD update last night:
Quote We're halfway through August and we're more than halfway through shipping books! So, if you haven't received yours yet, please be patient, it's on the way!! We're hoping to have everything shipped by the end of August, except for those picking up your packages at Toronto Fan Expo.
Thanks for the great responses! We're so happy with the quality of the books and the extras!
And soon we'll have more exciting news about Kitty's next adventure....
Yesterday (Wednesday 08/17):
DARK HORSE PRESENTS #25 - I'm only following the features "The Once and Future Tarzan", "Mister X", and "Mr. Monster"
INVADER ZIM #12
ISLAND 731 #1 - Didn't really care that much for it, so I won't continue.
SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1 - Certainly one of the best-looking of these DC Rebirth comics, with artwork by Emanuela Lupacchino (and a nice iconic Supergirl image on the variant cover by Adam Hughes). Wish I could say the same about the story, but at least the artwork looked good. All of these "Rebirth" one-shot issues are just preludes to an ongoing series. Whether the same creative team will be on the ongoing series, I don't know. I might give it another chance if the ongoing series is drawn by Lupacchino, we'll see.
BLACK WIDOW #6 - This was actually the best single issue of the series for me so far, but I've lost a lost of my initial enthusiasm that I had in anticipation going into it. Kind of on the fence as to whether I'll keep reading or not, so the next issue might be the last for me. Or not, depending on whether it gets better.
SUPERF*CKERS FOREVER #1 - This is one hilarious comic book, but not for the easily offended. James Kolchaka puts a serious 'alternative comix' spin on the idea of superheroes in a way that's pretty indescribable.
THE LONE RANGER AND THE GREEN HORNET #2 (of 6) - The adventures of the Green Hornet take place in the 1930s/40s, while the adventures of the Lone Ranger take place (usually) in the 1870s/80s. That would place the Lone Ranger's birth around 1850 or so, so in this story taking place in the 1930s, he's in his eighties. How many of you knew that The Lone Ranger is the Green Hornet's great-uncle? This story is written by Michael Uslan of "Archie Marries" fame, by the way. Lots of good historical detail and touchstones in this one, from Nazi bunds and Elliot Ness to 1936 Olympic winner Jesse Owens.
SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: FALL OF MAN #2 (of 5) - Steve Austin is on the run from OSI, having learned from secret documents that Oscar Goldman is apparently collaborating with the government to create an army of cyborg supersoldiers.
ROCHELLE #1 (of 3) - Teenager Rochelle Planeta's mother was artificially inseminated, part of the donor DNA coming from periplaneta americana (the American Cockroach), so now she "does whatever a cockroach can". Nothing particularly noteworthy in this story, apart from the artwork by Dell Barras, whose work I like.
BLACK HAMMER #1 & 2 - I went back and read the first issue again since the new one just came out. I'm quite taken by this, as an original spin on the superhero concept (something that genre needs far more of -- mainstream superheroes are getting pretty boring). It's an unusual art style for the superhero genre, and the approach is pretty unique. Having said that, there's no way I'd expect anyone unfamiliar with superhero comics to understand the tropes and character archetypes that the story is referencing; it can really only be fully appreciated by those that get the references.
HILLBILLY #1 & 2 - Again, went back to read the first again, since the new one just came out. This is an excellent spooky/supernatural/horror comic, in my estimation -- because there's nothing else I can really compare it to; it's totally original. Someone else's mileage may vary -- I guess with horror, it all comes down to what your own personal touchstones are for that genre, and I'm usually pretty picky. The title character is a backwoods mountain man or trapper who becomes a pawn in a vendetta between two witches (and these aren't your modern wiccan-style witches, they're the traditional folkloric evil hags who deal in black magic and put curses, hexes and spells on people). The story is taking place in some unspecified time and place, but I presume it to be sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and there's a real flavor for mood and dialect here. As a result of his involvement in this quarrel between witches, the title character is cursed, and gains possession of "The Devil's Bonesaw", an outsized meat cleaver which can cut through pretty much anything and has supernatural properties, including being toxic to the touch of witches. In the second issue, the personification of Death, on his pale horse, follows the protagonist as he seeks a remedy for a witch's hex placed upon an innocent young girl -- the roots of an anthropomorphic tree, corrupted by evil by feeding on the blood of dozens of hanged murderers. Eric Powell has a real facility for both mood and pacing in this story, using supernatural elements deftly, and a real ear for dialogue. 10 out of 10.
DIE KITTY DIE (THE DELUXE EDITION) HC - Enjoyed it even more the second time around.
Read some of those Archie comics I picked up for $1 each at Boston Comic Con:
JUGHEAD #187, 188, 200
VERONICA #43, 71, 72, 74, 75, 134, 135
August 18, 2016, 04:20:17 pm #539 Last Edit: August 19, 2016, 07:35:53 pm by BettyReggie
My Archie #11 came from my subscription. I loved it. Thomas's art is awesome. I can't wait for him to do the next issue.
I read some Digital Comics while in bed. Betty & Veronica's Sleep Over & Archie's Car Castophe's Dancing With The Archies.
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United States have developed bomb capable to destroy fortified underground facilities Iran 2901122
Posted On Sunday, 29 January 2012 02:24
Defense News - United States
Sunday, January 29, 2012, 08:52 AM
The United States have developed a bomb capable to destroy fortified underground facilities in Iran.
United States is stepping up efforts to make a bomb capable of destroying Iran's most heavily fortified underground facilities, the Wall Street Journal said on Saturday, January 28, 2012, referring to U.S. officials briefed on the plan.
MOP Massive Ordnance Penetrator being offloaded in preparation for its first explosive test.
