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SVTA says to Sequoia Healthcare District:
"Education First!"
Attention San Mateo Voters!
Every year, $8 million of your tax money is going to random causes you never approved.
You can prevent that, and free up that money for purposes like education, by voting to disband the unneeded bureaucracy of the Sequoia Healthcare District (SHCD).
You can send a message to the District that you want the District dissolved, by voting only for candidate Jack Hickey, a current District board member and one of three candidates on your November 6 ballot.
What's this all about?
Sequoia Healthcare District (SHCD) is left over from Sequoia Hospital District, which was formed in 1946 to run Sequoia Hospital.
From the report of the 2000-2001 Grand Jury, "SEQUOIA HEALTHCARE DISTRICT TAX REVENUES":
"...the voters of the Sequoia Hospital District may not know:
"They are still being taxed to maintain a hospital that the district does not now own.
"Their taxes are not going for the purpose of maintaining the hospital.
"The revenues in great part are not going for the purposes described in the 1996 Measure H."
"In 1996 the voters of the district approved Measure H that, among other things, sold some assets of the district, including the hospital, to Catholic HealthCare West (CHW), a private non-profit organization. By this sale, maintenance of the hospital became the responsibility of CHW."
SHCD's response to the report included:
"The report states that the voters are still being taxed for a hospital the District does not own. That is technically correct."
It turns out that you can send a clear message that you want to shut down the hospital district that's got no hospital!
Current SHCD director Jack Hickey is running what he calls a voter poll.
"A vote for Jack Hickey--and only Jack Hickey--
is a vote to shut down the District."
From the Hickey campaign web site:
"The issue is simple. Voters established a hospital district in 1946 to build, operate and maintain a hospital. Property taxes were assessed for this purpose and Sequoia Hospital was built. The district sold Sequoia Hospital in 1996. Mission accomplished! It is now wholly owned, maintained and operated by Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West). The District should have been dissolved, with their taxes going directly to schools, fire districts, cities, the county, etc. Incumbents Kane and Griffin want the District to keep collecting those taxes. They think their choice of beneficiaries, which include many worthwhile charities, is what the voters want. I disagree. So did two San Mateo County Civil Grand Juries (2000-2001 & 2001-2002)!"
Hasn't the vigilant campaign of SHCD board member Jack Hickey to disband the District earned our support by now?
On Tuesday, Nov. 6,
let's send the message to end this unneeded District,
by casting one and only one vote for
Jack Hickey for Sequoia Health Care District.
Paid for by the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association PAC.
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About TrackSAFE
In October 2013 TrackSAFE amalgamated with New Zealand rail safety charity the Chris Cairns Foundation to form TrackSAFE NZ.
TrackSAFE Foundation New Zealand (TrackSAFE NZ) is a charitable trust incorporated under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957 and governed by a Board of Directors.
The not-for-profit Trust aims to raise awareness about rail safety in New Zealand and educate the public on how to keep themselves safe around tracks and trains. In doing so, TrackSAFE aims to reduce the number of rail-related incidents in New Zealand.
The Trust was formerly known as the Chris Cairns Foundation, which was set up in 2006 by former international cricketer Chris Cairns. He set up the organisation in memory of his sister Louise who was killed in a level crossing collision between a truck and a passenger train in 1993. In October 2013, the Chris Cairns Foundation became TrackSAFE NZ – amalgamating with harm prevention charity TrackSAFE in Australia.
The two organisations signed a memorandum of understanding at the launch which recognises their common interests and commitment to promoting safety and reducing incidents in both countries.
TrackSAFE NZ predominantly focuses on education and awareness raising activities which include:
Rail safety advertising;
Publicity and media relations;
Awareness raising events and campaigns; and
Promoting best practice safety education to schools and the rail industry
TrackSAFE also works closely with key stakeholder groups – acting as an advocate for ongoing improvement in the rail and road network to eliminate hazards and reduce incidents.
Megan Drayton
Foundation Manager
Phone: +64 4 498 2010 | Mobile: +64 274 727 002 | Email: megan.drayton@tracksafe.co.nz
Web: www.tracksafe.co.nz
Address: Level 4, Wellington Railway Station, Bunny Street, Wellington 6011
Postal Address: PO Box 593 Wellington 6140, New Zealand
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Daily Ratings & News for Falcon Minerals
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Falcon Minerals Corp (NASDAQ:FLMN) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts
Posted by Linda Flegge on Dec 10th, 2019
Shares of Falcon Minerals Corp (NASDAQ:FLMN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.48.
FLMN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Co assumed coverage on Falcon Minerals in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup set a $8.00 price target on Falcon Minerals and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Falcon Minerals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 18th. ValuEngine raised Falcon Minerals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut Falcon Minerals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.
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In other Falcon Minerals news, major shareholder Hite Hedge Asset Management Ll sold 176,400 shares of Falcon Minerals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.04, for a total value of $1,241,856.00. Insiders sold 322,669 shares of company stock worth $2,176,423 in the last 90 days. 15.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FLMN. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Falcon Minerals in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC bought a new stake in Falcon Minerals during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY bought a new stake in Falcon Minerals during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Falcon Minerals in the third quarter worth about $84,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Falcon Minerals in the second quarter worth about $86,000. Institutional investors own 38.99% of the company’s stock.
NASDAQ:FLMN opened at $6.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $540.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 6.05, a current ratio of 6.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $6.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.84. Falcon Minerals has a 52 week low of $5.31 and a 52 week high of $9.53.
Falcon Minerals (NASDAQ:FLMN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $15.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.30 million. Falcon Minerals had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 22.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Falcon Minerals will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were issued a $0.135 dividend. This represents a $0.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Falcon Minerals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 270.00%.
About Falcon Minerals
Falcon Minerals Corporation acquires and owns mineral, royalty, and over-riding royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties in North America. It owns interests covering approximately 256,000 gross unit acres in the Eagle Ford Shale and Austin Chalk in Karnes, DeWitt, and Gonzales Counties in Texas, as well as approximately 68,000 gross unit acres in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that is prospective for the Marcellus Shale.
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Cow burps and climate change: How eating meat is destroying the planet
By Joseph Earp
“Gaia likes it cold” – Tanya Tagaq, ‘Cold’
The Bad News: Things Are About To Get Much, Much Worse
“Humans on Earth behave in some ways like a pathogenic organism … The human species is now so numerous as to constitute a serious planetary malady. Gaia is suffering from Disseminated Pramtemaia, a plague of people.” – James Lovelock
We are living in a new age now. Some have called it the Anthropocene: an epoch in which temporary human gains result in ecological disasters; a period defined by extinctions and tragedies as definitively placed as boundary markers on a football field. Occasional environmental horrors are the new norm, and once “safe” animals like the giraffe are hurtling towards an inglorious end. “We are currently witnessing the start of a mass extinction event the likes of which have not been seen on Earth for at least 65 million years,” writes James Dyke.
Yet the Anthropocene could also be feasibly labelled the era of the “I Told You So”. After all, decades of climate-related scientific studies – many of which were categorically ignored, tackled only by the intellectually masochistic – have finally become reality, as the restrained, concerned tone of academics has been swapped for near-hysteria.
Indeed, it should be surprising to no one that climate scientists are suffering from nothing less than clinical pre-traumatic stress. “Nearly all climate scientists harbor serious doubts about the industrialized (and industrializing) world’s willingness to meet the challenges we face, which of course compounds their trauma,” writes Jack Holmes.
Occasional environmental horrors are the new norm, and once “safe” animals like the giraffe are hurtling towards an inglorious end.
Those fears are grounded, it seems. 2016 was the hottest year on record; 2017 was even hotter than that. According to NASA, levels of arctic ice were at the lowest ever recorded last March, while the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is at its very highest. And just two years ago, scientists working away at the suitably named Cape Grim in Tasmania measured 400 ppm of Co2 in the atmosphere, a symbolic marker that stands as testament to the seemingly unshakeable prevalence of fossil fuels. “It’s a bit sooner than we expected,” a scientist named Paul Krummel told Fairfax at the time.
Those could well be the words chiselled into humanity’s gravestone. The horrors of climate change are accumulating faster than most projections, and even calm ecologists now believe the human race is locked in a cycle of knock-on effects, with the ongoing acidification of the ocean, the mass dying off of trees and vegetation and the widespread devastation of endemic species all ensuring further warming.
That’s not even to mention the more abrupt shifts waiting ahead of us: as the author Naomi Klein notes in her terrifying, anxiety-addled premonition This Changes Everything, “once we allow temperatures to climb past a certain point, where the mercury stops is not in our control.” Climate change is not some gentle bell curve: it is a self-fulfilling cycle, one that will quite soon speed up to a point of horrifying, frenetic destruction.
Climate change is not some gentle bell curve.
“We are now closer to the risk of crossing thresholds or tipping points, which are large features of [a] climate system prone to abrupt, irreversible change when a critical threshold level of temperature rise is reached,” Dr Martin Rice, the head of research for the Climate Council says to the BRAG.
“Examples include loss of the Greenland ice sheet, the partial conversion of the Amazon rainforest to a savanna or grassland, and the large scale emission of carbon dioxide and methane from thawing permafrost. Each of these examples would cause very significant disruptions to the climate system, with knock-on effects for human societies.
“For example, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet would eventually raise sea level by approximately seven metres,” he continues. “[That would] commit humanity to continuously rising sea levels for centuries or millennia, devastating major coastal cities worldwide.”
Yet sea level rise is only one of a near comical litany of horrors awaits us, with each atrocity proving more unexpected and unusual than the next. For example, there are concerns that the melting of sea ice will unleash centuries-old diseases; that ancient illnesses will wreak havoc on an unprepared global populace. After all, as John Gray points out in his prescient philosophical treatise Straw Dogs, “our bodies are bacterial communities, linked indissolubly with a largely bacterial biosphere”, meaning any widespread alteration to global temperature levels will have a direct, potentially terminal, biological impact.
There are concerns that the melting of sea ice will unleash centuries-old diseases.
“We’re physiologically evolved to manage within a particular climatic zone,” epidemiologist Alistair Woodward told Mashable this year. “But if climate changes quickly, whether temperature goes up or down, we’re stressed. And one of the expressions of that stress is a greater vulnerability to disease, injury and ill-health.”
Then there’s the vulnerability of our food sources. Boom and bust farming patterns are precarious enough as it is, and will be directly threatened by rising temperatures. “Even a modest shift in climate could have massive consequences on yields and revenues,” writes Paul Roberts in The End Of Food.
“Higher temperatures boost pest populations and allow insects, fungi, weeds and other pests to migrate into farming regions that were previously uninfested … Higher temperatures also stimulate soil bacteria … which accelerates the decay of soil organic matter and thus reduces the soil’s capacity to store and transport nutrients and water.”
Australia is not safe from such threats either. “Australia’s food supply chain is highly exposed to disruption from increasing extreme weather events driven by climate change, with farmers already struggling to cope with more frequent and intense droughts and changing weather patterns,” says Dr Rice.
“Water scarcity, heat stress and increased climatic variability in our most productive agricultural regions, such as the Murray Darling Basin, are key risks for our food security, economy, and dependent industries and communities.”
Of course, such issues will be further compounded if warming renders large sections of the planet inhospitable – and there is evidence enough to suggest that the Middle East and North Africa will become uninhabitable over the course of the next 50 years, meaning “more than 500 million people” will be displaced.
The world’s contemporary refugee crisis will be but a taste of what is to come. Amplify the current situation tenfold and add both a strained food production system and the possibility of widespread plagues and it is not hard to see why many predict that the endpoint of these numerous stresses is war. “Climate change will exacerbate regional and local tensions in ‘hot zones’ around the world,” reads an article on the American Security Project website. “In these regions, the impacts of a changing climate will act as an accelerant of instability.”
Ultimately, it is not hard to see why the likes of John Gray believe full-scale global civilizational collapse is imminent. “Humans are like any other plague animal,” he writes with his trademark detached cynicism. “They cannot destroy the Earth, but they can easily wreck the environment that sustains them … [It is] likely … that disseminated primatemaia [a plague of people] will be cured by a large-scale decline in human numbers.”
This is not all paranoid speculation, though it might sound it. Even the most extreme of effects listed above is supported by a plethora of evidence. After all, about a hundred years ago scientists were asking questions about the existence of climate change. About 50 years ago they were arguing if it could be avoided. Today the argument is not whether it exists, or if we can bypass it, but if the human race can survive it. That is the bottom line.
Is It Food’s Fault?: The Impact Of A Meat-Heavy Diet
“Meat’s increasing cheapness has not only allowed more people to eat it more often but has also effectively embedded meat deeply in the food economy.” – Paul Roberts, The End Of Food
Yet even as humans lay waste to a staggering 75 per cent of the endemic species on earth, there are other creatures that we enact crueller, more unusual punishments upon. In contrast to the range of dwindling, under-pressure animal populations around the world, the global number of meat and dairy animals is rising, as the creatures we breed for consumption are forced into increasingly cramped, increasingly inhumane conditions.
The human race is outnumbered. There are three livestock animals to every human on the planet, meaning that “at any one moment, the number of meat and milk animals is roughly 25 billion”. Accordingly then, a near ruling share of the planet’s surface is farmland, with the journalist Bryan Walsh noting that “some 40 per cent of the world’s land surface is used for the purposes of keeping all … of us fed,” with about 30 per cent of that used for livestock rearing.
Though anecdotally one might believe that vegetarian and vegan diets are rapidly taking hold, the facts simply do not support such a worldview. Meat is becoming an ever more important foundation of the global diet, with beef consumption in particular set to climb “by 25 per cent over the next 15 years.”
We cannot shake our carnivorous habits it seems, even as meat increases our cancer risk, contributes to global obesity rates – and, crucially, leads to the widespread destruction of the environment. Our meat-heavy diet isn’t only affecting our health. It’s affecting the health of the planet.
According to a controversial study published in 2006 by the Food And Agriculture Organisation, meat production accounts for about 18 per cent of human-caused greenhouse gases – a figure that has even been criticised by some for being too low. Indeed, a report published in 2009 went so far as to argue that food production is responsible for a startling 51 per cent of carbon emissions, with beef production in particular posing a significant strain on an already at-risk global resource pool.
Whatever the exact figure, the takeaway is largely the same: our reliance on cattle is killing us. For instance, cows not only produce more carbon than cars, they also contribute directly to deforestation. “Deforestation has huge implications for climate change,” Dr Rice says. “Forests store large amounts of carbon … When forests are cleared or burnt, stored carbon is released into the atmosphere, mainly as carbon dioxide. Deforestation accounts for roughly 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.”
That’s not even to mention the incredible pressure cattle put on humanity’s water supplies. A single pound of beef reared in the US requires 1,800 gallons of water, with food production in general taking up a staggering two thirds of our total global water footprint.
Then there’s cow burps.
Then there’s cow burps. Cattle don’t just drain resources, they actively pump methane into the environment, their unnaturally corn-rich diets helping disrupt their regular digestive processes and leading to an excess of gas. “According to a Danish study, the average cow produces enough methane per year to do the same greenhouse damage as four tons of carbon dioxide,” writes Matt Blitz.
Scarier still is the surprisingly minimal energy conversion involved in beef production. As Roberts notes, 60 per cent of a cow is considered waste, disposed of before it even reaches your plate. “The modern cow needs at least seven pounds of feed to put on a pound of live weight – nearly twice that of pigs and more than triple that of chickens,” Roberts writes in The End Of Food. “Worse, because so much more of a cow’s weight is inedible – 60 per cent is bone, organ, and hide – … beef’s true conversion rate is actually far lower.”
To that end, beef isn’t just a means of damaging the environment; it’s a strikingly inefficient way to harvest and redistribute food energy. And what with the effects of climate change beginning to accumulate and multiply, efficiency is soon going to become more important than ever. As our water supplies become strained, as land must be abandoned, and as droughts and storms ravage the corn we grow to feed our livestock, our already unsustainable cattle production industry is set to fall into tatters.
Ultimately, we are relying on a system that cannot be sustained. And consider that ‘we’ very localised – Australia is the “meat eating capital of the world”, and beef production accounts for exactly half of all agricultural farmland in this country . Although it might be true that we use less water than Americans in our means of production – beef lobbies are very keen to distance themselves from a range of Stateside methods, for obvious reasons – all other issues remain the same.
We are setting ourselves up to fail; leaning in to a coming catastrophe our politicians won’t even acknowledge. And every day that we do, we dwindle down our alternatives, leaving us relying on a system as outdated and destructive as fossil fuel production. Roberts says it best: “The meat-rich diets of the West simply don’t work on a global level.”
Unsurprisingly, the beef industry is working hard to wash its hands of all this. Anti-cattle studies play hard and loose with the facts, lobbyists say. The carbon imprint of cattle production has been exaggerated, they say. Beef is no worse for the environment than any other meat, they say. We don’t deserve to lose our jobs, they say.
And, for what it’s worth, beef lobbyists in Australia are certainly making a lot of noise about their attempts to offset the industry’s impact. Target 100, a local initiative, is attempting to educate both farmers and the population at large about the ability to grow and distribute ethical meat. Their website, one long, extended pat on the back, stresses that emissions associated with cattle production have been in decline since the ’90s, thanks to insidious developments such as “increased survival rates” and “heavier finishing weights”.
There are other widely circulated beef “breakthroughs” being bandied around the place too, as the industry promises change rather than face total obsolescence. One of the more interesting developments, for instance, involves substituting cattle’s usual corn-dominated diet for seaweed. Seaweed is more prevalent than one might think – 25 million tonnes of the stuff is farmed each year – and results in significantly less methane produced by cattle. As a food source, seaweed is also considerably more environmentally friendly than corn: it’s easier to grow, easier to distribute, and richer in nutrients.
There are numerous other solutions making the rounds too, some of them government directed. Emission Reduction Funds are available, designed to support farmers in “increasing the fat content of a milking cow’s diet” by introducing additives such as canola meal. Such a move, the fund’s proponents say, will see methane emissions reduced by the introduction of fat, meaning carbon production will be dramatically offset.
Yet such attempts are ultimately about as useful as rewording a problem without answering it. Climate change is no longer avoidable, its early symptoms are inescapable, and direct action is needed to halt the very worst of what is coming. Remaining reliant on the beef industry – a $17 billion behemoth – is a threat no amount of surface level change is going to fix.
And anything less than a total reimagining should be considered a surface level change: the above listed alterations, for example, are largely cosmetic, and deliberately underplay a range of other issues associated with cattle production. Even if the industry curbs its still sizeable carbon problem – which seems unlikely, given its habit of drowning out cattle critics rather than effectively communicating with them – that won’t alter the issues of pollution or deforestation, twin threats embedded deep in beef production. “Demand management has to be part of the solution as well,” says CSIRO scientist Mario Herrero, simply.
The Future Of Food: What Can Be Done To Help?
“Nothing is inevitable. Nothing except that climate change changes everything. And for a very brief time, the nature of that change is up to us.” – Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything
Humans are not good at change: particularly not when it has to be speedy. Alterations to global attitudes happen slowly, over decades, as ideas once considered fringe are gradually adopted into the mainstream. So although a majority of global citizens now agree that climate change is real, they are yet to accept that it is an “immediate threat”. As a result, “getting people to ‘go green’ requires policymakers, scientists and marketers to look at psychological barriers to change and what leads people to action” according to a report produced by the American Psychological Association.
Of course, analysing such psychological barriers takes time – and time, again, is something we are significantly lacking in. In order to stop the knock-on cycle of climate change’s worst effects, we must curtail our emissions almost immediately. Otherwise, it will not matter if the beginnings of a warmed world’s catastrophes scare us into cleaning up our act: when we get past a certain point, there is no turning back.
“Pushing global temperatures past certain thresholds could trigger … potentially irreversible changes,” reads a report by the American Association For The Advancement Of Science, cited in This Changes Everything. “At that point, even if we do not add any additional CO2 to the atmosphere, potentially unstoppable processes are set in motion. We can think of this as sudden climate brake and steering failure where the problem and its consequences are no longer something we can control.”
What, then, can we do to avoid such a fate? Should we uniformly reject a meat diet, turning our collective backs on the entire international livestock industry? The answer is, of course, no. Even if this was possible – which is hard to imagine – it could not be achieved nearly fast enough. And even if meat were to be rejected tomorrow, perhaps thanks to some international ban, we are yet to prepare an alternative.
That, after all, is part of the problem. Capitalism is a self-perpetuating system. Growth is everything, regression is death. Suddenly altering an organic cycle of supply and demand would be akin to thrusting a stick into the spokes of the bicycle you’re riding: global systems, particularly ones as widespread and ingrained as the meat industry, cannot simply disappear. Clearly, they must be slowly phased out to avoid mass unemployment and catastrophic food wastage.
The hope then is not mass veganism.
The hope then is not mass veganism – though certainly going two days out of the week without meat, an option pushed by Arnold Schwarzenegger of all people, would be the most sensible course of action for those seeking to offset their carbon footprint in the short term. But in the long term, what the human race needs now more than ever is not for its meat heavy diet to be totally abandoned, but for the source of meat itself to be altered. And in that way, two clear options have arisen.
The first is the widespread consumption of insects. No doubt to many, few concepts could claim to be as repulsive. After all, though a range of Eastern diets feature crickets and grubs, for Westerners, eating insects is an idea so outlandish as to fall well outside the window of what the public is willing to consider culturally acceptable.
Yet the benefits of such a move are almost innumerable. Unlike the ineffective energy redistribution proffered via a side of beef, insects are exceedingly nutritious. For example, 44 per cent of the matter ingested from a cockroach will be absorbed into the body, and the energy required to rear it stands as significantly less than that required to rear a cow. For very little cost and very little resource consumption, insects can become a truly sustainable source of food.
Of course, convincing the public at large to chow down on grubs, crickets and roaches is a problem in and of itself. But as the already precarious livestock industry begins to break down, and as huge sections of our already crowded earth begin to refuse us, there remains the chance that a foodstuff as easy to grow and distribute as insects could suddenly seem appetising indeed.
Then there is option two: artificial meat production. It sounds like fiction, and for good reason. Not long before it was seriously touted as a scientific possibility, genetically modified foodstuffs featured heavily in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx And Crake trilogy, a grim glimpse into humanity’s future that painted lab-grown meat as a kind of abomination.
In that way, what Atwood failed to consider was the huge ecological benefits of entirely artificial meat. Growing a leg of beef in a factory would neatly sidestep the barbarity of the slaughterhouse, but it would also phase out the more destructive impact of livestock rearing. No animal to cull would mean no water or grain needed to raise it, after all.
Again, though such a future might feel distant and alien, revolution is closer than one might think. Even two years ago, while admitting more research was needed, American food academics were projecting that “3D printed meat production will become technically feasible”, while breakthroughs in production mean some already foresee the development of “meat ink”, a kind of edible animal glue that will allow food scientists to create “high protein and nutritious meals”.
Though such a future might feel distant and alien, revolution is closer than one might think.
There are of course, ethical issues involved with the synthesising of flesh – not to mention a widespread academic disdain towards further human intervention fixing a problem caused by human intervention. John Gray for one argues that any belief in scientific progress is misguided. “Humans cannot save the world,” he writes. “But this is no reason for despair. It does not need saving. Happily, humans will never live in a world of their own making.”
Yet such cynicism underwrites the potential for human growth and change – or, more accurately, it dismisses such a force entirely. Climate change is a burden of mankind’s own making, and though it is folly to assume we can divert it, we are not yet decisively doomed.
The pressures of a warming world will alter our lives in every conceivable manner. Maybe right now, that alteration seems inconceivable – like death; like the very end of the species at large. But, as Klein notes in This Changes Everything, if we can alter step by step with our planet, changing as it changes, maybe we can weather this thing. We just have to be ready to give up every element of the world as we once knew it: our food included. That is not the “right” or “green” thing to do. It is the only option we have left.
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Brandy Barber
Saying goodbye to the Kissing Booth
Attending the final Kissing Booth show last night at The Tank, you saw how New York City's comedy scene is big enough to have communities within communities, and this alternative to the alternative comedy, hosted by the whimsical duo of Brandy Barber and Sara Jo Allocco, welcomed one and all to present characters, sketches, musical tributes, and always afterward, a drunken dance party. It wasn't quite Invite Them Up. But then again, it never tried to be anything but a fun monthly show. For the final show last night, friends of the Kissing Booth gathered to pay tribute in a series of videos, none of which are particularly safe for work. Enjoy.
That's the Kissing Booth in a word. After the jump, videos on the craziest thing they've seen at the show, bloody or slutty?, and R.I.P.
Continue reading "Saying goodbye to the Kissing Booth" »
Jun 13, 2008 4:47:29 PM | Brandy Barber, Sara Jo Allocco
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The scale of illegal behaviours in Conservative party reveals a culture of corruption
For Jason Kenney, all is fair in love and war.
Election Commissioner, Lorne Gibson’s staff has levied fines of $168,350, against various participants in Callaway’s “Kamikaze” campaign.
It turns out that the Unity Conservatives Party in Alberta are not in unity. For Jason Kenney, all is fair in love and war. It’s now fair to wonder where his ruthless impulse to crush will take him as premier.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Alberta Election Commissioner are investigating the “Kamikaze” campaign scandal that help Jason Kenney won his leadership at Alberta.
RCMP are investigating an allegations that Jason Kenney and his team were involved in orchestrating Jeff Callaway’s campaign for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in an attempt to harm Kenney’s biggest rival, Brian Jean.
Documents obtained by The Star confirm that Kenney’s campaign controlled major aspects of Callaway’s campaign, one of his opponents campaign, including providing of strategic plans, attack ads, speeches, and talking points intended to discredit major rival, Jean, for the United conservatives party leadership.
A leaked document alleged that Jason Kenney’s team first approached Derek Fildebrandt in July 2017 about running a “dark-horse” campaign. Fildebrandt confirmed this account and stated that it was he who rejected the idea.
Eight Alberta United Conservative Party MLAs, five of them cabinet ministers, now admit they’ve been interviewed by the RCMP in the federal police force’s ongoing investigation into the curious goings on during the party’s 2017 leadership race, from which Premier Jason Kenney emerged victorious.
So far, the police have interviewed Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer, Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda, Culture Minister Leela Aheer, Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon, Associate Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jason Luan.
Cardston-Siksika MLA Joseph Schow, Sherwood Park MLA Jordan Walker and Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh. Mr. Singh’s Calgary auto body repair shop was also searched by police, who carted off computer equipment.
Former UCP MLA Prab Gill sent a letter to the RCMP outlining allegations that the Kenney leadership campaign used fraudulent e-mail addresses to intercept PINs needed to vote in the leadership race, and that they were subsequently used by the Kenney campaign to vote for Kenney.
CBC News and CTV News have received documents that fraudulent e-mail addresses attached to party memberships were used to cast ballots in the party’s leadership race in 2017, which Jason Kenney won.
CBC News picked a sample of e-mail addresses based on suspicious domains, and determined that 60% of those were used to cast ballots in the leadership election.
The Office of the Election Commissioner announced fines totalling $70,000 had been levied on former UCP leadership contender Jeff Callaway for two dozen campaign finance infractions.
Mexico’s new president shocks scientists with budget cuts and disparaging remarks
Recent Conservatives party elections has been marred with more corrupt practices - national and provincial
President Trump has made immigration perhaps the central defining issue of his presidency. And Democrats have so far successfully punted...
Food battles do not stop at the borders of Africa and Asia. They extend into Europe and impact projections of...
Benny Gantz has until November 20 to assemble a coalition. He was tasked by President Reuven Rivlin with forming a...
Doug Ford & Jason Kenney believe Canadians should be paid lower than minimum wage
Canada must confront its own white nationalism
Canada's Conservatives believe white supremacy is not a threat and more
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Saudi Arabia Is Pulling Thousands of Students From Canada in Escalating Dispute Over Human Rights
By Billy Perrigo
Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it would be suspending all government-funded scholarships for Saudi students in Canada and would transfer students to other countries, escalating a dispute that started when the Canadian government criticized the Saudi state over human rights.
Officials said on state television that there are more than 12,000 Saudi students and family members in Canada, and that many will be transferred to other countries, including the United States, according to the Financial Times.
Last week, the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Saudi Arabia to release human rights activists Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah, who were jailed last Wednesday in what Human Rights Watch called an “unprecedented government crackdown.”
In response, on Sunday the Saudi officials gave Canadian ambassador Dennis Horak 24 hours to leave the country, and said the kingdom would be suspending all new trade and investment deals with Canada.
UN Experts Call for Investigation Into Possible Saudi Hacking of Jeff Bezos' Phone
Attorney General William Barr Announces 21 Saudi Cadets to Be Removed From U.S. Training Program After Pensacola Shooting
“Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much including women’s rights, and freedom of expression around the world,” said Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman Marie-Pier Baril.
“Our government will never hesitate to promote these values and believes that this dialogue is critical to international diplomacy.”
Write to Billy Perrigo at billy.perrigo@time.com.
Hunger Games Prequel Courts Controversy Over Its Choice of Main Character
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The Flight of the Bumble Bee
This illustration appears in Flapping Wings, Aerospace 2016, 3(3), 24; doi:10.3390/aerospace3030024. It is the work of Phillip Burgers, Ph.D., of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, San Diego.
Every time we see a pollen-packing bumble bee take flight, we think of the 300,000-pound Spruce Goose, which was never flight-worthy (well, except for its brief flight on Nov. 2, 1947).
Remember the Spruce Goose? Technically known as the Hughes H-4 Hercules, it was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company for transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II. Although it basically couldn't get off the ground, it made aviation history as (1) the largest flying boat ever built, and (2) the largest-ever wingspan. If you want to see it, it's on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Ore.
Just like the Spruce Goose, the bumble bee doesn't look flight-worthy, either.
But it is.
We saw scores of bumble bees in May of 2015 when we attended a BugShot Macro Photography Workshop, taught by noted insect photographers Alex Wild, John Abbott and Thomas Shahan at the Hastings Natural History Reserve, a biological field station owned by UC Berkeley in the upper Carmel Valley, Monterey County.
While at the four-day workshop, we had plenty of time to capture images of bumble bees in flight--and we did. We especially marveled at the yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) foraging in a lush meadow of vetch and lupine. It was bumble bee heaven! We posted some of the images on Bug Squad.
Enter aerodynamics expert Phillip Burgers of the School of Arts and Sciences, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, San Diego. He asked for--and received--permission to use one of the bumble bee images for his research paper for an aerospace journal.
"Your photograph is perfect, as it shows those wings flapping back-and-forth, highlighting their kinetic energy concept I am introducing in my paper," he wrote. He signed off as "Phillip Burgers, Ph.D., Aerodynamics & Performance Flight Technologies, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc."
You can read his paper, published July 29 in a special issue, Flapping Wings, Aerospace 2016, 3(3), 24; doi:10.3390/aerospace3030024. See http://www.mdpi.com/journal/aerospace/special_issues/flapping_wings#published
His illustration, titled "Evaluating the capability of generating lift by flapping wings during hover & forward flight," points out "lift," "wing reference area," "kinetic energy of wings" and "air density."
It's good to see the focus on bumble bees--whether in flight or in the Aerospace journal.
Yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) heading for lupine at the Hastings Natural History Reserve, Carmel Valley, Monterey County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: Aerospace 2016 (1), Alex Wild (18), Carmel Valley (1), Flapping Wings (1), Hasting Natural History Reserve (1), John Abbott (3), Phillip Burgers (1), Thomas Shahan (4)
BugShot Austin 2016!
Alex Nguyen of UC Davis, who attended BugShot Hastings, focuses his camera. He is a 2015 alumnus of UC Davis with a bachelor's degree in entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
If you like to photograph insects, and want to know more about macro photography and entomology, then "BugShot Austin 2016" may be something to consider-- for either yourself or as a gift for someone.
The event takes place May 12-15 in Austin and will be taught by noted insect photographers/entomologists Alex Wild, Piotr Naskrecki and John Abbott. (See information on instructors.)
"BugShot courses are designed to help you improve your macro photography technique in the field and in the studio, regardless of your equipment or experience," the organizers say. It covers, among other topics:
Macro-and microphotography equipment
Lighting and flash
Working with live insects
Introduction to insect biology (track 1) or Introduction to photography (track 2)
Special techniques: focus-stacking, time-lapse and video
Digital asset management and workflow
Field sessions in beautiful natural habitats
Evening photo-sharing presentations
Photography in social media
Who should attend BugShot workshops?
Entomologists who aspire to improve their photographic skills for work or pleasure
Photographers who wish to learn arthropod- specific techniques
Naturalists, beekeepers and gardeners who enjoy the little things
Bug bloggers, social media users, and BugGuide.net contributors who'd like to spice up their online imagery
We attended BugShot Hastings 2015 at the Hastings Natural History Preserve in the Carmel Valley last May. Operated by UC Berkeley, Hastings is a biological field station with much to offer and much to photograph. We fanned out to capture images of everything from bumble bees to honey bees to ants. The instructors-- Texas-based Alex Wild and John Abbott and Oregon-based Thomas Shahan--not only offered instructions and fielded questions but each delivered an evening program--Wild on ants (he received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis with ant guru/professor Phil Ward; Abbott on dragonflies, and Shahan on jumping spiders.
For BugShot Austin, prices range from $675 to $750. To register or learn more about it, access the website or contact Kendra Abbott at kendra@abbottnature.com with questions.
Alex Wild shows photographers some white box techniques at BugShot Hastings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
John Abbott discusses camera equipment for macro photography at BugShot Hastings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Capturing an image of a lady beetle at BugShot Hastings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Off to photograph insects at BugShot Hastings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: Alex Wild (18), BugShot Austin (1), BugShot Hastings (1), John Abbott (3), Kendra Abbott (1), Piotr Naskrecki (2), Thomas Shahan (4)
For the Love of Insects
Published on: October 29, 2015
We love looking at insect images.
Drum roll...the winning images for the Entomological Society of America's Photo Salon, a global competition, have just been announced. They will be shown at the ESA's meeting, Nov. 15-18 in Minneapolis, Minn. (The ESA theme this year is "Synergy in Science: Partnering for Solutions.")
You can see the list of winners and their images here: http://www.peoriacameraclub.com/Steve/Html/sect_1.htm
You'll see the best of show, a stunning butterfly image taken in Croatia. You'll see pests, prey, and predators. You'll see insects having a "happy meal." You'll see bug porn, or insects love caught in the act of reproducing more of the critters we love to shoot. You'll see insects you've never seen before--and probably will never see again.
They're spectacular. They're awe-inspiring. They're amazing.
As an aside, two of my photos were selected for the Photo Salon: One is of a bee fly that I titled "Pollen Power" and the other of two praying mantids ("Giddy Up").
Next year, you enter! Track that robber fly, follow that moth, and dash after that Blue Dasher. And don't forget the spiders. They're not insects, but arthropod images are also welcome in the Photo Salon competition.
If you want to learn more about macro photography, check out the Bug Shot Macro workshops at http://bugshot.net/. The instructors include noted insect photographers:
Thomas Shahan
Piotr Naskrecki
Nicky Bay
We attended the four-day workshop May 7-10, 2015 at Hastings Reserve, a biological field station owned and operated by the University of California, Berkeley. Texas-based Alex Wild and John Abbott and Oregon-based Thomas Shahan served as the instructors and shared their knowledge and research. By the way, Wild received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis and recently moved from Illinois to be the curator of entomology in the College of Natural Sciences, University of Austin. Wild specializes in ants; Abbott, dragonflies; and Shahan, jumping spiders. But they, of course, focus on other arthropods, too.
It was an incredible four days. More will come.
Ready, set, focus! Oh, no, where did that yellow-faced bumble bee go?
"Pollen Power": A robber fly with a trace of pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Giddy Up": Two Chinese praying mantids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: Alex Wild (18), Entomological Society of America (86), ESA (11), insects (55), John Abbott (3), Nicky Bay (1), Photo Salon (1), Piotr Naskrecki (2), spiders (19), Thomas Shahan (4)
How Jumping Spiders Communicate
Published on: February 1, 2012
Damian Elias
Those jumping spiders certainly can jump.
Last summer we spotted what appeared to be the red-backed jumping spider, Phidippus johnsoni (famiiy Salticidae), stalking native bees and honey bees in our yard.
Its iridescent green chelicerae, which characterizes many species in the genus, literally glowed.
It wasn't a good hunter. It missed its prey time after time.
So, it should be interesting when Damian Elias, assistant professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, comes to UC Davis on Wednesday, Feb. 8 to speak on "Multimodal Communication in Jumping Spiders" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 8 in 122 Briggs Hall.
"Animals use a variety of senses to navigate the world," Elias says. "While humans are adept at sensing the world through visual, auditory, and olfactory (smell) information, some animals use senses that are imperceptible to human observers. The vast majority of life on the planet uses vibrations transmitted through solid objects (substrate-borne vibration) to communicate and up until recently, this crucial aspect of animal biology was completely unknown."
The jumping spider he is currently focusing on is Phidippus clarus.
Elias, who received his doctorate in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell in 2005, says he uses behavioral ecology techniques to study different aspects of communication. In particular, he is interested in questions regarding sexual selection, mating system evolution, signal design and responses to population, ecological, and environmental variation.
If you look on YouTube, you'll see an excellent macro video of the same jumping spider, Phidippus clarus, that Damian Elias studies. It's the work of Oklahoma artist Thomas Shahan (who also teaches macro photography in the popular BugShot workshop).
And, if you think that's amazing, check out the even more spectacular images of jumping spider photos on Shahan's website.
A jumping spider, probably Phidippus johnsoni, eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tags: Damian Elias (1), jumping spiders (2), Phidippus clarus (1), Phidippus johnsoni (1), Thomas Shahan (4)
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Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory
Baiping Wang, Qubai Hu, Mark G. Hearn, Kimiko Shimizu, Carol B. Ware, Dennis H. Liggitt, Lee-Way Jin, Bethany H. Cool, Daniel R. Storm, George M. Martin
FE65 is a multimodular adapter protein that is expressed predominantly in brain. Its C-terminal phosphotyrosine interaction domain (PID) binds to the intracellular tail of the β-amyloid precursor protein (βPP), a protein of central importance to the pathogenesis of dementias of the Alzheimer type. To study the physiological functions of FE65, we generated a line of FE65 knockout mice via gene targeting. By Western analysis with a panel of FE65-specific antibodies, we demonstrate that the 97-kDa full-length FE65 (p97) was ablated in the mutant mice, and that a previously undescribed FE65 isoform with apparent molecular mass of 60 kDa (p60) was expressed in both wild-type and mutant mice. p60 had a truncated N-terminus and was likely to be generated through alternative translation. Expressions of the two isoforms appeared to be brain region distinct and age dependent. The p97FE65-/- mice were viable and showed no obvious physical impairments or histopathological abnormalities. However, p97FE65-/- and p97FE65+/- mice exhibited poorer performances than wild-type mice on a passive avoidance task when tested at 14 months (P < .05). p97FE65-/- mice at 14 months also exhibited impaired hidden-platform acquisition (P < .05) and a severe reversal-learning deficit (P < .002) but normal visual-platform acquisition in the Morris water maze tests. Probe trials confirmed impairments in p97FE65-/- mice in relearning of new spatial information, suggesting a hippocampus-dependent memory-extinction deficit. Reduced secretion of Aβ peptides was observed in primary neuronal cultures of hybrids of p97FE65 -/-/βPP transgenic (Tg2576) mice. These studies suggest an important and novel function of FE65 in learning and memory.
Journal of Neuroscience Research
https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.10834
Reversal Learning
Phosphotyrosine
Protein Precursors
Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor
Alternative translation
Beta amyloid precursor protein
Passive avoidance
Wang, B., Hu, Q., Hearn, M. G., Shimizu, K., Ware, C. B., Liggitt, D. H., ... Martin, G. M. (2004). Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 75(1), 12-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.10834
Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory. / Wang, Baiping; Hu, Qubai; Hearn, Mark G.; Shimizu, Kimiko; Ware, Carol B.; Liggitt, Dennis H.; Jin, Lee-Way; Cool, Bethany H.; Storm, Daniel R.; Martin, George M.
In: Journal of Neuroscience Research, Vol. 75, No. 1, 01.01.2004, p. 12-24.
Wang, B, Hu, Q, Hearn, MG, Shimizu, K, Ware, CB, Liggitt, DH, Jin, L-W, Cool, BH, Storm, DR & Martin, GM 2004, 'Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory', Journal of Neuroscience Research, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 12-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.10834
Wang B, Hu Q, Hearn MG, Shimizu K, Ware CB, Liggitt DH et al. Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 2004 Jan 1;75(1):12-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.10834
Wang, Baiping ; Hu, Qubai ; Hearn, Mark G. ; Shimizu, Kimiko ; Ware, Carol B. ; Liggitt, Dennis H. ; Jin, Lee-Way ; Cool, Bethany H. ; Storm, Daniel R. ; Martin, George M. / Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory. In: Journal of Neuroscience Research. 2004 ; Vol. 75, No. 1. pp. 12-24.