(Image Archive Wikipedia)
“The 30,000-pound [13,600 kilograms] "bunker-buster" bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) GBU-57A/B, was specifically designed to take out the hardened fortifications built by Iran and North Korea to cloak their nuclear programs,” the daily said.
The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) GBU-57A/B is a United States Air Force massive, precision-guided, 13,608 kg "bunker buster" bomb
But initial tests indicated that the bomb, as currently configured, would not be capable of destroying some of Iran's facilities, either because of their depth or because Tehran has added new fortifications to protect them, the paper noted.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said more development work would be done and that he expected the bomb to be ready to take on the deepest bunkers soon. "We're still trying to develop them," Mr. Panetta said.
U.S. Officials say new money was meant to ensure the weapon would be more effective against the deepest bunkers, including Iran's Fordow enrichment plant facility.
Fordow is buried in a mountain complex in Iran surrounded by antiaircraft batteries, which makes it a very difficult target for air strikes.
Organization (AEOI) Fereidoon Abbasi said Frodow is safe from any kinds of threat by the enemies.
Tehran said it began the project in 2007, but the IAEA believes design work started in 2006.
The existence of the facility only came to light after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009.
Video MOP Massive Ordnance Penetrator
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AJBlogCentral
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
You are here: Home / 2009 / September / Archives for 15th
TT: Packing and going
September 15, 2009 by Terry Teachout
The life of a peripatetic drama critic is an endless cycle of ennui and delight. I love seeing out-of-town shows, but in order to get to them, I have to endure the horrors of modern air travel, the only tolerable part of which is the view from a window seat on a clear day. On occasion it also means that I have to tear myself away from Mrs. T, and that’s never any fun: our second anniversary is less than a month away, and the nearer it comes, the closer we grow.
Hence it’s with sharply mixed feelings that I pack my bag this morning and fly alone from Hartford to St. Louis, where I’ll be seeing the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis perform Amadeus tonight. I like Peter Shaffer’s plays and I like St. Louis–I’m going to poke my head into the St. Louis Art Museum, a favorite stop, if my plane lands on time–but I’ve been on the move all summer, and if I had my druthers, I’d just as soon stay home.
The good news (there is always good news) is that St. Louis is two hours north of Smalltown, U.S.A., so I’m going to drive down after the show and spend a few days with my family. I haven’t been there since May, and my mother says she’s starting to forget what I look like. She also claims to have baked a cake in honor of my visit. I’m more inclined to believe the second claim than the first, but either way, it’ll be nice to be in Smalltown again. Mom and I have things to do, none of them significant but all important. For openers, I plan to take her on a long drive in the country, buy her a lunch or two, and tell her all about the premiere of The Letter. I might even sleep late!
TT: Almanac
“To fear the worst oft cures the worse.”
William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida
Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]
About “About Last Night”
This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]
About My Plays and Opera Libretti
Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, ran earlier this season at New Orleans’ Le Petit Theatre. It previously closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, … [Read More...]
About My Podcast
Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]
My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]
To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]
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An ArtsJournal Blog
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“What I’ve Left Unsaid”: NPR’s Michel Martin On Balancing Career And Family As A Woman Of Color
Two months ago, NPR announced the cancellation of "Tell Me More," the daily news show hosted by veteran journalist Michel Martin. It is the third show developed for an African-American audience to be axed by NPR in the past decade. ("News & Notes" went off the air in 2009 and the Tavis Smiley Show departed in 2004.) On Friday, Tell Me More will broadcast its last show. Martin will stay on with NPR as a producer, along with Tell Me More's executive producer, Carline Watson. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Martin has worked for the Washington Post, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal as its White House correspondent. She won an Emmy for her Nightline reporting. In hosting "Tell Me More," she focused on religion, race and spirituality. In an interview with NPR's media reporter, David... Read More →
By Tara Jefferson
Tagged: Michel Martin, NPR
Why I Pushed My Children To Attend An HBCU
by Marilyn Williams Pringle I never wanted my three children to be sent into in an environment where they would be exposed to racism or be treated differently because of the color of their skin. During the 1970s, when my sister-in-law went to Valparaiso University, a predominately white school in Northwest Indiana, she endured countless racial incidents that made me fearful as my own daughters approached college age. Once, a carload of young white students chased her and her friends, shouting at them and calling them the N-word until they reached the safety of their dorm. The author and her daughter at her graduation from Bethune-Cookman University, an HBCU in Daytona Beach, Florida So while my children attended high school in Cleveland, I would tell them, repeatedly, "I don't... Read More →
Tagged: education, HBCU
Derek Walcott Documentary, “Poetry Is An Island,” To Premiere At Karamu House
Nobel laureate Derek Walcott in his home in St. Lucia "Poetry Is An Island," the new film directed by Dutch filmmaker Ida Does, presents poet and playwright Derek Walcott in his element: his home island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Place has proved central to the Nobel Laureate in his writings about the island, colonialism and beauty. He won a Lifetime Achievement Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 2004. "I wanted to feel and smell St. Lucia in the same palpable way that I experience Walcott’s poetry," Does said in a recent interview. "When I was there, it felt like I could literally touch Derek’s work, the heart of it." After an early screening, Walcott, 84, praised Does for doing a "beautiful and gentle job" with the film. Now Northeast Ohioans can see for themselves.... Read More →
Tagged: 2004, Derek Walcott, documentary, video, winners
The Beauty Of “Life Itself,” The Roger Ebert Documentary Brimming With Soul
“Life Itself” first appeared in 2011 as a rich memoir by Roger Ebert. Now, thanks to “Hoop Dreams” director Steve James, it is a documentary of the highest caliber. Roger Ebert and his wife Chaz on their wedding day, in 1992 One of its revelations is the late-life marriage between Ebert and Chicago attorney Chaz Hammelsmith. Interracial love stories may not be in vogue in Hollywood, but this documentary lets viewers witness an exemplary match. So does a 3,000-word essay, “Roger loves Chaz,” that Ebert published on his 20th anniversary. In the documentary, the legendary film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times comes across as a consummate Midwesterner – unpretentious, but also funny, gifted and complex. Five months before his death in April 2013, Roger and Chaz... Read More →
By Karen R. Long
Tagged: documentary, Robert Ebert, video
Wole Soyinka At 80: The Author Speaks On Politics, Contemporary Nigerian Culture, And Boko Haram
The magisterial Wole Soyinka turned 80 this week, and—once again—the world is listening. In London, the Royal African Society hosted "Wole Soyinka at 80," a retrospective on the life of the Nobel laureate and Anisfield-Wolf winner, exploring his influence in politics and letters. As a young man, the Nigerian playwright and poet attempted to broker peace during the 1967 Biafran War, becoming a political prisoner and spending 22 months in solitary confinement. He wrote “The Man Died” out of that experience. For the retrospective, Soyinka joined editor and critic Margaret Busby to reflect on his upbringing and the relationship between politics and culture. He has spent more than 50 fierce years campaigning against Nigerian despotism, often with a price on his head. Soyinka’s... Read More →
Tagged: 2013, video, winners, Wole Soyinka
REVIEW: For The Benefit Of Those Who See: Dispatches From The World Of The Blind
In 2005, O, The Oprah Magazine assigned Rosemary Mahoney to profile Sabriye Tenberken, a German social worker who founded Braille Without Borders in Tibet. Mahoney immersed herself in the task, agreeing to an excursion with two students from the Tibetan school who led her around Lhasa blindfolded. Mahoney said she realized "how little notice I paid to sounds, to smells, indeed to the entire world that lay beyond my ability to see." After finishing the assignment, Mahoney volunteered to teach English at an off-shoot of Braille Without Borders in Kerala, India, where she began to understand blindness as an identity, not necessarily a disease that needed a cure. Mahoney's latest book, For the Benefit of Those Who See: Dispatches from the World of the Blind, collects and builds... Read More →
Tagged: Arthur Evenchik, blind, book review
Can Reading For Fun Go Viral?
A quiet crisis in literacy has hold of Cleveland, Ohio. A staggering 80 percent of incoming kindergartners are unprepared for school. Twenty-five percent of residents over 25 lack a high school diploma. A full 40 percent of third graders are not reading at grade level. "When we're out and we're talking about these numbers, people's jaws drop," said Robert Paponetti, executive director of the Literacy Cooperative, a small Cleveland nonprofit working to improve literacy. "We really needed to have an answer when people asked, 'What can I do to help?'" Here, a dad reads to his newborn as part of the #CLELiteracy social media campaign The Cooperative's top 10 list is a start. Released last month, it is an accessible call to action for Northeast Ohioans to commit to improving... Read More →
Tagged: literacy, Literacy Cooperative
Review: Cristina Henriquez’ “The Book of Unknown Americans”
One word captures what motivates immigrants to venture to a new country: Better. Indeed, "better" is the catch-all for the immigrant families at the center of Cristina Henriquez' second novel, The Book of Unknown Americans. Gathered from various corners of Central America --- Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay – her characters all make their home in a small, dank apartment building in a sleepy Delaware town. In an interview with Bustle.com, the Chicago-based Henriquez said that she wasn't writing a political statement, but hoping to fictionalize the contemporary immigration debate. "The highest praise I’ve gotten so far is that somebody living in Delaware told me, after they read my book, they were driving down Kirkwood, which is where the families all live," she... Read More →
Tagged: book review, Cristina Henriquez, immigration
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Home | News And Events | Dairy Diary | Dairy Farming | Creating a Butter Sculpture: Big and Small
Creating a Butter Sculpture: Big and Small
Author: Administrator | August 27, 2018
The butter sculpture is an annual staple of the New York State Fair that has been catching eyes and turning heads for the last 50 years.
But you may not know that there’s a very similar sculpture housed at the fairgrounds that has quite the story itself.
For the last 16 years, there has been a miniature model version of the butter sculpture that has been on display for visually impaired visitors to the fair to touch and experience.
Before we scale it up, we make a small model of the #buttersculpture for the @nysfair. This serves the #blind community...
Posted by Jim Victor & Marie Pelton Sculpture on Friday, August 24, 2018
“It was an idea that came from members of the State Fair. We thought it was a great idea and we were more than happy to do it,” said food sculptures Marie and Jim Pelton, who’ve brought the annual butter sculpture and mini versions to life since 2003."
“The armatures are part of the creation process itself, so they are authentic and do bring a real feel. And it’s just a really neat thing to do,” Marie said.
The 2018 sculpture features a farmer delivering milk to a woman in an effort to show that your milk comes from a good place – hardworking, devoted and local dairy farmers.
When checking out the mini version of this year’s sculpture, you may notice some different design elements from the final product. For example, in this year’s mini replica version has the door in a different spot than where it wound up on the main version.
Never fear, it’s all part of the process, according to Marie.
“Sometimes there are last minute changes to make sure things are as clean as possible in the main sculpture,” she said. “Not too often, but it does happen from time to time. If you try to fit in too many details, it may not be the best final product you can put out.”
Jim and Marie each have favorite butter sculptures from past years.
Jim recounted the Cow Jumping Over the Moon sculpture from 2008 as one of his favorites, while Marie recalled 2010’s Dairyland as a memorable one for her.
The main butter sculpture has a shelf life that expires shortly after the New York State Fair ends. The sculpture will be torn down and the butter will be sent to Noblehurst Farms in Linwood, N.Y, where it will be recycled in a methane digester to create electricity and liquid fertilizer for crops.