@article{2e5052ab630540d6bbab04cf67889234,
title = "Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory",
abstract = "FE65 is a multimodular adapter protein that is expressed predominantly in brain. Its C-terminal phosphotyrosine interaction domain (PID) binds to the intracellular tail of the β-amyloid precursor protein (βPP), a protein of central importance to the pathogenesis of dementias of the Alzheimer type. To study the physiological functions of FE65, we generated a line of FE65 knockout mice via gene targeting. By Western analysis with a panel of FE65-specific antibodies, we demonstrate that the 97-kDa full-length FE65 (p97) was ablated in the mutant mice, and that a previously undescribed FE65 isoform with apparent molecular mass of 60 kDa (p60) was expressed in both wild-type and mutant mice. p60 had a truncated N-terminus and was likely to be generated through alternative translation. Expressions of the two isoforms appeared to be brain region distinct and age dependent. The p97FE65-/- mice were viable and showed no obvious physical impairments or histopathological abnormalities. However, p97FE65-/- and p97FE65+/- mice exhibited poorer performances than wild-type mice on a passive avoidance task when tested at 14 months (P < .05). p97FE65-/- mice at 14 months also exhibited impaired hidden-platform acquisition (P < .05) and a severe reversal-learning deficit (P < .002) but normal visual-platform acquisition in the Morris water maze tests. Probe trials confirmed impairments in p97FE65-/- mice in relearning of new spatial information, suggesting a hippocampus-dependent memory-extinction deficit. Reduced secretion of Aβ peptides was observed in primary neuronal cultures of hybrids of p97FE65 -/-/βPP transgenic (Tg2576) mice. These studies suggest an important and novel function of FE65 in learning and memory.",
keywords = "Alternative translation, Alzheimer's disease, Beta amyloid precursor protein, FE65, Morris water maze, Passive avoidance, Transgenic mice",
author = "Baiping Wang and Qubai Hu and Hearn, {Mark G.} and Kimiko Shimizu and Ware, {Carol B.} and Liggitt, {Dennis H.} and Lee-Way Jin and Cool, {Bethany H.} and Storm, {Daniel R.} and Martin, {George M.}",
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journal = "Journal of Neuroscience Research",
publisher = "Wiley-Liss Inc.",
T1 - Isoform-Specific Knockout of FE65 Leads to Impaired Learning and Memory
AU - Wang, Baiping
AU - Hu, Qubai
AU - Hearn, Mark G.
AU - Shimizu, Kimiko
AU - Ware, Carol B.
AU - Liggitt, Dennis H.
AU - Jin, Lee-Way
AU - Cool, Bethany H.
AU - Storm, Daniel R.
AU - Martin, George M.
N2 - FE65 is a multimodular adapter protein that is expressed predominantly in brain. Its C-terminal phosphotyrosine interaction domain (PID) binds to the intracellular tail of the β-amyloid precursor protein (βPP), a protein of central importance to the pathogenesis of dementias of the Alzheimer type. To study the physiological functions of FE65, we generated a line of FE65 knockout mice via gene targeting. By Western analysis with a panel of FE65-specific antibodies, we demonstrate that the 97-kDa full-length FE65 (p97) was ablated in the mutant mice, and that a previously undescribed FE65 isoform with apparent molecular mass of 60 kDa (p60) was expressed in both wild-type and mutant mice. p60 had a truncated N-terminus and was likely to be generated through alternative translation. Expressions of the two isoforms appeared to be brain region distinct and age dependent. The p97FE65-/- mice were viable and showed no obvious physical impairments or histopathological abnormalities. However, p97FE65-/- and p97FE65+/- mice exhibited poorer performances than wild-type mice on a passive avoidance task when tested at 14 months (P < .05). p97FE65-/- mice at 14 months also exhibited impaired hidden-platform acquisition (P < .05) and a severe reversal-learning deficit (P < .002) but normal visual-platform acquisition in the Morris water maze tests. Probe trials confirmed impairments in p97FE65-/- mice in relearning of new spatial information, suggesting a hippocampus-dependent memory-extinction deficit. Reduced secretion of Aβ peptides was observed in primary neuronal cultures of hybrids of p97FE65 -/-/βPP transgenic (Tg2576) mice. These studies suggest an important and novel function of FE65 in learning and memory.
AB - FE65 is a multimodular adapter protein that is expressed predominantly in brain. Its C-terminal phosphotyrosine interaction domain (PID) binds to the intracellular tail of the β-amyloid precursor protein (βPP), a protein of central importance to the pathogenesis of dementias of the Alzheimer type. To study the physiological functions of FE65, we generated a line of FE65 knockout mice via gene targeting. By Western analysis with a panel of FE65-specific antibodies, we demonstrate that the 97-kDa full-length FE65 (p97) was ablated in the mutant mice, and that a previously undescribed FE65 isoform with apparent molecular mass of 60 kDa (p60) was expressed in both wild-type and mutant mice. p60 had a truncated N-terminus and was likely to be generated through alternative translation. Expressions of the two isoforms appeared to be brain region distinct and age dependent. The p97FE65-/- mice were viable and showed no obvious physical impairments or histopathological abnormalities. However, p97FE65-/- and p97FE65+/- mice exhibited poorer performances than wild-type mice on a passive avoidance task when tested at 14 months (P < .05). p97FE65-/- mice at 14 months also exhibited impaired hidden-platform acquisition (P < .05) and a severe reversal-learning deficit (P < .002) but normal visual-platform acquisition in the Morris water maze tests. Probe trials confirmed impairments in p97FE65-/- mice in relearning of new spatial information, suggesting a hippocampus-dependent memory-extinction deficit. Reduced secretion of Aβ peptides was observed in primary neuronal cultures of hybrids of p97FE65 -/-/βPP transgenic (Tg2576) mice. These studies suggest an important and novel function of FE65 in learning and memory.
KW - Alternative translation
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Beta amyloid precursor protein
KW - FE65
KW - Morris water maze
KW - Passive avoidance
KW - Transgenic mice
U2 - 10.1002/jnr.10834
DO - 10.1002/jnr.10834
JO - Journal of Neuroscience Research
JF - Journal of Neuroscience Research
10.1002/jnr.10834
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Grandmother Kym Marsh, 43, reveals special meaning behind grandson's name
Chris Edwards
Yahoo Celebrity UK 18 June 2019
Kym Marsh (Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Coronation Street star Kym Marsh has revealed she was in “floods of tears” after finding out her grandson was named after her late son Archie.
It’s been 10 years since Archie’s tragic death as he was born prematurely in 2009.
Now, the soap actress has revealed that her daughter Emilie Mae Cunliffe paid a touching tribute to Archie by naming her son Teddy Archie David Hoszowskyj.
“When I found out his name, I burst into floods of tears,” Marsh told OK! Magazine.
Read more: 'Like I'd been hit by a truck' - Kym Marsh talks terrifying hospital ordeal
Emily Mae Cunliffe with her mother Kym Marsh (right) at the British Soap Awards 2016 (Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Wire)
“I didn't think they would, and nor should they have felt they had to. As far as I knew, he was going to be called Teddy David and I was chuffed with the name David being there.
“But now Archie lives on in Teddy's name. Having a baby boy in the house with Archie's name as part of his means the world to me.”
Cunliffe kept her son’s name a secret until she gave birth to him last month. She then surprised Marsh by revealing that she wanted Archie to be one of his middle names.
“His full name is Teddy Archie David Hoszowskyj,” Emilie told the magazine. “Archie after my late brother, and David after my brother, dad and grandfather.
“When I found out I was having a boy I knew I wanted the name Archie to feature, but I wanted it to be a surprise for Mum.”
Kym Marsh (right) and daughter Emily Mae Cunliffe (left) (Credit: Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Read more: Kym Marsh thanks fans after announcing shock Corrie departure
Marsh will be taking a break from the role of Michelle Connor on Coronation Street later this year, and the actress admitted that the birth of her grandson is one of the main reasons for that.
“Another big factor in my decision to take a break from Corrie is the impending arrival of my grandson,” she said. “I'm looking forward to having more time to spend with him and Emilie after he's born this summer.”
Cleese, Palin and Idle pay tribute to Monty Python star Terry Jones
Jennifer Lopez stuns in first official Coach campaign - and even Barbara Streisand approves
Matt Damon To Re-Team With ‘Ford V Ferrari’ Helmer James Mangold On Don Winslow Novel ‘The Force’
Rodgers & Hammerstein Are Having a Moment Thanks to Ariana Grande, ‘Oklahoma!’
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Def Leppard Announce Summer Tour With REO Speedwagon and Tesla
Jeff Giles
Mike Coppola / David Becker / Facebook
Def Leppard's latest summer package tour includes some new friends as well as familiar faces.
The band took to social media to announce the new dates, publishing a Facebook post that reveals they'll be hitting the road this summer with REO Speedwagon and Tesla. As fans are no doubt aware, Tesla's been touring with Def Leppard for some time — but these dates represent a twist on recent years, which have seen the duo sharing a bill with Styx.
The news comes just a few days after Def Leppard announced a round of rescheduled dates making up for shows they'd had to postpone due to throat problems being suffered by singer Joe Elliott. With Elliott back on the mend, they're due back on tour starting May 1, when they play the Moonstone Festival in Orlando.
Take a look at the complete list of currently announced dates below, and visit Def Leppard's official site for detailed ticketing information.
Def Leppard/REO Speedwagon/Tesla 2016 Tour Dates
5/01 - Orlando, Fla. (Moonstone Festival)
5/04 - Lafayette, La. (Cajundome)*
5/05 - Corpus Christi, Texas (American Bank Center)*
5/07 - Hidalgo, Texas (State Farms Arena)*
5/10 - Bossier City, La. (Century Link Center)
5/11 - Little Rock, Ark. (Verizon Arena)
5/13 - Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro Coliseum)
5/15 - Uncasville, Ct. (Mohegan Sun Arena)
5/17 - Allentown, Pa. (PPL Center)
5/18 - Huntington, W.V. (Big Sandy Arena)
5/20 - Orlando, Fla. (Amway Center)**
6/22 - Boston, Mass. (Xfinity Center)
6/24 - Bangor, Maine (Darling’s Waterfront)
6/25 - Quebec City, Quebec (Videotron Centre)
6/27 - Syracuse, N.Y. (Lakeview Amphitheater)
6/29 - Hershey, Pa. (Hershey Park Stadium)
7/01 - Indianapolis, Ind. (Klipsch Music Center)
7/02 - Chicago, Ill. (Hollywood Casino)
7/05 - Cincinnati, Ohio (Riverbend Music Center)
7/06 - Milwaukee, Wis. (Summeriest)
7/08 - Pittsburgh, Pa. (First Niagara Pavillion)
7/09 - Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena)
7/11 - Wantagh, N.Y. (Nikon at Jones Beach)
7/13 - Holmdel, N.J. (PN.C. Bank Arts Center)
7/15 - Detroit, Mich. (DTE Music Theatre)
7/16 - Toronto, Ontario (Molson Canadian Amphitheater)
8/06 - Madison, Wis. (Alliant Energy Center)
8/08 - Evansille, Ind. (Ford Center)
8/10 - Bristow, Va. (Jiffy Lube Center)
8/12 - Atlanta, Ga. (Aaron’s Amphitheater)
8/13 - Raleigh, N.C. (Walnut Creek Amphitheater)
8/17 - Birmingham, Ala. (Oak Mountain Amphitheater)
8/19 - Austin, Texas (Austin 360)
8/22 - Houston, Texas (Cynthia Woods Pavilion)
8/24 - Dallas, Texas (Gexa Energy Pavilion)
8/26 - Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)
8/27 - ST. Louis, Mo. (Hollywood Casino Amphitheater)
8/29 - Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)
8/31 - Darien Center, N.Y.(Darien Lake Pa.C)
9/14 - Billings, Mt. (Metra Park)
9/16 - Salk Lake City, Utah (USANA Amphitheater)
9/17 - Denver, Colo. (Pepsi Center)
9/19 - Albuquerque, N.M. (Isleta Amphitheater)
9/20 - Phoenix, Ariz. (Ak-Chin Pavilion)
9/22 - Irvine, Calif. (Irvine Meadows Amphitheater)
9/24 - Sacramento, Calif. (Toyota Amphitheater)
9/25 - Mountain View, Calif. (Shoreline Amphitheater)
9/28 - Boise, Idaho (Taco Bell Arena)
9/30 - Eugene, Ore. (Matthew Knight Arena)
10/01 - Tacoma, Wash. (Tacoma Dome)
10/04 - Omaha,Neb. (CenturyLink Center)
10/05 - Minneapolis, Minn. (Xcel Center)
10/07 - La Crosse, Wis. (La Crosse Center Arena)
10/08 - Toledo, Ohio (Huntington Center)
10/10 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa (U.S. Cellular Center)
*STYX to appear / No REO Speedwagon
**No REO Speedwagon
Def Leppard Albums, Ranked Worst to Best
Next: Top 10 Def Leppard Songs
Filed Under: Def Leppard, Reo Speedwagon, Tesla
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The best collection of pop music, culture and memes.
Authentic artists that laid the foundations of modern music.
Unique artists that think outside of the box.
Music that takes you back to a feeling, a time, or a place.
Nardwuar x Post Malone
Known for his eccentric interviewing style and personality, Nardwuar (the Human Serviette) loves to research guests and find out things most probably wouldn’t even know about them. In his 2017 YouTube interview with Post Malone, Nardwuar uncovers all of the rapper’s musical roots, questions him about his childhood best friends and gifts him some amazing original memorabilia pieces. Here are some of our favourite moments from the interview.
Post’s Love of Johnny Cash
It may come as a shock but one of Post Malone’s biggest musical influences is actually Johnny Cash, something that Nardwuar well and truly taps into. He gifts the rapper an original Johnny Cash 7” from 1960, proceeding to then ask about Post’s Johnny Cash tattoo and his experience in visiting the memorial museum in Nashville. Another gift is then presented – an original 1960s Johnny Cash tour programme. Check out Post’s reactions below.
The Haggard
Another musical influence Post cites is country singer Merle Haggard, earning him another generous gift of an original 1966 tour programme. “He’s just incredible,” he replies when Nardwuar asks him what he can say about the iconic star. “He’s just a legend.”
Hank Williams Jr and Sr’s Suits
Post’s next gift is a Hank Williams Jr and Sr LP of greatest hits, one that really seems to touch his heart. After commenting on the “beautiful cut” of the two suits each wore on the cover, Post explains his love for Hank Williams Jr’s rendition of “Tear in My Beer” with his dad’s vocals and the connection it has with him and his mum.
Post’s JFK Tattoo
Recalling the time he got a JFK tattoo in New York, Post opens up about his love for John F. Kennedy and says he loves the late president because “he really spoke true sh*t.” Nardwuar then gifts him an original 1963 LP of JFK’s speeches, something that Post has had his eye on for a while, and his reaction is priceless.
The Elvis Gum
After pointing out Post’s Elvis Presley tattoo, Nardwuar gifts the rapper some authentic Elvis Presley chewing gum from 1981. “This is awesome,” Post says through laughter. “This is rare.”
By Kellie Given
Tame Impala Announce Biggest Ever NZ Show
Listen To Eminem’s New Surprise Album ‘Music To Be Murdered By’
Halsey’s Vulnerable ‘Manic’ Is Here To Introduce You To Ashley
New Tracks 17 Jan
Celebrating 10 Years Of Netsky – New Zealand’s Honorary Kiwi
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Catch A Fire
Search in https://umusic.co.nz/
Umusic
© Universal Music New Zealand Ltd 2020 | Privacy Policy | Do not sell my personal information
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Studying the income sources of Isfahan football clubs with entrepreneurial approach
Bahram Salehnia
Hosein Hamami Nasrabadi
Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Education and Counseling Sciences, Islamic Azad University of Roudehen, Tehran, Iran
The present study investigated the income sources of Isfahan soccer clubs with an entrepreneurial approach. This research is applied in terms of purpose and nature and uses the qualitative method and content analysis. The statistical population of this research includes all experts and experts on the requirements and methods of income generation of football clubs (including football club managers, sports management professors and economists and management professors), of which 30 are goal-oriented and the snowball method was selected as a sample, and interviews were used to collect the data. For this purpose, a researcher-made questionnaire was prepared, and the Friedman test and correlation analysis of variance–covariance matrix were used. The research showed that all three research hypotheses were approved. The revenues from football clubs in Isfahan province with the entrepreneurial approach of various aspects were determined, and ticket prices on the income of football clubs of the entrepreneurial approach are effective and broadcast on the income of football clubs of the entrepreneurial approach is effective.
Keywords: Income sources, football clubs, Isfahan province, entrepreneurship.
Salehnia, B., & Nasrabadi, H. (2019). Studying the income sources of Isfahan football clubs with entrepreneurial approach. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 6(7), 42-46. https://doi.org/10.18844/prosoc.v6i7.4510
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https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2013-711
The phylogenetic system of Mantodea (Insecta: Dictyoptera)
Wieland, Frank
Species, Phylogeny and Evolution - SPE; 3/1Published: 2013
Praying mantises (Mantodea) are a charismatic group of raptorial insects. Their main distribution encompasses the tropical and subtropical regions of the world where they have conquered almost every habitat including the sandy deserts. Mantodea are well-known to the public. Their highly moveable heads and an impressive appearance, ranging from conspicuously colourful to well-camouflaged and plant-like, add to their popularity. Despite their often fantastic looks and interesting behaviour, Mantodea have been mostly neglected by science in the past century. A renaissance of praying mantis research by both molecular and morphological means has recently started to contribute immensely to our understanding of these fascinating insects and their evolution. This volume presents the first phylogenetic analysis of Mantodea based exclusively on an extensive morphological dataset comprising the description and detailed discussion of 152 morphological characters for 122 species from the greater part of the taxonomical subgroups. Observations on fossil mantises, postembryonic development, and sexual dimorphism are considered for tracing character evolution, and the results are compared with the latest molecular findings. The structures of many rare taxa are shown in detail for the first time, including the forelegs of Chaeteessa, Mantoida, and Metallyticus. Selected characters and their evolution are elucidated in further detail, for example head processes, asymmetrical male antennomeres, female digging structures, and the aberrant foreleg morphology of Chaeteessa and Metallyticus. Hypotheses on the early evolution of the mantodean lifestyle are presented. This monograph contains more than 460 figures, including detailed drawings and SEM images of morphological structures, making this volume the most comprehensive work on mantodean morphology to date.
Publication Type: Thesis
Species, Phylogeny and Evolution4
Biologie29
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Mike Smyth: B.C. government's pot squad targets illegal cannabis shops
Mike Smyth More from Mike Smyth
Updated: December 9, 2019 10:46 AM PST
But some black-market retailers are not intimidated by the government’s aggressive actions.
Marijuana may be legal across Canada now, but B.C.’s newly formed pot police are still busy raiding illegal cannabis stores.
Officially known as the Community Safety Unit, the provincial pot squad is responsible for shutting down unlicensed marijuana merchants.
The year-old special police force is now ramping up its enforcement activities, swooping down on unlicensed cannabis stores and seizing pot, cash, computer records and even weapons.
“The goal is to shut down illegal stores,” said Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth, who revealed the unit has already staged 21 raids of unlicensed retailers.
The community safety unit has extraordinary powers to enter premises without a warrant and seize evidence.
Mike Smyth: Horgan touts elimination of MSP as tax fight with Liberals heats up
Mike Smyth: Uber, Lyft prepare to roll in B.C. as battle rages behind the scenes
Mike Smyth: Finance minister slams Liberal leader's fuzzy tax talk
Farnworth said his pot-police dragnet has already hauled in a heavy load of illegal dope and black-market loot.
“These unlicensed retailers are cash-only operations,” he said. “In one example, nearly half-a-million dollars in cash was taken. In another case, around $450,000 worth of cannabis products was seized. It’s pretty significant.”
Farnworth said his pot squad is trying to be fair and reasonable to black-market cannabis merchants as the province develops a network of legally licensed stores.
“There’s been plenty of warning,” he said. “In the first stage, unlicensed retailers are educated about the law, the penalties for compliance, and what can happen. That’s been quite effective.”
He said the unit’s 44 “special provincial constables” issued 217 separate warnings to unlicensed retailers.
“The impact was 69 of those locations shut down voluntarily. But there have been 21 others — so far — who don’t seem to get the concept of following the law and have had enforcement actions taken against them.”
Under the province’s Cannabis Control and Licensing Act, unlicensed retailers can face fines up to $100,000 or 12 months in prison, or both.
Farnworth said even higher penalties are possible based on the amount of illegal dope seized in raids.
“Administrative penalties can be up to twice the value of the product seized,” he said. “So in that case of $450,000 worth of cannabis, the unlicensed retailer not only loses the product, but could also face a fine of $900,000.”
There have been no fines or charges in the raids to date and investigations continue in co-operation with various police agencies around the province.
High-profile cannabis activist Dana Larsen said his Medical Cannabis Dispensary near Thurlow and Davie streets was raided by the unit and Vancouver police in late October.
“They emptied the store of all the cannabis and left,” said Larsen. “It was a substantial amount, the equivalent of dozens of pounds, including edibles, extracts, suppositories, raw bud, hash. They took it all.”
He estimated the value of the seized cannabis at more than $100,000. But that didn’t stop him from quickly re-opening the store, which continues to operate.
“We re-stocked and were open again a few hours later, with a line-up of customers outside.”
Why is he defying the new pot police? He said it’s because his dispensary sells medical cannabis to sick people who need it.
“We operated for 10 years without a problem,” he said, adding the City of Vancouver earlier issued the dispensary a development permit and he has applied for a legal licence.
“The legal market is not providing adequate service,” he said. “The legal cannabis available is over-priced and often poor quality. Until the legal system improves, shutting down dispensaries at the point of a gun is not the way to go.”
But William MacLean, CEO of Wildflower Brands in Vancouver, said there should be an even tougher crackdown.
“We face unfair competition,” said MacLean, whose company owns four legally licensed City Cannabis stores. “We followed all the rules. We paid a $30,000 licensing fee per store, went through all background checks, got all our local business licences and permits. All our products are safe and legally sourced. Our staff are thoroughly trained.
“Yet we face competition from retailers who don’t want to follow the rules.”
MacLean said his legal stores have been directly targeted by illegal competitors.
“They intercept our customers,” he said. “We had an illegal shop send people over to our store to give away free joints right outside our front door. They said, ‘Don’t do business with this big corporation! They’re bad!’ That’s what we’re dealing with.
“It’s not fair, so of course the enforcement action is necessary.”
Cannabis lawyer Kirk Tousaw said the pot pioneers who fought for legal weed for decades are the ones being treated unfairly.
“There’s no justification for raiding medical-marijuana dispensaries and targeting historical leaders in this field,” he said, adding the government should focus instead on improving the legal cannabis retail system.
But Farnworth said the legal market is improving, pointing to nine government pot shops and 170 private retail licences in B.C.
“These legal businesses should be able to operate without unfair competition from illegal, unlicensed store,” he said, adding a stark warning.
“If they keep thumbing their nose at the law, they will just keep getting hammered with financial penalties.”
William MacLean, the CEO of Wildflower Brands which owns four City Cannabis stores, says the province needs to do more to shut down his illegal competition. Jason Payne / PNG
msmyth@postmedia.com
twitter.com/MikeSmythNews
B.C. prepares for outbreak of coronavirus, China shuts down travel out of Wuhan
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The Morning Skate, April 4: The Sedins abide, even as TV goes missing
Patrick Johnston More from Patrick Johnston
Updated: April 4, 2018 9:00 AM PDT
Morning Skate
It’s pretty amazing when a TV network misfires.
Sportsnet Pacific was held hostage by a Blue Jays broadcast last night, and as I documented, people were pissed they missed the beginning of the Canucks game because of the long-running Jays, which of course was the Sedins’ first after telling us all “this is it.”
At the end, the Canucks lost, but the Sedins got a preview of what will be a rousing, assuredly insane send off on Thursday. The Golden Knights took their moment to pay tribute.
Let’s get skating.
The Home Team
Well at least it wasn’t boring.
The Canucks may be well out of the playoff chase, but they’ve definitely found a decent groove the last two weeks.
Of course, this is all going to hurt their lottery chances. They’re currently 26th. They could still land back in 29th — third last — but that’s tricky.
My gut says they win one of their last two games, and odds are it will be Saturday night against the hapless Oilers. That would probably mean finishing 27th. Their regulation wins will be a terrible tie breaker.
— A good development in what’s been a pretty dismal year overall has been the emergence of Nikolay Goldobin’s overall play.
https://twitter.com/ryanbiech/status/981362247988428800
We knew he could score great goals, but it’s the play away from the puck that’s been his quiet story.
NIKOLAY GOLDOBIN TIES IT UP AT 4 FOR THE CANUCKS! pic.twitter.com/JlGzGj8v8S
— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) April 4, 2018
Your eyes probably tell you he’s done well — though it’s hard to tell, especially on a team that’s mostly been struggling like the Canucks have — and the numbers back it up.
As @Igor_Larionov told @alexjauld & myself on @Sportsnet650 earlier tonight, Nikolay Goldobin told him over dinner last night that he'd score twice vs Vegas. He's true to his word this evening.
— Joey Kenward (@kenwardskorner) April 4, 2018
— The main thing that caught my ear from Jim Benning’s chat with Dan Murphy last night was this:
Jim Benning on SN on free agency – we want to be thoughtful with the use of money. We want players who will help our young kids.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) April 4, 2018
To me, that means “yes, I’m interested in free agents.” Generally if Benning speaks on a topic, he means it. And yes, signing free agents has been his pattern. Despite there being lots of good examples around the league of just playing your kids, he’s still not convinced. Last summer he signed the same number of free agents as players he lost in free agency.
And with the Sedins leaving, despite suggestions, they’d been “blocking” younger players, you can’t help but suspect they’ll chase some veteran free agents.
— Will we see Dahlen?
It wasn’t clear to me, but Ryan Biech, who’s turned into a fabulous CBA analyst (will he be the next Canucks Army alum at a team?) dug around and figured it out.
This is after Trevor Linden told Sekers and Price that Dahlen may join the Comets and he may even make a cameo with the Canucks. If he were to, it would be because Timra lost game six of their promotion/relegation playoff series on Wednesday night.
Obviously the plan would be to fly him over on Thursday or Friday, and give him an NHL taste on Saturday night in Edmonton, the season-closing game for the Canucks.
— Here’s Kuze on what the Sedins have meant to Sam Gagner.
— Jacob Markstrom’s special mask, for the Canucks Autism Network, is pretty excellent.
the man looks legit in this goalie mask. happy too pic.twitter.com/7iEynxD9Eq
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) April 4, 2018
— Not often you see the Tyee in the Skate.
“In an era where sports marketing emphasized grandiosity and outsize personalities, the Sedins quietly carried the banner for the opposite philosophy — the abnegation of self in favour of team.” #ThankYouSedins @Canuckshttps://t.co/3DUr5vmTk4
— The Tyee (@TheTyee) April 3, 2018
The Sedins Abide
—Friend of the Skate Nolan Kelly sent in a piece on the Sedins.
Twenty years ago, Cambie street was a bunch of empty warehouses, Main Street had yet to grow its first hipster, Granville Island Honey Lager was the craftiest brew available, the blackberry was just a fruit, and the Sedins were two chubby-faced teens out of some unpronounceable town in Sweden, coming across the pond to save a destitute franchise in a hockey-mad city. I was fresh out of high school. Stupid. And I’m sitting here lamenting the fact that I didn’t put a down payment on a condo back then, maybe I’d be retiring too.
Players and coaches have come and gone. Our city has changed immensely and each of our lives looks different than it did twenty years ago, but through it all, the Sedins abide. They are a thread running through our timeline, providing memories and shared experiences that have shaped both us and our city.
I remember, initially, not being impressed by the Sedins, buying into the out-dated philosophy that they were too soft to win in the NHL, that we needed more old-timey Canadian boys to dig those pucks out of the corners and smash a few teeth to win that elusive Stanley Cup. Shameful thinking by today’s standards. But the Sedins single-handedly changed my opinion on European players and for that, I’m grateful. I grew to love and appreciate the way they played, Don Cherry be damned.
I remember $3.99 steak dinners at Sailor Hagars on game nights, with friends that have since moved away, who now have kids of their own, would come down to have a few pints and discuss whether the Sedins could eventually replace the West Coast Express.
I remember in the early years, every offseason the Sedins would go home and work on some random part of their game. And then the next season, they’d implement it and, take their play to another level (see: pass, slap).
I remember Daniel’s goal in 2010 against the Flames. The one where Hank won the draw back Ehrhoff, who passed it right back to Hank, who no-look tipped it to an already streaking Daniel for the hat-trick. The most Sedin-like goal that there ever was. Their greatness encapsulated in a single play.
I remember a game in the winter of 2011. I forget who it was against. It was in the middle of one of those long winning streaks that we’d become accustomed to during that time. And there was just this two-minute sequence of events, where the Sedins and the other three skaters on the ice were in such harmony, that you could see the play develop before it developed. You could see where the second and third passes were about to go. And the other team couldn’t. And I caught a small glimpse of what they saw on a daily basis. I remember that play resulted in a goal and I remember thinking, damn, this is the year.
I remember that run in 2011. The Burrows goal. The dancing on Granville after the stanchion goal. Going up 2-0. Bringing lawn chairs downtown, sitting out in the sun and watching the big screen. And my burly friend crying when it was over.
I remember going into the locker room as a lowly intern for the Canucks. Hanging out at practice, squeezing my way into scrums. I was awed by the Sedins. They were gentlemen. They seemed moral, principled, and selfless – throwbacks to a bygone era where athletes grasped the magnitude of their privilege and that their responsibilities lay outside the confines of the hockey rink.
I remember the Sedins’ $1.5 million donation to BC Children’s Hospital. What stood out was their desire to keep the donation private. They publicized it, only at the urging of the hospital, so that others might follow suit.
I remember chatting with my aunt, who’s about as big a Canucks fan as there is. She’d travel down from Campbell River with her husband, just to go to a game. She too, was hard on the Sedins at first, but grew to love them. I love her, but she’s dying. Probably doesn’t have much time left. Every time I watch the Canucks I’ll be thinking of her, sitting on the couch, having a ceaser after a long day, watching a little Sedinery unfold, maybe putting a smile on her face.
I don’t know what all this adds up to. It’s just some thoughts. Some experiences. We all have our own. We all remember watching that game with our loved one who’s no longer there. Or those friends that we don’t see as much. We all remember that one play where they made our jaws drop and made us think we were witnessing something special.
I hope that when people think of the Vancouver, they’ll think of the Sedins – the way people think of Rocket Richard embodying Montreal – because I can think of no better compliment for our city.
— Related:
https://twitter.com/mhblundell/status/980927341856772096https://twitter.com/mhblundell/status/980927594219569153https://twitter.com/mhblundell/status/980927790420774912https://twitter.com/mhblundell/status/980928255829139457
C’mon, Ronaldo Just Copied Camilo
Yeah, yeah, greatest goal of his career.
Hard work pays off!
A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) on Apr 3, 2018 at 4:23pm PDT
Camilo still did it first.
(There’s no ignoring the vertical.)
Just your boy Ronaldo doing the high jump whilst scoring 🥇🏆🤙 pic.twitter.com/mZMnXf8jMc
— hasan kassar (@Hasank099) April 4, 2018
— Speaking of Whitecaps forwards, here’s a gem of a story by JJ Adams on Bernie Ibini, who got his first game of the year on Saturday and, wait for it, ran with the opportunity.
Columbus Crew midfielder Cristian Martinez, left, moves the ball alongside Vancouver Whitecaps’ forward Bernie Ibini-Isei during MLS action in Columbus, Ohio on March 31. Brooke LaValley / The Associated Press
Last Lap
— The Commonwealth Games start today in Australia. Full coverage is available on DAZN, while CBC is airing the opening and closing ceremonies and daily highlights.
Oops:
— Fabulous:
Happy 57th Birthday to Steve Ludzik, whose photo accidentally appeared on #Blackhawks teammate Steve Larmer's rookie card. Larmer, in turn, was shown on Ludzik's rookie card. But it was easy for O-Pee-Chee to confuse the two. Story: https://t.co/c1gFdeCnjZ pic.twitter.com/LdmPHxFcv5
— Sal J. Barry (@PuckJunk) April 3, 2018
— Har!
https://twitter.com/SamMillerBB/status/981203174341013504
Enjoy your Wednesday, folks.
7:00 PM PT8:00 PM MT9:00 PM CT10:00 PM ET3:00 GMT11:00 8:00 PM MST9:00 PM CST10:00 PM EST7:00 UAE (+1)22:00 ET1:00 BRT FSMW/RSNP
St. Louis (30-11-8)
Vancouver (27-18-4)
MLB to use 'robot umpires' in spring training
Former Expo Larry Walker didn't think he'd get Hall of Fame vote
Judge grills Meng Wanzhou's lawyers on double-criminality issues
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Contract the wheel deal
Alexander ScottPilbara News
Thursday, 16 January 2020 3:10PM
Camera IconOnslow Bus & Taxi owners Emily See and Neil Rafferty with Chevron’s Wheatstone Supply Chain Superintendent Tom Jeffreys. Credit: Supplied
The wheels will keep rolling for a bus service in Onslow after the company was awarded a contract to support the Chevron-operated Wheatstone natural gas operations.
The company, Onslow Bus & Taxi, was awarded the five-year contract, set to begin in February and including the provision of bus services for the Wheatstone operation’s workforce to and from various locations — among them the airport, the workforce village, the plant site, and Onslow town — with an estimated 150 transfers a week.
Onslow Bus & Taxi co-owner and director Neil Rafferty said the business had grown since he bought it.
“When Emily and I purchased the local taxi and busing business, it was a one-person operation, but we have now grown the business to a team of five,” he said.
“The contract award will allow us to employ even more Onslow residents and continue our services locally, which is something we are very passionate about.”
Chevron’s Wheatstone plant manager Nigel Comerford said Chevron was committed to partnering with local businesses and the community to deliver long-term social and economic benefits.
“Since 2011, the Wheatstone project has spent more than $455 million with local Onslow businesses and organisations for site construction contracts and town-based services such as transport, catering, venue hire, and general supplies,” he said.
Hotel a big boost to townPremium
‘Quiet achievers’ lock in supportPremium
Matilda’s mum’s ‘eternal’ thanks to search heroes
Pilbara NewsNorth West Telegraph
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Russian Trolls Allegedly Watched ‘House of Cards’ to Learn American Politics
Jokes about reality resembling a bad House of Cards plot may have been more accurate than we realized. It seems the Russian troll farms that interfered in the 2016 election actually drew inspiration from the political strife of Kevin Spacey’s Netflix drama.
According to Yahoo, an independent Russian TV station conducted an interview with professional troll “Maksim,” who claims that a notorious St. Petersburg “troll factory” mandated that its employees watch House of Cards for an understanding of the American political mindset. The intent was to “set up the Americans against their own government,” primarily by leaving comments against Hillary Clinton on major news sites, or downplaying Obama’s popularity:
At first we were forced to watch the ‘House of Cards’ in English. It was necessary to know all the main problems of the United States of America. Tax problems, the problem of gays, sexual minorities, weapons … You were given a list of media that you had to monitor and comment on — New York Times, Washington Post. It was necessary to look through all this and understand the general trend, what people were writing about, what they are arguing about. And then get into the dispute yourself to kindle it, try to rock the boat.
Notably, House of Cards has its own Putin analog with Lars Mikkelsen’s “Petrov,” while the series itself has often dealt with tense Russian relations. It’s also worth noting that “Maksim” was apparently working for the St. Petersburg troll agency in 2015, before the election actually took place.
It certainly says something that House of Cards was seen as the political benchmark over The West Wing, but kudos to the Underwoods for achieving yet another scheme for world domination.
Check Out 100 TV Facts You May Not Know!
‘House of Cards’ Had One of TV’s Best Sex Scenes of the Last 25 Years
Source: Russian Trolls Allegedly Watched ‘House of Cards’ to Learn American Politics
Filed Under: Netflix
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Is there any doubt that the SEC is the best football conference in the country? (With 4 of the top 5 teams ranked are from SEC West on 10-20-14)
Four SEC West Teams In AP Top Five
For the first time ever, four teams from the same conference are ranked in the top five of the AP Top 25 — and all four are from the same division. ESPN college football reporter Adam Rittenberg provides his rankings reaction.
Is there any doubt that the SEC is the best football conference in the country?(With 4 of the top 5 teams ranked are from SEC West on 10-20-14)
SEC reaches poll milestone
Updated: October 19, 2014, 6:05 PM ET
ESPN.com news services
The Southeastern Conference has reached a new milestone in The Associated Press college football poll, becoming the first league to place four teams in the top five — all from the western division.
Associated Press Top 10
The SEC Western Division race carries huge national implications as four teams currently reside in the top five of the AP Poll.
Complete poll | Power rankings
1. Miss. St. (43) 6. Oregon
2. Florida St. (14) 7. Notre Dame
3. Ole Miss (3) 8. Michigan St.
4. Alabama 9. Georgia
5. Auburn 10. TCU
First-place votes in parenthesis
Mississippi State stayed No. 1 after a weekend off. The Atlantic Coast Conference’s Florida State held its ground at No. 2 after beating then-No. 5 Notre Dame 31-27.
Ole Miss remains No. 3. Alabama jumped three spots to No. 4 after a 59-0 victory against Texas A&M. Auburn moved up a spot to No. 5 during a bye week, taking advantage of losses by previously unbeaten Notre Dame and Baylor.
The Irish dropped two spots to seventh. Baylor fell to No. 12 after losing 41-27 at West Virginia.
Thirty times since 2001 a conference has placed three teams in the top five of the AP Top 25. The SEC had done it 16 times since 2009.
The Seminoles (7-0, 4-0 ACC) control their own destiny, however, as no currently ranked teams remain on the schedule.
SportsNation: Your CFB Top 25?
Would you have four SEC West teams in the top five? Would Mississippi State be No. 1 on your list? Rank ‘Em »
They are one of only three top-five teams that are still undefeated, and both No. 1 Mississippi State and No. 3 Ole Miss have at least two more games against ranked teams.
The Bulldogs and Rebels face each other in the regular-season finale in the Egg Bowl, so one is guaranteed to end the season with a loss.
“You can say whatever you want: This team is dominant,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said after beating Notre Dame. “This team understands how to win. … This team has tremendous what I call ‘adversity tolerance.’ It doesn’t flinch. It can deal with anything.”
SEC Football Schedule has in past and still is benefitting Alabama and Georgia
Alabama last year had to play Tennessee and Kentucky from the East and their conference record was 1-15 while LSU had to play Florida and Georgia and their record was 14-2. Doesn’t seem fair does it? In the old days Tennessee would have been a top 10 team almost every year and playing them as […]
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Uncategorized | Edit | Comments (0)
David Climer: Titles can’t erase SEC football’s weaknesses
SEC has proved how good we are, but it doesn’t mean every team in the SEC could win a national title in 2013. David Climer: Titles can’t erase SEC football’s weaknesses Alabama players celebrates after their 32-28 win in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP […]
SEC football recruiting Part 1
ESPN’s final recruiting rankings are not as good as others as I have seen. I do have a hard time with Missouri (38) having such a good ranking when other services had the tigers tanking their class this year compared to other SEC schools. However, Kentucky (36) is almost as bad when there is vast […]
SEC football recruiting roundup 2013
February 8, 2013 – 8:09 am
Nick Saban Streeter Lecka We finally found a Top 25 in which the SEC is more dominant than the USA Today Coaches’ Poll: the post-Signing Day recruiting class rankings. ________ I have to say the SEC is really doing well these days. Everyone expects Alabama is going to be on top on most years […]
SEC Football Recruiting
I am not so mad anymore about Arkansas being ranked number 64 in recruiting this year while Auburn is #20 and Tennessee is #30 and even Kentucky is doing better than us. That is because they racked up lots of players when they had coaches during the year while we had John L. Smith. What […]
SEC football coaches on the hot seat
It is no surprise that John L. Smith and Derek Dooley may be heading out the door at the end of this season. That was expected by most people that watch SEC football. However, could Gene Chizik of Auburn being out the door too? If that happens then I must admit that I did not […]
SEC Football Schedules for 2013 Part 1
I am very happy with the new football schedules that the SEC released for next year. It is a stand alone schedule that will not affect the final decision that make concerning the rotation in the 2014 schedule and beyond. 2013 Georgia Bulldogs Football Schedule Date Opponent Time/TV Tickets Saturday 04/06/13 G-Day Spring Game […]
SEC Football roundup for Sept 29, 2012
Tour of SEC Football Sept 22, 2012 (Lester McClain honored)
Photo by Michael Patrick, copyright © 2012 Tennessee’s A.J. Johnson (45) takes down Arkron’s Jawon Chisholm (7) during during first half action against Akron Saturday, Sep. 22, 2012. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) Photo by Michael Patrick, copyright © 2012 Akron head coach Terry Bowden during second half of their 47-26 loss to Tennessee Saturday, Sep. 22, […]
SEC football as strong as ever
Arkansas defensive tackle Jared Green (57) and linebackers Alonzo Highsmith (45), and Tenarius Wright (43) attempt to tackle Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) as offensive lineman Barrett Jones (75) looks on during second quarter action of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/David Quinn) ___________ When you […]
By Everette Hatcher III, on October 20, 2014 at 8:28 am, under Current Events. No Comments
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Tag Archives: Malaysia
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: Jo Parfitt’s creative life as serial expat
2 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on November 16, 2017
Columnist Doreen Brett is back, and she’s accompanied by another “great” in the expat publishing world, Jo Parfitt, who has published 30+ books herself while also helping at least a hundred new expat writers publish their first great works. Wow. Who among us can compete? —ML Awanohara
Hello Displaced Nationers! It is my pleasure to present to you the venerable Jo Parfitt, who has been an expat for more than three decades while also carving out a career for herself as author, journalist, writing mentor/teacher, and publisher.
This is not Jo’s first time on the Displaced Nation. A couple of years ago, another expat author, Ana McGinley, interviewed Jo about her decision to found Summertime Publishing, which specializes in publishing books by and for people living abroad.
Summertime, by the way, is turning 10 years old this year. Congratulations, Jo!
As Jo reported to Ana, one of her own books, A Career in Your Suitcase, remains one of Summertime’s top five bestsellers. Is it any wonder, given that Jo is her own best example? Among the many places where she’s lived and worked are three I know well: my native Malaysia, my husband’s home country of Britain, and my current home of the Netherlands, where Jo, too, now resides.
And now let’s hear about Jo’s experience as a serial expat—and how living in so many different places has fed her creative life.
Welcome, Jo, to the Displaced Nation. First let’s do a quick review of all the places you’ve called “home”. You were born in Stamford, a town in Lincolnshire, UK. A few years back, Stamford was rated the best place to live by the Sunday Times. But you were not content to stay put. Instead you have lived in Dubai, Oman, Norway, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, and the Netherlands. What got you started on this peripatetic life?