But the mini versions live on for all to see in the years to come. The past versions are on permanent display in the History Building on the fairgrounds.
“It’s fun going back and getting to see all the work you’ve done before and seeing how things have evolved,” Marie said.
“We smile and enjoy it every year. And that’s what we want everyone else to do, too!”
Check out a time-lapse video of this year's sculpture being created!
American Dairy Association North East is one of 19 state and regional promotion organizations working under the umbrella of the United Dairy Industry Association. It is the local affiliate of the National Dairy Council®, which has been conducting nutrition education and nutrition research programs since 1915. For more information, visit www.americandairy.com.
Dietitian Blog
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Bill Bans All Illegals From State Colleges
Christina Bellantoni, Washington Times, Feb. 2
RICHMOND—State lawmakers are debating legislation that would forbid illegal aliens from attending state-sponsored colleges, a measure that, if approved, would put Virginia at the forefront of immigration reform in the United States.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a state doing anything like this,” said Lynda S. Zengerle, a lawyer who heads the Immigration practice in the International Group at the D.C.-based law firm of Steptoe and Johnson.
Delegate David B. Albo, the Fairfax County Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said the state has been forced to take strong measures against illegal aliens because seven of the September 11 hijackers possessed Virginia driver’s licenses.
“We were put in a situation where we had to do something,” Mr. Albo said. “We certainly are in the forefront of the problem.”
Mr. Albo said there are 200,000 illegal aliens in Virginia, and he wants to see strict reforms that will limit their access to any local and state benefits, including Medicaid.
The House Education Committee on Monday voted 16-6 to approve Mr. Gear’s bill. The House is expected to debate the bill today. The bill could pass by the end of the week. It faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a similar bill was rejected last year.
Last year, Delegate John S. “Jack” Reid, Henrico County Republican, authored a bill that would have required colleges to turn away aliens or expel those who mistakenly were enrolled. The bill passed the House on a 72-23 vote but was rejected in the Senate Education and Health Committee on a 12-2 vote.
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26 February, 2017 - 01:44 Riley Winters
Mothers, Madness and Music: A Study of the Parallels of Cybele and Dionysus
Though she was one of the most renowned goddesses in her day, the motherly, wise Cybele has long been over-shadowed in the mythology of ancient Greece by the later pre-Olympian goddesses, Rhea, Gaia, and even Hecate. In contrast, the mad, flamboyant Dionysus has been mistaken as a young Greek god for equally as long. The archaeological and literary evidence suggests that these two gods played much more significant roles in various cultures, both before the ancient Greek gods came to the forefront of Mediterranean religion and after their Roman counterparts faded into Christianity. It is not unlikely that this is why Cybele and Dionysus share so many characteristics in their worship and legends.
Cybele
The goddess Cybele is most commonly associated with the natural world, specifically exemplified in mountains, fertile wildlife, and wild animals. Further, she is often depicted as the Great Mother—creator or life-giver of all things—or as the three aspects of the Divine Feminine: Mother, Maiden, and Crone. As the Divine Feminine, Cybele represents the various aspects of female power, most specifically that of nurture, fertility, and wisdom. (A similar trinity is seen in many other religions, such as the Triple Goddess in the religions of the Celts and Britons.)
Ancient Greek Theater and the Monumental Amphitheaters in Honor of Dionysus
Vibrations and sounds may have enhanced worship of Great Goddess Cybele
The Secret of Gobekli Tepe: Cosmic Equinox and Sacred Marriage - Part II
Cybele enthroned, with lion, cornucopia, and mural crown. ( Public Domain )
Dionysus, similarly, basks in the power of the natural world, portrayed most often through processions of inebriated dancing. His role in ancient religion has much to do with the transcendence from the natural to the spiritual realms, though this attribute was highly "dumbed down", portraying him instead as a very drunk and feminine male deity. While wine and music were indeed common in rituals of Dionysus (and his later Roman counterpart, Bacchus), most "Greek Mythology 101" courses portray these aspects of the god as silly and frivolous rather than pertinent to his existential persona.
Dionysus extending a drinking cup (kantharos), late 6th century BC. ( Public Domain )
Similarities Between the Two
On the surface, Cybele and Dionysus share many affiliations—again, not uncommon in ancient religions. These include a preference for the wilds of nature and ferocious animals. In art, Cybele is rarely depicted without her lionesses while Dionysus' processions are always led by either leopards or panthers, often carrying the deity from one place to another. Similarly, the processions of both Cybele and Dionysus are accompanied by wild music, potent wine, and dancing so ecstatic, revelers in both text and art are often portrayed as close to madness.
Marble sarcophagus with the Triumph of Dionysus and the Seasons. ( Public Domain )
These two gods also both share an attribute called a tympanum, a hand drum that always indicates she is of a foreign cult. Likely because of these similarities, well-known scholar Walter Burkert considers Cybele and Dionysus among the foreign gods imported from the east. One of the few surviving mythological instances of Cybele and Dionysus' connection comes from the 1st century AD by Apollodorus. In Apollodorus' Bibliotheca, Cybele cures Dionysus of his madness, taught him her religious secrets and then set him free to teach the people of Asia Minor (and later Greece) how to cultivate grapes to wine.
The triumph of Dionysus, with a maenad playing a tympanum, on a Roman mosaic from Tunisia (3rd century AD). ( Public Domain )
Cybele’s cult was among the mystery cults of ancient Greece and Rome just as Dionysus’ was, however the rites of the Bacchanalia are a bit more widely discussed than those of the Great Mother. (This may be in part due to the fact that the spot of prominent goddess worship was taken by the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter and Persephone.) However, pertinent to this discussion is not the nature of the rituals themselves, but rather that Cybele and Dionysus' official worshippers appear to have shared many characteristics historically.
Cybele's followers were referred to as Galli, male eunuch priests incorporated into her religion in ancient Rome after she was officially adopted circa 204 BC. These priests castrated themselves on March 24, the Day of Blood or Dies sanguinis. This ecstatic celebration of music and self-flogging included the priests dressing in female clothes and turbans, with an assortment of jewels and long hair. Interestingly, this tradition is somewhat similar to the Bacchant traditions of Dionysus when he was worshipped in ancient Rome (as well as in Greece). The Bacchant rites included women dancing ecstatically while drinking and playing music outdoors. These effeminate Galli are in numerous ways akin to the mortal Maenads.
Cybele holding a tympanum in her left hand. ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )
It is also interesting to note that Dionysus was considered a foreign god who arrived in Greece and later left to learn the various secrets of the eastern world. Cybele, in contrast, definitively came to Greece from the eastern world. The tale from Apollodorus can possibly be interpreted as Dionysus gaining the secrets of Cybele's own worship to incorporate it into the Greek world for her (as males were much more highly respected in all aspects of ancient Greek life). While this consideration is only a theory, it does propose further investigation into the religions of both Cybele and Dionysus.
The Truth Behind the Christ Myth: The Green Man and the Legend of Jesus – Part II
Everything he Touched Turned to Gold: The Myth and Reality of King Midas
The Mother of all Gods: The Phrygian Cybele
Tympanum player from a mosaic depicting a musical group. ( Public Domain )
Top image: [right] 1st century BC marble statue of Cybele from Formia, Lazio ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) [left] Dionysus Louvre Ma87 n2 ( CC BY 2.5 )
By Ryan Stone
Please Note: The contents of this article are based on a cursory examination of the mythological, historical and literary evidence. The article itself is intended to be a broad overview of certain similarities (with certain considerations from the author), rather than an in-depth discussion.
Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.)
Euripides. The Bacchae (Focus Publishing, Massachusetts, 1998.)
Freke, Timothy and Peter Gandy. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? (Harmony Books, New York, 2001.)
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology (Warner Books: New York, 1969.)
Henig, Martin. A Handbook of Roman Art: A comprehensive survey of all the arts of the Roman world (Cornell University Press: New York, 1983.)
Jensen, Robert M. Understanding Early Christian Art (Routledge, Kentucky, 2000.)
Mathews, Thomas. The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1995.)
Rodgers, Nigel. Life in Ancient Rome People and Places (Hermes House: London, 2006.)
Roller, Lynn. In Search of God the Mother: the Cult of Anatolian Cybele. University of California Press: California, 1999.
Roscoe, Will. "Priests of the Goddess: Transgression in Ancient Religion", History of Religions. 35.3. University of Chicago Press, 1996. p. 195-230
Apollodorus
Riley Winters is a recent graduate from Christopher Newport University with a degree in Classical Studies and Art History, and a Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor. She will be attending the University of Glasgow in 2015 for Celtic and Viking Archaeology,... Read More
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25 March, 2019 - 01:01 E. B. Ralbadisole
Atlantis in India: Did Plato’s Lost City Exist in the East?
Available written evidence indicates that a site known as ‘The Lost City of Atlantis’ corresponds to an ancient site in India that has been hidden for millennia. According to this investigation, there has been a major erratum among cartographers resulting in the ancient history of India being hidden.
Atlantis in India
The geological, zoological, botanical, geographical, climatological, sociological and historical evidence found in the region indicates that Girinagar mountain-complex has all the characteristics of the lost civilization of Atlantis . However, the suggestion that this site is Atlantis is still theoretical, a work in progress; therefore we must find physical evidence of this ancestral civilization.
Artifacts of unknown origin at Girinagar. Note the two pieces of the old temple. (Author provided)
The geography and dense cultural environment of India has similarities with few other places around the world, and its emerging archaeological sites suggest a specific preference for this country to be a candidate in the search for the forgotten original land. Known references to Atlantis are associated with Egypt and the Greece of Plato.
Therefore, in the search for an antediluvian pre-classical society having frequent and regular contact with the Greeks, it is prudent not to search for a site located in the Atlantic Ocean or in the Caribbean Sea, where in fact there was an absence of any Greek presence. One should note that artifacts or any other cultural vestiges that indicate the presence of ancient Greece are absent beyond the Italian island of Sicily.
Atlantis Revealed: Plato's Cautionary Tale Was Based On A Real Setting
The Search for a Legendary Land: Does the Truth of Plato’s Atlantis Rest on a Shifting Sea Floor?
In the search for Atlantis, I put it to you that there is a logical destination which was known to the Greeks: Asia, the developed world of that time, the place so many from the Mediterranean were looking to as a source of knowledge and trade opportunities. And in the Peninsula of Khatiawar in West India at the geographical location with the coordinates: 21° 31’ 40” 00 N 70° 31’ 40” 00 E, a mountain-complex presenting rare geological features has been identified.
We believe that this mountain-complex, locally called Girnar or Girinagar Mountain, shows all the historical and geomorphological characteristics of the civilization mentioned by the Greek philosopher Plato in 350 BC, the so called: “ Lost City of Atlantis ”.
Girnar Mountain. (Google Maps)
Why the Shift to the West?
The geographical references of the Greek historical and religious accounts have been diverted from the East, the obvious place of great interest, to the West, the land of the early ‘barbarians’, a land with little known civilization in the eras before the present. But the strait where Iran and Oman lie today was the gate to the unknown world of the East, a place where the ancient cultures developed first. Perhaps for the ancient Greeks, the Columns of Hercules were not in Gibraltar but at the end of the Persian Gulf, and beyond was the Indus Valley Civilization . Yet historical records cannot confirm the exact position of the Columns of Hercules. All we know about the Columns of Hercules and the Atlantic Ocean is a long series of repetitions of an initial assumption based on a possible historical erratum.