I went abroad the day after I got married, when I was 26. My boyfriend had gone to Dubai for work and I had to marry him to follow him. Before that happened, I already knew I loved being overseas. I had done a French degree and a year abroad, so I was already travelling before I met my husband. But still, I hadn’t imagined living in Dubai and, in fact, did not want to go there at all. But my husband (he was my fiancé at the time) said: “Come for six months. If you don’t, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” And thirty years later, we are still living abroad…
Why didn’t you want to go to Dubai?
At that time I was running my own business and doing quite well. And I was really happy in my career and didn’t want to give it up. Career has always been really important to me. When I closed down my business (I was in a partnership) to move to Dubai, I found it absolutely devastating.
So Dubai was a hard landing?
I was the first expat wife in my husband’s company. They had no support for me at all. We weren’t given our own apartment. I ended up sharing a flat with some other chaps who were in my husband’s office. I was lost and lonely and I knew nothing about networking, I knew nothing about portable careers, I knew nothing about being an expat. But then I found a job opportunity for somebody to do some freelance CV writing. So I did, and eventually I became a journalist. When I submitted my CV they said: “Well you’re not very good but you’ve got potential. So you work for me and I’ll shout at you a lot and you’ll learn.” So that’s what happened. One thing led to another and I had a career again.
Can you tell us about where you went next?
From Dubai, we went to Oman for two-and-a-half years, which was heaven. We loved it. We left too soon because after Oman we went to Stavanger, in southwestern Norway. We went from heat and and living outdoors and having help in the house to a cold and rainy place with no help. We stayed 18 months—actually, we cut that posting short. (I’ve been back to Stavanger since and I thought it was wonderful, but at that time, it was just not for me.) We moved back to Stamford, but I didn’t fit in anymore. We were based in the UK for seven years while my husband would commute on the plane or bus or train for work, until finally we decided it was time we all stayed together as a family again, and we went to live in The Hague. My husband and I also moved to Brunei for a short posting, staying just a few months before returning to The Hague. From there my husband got a job in Kuala Lumpur. For me, living in Malaysia was a dream come true. We’d traveled to Southeast Asia while living in Dubai, and I knew right away I wanted to live in that part of the world some day. It was fantastic.
When you repeat being an expat so many times, do you end up being drawn to cities, where you’ll find other well-traveled people?
In Dubai and Oman it was impossible to get to meet the locals; one has no choice but to live in the expat bubble. In Norway, my home was on the edges of the expat bubble because I didn’t feel that they were really my kind of person. To be honest, I don’t know who I thought my kind of person was. I was depressed in Norway, so nothing would have made me happy. When I went back in England, I realized I didn’t fit in anymore because I’ve lived overseas, so I found my community by starting up a professional network of women writers.
In general have you found that living in cities tends to feed your creative drive?
I wrote a blog called Sunny Interval while based in Kuala Lumpur. I wrote briefly in Brunei. Wherever I went, I found things to write about, generally about transition. I am a poet and a columnist at heart. I love finding parallels and being able to compare and contrast cultures. That said, I lost my mojo in KL for quite a long time—I couldn’t seem to find the beautiful bits. But then I had an experience that absolutely changed my life: an opportunity to write a book on Penang, which is located on Malaysia’s northwest coast. As part of the research, I had to interview Penangites, I had to understand the history and get under the skin of the place. That’s when I realised that getting under the skin of a place is the thing that WILL feed your soul, even if the place is not inherently beautiful. It was such a privilege to get to know Muslims and Buddhists, Chinese, Malay, and Indian, and call them all friends.
Does language tend to be a barrier when you’re in a non-English speaking place?
Even though I’m a linguist, I didn’t learn Arabic or Norwegian, I know very little Dutch. But when I went to Malaysia, I decided that I would learn Malay, and it made a huge difference. Boleh lah! (Can do!) And now that I’m back in The Hague, I’m determined to speak more Dutch. I think it’s very important to learn the language, and I am ashamed that I didn’t learn Arabic or Norwegian, or Dutch the first time around.
How about the more remote places you have lived? Do they, too, feed your creativity and if so in what ways? And how do you keep from feeling isolated?
I write! As I mentioned, I did a degree in French. As part of my studies, I did a year teaching in France in a really boring small town and I didn’t have any friends there either. I would walk around the town for something to do. And I would walk in the shops and I would look in the windows. And I looked at the wonderful display of tarts and I just thought: “”French Tarts”—that’s a great title for a book. I’ll write it.” And what it did was it gave me something interesting to do and a way to meet people and eat (which I loved!). Because I couldn’t cook I decided to ask everybody I met in the town if they’d have me to dinner, and if they had me to dinner they had to make me a tart and I would write about it and would put their recipe in my book! I was 20. I had utmost confidence that they would say yes. So I went to dinner with the doctor, the dentist, the lady who ran the baby shop, teachers from the school, the man who ran the bicycle shop… I just said to anybody, I want to come to dinner. And I wrote the draft of French Tarts, which came out when I was 24. That was my first book.
What a great story! And I happen to know that’s not your only cookery book. After all, you brand yourself as a bookcook…
When I was in Oman, I had the idea with a friend of mine of writing a cookbook on dates because none of the expats knew how to cook with dates. So we wrote a cookbook on dates. We invented the recipes (I could cook by then!) and did everything else. Though it looked terrible, it sold very well because people wanted the content.
Are there any other remote places where you’ve lived that have fed your creativity?
The most remote place I’ve lived in was Kuala Belait in Brunei, which for those who don’t know if a small sovereign state on the north coast of the island of Borneo (the rest of the island is Malaysian and Indonesian). Kuala Belait was really remote. There was nothing to do there at all. I actually went online and googled bloggers in the area. And I found one blogger, who was 20 years younger. I met her for coffee. I did everything I could to find people. In the end, I started a writer’s circle. I ran a few writing classes and joined a French conversation group. And I was only there for three months. You have to make an effort to reach out to people, but the Internet does make it easier.
I know you’re a great networker. Do you tend to network online or in person?
I network with people online. But I also make sure I network with people in person. I sometimes think, it’s been three weeks and I haven’t seen anybody apart from my family, so I get on the phone and book lunches and things.
Do writers sometimes find it a struggle to meet people IRL?
When I was working from home as a writer, I realised that if I stayed in all day and all evening and wrote, I got depressed. And so I used to go for a walk at lunchtimes and at least try to engage with somebody in a shop. I am an introvert when I work. But I feed my soul by being out. I like to see people face to face every week. I don’t think you get much energy from talking to somebody through the email and texting.
You have 31 books! Do you have a favorite?
Out of my 31 books, I would say that a couple have been pivotal for me. One I’ve already mentioned: French Tarts. It made me realise that If you’ve got a good idea, then you can do anything. The other is A Career in Your Suitcase, which is now in its fourth edition and still going strong. I had the idea for writing it when we first went to Norway. There were no English publications for me to write for. I started working on this and an expat anthology called Forced to Fly.
What’s next for you, travel-wise and creativity-wise: will you stay put where you are or are other cities/artistic activities on your horizon?
I’m in The Hague now. I like belonging in a community. I love the fact that everything’s familiar. When you’ve moved and moved and moved, you really want to feel that you belong somewhere. And knowing the way and not having to use a map and knowing where the doctors is: it’s a great feeling. Here in The Hague I’ve also come back to old friends, and that’s been fantastic. I didn’t have friends in England really. They’d all gone off to university or wherever. England was difficult. I think Norway was the hardest. England was the next hardest. Coming back here to the Netherlands has been the easiest because it wasn’t a repatriation as I thought it might feel. It was a reposting. It had all of the positives and none of the negatives.
Tell me about your new venture taking writers away on retreats. I believe you call them “me”-treats?
This has been an ambition of mine for some time. I’m holding what I call Writing Me-Treats. These are residential holidays for four or five nights. They’re for people who love to write, to come and indulge in writing and sharing and doing beautiful things that will make them feel really inspired. For example, in The Hague, we will do the walk in the Jewish quarter and talk about what happened to the Jews. Understanding that has really deepened my love of the place. My first writer’s Me-Treat is in Penang, this month. My next writer’s Me-Treat is in The Hague, which I have timed to be exactly after the Families in Global Transition (FIGT) conference. The next one is in France, in a mini chateau. Then Devon. Then Tuscany.
Do you have any advice for other global creatives?
If you’re a writer, try getting into a writers circle. That’s where I found my soulmates. People come, we do some speed writing, we share what we’ve written, then I create a task and we do an exercise. It’s about being forced to write, not having an excuse or procrastinating. It shows people what they can do in 10 minutes. It empowers them to think they are good enough. I think a lot of writers want to keep what they’ve written to themselves because they’re too afraid to share it. Or they’re too scared that somebody else will plagiarise it. Which is a real worry. What you get in a writer’s circle is a safe space. People get very friendly. They get very close.
I should remind our readers at this juncture that you have your own publishing house for expat books.
Yes, I run Summertime Publishing. I’ve been helping people to write books since 2002. I teach people online and have three online courses: people can study by email as well. Four years ago I decided to run this writer’s scholarship, the Parfitt-Pascoe Writing Residency. I would train writers, they would cover the FIGT conference, and I would publish what they wrote. This is about to be my fifth year. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to get training from me for free, to get lots of mentoring for free, and to increase their network.
Any recommendations for the wannabe writers out there?
The other thing I would recommend is that you either write a journal, and do it religiously, or write a blog. Whenever something happens, that I think is of note. I write a blog post. I write it for people I know, so I feel safe enough to be authentic and vulnerable, to show how stupid I am, and my mistakes. And I write as if no stranger will read it. And it becomes a record of my life. A lot of people are very scared to expose themselves like that. But don’t be.
Thanks so much, Jo, for sharing your story with us.
Readers, any further questions for the extraordinary Jo Parfitt on her thoughts about place, displacement, and the connection between the communities you’ve lived in and creativity? Any authors or other international creatives you’d like to see Doreen interview in future posts? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
STAY TUNED for this coming week’s fab posts.
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to register for The Displaced Dispatch, a biweekly round up of posts from The Displaced Nation—and so much more! Register for The Displaced Dispatch by clicking here!
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: Ruth Van Reken’s creative life as Adult Third Culture Kid
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: Cristina Baldan’s creative life as serial expat
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: Doreen Brett’s creative life as an expat in Holland
Photos via Pixabay.
Cool Columns, Far from the Madding Crowd Brunei, Dubai, England, Far from the Madding Crowd, It's Food!, Malaysia, Middle East, Norway, Oman, Repatriation, Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, The Hague, The Netherlands, Trailing spouse, UAE, UK, Writers we love, Writing Tips
Leave a comment Posted by ML Awanohara on May 28, 2017
At a moment when I feel far from the madding crowd myself despite being in a big city—it’s Memorial Day weekend in the United States, when most New Yorkers flock to the beach—it’s my pleasure to welcome new columnist Doreen Brett to the Displaced Nation. She was introduced to me by former Culture Shock Toolbox columnist Hélène (“H.E.”) Rybol: they met in Singapore, where they were roommates for a while.
Like Hélène, Doreen grew up among several different cultures. Her grandparents emigrated from India to Malaysia, and the family spoke English as their first language. While based in Malaysia, she attended school in Singapore.
Doreen’s horizons widened still more once she reached adulthood. A few years ago, she moved to the UK with her British husband; they now make their home in the Netherlands.
Doreen loves exploring wild, remote places—and it’s this passion of hers that has inspired her column, “Far from the Madding Crowd.” From next month, she will be interviewing expats who have chosen to live in some off-the-beaten-track locations. Did the experience lead to cultural immersion, and in what ways did it foster creativity?
To kick off the series, Doreen has agreed to have me pose to her the same series of questions she plans to ask other international creatives.
Welcome, Doreen, to the Displaced Nation! I understand you grew up in Malaysia but were educated in Singapore. How did that come about?
I was born in Johor, the Malaysian state on the Straights of Johor, which separates Malaysia from the Republic of Singapore. When I was six years old, my parents decided to send me to school in Singapore, since my family was English speaking and schools in Malaysia tend to teach only in Malay. My parents were influenced by a neighbor of ours, a close family friend, who was the principal of a school in Singapore. She spoke very highly of the city-state’s educational system. In any event, that’s how I came to living in one country while attending school in another! Every morning I would wake up at 5:00 a.m., sit sleepily on a yellow school bus and travel across customs. Once school finished, I would make my way home again, through immigration checks. As a child, it became second nature for me to keep my passport in my pocket, for daily use. It marked the beginning of what has thus far been a life of travel.
What brought you to your current location, the Netherlands?
My husband is British. We moved from Singapore to his native UK to live and work. We lived in his home town, Billericay (a small town in Essex, not far from London), for a few years before moving to London to avoid the commute to work. We only recently moved to a small city in the Netherlands, again for work.
Those of us who have been Third Culture Kids or repeat expats tend to gravitate towards global cities as that’s where we think we’ll find work and our “tribe.” How did you find life in Singapore as compared to in Malaysia?
When I think of Malaysia, there is very much a community feel to the place and the people. You always know your neighbors; family and friends drop by without any notice (and are readily welcomed with a snack–every house always has snacks prepared for impromptu visits); and weddings are celebrated on a large scale–500 people is a small number. In fact, the further you get from the city, the more of a village feel there is and the more you will experience these community bonds. Rather than finding your “tribe”, the tribe will find you and welcome you with open arms! Singapore, by contrast, is very much a global city, with all the conveniences such places have to offer, including a vast variety of food choices available day and night, efficient and safe transport links, and of course, a plethora of cultures living in one space.
Once you moved to the UK, you went from living in a small town to living in London. Which did you prefer?
To be honest, coming from a background that values community, I felt alienated in both locations. If only I had known about the Displaced Nation then, I would have realized there was nothing unusual in my reluctance to head out into what I perceived was an unfriendly environment. Even when I moved to London, a place where virtually everyone is “displaced”—it is very much a global city—I still felt this disconnect. Being in a global city does not guarantee a sense of companionship and belonging. You can be in a room full of people and still feel alone. It was only when I took steps to reach out, and get past cultural differences, that I began to find people I could connect with. And while city life is of course convenient, and there are always things to do, I found that I never got any space to myself, to just BE.
How do you feel about your latest “home”?
Where I live in the Netherlands is much quieter than the flat we had in London. It’s a complete switch in lifestyle. Like a detox of sorts. I absolutely love it. All in all I have to say that I love being outside of global cities. On the surface, cities have more people and hence provide more opportunities to connect with others; but I think that relationships forged in communities outside the city limits will trump this any day.
How do you keep from feeling isolated?
I do not feel isolated, no matter where in the world I am. I always have a small, steady group of friends and family I can turn to—my global tribe.
I understand you enjoy writing. Do you foresee that in your current location you’ll be able to nurture your creativity?
Being in the Netherlands gives me time to pursue my creative interests and the opportunity to develop my writing. Currently I am working on writing a fictional piece, and of course my protagonist travels, and I am embellishing the tale with the flavours of the different cultures I have experienced.
I’ve only just moved to the Netherlands, so I would like to stay put for a bit. Fingers crossed that this move goes well!
Thank you, Doreen!
Readers, any further questions for Doreen on her thoughts about place, displacement, and the connection between the community you live in and creativity? Any authors or other international creatives you’d like to see her interview in future posts? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
Opening collage (bottom to top): Sultan Ibrahim Building, Johor, Malaysia, by Bernard Spragg via Flickr (CC0 1.0); Singapore, by Neils de Vries via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); Bellericay High Street, by Steve Hancocks via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); Picadilly Circus, by mrgarethm via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0); and Doreen Brett feeling happily displaced in Holland as the sun is shining (supplied). Sea image is from Pixabay.
2nd visual: Madi + Pika // Reception, by Azlan DuPree via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
3rd visual: Oxford Street in London via Pixabay.
Cool Columns, Far from the Madding Crowd Crosscultural, Crosscultural marriage, Far from the Madding Crowd, Holland, India, It's Fiction!, London, Malaysia, Singapore, TCK, Third Culture Kid, UK
LOCATION, LOCUTION: Novelist Dinah Jefferies melds themes of displacement and loss with the seductive beauty of the East
2 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on December 3, 2016
Tracey Warr is here with fellow historical novelist Dinah Jefferies. Dinah has led an unusually eventful life: not only has she lived in various countries but she has also suffered the loss of a child. These experiences have fueled a writing career that took off when Dinah reached her mid-sixties.
Greetings, Displaced Nationers.
My guest this month is Dinah Jefferies, who was born in 1948 in Malaya—as Malaysia was known then—where she spent the first nine years of her life, growing up against the background of civil war. Once Malaya gained independence from England, her parents decided to move back home.
Dinah found it wrenching. As she told a UK magazine:
“I was incredibly happy in Malaya. We just wore flip-flops and pants at home; it was so hot… I loved going to the Chinese quarter with my amah, sitting cross-legged on straw mats with her family, eating bright yellow, strong-tasting ice cream. It was like nothing like I’ve ever tasted since.”
Moreover, England did not make a good first impression:
“I just remember absolute devastation when I saw what England was like: February, the middle of winter – grey, cold, wet; no sunshine; horrible clothes.”
Dinah was bullied at school, and although she defended herself, that “feeling of not being quite a member of anything has stayed with me all my life.”
This outsider status led to a certain restlessness, which should be familiar to any of our Third Culture Kid readers. As a teenager, Dinah lived in Tuscany and worked as an au pair for an Italian countess. Much later, with her second husband, she attempted to retire in a 16th-century village in Northern Andalusia—a plan cut short after they lost most of their money in the crash of 2008.
But the experience that shattered life as she knew it was the death of her son in 1985, when he was just 14. Formally trained as an artist, Dinah channeled her unrelenting grief into her art work. Later her move to Spain afforded an opportunity to experiment with fiction writing. After settling in Gloucestershire to be near her grandchildren, she took to writing full time and found she enjoyed weaving her experiences of loss and displacement into stories set in the “extremely seductive beauty of the East.”
Dinah’s first published novel, The Separation, came out in 2014, when she was 65 years old. Set in 1950s Malaya, the book tells the story of a mother who journeys through the civil-war-torn jungle to find out why her husband and daughters moved up country without her.
Dinah landed a contract with Viking Penguin for that book and has produced a novel for them every year since:
The Tea Planter’s Wife (2015). Set in 1920s Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the book revolves around a young Englishwoman who has married a tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he’s been keeping some terrible secrets about his past.
The Silk Merchant’s Daughter (2016): Set in 1950s French Indochina (now Vietnam), the era when militants were determined to end French rule, the story concerns a half-French, half Vietnamese woman who is torn between two worlds.
Before the Rains (forthcoming, February 2017): Set in 1930s India, the book follows the progress of a British photojournalist who is sent to photograph the royal family in the princely state of Rajputana (Rajasthan). She ends up falling in love with the Prince’s brother…
To research her books Dinah has traveled to Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India. She will be speaking at the Fairway Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka in January, should any of you Displaced Nationers find yourselves in that part of the world.
Welcome, Dinah, to Location, Locution. Which tends to come first when you get an idea for a new book: story or location?
For all four of my books the location came first, though story comes a very close second. Once I’ve decided on the place, I then research the period and usually while researching that, the kind of characters I want begin to emerge. Sometimes I have the kernel of an idea before I hit on the location. For The Tea Planter’s Wife I did have the idea of a life-changing secret before I chose Sri Lanka—or Ceylon as it was then known.
What is your technique for evoking the atmosphere of the various places where you’ve set your four novels?
It’s all about sensory detail. For my third book, The Silk Merchant’s Daughter, set in Vietnam, it was all about evoking the contrast between the elegant French quarter of Hanoi, as opposed to the clutter and noise of the ancient Vietnamese quarter with canaries singing in bamboo cages and the scent of charcoal and ginger in the air. The setting has to work to support the story in some way, and as this is a story of a woman caught between two worlds. I needed to show how different those two worlds were.
Which particular features create a sense of location: landscape, culture, food?
All those and more. I include everything I can to create the atmosphere of the place and the time. For historical fiction, one has to get the historical details right, too: the type of buildings, what people wore, their mindset, etc. It’s about what the characters would be seeing in their daily lives and how they would be interacting with their surroundings. For me the landscape has to almost be a character in itself. I try to re-create the beauty of the world in question as well as its unique personality.
Can you give a brief example from your writing that illustrates place?
From The Tea Planter’s Wife:
“Below her, gentle, flower filled gardens sloped down to the lake in three terraces, with paths, steps and benches strategically placed between the three. The lake itself was the most gloriously shining silver she’d ever seen. All memory of the previous day’s car journey, with its terrifying hairpin bends, deep ravines, and nauseating bumps, was instantly washed away. Rising up behind the lake, and surrounding it, was a tapestry of green velvet, the tea bushes as symmetrical as if they’d been stitched in rows, where women tea-pickers wore eye-catching brightly coloured saris, and looked like tiny embroidered birds who had stopped to peck.”
In general, how well do you think you need to know a place before using it as a setting?
I like to know it as well as I can and I always visit a location I’m planning to use. Just being in a place can help in ways you never could have imagined if you hadn’t been there. When doing research for The Tea Planter’s Wife, I was staying at a tea plantation in Sri Lanka and found a library of wonderful books I’d never have known about back home. Those books provided me with amazing details, as did sitting outside in the evening watching the fireflies and listening to the cicadas. Being there made it real.
Which writers do you admire for the way they use location?
I love Julia Gregson’s book East of The Sun for the way it evokes a particular time in India. Also Simon Mawer’s The Girl who Fell from the Sky set in wartime France. Both are great books with terrifically realistic settings that are an important element of the story.
Dinah Jefferies’s picks for novelists who have mastered the art of writing about place
Interesting! I should tell you that one of my other guests, the novelist Hazel Gaynor, chose your books—The Tea Planter’s Wife and The Silk Merchant’s Daughter—in answer to this question. Also, my very next guest will be one of your picks, Simon Mawer.
Thanks so much, Dinah, for joining us. It’s been a pleasure.
Readers, any questions for Dinah? Please leave them in the comments below.
Meanwhile, if you would like to discover more about Dinah Jefferies and her novels, I suggest you visit her author site. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
À bientôt! Till next time…
Thank you so much, Tracey and Dinah! Dinah, your Third Culture Kid story tells us so much about you. I wonder if it’s the reason location comes first, before story? And hats off to you for starting a writing career in your sixties. What a tribute to resilience, as well as to the therapeutic power of art! —ML Awanohara
Tracey Warr is an English writer living mostly in France. She has published two medieval novels with Impress Books. She recently published, in English and French, a future fiction novella, Meanda, set on a watery exoplanet, as an Amazon Kindle ebook. Her latest medieval novel, Conquest: Daughter of the Last King, set in 12th-century Wales and England, came out in October.
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LOCATION, LOCUTION: Charles Lambert draws on his displaced life to produce psychological thrillers
LOCATION, LOCUTION: Novelist Hazel Gaynor illuminates the lives of early 20th-century women with an adventuresome streak
LOCATION, LOCUTION: In trio of memoirs, Marjory McGinn celebrates life inside the heart of Greece at height of economic crisis
LOCATION, LOCUTION: Writing in Finnish and English, expat novelist Emmi Itäranta creates fantasy worlds that feel palpably real
LOCATION, LOCUTION: Under pseudonym A.J. MacKenzie, Canadian expat couple set crime fiction series in 18th-century Kent village
Photo credits: Top visual: The World Book (1920), by Eric Fischer via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); “Writing? Yeah.” by Caleb Roenigk via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); author photo and photos of Dinah in Hall of Mirrors at Amer Fort (near Jaipur, India) and of Malacca, Malaya, supplied by Dinah Jefferies; and photo of England: Rainy Day, by David Wright via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Visual that accompanies the quotation: Tea Picking In Sri Lanka, by Steenbergs via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
Cool Columns, Location, Locution ATCK, England, Historical Fiction, India, It's Fiction!, Italy, Location Locution, Malaysia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Spain, Sri Lanka, TCK, Third Culture Kid, UK, Vietnam, Writers we love, Writing Tips
CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: The expat life is a craft you can practice, and there are bandaids, laughter & alone time when it doesn’t go well
2 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on August 5, 2016
This month transitions enthusiast H.E. Rybol consults with a seasoned expat, who like herself is an Adult Third Culture Kid, for some advice on handling culture shock. They also talk reverse culture shock.
Hello, Displaced Nationers!
Today, I’d like you to meet Mrs Ersatz Expat! You might recognize her from her namesake blog where she describes herself as “a 30 something global soul, a perpetual expat” and writes about her life in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan (the list goes on…). Her photo of the indoor beach in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital city, complete with water slides and beach volleyball court, will make you want to experience blizzards in a whole new way!
Mrs EE prefers to remain anonymous online (hence “Mrs EE”), seriously dislikes milky tea and harbors a love for gadgets which, according to her, improve “life disproportionately compared with their actual value.” Her blog even features a series of said useless doodads, with photos! They include washing machine covers, neck rings for babies, double eye-lid tape and chair socks.
Mrs EE was born into a global life. She grew up in several countries, including a stint in a scary-sounding boarding school in the UK. She kindly took the time to share some of her culture shock stories and experiences. Join us as we talk about cringe-worthy boarding school moments (including a close encounter with Marmite!), along with some self-preservation tips such as laughing your head off and remembering to make time for yourself…
A warm welcome, Mrs EE, to Culture Shock Toolbox. Can you tell us, which countries have you lived in and for how long?
I am an Irish citizen born in the Netherlands to a Dutch (naturalized Irish)/Irish family. We lived in the Netherlands for two years after I was born and returned there for a further three short postings over the following 20 years. I also spent significant periods living with my grandparents in the Netherlands when my mother was very ill and receiving hospital treatment there. I probably had more personal and cultural connections with the Netherlands than any other country up until I was around 14 years old. After the Netherlands my family had postings in Norway, the UK, Nigeria, Turkey and Venezuela.
I was in boarding school in the UK when my family moved to Nigeria and only visited them for school holidays. I subsequently went to university in the UK, where I met my British husband and started my career. Nowadays I have more personal and cultural connections with the UK (my parents retired there and my sister lives there) than any other country, and many people who meet me believe I am British.
A few years after our first child was born my husband and I were offered the opportunity to expatriate, and we moved to Kazakhstan. After that we spent 18 months in Malaysia (both East and West during that period), and we are now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. That makes a total of nine countries and I think 11 or 12 postings give or take. I have never lived in my passport country. I last visited Ireland five years ago.
In the context of cultural transitions, did you ever end up with your foot in your mouth?
All the time! The process of handing money over is always fraught. In some countries no one cares as long as they get it. In others, you put the money down and never hand it over. In yet other places you use only your right hand while others expect you to use both. I now have this habit of putting money down on the counter with my right hand—it seems to cover most bases.
And I think you have some memorable stories about that British boarding school you attended?
The most cringe-worthy moment I ever had was on the very first day. I was 11 years old, joined mid-year and no one in my family had ever boarded before so I was rather at sea with the whole experience. My mother had dropped me off the night before and was on her way to meet my father in Nigeria. I knew the mail service was so bad I would not hear from them at all before I arrived, alone, in Lagos airport in three months’ time. I was rather scared and, although I had lived in England for the two years leading up to the move and attended an English school, I had lived with my parents so I was not truly culturally immersed in British food and traditions, let alone boarding traditions, which most of the other girls had heard about from their mothers and aunts.
I went down to breakfast and was rather bemused by being offered tea with or without sugar. While there was sugar on the table this was only for sprinkling on cereal (yes really!): we were not allowed to put that sugar in our tea. I asked for it with sugar and noticed with horror that it came with the milk already in. I am not allergic to milk but don’t have it often so it made me gag. At the same time I spread my toast with what I thought was chocolate spread. It turned out to be something called Marmite—a salty British sandwich spread for which the advertising tagline is you either love it or hate it. Well, I hated it.
The matron at the head of our table yelled at me for being greedy, taking food I wasn’t eating and, shaming me in front of all the girls, made me eat and drink every piece of food.
How did you handle that situation?
I finished my food and ran to the loos, when we were released for the five minutes before prayers, to be sick and burst into tears. I could not have a hot drink at breakfast for the entire two years I was in that boarding school, and I retain an abiding hatred for that woman and my time there.
THE HORRORS OF BRITISH BOARDING SCHOOL: Being offered milky tea with no sugar; tasting Marmite when you thought it was chocolate spread; and being shamed by Matron.
Would you handle the situation differently now?
If someone tried to do that to me now I would stand up to them, of course! If I saw someone doing that to a child I would be furious. No amount of cultural sensitivity to host cultures should require a child be shamed by a grown up, particularly when their parents are not around to defend them. Years later when my husband was a deputy house master and we were house parents, I came home from work to find the whole of the youngest year in our flat. They had committed some minor infraction for which they had been punished. They missed their supper and the Matron would not allow them to have any replacement meal. We cooked them bacon sandwiches and put in a formal complaint to the school.
Looking back on your many cultural transitions, can you recall any situations that you handled with surprising finesse?
It’s very hard to say, I moved so many times as a child that adapting to new cultures and expectations has become rather the norm for me. I wouldn’t say I exhibit any particular finesse as such but I do find that the transitions are less of a shock to me than to many of the people I meet because they are an integral part of my life rather than a once–thrice in a lifetime experience. That is not to say that I don’t experience stress, culture shock, bereavement at leaving a posting or any of those feelings that are the bread-and-butter of expat life. It’s just that I know to expect them and I know how they impact me. I also have an insight into how our children are feeling because I lived their life as opposed to just seeing them go through it.
If you had to give advice to new expats, what’s the tool you’d tell them to develop first and why?
Resilience! Expat life is hard, and you don’t become a craftsman overnight. You have to practice and get used to handling the unexpected, which gets thrown at you every day from the moment you get through immigration control and out of the airport. Some days will be unbelievably hard but, once you get through them, put away the toolbox and rest, and then get it out again and have another go. You have to be willing to take the hits, stand up and endure. Eventually, it will get easier.
I like the idea of taking the hits and moving on. Everyone should have Bandaids in their Culture Shock Toolbox.
That’s true, and you also need to know when you’re getting close to the end of your reserves and need some downtime. Whether it’s a holiday or a trip home to see relatives, time on your own or with your spouse and children, or even just a quick coffee with a friend (in person or over Skype), make sure that you get it. And you also have to make time just for yourself.
Finally, I would suggest cultivating a sense of humour. Learn to laugh at your mistakes rather than feel too bad about them. I remember one time, a month or so into our posting in Kazakhstan, we went to a fast food outlet in a food court and ordered four burger meals (we could not read the menu or order anything more complicated at the time). We were given five Danish pastries. I remember we sat there laughing our heads off to stop ourselves crying with frustration. Of course, by the time we left we could read menus, order specific food with variations and send it back if it was not to our liking and then we had to learn the process all over again in a new country!
POSSIBLE REMEDIES/FIXES: Bandaids, laughter, and self-care should be in every expat’s Culture Shock Toolbox.
That seems like sound advice! If you can laugh, your recovery from cultural mishaps will be much quicker, that’s for sure. And now can I ask whether you have any tips for handling reverse culture shock?
I have never gone home as such, but I do get a sense of this when we travel to the Netherlands. Of course we are not moving there to live so it’s not as intense but I do experience a wave of sadness that the country I grew up in effectively no longer exists. People behave differently, the TV programs are different, I no longer speak the language as easily, and many of the people with whom I spent most of my time are now dead. I feel out of time and out of place. I don’t think I would ever go back there to live, it’s too sad. My parents never returned to their native lands, choosing instead to settle in the UK where they had based our education. I think they realised that 30 years of expat life made it too hard for them to return.
How about if you end up back in the UK, where your husband is from and where you think of as “home”?
I am not sure what will help us transition back to life in the UK when we finally end our expat lives. I think a lot will depend on our children. We are currently debating whether or not to send them to boarding school in England when they’re older. If we do we will, of course, be back there far more often than if we don’t, and our children as well as our parents and siblings will help keep us far more grounded than if we had no family around. In the meantime, I make sure that Britain is not a distant country, reading a spread of papers and news magazines every day. The Internet has been a godsend in this regard. I remember as a child Radio 4 was on constantly and people would bring out tapes of CNN and the World Service which would do the rounds; a four-hour snapshot of the news. Papers and magazines were on circulation lists and as my father was promoted we got the papers more quickly. These days I can read the news as soon as it’s published, it’s truly fantastic.
Thank you so much, Mrs EE, for sharing your experiences so openly. What you say about resilience and taking time for ourselves is so true. We just have to look onwards and forwards while managing our own energy resources, and remember that it’s not only OK but necessary to take a break and treat ourselves with a little TLC. Bandaids, laughter and alone time should be in every expat’s culture shock toolbox!
So, Displaced Nationers, do you have any boarding school horror stories to share? Please leave them in the comments, along with any questions you have for Mrs EE.
Hm, there’s actually a question I forgot to ask her: why does she call herself “ersatz”, which means not genuine or fake? Is it because she is enjoying the expat life so much? On that note, I’ll leave you with her photo of chair socks:
(Who knew chairs could get cold feet, too?!)
For more entertainment of this kind, be sure to follow Mrs EE’s blog. She is also on Twitter.
Well, hopefully this has you “fixed” until next month.
Until then. Prost! Santé!
H.E. Rybol is a TCK and the author of Culture Shock: A Practical Guide and Culture Shock Toolbox and the newly published Reverse Culture Shock. She loves animals, piano, yoga and being outdoors. You can find her on Twitter, Linkedin, Goodreads, and, of course, her author site.
STAY TUNED for next week’s fab posts.
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to register for The Displaced Dispatch, a round up of weekly posts from The Displaced Nation—and much, much more! Register for The Displaced Dispatch by clicking here!
CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: Expats and TCKs, when choosing tools for adjusting to a brand new culture, study the safety instructions
CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: Expats, know when to put a clamp on your native mannerisms, and remember: patience works
CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: Expats, don’t wear ear protectors when neighbors offer advice, and confidence works like a charm!
CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: Expats, don’t let the cultural prism you carry around blind you to the most interesting facets of the experience
REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK TOOLBOX: Expats, what kinds of tools do you need if you decide to repatriate?
Photo credits: Top collage: Photos of England, Ireland, Holland and Jeddah from Pixabay; culture shock toolbox branding; and photo of Ersatz Expat and her blog branding (supplied). Next visual: “Money in hand” photo from Pixabay. Second collage: (clockwise from top left) Memories of boarding school, by jinterwas via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); tea service photo via Pixabay; SHAME!, by Mills Baker via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); and Marmite, thickly spread on toasted bread, by Kent Fredric via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Last collage: Hammer and nail, solitary woman & laughter photos via Pixabay; and 流血後の親指 (Your thumb after an accident), by Hisakazu Watanabe via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Photo of chair socks is courtesy of Ersatz Expat.
Cool Columns, Culture Shock Toolbox Acquired tastes, Africa, ATCK, Crosscultural, Culture Shock Toolbox, Holland, It's Food!, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Repatriation, Republic of Ireland, Reverse Culture Shock Toolbox, Saudi Arabia, TCK, The Netherlands, Third Culture Kid, UK
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: 11 Expat- and Travel-themed Books to Expand Our Horizons in 2016
2 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on February 17, 2016
Attention displaced bookworms! Our book review columnist, Beth Green, an American expat in Prague (she is also an Adult Third Culture Kid), is back with her personal picks for expat- and travel-themed books to watch for in 2016.
Hello again, Displaced Nationers!
It’s been quite a long time since I last wrote to you here. Since my last column we’ve started 2016, celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Monkey, written and revised our new year’s resolutions, and (hopefully) read some really great books!
As part of my own (ever-evolving) New Year’s resolutions I signed up for the Goodreads Reading Challenge. It’s currently showing that I’m 22 books behind schedule for my overly optimistic goal of 300 books this year—but, hey, it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy, right?
Now, usually in this column I talk about books I’ve already read, but this month I’d like to highlight some that I haven’t. There are, of course, lots of intriguing books coming out this year—more than I can cover adequately in one column! But, of the expat- or international-themed books coming out in 2016 that caught my eye, I’ve chosen 11 to feature in this post, one for each month left in 2016. Take a look!
Beginning with…a Thriller and a Mystery
Cambodia Noir, by Nick Seeley (March 15, 2016)
The debut novel from an American journalist who has been working out of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Cambodia Noir is a thriller that I’ve had on my to-be-read list ever since I first heard about it. The plot: A young American woman who is working as an intern at a local paper in Phnom Penh, June Saito, disappears. Her sister hires a retired photojournalist with first-hand knowledge of the corrupt, dissolute ways of the Cambodian capital, to look for her. Author Nick Seeley got his start as a foreign correspondent in Phnom Penh. He’s been hailed as a “fresh voice” exploring the depths of the Far East’s underworld.
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Frightfully English Execution, by Shamini Flint (April 7, 2016)
Always the fan of international crime fiction, I’m excited that one of my favorite series—a series of charming crime novels featuring the portly, lovable Sikh policeman Inspector Singh—is getting a new addition this year. Author Shamini Flint is sending Singh to Britain in the seventh book in her series. Each book provides not only a puzzle for the reader to solve but also a close-up look at the locations where the books are set. This is the Inspector’s first time out of Asia, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he discovers in the UK.
And, a special note for readers with kids: on January 1 Flint, who is a Singapore-based Malaysian, published a middle-grade book, Diary of a Tennis Prodigy, with illustrator Sally Heinrich (Sally formerly lived in Singapore and Malaysia but is now based in Adelaide, Australia).
And Now Let’s Add Three Travel Memoirs…
No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering, by Clara Bensen (January 5, 2016)
I love memoirs that read like novels, as I’m hoping this one will! Recovering from a quarter-life meltdown, 25-year-old Bensen signs up for an online dating account, and to her surprise, ends up meeting Jeff, a university professor who proposes they take a three-week experimental trip spanning eight countries, with no plans or baggage. Her story resonates with the adventurer in me—I can’t wait to take a look.
The Road to Little Dribbling, by Bill Bryson (January 19, 2016)
It may already be old news to anyone who’s been in a bookstore recently—or read our Displaced Dispatch!—but the world’s favorite traveler, humor writer and expat, Bill Bryson, has a new travelogue out. It’s another of his road-trip books. (I much prefer these to his other writings such as A Short History of Nearly Everything and At Home—they started out great, but I ended up leaving them unfinished…) Bryson made a journey through Britain 20 years ago, which was forever immortalized in his bestselling classic, Notes from a Small Island. In Little Dribbling, he follows the “Bryson line” from bottom to top of his adopted home country. I’m looking forward to being in his company again.
In Other Words, by Jhumpa Lahiri (and translations by Ann Goldstein) (February 9, 2016)
As a London-born Indian-American, world-class novelist Jhumpa Lahiri excels at writing in English—yet has long harbored a passion for the Italian language. Not wanting to miss out, she moved her family to Rome to immerse herself and quickly reached a point where she was writing only in Italian. She kept a journal in Italian that has evolved into this dual-language memoir. As an expat who’s now tried to learn three foreign languages while abroad, I’m curious to see how Lahiri’s experiences match up to my own. (The critics would apparently like to see her go back to English!)
…Along with Two Works of Literary Fiction and a Harlequin Romance
What Belongs to You, by Garth Greenwell (January 19, 2016)
An American professor working in Sofia, Bulgaria, hooks up with a male prostitute in a public toilet and slowly becomes more involved than he anticipated. Reviewers cite Greenwell’s lyrical prose as reason alone for picking up his debut novel, but I’m interested in seeing how this young writer—who himself once worked as an expat English teacher in Bulgaria—depicts the city and the relationships between locals and foreigners. (This book, too, was mentioned in a recent Displaced Dispatch.)
The High Mountains of Portugal, by Yann Martel (February 2, 2016)
Going over this years’ publishers lists, I’m now looking forward to reading a book by an author whose last book I despised. My friends were all gushing over Yann Martel’s 2002 novel Life of Pi; but, while it has an admittedly awesome premise, the story left me cold. But I’m excited to check out the chronically traveling Canadian author’s next book, which is set in Portugal and intertwines the century-spanning stories of a young man reading an old journal, a mystery-loving pathologist, and a Canadian diplomat. I’m planning a trip to Lisbon later this year, and hope to read this book before I go.
Under the Spanish Stars, by Alli Sinclair (February 1, 2016)
I’m pleased to report that former expat Alli Sinclair—my friend and former co-blogger from Novel Adventurers—has published her second romantic mystery novel this month. (Congratulations, Alli!) The action takes place in her native Australia and also in Spain. The plot: an Australian woman travels to her grandmother’s homeland of Andalucía to unravel a family mystery. She ends up meeting a passionate flamenco guitarist and learns her grandmother’s past is not what she imagined.
Finally, to Top Things Off, How About a Couple of YA Books?
I don’t read a lot of young adult books, but descriptions of two novels I saw reviewed recently stuck with me. Funnily enough, both books’ titles start with “Up”—maybe it’s the implied optimism that caught me? We could use a bit of cheer in our displaced world…
Up from the Sea, by Leza Lowitz (January 12, 2016)
This is a novel in verse. It tells the story of a Japanese teenager, Kai, whose coastal village is obliterated by the March 2011 tsunami, after which he is offered a trip to New York to meet children who had been affected by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The trip also provides an opportunity for him to go in search of his estranged American father. Author Leza Lowitz is an American expat writer and translator living in Tokyo, where she also runs a popular yoga studio. Her favorite themes to explore in her writing include the idea of place, displacement and what “home” means to expatriate women.
Up to this Pointe, by Jennifer Longo (January 19, 2016)
I’m always fascinated by stories of Antarctica so have my eye on this book about a teenage girl who aspires to be a professional ballerina but, when her grand plan goes awry, sets out on an expedition to McMurdo Station (the U.S. Antarctic research center) in the footsteps of her relative and explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Notably, Seattle-based author Jennifer Longo wanted to be a ballerina until she finally had to admit that her talent for writing exceeded her talent for dance. Like me, she harbors an obsessive love of Antarctica. I admire the way she has woven these two themes together!
So, Displaced Nationers, what do you think? What are you looking forward to reading this year? Any much-anticipated displaced reads that should be added to my list?
As always, please let me or ML know if you have any suggestions for books you’d like to see reviewed here! And I urge you to sign up for the DISPLACED DISPATCH, which has at least one Recommended Read every week.