The major alteration may have been conceived during the European Middle Ages, possibly to divert attention from India. During the Middle Ages, the Tribunal of the Inquisition was actively judging pagans and heretics who worshipped ancient religions. This theory postulates that the erratum went so far that the German-Dutch cartographer, Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), named the ocean passing Gibraltar the “Atlantic Ocean”. It is possible that Mercator used a reversed Middle Ages map, confusing the historical reports and substituting what was in the East with Gibraltar. Although the research is still in progress, we have reason to believe, therefore, that in the ancient past, for the Ancient Greeks, the cultures of references were located toward the East - Mesopotamia and India.
Mercator 1569 world map ( Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accommodata ) showing latitudes 66°S to 80°N. ( Public Domain )
Modifying Ancient Maps
Ancient cartographers used to work on old maps, modifying the existing knowledge to a different version of geography. As Mercator was a fervent servant of the State of the Church, he certainly had access to the archives in Rome, the old maps, and old manuscripts. Thus it is unlikely that Mercator would have made such a colossal mistake; he knew more about the ancient past of the world than anybody else. And in 1594, upon his death, his family published a new version of the Atlas ( Map of the World ). Because this was not done under Mercator’s supervision, someone may have changed something.
There is also another possible explanation: Mercator was very close to the Franciscan friars in the monastery of Mechlen, in particular to Friar Monachus; he was even jailed for this relationship, probably by the Protestant authority of the time. Monachus was an advisor on cartography with strong links to Rome who had a decisive influence over Mercator’s research throughout his career. Every scholar writing and creating references after Mercator assumed that the cartographer was right, so a long series of errors has occurred since the Atlas was printed.
But the mistake may be even older. There was a Byzantine cartographer born in Greece in the 6th century AD, Cosmas Indicopleustes, who spread the tale of the flat Earth . He might also be responsible for the deception in reversing the map of the world, apparently at the request of an unspecified high authority. In his book, reprinted in 1897 , Christian Topography, Cosmas said that Noah was living in the Garden of Eden and this was located to the East (of Greece) near the ocean that encircled the world.
‘Landscape of Paradise and the Loading of the Animals in Noah’s Ark’ (1596) by Jan Brueghel the Elder. ( Public Domain )
Life After a Supervolcano Eruption
But let us back up in time: Circa 74,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the supervolcano Toba erupted , causing a massive blackout of the sky above the entire planet. For six years the Earth’s atmosphere was filled with ash and for another 1000 years the planet experienced continuous exceptionally wintry conditions.
The volcanic winter forced people from Central Asia to move south to milder conditions. Tribes from today’s Russia and even as far as Europe might have reached Africa and West India in search of warmer conditions, carrying the paternal chromosome R1a1a.
Does Bimini Road Lead to The Lost Civilization of Atlantis?
Origins of Gold Spill the Secret of a Lost Culture. Does the Treasure of El Carambolo Lead to Atlantis?
Illustration of what the Toba eruption might have looked like around 42 km (26.1 miles) above northern Sumatra. (Anynobody/ CC BY SA 4.0 )
In North India, prehistoric men settled on the high ground of the Bhimbetka Caves and along the Narmada River. Because the eruption of Toba shielded sunlight, temperatures dropped to freezing conditions; hunter-gatherers, unprepared for this sudden change, were certainly dying, even in tropical latitudes, both in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Paintings in Rock Shelter 8, Bhimbetka, India. (Bernard Gagnon/ CC BY SA 3.0 )
However, there is the possibility that men moving along the Narmada River reached the Indian Ocean where deep water was warming the coast, releasing heat stored in periods before the volcanic winter. Walking around the Kathiawar Peninsula, the surviving tribes found a certain number of geothermal hot water sources. According to Plato, Atlantis had hot water from the ground, and in fact, the state of Gujarat is a volcanically active area where several geothermal hot water sources are still active.
The Sanatoria on the right side of the West canal at Girinagar. (Author provided)
A Different Take on The Biblical Flood
A new approach to the Biblical flood explains how the world was destroyed, not from the ocean, as we hear from different sources, but from the mountains. Atlantis and the Garden of Eden were buried not under the sea, but under a wave of mud, while the mountain where the Citadel of Atlantis stood is still there, emerging from land destroyed by a deluge that filled its canals, ports, lakes, fountains, all the sacred waters - the essence of Atlantis.
A large scale event such as a regional earthquake or a meteorite could have set this in motion by breaking the banks of several glacial lakes existing in the Himalayas, for example the Chandra Valley Glacier and other lakes located at the base of the Himalaya range, where melting ice created large basins of water over many centuries. A tilt in the Earth’s orbit could have produced a major natural disaster during the later period of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Water storage and ritual wells might be the ones made a very long time ago. (Author provided)
A chain of events made these lakes collapse and produced a series of waves that traveled for over 1000 kilometers (621.37 miles) over the flat plains of West India along the two large rivers present at the time (the Indus and the Saraswati), and the water was channeled among two mountain ranges, the Sulhaiman Range to the west and the Aravalli Range to the east.
When the flood came down from the Himalayas it destroyed villages, farms, plantations, buildings - everything but the Citadel. This tip of the city-state was a symbol, a holy icon emerging from underground and is depicted in many cultures either in drawings or as a character in glyphs or ideograms as a peak or a tree emerging from the waters. Melting ice then raised the level of the world’s oceans by 120 meters (393.7 feet) while a shoal of mud blocked all passages and water supplies.
Orichalcum: Legendary Metal of Atlantis, Or Just A Common Ore?
The Great Pyramid at Giza and Noah’s Ark: Are we coming closer to an understanding of the Ancient Mind? Part I
The Ash Yggdrasil". The Norse world tree Yggdrasil and some of its inhabitants (1886) by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine. ( Public Domain )
The Importance of Atlantis
The lost civilization of Atlantis, as named by the Greek philosophers, is potentially the missing link between the hunter-gatherers and complex cultures such as Predynastic Egypt. The sudden development of agriculture in Mesopotamia and structured cities in the Mediterranean, and the way in which other cultures which resemble these have been found as far away as Mexico and Perú can be explained as a missing piece perfectly fitting the empty center of the mosaic.
The results of this research have the potential to link the written records with a physical place in a location that is credible. Virtually this entire section of history falls into place when comparing the evidence from many years of work by archaeologists. The discovery of the place where Atlantis once stood is a turning point to explain thousands of years of missing links.
This article is a summary of a work in progress paper of findings from written and other evidence, which can be found in the full length paper at Ralbadisole.org.
Top Image: Ancient town ruins. Underwater background. Was Atlantis actually in India? Source: Regisser.com /Adobe Stock
By E. B. Ralbadisole
Girnar mountain
Girinagar mountain
E. B.
Having started out life in Italy, Eugenio was in a group of motorcycle folks until around
25 years old when he left for Japan where he spent some time in a Buddhist temple studying. He started worshipping Mountains, Seas and... Read More
kitnkaat wrote on 26 March, 2019 - 19:04 Permalink
I like the idea of a wall of mud burying Atlantis. At least that’s new. The rest seems flimsy at best
Satheesh Kumar wrote on 25 March, 2019 - 11:44 Permalink
the missing link is not in gujarat. its way down submerged in indian ocean named kumarikandam which belongs to the tamil civilisation. the forefather's of the present world
George Metaxas wrote on 25 March, 2019 - 09:32 Permalink
There are a lot of assumptions in the article, and the only concrete element in Plato's story is disregarded. That is the position of Atlantis ouside of the Pillars or Columns of Hercules, well known to ancient Greeks as been to the west of Greece, and by all accounts been the present day Gibraltar. The circular shape of mountainous Girnar resemples nowhere the plane land of Atlantis, protected only from north by mountains according to Plato, neither comes close to the size of the Atlantean island (it could also be a peninsula), that was huge.
26 June, 2019 - 14:22 ancient-origins
Race Against Time and Tide To Rescue Trove of Treasures At Siberian Atlantis
By Svetlana Skarbo /The Siberian Times Unique necropoli in the remote republic of Tuva, with more than a hundred undisturbed burials from the Bronze Age to the time of Genghis Khan , immerge eerily...
Read more about Race Against Time and Tide To Rescue Trove of Treasures At Siberian Atlantis
30 May, 2019 - 01:29 mrreese
The Lost City of Aztlan – Legendary Homeland of the Aztecs
Is Aztlan the ancient homeland of the great Aztec civilization, or is it just a mythical land described in legends? The Aztec people of Mexico created one of the most important empires of the ancient...
Read more about The Lost City of Aztlan – Legendary Homeland of the Aztecs
3 April, 2019 - 02:01 Alicia McDermott
Researchers Get Closer to Finding the Origins of the Enigmatic Guanches…and No, They are Not Atlanteans
The Guanches were the white-skinned and fair-haired aboriginal people of the Canary Islands. With their location so near to North Africa, their origins have long presented a mystery for researchers...
Read more about Researchers Get Closer to Finding the Origins of the Enigmatic Guanches…and No, They are Not Atlanteans
13 March, 2019 - 17:05 Bryan Hill
Hy-Brasil: The Legendary Phantom Island of Ireland
Hy-Brasil is a mysterious island appearing on maps from 1325 to the 1800s. In Irish myth, it was said to be clouded in mist except for one day every seven years, when it became visible but still...
Read more about Hy-Brasil: The Legendary Phantom Island of Ireland
27 February, 2019 - 18:11 jim willis
Shifting Earth Crusts: Does the Ancient Piri Reis Map Pinpoint Atlantis?
A master’s degree post graduate from Harvard University, Charles Hapgood served on what would eventually become the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and was a liaison officer between the White House...
Read more about Shifting Earth Crusts: Does the Ancient Piri Reis Map Pinpoint Atlantis?
Ancient Underwater Ruins Found off the Coast of Spain… Atlantis Again?
The coast of southern Spain is an archaeological wonderland with thousands of ruins from ancient Roman and Greek cultures, but hidden among these crumbling stones, scientists from a private satellite...
Read more about Ancient Underwater Ruins Found off the Coast of Spain… Atlantis Again?
New Human Ancestor Species Discovered… And it had a Tail!
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No appeasement for North Korea
30 Sep 2016|Christopher R. Hill
Earlier this month, North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test—its second this year. Judging by the tremor detected, it was the North’s most powerful nuclear device ever. The question now is how the international community should respond.
That question has become all the more acute because, though North Korean reports aren’t exactly reliable, the propaganda that accompanied the latest test hinted that the North was testing a weapon design, not just an explosive device. And, as South Korean officials have suggested, it may not be the last test of this year. In other words, North Korea may begin to stockpile weapons of mass destruction.
Not only have the North’s recent nuclear tests been more powerful than those of previous years; they’ve also been conducted alongside an equally robust series of tests of ballistic missiles, including submarine launches and multi-stage rocket launches, with much more powerful engines. This means that North Korea may be close to perfecting a delivery system for whatever weapons it’s developing.
No one can say for sure whether a deliverable weapon will come from North Korea in the next two years, four years, or later. But there is little doubt that the North Koreans are not just seeking attention; they are seeking a powerful bomb and the means to use it.