STAY TUNED for more fab posts!
Beth Green is an American writer living in Prague, Czech Republic. She grew up on a sailboat and, though now a landlubber, continues to lead a peripatetic life, having lived in Asia as well as Europe. Her personal Web site is Beth Green Writes. She has also launched the site Everyday Travel Stories. To keep in touch with her in between columns, try following her on Facebook and Twitter. She’s a social media nut!
If you enjoyed this post, we invite you to subscribe to The Displaced Dispatch, a weekly round up of posts from The Displaced Nation and much, much more. Sign up for The Displaced Dispatch by clicking here!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Best of expat fiction 2015
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: Giving thanks for expat and repat writers whose novels have an international flavor
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: Beach bound? Check out summer reading recommendations from featured authors (2/2)
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: 2014–2015 books recommended by expats & other international creatives (2/2)
Booklust, Wanderlust, Cool Columns Antarctica, Asia, ATCK, Australia, Booklust Wanderlust, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Crime writers, Crosscultural, Eastern Europe, Europe, It's Fiction!, Italy, Japan, Love love love, Malaysia, Memoir | Travel | Food Writers, Portugal, Rome, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Spain, TCK, Third Culture Kid, Travel yarn, UK, USA, What a Displaced World, Writers we love, young adult fiction
Wonderlanded with Lene Fogelberg, award-winning poet, writer, and double open-heart surgery survivor
1 Comment Posted by ML Awanohara on September 16, 2015
There’s something from Alice in Lene Fogelberg’s story. Photo credits (clockwise, from top left): NecoZAlenky (original Czech film poster for Something from Alice) via Wikimedia Commons; Lene Fogelberg author photo (supplied); operating room via Pixabay.
Welcome back to the Displaced Nation’s Wonderlanded series, being held in gratitude for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which turns 150 this year and, despite this advanced age, continues to stimulate and reassure many of us who have chosen to lead international, displaced, “through the looking glass” lives.
This month we travel
the hole with Lene Fogelberg, a Swede who has lived in quite a few places but right now can be found in Jakarta, Indonesia.
With her long red hair and blue eyes, she looks a little like a Swedish Alice. What’s more, her biography of her early years is not dissimilar to that of Alice Liddell, the muse behind the Lewis Carroll story. Growing up in a small town by the sea, Lene was full of curiosity about the wider world and also in love with words. Describing her youth in a recent guest blog post, Lene says that for her,
written words danced lightly as feathers on the page. I loved to read and made weekly visits to our small town library, the bicycle ride home always wobbly with the heavy pile of books on the rack.
But while similarities are rife to Carroll’s Alice, the “wonderlanded” story Lene lived as an adult in fact comes closer to Czech director Jan Švankmajer’s surrealistic interpretation in his 1988 film, Něco z Alenky.
Něco z Alenky means “something from Alice,” and Lene ended up taking something from Alice’s story when, after moving to the United States with her husband and children, she found herself being wheeled through a rabbit warren of hospital rooms into an operating theatre. As in Švankmajer’s film, she was in a bizarre dream rather than a classic fairy tale.
Strangely, from the time she was young Lene had suspected there was something wrong with her heart. She even harbored a not-so-secret fear of dying young, trying to make the most of each moment. But Swedish doctors repeatedly dismissed her concerns, treating her like a hypochondriac.
And then, it happened: her worst nightmare came true. Shortly after arriving in America she went to have a physical so she could get an American driver’s license—and the American woman doctor informed her she had a congenital heart condition and only a week to live.
Lene survived two emergency open-heart surgeries to tell her story: quite literally! Her memoir (and first book), Beautiful Affliction, is out this week from She Writes Press. Until now, Lene had written in Swedish, mostly poetry, for which she has won some awards. But even though she chose to write her memoir in English, she retains her poetic style, as we will see later in the week when we publish a short book excerpt.
But before that happens, let’s have Lene will take us down into her rather harrowing rabbit hole. True, she’s had some reprieve since since recovering from her surgeries and moving to Jakarta—but only some, as Jakarta is the kind of place where you have to take your life into your own hands to cross the street. But I’m getting ahead of the story—over to Lene!
Lene Fogelberg: Thank you, ML, and greetings, Displaced Nation readers. Just to give you a little more of my background: I grew up in the south of Sweden, in a small town by the ocean. As ML says, I often stood looking out over the ocean following the waves in my imagination, wondering about all the exciting places in this world. In my youth I spent a couple of summers in France studying French and falling in love with this beautiful country.
As newlyweds my husband and I moved to Germany as students for a year, where I learned the language and took care of our newborn baby (just three months old when we arrived). After Germany, we moved back to Sweden and stayed there until my husband’s employer offered him a position in the United States. We moved to a small town outside of Philadelphia, called Radnor. That became the scene of my life-threatening health crisis. How it erupted and played out is the topic of my book, which, as ML mentioned, came out this week.
We spent a year and a half in the United States in total and then moved back to Sweden for a couple of years. Nearly four years ago we relocated to Jakarta, but in December we will be moving again: to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Stop this moment, I tell you!” But [Alice] went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears…
After moving to the US there was a huge pool of tears because of the drama that unfolded in the weeks following the transition. My husband and I had to have physicals prior to getting our American driver’s licenses, and as soon as the doctor put the stethoscope to my chest she reacted to the sound of my heart. It turned out I had a fatal congenital heart disease and that I’d lived longer with this disease than anyone the US doctors had ever met.
As Lene attests in her newly published memoir, her “rabbit-hole” experience was full of heart, tears and physical drama. Photo credits (clockwise from top left): Front and back cover art for Lene’s book (supplied); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland illustration by Milo Winter (1916), via Wikimedia Commons; The White Rabbit’s House, by Kurt Bauschardt via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
[S]he felt a little nervous about this; “for it might end, you know,’ said Alice to herself, ‘in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?”
The events that unfolded are covered in my book Beautiful Affliction, which is a crazy story, full of heart and physical drama, not unlike Alice’s own confrontations with her changing body.
“Where should I go?” –Alice. “That depends on where you want to end up.” –The Cheshire Cat
Although my physical crisis was great, Jakarta has been one of the biggest challenges in a “wonderland” sense. The city is chaotic, with heavy traffic that is always jammed, making it difficult to navigate. I was shell-shocked for the first six months.
“Oh, I beg your pardon!” [Alice] exclaimed in a tone of great dismay…
Here in Jakarta where the population is mostly Muslim I try not to show too much skin. I wear clothes with sleeves and never skirts shorter than the knees.
Photo credit: Alice shoes, by Shimelle Laine via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see, a dog growls when it’s angry and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry.”
Greeting people here in Indonesia can be a minefield. The safest bet is to put my hands together and say, “Namaste.”
“There’s certainly too much pepper in that soup!” Alice said to herself, as well as she could for sneezing.
I love nasi goreng and all the Indonesian dishes—but without the chili, which is too spicy for me.
Photo credits: Nasi goreng (fried rice), by Tracy Hunter; (inset) Nothing is real, nibble and drink me…, by Wonderlane. Both images via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
Recipe for a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
I would invite my family and friends from Sweden and serve all the delicious fruit that can be found here in Indonesia. I know how you can long for sunshine during the long, dark Swedish winters and I would love to give them all a vacation full of sunshine and fruit smoothies.
Photo credits: A Swedish Mad Hatter [my description], by Rodrigo Parás via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); Fruit stall in Bali, by Midori via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
“Well!” thought Alice to herself. “After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs!”
I am getting more and more courageous. I guess living abroad gives me a sense of “I can do this” and when faced with challenges I can now say to myself: “You have been through worse.”
Advice for those who have only just stepped through the looking glass
Stay busy so you don’t lose yourself to too much introspection. Especially if you are a traveling spouse coming with your expat partner. Make friends who can go with you to explore your new country. And whenever you go on excursions, try to learn the language so you can speak with locals and really get to know the country more than from a tourist’s point of view. The feeling of discovering gems of knowledge that are not in the tourist guides, like a local saying, is very rewarding and makes you feel connected to your new “home”.
Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible…
My next writing project is a novel that takes place here in Jakarta. It is a hilarious and heart-breaking story where I combine the ancient myths of Java with modern society and where East meets West. The first draft is basically finished and I hope to follow up my debut book with this story. It is kind of crazy and sometimes I wonder why I am writing it, but I am in love with the characters so I keep going. It is very much a fruit of my “down the rabbit hole” feelings. I would say that most of my writing comes from a place deep inside where I feel like I have discovered something unsettling with the world we live in and, because I need to pinpoint it, I write about it, in an effort to grasp it.
Thank you, Lene! Being wonderlanded with you was a moving experience. I sense you are a very special person to have survived so much and still be full of curiosity about the world. Readers, please leave your responses to Lene’s story in the comments. And be sure to tune in later in the week when we feature a sample of her writing! ~ML
STAY TUNED for the next fab post: an example of how Lene writes about her wonderlanded experience.
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WONDERLANDED: “Bewildered, Bewitched & Bothered,” by expat writer Sally Rose
Wonderlanded in Santiago with Sally Rose, expat writer, teacher and (above all) learner
WONDERLANDED: “Shadows & Reflections,” by long-term expat Paul Scraton
Wonderlanded in Berlin with British expat Paul Scraton, founding editor of the new “Elsewhere” journal
WONDERLANDED: “Can you make me a Manhattan?” by A. Spaice
Wonderlanded in Phnom Penh with serial expat writer, artist and sometime photographer A. Spaice
The Displaced Nation’s 4 wishes for birthday number 4 (no foolin’!)
6 Alice-in-Wonderland themes for creatives abroad to explore in their works
Wonderlanded (series) Acquired tastes, Alice in Wonderland, Europe, Gothic tales, Indonesia, It's Food!, Malaysia, Memoir | Travel | Food Writers, Philadelphia, Scandinavia, Southeast Asia, Sweden, Travel yarn, USA, Wonderlanded
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: The story of Jo Parfitt and her expat press, Summertime Publishing
1 Comment Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on September 15, 2015
Attention displaced bookworms! As our book review columnist, Beth Green, an American expat in Prague (she is also an Adult Third Culture Kid), is still honeymooning (literally—congratulations, Beth!), we have loaned her space this month to seasoned expat and freelance writer Ana McGinley, who will tell us the story of a well-known international creative in the expat book world: Jo Parfitt, founder of Summertime Publishing.
Hello, readers, and thanks Displaced Nation for this opportunity to talk about Jo Parfitt. A journalist, editor, writer, speaker and teacher, Jo has lived abroad for 26 years—in France, Dubai, Oman, Norway, the Netherlands, Brunei and now Malaysia. She is the founder of Summertime Publishing, which specializes in publishing books by and for people living abroad.
Eighteen years ago, Jo published A Career in Your Suitcase, her guide to creating a portable career. Now in its 4th edition, the book continues to grow in popularity as the number of expat accompanying partners, mostly women, find themselves seeking new mobile careers to replace the jobs and careers relinquished to embark on a global relocation.
Jo Parfitt on Bankastraat, Den Haag, Netherlands, one of many former homes; book cover art for her bestseller, A Career in a Suitcase, now in its 4th edition.
Jo’s own career in a suitcase
The success of that book inspired Jo to set up her own business mentoring expats in search of suitable career opportunities. Having written 31 books herself, Jo decided to extend her training to include writing skills guidance for new authors. Several of them have partnered with her to publish their works, and Summertime Publishing—which she’d first set up to publish her cookbook, Dates, written while living in Oman—took off.
After nearly two decades, Summertime has a catalogue of over 100 publications covering many facets of expat life, including:
books to prepare children for an international move: My Moving Booklet, by Valérie Besanceney (February 2015);
books for educators: Safe Passage, by Doug Ota (October 2014);
books on living in specific countries: Didgeridoos and Didgeridon’ts, by Vicky Gray (about moving to Australia, May 2012);
books for adult TCKs: Arrivals, Departures and the Adventures In Between, by Chris O’Shaughnessy (November 2014);
books on the psychological impact of the expat lifestyle: The Emotionally Resilient Expat, by Linda A. Janssen (July 2013); and
many other topics including books on retirement: Retire to the Life You Love, by Nell Smith (December 2014).
Jo recruits her dream team…
A year ago, Jo enlisted the help of former Displaced Nation columnist Jack Scott, he of Jack the Hack fame. Jack had published his book, Perking the Pansies (a memoir based on his popular expat blog of that name), with Jo (he now has a sequel out: Turkey Street).
In addition to Jack, Jo has hired Jane Dean (who was Jack’s editor).
Jo, Jane and Jack have British roots, although Jane is now a US citizen, yet all three are based in different global locations: Jo in Kuala Lumpur; Jack in Norwich, UK; and Jane in The Hague, Netherlands. All three have in common the experience of relinquishing previous careers to accompany their partners—and establishing successful portable careers in the publishing world.
(Left to right) Jo Parfitt, Jack Scott and Jane Dean (supplied).
Today Jo takes care of sales and marketing, business growth, client intake, big-picture edits and manuscript assessment at Summertime Publishing. Jane is the chief editor and production manager, and Jack is responsible for royalties, administration, digitization and social media.
Business is conducted digitally via computer networking and bi-monthly business meetings on Skype—and regular Skype meetings with their team of designers. The three aim to physically meet each year for the company annual general meeting.
Jo says that the recent expansion of her business is directly related to the growth in the globally mobile workforce. As more people relocate to new locations, the thirst for knowledge about expat issues, both unique and common to specific destinations, increases. Expats tend to be well-educated individuals capable of resettling in unfamiliar places and adjusting to new cultures, without losing their own cultural identity. By necessity expat partners often dive deep into the culture of their new destination, interacting with local people and services daily. These accrued experiences, good and bad, can form a strong basis for a good story.
The summertime—& sunshine—of the expat life
Anyone who is familiar with Jo has noticed a theme running through her life and work having to do with summertime and sunshine. Jo says she named her press “Summertime” after the song by Gershwin, which she sees as her theme tune. “I am a positive person and love the optimism and hope in the lyrics,” she says.
Having spent ten years in the intense sunshine of the Middle East, Jo has also published a novel called Sunshine Soup, about expat life in Dubai, and she currently keeps a blog about the life she leads with her husband in Malaysia, called Sunny Interval, because after postings in Europe they get to enjoy the sunshine again.
Photo credit: A Sunny Interval.
There is also, of course, Jo’s sunny disposition to consider. “I am an optimist at heart and like to see the good in everyone,” she says, adding that, since setting up her press, “my motto has been Sharing What I Know to Help Others to Grow.”
Further to which, in closing I’d like to share some tips Jo has for expats who dream of writing a book:
• Do your own market research to see whether books covering your topic already exist. Most mainstream bookstores do not have a specified section for expatriate books—so look online.
• Visit Expat Bookshop and Summertime Publishing. (Interested in publishing with us? Send a message via the contact form on the site.)
• Download the free booklets offered by Summertime Publishing:
So You Want to Write a Book?
Does Your Book Have Legs?
50 Steps to a Book in Your Hand
• Consider the practical aspects of publishing a book. Writers who enter a contract with Summertime Publishing will be offered editing, printing and promoting services tailored to suit their individual needs.
• Most importantly, assess your available time and lifestyle and evaluate the real possibilities of being able to regularly focus on your book project. writing a book demands a high level of focus.
And now for Jo’s parting pearls:
I believe everyone has a story in them. I tell someone that if their story is likely to inspire, support, inform or entertain another person then it is worth telling.
Thank you, Ana, for introducing us to Jo Parfitt. Her dedication to the cause of publishing expat works, along with her sunny disposition, has extended the feeling of summertime for me a little longer! Readers, how about you? Any questions for Ana +/or Jo?
STAY TUNED for the next fab post!
Born in Australia, Ana McGinley has now lived in seven countries in 15 years, so more than qualifies as a serial expat. She writes, edits, reviews and researches articles for various online publications, including serving as the review coordinator for Summertime Publishing—all of which distracts her from finishing her book about caring for ageing parents from abroad, a topic related to her previous work as a social worker with older people. She currently lives in the Netherlands with her Canadian husband and four children, all born on different continents. To get to know Ana better, please follow her HuffPost column. You can also view her portfolio of published works here.
BOOKLUST, WANDERLUST: Best of 2014 in Expat Books (2/2)
Booklust, Wanderlust, Cool Columns, Features Australia, Booklust Wanderlust, Holland, It's Fiction!, Malaysia, Memoir | Travel | Food Writers, The Hague, The Netherlands, Travel guide, UK, What a Displaced World, Writers we love
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: To ease the stress of yet another international move, tea all round and some jammie biscuits?
3 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on August 19, 2015
Serial expat (and soon to be repat!) Joanna Masters-Maggs is back with some tasty global food gossip to share.
As I write this, we are in the middle of packing for our eighth international move.
By the way, I don’t count moves within countries as an actual move. Indeed, when people complain about having to move from one house to another, I have an unpleasant tendency to judge them for being just a little, well, weak.
Call me strange, but I have almost come to enjoy the stress because I know how deeply the memories will be imprinted as a result.
I especially relish the sweaty dirtiness of a move in a hot climate. You look dreadful and just don’t care. The joy of the dirt sloughing off you in the shower at the end of the day, is unspeakably satisfying. As they say, you never appreciate water until you have experienced thirst.
Memories set to the soundtrack of masking tape being torn from the roll and objects being wrapped in rustling paper—I have a few, including:
Watching the Malaysian movers slip on and off their shoes as the moved in and out of our house, no matter how heavy their load.
Spying the Brazilian workers taking a siesta under the removal van.
Above all, enjoying the sight of my children playing for days with empty boxes.
Tea, all round?
Photo credits: (clockwise from top left) “We’re Moving!” by David Goehring via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); Moving Day, by Cambodia4kids.org via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); Allied Movers, allied Moving Truck, by Mike Mozart via Flickr (CC BY 2.0); (overlay) Tea time, by Daniela Vladimirova via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
In England it is customary to offer tea to anyone who comes to work around your house. It politely defines their status as providers of services rather than servants.
I have come to associate removal men with strong, sweetened tea and a biscuit to go with it. No move has ever been complete without these accompaniments—and my biscuit of choice under the circumstances is the Jammie Dodger.
A Jammie Dodger comprises two vanilla biscuits sandwiched together with a red jam and possibly buttercream, too. The upper biscuit boasts a little cut out to reveal a little filling—what a tease!
Jammie Dodgers are freely available in English supermarkets. The store-bought version used to do the trick, but I am afraid I have, like an addict, come to demand something more refined as my drug of choice.
No dodging the Jammie Dodger
Years ago, while living in Virginia as a student, I started to make my own Jammie Dodgers, craving as I did a taste of home. Come on, I had to tolerate Lipton Yellow Label tea, which lacks the body I demand. If I couldn’t magic up a suitable English blend, at least there was something I could do about the biscuit situation.
Jammie Dan, by Andrea Black via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
I hit on a good combination of a shortbread style biscuit and a good-quality jam. Imagine my surprise on discovering these were so much better than the factory version—so much so that I have never again willingly returned to the supermarket to buy them. I was young, remember. I still am. As the years passed I have tweaked that recipe until nothing surpasses it.
Arriving in France I was astonished discover that there was a chain of French bakeries that came very close to my recipe. What a disaster for my thighs! They could no longer look forward to being given a respite on the days when I don’t have time to bake.
Even the French can’t resist!
Known as sablé (literally, sand) for their sandy, crumbly texture, these confiture-filled delights are uncharacteristically large for a French pâtisserie. I relish the idea that even the French find them difficult to resist despite being a nation of “Oui, mais only one”.
I understand their dilemma. The sablé’s crumbly, buttery, shortbread-like texture offers what food technicians call “mouth fill”.
Talking of fillings, the French version comes generally in raspberry or chocolate as well as the ill-advised Nutella. Hm.. France really ought to give the concept of the Nutella sablé a rethink. This biscuit calls for a contrasting texture, so non merci to Nutella, here at least.
Photo credits: flickr black day, by Robert Couse-Baker (CC BY 2.0); nutella cookies, by Ginny via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Apart from the size, the other difference in a French Jammie dodger is that instead of one hole cut in the upper biscuit to expose the filling there can be as many as three. Alors, the French can actually do vulgar excess it would seem!
Personally, I love the idea of the French ditching the restrained elegance we are so used to seeing from them. I also love that it is a jammie biscuit that drove them to it.
Cate the Cake: She’s the biscuit!
This move is the most special of all my international moves, because this time, my daughter is providing the Jammie Dodgers that fuel us. Since arriving in France, Catherine has developed first an interest in baking and then in patisserie—developments that have made my heart sing a special version of the 1812 Overture.
Instead of the “La Marseillaise” being quieted by the Russian national anthem, we have a case of “God Save the Queen” being, if not crushed by the French anthem, at least over-laid and dusted down with a Gallic flourish.
Cate the Cake (a weak nickname, but I can’t resist) has taken courses in all sorts of things from éclairs to crème brûlée. She has brought a certain French flair to my Jammie Dodger, making them even more irresistible, if that were possible.
Having the patience and perfectionism I so entirely lack, she is willing to stare through the oven door until just the right shade of pale delicacy is reached that ensures the texture is melting, but not cloying. Adhering strictly to butter only, the flavor is delectable and well worth an extra few centimeters to the waistline. These beauties scream for a strong cup of English blend tea made with leaves, not a bag, and steeped a full five minutes.
Talking of which, I think I’ll nip in to the kitchen before the teapot is packed and give the packers a cultural experience to remember. After all, it’s the presence of workmen in the house that provides the impetus (or excuse?) for an extra-special tea-and-biscuits ritual.
Jammy Dodgers/Sablés
• 200g butter, cut into small cubes
• 100g icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 free-range egg yolks
• Raspberry or Strawberry Jam
1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F
2. Place the flour, butter, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg yolks and mix until a dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a thickness of about 0.5cm. Cut out shapes using a 4cm cutter.
4. Divide the sablés in half. Using a 2cm, fluted cutter, make a hole in the middle of half of the sablé biscuits and discard the dough. Place all the sablés on a baking tray.
5. Liberally dust the tops with icing sugar passed through a fine sieve.
6. Bake the sablés for 10-12 minutes, or until pale golden-brown and crisp. Remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. Using a teaspoon, place a small dollop of jam on a whole sablé. Place a sablé (with a hole) over the whole sablé biscuit.
Readers, we invite you to continue the food gossip! Can you relate to Joanna’s instinct for strong tea and Jammie Dodgers? And can you offer any other food tips to alleviate the stress of an international move? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
Joanna Masters-Maggs was displaced from her native England 17 years ago, and has since attempted to re-place herself in the USA, Holland, Brazil, Malaysia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and now France. She describes herself as a “global food gossip”, saying: “I’ve always enjoyed cooking and trying out new recipes. Overseas, I am curious as to what people buy and from where. What is in the baskets of my fellow shoppers? What do they eat when they go home at night?”
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: When facing repatriation after 18 years of the expat life, bring on the comfort food!
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: I lost my heart (but not my teeth) to the French artichoke
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Is humankind getting too fussy to share food, one of our most basic bonding rituals?
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Et tu, France? Fiddling with that fine American classic, the Caesar salad?
A British expat in France defends the right to feel skeptical about “Je suis Charlie” fever
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3 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on April 16, 2015
Joanna Masters-Maggs (supplied) and three forbidden foods: Wheat , by Rasbak via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); dairy, by Stefan Kühn via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0); and peanuts, by Daniella Segura via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
Dost thou think there shall be no more cakes and ale
Because of thy wretched bowels?
—Paraphrase of Sir Toby Belch (Twelfth Night: Act 2, Scene 3)
Readers, I hope you will indulge me in this dramatic, and admittedly somewhat unseemly, turn of a Shakespearean phrase. Not long ago, I was planning a simple supper for a few couples and had just received a third text informing me of various food allergies. The relaxed and convivial supper I had imagined was rapidly becoming a nightmare of compromise and unsatisfactory substitutions.
Somehow I had to come up with a delicious menu that didn’t involve dairy, flour or meat.
I should have known not to invite a bunch of people I barely knew, but I was feeling expansive at the time. I’d also been envisioning a pleasant few days pottering through familiar recipes in my kitchen—only to find myself feeling cross, taken for granted and somewhat overwhelmed.
As those of you who are cooks will know, “simple” suppers never take less than days to bring off in the desired relaxed and blasé style—so one really needs to enjoy the preparation. Frankly, getting ready for this particular dinner was beginning to feel like a challenge on a brutal reality show.
I also felt I could empathize with the nearly 100 restaurateurs in Britain who last month signed a letter protesting the new EU rules requiring restaurants to audit their menus for allergens from lupins to eggs. These allergens must be flagged on menus. Failure to do so could result in a $5,000 fine which, for most restaurants, could be the difference between survival and going to the wall. They rightly point out that having to undertake such work will also reduce the spontaneity of their menus and reduce creativity.
Modern etiquette requires hosts to ask guests if there is anything they don’t eat.
Toby jug (named after Sir Toby Belch), by Graham and Sheila via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
This is when the guest can mention any genuine allergies—not their likes and dislikes. I might feign polite interest, but I don’t really care to hear about your digestive issues.
Of course, I do want to know if you are actually c(o)eliac. Curmudgeonly as I can be, I get that this is a very real health issue and I will go to any lengths, happily, to accommodate it.
If I have to jump through culinary hoops because you “really feel that you have more energy since you gave up wheat,” I am, frankly, annoyed.
I once entertained a guest and made the mistake of including in a recipe an ingredient he had repeatedly informed me caused a severe allergic reaction.
To this day I cannot explain how I so deliberately included it; however, when I realized my mistake, it was with a heart-stopping thump in the middle of the night. I agonized for hours, caught a moral maze of whether or not I should call and confess my reckless stupidity or not. As dawn broke, so, too, did the suspicion that if this had been a true allergy, I could have expected some drama before the end of the evening. If I am going to get careless while entertaining an allergy sufferer, I expect the subsequent experience to include severe anaphylactic shock and hysterical calls for an ambulance…
Sure enough, by lunchtime I had received the text thanking me for a lovely evening. The experience has left me deeply suspicious of subsequent allergy stories.
It can’t be fun living with an allergy, but neither can it be everyone else’s responsibility and expense.
During the time when we lived as expats in Malaysia, my children were at school in Kuala Lumpur. Peanut butter was not banned. How can you ban it in a country where peanut oil is a major component of the air? But if your child took in nuts or peanut butter to school, it was their responsibility to sit with kids with who claimed peanut allergies, so that the latter wouldn’t feel isolated.
How severe could such allergies be, I wondered? Indeed, at that time, and probably to this day, Malaysian Airlines tested the peanut-withstanding ability of all those entering the country by serving peanuts with the aperitifs—long after other airlines had bailed.
(While on this topic, it’s worth noting that, according to the latest medical studies, those who consume a greater amount of peanuts have about a 35 percent reduced risk of coronary heart disease. This effect is a result of the peanuts’ ability to lower cholesterol and its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components.)
When you are invited to eat at someone’s house, you are being asked to share with the family.
Dinner party, by Elin B via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
As we expats know better than anyone else, the dinner party is an age-old, worldwide gesture of hospitality and friendship. We must take every measure to protect this prized human tradition.
Listen, it is even possible to desensitize ourselves to allergies. I recently saw a documentary about a little boy who showed extreme allergy to a new dog brought into the family. Instead of re-homing the dog, the family decided that the positive aspects of owning a pet were worth making an effort for. They began a desensitization programme at a local hospital and, in time, the boy could begin a wonderful relationship with his dog.
It’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?
Readers, we invite you to continue the food gossip! To what extent has food fussiness become an item in your social circle? Are you a victim, or do you agree with the curmudgeonly Joanna, that fussy eaters are making dinner parties and other group meals less fun for the rest of us? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
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GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Solving the obesity problem with LBDs for all
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Don’t mess with Texas BBQ brisket
Cool Columns, Global Food Gossip Acquired tastes, Global Food Gossip, It's Food!, Malaysia, UK, What a Displaced World
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: How (not) to feed a convalescent expat
3 Comments Posted by The Displaced Nation Team on September 11, 2013
Joanna Masters-Maggs, our resident Food Gossip, is back with her column for like-minded food gossips.
This month: The state of worldwide hospital food.
“The last thing you need on top of everything else when you are in hospital is red wee.”
So ended my husband’s texted tirade after a few days in an Abu Dhabi hospital following an emergency appendectomy which turned out to be less than straightforward. The indignities, pain, and discomfort could be handled with fortitude, but the food had caused the British stiff upper lip some serious challenges. Beetroot was served at every meal and in every conceivable form — none of which was remotely welcome to this convalescent.
Almost unbelievably, the day after my husband was admitted to a Middle Eastern hospital, my 9-year-old son was diagnosed with the same condition and admitted to Taunton Hospital, in Somerset, England, for the same operation. Patrick took it all in his stride, only threatening mutiny when a disposable bottle, apparently made of the same recycled cardboard as egg cartons, was proffered in response to his request to go to the loo. With furious determination he heaved himself upright and made his way to the bathrooms, wheeling his drip ahead of him and making my heart swell with maternal pride.
Several hours later, when wrinkled potato wedges and bright orange fish fingers confronted him, Patrick’s attitude was rather different. My husband’s texted complaint lacked the colour a human voice could give the words. My son’s anguished “Why, why, why?” however, provided a glimpse of The Husband’s state of mind when he composed his text. The pitch of “Why can’t I just have a tuna sandwich?” swung from already-stressed contralto to end-of-tether soprano.
KISS: Keep It Simple, Sandwich
This question is one I ask myself every time I face airline food. Why not a sandwich? A simple sandwich is perfect food for those on the go; ask any hill-walker. It is easily transported and eaten and requires little in the way of tableware. It certainly beats sub-standard wannabe home-cooking, or, more depressingly, wannabe gourmet cooking. KLM used to do a nice sandwich on granary, a little oatcake and a good cup of tea or coffee on their London to Schiphol shuttle. I have never enjoyed airborne eating as much. Flights since, even champagne-soaked upgrades, have never hit the spot as well.
Hospitals, like airlines, are susceptible to the curse of being the girl who tries too hard at parties and embarrasses everyone, for different reasons of course. Airlines because they feel they are part of the same package as the business trip or holiday and have to provide something special. Hospitals, being in the health business. feel under pressure to produce something healthy and balanced. Easy healthy and balanced is a lump of protein, a lump of carbohydrate and some boiled veg. Each element can be whatever is readily to hand in the locale. Obviously, beetroot is easy to come by in Abu Dhabi – who’d have thought?
A few years ago I found myself admitted with an unpleasant stomach bug to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur. During my recovery, meal after meal was placed in front of me, each consisting of overdone, indigestible chicken in glutinous sauce with rice and boiled vegetables. (Never talk to me again about English food.) Not appetizing at any time, but certainly not in the recovery period. At the end of day two I was begging for cream crackers and jelly. Even if I was unable to eat them, they were easier to tolerate the look of in the post-prandial two hours that the staff took to remove the debris.
The Victorians –now, they knew how to run a sickroom
When I’m sick I crave the ideal Victorian sickroom. I want chicken soup, broth, and little crustless sandwiches cut into triangles. I want food that makes me feel pampered and I want it in miniature form. What I don’t want is big hunks of meat that I have to take a hacksaw to. I don’t want to bother with a knife and fork. I’d like little sips of water, or tea and maybe the odd ginger biscuit. Some soft-boiled eggs and soldiers (fingers of toast) would be nice too. In short, give me the whole Victorian sickroom vibe complete with flowery china and a little vase of flowers. Do that and I’ll put on a white nighty, brush my hair and smarten up my convalescent act accordingly.
What explains this wanton disregard for dainty and light in preference for The Undigestibles? I suggest it is because hospitals the world over want us out, and want us out fast. In cash-strapped UK NHS land, beds are at a premium and waiting lists must be kept down. Make things too comfortable and delicious and who knows how long malingering patients will stay? I also imagine American insurance companies would like to minimize the number of nights their customers spend in hospitals which are often more costly than excellent hotels.
If you can’t keep it simple, keep it real
So, what’s my point talking about all this in our “displaced” world? I suppose it is simple, really. I want any experience that takes place outside of my own country to be distinctive and of that place. If a hospital cannot, or will not, convert its menu into something I might find in Little Women, I want to lose my appetite for something distinctive. If I have some indescribably unpleasant stomach complaint and find myself again in hospital in KL, I want to be unable to eat Malaysian food, truly Malaysian food. If I’m not eating, give me beef rendang to reject and not boiled chicken breasts. If I am in Rio, I want to lose my appetite for black beans and chiffonade of couve (actually, that will never happen) and if I ever end up in a Abu Dhabi hospital, I want to reject grated raw beetroot.
You see, be it Victorian pampered convalescent on a chaise longue, or expat overseas, I yearn to feel special when I am sick. Is that really too much to ask?
Joanna was displaced from her native England 16 years ago, and has since attempted to re-place herself and blend into the USA, Holland, Brazil, Malaysia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and now France. She describes herself as a “food gossip”, saying: “I’ve always enjoyed cooking and trying out new recipes. Overseas, I am curious as to what people buy and from where. What is in the baskets of my fellow shoppers? What do they eat when they go home at night?”
Fellow Food Gossips, share your own stories with us!
STAY TUNED for tomorrow’s post!
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Pastry or pie dough? Whatever you call it, it’s child’s play.
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: There’s no taste like home
GLOBAL FOOD GOSSIP: Brigadeiros, the essential element of every Brazilian child’s party
Finding Paradise in Provence, Part I: An expat foodie’s views on French cuisine for the very young
Finding Paradise in Provence, Part 2: Our expat foodie asks – Patisserie or Pudding?
Cool Columns, Global Food Gossip Acquired tastes, France, It's Food!, Malaysia, Memoir | Travel | Food Writers, Moveable feasts, UK
NEW VS OLDE WORLDS: British husband and Brazilian wife swap cultural allegiances
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The DYNAMITE! Files
Thinking, about cycling. "Anybody whose mind is proud enough not to breed true secretly carries a bomb at the back of his brain; and so I suggest, just for the fun of the thing, taking that private bomb and carefully dropping it upon the model city of commonsense." (This blog began as an archive of DYNAMITE!, the newsletter of London Dynamo cycling club, which you can still access via "DYNAMITE! filed" in the list below on the left.)
Posts Tagged ‘Tuscany’
The DYNAMITE! Five: The week in cycling, remixed. Issue #8
5 DOWN The Dragon Ride
A mood of high dudgeon pervaded the sportive community this week after many Dragon Ride participants noticed they had been omitted from the official list of finishing times – and there was some surprise, to say the least, that the feed stations at Britain’s best-known mass-participation cycling event were handing out bags of crisps to carb-starved riders. Those aren’t the sort of cock-ups you want at the UK’s premier sportive, especially since it landed a big-name sponsor in the form of Wiggle and has been awarded “Golden Bike” status by the UCI for next year’s edition. But speaking as a former poster-boy for the Welsh hill-romp, this blog would like to put the criticisms and general moaning into some sort of perspective: responsibility for the timing chip problems – reportedly caused by mounting the race numbers too tightly – is ultimately down to the company contracted to provide the equipment, not the organisers, and the nutrition is certainly better than in 2007, when finishers were handed “gels” which actually turned out to be, er, sachets of lubricant. That experience really did leave a bad taste in the mouth. Quite literally.
4 DOWN Mark Cavendish
Being the wittiest tweeter in the peloton, Mark Cavendish naturally reacted with good humour after discovering on Tuesday that the water supply at his home in Tuscany had been mysteriously cut off. “Got squirrels living in my hair and mushrooms growing in my feet now,” he quipped, and later admitted he had used the lavatory before fully realising the consequences. That’s the sort of toilet-based humour this blog loves, but we can’t help thinking that there’s a more sinister side to Cav’s predicament. Because if you’ve seen Jean de Florette, you’ll know how they deal with outsiders in the more bucolic parts of the Continent: deprive them of water in the hope of driving them away. Somebody help the poor guy before it ends in tragedy!
3 UP Walker Savidge
It features two chaps thrusting their crotches while another seems delighted to be caught between them, so it’s no surprise that this snap of Taylor Phinney, Danny Summerhill and Walker Savidge has been bringing the LOLS this week following its appearance on yay cycling! and Cycleboredom. But the image is lifted above the usual level of homoerotic fratboy tomfoolery by the expression on Savidge’s face. Just look at him on the right: the quiet dignity, the stoical acceptance that the photo might resurface, say, three years after the event, but those who snigger at it will never, ever be able to take away his sense of self-worth. Or maybe he just didn’t realise where Phinney and Summerhill had their hands. Actually, it’s probably the latter, isn’t it?
2 DOWN Cycling websites
A Tour de France star jets in to Britain, sets a record in an area of the capital known to amateur cyclists throughout the UK, and not one cycling website which doesn’t have a print equivalent bothers to report it. Strange, but true. In fact, The DYNAMITE! Files’ site stats reveal that a few inquisitive souls googling for information about the intriguing event ended up here – so for them, here’s this week’s news about…
1 UP David Millar
You know how it is – your autobiography is about to be published, so your agenda includes a swanky book launch, a round of interviews, and mercilessly crushing the fragile egos of every competitive amateur cyclist in London, Surrey and beyond by doing the fastest-ever lap of Richmond Park on your very first visit. Damn you, David Millar! Setting off at 7:23am on Sunday as part of a clandestine time trial he had organised for his Velo Club Rocacorba buddies, the Commonwealth champ completed an anticlockwise circuit of the hallowed 6.7-mile loop in 13min 35secs, giving him an average speed of 29.595mph. And the BBC’s footage of the event, which was removed on Thursday after the Royal Parks complained, featured a post-ride interview with the great man wearing a natty beret. As they say, hat!
Follow @campbells_snoop
Posted in The DYNAMITE! Five | 1 Comment »
Tags: beret, Cav, Commonwealth champion, Cycleboredom, Danny Summerhill, David Millar, Dragon Ride, Felt U23, lap record, Mark Cavendish, Racing Through The Dark, Richmond Park, Sportive, Taylor Phinney, timing chips, Tour de France, Tuscany, Velo Club Rocacorba, Wales, Walker Savidge, yay cycling!
campbells_snoop: 32 varieties of pointlessness
This could make a difficult book even harder to read. The back end of Infinite Jest has about 100 pages of footnote… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
@thelittlejen Superb news, small one! 2 days ago
Actually, it’s pronounced Reg-ay. https://t.co/lhCdQVbx4M 4 days ago
I’m Nandy - Try Me. twitter.com/patrick_kidd/s… 5 days ago
@msloobylou “...who used to date Paris Hilton” - oh, it’s THAT Stavros! So easy to confuse him with Harry Enfield’s… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 6 days ago
a list of things
Cycling in London (12)
Dynamightgiveitamiss (5)
DYNAMITE! filed (210)
Richmond Park (1)
Tea de France (4)
The Dynamighty (5)
The DYNAMITE! Five (24)
seek and ye shall find (disclaimer: you may find nothing worth finding)
bike thoughts from a broad
Brain Farts Of A Bike Tart
henrietta's posterous
in-the-saddle.com
Jen Reads YA
London Dynamo
Mrs_Ivy_Trellis posterous
quickerbybike.com
Tee Cee
The Ride Journal
Track Standing
ViCiOUS VELO
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Tagged gay news
gay news
5 LGBT things you need to know today, Dec. 29
1. A day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, became one with the force, actress Debbie Reynolds — known for her roles in "Singin' in the Rain," "Halloweentown" and "Will & Grace" — passed away yesterday. ...
Few bright spots in a year dominated by LGBT setbacks nationally
2016 will go down in the LGBT history books as a year of sobering pushback against the many gains won in the years prior. In the space of 12 months, the community has gone from having the most pro-LGBT presiden...
1. According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, women who identify as sexual minorities are three times more likely to face incarceration than that of the US adult population. The ra...
Book Review: And Then I Danced: Traveling The Road To LGBT Equality
“I’m standing across the street from Stonewall in Sheridan Square. Here I was, an 18-year-old kid living at the YMCA in a six-dollar-a-night room with no job, no prospects for the future, no real place to live ...
Video: The GA Voice ‘Hot Minute’
Tanya Ditty, Hidden Man controversy, gay pumpkins and more...
LGBT Oglethorpe students to protest lecture against gay marriage
LGBT students at Atlanta's Oglethorpe University plan to protest Monday during a lecture by Matthew J. Franck, a leader of a conservative group that opposes gay marriage.
“I was just getting so infuriated that he was coming to our school,” Oglethorpe junior Brittany Weiner told Project Q Atlanta. “Nothing is more personal to me than saying I can’t marry the person I love. Oglethorpe is such an accepting community that I couldn’t believe it."
Weiner is planning the protest with her partner, Jess Graner, and OUTlet, the campus LGBT group. Details are posted on a Facebook page with the slogan "Marriage is a Human Right, Not a Heterosexual Privilege."
NOM’s Maggie Gallagher hits the road against same-sex marriage
Maggie Gallagher, chair of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, has been a busy lady this week. Yesterday, Gallagher testified before the Maryland Senate Committee on Judicial Proceedings and will also be in Rhode Island today testifying against same-sex unions.
"Marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason: these are the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love to their mom and dad,” Gallagher said during her testimony yesterday. “As so many pro-gay marriage voices testified at this very hearing, gay marriage is grounded in the belief that this view of marriage is like objections to interracial marriage — something that should be discarded in law, culture and society."
It’s nice to see Gallagher still using the failed argument that gay marriage will somehow prevent straight couples from having children.
Ga. legislator says gays are like drug dealers
The Marietta Daily Journal interviewed outspoken (and some would say bat-shit crazy) State Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta), who makes no secret of his distaste for his gay constituents.
In the current session, Franklin has brought forth legislation that would do away with drivers’ licenses, HB 7, and a bill requiring the state make financial transactions in gold or silver coinage, HB 3 … yeah, seriously.
Even in the age of political correctness, Franklin bucks the trend by periodically offering (or supporting) anti-gay legislation in the General Assembly. Luckily, his attempts to redefine Georgia's obscenity laws to outlaw gay pornography have been miserable failures under the Gold Dome.
Arson of gay Carrollton man’s home may be hate crime
Chris Staples says he is still trying to wrap his head around the idea that someone would try to kill him.
The gay Carrollton man had his home vandalized and then burned down; he was asleep at home when the fire began and barely escaped.
“I feel like I’m sort of in a cave, still in shock,” Staples told the GA Voice. “I haven’t shed a tear, haven’t gotten mad.”
Staples, 43, was inside his small home in Carroll County on Sunday, Jan. 23, when he said a rock with an anti-gay note attached was thrown through his window. Hours later, Staples said he woke up to find his home engulfed in flames. Carroll County is some 50 miles west of Atlanta.
Ga. legislature silent on LGBT issues in new session
Despite concerns that new Gov. Nathan Deal might support legislation that would negatively affect LGBT Georgians, no specifically gay bills — positive or negative — have been filed since the legislature convened Jan. 10.
“There has been a lot of controversy in the Senate as usual, and the immigration stuff has started off with a bang,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), who is the senior openly gay state legislator. “I don’t know how many bills they’re up to now, 15 maybe. Then of course the budget hearings, and so the shortfalls are coming to light, and the tax bills.”
Deal has released his budget, which does not include any cuts to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which helps low income HIV-positive individuals and those with no insurance afford their medications.
Red Dog Unit officers involved in Atlanta Eagle raid under investigation
Three Atlanta Police Red Dog officers are being investigated for allegedly conducting a body cavity search on one man and groping of another during a traffic stop, WSB TV is reporting.
Two of the officers are members of the Red Dog Unit and were part of the raid on the Atlanta Eagle raid, a gay bar on Ponce de Leon Avenue, WSB also reported.
WSB reporter Eric Phillips reported during the 11 p.m. news that two men alleged they were pulled over by three Red Dog Unit officers, forced from their car at gunpoint and then made to pull down their pants.
"Who wants another man touching their... any parts of them ...without justice," Brian Kidd, one of the alleged victims, told WSB. His friend was made to undergo a body cavity search while standing in the middle of the road, Phillips reported. The incident occurred in June.
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The Mental Attic
Think Better, Think Bigger!
Ultimate Beastmaster – Gaming Edition
Annoying Game Mechanics
Awesome Game Mechanics
The Weekly Puzzle
YouTube & Twitch
First Look: iZombie
iZombie is a supernatural procedural drama airing on the CW, featuring a zombie partnering with a detective to solve murders. It’s an adaptation of the Chris Roberson and Michael Allred […]
iZombie is a supernatural procedural drama airing on the CW, featuring a zombie partnering with a detective to solve murders. It’s an adaptation of the Chris Roberson and Michael Allred comic of the same name, but only in the loosest of terms.
Genre(s): Procedural
Created By: Rob Thomas
Air Date: Ongoing (Airs Tuesdays)
Interesting twist on the genre.
Rose McIver’s performance.
Ravi & Liv have wonderful chemistry.
Forgettable secondary characters.
Deus-ex-machina abuse.
Some tired tropes.
The series stars Rose McIver as Liv Moore, a former cardiac resident turned into a Zombie during a party. With her now unhealthy appetite for brains, she abandons her job and takes a position at the Seattle Coroner’s office. The job gives her access to fresh brains to keep her hunger at bay and humanity in check, but if she feeds, she takes on some of the victims’ personality traits and last memories. While working with Detective Babinaux (Malcolm Goodwin) she and her boss, Ravi (Rahul Kohli), claim she’s a psychic to explain he sudden visions.
The premise itself isn’t bad. It’s certainly more interesting than most procedurals and modern Zombie series. It has a lot of style and manages to keep itself silly even with the somewhat dark subjects it handles. And it has to be said, the comic-style intro and scene transitions are awesome! But it depends on Deus-Ex-Machina a bit too much, on Liv getting a vision or hulking-out (more on that later) at just the right time to solve murders or catch the criminals.
The intro panels are really fun!
The episodes follow the standard procedural formula: victim, investigation, culprit apprehended. The twist is Liv eats chunks of the victim’s brains to get the visions they need to get the criminal. Along the way they deal with some of Liv’s family and romantic issues—which to me, considering she’s a zombie, feels kinda icky. But while she is the protagonist, I would love it if they explored Ravi & the Detective’s lives as well, to help us form a connection with them. Episode 4 makes some headway on this but only because it’s case-related.
So far, the episodes have stuck to the above formula down to the letter and including some voice-over commentary from Liv, which actually works in the series’ favour as it makes her an even more compelling character. When you’re supernatural, it helps to have something to connect you with us normal folk.
It’s impressive how McIver portrays the different personality traits she inherits from the brains she eats. Her boss Ravi provides the much-needed comedic relief, acting as the mad scientist, studying his zombie employee. The two actors have wonderful chemistry so their scenes are always a joy to watch. On the other hand, there isn’t any chemistry between them and the Detective, making all his scenes drag on more than they should. It doesn’t help the fact that he’s stuck in a very tired trope: the Detective using a disreputable source of information because it works. It’s been done before, masterfully so in series like Psych, but it hinges on the chemistry, which we’ve established is non-existent, and the performances. I have to give it to Malcolm Goodwin, his portrayal is very good. You can feel the stress his character deals with every day.
I was surprised at how good a villain he is!
They seem to be putting David Anders’ character up to be the big bad of the season and at first I didn’t feel it, he felt less of an evil mastermind and more a bumbling sleazeball—much like he is in all his other roles. But then he zombified a one-night-stand, extorted her and has been shown to mercilessly kill people, so I quickly changed my mind! I especially like his scenes with Liv, how he tries to both get into her good graces and still manipulate her. Their Zombie-shop-talk is lovely.
The rest of the cast, however, is entirely forgettable. Even the room-mate and ex-fiancé are bland and uninteresting. Liv’s mother is the cliché overbearing mother, his brother is the cliché annoying teenage brother and so on. It’s still early in the series, I know, but the characterisation is just too weak on the secondary characters.
It’s very early to tell just how deep the ‘lore’ is. Zombies all have chalk-white skin and ash-blond hair…and no one comments on this. I’d say that’s a dead giveaway that something is definitely wrong with you. The way they feed to keep the zombie-urges at bay and keep their humanity is a bit too Vampire-y for my tastes, but it’s not bad, though I wish they explored how other Zombies react to the brain eating—is it just Live who gets a personality shift and memories or do they all? In certain situations they can ‘hulk-out’ and become unstoppable killing machines but so far it’s just another example of Deus-ex-Machina. It’s not something Liv has to struggle with, to keep at bay, but something that happens at the most convenient moment. I wish they had used it as an avenue for character growth.
Best scenes in every episode!
So far, I’m on the fence with iZombie but the good outweighs the bad. It has an interesting premise, oozes style, Liv is a strong character and her scenes with Ravi are so fun—and good at world building—they overcome some of the series’ deficiencies.
Do note that is just a first impression based on 4 episodes.
TMA SCORE:
4/5 – Exceptional
Posted on April 9, 2015 4 By Kevin TV & Film Posted in TV & Film Tagged #Adaptation, Chris Roberson, Comic, First Impressions, First Look, iZombie, Liv Moore, Michael Allred, Police Procedural, Review, Rob Thomas, Series, The CW, TV
I love everything readable, writeable, playable and of course, edible! I search for happiness, or Pizza, because it's pretty much the same thing!
I write and ramble on The Mental Attic and broadcast on my Twitch channel, TheLawfulGeek
Pretty much agree on all counts. I’m hoping too that a lot of the character development will happen throughout the coming episodes. I’m a massive fan of Rob Thomas, and the first season of Veronica Mars was quite similar. If he stays true to form, we should get more in-depth delving as the story develops.
Not particularly a fan of the ex or the roomie myself. Something will have to give with them eventually, because as it stands, they really are just holding Liv’s development back.
I love David Anders though!
I was going to give it a 3 at first, Average. But Episode 4 did a lot for my final score.
I think the ex (by the way, who the hell names their son Major? He’s Major Lilywhite!) might get better now that he’s getting a new roomie of his own, but I agree, they’re not helping the development. If they were the things that kept her human, I’d understand, but a chunk of brain a day and Ravi already fill that role.
They’re meant to be remnants of her past life, but they’re just not interesting enough!
I do hope you’re right and we get lots more development soon!
David Anders is one hell of a villain. He really changed my mind from his first appearance to his latest.
Major. Ridiculous name. Must be old money? 😀 You’re right though, not interesting enough, and any time Liv has screentime with them it just feels like they’re getting in the way almost. They’ll either have to find out about her, or be phased out until further down the line. Otherwise I think they could just become annoying. It is hard for the viewer to feel anything toward them when all they seem to be doing is giving Liv, our protagonist, a hard time. It’s tough to balance their likeability because we’re fully aware of what is going on, they aren’t, and as such, their attitudes toward her and their reactions have to be realistic. And while we understand that, it still kind of grates.
The first time I saw Anders was in Alias. He was one of my favourite characters in that show. Then, of course, came Heroes, which turned into a steaming pile of crap by the end, but I did like him in it. He does amoral villain well, to be sure.
I do love how the mother comments on her change in career but NO ONE bats an eye at the chalk white skin and hair! Are they blind?
They definitely need to figure it out soon or disappear. I agree they have to be realistic but they’re sort of just there, not involved in anything unless Liv initiates. If they were real people they’d be much more involved in Liv’s life and be the overall pain in the arse close friends can/should be!
Actually the last Heroes season was really good but by then the damage was done and it was impossible to salvage the series. Hopefully the new one is better.
I really want Liv to experience some bigger personality shift. Imagine her going full bimbo. Would be hilarious. “Ohmygod, I just totally ate that brain!”
Or the other end of the spectrum, full on sociopath!
I think one way to have the secondary characters do something is putting them in the way of her zombie-ness. Not because of the villain but just normal life: she’s starving and about to feed when someone visits and she has to struggle to keep herself in check.
Moaaaar dramaaa!
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Elizabeth Warren Buys from Lemonade Stand, Money Donated to Pro-Life Cause
Written by Kelvey Vander Hart in Culture
When Elizabeth Warren stopped her tour bus to buy lemonade from a stand run by two 11-year-old girls, she had no idea that the girls’ parents would turn it into a teaching moment. Neither did she know that the money she spent would be donated to a pro-life charity.
Earlier this summer, Warren stopped her bus to buy $10 worth of lemonade at a stand in rural Iowa. She tweeted about the stop, saying, “Stopped for a quick drink at a lemonade stand in Harlan, Iowa. When life gives you lemons, make big structural change!”
The stand was being run by Sienna Michels and Audrey Billings. They were both very excited to meet a presidential candidate, so their parents decided to turn it into a teaching moment and explained what Warren’s stance on abortion means.
Dan Michels, a Trump supporter and Sienna’s father, commented:
Our daughters thought [Warren] was nice…She came by and told us we should vote for her. And our daughters told us she was a nice person, but we don’t align with her politically and … because she’s pro-choice, we said we should donate her money to a pro-life [cause].
He added, “My daughter told us she wanted us to vote for her…We talked about the abortion part of things and said maybe we should donate money to stop abortion, and my daughter was all for that.”
The girls and their parents decided to donate to the March for Life Education and Defense Fund. The fund is a nonprofit that seeks
to “end abortion by uniting, educating, and mobilizing pro-life people in the public square.”
Warren did not respond to requests for comment on this subject. Back in May, she launched her pro-abortion platform. Among other things, her plan includes passing federal laws to limit state authority on abortion and guaranteeing abortion access through health insurance.
These girls never set out to turn their lemonade stand into a pro-life statement. However, one of the beautiful things about America is that when they were given money by someone who supports things their families don’t believe in, they were able to pivot and give the money to a cause that they support instead.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore
Kelvey Vander Hart
Kelvey Vander Hart is passionate about Jesus, conservatism, fitness, and fantastic coffee; she is also the Associate Editor at Caffeinated Thoughts. She can be followed on Twitter @kovanderhart.
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Liz Warren Demands Male ‘Trans’ Prisoners Are Put in Women’s Prisons
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Limousines, and wombats as targets: Inside Crown partner’s high-rollers’ shooting range
News State Victoria Limousines, and wombats as targets: Inside Crown partner’s high-rollers’ shooting range
10:07pm, Jul 29, 2019 Updated: 1:11pm, Aug 3
Chinese tourists have been invited to shoot wombats and other Australian animals.
Samantha Dick Reporter
High-rolling tourists are being invited to hunt and kill wombats at a luxury hunting lodge run by a Chinese businessman who is a Crown casino partner with alleged crime links.
Appearing in English as ‘Dude Ranch’ on Google Maps, from the front the property has a driveway that, apart from security signs, doesn’t look too out of place in the picturesque Victorian shire of Murrindindi, about 100 kms north-east of Melbourne.
But utes and tractors aren’t the most common vehicles passing through the CCTV-monitored gates. Instead, stretch limousines with blacked-out windows are often spotted coming and going.
The appearance of luxury cars on the dirt road has attracted the attention of nearby residents in the past year. Gun fire ringing out from the property had them curious.
Then a dead animal in a nearby paddock raised their suspicions.
Now, an investigation by Channel Nine media has revealed the owner of the mysterious hunting lodge to be Tom Zhou, a wealthy Chinese businessman, international fugitive and associate of Crown casinos.
Locals are scared.
Zhou has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party and, according to the newspaper reports, is wanted in China for financial crime that has netted him tens of millions of dollars.
He is the subject of an Interpol notice and is supposed to be arrested immediately if he crosses a country’s border.
Instead, he owns luxury houses in Melbourne and the high-end shooting range on a 809-hectare (2000 acre) property backing on to Murrindindi Scenic Reserve, in the state’s north-east.
“They’re not just rich; they’re rich high-rollers coming in luxury cars,” one neighbour told The New Daily.
Tourists have tagged themselves at the Murrindindi property on Google
“These tourists are coming in as gun-toting John Waynes.”
Authorities have the property on their radar, and police are investigating whether crimes have been committed there.
“Victoria Police is aware of reports of illegal hunting at a Murrindindi property,” spokeswoman Leonie Johnson said.
On the company’s website, translated from Mandarin, Zhou’s shooting range boasts an authentic Australian tourist experience for Chinese trophy hunters.
“When we come to Australia, we should experience life that we can’t experience in China,” it reads.
“The first thing that should be felt in Australia is to be a wilderness hunter in the mountains of Australia.”
The Fairfax/Nine investigation identified Victorian police officer Greg Leather (left) with a client in a photo featured on the shooting range’s website.
Visitors without any shooting experience need not worry – the website assures tourists that “even if you don’t have any shooting experience, it doesn’t matter”.
“With professional guidance, you will be a great shooter!” it reads.
“Hares, foxes, wombats, wild ducks, red deer, sambars (deer) … a variety of wild animals to spend a happy holiday with you.”
A screenshot of the shooting range website depicting a wombat.
A Melbourne man, who owns a property in the Shire, told The New Daily he was shocked the business was encouraging tourists to come here and shoot wombats.
“Wombats are a native animal,” he said.
“They travel at a max speed of what you and I can walk at … how can you put a picture of a wombat on the website?”
Common wombats are a protected species in Victoria, except in 193 districts including Murrindindi where the animals have been declared unprotected wildlife.
Tensions are boiling over in the tight-knit community, with neighbours reporting they feel “scared” of unlicensed and inexperienced shooters firing powerful weapons close to their properties.
Horse and cattle breeders are particularly worried, with some saying they fear their animals are being “spooked” by the regular sound of high-calibre gun fire and are struggling to breed.
Despite the concerns from locals, it appears the owners of the hunting grounds are not planning to shut down any time soon; instead, they want to expand.
A planning application submitted to Murrindindi Shire Council shows Zhou wants to build a large hotel and a function complex on the property that will include a bar, restaurant and a gym.
A map included in the proposed planning application.
Residents have indicated they will lodge an objection.
Victoria’s recycling crisis slammed as ‘environmental tragedy’
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Five Viewer Votes
(Scott Schafer / FOX)
Are the 99th Precinct’s boys and girls in blue still on the case during the fifth season of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine TV show on FOX? As we all know, the Nielsen ratings typically play a big role in determining whether a TV show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine is cancelled or renewed for a sixth season. Unfortunately, most of us do not live in Nielsen households. Because many viewers feel frustration when their viewing habits and opinions aren’t considered, we’d like to offer you the chance to rate all the season five episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine for us here.
A FOX police procedural sitcom, Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Stephanie Beatriz, Chelsea Peretti, Joel McKinnon Miller, and Dirk Blocker. The comedy follows Detective Jake Peralta (Samberg) and the rest of the unique detectives and officers at the NYPD’s 99th Precinct.
Want to rate more TV shows? ABC | CBS | The CW | FOX | NBC
What do you think? Which season five episodes of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine TV series do you rate as wonderful, terrible, or somewhere between? Should FOX cancel or renew Brooklyn Nine-Nine for season six? Don’t forget to vote, and share your thoughts, below.
5/10/18 update: FOX decided to cancel Brooklyn Nine-Nine but NBC then picked it up for season six. Details here.
More about: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Brooklyn Nine-Nine: canceled or renewed?
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Six Ratings
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Six Viewer Votes
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Is the FOX TV Show Cancelled or Renewed for Season Six?
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Six; NBC Orders More Episodes
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Five Ratings
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Six; NBC Rescues Cancelled FOX Comedy
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Cancelled by FOX; No Sixth Season for Cop Comedy Series
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Cop Comedy Series Launches in Syndication Tonight
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Co-Creator Talks Low Ratings and Possible Season Six
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Five Renewal from FOX
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season Five; Andy Samberg Talks Renewal Odds
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: FOX Previews Season 4B
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jimmy Smits (LA Law) to Guest on FOX Comedy
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jorma Taccone to Guest on Season Four
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Sitcom Renewed for Third Season by FOX
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: FOX Orders Full Season
Theresa Scott
Great characters, watch every season
This is a great show- the characters are hilarious
Vote Up3-1Vote Down Reply
Amanda Davidson
This show sux and is boring, very dry! #SaveLucifer!!!!
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7 days in Los Angeles Itinerary
Created using Inspirock Los Angeles holiday planner
Surrounded by mountain ranges, forests, valleys, beaches, and deserts, the metropolitan area of Los Angeles is home to over 17 million people.
Citadel Outlets has been added to your itinerary. Step off the beaten path and head to Crystal Cove and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Bring the kids along to Disneyland Park and Universal Studios Hollywood. Venture out of the city with trips to Anaheim (Disney California Adventure Park & Downtown Disney), Mission San Juan Capistrano (in San Juan Capistrano) and San Clemente Pier (in San Clemente). And it doesn't end there: see the sky in a new way at Griffith Observatory, examine the collection at The Getty Center, appreciate the extensive heritage of Hollywood Walk of Fame, and don't miss a visit to Santa Monica Pier.
For ratings, reviews, other places to visit, and other tourist information, read our Los Angeles trip planner .
If you are flying in from Hong Kong, the closest major airports are Los Angeles International Airport, John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport and Ontario International Airport. In February in Los Angeles, expect temperatures between 25°C during the day and 12°C at night. Wrap up your sightseeing on the 15th (Fri) to allow time to travel back home.
Theme Parks Museums Shopping
Anaheim, San Clemente Pier, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Santa Monica Pier, Crystal Cove
Disney California Adventure Park
8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM PUERTO RICO November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife, fast-paced, hidden gems PREFERENCES: November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Hidden gems PACE: Fast-paced 9 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, slow & easy, popular sights PREFERENCES: November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Slow & easy 9 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM IRELAND December, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife, popular sights PREFERENCES: December, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM BRAZIL April, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, popular sights PREFERENCES: April, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM BRAZIL February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife, popular & hidden gems PREFERENCES: February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular & hidden gems PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES December, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, museums, shopping, wildlife, popular sights PREFERENCES: December, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM BRAZIL February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, museums, shopping, wildlife, popular sights PREFERENCES: February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM CANADA February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, popular & hidden gems PREFERENCES: February, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular & hidden gems PACE: Medium 8 days in Los Angeles & San Diego BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES March, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife, popular & hidden gems PREFERENCES: March, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular & hidden gems PACE: Medium 6 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM PANAMA November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife, slow & easy, popular sights PREFERENCES: November, culture, outdoors, relaxing, romantic, beaches, historic sites, museums, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Slow & easy 11 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM CANADA May, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, historic sites, wildlife, fast-paced, popular & hidden gems PREFERENCES: May, culture, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, historic sites, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular & hidden gems PACE: Fast-paced 8 days in Los Angeles BY A USER FROM UNITED STATES June, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, shopping, wildlife, slow & easy, popular sights PREFERENCES: June, outdoors, relaxing, beaches, shopping, wildlife ATTRACTION STYLE: Popular sights PACE: Slow & easy
Los Angeles trip planner
Best things to do in Los Angeles
The Best Things to Do in Los Angeles with Kids
The Best Cultural Activities in Los Angeles
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Articles of 2002
Noticias de Boxeo
Canal de Boxeo
Women’s Boxing
Errol Spence Jr Looks Like the Real Thing
Canada and USA
Twenty-six-year-old Errol Spence Jr is the brighest prospect on Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions roster. On Saturday night, the 2012 U.S. Olympian (he was defeated in the quarter-finals in London) obliterated Chris Algieri at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, raising his professional record to 20-and-0 with 17 knockouts.
Haymon likes to keep his favored fighters away from punchers. In that regard, Algieri was a safe opponent. The 32-year-old Huntington, Long Island, native entered the ring with a 21-and-2 record and has shown a willingness to go in tough. He moved into the spotlight with a gutty split-decision triumph over Ruslan Provodnikov in 2014. Next, Manny Pacquiao turned him into a yo-yo, knocking Algieri down six times en route to an unanimous-decision verdict. Then, going in tough for the third time in less than a year, Chris lost a unanimous decision to Amir Khan. He was brought back against trial-horse Erik Bone in December 2015 and prevailed in a less-than-stellar performance.
Equally important, Algieri had scored only eight knockouts in his ring career. And the only stoppage in his last nine fights was a seventh-round KO of Wilfedo Acuna (who has lost twelve of his last fourteen bouts and been knocked out eleven times).
In sum, Spence-Algieri was made for Spence. The thought process wasn’t, “Who can we bring Algieri back against who will make Chris look good?” It was, “Paulie Malignaggi is out. Who’s a name without a big punch that will make Errol look like the next big thing in boxing?”
The conventional wisdom was that Algieri represented a step up in class for Spence and a test that would indicate how far the prospect has progressed. Errol reinforced that view, saying, “I think I’m one of the top talents of all the young guys. But I’ve got to prove myself. Everybody wants to see what I’ve got. They’ve got a lot of questions that aren’t answered, and they want to see me answer those questions. He’s just a measuring stick to see how good I really am. Every time he stepped up, he lost. That’s my stepping stone. I’m ready for it. I’m looking for a coming-out party.”
Two fights preceded Spence-Algieri on the NBC telecast. Based on their presentation, it looks as though some belt-tightening is underway at Premier Boxing Champions. The huge set that was symbolic of last year’s telecasts was missing. More significantly, Kenny Rice and B.J. Flores called the action, a far cry from last year’s NBC-PBC “dream team” headlined by Al Michaels, Marv Albert, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Former cruiserweight beltholder Steve Cunningham faced off against Krzysztof Glowacki in the first featured fight of the evening. Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) was toiling in near anonymity last June when he climbed off the canvas to knock out Marco Huck in the eleventh round and claim the WBO cruiserweight crown. Cunningham (28-7, 13KOs) is three months shy of his fortieth birthday and, over the past five years, has won only four of eleven fights.
After a slow first round, Cunningham came out aggressively in round two, got sloppy on the inside, and was decked by a straight left . . . Twice . . . That put Steve in a hole that he was unable to climb out of. He fought well in spurts and rocked Glowacki with straight right hands from time to time. But he couldn’t sustain a fight-winning effiort for three minutes a round.
In round ten, Glowacki dropped Cunningham again; this time with a right forearm that referee Arthur Mercante Jr mistakenly called a knockdown. In round twelve, Krzysztof did it again, this time with a body shot while Cunningham was flurrying on the inside.
The CompuBox totals were roughly even, with Cunningham outlanding Glowacki by a 124-to-117 margin. The judges’ scores of 115-109, 115-109, 116-108 were a bit wide of the bullseye but hit the target.
In the second featured fight of the night, Marcus Browne (17-0, 13 KOs) squared off against Radivoje Kalajdzic (21-0, 14 KOs) in a light-heavyweight bout. Browne, like Spence, was a 2012 U.S. Olympian (although he didn’t make it as far as Errol did, losing in the first round). He almost lost to Kalajdzic, and arguably should have.
Midway through round one, Kalajdzic visited the canvas on what was clearly a slip. And Browne clearly hit Kalajdzic with a jolting straight left when he was down. Instead of warning Browne for his transgression (and possibly deducting a point), referee Tony Chiarantano mistakenly called a knockdown. That loomed large on the scorecards later on.
Kalajdzic isn’t a big puncher. But he’s a tough guy who can take a punch. Browne landed hard again and again in the first three stanzas. Then, in round four, Marcus got rocked by a right and the momentum of the fight changed. In round six, another right deposited Browne on the canvas, and he was slow getting up. Kalajdzic ran the table from that point on.
In the end, Browne was saved by the bell. In an unusual way.
Browne-Kalajdzic had been scheduled for ten rounds. But because Glowacki-Cunningham went the full 12-round distance, Browne-Kalajdzic was cut just prior to the bout to eight rounds to accommodate the time restraints imposed by the NBC telecast. Even then, it looked to this observer as though Kalajdzic had eked out a 76-75 triumph. The judges ruled otherwise, giving Browne the victory on a 76-74, 76-75, 74-76 split verdict.
Then it was time for the main event. Depending on where one looked, Spence was listed as a 12-to-1 to 20-to-1 favorite. With good reason.
Spence was in control from the opening bell, digging to Algieri’s body and going upstairs with hard punishing blows. Errol was faster, better schooled, and hit harder than Chris.
In round four, a straight left put Algieri on the canvas. Twenty seconds into round five, another straight left dropped him for the second time. Chris rose on wobbly legs and looked to be in no condition to defend himself. Worse, more than two minutes remained in the round.
At that point, referee Benjy Esteves (whose refereeing credits include Magomed Abdusalamov vs. Mike Perez and Arturo Gatti vs. Joey Gamache) allowed the fight to continue. Fifteen seconds later, with Algieri pinned against the ropes, a brutal lefthand put him on the canvas for the final time.
Spence outlanded Algieri 96-to-36 with a 73-to-33 edge in power punches. It wasn’t that he beat Algieri so much as the way he beat him that was impressive. Errol did what Pacquiao, Provodnikov, and Khan were unable to do. He knocked Chris out.
“It was pretty one-sided,” Spence said afterward. “I want a title fight next. Hopefully, it’s Kell Brook, I’m his mandatory and I want him. Danny Garcia and all the rest of the welterweight champions; I want them all.”
It’s too early for a coronation. By way of comparison; Andre Berto blew out a lot of guys early and was extolled by his proponents as the future of boxing. When Berto was 26 (the same age Spence is now), Andre’s record stood at 25-and-0 with 19 KOs. But he fizzled when things got tough.
We don’t know how Spence will respond when he’s in the ring with someone who forces him to walk through fire. But for that moment to come, the opponent has to be good enough to test Errol in ways that he hasn’t been tested so far. Spence has speed, ring savvy, and power. The fact that he’s a southpaw makes him even more difficult to deal with.
More than a year after PBC began – and after scores of time buys on multiple networks – no PBC fighter has made his way into the consciousness of mainstream sports fans. It’s possible that Spence will. But to get there, he’ll have to fight more challenging opponents.
And a closing note . . .
Refereeing a fight is one of the most difficult jobs in sports. It’s also one of the most important.
Arthur Mercante and Tony Chiarantano can be forgiven for calling two knockdowns that weren’t. Sometimes a referee simply isn’t in position to clearly see a moment in time unfold.
The fact that Chiarantano didn’t penaliza Browne for hitting Kalajdzic when he was down and Esteves allowed Spence-Algieri to continue for as long as he did is more troubling.
Thomas Hauser can be reached by email at thauser@rcn.com. His most recent book (A Hurting Sport) was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism.
Related Topics:Errol Spence Jr
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The BWAA Shames Veteran Referee Laurence Cole and Two Nebraska Judges
Arne K. Lang
In an unprecedented development, the Boxing Writers Association of America has started a “watch list” to lift the curtain on ring officials who have “screwed up.” Veteran Texas referee Laurence Cole and Nebraska judges Mike Contreras and Jeff Sinnett have the unwelcome distinction of being the first “honorees.”
“Boxing is a sport where judges and referees are rarely held accountable for poor performances that unfairly change the course of a fighter’s career and, in some instances, endanger lives,” says the BWAA in a preamble to the new feature. Hence the watch list, which is designed to “call attention to ‘egregious’ errors in scoring by judges and unacceptable conduct by referees.”
Contreras and Sinnett, residents of Omaha, were singled out for their scorecards in the match between lightweights Thomas Mattice and Zhora Hamazaryan, an eight round contest staged at the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa on July 20. They both scored the fight 76-75 for Mattice, enabling the Ohio fighter to keep his undefeated record intact via a split decision.
Although Mattice vs. Hamazaryan was a supporting bout, it aired live on ShoBox. Analyst Steve Farhood, who was been with ShoBox since the inception of the series in 2001, called it one of the worst decisions he had ever seen. Lead announcer Barry Tompkins went further, calling it the worst decision he has seen in his 40 years of covering the sport.
Laurence Cole (pictured alongside his father) was singled out for his behavior as the third man in the ring for the fight between Regis Prograis and Juan Jose Velasco at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans on July 14. The bout was televised live on ESPN.
In his rationale for calling out Cole, BWAA prexy Joseph Santoliquito leaned heavily on Thomas Hauser’s critique of Cole’s performance in The Sweet Science. “Velasco fought courageously and as well as he could,” noted Hauser. “But at the end of round seven he was a thoroughly beaten fighter.”
His chief second bullied him into coming out for another round. Forty-five seconds into round eight, after being knocked down for a third time, Velasco spit out his mouthpiece and indicated to Cole that he was finished. But Cole insisted that the match continue and then, after another knockdown that he ruled a slip, let it continue for another 35 seconds before Velasco’s corner mercifully threw in the towel.
Controversy has dogged Laurence Cole for well over a decade.
Cole was the third man in the ring for the Nov. 25, 2006 bout in Hildalgo, Texas, between Juan Manuel Marquez and Jimrex Jaca. In the fifth round, Marquez sustained a cut on his forehead from an accidental head butt. In round eight, another accidental head butt widened and deepened the gash. As Marquez was being examined by the ring doctor, Cole informed Marquez that he was ahead on the scorecards, volunteering this information while holding his hand over his HBO wireless mike. The inference was that Marquez was free to quit right then without tarnishing his record. (Marquez elected to continue and stopped Jaca in the next round.)
This was improper. For this indiscretion, Cole was prohibited from working a significant fight in Texas for the next six months.
More recently, Cole worked the 2014 fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Orlando Salido at the San Antonio Alamodome. During the fight, Salido made a mockery of the Queensberry rules for which he received no point deductions and only one warning. Cole’s performance, said Matt McGrain, was “astonishingly bad,” an opinion echoed by many other boxing writers. And one could site numerous other incidents where Cole’s performance came under scrutiny.
Laurence Cole is the son of Richard “Dickie” Cole. The elder Cole, now 87 years old, served 21 years as head of the Texas Department of Combat Sports Regulation before stepping down on April 30, 2014. At various times during his tenure, Dickie Cole held high executive posts with the World Boxing Council and North American Boxing Federation. He was the first and only inductee into the inaugural class of the Texas Boxing Hall of Fame, an organization founded by El Paso promoter Lester Bedford in 2015.
From an administrative standpoint, boxing in Texas during the reign of Dickie Cole was frequently described in terms befitting a banana republic. Whenever there was a big fight in the Lone Star State, his son was the favorite to draw the coveted refereeing assignment.
Boxing is a sideline for Laurence Cole who runs an independent insurance agency in Dallas. By law in Texas (and in most other states), a boxing promoter must purchase insurance to cover medical costs in the event that one or more of the fighters on his show is seriously injured. Cole’s agency is purportedly in the top two nationally in writing these policies. Make of that what you will.
Complaints of ineptitude, says the WBAA, will be evaluated by a “rotating committee of select BWAA members and respected boxing experts.” In subsequent years, says the press release, the watch list will be published quarterly in the months of April, August, and December (must be the new math).
Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel
The Avila Perspective, Chapter 8: Competing Cards in N.Y. and L.A.
David A. Avila
Rival boxing shows compete this Saturday as light heavyweight world titlists are featured in New Jersey while former world champion welterweights and middleweights tangle in New York.
A mere 150 miles separate the two fight cards staged in Uniondale, N.Y. and Atlantic City.
But there’s no mercy inside the boxing ring and certainly no mercy between boxing promotions. While Main Events stages WBO light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev and WBA light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol in separate bouts, DiBella Entertainment stacks former champs Andre Berto against Devon Alexander in a welterweight clash.
Russia’s Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) has lost some luster and hopes to reboot his popularity with a win against Canada’s Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs). But he will be directly competing against WBA champ Bivol (13-0, 11 KOs), also of Russia, who defends against Isaac Chilemba (25-5-2) of South Africa.
HBO will televise both light heavyweight title fights.
Bivol, 27, has slowly, almost glacier-like slow, picked up fans along the way by training in Southern California. The quiet unassuming fighter with a conservative style and cobra-like quickness appeals to the fans.
“I do not think that now I am the best light heavyweight, but I am now one of the best. One of four guys,” said Bivol during a press conference call. “But I hope in not the far future, we will know who is the best.”
That, of course, would mean a date with Kovalev should both fighters win on Saturday. Nothing is certain.
Kovalev, now 35, has lost some of that fear factor aura since losing back-to-back fights to now retired Andre Ward. Though he’s cracked two opponents in succession by knockout, many are pointing to the potential showdown with Bivol as the moment of truth.
“Most likely this fight is gonna happen since both Sergey and I are HBO boxers and as long as that’s what the people want, most likely the fight will happen,” said Bivol. “Me and Sergey will make sure to give this fight to the people.”
It’s time for the build-up and it starts on Saturday Aug. 4, on HBO.
“That’s certainly a goal of Sergey’s and he’s made it very clear to me that that’s what he wants to do,” said promoter Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events. “He wants to do unification fights if he is successful with Eleider Alvarez. That’s what he wants to do next; he’s been very clear about that.”
Five former world champions stack the fight card at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Former welterweight world champs Andre Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) and Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) lead the charge in a 12-round clash. FOX will televise the main event and others at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET.
Berto, 34, has been fighting once a year so it’s difficult to determine if age has crept into his reflexes. When he knocked out Victor Ortiz in a rematch two years ago Berto looked sharp and dangerous. But against Shawn Porter a year ago, the crispness seemed gone and he quickly lost by knockout.
Alexander, 31, has the advantage of being a southpaw. But he always seems to do the minimum when he fights. Last February he slowed down and allowed Victor Ortiz to steal the fight. All the commotion by the announcers was for naught. Defense does not win fights, it allows you to win fights. The lack of offense in the latter rounds cost Alexander a win in a match that entered the books as a majority draw.
It’s a curious matchup of former world champions.
Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (33-1-1, 23 KOs) the former WBO middleweight titlist meets J’Leon Love (24-1-1, 13 KOs) in a super middleweight bout set for 10 rounds. It’s another intriguing fight especially between two fighters with great personalities.
Quillin, 35, was ambushed by Daniel Jacobs in the first round a year ago in losing the title. Was it bad luck, age or both? As a fighter the Brooklyn-based prizefighter has a ton of followers who like him as a person. Few are as classy as Quillin.
Love, 30, has long been a mainstay in Las Vegas and since his amateur days his abilities have been touted. Throughout the years Love has shown that charm and friendliness can go a long ways, even in the bitter wars of prizefighting. But the time has come to see if he belongs in the prizefighting world. Quillin will present an immense challenge for Love.
A number of other interesting fights are slated to take place among former world champions including Sergey Lipinets who lost the super lightweight title to Mikey Garcia this past winter. There’s also Luis Collazo in a welterweight match.
One world title fight does take place on the card.
Female WBA super middleweight titlist Alicia Napoleon (9-1) makes the first defense of her title against Scotland’s Hannah Rankin (5-1). It’s a 10 round bout and the first time Napoleon defends the title since winning it last March against Germany’s Femke Hermans. Ironically, Hermans now has the WBO super middleweight title after defeating former champ Nikki Adler by decision this past May.
L.A. Congestion
Next week the city of Angels will be packed with three fight cards in four days.
First, on Wednesday Aug. 8, 360 Promotions stages Abraham Lopez (9-1-1, 3 KOs) versus Gloferson Ortizo (12-0-1, 6 KOs) in the main event at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, Calif. This is Filipino fighter Ortizo’s ninth fight this year. You read that correctly.
All of Ortizo’s fights have taken place across the border in Tijuana. The 32-year-old now returns to California against another Californian in Lopez. He’ll be looking for his fourth consecutive knockout, but Lopez, 22, has not lost a fight since his pro debut. Inactivity might come into play for Lopez who hasn’t stepped in the boxing ring in over a year.
New York’s Brian Ceballo (3-0) returns in a six round welterweight bout against local fighter Tavorus Teague (5-20-4). Ceballo, who is promoted by 360 Promotions, looked good in his last appearance. The amateurish punches seen in his first two bouts were gone by his third pro fight. His opponent Teague has ability and can give problems if Ceballo takes his foot off the pedal.
One of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s training partners Ali Akhmedov (11-0, 8 KOs) makes his California debut when he meets Jorge Escalante (9-1-1, 6 KOs) in a light heavyweight match.
Female super lightweight Elvina White (2-0) is also slated to compete. The entire fight card will be streamed at www.360promotions.us and on the 360 Promotions page on Facebook. First bell rings at 6:15 p.m.
Belasco Theater in downtown L.A. is the site of Golden Boy Promotions fight card on Friday Aug. 10. A pair of young prospects will be severely tested.
San Diego’s Genaro Gamez (8-0, 5 KOs) meets Filipino fighter Recky Dulay (10-3, 7 KOs) for the vacant NABF super featherweight title. For Dulay it’s always kill or be killed. Five of his last fights have ended in knockout wins or losses.
Gamez, 23, seems to thrive under pressure and broke down two veterans in back-to-back fights at Fantasy Springs Casino. Now he returns to the Belasco, a venue where he has struggled in the past. But this time he’s the main event.
Another being severely tested will be Emilio Sanchez (15-1, 10 KOs) facing veteran Christopher Martin (30-10-3, 10 KOs) who is capable of beating anyone.
Sanchez, 24, lost by knockout in his last fight this past March. He’s talented and fearless and one mistake cost him his first loss as a pro. He’s not getting a break against Martin, a cagey fighter who has upset many young rising prospects in the past. Martin also has experience against world champions. It’s an extremely tough matchup for Sanchez.
The fight card will be televised by Estrella TV beginning at 6 p.m.
World Title Fight
On Saturday, boxing returns to the Avalon Theater in Hollywood.
The main event is a good one as Puerto Rico’s Jesus Rojas (26-1-2, 19 KOs) defends the WBA featherweight world title against Southern California’s Jojo Diaz (26-1) in a 12 round clash. It’s power versus speed.
Rojas, 31, is one tough customer. When he took the interim title against Claudia Marrero last year he chased down the speedy southpaw Dominican and blasted him out in the seventh round. Several months earlier he obliterated another Golden Boy prospect, Abraham Lopez (not the same Abraham Lopez that is fighting on the 360 Promotions card), in eight rounds. Now he has the title and defends against the speedy southpaw Diaz.
Diaz, 25, just recently lost a bid for the WBC featherweight title against Gary Russell Jr. Though he lost by decision three months ago, that fight might be easy in comparison to this challenge against Rojas.
The former Olympian won’t be able to take a breath against the Puerto Rican slugger who is about as rough as they come.
Two more undefeated Golden Boy prospects get a chance to eliminate each other when Philadelphia’s Damon Allen (15-0-1) meets East L.A.’s Jonathan Navarro (14-0, 7 KOs) in a super lightweight fight set for 10 rounds.
Phillie versus East LA is like fire versus fire in the boxing ring. Boxers originating from those two hard-bitten areas usually have go-for-broke styles that result in pure action. Allen versus Navarro should not disappoint.
Allen, 25, is not a hard puncher but he’s aggressive and like most Philadelphia fighters, he’s not afraid to mix it up.
Navarro, 21, lives in East L.A. but trains in Riverside under Robert Garcia. He’s slowly finding his timing and will be facing the fastest fighter since his pro debut in 2015.
Others featured on the card will be Hector Tanajara, Aaron McKenna and Ferdinand Kerobyan.
The card will be streamed on the Golden Boy Fight Night page on Facebook beginning at 6 p.m.
To comment on this article at The Fight Forum, CLICK HERE.
What’s Next for Manny Pacquiao?
Kelsey McCarson
Manny Pacquiao isn’t quite ready to retire, and more big-money fights against high-level competition seem to be on the 39-year-old’s way.
“I feel like I’m a 27-year-old,” Pacquiao told GMAnetwork.com’s Jamil Santos last week. “Expect more fights to come.”
Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) looked exceptionally sharp in his seventh-round knockout win over former junior welterweight titleholder Lucas Matthysse on July 15 at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was Pacquiao’s best performance in at least four years, netting Pacquiao a secondary world title at welterweight along with a slew of renewed public interest in the boxing superstar’s career.
But what comes next for the only fighter in the history of boxing to capture world titles in eight different weight classes? TSS takes a detailed look at the potential opponents for one of the sport’s most celebrated stars.
Pacquiao looked good enough against Matthysse to suggest he’d make a viable candidate to face either Terence Crawford or Vasyl Lomachenko next. Crawford is ranked No. 2 on the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board’s pound-for-pound list while Lomachenko slots at No. 1.