As expected, the international community has unvaryingly condemned the tests. But not everyone agrees on what else to do. Some observers, including New York Times contributor Joel S. Wit and former intelligence officer Scott Ritter, declare that now would be an appropriate time to initiate talks with the North Koreans.
The logic behind such suggestions seems to come down to, ‘What have we got to lose?’ The answer is simple: plenty.
Such talks—‘dialogue’ as the Chinese often call it—would most likely bring with it a general acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear-weapons state. Moreover, the North would be unlikely to engage in any such talks, much less impose a moratorium on weapons tests, unless some of their longstanding demands—such as the suspension of joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea—were met.
This Realpolitik approach, some seem to believe, will somehow diminish whatever power the North Koreans wield, essentially disarming them. But the truth is that the North has done nothing to earn such appeasement. And, in fact, if the international community were to make any such conciliatory gestures, the result would be a bolder North Korea.
But there’s a good reason why the international community—and the United States, in particular—has refused to agree to North Korea’s terms, particularly the suspension of US–South Korea military exercises. Joint military exercises are an essential part of any alliance. If two countries agree to mutual defence, they need to ensure that their cooperation is practiced and perfected. That is precisely why North Korea, which knows a thing or two about the need for tests and exercises, has made the issue a top propaganda priority.
Instead of giving into such demands, the US has long held that it will engage in talks with North Korea only if they are based on previous agreements, including the September 2005 joint statement, which obliged the North to abandon all nuclear programs. This is a sensible position. After all, launching new talks that ignored past obligations would cast doubt on the viability of any new accord.
To be sure, pursuant to a February 2007 agreement, North Korea did take concrete steps to disable its nuclear facilities, including demolition of the cooling tower at its main atomic reactor in the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in June 2008. Such measures were supposed to brake the country’s nuclear momentum, by ensuring that restarting the program would be costly—perhaps even prohibitively so.
But, by restarting its nuclear program without rebuilding the cooling tower, North Korea has avoided many of those costs. Kim Jong-un’s regime—which has as little regard for the environment as it does for international rules and norms—simply called for the steaming water used to cool the reactor to be dumped into a nearby river.
Against this background, the argument for talks is weak. After all, negotiations are simply a means to an end, and if that end is unclear or unlikely, it makes little sense to engage in them. Instead, the international community should reject North Korea’s demands outright, ending the regime’s fantasy that the world will simply accept it as a nuclear-weapons state.
Fortunately, the international community’s response to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions generally aligns with this imperative. What’s needed is more cooperation with China on sanctions enforcement, as well as deep and quiet talks with the Chinese that aim to address any strategic mistrust over the eventual political arrangements on the Korean Peninsula.
The US should also continue to strengthen its security relations with Japan and South Korea, including by developing and deploying antiballistic missile systems. Direct measures like those that were allegedly used to hamper Iran’s nuclear program should be explored and accelerated.
None of this is to say that engaging North Korea is not an option. On the contrary, previous agreements should remain on the table. The September 2005 deal addressed North Korea’s key national interests: it gained assurances of peace and diplomatic recognition, in exchange for the dismantling of its nuclear program.
If the Kim regime really wants an opportunity to join the international community, it has everything it needs, written, agreed, and ready to be implemented. If, however, it wants to continue its march toward nuclearisation, it should know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it will remain a pariah. Its status as a nuclear-weapons state will never be accepted.
Christopher R. Hill, former US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, is Dean of the Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, and the author of Outpost: Life on the Frontiers of American Diplomacy. This article is presented in partnership with Project Syndicate © 2016. Image courtesy of Flickr user Gilad Rom.
weapons of mass destruction
India–Pakistan relations: the dangerous drift towards militarisation
The coming confrontation with North Korea
A shifting Asian nuclear order
East Asia 2036
China coming between old friends
A no first use policy reduces the risk of nuclear war
Nuclear weapons and first use
Nuclear weapons: are we creeping closer to a ban?
The DPRK and a nuclear no-first-use policy
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Home Football Basketball Baseball Hockey Other Shop
HomeFootballBasketballBaseballHockeyOtherShop
On September 20, 2001, I witnessed one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard in my life.
I was the head coach at South Carolina, and our team was on the road to play Mississippi State University. It was a significant moment for both teams, because we were playing in the first major college football game following the September 11 attacks.
Our game was on a Thursday night, on national television, and before the game started the players from both teams held this American flag that covered the width of the football field. It was an incredibly powerful moment.
But even more powerful was what happened during our team chapel.
Adrian Despres, our team chaplain, stood in front of our players and put things in perspective for us.
Nine days ago, when the twin towers were burning, several brave policeman and fireman ran into a burning building to save people's lives. A lot of people are saved because of them. Can you imagine if you saved somebody's life, to go into a burning building? Think how great a feeling it would be to save somebody else.
Then he finished it with a powerful comparison.
You save a life for a couple of years, but you save a soul for eternity.
That speech was over 17 years ago, and I still haven't forgotten it. I've tried to show players what being a Christian is all about. In our playbook I would include little Bible phrases, like "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," or "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
I hope they served as little reminders to my players to have courage and strength, which we all needed when I got to South Carolina.
You see, the year before I arrived in Columbia in 1999, the Gamecocks had gone 1-10. And in my first year we somehow managed to take a step farther back, as we went 0-11. Even for a program that had only won a single bowl game in its history before I got there, this was still unacceptable.
But during those tough times we learned a lot about ourselves, and what God calls us to do in times of adversity. We had about 98 or 99 percent attendance during our team chapels, and even though we didn't know it, we were about to engineer the greatest turnaround in NCAA history.
(Title photo courtesy of South Carolina Athletics)
Thomas Hager December 22, 2018
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