While Pacquiao is no longer under contract with longtime promoter Bob Arum at Top Rank, most industry insiders expect he will continue working with Arum’s team in some capacity so long as his career keeps moving forward. Pacquiao started his own promotional venture, MP Promotions, to co-promote the Matthysse bout with Oscar De La Hoya, but Top Rank was still involved in the fight which is why the bout ended up streaming on ESPN+.
Top Rank’s two hottest commodities at the present are Ring Magazine and WBA lightweight champ Lomachenko and welterweight titlist Crawford. Both are highly-regarded, multi-division world titleholders in the primes of their careers who are universally considered the top fighters in boxing.
Lomachenko and Crawford would each present a unique set of problems for Pacquiao stylistically. Of the two, Pacquiao probably matches up best with Lomachenko at this point in his career. Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) is much larger and heavier than both Pacquiao and Lomachenko, and unless Pacquiao just really wants to test himself against someone incredibly dangerous, it’d probably be best for Team Pacquiao to avoid fighting Crawford at all costs. Crawford would be a heavy favorite against Pacquiao and most boxing insiders don’t believe this version of Pacquiao could compete with Crawford.
Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) is naturally smaller than Pacquiao and has never fought above 135 pounds. If Pacquiao could lure Lomachenko to 140 pounds or above, he’d find himself in a winnable fight against a top-notch opponent. Lomachenko would probably be the slight favorite based on age alone but Pacquiao’s power and athleticism would give him a realistic chance to pull the upset.
Other Notable Possibilities
Former junior welterweight titleholder Amir Khan has long been angling for a bout against Pacquiao. Khan faces Samuel Vargas on Sept. 8 in another comeback bout against lower level competition. Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) bravely moved up to middleweight to fight Canelo Alvarez in 2016 but was knocked out in the sixth round. He left the sport for a spell but returned to boxing in February as a welterweight with a sensational first round knockout win over Phil Lo Greco. A win over Vargas puts Khan in good position to secure a bout with Pacquiao, and the fight is a reasonable move by both camps. Pacquiao would probably be the heavy favorite, but Khan’s speed and long reach give him a decent chance to pull the upset.
Former welterweight titleholder Jeff Horn won a controversial decision over Pacquiao last year in Australia. The bout grabbed huge ratings for ESPN and there have been many debates since it happened as to which fighter truly deserved the nod from the judges. Horn (18-1-1, 12 KOs) doesn’t possess elite level talent, but he’s huge compared to Pacquiao and fights with such ferocity that the two can’t help but make an aesthetically pleasing fight together. Pacquiao would be the heavy favorite to defeat Horn if the two fight again.
Pacquiao vs. PBC fighters?
Boxing’s current political climate and the ongoing battle of promoters and television networks for the hearts and minds of boxing fans usually leaves many compelling fights between top level stars off the table. Fighters promoted by Top Rank and Golden Boy are almost never able to secure bouts with fighters signed to Al Haymon to appear under the Premier Boxing Champions banner and vice versa. But Pacquiao’s free agent status opens up new and interesting possibilities for the fighter to pursue noteworthy PBC fighters.
There had been lots of chatter about Pacquiao facing Mikey Garcia next. Garcia (39-0, 30 KOs) has been decimating competition at both lightweight and junior welterweight. Garcia is considered by most experts to be one of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. He’s the TBRB junior welterweight champion and a unified lightweight titleholder (WBC, IBF). While Garcia is hoping to land a big money bout against IBF welterweight titleholder Errol Spence, most boxing experts believe the jump up to 147 pounds would be too much for the diminutive Garcia who began his career at featherweight. A better welterweight target for Garcia would be Pacquiao who also began his career in a much lower weight class.
Spence (24-0, 21 KOs) is probably the best of the PBC welterweights. He’s considered by many to be on par with Crawford at 147 so it would be an incredibly dangerous bout for Pacquiao to go after at this point in his career. But Spence is aggressive and fights in a style that Pacquiao traditionally matches up very well against. Spence would be the favorite based on size, age and skill.
Slightly less dangerous to Pacquiao would be facing the winner of the Sept. 8 battle between Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter. Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) and Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs) are fighting for the vacant WBC welterweight title and the possibility of capturing another world title in his career could sway Pacquiao to seek out the winner. Pacquiao could find himself a slight favorite or underdog depending on which of the two fighters he would face, but both would be winnable fights.
The WBA welterweight champion is Keith Thurman. Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) is a good boxer with tremendous power but Pacquiao’s speed and athleticism would probably give him the leg up in that potential matchup. Thurman hasn’t fought in over 16 months though and recent pictures suggest he’s not in fighting shape at the moment, so the likelihood of a Pacquiao vs. Thurman fight is pretty much nil.
Some fans want Pacquiao to face Adrien Broner. Broner (33-3-1, 24 KOs) is a solid contender at 147 but probably doesn’t have the skill to seriously compete with Pacquiao. Pacquiao would be a significant favorite and would likely stop Broner if the two were able to meet in a boxing ring.
Mayweather-Pacquiao 2?
Pacquiao lost a unanimous decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2015, but the circumstances surrounding the fight, and the fact it was the biggest box office bash in the history of the sport, have led many to suspect the two fighters would meet again in a rematch.
Yes, Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) is retired, but he’s unretired several times in his career for big money fights including last year’s crossover megafight with UFC star Conor McGregor. While it seems unlikely to happen, Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 would still be a huge worldwide event worth millions of dollars to both fighters so those following the sport can never say never to the idea of it happening again.
While Mayweather is 41, he’d still get the nod as the betting favorite should he fight Pacquiao again based on what happened in the first fight as well as his stylistic advantage over Pacquiao.
Pacquiao vs. McGregor?
McGregor’s bout against Mayweather last year was such a financial success and the MMA star made so much more money in the boxing ring than he did as a UFC fighter that the idea of him returning to the sport to face Pacquiao isn’t as far-fetched as one might think.
Pacquiao vs. McGregor would be an easy sell to the general public. According to CompuBox, McGregor landed more punches against Mayweather than did Pacquiao, and the general consensus is that Mayweather-McGregor was more fun to watch than Mayweather-Pacquiao.
The size difference between the two would lead to an easy promotion. McGregor is a junior middleweight and Pacquiao has only competed at the weight once back in 2010. Despite all that, Pacquiao would be a significant favorite to defeat McGregor and rightly so. He’s too fast and too good a boxer, and his aggressive style would likely lead to a stoppage win.
Pacquiao’s Top Targets
Pacquiao’s top targets should be Mayweather, McGregor and Lomachenko. Pacquiao would stand to make the most money facing either Mayweather or McGregor. Pacquiao’s reportedly injured shoulder heading into 2015 bout left many wondering how the fight might be different had the Filipino gone into things at his best, and Mayweather’s age might play more of a factor in the second fight than it did in the first. A Pacquiao-McGregor fight would be a worldwide spectacle, one Pacquiao would be heavily favored to win. Besides, it’d be interesting to see if Pacquiao could stop McGregor sooner than historical rival Mayweather. Finally, Lomachenko might be trying to climb up weight classes too fast, and Pacquiao would certainly be fit to test the validity of that theory. It’d be one of the biggest fights in boxing and a win for Pacquiao would be another huge feather in the cap of one of boxing’s true historically great champions.
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It’s not the economy, stupid, it’s climate change that matters most to the nation.
“In climate change, there will never be enough figures to satisfy the climate sceptics. If you don’t believe in the science of climate change, no amount of evidence will ever convince you because, fundamentally, it’s a stupid position not to take action,” Labor’s leader squelches a popular press narrative in Darwin Tuesday. The News Corp story is a “bait the left” stunt is that Labor’s emissions policy target will cost business $25 billion.
Bill-baiting starts Tuesday. 10 “News First” Jonathan Lea asks, “When can voters learn more about Labor’s emission reduction target, how you will get there and the cost to the economy?” Read their policy?
A “look at me” moment from a TV journalist, to engineer a sense of something at stake, says The Guardian’s Katharine Murphy who has her own thoughtful analysis of a policy which has been available since December.
It’s not perfect. Labor’s carbon trading raises questions. No carbon budget exists yet, given the hyper partisan state of our energy debate, but it’s way ahead of a Coalition driven by a group of climate change deniers.
Malcolm Turnbull helpfully enters the fray, swinging at ScoMo, his nemesis, Sunday, alleging that by dumping the national energy guarantee, (NEG) Scott Morrison’s captain’s recall will drive up electricity prices. Turnbull takes issue with a Daily Telegraph column by Sky News’ David Speers on the NEG and electricity prices.
Turnbull takes exception to Speers’ characterisation of the NEG as “Malcolm Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee”. The NEG had support from cabinet and ScoMo. It is no longer policy only because of a “right wing minority” revolt in the party room: a few MPs threatened to cross the floor unless the NEG was dropped.
Disregarding the many flaws in the NEG, Turnbull argues, “The consequence is no integration of energy and climate policy, uncertainty continues to discourage investment with the consequence, as I have often warned, of both higher emissions and higher electricity prices.” In a parting shot at Labor, the former PM helpfully calculates Labor will have to find about $35 billion through carbon credits purchased offshore by 2030.
A small fraction of the economy would be affected, argues ANU economist, Professor Warwick McKibbin. The Morrison government policy to reduce carbon emissions would subtract about 0.4 per cent from the economy by 2030, he reckons, despite much criticism of Direct Action’s usefulness and Labor’s would do the same.
But long range forecasts are fraught. And why must cost dominate? William Richard Shorten remonstrates.
“This has been a 10-year torture on climate change, where the climate has got worse, the extreme weather events have got worse, and this government is still trying to delay and discourage.”
Australians are united on global warming. New research from The Australia Institute, puts the lie to myths of a North/South divide: most voters in all states and a majority across political allegiances want the government to mobilise all of society, “like they mobilised everyone during the world wars”, to tackle global warming.
Instead, the Coalition mobilises a scare campaign to panic electors. Labor will massively tax superannuation. Business will go bust with the extra costs of international carbon credits. Labor’s climate change policy is Carbon Tax 2.0 which will impose MASSIVE costs on Australians. Basic, diversionary tactics help it evade scrutiny of the $40 billion in spending cuts required to pay for the Coalition’s promised tax breaks.
The prospect of any cuts upsets the states. Treasurers in Victoria, Qld, WA, the ACT and the Northern Territory write to fledgling Federal Treasurer Frydenberg, this week asking him to “confirm that there will be no further funding cuts to hospitals, schools, infrastructure and other essential services that Australians rely on.”
Their letter points out that a $40 billion cut in spending “is more than the Commonwealth’s entire annual contribution to the states and territories for health ($22.8 billion) or education ($21.5 billion) in 2019-20”.
Along with its Kill Bill campaign and ScoMo’s nervous tic of naming Bill Shorten twice at least in every sentence, the Coalition attacks Labor’s electric vehicle target of 50% of all new car sales by 2030; a government fleet target of 50% by 2025 and 20% tax deductions for businesses purchasing electric vehicles (EVs) with witty retro word-play; Bill’s Car-Bon tax. Suddenly we’re back in 2013 with the Mad Monk Abbott.
Meanwhile, astonishingly, our accidental PM morphs into a clear communicator, admired for his consultative style by key stakeholders in an explosion of spin from his turd polishing unit which even has a piece on The BBC News website. Yet Scott Morrison cannot, so far, voice a single reason for toppling Turnbull. Instead he is photographed in business suit and RM Williams boots clod-hopping carrot fronds in Tasmania.
“What’s over there?”, he power-points, as all leaders must, on camera. “Carrots” says a minder. On a carrot farm? What will they think of next? Root vegetables deracinated, plant husbandry done, an honest tiller of the soil for a whole photo-op, hands dirty, ScoMo turns to ask reporters, “How shifty is Bill Shorten?” As he does.
ScoMo’s parody of John Cleese as Minister of Silly Walks may well win over a few Monty Python fans and those who warm to visual puns about carrot incentives and Easter Bunny (EB). But is it wise? EB’s role may be already taken by the lovely “Dutts” as Home Affairs’ Dutton is known to sycophants such as Hunt and Sukkar.
Peter Dutton is Labor’s Easter Bunny, their secret weapon, notes Paul Bongiorno in The Saturday Paper, who observes that Dutton’s abortive coup, (his numbers’ man Mathias Cormann botched the arithmetic), is a living reminder of the dysfunction and deep division that is today’s post-modern conservative Liberal Party. And a reminder of Morrison’s curiously confected legitimacy, his party’s antidote to having Dutton elected leader.
Dutton is toxic in Victoria, Labor research finds. He may even be the most unpopular Liberal politician in living memory, a keenly-contested title. ScoMo’s campaign stump in Deakin with local MP, Michael Sukkar, a Dutton numbers man, is briefly diverted when a wag hack asks whether the odium Victoria reserves for Morrison has anything to do with Sukkar’s judgement that “Peter Dutton should have been the leader of the Liberal Party?”
Luckily the government has campaign strategists and consultants CT Group to lead them onward; upward. There’s a bit of static about gorgeous George Christensen’s neglect of electoral duties in Dawson, QLD. “The Member for Manila”, as wags dub him, love-struck George spent seventy days each year, visiting April Asuncion, his fiancée in The Philippines for the last four years.
“He’s a human being,” David Littleproud offers a conjugal defence but Dawson voters may argue he’s their MP, first. At least his long-distance romance keeps him off the streets; away from Reclaim Australia Rallies.
On the streets, a Liberal Party advertising truck tools around Canberra, a city Walter Burley Griffin designed for “a country of bold democrats”. “Labor will tax you to death” its slogan runs, a hoax which invokes rumours on Fake-book, (bogus Facebook pages) that Labor will re-introduce death duties.
The legend mimics Conservative negative advertising in the UK in 2010, by Crosby-Textor (now CT group) whose fear-mongering and dead cat on the table diversions failed to deliver a Tory majority in 2017 or avert Turnbull’s 2016 near-disaster.
Yet, as Lizard of Oz, Sir Lynton Crosby and former Australian Liberal Party Director, knighted for frightening UK folk to vote for their neoliberal oppressors, famously opines, “you can’t fatten a pig on market day”.
Or by weighing it. Sadly CT group has its own problems to contend with; Mohammed Saderuddin Syed, 44 the firm’s former chief financial officer has recently been charged with defrauding the company of $850,000.
The dead-cat slogan on the truck simply betrays Morrison’s mob’s desperation. Even those inside the Canberra bubble, a no-go-zone which bubble-dweller, ScoMo, invokes to dodge questions, know the Coalition’s on the run from voters wanting policy on environment, climate change, energy, – anything -even a budget passed by parliament. Josh Frydenberg’s recent dodgy estimates will never appease our high priests, the economists.
Above all, voters have had a gutful of government profligacy, waste and the game of mates. Fourteen out of a flurry of 70 appointments to boards, statutory bodies and tribunals, and diplomatic postings in the last few weeks are former Liberal or National MPs, party executives or advisers to Coalition ministers, according to Guardian Australia analysis. No-one suggests corruption, but the practice does politicise government bodies.
Corruption’s stench does, however, waft up from water rorting in the Murray-Darling Basin, while Adani’s last-minute fake approval stinks; its water management plan is not endorsed by CSIRO, despite Price’s pretence.
The Australia Institute reports that “Minister Price was reportedly threatened by members of her own Government to approve the groundwater plan or face public calls for her to be sacked. The internal lobbying reportedly included Ministers Canavan and Dutton demanding answers of their colleague last week. Adani Australia CEO Lucas Dow even flew to Canberra to push the case, having recently threatened to sue for damages if any restrictions were made to coal mining in Queensland.”
Adani still faces a number of other tests before it gains final approval from the Queensland government but the way the “approval” is rushed through, on the cusp of caretaker mode, raises serious concerns about the Morrison government’s regard for due process. It may also provide grounds for approval to be rescinded.
No-one was ever bluffed by Hunt’s Direct Action boondoggle. Now renamed “The Climate Solutions Fund”, it’s re-set to squander a $2 billion top-up paying farmers to plant trees they would have planted anyway, amongst other rorts, such as refurbishing Vales Point coal-fired power station. The move puts Australia at odds with The World Bank, the US and Europe, all of whom opposed using climate funds to retrofit coal power stations.
“If you were committed to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement, which the Australian government says it is committed to, this is just lunacy,” says Sean Kidney, CEO of London-based Climate Bonds Initiative.
“No investors in the western world will accept any green bonds that incentivise anything like coal station retrofits. From an investor’s perspective, coal is a dead duck.”
Nothing to see here, is the Morrison dead Mallard’s response. Every truck, bus and Vespa motor-scooter in Canberra should bear the legend. Foremost is the erupting scandal of Murray-Darling Basin scheme water buy-backs. Minister for Agriculture and Water Rorts, Barnaby Joyce, fulminated against buy-backs, whilst overseeing at least three big deals; $200 million for giant corporate irrigators such as Webster farming.
The Menindee Water Savings Project will fundamentally change the lives and livelihoods of all of the people in the Lower Darling Valley report The Australia Institute’s MaryAnne Slattery and Rod Campbell, September 2018. The Australian government has paid one large agribusiness $80m in compensation. No other stakeholder has received any compensation, instead they have all been made more vulnerable.
Pressure mounts for an inquiry. By Saturday, however, it’s go-low ScoMo who accuses William Richard Shorten of “throwing mud around” during the election campaign. Our own Watergate scandal is upon us thanks to research compiled by The Australia Institute and some assiduous detective work by investigative journalist Michael West. Channel 10’s, The Project’s Hamish Macdonald re-runs the story, which first broke a year ago.
The issue has been “raised before and has been addressed” says Scott Morrison whose much-lauded (by his own spin unit) clear communication style becomes cloudier the more he says; the longer his sentences extend.
“I understand the Senate inquired into the matter and sought production of documents from the government, regarding those transactions, which the government has provided,” he bull-shits before reaching for the buzz-words. “So, that strikes me there is a high level of transparency.” Expect more posturing and protestation but Labor has asked for an explanation by Monday 22 April. It’s a scandal unlikely to help Morrison’s campaign.
Nor is the Coalition’s war on climate change abatement. It is “malicious and stupid” snorts William Richard Shorten; as a reporter twits him about the cost of Labor’s carbon reduction policy on Thursday in Darwin, now another China One Belt One Road, port thanks to a Coalition financial management and security masterstroke.
In 2015, Adam Giles’ NT government leased the port for ninety years to Chinese-owned Landridge group for a mere $506 million. Andrew Robb, Former Trade Minister, who later became a star Landridge recruit, at $880,000 PA, promoted the lease and purchase of a controlling interest in port operations. It was a “powerful sign” of a commercial relationship through a free trade deal of his. Later he resigned from the firm when it did not seem to have much work from him to do. No suggestion is made that Robb acted with impropriety.
The deal did, however earned a protest from then US President Barack Obama who said he would at least have liked some prior notice. He should be so lucky. Even federal cabinet was not aware of the deal until hours before then-chief minister Adam Giles announced it publicly in November 2015. The $506 million is long spent.
Undeterred, News Corp hacks and flacks cackle gleefully at the prospect of beating up another great big new tax on everything fear campaign, praying that it’s 2013 all over again. As Darwin’s sale shows, only the Coalition, a party whose MPs have financial management in their DNA, according to fiscal wizard Tony Abbott can be trusted to propitiate our gods of the economy, free trade deals and security.
The Australian’s, Chris Mitchell, a flack with the Morrison incumbency’s propaganda arm, savages opponents of the Adani Carmichael Mine with environmental concerns. First, it is nowhere near the reef. The Galilee Basin is inland in sparsely settled, dry pastoral country. Adani’s coal will have to be railed 300km to the Abbott Point coal loader, which already services coal exporters from Bowen Basin fields 200km closer to the coast.
That settles that, then. Or does it? For James Bradley, in The Monthly, opening one more coalmine while allowing emissions to continue on their current path it is like locking our children in a burning house.
“Ecosystems around the world will collapse, wiping out most species of animals. Acidification and anoxia will devastate the oceans. Rising sea levels will destroy coastal areas, while heat and famine and cascading climate disasters will kill hundreds of millions. These are not outside possibilities. They are the inescapable and near-term outcomes of failing to reduce emissions. In the face of this reality, opening new coalmines is like locking our children in a burning house and throwing away the key.”
Divided, delusional and drowning in a Watergate scandal of its own making, the Morrison government is held by some news outfits to have “won” the first week of the campaign.
It’s a dubious claim that ignores vital evidence that voters see through the scaremongering, the nonsense about the prohibitive cost of acting responsibly on climate change – not to mention ScoMo’s Canberra bubble, his cone of silence, which is just Morrison’s update on refusing to speak on “on water” matters – a practice he began as Minister for Immigration and, later, Border Force, now a part of Dutton’s struggling super-ministry.
The phrase “on water matters” is particularly apt again now that a scandal is brewing around the rorting of water from the Murray-Darling Basin scheme that could help cause a Coalition election washout.
Seven flaws in the NEG from Environment Victoria
It is worse than doing nothing for our renewable energy industry.
It may give polluting coal generators an incentive to keep polluting for longer.
It is inconsistent with our Paris climate agreement commitments or stronger targets necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 to 2°.
It concentrates market power with the ‘Big Three’ energy retailers (leading to higher electricity bills for consumers).
A major loophole – international offsets instead of domestic action.
It undermines state renewable energy and greenhouse pollution reduction targets.
It ignores the advice of the Chief Scientist and is a thought bubble with no economic modelling.
April 22, 2019 · Posted in Political Comment ·
3 thoughts on “It’s not the economy, stupid, it’s climate change that matters most to the nation.”
Jim R says:
A perfect Monday morning here. Overnight rain, a fresh home-made cappuccino and Urban’s offered description of the muppet show. Heaven sent and appreciated. Deeply.
As an aside,I wonder if the chief muppet will give Winston’s old line another spin. You know, the one about core and non-core promises. He’s obviously desperate enough.
Morning, Jim. Bound to recycle the old core and non-core but we’ve also seen the ‘just a back of the envelope thing’ defending egregiously misleading estimates of the costs of policy and projects. There are also a lot of tame Treasury fictions in play, too. Desperate and dangerous.
Desperate and dangerous alright, Urban. So much so, they think nothing of slowing the uptake of the NDIS and then amazingly discover the surplus funds can look good as a budget surplus, 2 elections after this upcoming one. Oh, the heroics! And the disabled can just suck eggs And continue to live in poverty.
« Coalition campaign launch a real shocker.
Coalition will have to do better than rely on bogus announceables, attacking Labor and lurid scare campaigns. »
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Tag: Vuelta a Espana 2013
Dumoulin’s glorious failure gifts Aru Vuelta victory
Vuelta a Espana 2015 postscript
The dust has well and truly settled on this year’s Vuelta and we are already into the world championships (posting this the day after the TTT). I’m a bit late to the game so I won’t do a blow by blow account of the race post the second rest day; rather here are one or two reflections on this edition.
Tom Dumoulin – breakthrough result?
Just as heart ruling head wanted an Alberto Contador Giro Tour double earlier in the year I was pretty much rooting for Tom Dumoulin to take the overall victory; the prospect of which had been off most peoples radar three weeks ago. Even so when Fabio Aru limited his losses to Dumoulin in the TT I still wasn’t sure that the latter would have enough in his legs (leave alone any kind of meaningful time gap) to hold onto the leaders jersey he now held. If Dumoulin had been the surprise package of the 2015 Vuelta Aru delivered the surprise performance of the TT. No one expected Joaquim Rodriguez to do any more than babysit the race lead into stage 17 and he served up the expected ‘difficult’ result on his time trial bike. Just as Purito was likely to be horrible against the clock Dumoulin was expected to destroy his opposition and up to a point he did; finishing more than a minute ahead of the next rider on the stage. However Aru, who had looked pretty average through the first two time checks must have ridden the final sector like a man possessed (or at least in pursuit of his first grand tour win) and was within two minutes of Dumoulin at the finish. Purito lost the lead and fell to third while Dumoulin leapfrogged everyone and had a three second advantage over Aru.
So at this point I wanted to see Dumoulin hang on; however improbable the chances seemed. The race was already going to be won by one of the undercard as we had lost Froome over a week previously and Nairo Quintana had never really looked like the rider who many (myself included) had tipped as the favourite. Aru had been handed a clear run thanks to the disqualification of Vincenzo Nibali and the lack of the pre-race big names left in the running was giving Rodriguez an outside chance of victory too. The biggest issue facing Dumoulin was that he was riding in a team that had been built around the sprinting ambitions of John Degenkolb (Dumoulin wasn’t even the team leader). On each day in the mountains Dumoulin had been left to find his own wheels to follow once Lawson Craddock (the only other recognised climber on the Giant Alpecin squad) pulled off. Dumoulin had shown he was capable of limiting his losses and the last of the summit finishes had been on stage 16 but could he really maintain a three second lead over Aru with difficult days still to come?
Ultimately the answer was no but on stage 19 Dumoulin was able to increase his slender lead over Aru and the Astana leader was alleged to have needed a shove from a teammate as they approached the finish in Avila. I suppose this was the point where I started to think a Dumoulin overall win might be possible. Away for the weekend I was following the race via social media and race reports as I wasn’t even catching the ITV highlights package. It seemed like Aru might be the one who was cracking and I was working on the basis that any time Dumoulin lost on the climbs he could make up on the descents with non-uphill finishes on the final stages.
Continue reading Dumoulin’s glorious failure gifts Aru Vuelta victory
Posted on September 21, 2015 September 21, 2015 Categories Road RacingTags Alberto Contador, Astana, Chris Froome, Chris Horner, Esteban Chavez, Fabio Aru, Giant Alpecin, Giant Shimano, Joaquim Rodríguez, John Degenkolb, Lawson Craddock, Marcel Kittel, Nairo Quintana, Orica Green Edge, Team Sky, Tom Dumoulin, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Vuelta a Espana 2015, Warren BarguilLeave a comment on Dumoulin’s glorious failure gifts Aru Vuelta victory
The little guy and the Dutch ‘Big Mig’
Vuelta a Espana 2015 week 1 review
Who knows who it was who coined the phrase; “The Tour is the Tour”. This is the catch all that is used to explain the goings on that characterise the world’s greatest stage race from the guy who dances around the finishing kilometre dressed as a giant ham sandwich; the drunken Dutch that spend a week on Alpe d’Huez; the fact that this is the only professional bike race that transcends professional bike racing.
Esteban Chavez
But isn’t the Vuelta also The Vuelta? Doesn’t it have its own idiosyncrasies; those things that make it unique? Those features that are just so, well; Vueltaesque. Previewing a grand tour, I’m always looking for half a dozen or so stages that I think will be interesting for the armchair fan. These aren’t always the stages that should be pivotal on paper, although inevitably they’re likely to be included. But the Vuelta can serve up something that inevitably makes me think “Why didn’t I pick this one?” as what appeared to be an innocuous climb turns out to be a sting in the tail. Take stage 6 from last year with the freshly laid strip of tarmac that led straight upwards to La Zubia. The Cumbres Verdes climb might only have been 4.6km but its 13% ramps delivered some of the most exciting racing of the opening week. I didn’t expect much from Sunday’s stage that climbed Alto de Puig Lloren twice but it was one of the most exciting days racing I have seen this year on a climb that was a little over 4km in length (albeit with 19% sections!)
Of course the route just provides the stage (in the theatrical sense) and the riders are the players in the same context. Chris Horner could hardly have been described as an emerging talent in 2013 but whatever you choose to think about the merits of his unheralded victory two years ago it was so surprising it made for compelling viewing and the only grand tour that was genuinely decided on the final stage in 2013. The dramatis personae listed ahead of this years race, the Froome’s, Quitana’s and Valverde’s have only had cameos to play so far. The stars of the show in the first week have been comparative understudies; Esteban Chavez the almost childlike Orica Green Edge climber and Giant Alpecin’s Tom Dumoulin.
There was a fair amount of chatter about Orica beginning to move their sights towards the grand tours although much of this had focused on the Yates twins. The announcement that the team had signed Amets Turruka from Caja Rural as a climbing domestique ahead of the Vuelta backed this narrative but it’s hard to believe that the team expected Chavez to have a week like this one. Not one but two stage wins and the leaders jersey for six out of ten days of racing must have been beyond the teams wildest dreams surely. They didn’t just have Chavez to celebrate either with Caleb Ewan taking his maiden grand tour stage win. Chavez played pass the parcel on GC with Tom Dumoulin who had already come to the fore this year as a rival to Tony Martin but certainly not as a grand tour overall contender. Chavez has been a joy to watch on and off the bike and you have to go with the instinct that says he was praising his rival when he described Dumoulin’s reclaiming of the race lead as “unbelievable” almost every other word. Dumoulin’s explanation is that he feels good and that he has lost some weight ahead of the race but more cynical eyebrows might be raised if he is still in pole position after four cat 1 and one HC climb on Wednesday.
The home fans (and the wider audience) find Chavez easy to fall for. He has been charmingly humble about his prospects and it is hard to see how he could prevail against Sky and Movistar at the very least over two more weeks of racing and arguably the toughest week to come this week. The locals ought to be able to take Dumoulin to their hearts as well; a time trailing grand tour winner? I’m pretty certain Spain has had one of those in the not too distant past!
So what of the pre-race favourites. So far not much. They have seemed content to only briefly test their firepower; a stage win for Valverde and Froome going close on Sunday only to be overhauled by Dumoulin at the death. Vincenzo Nibali has capped his miserable season by getting himself disqualified for riding on a team car on stage 2. What Nibali did may or may not be the worst excess of cheating, even in this race, but he was caught (on camera) and was gone without much in the way of genuine protest. He was remarkably prescient on the inconsistency of fines for transgressions within the race when Nacer Bouhanni escaped a similar sanction for an even more blatant car surf the following day by which time Nibali was already licking his wounds at home.
Bouhanni has gone now too. The race has been attritional for sprinters in particular whether that be through injury or simply practical longevity concerns. Ewen has withdrawn in much the same way as the Yates boys were protected at the Tour last year. In what was already a shallow field John Degenkolb might have been expected to fill his boots in much the same way as he has in previous years but he has been relatively quiet so far.
The first week of the 2015 Vuelta has delivered. The organisers might have preferred a Quintana or Valverde in the leaders jersey but in all other respects this years race has provided something for everyone from surprisingly challenging climbs to exciting emerging talents on GC. Tomorrow ought to be fireworks from start to finish as it’s difficult to imagine one team being able to control the race over that many climbs. After such an entertaining first half of the race it’s to be hoped that the rider who emerges from stage 11 at the head of the GC doesn’t grip the race lead too tightly. But the Vuelta is the Vuelta and no doubt there will be more surprises to come in the next ten days.
Posted on September 1, 2015 Categories Road RacingTags Adam Yates, Alejandro Valverde, Amets Turruka, Caja Rural, Caleb Ewan, Chris Froome, Chris Horner, Esteban Chavez, Giant Alpecin, John Degenkolb, Movistar, Nacer Bouhanni, Nairo Quintana, Orica Green Edge, Simon Yates, Team Sky, Tom Dumoulin, Tony Martin, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Vuelta a Espana 2014, Vuelta a Espana 2015Leave a comment on The little guy and the Dutch ‘Big Mig’
Fight! – VCSE’s Vuelta 2015 Preview
Christopher doesn’t like Vincenzo; he thinks that Vincenzo shouldn’t have ridden off when Christopher had a stone caught in his bike’s wheel. Vincenzo had a falling out with Christopher as he thought he was to blame for Vincenzo falling off with a lot of other riders. Then there’s Nairo. Nairo likes Christopher but thinks that he should have beaten him in a race that they had in France last month.
In recent years the Vuelta a Espana seems to have become the grand tour for riders with scores to settle. In 2012 it was Alberto Contador’s first race back after his ban and last year the same rider went head to head with Chris Froome after their Tour de France appearances were curtailed by injury. Vincenzo Nibali is returning to the the land of his first grand tour win in 2010 but (also) where he was denied a ‘doble’ in 2013 when Chris Horner took an unheralded victory. Last year the Vuelta might not have truly been worthy of the title of ‘unofficial’ GC rider world championships but it was an awesome prelude to the real thing that took place in France in last month.
This years Tour line up pitted all of the grand tour winners of recent years (bar Horner) and should have provided a definitive answer on who is (currently) the ‘greatest’. And yet the 2015 edition of the Vuelta will see the metaphorical “Did you spill my pint?” shenanigans continuing as Nibali attempts to prove that his 2014 Tour win was achieved on merit and Quintana seeks to demonstrate that he can outclimb Froome to win his second grand tour. Whoever triumphs in this contest, the question to see who is the ‘best’ will rumble on into another year. With Contador absent could Froome et al really claim to be the world’s #1 GC rider?
Claiming that rider X is the ‘best’ rider is something of a red herring in reality. It would be more accurate to say rider X is the best rider now. Contador was arguably the strongest rider going into last years Tour and was superior to Froome when they met again in the Vuelta. He was able to continue that form into the Giro this year; almost winning the race single handedly. But by July he appeared fatigued and was certainly unable to respond when Froome attacked as early as stage 3. Froome, despite his second Tour win, may not be the favourite for the 2015 Vuelta. As I wrote here his victory was delivered on the back on early time gains on his opponents that were defended as the race went on. The appeal of a Tour / Vuelta double will be in the minds of Froome and the Sky team but I suspect that a win here would still take second place over a successful defence of the 2016 Tour. If you go purely on how he finished the Tour you would put your money on Quintana to win the Vuelta. If Alejandro Valverde reprises his super domestique role from the Tour I would shorten those odds further still.
So what of Nibali. The lustre of his 2014 Tour victory had become very faded by the third week of this years race and was only partly salved by his stage win where he took advantage of Froome’s stone in wheel mishap. Astana bring Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa to the Vuelta and if the plan is to replicate the strategy that came so close to derailling Contatdor at the Giro Nibali could be a factor. The issue for the team in the Giro however was that the team leader (Aru) was off peak for much of the race. It doesn’t matter how well you can decimate the other GC teams if your leader can’t deliver the killer blow and that question mark will hang over Nibali as the race gets under way. Astana rider’s performance in the Vuelta may well be of more interest longer term as I think Nibali’s results will determine where he races in 2017 and with which team.
Tejay van Garderen leads the second tier of GC riders to watch; returning after his DNF at the Tour. I don’t think we’ll see the BMC rider on the podium here but he could go well in the Andorra based stage 11 as he’s an experienced rider at altitude (he was winning the USA Pro Challenge this time last year and in 2013). Joaquim Rodriguez can claim that stage as his ‘local’ and quite a few people have tipped him to go well in the race. I’m less convinced; leaving aside the motivation factor that this is his home tour I just don’t think that Purito has the legs for victory in a three week stage race.
VCSE’s Vuelta 2015 Top 3
1 Quintana
2 Froome
3 Valverde
Wildcard Aru
Continue reading Fight! – VCSE’s Vuelta 2015 Preview
Posted on August 20, 2015 Categories Road RacingTags 2015 Giro d'Italia, 2015 Tour de France, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Astana, Chris Froome, Chris Horner, Fabio Aru, John Degenkolb, Mikel Landa, Nacer Bouhanni, Nairo Quintana, Peter Sagan, Team Sky, Tejay Van Garderen, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Vuelta a Espana 2014, Vuelta a Espana 2015Leave a comment on Fight! – VCSE’s Vuelta 2015 Preview
Tour de France 2014 week 3 and in review – VCSE’s Racing Digest #34
Nibali untouchable
As the 2014 Tour de France entered its final week and the second of three days in the Pyrenees the GC looked increasingly nailed on for Vincenzo Nibali. By the time the next two stages had been completed his victory was all but assured and most people’s attention shifted to the competition for the podium places being contested by three French riders for the first time in 30 years. But first to the Shark of Messina, Nibali who dealt with the man who was arguably his last remaining rival by appearing to not focus on him at all. Movistar tried any number of combinations to provide Alejandro Valverde with the platform to take time back from Nibali, if not take an unlikely lead. Nibali, supposedly hamstrung by a weaker team in many pre-race assessments actually rode similarly to Chris Froome last year, able to look after himself when the stage entered the final act.
Vincenzo Nibali TDF 2014 winner
There is a clear stylistic difference between the two riders, but the way Nibali disposes of his rivals by putting on short, powerful bursts of acceleration is no different to Froome. The Sky riders exaggerated pedal stroke is more obvious than Nibali’s digs but the end result is the same. On stage 17, won by KOM winner Rafal Majka Nibali did what was necessary to maintain his advantage but on the following day he destroyed any lingering chances of the yellow jersey going elsewhere this year.
Nibali won the stage to the top of the Hautacam by more than a minute from Thibaut Pinot. Inextricably linked with doping the margin of victory on the climb led to a louder chorus of questions for the Maillot Jaune. Whatever anyone thinks of Nibali’s performance it’s worth noting that his time up the Hautacam was only good enough to make the top 30 of all time climbs of the peak. Some have argued that his time may well have been slower as the stage also had to cross the Tourmalet, but from the VCSE viewpoint the significance of the time gap owed more to the absence of the aforementioned Froome and (of course) Alberto Contador.
Nibali’s winning margin when the race entered Paris was nearly 8 minutes, but he gained much of his lead on the cobbles of stage 5 where one of the pre-race favourites crashed out and the other lost time. It was also lost on many that Nibali gained yet more time on the penultimate stage time trial when most cameras were focusing on the battle for second and third between Pinot and Jean Christophe Peraud. The attack, if it can be described as such (surely just better race craft) on stage 5 is the most obvious example, but throughout the race Nibali took maximum advantage from the chances that were presented to him. When these chances happened towards the end of a stage, as with the end of stage 2 in Sheffield, Nibali grabbed the win while others seemed to wedded to their own game plan to capitalise.
The doping questions have been less strident this year, although the presence of Alexander Vinokourov managing Nibali’s Astana squad meant that some saw no smoke without fire. Nibali seemed to deal with the questions in a dignified way, although it’s also true that doping questions in general tend to emerge from English speaking journalists so it’s always possible some things got lost in translation. If the assumption is that Froome’s 2013 win was clean, then there’s no reason why Nibali’s victory should be viewed any differently. Of the riders starting this years Tour Nibali, Contador and Froome are a class above and in the absence of the latter two surely it’s not that surprising that Nibali emerged as the winner?
Nibali’s victory, for all of the peaks of his stage wins was understated and classy and that’s typical of the rider. The fact that Nibali is already talking about returning to the Giro next year demonstrates his appreciation for the history of the sport. Of course, a cynic might say that in doing the Giro in 2015 Nibali will avoid a match up with 2014 Giro winner Nairo Quintana, not forgetting the likely return of Froome and / or Contador. The likelihood of Quintana and Nibali meeting for a GC contest next season is unlikely if the Scilian doesn’t defend his Tour title. The question of who is currently the greatest grand tour rider will have to wait a while longer.
30 years of hurt.. Over?
You wait 30 years for one French rider to get a Tour de France podium and then two come along. In our last post we had speculated whether AG2R could get a rider on the podium after Roman Bardet had lost his young riders jersey and third place to Thibaut Pinot on stage 16. With a time trial to follow the final mountain stages it seemed likely that Bardet would be the rider to lose out with the AG2R team, but as Alejandro Valverde’s hopes of a podium went a stage too far in the Pyrenees the French teams found themselves scrapping for second and third with two podium places on offer.
Peraud was often Nibali’s shadow in the mountains and that alone should dispel some of the speculation about whether or not Nibali is clean. Peraud the ex mountain biker is 37 and it’s hard to see his second place as anything other than a career high watermark. This isn’t to diminish his performance; Peraud finished ahead of stage race winners like BMC’s Tejay Van Gardaren as well as Valverde, Pinot and Bardet. Peraud leapfrogged Pinot as expected during the TT, but the FDJ rider was consoled by his own place on the podium as well as the young riders jersey.
The absence of Froome and Contador looms over this French renaissance however. It’s hard to see how the dual podium for Pinot and Peraud could have been acheived if Froome and Contador had been present. It’s more likely that a top ten result would have been possible, indeed this is where Pinot saw himself within the 2014 Tour contenders: “..no better than 5th to 8th”. The payoff for French cycling is a likely increase in interest and participation with the sport itself able to reflect that this is what a clean(er) race looks like.
Continue reading Tour de France 2014 week 3 and in review – VCSE’s Racing Digest #34
Posted on July 31, 2014 July 31, 2014 Categories Back Stories, Road Racing, Women's CyclingTags 2014 Giro d'Italia, 2014 Tour de France, AG2R, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Alexander Kristoff, Andre Greipel, ASO, Astana, BMC, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Dave Brailsford, Emma Pooley, FDJ, Giant Shimano, Greg Henderson, Jean Christophe Peraud, John Degenkolb, Katusha, La Course, Lotto, Luka Mezgec, Marcel Kittel, Marianne Vos, Mark Cavendish, Matteo Trentin, Michael Kwiatowski, Mick Rogers, Movistar, Nairo Quintana, Omega Pharma Quick Step, Rafal Majka, Richie Porte, Roman Bardet, Sergio Henao, Team Sky, Tejay Van Gardaren, Thibaut Pinot, Thor Hushovd, Tinkoff Saxo, Tom Van Asbroeck, Tony Gallopin, Tony Martin, Topsport Vlaanderen, Vasil Kiryenka, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Women's TourLeave a comment on Tour de France 2014 week 3 and in review – VCSE’s Racing Digest #34
Tour de France week 2 review – VCSE’s Racing Digest #33
Nibali running out of rivals
As the 2014 Tour de France entered its first rest day speculation turned to who would be the next rider to bring a challenge to Vincenzo Nibali’s reclaimed race lead. Nibali had handed off the yellow jersey that he had claimed with his stage 2 victory in Sheffield to Lotto’s Tony Gallopin for a whole day before he took it back with an emphatic win atop the La Planche de Belle Filles.
Can he overtake Nibali? – Alejandro Valverde
Alberto Contador’s exit, like that of Chris Froome beforehand, had removed the Tour of its pre-race favourites and potentially leaves this years edition in search of a narrative beyond a seemingly locked on Nibali overall victory in Paris on Sunday. Sky touted Richie Porte as their new team leader, but this was a rider who had seemed out of sorts ever since he was switched from a defence of his 2013 Paris Nice title. That decision was an early indicator that Sky would be backing a solitary horse this season in Froome, although Porte was unfortunate to miss a further opportunity to lead when he missed the Giro through illness. Dave Brailsford has a reputation as a straight talker, however it’s hard to see that continue if he suggests that a rider is “..climbing better than ever” and said rider (Porte) folds on the first day of alpine climbing. The Tasmanian looked as if he knew he was a folorn hope as he was the first of the depeleted GC contenders to loose the wheel on the stage to Chamrousse.
Porte fell from second place to sixteenth and with more than ten minutes lost to Nibali conceded that he wouldn’t be a factor in this years race any longer leaving Sky looking for a plan C. As Nibali took his third stage win the GC shake up saw Alejandro Valverde move into second place and three French riders in the top ten. Valverde still occupies second place and perhaps more in search of story than a basis in reality it’s been suggested that he will challenge Nibali in the Pyrenees. With one Pyrenean stage down Nibali the Movistar attack has looked toothless so far. It’s certainly true that Nibali’s Astana teammates are seen as the chink in his otherwise impressive armour, but the truth is they haven’t performed any better or worse than domestiques on the other squads. Valverde had supporters in hand as the peloton climbed the Porte de Bales while Nibali had none, but by the time the latter crested the summit Valverde had been dropped. The two were back together at the finish, won in fine style from the break by Mick Rogers, but the chance for Valverde to take back some seconds had been missed.
Another rider leaving the Tour in the Alps was Garmin’s Andrew Talansky. The American had suffered a number of crashes including a spectacular coming together with Simon Gerrans at the finish of stage 7. In pain ahead of stage 11 Talansky was unable to make it back into the peloton and at one point was being gapped further by his teammates drilling the pack on the front. He made the time cut, just, after a period sat on the roadside where he either begged to continue or was persuaded to carry on. The truth of that isn’t clear, but if Talansky ever does a biography there’s a chapter that could write itself. He finished the stage, but was gone the next day.
Yesterday’s stage saw a twist to the developing story of the French GC challenge. AG2R have two riders in the top ten at opposite ends of the age scale. Leading the young riders classification at the start of the day was Roman Bardet and he was in the last of the podium places also. His teammate Jean Christophe Peraud was in sixth place, but post stage moved to fourth. It hasn’t always been clear who is leading the team, perhaps the plan was to see who could rise to the challenge across a three week grand tour. Peraud had been very unlucky last year with crashes and broken bones. His stated aim is to finish on the podium in Paris, but that is the goal of the younger rider too. The chances are that this particular story has a few more changes of direction in it yet, but Peraud is the stronger time trial rider and he could end up heading the two.
It’s perhaps less clear if there will be an AG2R rider on the podium. Bardet lost third place and the young riders jersey to FDJ’s Thibaut Pinot yesterday.The story of his descending travails have been repeated ad infinitum this year, but it was his climbing that did for Bardet yesterday. It would be interesting to know if Pinot’s motivation for attacking on the climb to Port des Bales yesterday was too gap Bardet or to build an advantage on the descent against riders (like Bardet) who are still stronger going downhill. Perhaps it was both? Outside of the Nibali / Valverde contest, it’s the battle for supremacy among the French riders that creates the most interest.
While the VCSE predictions have been pretty poor this year with neck stuck firmly out it’s got to be a Nibali win on Sunday. You have to suspect that Valverde will be happy with second and he has the teammates to protect his second place over the last of the mountain stages before his superior time trial ability will cement the position in place for Paris. Of the French riders it’s less clear. It seems likely that there will be a Frenchman on the podium in 2014,it’s just a question of who. There might yet be another reversal of fortune if Tejay Van Garderen can take back some time today and tomorrow, but that seems like a long shot. A repeat of his 2012 fifth place seems the best to hope for.
Best of the Plan B’s
Tinkoff Saxo have given an indicator of just how strong they would have been in support of Alberto Contador with two stage wins since his withdrawal on stage 10. Mick Rogers win yesterday was proceeded by a victory for Rafal Majka on stage 14. Both of the wins have come from breaks, but the crucial thing is that the Tinkoff riders have beens strong enough to stay away. In contrast Sky have struggled to really be a factor since the demise of Froome and Porte. Garmin had Jack Bauer come within metres of a stage win on Sunday after another long break that had echoes of Tony Martin’s glorius failure at last years Vuelta.
AG2R lead the teams classement built on the platform of Bardet’s and Peraud’s high placings, but perhaps the team that’s managed a high profile through improvising results this year is Lotto. Andre Greipel has taken a stage win, but Tony Gallopin’s day in yellow was followed by the same rider taking a stage win. Another rider having a good Tour is Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff who now has two stage win’s under his belt from the lumpier stages. Marcel Kittel has struggled with the climbs, but will no doubt come good for the main event in Paris on Sunday. Greipel should be in second, but Kristoff is in the form of his life and may scramble to the next best title after Kittel.
Two more stages in the Pyrenee’s including the iconic climbs of the Peyresourde, Tourmalet and Hautacam should provide some interesting viewing. Expect Europcar to get into the breaks as the team don’t have anything to show for the race so far in their first year on the world tour. VCSE predicts a breakaway win for both stages as Nibali will probably have his hands full covering Valverde. Movistar may yet go for it on the Hautacam stage tomorrow, but it feels more likely that Valverde will want to be conservative and protect his second place.
This years race has been full of surprises though and none the worse for it. It feels like it could only be misfortune that could rob Nibali of his first Tour de France win and that would make him one of a select band to have won all three grand tours. The excitement is likely to come from the French GC battle and the final day’s fireworks on the Champs Elysee.
Posted on July 23, 2014 Categories Road RacingTags 2014 Giro d'Italia, 2014 Tour de France, AG2R, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Alexander Kristoff, Andre Greipel, Andrew Talansky, Astana, Chris Froome, Dave Brailsford, Europcar, FDJ, Garmin, Jack Bauer, Jean Christophe Peraud, Katusha, Lotto, Marcel Kittel, Mick Rogers, Movistar, Paris Nice, Rafal Majka, Richie Porte, Roman Bardet, Simon Gerrans, Team Sky, Tejay Van Gardaren, Thibaut Pinot, Tinkoff Saxo, Tony Gallopin, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013Leave a comment on Tour de France week 2 review – VCSE’s Racing Digest #33
VCSE’s 2014 Tour de France preview
This time a year ago the talk was not so much of who would win the Tour but the margin of victory. With the exception of Tirreno Adriatico Chris Froome had been victorious in everything he had entered and he was the firm favourite ahead of the opening stages in Corsica. This year the pre-race chatter has been dominated by the will they, won’t they (non) selection of Bradley Wiggins for Sky’s Tour team.
In yellow again this year? – Alberto Contador
In some ways this has been a welcome distraction for Froome as his season to date has been punctuated by injury, illness and being found wanting by some of his chief rivals for the GC this year, most recently Alberto Contador in the Criterium du Dauphine. As defending champion and undisputed leader of the Sky team Froome is of course among the favourites for the 101st edition of the Tour. The key here is that he is merely among the favourites, rather than being the outstanding candidate to take the general classification. Sky’s domination of the race in recent years does allow this rivals to remain somewhere below the radar however. Contador, who gave the impression of a rider clinging on by his fingernails in last years race has looked back to his best this year, showing his best form when he has wanted to demonstrate his superiority of a rival like he did to Alejandro Valverde at this years Pais Vasco.
Contador looks most likely to break the Sky hold over the GC, but there are other riders waiting in the wings who may yet cause an upset on the way. The aforementioned Valverde has looked other worldly at times, particularly in the early season. It’s hard to imagine that the Spaniard will be any more than a podium contender though. If Movistar had wanted to win this year they should have picked Nairo Quintana, last years runner up and this years Giro victor. Last years Giro winner Vicenzo Nibali should arguably have been the man cast in Contador’s role this year. Utterly dominant in the 2013 Giro and Tirreno Adriatico (where he crucially had the beating of Froome) Nibali began to fray around the edges at the Vuelta and he hasn’t looked anywhere near his 2013 best this season. Nibali was often a thorn in Sky’s side at the 2012 Tour though and he has the ability to hurt the GC riders in the mountain stages. A podium is a possibility, but VCSE suspects that a stage win or two may prove to be the goal for the Astana leader.
In Quintana’s absence the young guns should be well represented by US pairing Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky. BMC struggled last year trying to accomodate two leaders in Cadel Evans and van Garderen. Evans’ absence this year should help Tejay but he would have to be an outside bet for a podium place. A top ten is more likely. Talansky’s Garmin team have demonstrated their mastery of in race tactics, particularly when targeting a stage win as with Dan Martin in the Pyrenees last year. Talansky was in the right place at the right time in the Dauphine when he stole the race lead from Contador on the last stage to win the overall. He’s a stronger candidate for the podium than van Garderen but once again a top 10 feels more likely. This is Talansky’s opportunity to improve on his result from last years Tour and to become the rider around who future Garmin Tour efforts are built now that Martin’s year has been disrupted by injury.
Aside of the main contenders Joaquim Rodriguez was a fairly late addition for the Tour after his plans for the Giro were upset by injury in the Ardennes. Rodriguez took a stealthy podium last year but it’s harder to see him repeating that result 12 months later. Belkin, in the form of Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam were a bit of surprise package last year. The Dutch outfit have the motivation (if not pressure) of the announcement that their team sponsor are withdrawing at the end of this season and Mollema has looked in good form in recent weeks. Again it’s an unlikely podium, but with the teams sponsor difficulties a headline grabbing stage win could be the target for the either rider.
World champion Rui Costa was successful with stage wins last year but his goal this year will be a stronger showing on GC. He’s managed a win in the rainbow stripes this season which deals with any superstitious fears that may have existed for the rider about the supposed ‘curse’ but it’s unlikely he will be looking to repeat wins in 2014. France demands at least one stage win in the race it gave to the world. Last year we had a long wait for Christophe Riblon to come good for AG2R. VCSE offers the following names to look out for at this years Tour for GC contention and / or a stage win; Roman Bardet (AG2R) and Kevin Reza (Europcar).
With the loss of Vacansoleil and the elevation of Europcar to the world tour it’s meant that we have a bit more variety in the wildcard invitations this year. Anglo-German Net App Endura have a decent shout of a top 10 with Leopold Konig after the teams ‘dry run’ at last years Vuelta. IAM cycling were in contention for the overall at the Tour de Suisse and will bring a strong squad to the Tour with previous stage winners in Chavanel and Haussler. Stage wins may well be the target for the team, but they have riders that could prove to be contenders on GC also.
So who will actually win? Putting aside the fact the Froome is hard to like because of the Wiggins non-selection he remains the rider most likely to win this years Tour, albeit with more caveats than last year. Contador looks super strong and if Valverde and Nibali both bring their A game the Sky rider will face more assaults than he did a year ago. Also Froome’s most trusted helper Richie Porte is struggling for form and it remains to be seen if Mikel Nieve can establish a similar bond with his leader. Sky have assembled a very experienced unit with a good mix of riders who can shepherd Froome through the tricky stages like Arenberg as well as the type of stage that saw him cut adrift by cross winds last year. This is Contador’s best chance of a repeat Tour victory, but he has lost a key helper in Roman Kreuziger due to bio passport irregularities just days ahead of the grand depart. Will this upset the Tinkoff Saxo applecart? Unlikely, but anything that chips away at Contador’s confidence will be to Froome’s benefit. Every GC rider faces the difficult stages in Yorkshire and on the Roubaix cobbles and this could lead to some riders going out of contention before the peloton reaches the Vosges for the start of the climbing proper.
VCSE’s GC predictions – 1. Froome 2. Contador 3. Talansky
The sprinters battle
Mark Cavendish will have another go at claiming the maillot jaune for the first time in his career. Cavendish could place some of the blame for missing out on yellow on last years first stage on the Orica team bus getting stuck at the finish line, but as the race went on it became clear that he’s no longer the man to beat in sprint stages. Marcel Kittel may have ‘stolen’ Cav’s jersey on that first stage in Corsica but by beating the Omega Pharma Quick Step rider in Paris it looked as if the crown and sceptre for the king of the fast men was going to the younger man. Even if Cavendish wasn’t targeting the win into his Mum’s home town of Harrogate on Saturday he can rely on a partisan UK crowd and the media to make it ‘his’ goal. In some ways there’s more pressure on Cavendish to win this stage than their will be to beat Kittel on the Champs Elysee in three weeks time. Both riders have reconnoitered the opening stages and while Kittel may respect his rival he won’t be sentimental about handing the win to Cavendish. Much as VCSE would like to see Cavendish take yellow it seems more likely that Kittel will take the lions share of the stage wins and will lead the GC into the second stage.
Can he wear yellow? – Mark Cavendish
Peter Sagan only managed a single stage victory at last years Tour but should see a third straight win in the points competition. Sagan could target a victory as early as stage 2 which has been described as a Yorkshire version of Liege Bastogne Liege. He will also be among the favourites for the stage that takes in part of the Paris Roubaix cobbled route on stage 5. Sagan could have a rival this year in Orica’s Simon Gerrans, a rider in good form who while unable to match Sagan in a sprint is as least as good if not better over the climbs.
Andre Greipel is reduced to playing second, if not third fiddle to Cavendish and Kittel these days and will need some kind of mishap to befall the leading riders to be in with a chance of stage win at this years Tour. FDJ’s Arnaud Demare has won the internal battle to become lead rider and could be another outside bet for a win, but is more likely to contest stage podiums.
KOM is harder to predict this year. It’s possible that we might see a repeat of 2012 where the rider in the break secures the points and the jersey and this seems more likely than a repeat of last year where Quintana took a sweep of the KOM and young riders jerseys on his way to second place.
Key stages of the 2014 Tour de France
Armchair fans can watch the race live on ITV4 and British Eurosport again this year. Who you choose may depend on your choice of television provider but it’s a shame that Eurosport won’t repeat their pairing of Rob Hatch and Sean Kelly like they did at the Giro. Hatch seemed to get the best out of Kelly and their commentary is preferable to the prospect of Carlton Kirby in the lead chair. Kirby is as eccentric as Phil Liggett is predictable but ITV4 will probably win out thanks to a stronger presentation team in Gary Imlach and Chris Boardman outweighing Liggetts spoonerisms.
With a UK grand depart it’s also a lot easier to go and see the race in person although the peloton will disappear in a bit of flash on the flat stage 3 into London. The fan parks in Yorkshire and London may be better places to watch the action before heading to the finish line to see the final sprints.
Stages 1 thru’ 3 – Leeds to Harrogate, York to Sheffield, Cambridge to London Sat, Sun, Mon 5,6,7th July
The UK based stages will be worth a watch to see if Mark Cavendish can claim his first ever yellow jersey on stage 1 and to see if there are any early GC casualties on the challenging stage 2 that has 9 catergorised climbs.
Stage 5 – Ypres to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut Weds 9th July
The stage that takes in 15 kilometres of the Paris Roubaix cobbles is otherwise a flat, transitional stage. GC riders will be looking to stay out of trouble and it’s likely to be a chance for the rouleurs from each team to grab some glory with a stage win.
Stage 10 – Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles Mon 14th July
The summit finish where Froome won the stage in 2012 and Wiggins took the maillot jaune revisits in 2014 after a testing stage the previous day where the Tour takes in the first cat 1 climb of the race and the highest peak in the Vosges the Grand Ballon. Stage 10 has three other cat 1 climbs besides the Belle Filles along with a pair of cat 2 and a single cat 3 climb over its 162kms.
Stage 14 – Grenoble to Risoul Sat 19th July
The toughest day the peloton will face in the Alps this year. The stage includes the Col d’Izoard one of the most iconic climbs that the Tour uses and home to some of its most dramatic scenery. The stage has a cat 1 summit finish at Risoul
Stage 17 – St Gaudens to St Lary Pla D’Adet Weds 23rd July
Three cat 1 climbs including the Peyresourde before finishing with a HC summit finish of just over 10km at slightly more than 8%. It’s the shortest stage outside of the TT stages but should be a tough one.
Stage 18 – Pau to Hautacam Thurs 24th July
The final day of climbing in this years Tour takes in the famed climbs of the Tourmalet and finishing atop the Hautacam. Both climbs are HC and account for roughly 20% of the stages entire distance. If the GC isn’t decided by now it’s still possible that the TT on Saturday could provide a final shake up.
Stage 19 – Bergerac to Perigueux Sat 26th July
The penultimate stage has the potential to be a TT that’s actually worth watching live or merely be the icing on the GC cake for the holder of the maillot jaune. If there are still small time gaps between the leading contenders then riders will be looking over the shoulders as the strong testers take back time on them. If Froome is leading at this point, this stage is likely to increase the gap. If it’s Contador he will have to hope that he has built up enough of a cushion in the Pyrenees.
VCSE’s 2013 Tour de France Preview http://wp.me/p3g8fZ-bUtbN
VCSE’s guide to the Col d’Izoard http://wp.me/p3g8fZ-bQWIg
2014 Tour de France route
Posted on June 30, 2014 June 30, 2014 Categories Road RacingTags 2013 Tour de France, 2014 Giro d'Italia, 2014 Tour de France, AG2R, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Andre Greipel, Andrew Talansky, Arnaud Demare, Astana, Bauke Mollema, BMC, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Chris Froome, Christophe Riblon, Critérium du Dauphiné, Dan Martin, Europcar, FDJ, Garmin, Heinrich Haussler, IAM, Joaquim Rodríguez, Kevin Reza, Laurens Ten Dam, Leopold Konig, Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, Mikel Nieve, Movistar, Nairo Quintana, Omega Pharma Quick Step, Orica Green Edge, Peter Sagan, Richie Porte, Roman Bardet, Roman Kreuziger, Simon Gerrans, Sylvain Chavanel, Team Belkin, Team Net App, Team Sky, Tejay Van Gardaren, Tinkoff Saxo, Vacansoleil, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Vuelta a Pais VascoLeave a comment on VCSE’s 2014 Tour de France preview
Now that the dust has settled – VCSE’s Racing Digest #28
That Omega Pharma Quick Step have been the team of this years cobbled classics would not have been disputed ahead of last Sunday’s Paris Roubaix. Sure the Belgian outfit had celebrated a couple of individual wins for Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra respectively in Kuurne Brussels Kuurne and Dwars door Vlaanderen but the most noticeable aspect of the team’s performance had been their ability to get numbers into the final selections in each of the races. Besides Boonen and Terpstra, riders like Stijn Vandenbergh, Zdenek Stybar, Three days of De Panne winner Guillaume Van Kiersbulck and Matteo Trentin had all been part of the action as races entered the final kilometres. The problem was that strength in numbers hadn’t delivered a result in the races that mattered and often it looked like having more than one rider capable of winning was creating confusion among riders and in the team car about who to back for the win.
Niki Terpstra – 2014 Paris Roubaix winner
Through no fault of his own Tom Boonen hasn’t been able to turn his form from February when he took KBK into further wins. It seems unfair to speculate how much of an impact his girlfriends miscarriage had on his racing, after all Boonen would be forgiven if he chosen to withdraw from more than one event under the circumstances. In Flanders and at E3, he didn’t look like he had the legs to challenge his greatest rival Fabian Cancellara leaving the team wondering which horse to back from Boonen’s many lieutenants. VCSE covered in previous posts, but the facts are that the QPQS strategy of backing Boonen, meant that the team appeared unable to think tactically when he faded and other riders should have been given the chance to go for the win. One trick pony Vandenbergh was always going to be an outside bet for the win in Flanders, but given the nod to go at E3, it’s entirely possible Terpstra could have nicked the win.
Of course, Terpstra would take missing out on the semi-classic as he’s now the proud owner of one of the weirdest trophy’s in any sport; the Paris Roubaix cobble (the weirdness continues as the PR winner also gets his name recorded for posterity on a shower cubicle in the velodrome). Boonen had talked about giving a teammate the opportunity to go for the win, even of setting someone else up if he wasn’t well placed on Sunday. The likelihood is that by the time Terpstra attacked with less than 10k to go, Boonen’s legs had gone.
He had attacked early, further out than even his 50k plus solo break in 2012. Watching Boonen was seeing a rider who seemed to know where every cobble lay, every gully that could be followed to avoid the bone shaking pave or to eke out some more speed. He was able to get across to a starry group that included Sky’s Geraint Thomas and later BMC’s Thor Hushovd, but what he couldn’t do was get them to work with him. With the gap to the peloton hovering around the 30 second mark Boonen spent his time between the cobbled sectors either caning it on the front of the break or shouting and gesticulating at his companions to take a turn. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which riders on any of the other teams would work for a four-time winner of this monument, but Boonen’s vain attempts for some collective effort from the breakaway were not helped by the presence of riders from BMC (Hushovd) and Belkin who were riding for Taylor Phinney and Sep Vanmarcke.
While all of this was going on Fabian Cancellara had survived a near miss with a falling teammate and was lurking within the chasing group. He was happy to let first BMC and then Belkin make the running to try to catch group Boonen and didn’t appear to engage anything like top gear until Vanmarcke decided to bridge. Boonen who had stretched the gap to 50 seconds at one point, now saw it plummet until eventually the break was caught. If Boonen and co had still been ahead when they reached Carrefour de l’arbe it’s possible we could have been looking at the first rider to win five Paris Roubaix and possibly the greatest ever.
With such a stellar selection to contest the final stages it was still an outside possibility that Boonen might win at this stage, but with Cancellara now in the lead group there was also a sense that he would find a change of pace and go. When Boonen’s act had played out we had also seen a little cameo from Peter Sagan. Great rider that he undoubtedly is Sagan doesn’t seem at home in Paris Roubaix and his attack never seemed that determined. The rider that left you feeling “could he?” was Bradley Wiggins. Much had been made of Wiggins riding Paris Roubaix and he hadn’t exactly disgraced himself at Flanders the week before. At one stage he even led the race. Yes, you read it here (assuming you didn’t watch it!) Bradley Wiggins led Paris Roubaix. Let’s be clear the Wiggins that showed up on Sunday isn’t the grand tour winner of 2012, but he’s the first grand tour winner of any stripe to have ridden the cobbles for over twenty years. Outside of Terpstra’s win, Wiggins was the ride of the day.
Terpstra’s winning break had something of the Cancellara’s about it; a sudden injection of pace, the extra gear that no one can quite match. While everyone else was going “No, after you” Terpstra was gone. Wiggins and Thomas (yeh, he was still there) had a bit of a chat and based on Wiggins post race comments about “..having the legs” maybe it was Thomas who felt he couldn’t do much more. Rather like what might have happened with Boonen, VCSE can’t help thinking about what might have been if Wiggins and Thomas had gone into pursuit mode and chased Terpstra down. As it was the gap was soon too big and Terpstra was able to enjoy his lap of the velodrome before falling into the arms of his doris once he crossed the line.
The win will put some gloss on OMQS classics season and in Terpstra there’s the potential for a successor to Boonen as their go to man in the classics. Can Boonen win a fifth Paris Roubaix (or even a fourth Flanders?)? VCSE thinks probably not, even though we would love it if he did. He will be 35 next year and while Cancellara has been there or thereabouts himself this year, a second successive Flanders win masks a significantly less successful year than last. This is likely to mean a stronger Cancellara challenge in 2015 and with riders like Vanmarcke improving all the time it’s likely that Boonen’s days as the unofficial King of Flanders are numbered.
Vuelta a Pais Vasco
A couple of lines from our favourite stage race of last year. This year’s Tour of the Basque country was held in relatively fine weather and perhaps this made for a less exciting race. The GC contest was pretty much settled on day one as Alberto Contador sailed up the least likely cat 2 climb on this years world tour to take a 14 second lead over Alejandro Valverde. The line up for the race had suggested that the GC would be more widely contested but with Carlos Betancur withdrawing after stage one the attrition rate took place each morning rather than on any of the climbs as one by one the GC boys packed their bags. Contador looked as good as he did in Tirreno Adriatico in that he delivered one spectacular ride and was then unspectacular in holding onto his lead. Valverde was marked tightly by Contador’s Tinkoff teammates and you felt that he was never going to beat his compatriot in the contest that mattered.
Omega Pharma had a great week with two stage wins for Tony Martin and one for Wout Poels. The first of Martin’s wins was a watered down version of his all day solo breakaway at last years Vuelta except here he went one better and actually one the stage. Martin’s winning margin in his specialist event wasn’t anything like as convincing but unlike Rui Costa, Martin has broken the curse on his rainbow jersey.
Unlikeliest win of the week came from Sky’s Ben Swift who showed a hitherto unknown capacity for climbs to win the penultimate stage. Take a look at the top 10 for the day and the complete absence of sprinters demonstrates the parcours that Swift needed to negotiate to take the win. The irony that Swift could win the stage ahead of so many GC riders is that in all likelihood if the stage had come down to a bunch sprint among sprinters he would probably finished top 10 at best (Swift was fourth in stage 3’s bunch sprint). After a fine showing in Milan San Remo, Swift might be an outside contender for one of the Ardennes classics, although it’s hard to imagine him sprinting up the Mur de Huy somehow. Perhaps the emergence of Swift as a classics option might see Sky finally pull the plug on poor old Edvald Boasson Hagen who continues to serve up poor performances in the races where he is a supposed ‘protected’ rider.
Froome’s ‘Lance’ moment
And so we inevitably turn to Sky. Chris Froome chose to ignore Ron Burgandy’s advice to “Stay classy” on Sunday by posting a picture from his training ride on Tenerife. OK, so it’s possible that Froome ‘dog’ still lets his missus post on his behalf but nothing says I don’t give a toss about what my teammates are doing right now in northern France than a picture of a snowcapped mountain and the admission that you have spent your day on a long training ride. This is the kind of self awareness that Lance Armstrong showed when he posted his Tour jersey photo after USADA and suggests that its Froome who had the problem with Wiggins before Wiggins had a problem with Froome. If there are teams within this team, VCSE is in team Wiggins.
In other news, Sir Dave Brailsford has stepped down from British Cycling to concentrate full time on Sky. Whether or not this is good news for Team GB and the track cycling unit remains to be seen (say in 2016) but it’s likely to mean good news for Sky. There isn’t any sign of the wheels coming off the Sky juggernaut yet, but this year hasn’t been particularly overwhelming either with Froome’s repeat win in Oman they only major success. For one reason or another Sky haven’t been the team riding on the front in stage races and while the classics outfit has enjoyed more success than last year, they’re still to land a major one day success. Brailsford bringing his laser focus full time to Sky is likely to bring fresh successes, but don’t be surprised to see the team winning races differently to the methods employed in 2012 and 2013.
Posted on April 15, 2014 Categories Road RacingTags Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Ben Swift, BMC, Carlos Betancur, Chris Froome, Dave Brailsford, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, E3, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Fabian Cancellara, Geraint Thomas, Guillaume Van Kiersbulck, Matteo Trentin, Niki Terpstra, Omega Pharma Quick Step, Paris Roubaix, Peter Sagan, Rui Costa, Sep Vanmarcke, Stijn Vandenbergh, Taylor Phinney, Team Belkin, Team Sky, Thor Hushovd, Tirreno Adriatico, Tom Boonen, Tony Martin, Tour of Flanders, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Vuelta a Pais Vasco, Wouter Poels, Zdenek StybarLeave a comment on Now that the dust has settled – VCSE’s Racing Digest #28
“That’s a bit of a turn up…” – The (inevitable) VCSE 2013 season review
When the BBC shows (what for it) is a minority sport like cycling on the annual Sports Review of the Year the coverage tends towards the lowest common denominator. The assumption is that most viewers will have a vague idea of a race around France each summer although that is possibly based on the arrogant view that if the BBC don’t cover it then people won’t find an alternative way to watch the event. In this environment there’s a certain amount of inevitability that Team Sky would be discussed (and nominated) as Team of the Year.
From a (slightly) more informed position it’s hard to imagine why Sky could be considered the team of this year, although last year’s was perhaps a reasonable choice. They retained their ability to set a tempo at the head of the peloton in stage races, up until the Giro seemingly able to impose this tactic on the supplicant opposition. Increasingly though those teams and riders who wanted to bring the fight to Sky began to find ways of overcoming the British team’s game plan. There were early hints that the Sky train could be derailed at Tirreno Adriatico when Astana and Vincenzo Nibali ganged up on Chris Froome to deny him victory for the only time in a major stage race this year. Sky didn’t have things their own way at the Tour either when it seemed like the entire peloton had decided it was payback time on Sunday’s stage in the Pyrenees. Forced to defend attacks from the outset, Sky had burnt their matches long before the days live TV coverage began.
In shorter stage races Sky had already demonstrated that if they didn’t have the strongest team they could easily fall prey to other teams (often) superior racecraft. They were even more exposed in the classics where their ‘protected’ riders couldn’t even deliver the squads best result. The criticism that followed the lack of results in one day races was fuelled by the fact that Sky had invested so much in a training program based at altitude in Tenerife rather than the ‘traditional’ preparation of early season stage races.
So if not Sky, then who? Certainly not fellow moneybags team BMC. Other than the quiet resurgence of Cadel Evans at the Giro BMC achieved little before the mid point of the season and their lacklustre performance was characterised by their attempt to back two riders at the same time in the Tour and have neither achieve. Perhaps the most significant event of BMC’s season was the shake up of their back up team with Allan Peiper taking over as race director after the Tour. The start of Peiper’s reign coincided with the team beginning to win again. A team to watch in 2014 maybe?
Vincenzo Nibali’s decision to move to Astana gave the Kazakh team the kind of marquee rider to deliver grand tours it had been lacking since Alberto Contador left. Dominant at the Giro, they were less involved at the Tour in Nibali’s absence. Reunited with ‘The Shark’ at the Vuelta the teams tactics on the penultimate stage were supposed to deliver Nibali victory on the day and the overall. Astana had riders in the break and in poor weather they had managed to stay away on the final climb to the top of the Angrilu. The strategy seemed telegraphed; as the peloton caught the break Nibali’s domestiques would be in the perfect position to support their leader as he went for the win. The script didn’t quite go as planned and the third grand tour went instead to Chris Horner riding for VCSE’s pick for the team of 2013, Radioshack.
Team of the Year – Radioshack (Photo credit: Wouter de Bruijn)
Horner’s squad began the year arguably as a lame duck team. The team’s association with Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong hung over the 2013 outfit like a bad odour and then there was the announcement that title sponsor Radioshack would be pulling out at the end of the season. Would Fabian Cancellara have been as dominant in the classics if he had been up against a fit Tom Boonen? Academic now, but at the start of the year no one would have known that Boonen would have been struggling for form following his off season injury or that his year would have ended just as it was starting thanks to a crash in the early miles of the Ronde. The manner of Cancellara’s wins in E3 Harelbeke, the Ronde and Paris Roubaix might not have been quite so emphatic with an in form Boonen against him, but just as 2012 was the Belgian’s year so 2013 belonged to the Swiss.
Cancellara faced competition, in particular with the emergence of Peter Sagan as a real threat in the classics. At an individual level there were times when Sagan was maybe the stronger rider, but Cancellara was able to make an impact in races when it counted thanks to the tireless work of the Radioshack domestiques like Hayden Roulston who covered every attack and were never far from the front if in fact they weren’t heading the peloton.
Thanks to Cancellara then Radioshack were the team of the classics. Figuring at the grand tours was probably not part of the plan and this might have remained the case but for the intervention of the Orica Green Edge team bus on stage one of the Tour. Confusion surrounding where the stage would finish extinguished Mark Cavendish’s chances of taking the yellow jersey but left Radioshack’s Jan Bakelants in a position where he would inherit the jersey the following day in Corsica. Bakelants put Radioshack on the map at the Tour but it took the final grand tour to provide a triumphant end to the team’s season. Absent since Tirreno Adriatico where he had delivered a top five finish Chris Horner arrived at the Vuelta with a stage win on home soil as an indicator that he was coming back into form following injury.
A stage win early in week one was news enough for a rider about to celebrate his 42nd birthday but as the race progressed and Horner began to take more time out of the race leaders people began to realise he might actually win the whole thing. Once again the team leader was ably backed by his domestiques, including for part of the race Cancellara and Croatian champion Robert Kiserlovski. For many onlookers a Horner victory was not something to be celebrated and it’s fair to say doubt remains that a rider of 42 can win a three week grand tour ‘clean’. In the absence of a revelation that Horner’s victory actually was unbelievable, writing now it cements Radioshack as VCSE Team of the Year based on team and individual performances in the classics and grand tours.
Honourable mentions go to Movistar for delivering some memorable stage wins in the Giro and Tour and Orica for the irreverent custody of the maillot jaune during the first week of the Tour. Argos Shimano threaten to become the number one sprint team with Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. They have some of the leading young talent on their roster with double Vuelta stage winner Warren Barguil.
Rider of the Year
After dismissing Team Sky as a contender for Team of the Year it might seem contrary to pick Chris Froome as VCSE Rider of the Year. Froome deserves his place as the year’s top rider for the way he was able to surpass anything his team were able to do collectively, even when riding in support of him.
Christ Froome (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This couldn’t have been made any clearer than on stage nine of this year’s Tour. The previous day it seemed as if Sky’s rival teams and Froome’s GC opposition had run up metaphorical white flags as the British team delivered a crushing one two as the race entered the Pyrenees. With his closest rival over a minute behind Froome had taken over the Maillot Jaune and the discussion was not would he win the Tour, but how big would his winning margin be. The following day as the peloton continued to traverse the cols of the Pyrenees the script was ripped up as first Garmin and then Movistar attacked Sky from the outset. By the time live TV coverage began Froome was alone at the head of the race. In truth, the sting had probably gone out of the stage by this point. Nevertheless Froome had no option other than to cover any attempt made by Movistar to attack the race lead.
Sky recovered the composure after the rest day and Froome survived another collapse in his teams inability to deal with the unexpected in the winds on stage thirteen. It was no coincidence that he came under greater scrutiny on the stages that he won in the Alps and the Pyrenees but the trajectory Froome followed in 2013 was in many ways similar to that of Bradley Wiggins in 2012 with victories in the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine. Froome was in dominant form from the outset and VCSE speculated as early as the Tour of Oman (his first ever overall stage race victory) that the pattern for the season could be emerging. The only rider who looked able to unsettle Froome on the road in 2013 was Vincenzo Nibabli but other than their early season encounter in Tirreno Adriatico they did not meet head to head until the world championships at the end of the racing year. It could be argued that Wiggins unsettled Froome also, particularly with his interview ahead of the Giro where he speculated that he wanted to defend his Tour title. With hindsight it’s clear that Wiggins was never going to be allowed to do this and the axis of power has definitely shifted within Sky now with Wiggins unlikely to renew his contract after 2014.
While VCSE suspects an on form Nibali would edge Froome (we will have to wait for next years Tour to find out) the Sicilian was the nearly man this year as his tilt at a second grand tour victory and the world championships ended in anticlimax. Fabian Cancellara dominated the northern classics, but maintained a lower profile after that. The most successful rider in terms of outright wins was Peter Sagan. Judged purely on his ability to put bums on seats Sagan had a successful year. He won the points competition at the Tour with weeks to spare, reminding everyone that the green jersey is awarded not to the best sprinter but the most consistent finisher. Sagan is probably the closest rider in the current pro peloton to an all rounder. He is a factor against all but the quickest sprinters, yet is able to mix it in the classics.
If someone had to finish runner up to Froome this year VCSE would go for Tony Martin. His heroic failure to win stage six of the Vuelta after a monster solo break was VCSE’s moment of the year. Martin was possibly forgotten about at the world TT championships as Cancellara and Wiggins seemed like the form riders, but it was the Omega Pharma rider who dominated.
Race of the Year
The early season stage races Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico got things off to a great start. Richie Porte emerged as possible third GC contender for Sky at Paris Nice and it will be interesting to see how he goes at the Giro this year. Sky backed Sergio Henao at the Vuelta but his performance as a team leader was in inverse proportion to his effectiveness as a domestique. If Sky hadn’t been so abject in the classics, their GC performance in Spain could have been the teams low point, soothed only by a Kiryenka stage win. Of the two, it was the Italian race that captured the imagination with a taste of the Giro to follow with punishing climbs and equally punishing weather. As the team’s Giro build up continued the Tour of the Basque country highlighted the decline of Euskatel as riders like Amets Txurrucka offloaded for mercenary ‘talent’ showed what we will miss about the riders in orange next year. The race also heralded the arrival of the latest crop of Columbian riders with Movistar’s Nairo Qunitana (the eventual winner) and AG2R’s Carlos Betancur featuring alongside Sergio Henao. As the season wound down it was hard not to enjoy a return to form (and happiness?) for Bradley Wiggins in the Tour of Britain.
Biblical weather disrupted Milan San Remo forcing the neutralisation of part of the race and the withdrawal of many of the peloton. Sky’s Ian Stannard demonstrated why he is one of the teams best hopes for a classic win as the race entered the final few kilometres, but it was Gerald Ciolek’s win that had the greatest impact, catapulting MTN Quebeka onto the world stage with a massive win for the African squad. Paris Roubaix had it all with spectacular crashes (search FDJ’s Offredo on YouTube) and Sepp Vanmarcke’s tears as he was beaten by the wilier Fabian Cancellara. In the Ardennes classics Garmin showed their tactical ability again (how Sky must want some of this magic to rub off on them) with Ryder Hesjedal providing the platform for a Dan Martin win.
Each of the grand tours had a claim for the race of the year crown. Marcel Kittel ursurped Mark Cavendish in the Tour, but perhaps more impressive was Cav’s win in the points competition at the Giro meaning he had one this contest in all three grand tours. Seeing Bradley Wiggins undone by bad weather and sketchy descents at the Giro and Nibali looking head and shoulders above all comers provided the character stories a three week race needs, although some of the drama was lost as stages were truncated if not cancelled altogether due to snow. Add in another British rider to cheer in Alex Dowsett (winner of the TT) and the Giro probably edged the Vuelta as the VCSE grand tour of 2013.
VCSE’s races of 2013
One day classic – Paris Roubaix
Stage Race – Tirreno Adriatico
Grand Tour – Giro d’Italia
VeloVoices Awards 2013: The results! (velovoices.com)
Posted on December 27, 2013 Categories Road RacingTags 2013 Giro d'Italia, 2013 Tour de France, AG2R, Alex Dowsett, Allan Peiper, Amets Turruka, Argos Shimano, Astana, BMC, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Carlos Betancur, Chris Froome, Chris Horner, Critérium du Dauphiné, Dan Martin, E3, Fabian Cancellara, FDJ, Garmin, Jan Bakelants, Johan Bruyneel, John Degenkolb, Lance Armstrong, Marcel Kittel, Nairo Quintana, Omega Pharma Quick Step, Orica Green Edge, Paris Roubaix, Peter Sagan, Radioshack, Richie Porte, Sep Vanmarcke, Sergio Henao, Team Sky, Tirreno Adriatico, Tom Boonen, Tour de Romandie, Tour of Flanders, Vasil Kiryenka, Vincenzo Nibali, Vuelta a Espana 2013, Warren BarguilLeave a comment on “That’s a bit of a turn up…” – The (inevitable) VCSE 2013 season review
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Veteran Podcast
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Welcome to Veterans Media
This is Douglas Karr, you may know me as the founder of the Indianapolis event - Tech Warriors, the podcast - Veteran Cast, or from our community site - Navy Vets. Over a decade ago, my father and I purchased the domain for Navy Vets. My father, William Karr, was a retired Navy Chief and proud submariner. Twelve thousand members [...]
By Douglas Karr|2018-03-24T10:24:03-04:00March 23rd, 2018|News|
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VeteranCast
Episode 22: WGU Indiana: Affordable, Fully Accredited Online Degree Programs for Active Military and Veterans
On this episode, we interview Alison Barber Bell, Chancellor of WGU Indiana, and Andrew Nagel, Registered Nurse and Graduate of WGU's Nursing Degree Program. We discuss WGU's unique non-profit, accredited online degree program and how it's especially good for active duty military, transitioning military, veterans, and their families. WGU Indiana is an online, competency-based university…
https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/18282/13109611/77a27813-f298-4049-ade0-04b0c189bf4d.mp3
Episode 21: SSGT Joe Biggs Discusses His PTSD Journey
Joe Biggs is a combat veteran of the United States Army, twice awarded a Purple Heart while serving several tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Post-retirement, SSGT Biggs is a political investigative reporter who has a huge following online. This isn't an interview about politics, though. Joe has been transparent about his post-combat struggles…
https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/18282/10812004/83734eac-b928-4a00-ad13-3dfeecde058c.mp3
Episode 20: Eleven Fifty Academy: Turning Veterans into Developers
In a previous episode (https://www.veterancast.com/9) about the Eleven Fifty Academy, we interviewed Marine Veteran John Qualls about the opportunities for Veterans in the technology industry. Since that time, the Eleven Fifty Academy has historically acquired approval from the federal government for GI Bill usage. We returned to the Eleven Fifty Academy to speak to David…
https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/18282/10687681/121ba2ed-a166-4e7e-9543-6edea678da0d.mp3
Episode 19: The American Warrior Initiative Ensuring Your VA Loan Benefit
In this episode, we speak to Angela Allen. Angela is the daughter of one of the first 100 Navy SEALs, Howard Wesley Allen. Howard was a Navy Frogman in the Korean and Vietnam war. He also assisted with the Mercury Missions. After losing her father at a young age, Angela dedicated her life to volunteering…
https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/18282/9581426/60f6e328-345a-4c94-8afd-add8152dac44.mp3
Episode 18: Navy Club Ship 35: Keep the Fleet to Keep the Peace
On 18 June 1938, at a Navy Veterans Reunion in Quincy, Illinois, a new and powerful organization, the Navy Club of the United States of America, was launched. On that day, a Constitution and By-Laws was adopted to govern this unique and distinguished group, speaking the language of the men who go down to the…
https://tracking.feedpress.it/link/18282/9371523/ffecad9e-1f74-44c4-acf6-064e96826276.mp3
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will.i.am and Friends Featuring the Black Eyed Peas Preview
Preview: Season 45 Episode 22 | 2m 28s
International superstar will.i.am performs from London’s historic Royal Albert Hall in a one-night-only concert event. The award-winning artist, writer and producer reunites with members of the Black Eyed Peas plus special guests Pia Mia, Eva Simons and Lydia Lucy. Will.i.am and Friends Featuring the Black Eyed - Landmarks Live in Concert premieres April 20 at 10PM on PBS (check local listings).
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will.i.am & Friends Sing #thatPower From London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Will.i.am, Taboo & apl.de.ap sing "Where Is the Love?"
Will.i.am, Taboo and apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas sing "Where Is the Love?"
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Schiff Opens Impeachment Case Alleging Broad Pattern Of Trump Soliciting Foreign Help
Flynn’s Lawyers Say He Shouldn’t Serve Any Time, Accuse DOJ Of ‘Vindictiveness’
Feds And Parnas Feud Over Why It Was So Hard To Unlock His iPhone
Nadler Shrugs Off House Dem’s Planned Defection To GOP: He’s Just Trying To Keep His Seat
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) attends a news conference on April 9, 2019. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
By Cristina Cabrera
December 15, 2019 1:15 p.m.
JOIN TPM FOR JUST $1
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) waved aside Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s (D-NJ) planned switch to the Republican Party on Sunday, asserting that the lawmaker is merely trying to get reelected.
“Well, first of all, what he’s reacting to is public polling that shows he can’t get renominated,” Nadler told ABC News’ “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos. “His electorate in his district is 24 percent to renominate him and 60 percent to nominate somebody else.”
“But more to that point, this is not political,” the Democratic lawmaker continued. “We should not be looking at those things. This is the defense of our democracy.”
Van Drews, who has openly spoken out against impeaching President Donald Trump, is planning to switch party affiliation to the GOP this week ahead of the House’s historic vote on its two articles of impeachment.
Per the New York Times and Politico, Van Drews’ campaign poll showed 71 percent of Democratic primary voters in his district would be less likely to reelect him if he voted against impeachment.
Although Van Drews declared last week that he is “absolutely not changing” parties, the New Jersey lawmaker ultimately decided to switch after all because he fears a potential primary challenge from a progressive Democrat in his swing district, according to the Times.
Watch Nadler below:
Nadler shrugs off Rep. Jeff Van Drew switching parties, says he's just trying to hold onto his seat. pic.twitter.com/ue6ccvS2mW
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) December 15, 2019
Cristina Cabrera (@crismcabrera) is a newswriter at TPM based in New York. She previously worked for Vocativ, USA Today and NY1 News.
Jeff Van DrewJerry Nadlertv clip
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Import Preview: Super Smash Bros. For 3DS
Steve Bowling
Filed to:Import Preview
Super Smash Bros. For 3DS is almost here! The game, which releases October 3 here in the states, was released in Japan over the weekend. I've been playing the game nonstop since release and it definitely lives up to the hype.
What I Liked:
Super Smash Bros. For 3DS features an impressive roster of 49 characters. All your favorites are here, from Mario to Sonic.
Of the roster, 34 are old favorites, with a whopping 15 being newcomers to the Smash universe.
I won't spoil any of the newcomers in this article for the sake of avoiding spoilers. Odds are if you're reading this, you've already seen them, but I'd rather play it safe.
3DS Stages
Super Smash Bros. For 3DS features mostly portable game-centric stages, from the original DS' pictochat to a 50 shades of green original Gameboy screen, to Spirit Tracks' iconic train. While the Wii U version promises to feature more console-based backgrounds, those on 3DS are standouts. The stage selection is a great mix of new and old; each one is fun in its own way.
Final Destination Stages
Competitive Smash players all know about Final Destination— the stage in which one would traditionally fight Master Hand. It was used primarily to rid players of having to deal with environmental variables during heated matches. Having recognized this, the teams at Nintendo and Bandai Namco have given each stage the ability to serve as its own form of the now-iconic stage.
What this means is each stage can be changed to be a single unmoving platform without any of the curveballs it may throw you for otherwise. It's a great mode that allows players to focus on pummeling each other if that's their thing.
Modes on Modes
There's no shortage of things to do in Smash's latest iteration. Aside from the oft-mentioned Smash Run, there are north of 10 gameplay mode focusing on everything from traditional battles to figure collecting.
Almost all modes reward you with coins, which can then be spent to customize both Miis and existing characters, as well as wager in simple mode to increase your chances at good rewards.
What I Didn't Like:
No Miiverse
This one's kind of annoying. Smash Bros. For 3DS is a game that's just made for screenshots. Unfortunately, it seems that old 3DS is pushing itself as hard as it can to get Smash to run on the darn thing. Both Miiverse and internet browsing are disabled while playing; presumably to save horsepower for the game.
In fact, if you quit the game, the 3DS does a soft reset. Nintendo has taken to twitter to confirm that these features will be enabled when the game is played on their shiny new 3DS models releasing this October in Japan.
Everything We Know About The New 3DS So Far [Updated]
So, in keeping with tradition, Nintendo has announced a new iteration of their evergreen…
Smash Run
Unique to Smash Bros. For 3DS, is a mode called Smash Run. In Smash Run. You'll select your character and run through a platforming stage defeating baddies from the characters' respective series to gain power ups and items before facing off in a challenge against three opponents, which can be either CPU or human. On paper, the mode sounds really fun. Battling Dr. Robotnik's robots as Mega Man or stomping goombas as Sonic should be awesome, but it's just lacking something. Online multiplayer would've really helped make this more enjoyable.
At the end of the day, you don't need me to tell you whether or not you should get Smash Bros. You've made that decision already. If you want my opinion anyway, Super Smash Bros For 3DS is a solid game. It pushes the 3DS to its absolute limits and makes a compelling case for Nintendo's upcoming "new" 3DS. At the same time, however, it just feels like an appetizer for the much better-feeling Wii U version.
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Are you ready to report your sustainability impacts? / SMART MOBILITY MANAGEMENT / News / Mobility industry
The European Parliament has voted in favour of a new law governing corporate reporting of non-financial information.
Kate Lister’s insight:
This could drive more companies toward distributed work. It represents the easiest, quickest, and least expensive way for organizations to cut their Scope 3 emissions.
See it on Scoop.it, via Agile Work Solutions
Microsoft Research Lab votes 60/40 in favor of Open Office, but not everyone is happy
You might hate your open office–or love it. But does enough of your office agree with you?
While the majority ruled, the article suggests that next time, they may opt for a fervor-weighted vote.
Self-employed earn less & work longer hours, but are happier – Telegraph
Self employed may earn less and work longer hours but they are happier than they would be if they are more satisfied than they would be if they were employed full-time.
Yet another study showing that when people feel they have control over their lives, they are happier and willing to work harder for less. When will corporations learn this important lesson?
Largest study to date shows LEED Cert has negligible impact employee satisfaction
“The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact on users’ satisfaction in LEED and non-LEED certified buildings of factors unrelated to environmental quality, including consideration of office type, spatial layout, distance from window, building size, gender, age, type of work, time at workspace, and weekly working hours. “
The study also showed that while there may be a bump in satisfaction, post LEED, it diminishes over time. The authors intend to further study what does increase satisfaction.
What if we all worked 4 days a week. Some companies that have tried it are getting greater productivity.
“Treehouse, an online service that teaches web design, app design, and coding, has a year-round three-day weekend policy. CEO Ryan Carson began taking Fridays off soon after starting his first company to spend more time with his family and since the company’s inception has made it a policy that employees do the same.”
The article suggests that the shortened workweek actually increases productivity by causing people to be more focused.
Susan Cain and Steelcase to team up on designing spaces for introverts
People work differently and should be given space to do their best work, says author and introvert Susan Cain.
I think this is a great move. The article also talks about how Huffington Post installed nap rooms that offer a place for people to escape. Acceptance was slow until Arianna and her executive team started using them.
AU Law Firm showed increased productivity by paying attention to indoor air quality
When it comes to furnishings and fittings, purchasing decisions can have a direct impact on the health, well-being and productivity of employees.
Sick leave declined by 39% after moving into refurbished space that emphasized better air quality. Productivity (billings) increased by 7%.
Here’s Why Your Work Life Will Never Truly Be Flexible
This was supposed to be the golden age of employee flexibility. With everyone connected to the Internet — and their jobs — practically 24/7, …”
While the news is bad, I’m delighted to see it’s finally out. Flexibility is NOT available to the masses, only the elite few.
The kings of concentration: How to overcome cognitive overload
“When Inc. called the CEOs of fast-growing companies such as Instagram, Box, and Zumba, they were all eager to be, you guessed it, interrupted for an interview. In other words: The lack of focus on the job is a big concern for them.”
Driving while distracted can kill you, but working while distracted—as we all do—can really kill your productivity. Some companies, such as Google, are taking distraction seriously. They’re training their people how to concentrate.
Study finds benefits in flexible work program at Fortune 500 company
A research team worked with 700 salaried employees of an IT department. Half of the group worked within the status quo and the other half were part of a flexible work program.
I’m so glad to see some real research emerging on the topic of workplace flexibility! The bottom line: Yes, flexibility helps employees reduce work-life conflict. No, they don’t work longer hours as result of flexibility. A key point here is that training was a fundamental ingredient in remote work success.
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Legislators who supported Del. casino ‘bailout’ received more industry cash
Photo via ShutterStock) " title="ssroulettex1200" width="640" height="360"/>
(Photo via ShutterStock)
Earlier this year, Delaware’s legislature voted to forego a portion of the state’s casino revenue to fund improvements to make the gambling industry more competitive within the region.
At the time, the press frequently referred to the $9.9 million reallocated by SB 220 as a “bailout.”
The National Institute for Money in State Politics has compiled campaign contribution data showing lawmakers who voted for the legislation on average received higher donations from the casino industry than those that did not.
This is always a chicken and egg question. Did casinos donate to Delaware lawmakers in the hopes that they would give the gambling halls a break or does the industry donate to candidates who are already more likely to vote their way?
The institute’s research director Peter Quist says he doesn’t have the answer, but the group looked at campaign contributions in Delaware between 2000 and 2012.
“We came up with $822,000 in contributions over that timespan which doesn’t make them a top player in Delaware politics but makes them pretty sizable,” he said.
Quist says these numbers cover the industry broadly, everything from casino political action committees to contributions from people working in the gambling business.
“On average,” the report says, “$1,032 went to legislators who supported the measure, compared to only $523 for legislators who opposed the bill.”
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who supported the plan, was the largest single recipient of casino donations with $41,250 over three election cycles. His office says the governor has always put the interests of the state first, such as when he helped increase Delaware’s share of casino revenue in 2009.
The Governor’s full statement is below.
As the report itself indicates, the amount of contributions the Governor received from the gaming industry was a very small portion of the total support he received. The Governor’s record on casino issues shows he has always put the overall interests of the state first, not any one interest group. He pushed for an increased state share of gaming revenue in 2009 and won that battle against the interest of the casinos. However, since then the casino industry has become substantially more competitive in this region, and he supported SB 220 because it can make our casinos more regionally competitive and reduce state reliance on casino revenue. If this out-of-state group is looking at contributions back to 2008, they should also look at all legislation since then, and not just pick one piece of legislation from this year.
Trump tariffs could squash Pa.’s new wine scene
A recent change in Pennsylvania's liquor law has helped expand the wine scene in the Philly region. Could retaliatory tariffs against the EU squash it?
Listen 13:46
Mack Trucks to lay off 300 at Pa. assembly plant
The company is blaming the layoffs at its Lower Macungie Township plant on a downturn in the heavy-duty truck market.
Underfunded IRS struggles to send refunds, answer calls
Burdened with years of budget cuts and a recent increase in workload to implement new tax law, the IRS is struggling to deliver on its mission.
About Emma Jacobs
@ecjacobs ejacobs@whyy.org
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Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 4: Below the Bedrock
To get a playcore, a minimum of 50 gamer ratings and 3 critic reviews are required.
This is an episodic game. You will need to get the base game and all succeeding episodes to experience it as designed.
Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two - Episode 1
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 3: Jailhouse Block
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 5: Above and Beyond
play_circle_filled Gameplay
Themes: AdventurePoint & ClickSingle-player
Developer: Telltale Games
Content Rating: Everyone10+
After narrowly escaping from the Admin’s twisted prison, Jesse and the remaining fugitives discover not just a forgotten city but an entire hidden world buried beneath the bedrock. Though largely in ruin, the gang quickly learns it’s not entirely abandoned, leaving them to win over wary inhabitants, face unexpected challenges, and pursue the real truth about the Admin’s origins
open_in_new Wikipedia
Brian Shea—Nov 10, 2017
While the final shot does give me a sense of intrigue about the finale, the rest of the episode does very little to excite me. Telltale addressed its main issues with the last episode by doubling down on action and providing more meaningful interactions, but with such a detour from the main conflict right before the final episode, much of the tension was let out of the balloon. I'm still curious to see how this all plays out, but Below the Bedrock did little to fuel my interest.
Attack of the Fanboy
Kyle Hanson—Nov 06, 2017
Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2 – Episode 4 “Below the Bedrock” is another fine episode in this long running series. There’s not much that stands out here, and some of the missions you’re tasked with are rather boring, but for those that have stuck it out this long, it’s more fine content to explore. It also serves as a great penultimate episode, setting things up for an epic showdown in the finale.
God is a Geek
Nicola Ardron —Nov 06, 2017
Below the Bedrock is a disappointing episode, particularly on the back of the mostly excellent Jailhouse Block. It feels like a tricky middle episode despite being the penultimate one in this particular season. The action sequences continue to be a lot of fun, and there are some nice moments with characters both old and new, it’s just a shame that it feels nothing more than filler in preparation for what I hope will be an action-packed finale.
CHUCHEL
Lamplight City
Whispers of a Machine
Trüberbrook
Quarantine Circular
Another Sight
Twilight Path
Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry
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Inverse boundary value problems for discrete Schrödinger operators on the multi-dimensional square lattice
IPI Home
Explicit characterization of the support of non-linear inclusions
August 2011, 5(3): 695-714. doi: 10.3934/ipi.2011.5.695
Identification of a real constant in linear evolution equations in Hilbert spaces
Alfredo Lorenzi 1, and Gianluca Mola 1,
Dipartimento di Matematica “F. Enriques”, Universitá di Milano, via C. Saldini 50, 20133 Milano, Italy
Received November 2010 Revised February 2011 Published August 2011
Let $H$ be a real separable Hilbert space and $A:\mathcal{D}(A) \to H$ be a positive and self-adjoint (unbounded) operator, and denote by $A^\sigma$ its power of exponent $\sigma \in [-1,1)$. We consider the identification problem consisting in searching for a function $u:[0,T] \to H$ and a real constant $\mu$ that fulfill the initial-value problem $$ u' + Au = \mu \, A^\sigma u, \quad t \in (0,T), \quad u(0) = u_0, $$ and the additional condition $$ \alpha \|u(T)\|^{2} + \beta \int_{0}^{T}\|A^{1/2}u(\tau)\|^{2}d\tau = \rho, $$ where $u_{0} \in H$, $u_{0} \neq 0$ and $\alpha, \beta \geq 0$, $\alpha+\beta > 0$ and $\rho >0$ are given. By means of a finite-dimensional approximation scheme, we construct a unique solution $(u,\mu)$ of suitable regularity on the whole interval $[0,T]$, and exhibit an explicit continuous dependence estimate of Lipschitz-type with respect to the data $u_{0}$ and $\rho $. Also, we provide specific applications to second and fourth-order parabolic initial-boundary value problems.
Keywords: linear evolution equations in Hilbert spaces, linear parabolic equations, unknown constants, well-posedness results, Faedo-Galerkin approximation., Identification problems.
Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 35R30, 35K90; Secondary: 35K20, 35K25, 65N3.
Citation: Alfredo Lorenzi, Gianluca Mola. Identification of a real constant in linear evolution equations in Hilbert spaces. Inverse Problems & Imaging, 2011, 5 (3) : 695-714. doi: 10.3934/ipi.2011.5.695
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Tôn Việt Tạ. Existence results for linear evolution equations of parabolic type. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2018, 17 (3) : 751-785. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2018039
Fatihcan M. Atay, Lavinia Roncoroni. Lumpability of linear evolution Equations in Banach spaces. Evolution Equations & Control Theory, 2017, 6 (1) : 15-34. doi: 10.3934/eect.2017002
Radhia Ghanmi, Tarek Saanouni. Well-posedness issues for some critical coupled non-linear Klein-Gordon equations. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2019, 18 (2) : 603-623. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2019030
Matthias Hieber, Sylvie Monniaux. Well-posedness results for the Navier-Stokes equations in the rotational framework. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2013, 33 (11&12) : 5143-5151. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2013.33.5143
Qunyi Bie, Qiru Wang, Zheng-An Yao. On the well-posedness of the inviscid Boussinesq equations in the Besov-Morrey spaces. Kinetic & Related Models, 2015, 8 (3) : 395-411. doi: 10.3934/krm.2015.8.395
Giuseppe Floridia. Well-posedness for a class of nonlinear degenerate parabolic equations. Conference Publications, 2015, 2015 (special) : 455-463. doi: 10.3934/proc.2015.0455
Ugur G. Abdulla. On the optimal control of the free boundary problems for the second order parabolic equations. I. Well-posedness and convergence of the method of lines. Inverse Problems & Imaging, 2013, 7 (2) : 307-340. doi: 10.3934/ipi.2013.7.307
Vishal Vasan, Bernard Deconinck. Well-posedness of boundary-value problems for the linear Benjamin-Bona-Mahony equation. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2013, 33 (7) : 3171-3188. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2013.33.3171
Tarek Saanouni. A note on global well-posedness and blow-up of some semilinear evolution equations. Evolution Equations & Control Theory, 2015, 4 (3) : 355-372. doi: 10.3934/eect.2015.4.355
Aissa Guesmia, Nasser-eddine Tatar. Some well-posedness and stability results for abstract hyperbolic equations with infinite memory and distributed time delay. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2015, 14 (2) : 457-491. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2015.14.457
Jin-Mun Jeong, Seong-Ho Cho. Identification problems of retarded differential systems in Hilbert spaces. Evolution Equations & Control Theory, 2017, 6 (1) : 77-91. doi: 10.3934/eect.2017005
Thomas Y. Hou, Congming Li. Global well-posedness of the viscous Boussinesq equations. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2005, 12 (1) : 1-12. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2005.12.1
Massimo Cicognani, Michael Reissig. Well-posedness for degenerate Schrödinger equations. Evolution Equations & Control Theory, 2014, 3 (1) : 15-33. doi: 10.3934/eect.2014.3.15
Timur Akhunov. Local well-posedness of quasi-linear systems generalizing KdV. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2013, 12 (2) : 899-921. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2013.12.899
Fucai Li, Yanmin Mu, Dehua Wang. Local well-posedness and low Mach number limit of the compressible magnetohydrodynamic equations in critical spaces. Kinetic & Related Models, 2017, 10 (3) : 741-784. doi: 10.3934/krm.2017030
Hongjie Dong. Dissipative quasi-geostrophic equations in critical Sobolev spaces: Smoothing effect and global well-posedness. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2010, 26 (4) : 1197-1211. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2010.26.1197
Xiaoping Zhai, Yongsheng Li, Wei Yan. Global well-posedness for the 3-D incompressible MHD equations in the critical Besov spaces. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2015, 14 (5) : 1865-1884. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2015.14.1865
Tyrone E. Duncan. Some linear-quadratic stochastic differential games for equations in Hilbert spaces with fractional Brownian motions. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2015, 35 (11) : 5435-5445. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2015.35.5435
G. Fonseca, G. Rodríguez-Blanco, W. Sandoval. Well-posedness and ill-posedness results for the regularized Benjamin-Ono equation in weighted Sobolev spaces. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, 2015, 14 (4) : 1327-1341. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2015.14.1327
Alfredo Lorenzi Gianluca Mola
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BLU Selfie
portability (126)
screen (86)
GPS navigation (3)
alaTest has collected and analyzed 422 reviews of BLU Selfie. The average rating for this product is 3.9/5, compared to an average rating of 4.1/5 for other Cell phones for all reviews. People really like the screen and usability. The performance and portability are also mentioned favorably. There are some critical comments about the GPS navigation. Views are divided on the reliability.
price, portability, performance, usability, screen
We analyzed user and expert ratings, product age and more factors. Compared to other Cell phones the BLU Selfie is awarded an overall alaScore™ of 82/100 = Very good quality.
None yetShow negative (100%)(Show all)
Showing 417 review(s)
Showing 1 - 417 of 417 Show Reviews: in English | in other languages (2)
Amazon.com review summary for BLU Selfie
alaTest has collected and analyzed 413 user reviews of BLU Selfie from Amazon.com. The average user rating for this product is 3.9/5, compared to an average user rating of 3.8/5 for other Cell phones on Amazon.com. Reviewers really like the screen and usability. The performance and portability also get good views. Some have doubts about the GPS navigation, and there are some mixed comments about the reliability.
Consumer review (amazon.ca)
Amazon.ca review summary for BLU Selfie
alaTest has collected and analyzed 2 user reviews of BLU Selfie from Amazon.ca. The average user rating for this product is 4.0/5, compared to an average user rating of 3.9/5 for other Cell phones on Amazon.ca. People really like the portability. The screen is also appreciated, whereas there are some mixed reviews about the usability.
screen, portability
100% of the reviews on Amazon.ca give this product a positive rating.
Expert review by : Eugene Kim (pcmag.com)
Blu Selfie (Unlocked)
The Blu Selfie is an Android smartphone tailor-made for selfie fanatics, but questionable software choices and missing LTE support aren't a very good look.
Takes high-quality selfies. Unique design. Nice 720p LCD.
Heavy-handed Android skin. No 4G LTE connectivity.
Camera and Conclusions With two Sony-made, 13-megapixel image sensors, the Selfie takes equally crisp and detailed photos using both the rear- and front-facing cameras. The IMX135 sensor was also featured in last year's LG G3 , so the solid photo...
Expert review by : Eric M. Zeman (phonescoop.com)
Review: Blu Studio Selfie
The Studio Selfie marks Blu's first real push into the U.S. market. This inexpensive Android phone features surprisingly good materials and build quality, reasonably good performance, and a stock Android experience. The Studio Selfie is sold unlocked...
The Blu Studio Selfie is a perfectly respectable little phone. It doesn't have a flashy design or kitchen-sink features, but it delivers a core smartphone experience at a great price.
Price comparison for BLU Selfie
BLU Vivo XI+
BLU R1 HD
BLU Vivo 5
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aka_hyderabad.png
Hyderabad Home
Admissions Enquiries
The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad’s university counselling programme offers students a vast array of resources designed to help them find good matches between themselves and universities or colleges. These resources include a dynamic and well-resourced university counsellor, a wealth of printed, video and online tools, and a series of informational workshops and seminars on topics central to the university discovery process. Each year, we host university fairs at the Academy which are attended by universities from around the world, giving our students exposure to a wealth of options from which to choose.
Our counsellor engages students in individual conferences that are designed to help students reach a greater awareness of who they are. Armed with the well-articulated sense of self, students are prepared to find universities or colleges that are the best fit. Ours is a student-centred approach, and we believe that the likelihood of satisfaction with their choices is enhanced when students are empowered to 'own' the process. Also key to success is good communication among all parties: students, parents and university counsellors. While outcomes are important, it is the process of self-discovery and university-discovery on which our programme focuses.
For more information, please write to our University Counsellor, Pragati Pandey, reachable at pragati.pandey@agakhanacademies.org.
Click on the link below to download our school profile.
AKA-Hyderabad-School-Profile-2018-19.pdf
Five students win a business event at Hyderabad Public School
Mr Malik Kotadia invited as the guest of honour at Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences
Children’s Day celebrated with vigour and enthusiasm
IB World School Logo.png
The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad has been awarded IB status by the International Body
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Car-surfing cat sparks police call, but owner says pet loves it
If you see a cat riding on the hood of a red SUV in Oregon, don't be alarmed.Someone reported seeing Pixie the cat perched on the hood of a car that was driving slowly in the parking lot of a Taco Bell. The witness took video of it and called police.The 4-year-old domestic short-hair belongs to Jesse Dorsett, along with two other felines named Dixie and Mister Jinx. Dorsett said they've been riding in the car since they were kittens, and enjoy going out with him."I can make sure they don't get too far forward," Dorsett said. "Normally stay close to the windshield, middle of the hood, traveling a couple miles an hour. They enjoy it."Dorsett said he never lets them ride on the hood at high speeds or on busy roads, but only on empty area of parking lots or long driveways.The cats do wear safety gear when they're riding on the hood, including a leash and harness, and even wear reflective safety vests.
PORTLAND, Ore. —
If you see a cat riding on the hood of a red SUV in Oregon, don't be alarmed.
Someone reported seeing Pixie the cat perched on the hood of a car that was driving slowly in the parking lot of a Taco Bell. The witness took video of it and called police.
The 4-year-old domestic short-hair belongs to Jesse Dorsett, along with two other felines named Dixie and Mister Jinx. Dorsett said they've been riding in the car since they were kittens, and enjoy going out with him.
"I can make sure they don't get too far forward," Dorsett said. "Normally stay close to the windshield, middle of the hood, traveling a couple miles an hour. They enjoy it."
Dorsett said he never lets them ride on the hood at high speeds or on busy roads, but only on empty area of parking lots or long driveways.
The cats do wear safety gear when they're riding on the hood, including a leash and harness, and even wear reflective safety vests.
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NetApp Analyst Meeting - Focused on Hyperconverged, All Flash Array and Public Cloud Software
At NetApp's analyst meeting today, CEO George Kurian sees opportunity in selling HCI (introduced F2Q18, 4-5 months ago), AFA, share-taking in SAN, and public cloud software and services. Every large customer NetApp talks to, according to Kurian, is using multiple cloud service providers and/or SaaS services and most are using the hybrid cloud, which means using workloads both on the customer premises and public cloud. According the company's marketing and sales executives, the company's sales and marketing strategy is focused on leveraging the company's entrance to the cloud services software market.
Substantial future announcements that were made by NetApp:
In its nascent cloud-services software business, now being run by Anthony Lye, SVP Cloud Data services BU, the company set a target of reaching $400-600M of recurring revenue exiting its FY21 year - this effort to target cloud started over five years ago. Additionally, this software is available at Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and the company expects to announce other cloud service provider customers in the future. Mr. Richard explains that the company's cloud software is "soon to be GA (general availability)." Mr. Pasek guided that FY19 cloud data services is expected to reach $60M (see calculations below).
NetApp will add NVMe and storage-class memory products in the future. The company expects to disaggregate storage from the controller to build capable high performance systems using NVMe.
Summary of presentations
Joel Reich, EVP Products and Operations discussed trends in data center flash:
• NVMe over Fabrics
• Storage-class memory as cache
• Persistent memory in server
• Quad level cell NAND
Reich made some interesting comments:
NetApp will add NVMe and storage-class memory in the future
Quad level cell NAND could spell the end of spinning disks
In its most recent year, it had a 75% win rate versus DELL EMC
Brad Anderson, SVP and GM, Cloud Infrastructure BU, said that NetApp’s “Converged” (selling NetApp storage with non-NetApp servers) FlexPod business is now at a $2B run rate and >4,000+PB shipped. The company recently initiated a Fujitsu partnership on March 26, 2018. Anderson also said that NetApp’s Hyperconverged product, which has only been selling for the past 4-5 months, hit its financial targets in the first full quarter of shipments. He also said that the HCI product is based upon on recently-acquired SolidFire technology and conceded that the company is hiring people with virtualization capabilities to further augment the product line. HCI customers that were discussed during this presentation were: ConsultelCloud (Austrialian SaaS company) and Imperva (security company).
Anthony Lye, SVP Cloud Data services BU, joined a year ago and is responsible for the company’s efforts to build software that runs on and with public cloud services. He describes this software as one that operates above the storage layer, to allow customers to manage their data, whether in cloud, SaaS applications or on premises. It offers backup, disaster recovery, and for securing data, and then binds those services and data in context of applications and business policy using the orchestration Engine. OnCommand is product name. The underlying technology NetApp uses is called ONTAP Data Management, which Mr Lye explained was separated from its engineered systems (hardware) and port it to public clouds five years ago. We remember when NetApp announced its plans to separate ONTAP as a software for the cloud at its analyst meeting a few years ago when Kurian took over as CEO.
Lye explained that “later this year,” NetApp will release cloud-based OnCommand performance management/monitoring tool to manage workloads in hybrid cloud environment.
Azure. Microsoft Azure selected NetApp to become basis for its storage (in Azure console). Lye says NetApp built Azure Microsoft files for them and we run it for them, paying on traditional subscription and consumption model. Microsoft will include it in every enterprise service agreement and customer take-up has been beyond NetApp expectations. Of multiple 100’s of preview customers, >70% are considered non-NetApp strategic customers (eg they are new customers). NetApp software software royalties show up as an Azure line item in Azure bill.
AWS. Available from NetApp on AWS services. Shows up as AWS bill as NetApp billable item.
Other Cloud Service Providers. Expect to announce other relationships with other public clouds.
Lye said that NetApp’s cloud software business is expected to reach $400-600M of recurring revenue by end of FY21.
Henri Richard, EVP Worldwide Field and Customer Operations said "Cloud is soon to be GA.” Richard explains this as its “Cloud Volume” product. Richard explained that what is new this year is the hyperscaler relationships, starts a demand creation engine for the sales organization.
Jean English, SVP Chief Marketing Officer said the company will focus on “cloud first” to reach new “global” buyers (e.g. multinational organizations), will lead with HCI and Cloud to enterprises.
Ron Pasek, EVP and CFO explains that FY18 is almost over and the company is beating FY18 plans (low-single digits growth), driven by flash. The CFO said that the new accounting rule, ASC 606 impact to guidance will be immaterial to the P&L , though will result in slightly higher product revenue recognition.
Additionally, Pasek said that a year ago, he said revenue growth will be “low-single digit growth” (FY18-20) and now he is saying “mid-single digit growth,” driven by Flash, HCI, cloud data services. Pasek said that in FY19 cloud data services will represents one point of growth. (As an aside, we calculate FY19 cloud data services revenue, using the “one point of growth” metric at $60M, based on the latest quarter of total revenues, F3Q18 which was $1.52B, multiplied by 4, then multiplied by 1%). So, cloud services revenue is expected to grow to FY19 of $60M and reach FY21 targets of $400-600M. The company declined to state its FY18 cloud data services revenue when asked by the audience, so we take it that it is small.
Storage Infrastructure Market update
Tomorrow, at 8:30 AM, we are presenting at the Flash Memory Summit 2017 and will share our views on the storage infrastructure market. We expecting growth in segments such as hyperconverged, All Flash Arrays, and SDS. We expect growth from customer groups such as Cloud Service Providers, as well as Telecom Service Providers, while traditional enterprises are expected to experience declines.
From a technology standpoint, we are bullish on NVMe technology as well as 3D Xpoint and expect that Hard Drive based systems will experience long, slow declines.
For those in attendance at Flash Memory Summit (#FMS2017), we will be presenting slides. If you are interested in learning more about our views on the storage infrastructure market, please contact us.
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Retail prices drop on 12 out of 17 Manhattan commercial corridors, report says
amNewYork
Between 57th and 72nd streets on Madison Avenue, average asking rents fell to $1,039 per square foot from $1,390 last spring, the report said.
Some of the most iconic Manhattan shopping strips appear to have lost some of their cachet with retailers.
Average asking rents decreased for available spaces in 12 out of 17 commercial corridors in Manhattan from spring 2018 to spring 2019, with prices declining by as much as 25% on Madison Avenue, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s biannual report released Wednesday.
The price cuts on Madison Avenue appear to be fostering a healthier rental environment, according to REBNY, which notes that owners are also responding to vacancies by considering shorter-term agreements.
“Manhattan’s continued natural correction in retail rents is spurring deal-making across the borough’s top corridors as retailers reconsider new and existing ground floor spaces,” REBNY president John Banks said in a statement.
On Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, the average asking rent decreased 22% over the past year to $3,047 per square foot. REBNY analysts said persistent vacancies there can be attributed to the reluctance of some newer owners, who purchased properties at their peak, to cut their prices.
Lower on the avenue, between 42nd and 49th streets, average requested rates fell 20%, to $878 per square foot, the report said.
The average asking price grew most dramatically on 125th Street, where owners asked for $137 per square foot, 10% more than last spring, the report said. The debut of new spaces west of Fifth Avenue helped bring up that average, REBNY said.
Forest Hills had most affordable listings in NYC, StreetEasy says
What has mayor’s lead enforcement accomplished? ‘Absolutely nothing,’ advocate says
BronxReal Estate
Block of historic Bronx homes may become city’s newest landmark district
Report finds that ten Manhattan streets are among the most expensive for renting
These New York City neighborhoods saw the highest price increases in the last ten years
ManhattanReal Estate
Hudson Yards says there won’t be a wall after pushback over possible plans
Queens and Brooklyn buildings among top-selling in luxury real estate market in 2019
Real EstateReal EstateTransportation
New York City ranks tenth in affordability compared to peer cities, study finds
Manhattan officials lash out at reported plan for Hudson Yards wall
QueensReal Estate
To the last drop: Nearly 200-year-old tavern in Queens victim of high rents
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Bla1ze
Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Chris is fluent in all mobile languages. Having been a member of the Smartphone Experts community now for nearly three years, you can often find him here on Android Central over at CrackBerry and sometimes even at iMore. If you find Chris wondering around your local neighborhood, please point him towards the nearest electrical outlet and toss him a can of Full Throttle energy drink.
All Posts by All
Qik for myTouch 4G ties into contacts to show who's available
Bla1ze 9 years ago
Now that the myTouch 4G is up for grabs for all, T-Mobile and Qik wasted no time in letting folks know that Qik will be powering the T-Mobile video chat service. Of course, that's not really the news there. The news is that T-Mobile video chat will be the first to actually integrate with the native Android address book. As noted in the press release: The integrated T-Mobile Video Chat...
Western Digital launches 'WD Photos' streaming app
Kyle Gibb 9 years ago 4
Western Digital, one of the largest hard drive manufactures, has announced the release of its "WD Photos" app for the Android Market. The app, which has been on the iPhone for some time, allows users of WD's "home network" drives to access photos stored on those drives directly from within the app as long as your phone has a connection to the Internet. The app itself requires Android...
What is rooting?
Phil Nickinson 9 years ago 11
Probably the top three questions on your mind when it comes to your Android phone are the following: What is "rooting?" Why would I want to root my phone? And now that I've decided to do it, how do I root my phone? It's a little scary, we know. But we've got you covered. First and foremost is our Rooting page, conveniently parked at androidcentral.com/root. There you'll...
Android Facebook app getting Places, Groups - no phone, says Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this morning announced that the Android Facebook app is getting a refresh. Places and Groups are coming in the update -- they've currently only been available on the iPhone. Facebook's location API is opening up, and they're making it so businesses can offer deals to Facebook users nearby. Sound a little familiar? (Foursquare says hi.)There's also single...
Manually updating the T-Mobile G2
Jerry Hildenbrand 9 years ago 11
Got a T-Mobile G2 and don;t feel like waiting for the OTA? Don't blame ya one bit, neither do I. Good news is that T-Mobile or HTC doesn't have some sneakiness at play to prevent us from manually updating the G2, just like any other Android phone, and here's how to do it:Download the update from Google's servers here. Make sure it's named update.zip. Not update.zip.zip, or anything...
The Android Developers Cookbook -- new from InfromIT; we're giving away 5 copies
Jerry Hildenbrand 9 years ago
The Android Developers Cookbook is a great tool to walk you through beginning Android development, and the publishers have sent us five copies to give away to our readers (That's you!). The authors, James Steele and Nelson To, have experience in programming, are accomplished Android developers, and make the book easy to understand. Anyone from an absolute beginner to the seasoned...
ComScore numbers are in -- Android's growth remains strong
Sean Brunett 9 years ago 4
Android has enjoyed a massive increase in market share since its ascent to the smartphone scene and the most recent comScore numbers only show its share growing.ComScore has released numbers that display the share of smartphone subscribers for June and September, followed by the percentage change. RIM remains on top with 37.3 percent of subscribers in September, but that number is...
LG Optimus One benchmarks [video]
Jerry Hildenbrand 9 years ago 8
LG didn't just send us an Optimus One because they think we're awesome. They want us to show it off, especially its not-so-entry-level specs and speed. (Maybe they think we're awesome as well.) LG calls the Optimus line "transitional smartphones," meaning that they're perfect for those transitioning from a feature or messaging phone to a modern smartphone. I think they have surpassed...
LG Pad on its way in Q1, to ship with Honeycomb?
Last we heard, LG was halting plans for a tablet until they were able to incorporate a better fit for tablets version of Android OS. A quote from a senior official at LG suggests that the device may be on its way in Q1 2011, Honeycomb and all. The tablet, named the LG Pad by the official, will reportedly be shipped with a dual-core Tegra 2 chip and also an 8.9-inch screen. We'd be lying...
Google gives developers a spot to list changes in app updates
Phil Nickinson 9 years ago 8
One of our biggest gripes about Android apps has been a lack of consistent changelogs when apps are updated. Some developers did it, but they often did it in different ways. Some did it in the apps, others as links to webpages. But Google has finally (!) added a proper changelog dialog for developers to use when updating their apps. You can check out the back end after the break -- it's...
What is Facebook about to unveil?
Menno 9 years ago 26
As we previously reported, Facebook is holding a special mobile event at its headquarters tomorrow where it will announce ... something. Will this be the announcement of the previously denied "Facebook Phone"? Or is Facebook announcing new mobile applications for other operating systems, like Android and iOS. That former Android lead Erick Tseng moved to Facbeook in May is a great...
T-Mobile pimps itself as 'America's Largest 4G Network'
T-Mobile's crowing tonight that it now has "America's Largest 4G Network" -- and it's backing that statement with a new television advertisement. It's pitting the myTouch 4G versus the iPhone and playing off the now-defunct Mac-PC ads (minus 5 points for lack of creativity) and sports someone who looks strangely like the old "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" guy (subtract another 5 points...
Logitech Revue getting software update to address frame-rate issue
Fire up the ol' Logitech Revue this afternoon and you might find an update waiting for you. Yes, the Revue can receive online updates -- just like any other Android-based device. Logitech has confirmed to us that the update addresses the frame-rate issue that we told you about last week. If you're the type who was to have particulars, the update moves the Revue from build number KA11-...
Setting a SIM card lock (and why you want to)
If your phone uses a SIM card, you can set a lock on the card so it can't be used by anyone who doesn't know the lock code. This isn't anything new, and it stays tied to your SIM card -- not your phone. It's easy to lock or unlock your SIM card on Android. Go into the settings by pressing menu > settings > Location & security > Set up SIM card lock. You can toggle the...
Droid 2 update, Droid Pro questions, Android Central Wallpaper [From the forums]
Android Central 9 years ago
Why should you be hanging out in the Android Central Forums, you ask? Because it's where all the cool kids are, of course. And cool kids talk about cool stuff. Here's but a smattering of what's going on today:The Motorola Droid 2 is in the midst of a maintenance update. Discuss the update here.Weighing the pros and cons of the Logitech Revue.If you haven't posted your Epic 4G screen...
88 high-risk bugs found in Linux kernel (And why we're not really worried)
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Samsung Continuum shows up on a Verizon Wireless gift ideas flyer
Jesse Potter 9 years ago 2
Well, it makes sense. Today is Nov. 2, which means Christmas is 52 shopping days away, and Verizon Wireless wants to add a little Android green to your holiday season.Fueled by Samsung's onslaught of Android devices, Verizon Wireless is using the flier above to make our mouths water even more for the Samsung Continuum -- the first Android device to feature dual capacitive AMOLED...
OpenFeint brings a slew of new games to Android
OpenFeint -- the cross-platform gaming service -- has just unleashed a slew of new games on Android. Some are new, some are newer, but they all now have the power of OpenFeint behind them, meaning you can share scores and compete against your friends -- if they're on other platforms. The new wave of games, from a bevy of developers, includes: Flick Kick Football (PikPok) Dot 3(...
8pen keyboard now available on the Android Market
Bla1ze 9 years ago 49
Yesterday we let you know about 8pen keyboard. At the time, 8pen advised they were soon to be launching on the Android Market and today, they have done just that. According to their website, they wanted to get 8pen out to as many users and devices as possible but in doing so they had to exclude the voice recognition feature for now. Any device running Android 1.6 and upward now has the...
Lookout to offer premium version with remote lock, wipe
Lookout, one of the premiere smartphone security suites, has released Lookout Premium -- offering Privacy Advisor, remote lock, and remote wipe on top of their award winning free services. Current customers need do nothing to keep the service they have now, and the free version of Lookout will remain available for those who choose to use it over the premium package. The premium...
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Wrong Flex but OK
Samsung probably didn't sell a million Galaxy Folds after all
Reports of its sales have been greatly exaggerated
Michael Allison
Samsung's Galaxy Fold probably didn't sell a million units as earlier stated.
The erroneous statement was made by a Samsung exec at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this week.
A Samsung spokesperson said the exec had confused sales targets with actual units sold.
Samsung probably didn't sell a million Galaxy Fold smartphones, contradicting an earlier statement that it did. The statement was made earlier this week by Samsung Electronics President Sohn Young-kwon at a TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin event. Samsung spokespeople later disputed the sales numbers, according to a report by the Yonhap News Agency. Instead, the suggestion was made that the President had simply mixed up the sales target with actual units sold. The key point being made was that Samsung hadn't actually passed that milestone.
The Galaxy Fold has had a few launch issues. Crossing the one million sales threshold without those issues would have been an incredible feat, doing it after would have been nearly unbelievable. And it turns out, it is.
We have no idea how many Samsung Galaxy Folds were really sold, and the firm didn't seem keen to share after its initial slip-up. The Fold is a technically impressive device, but it's a premium one in the age where we have more choice than ever. Its initial slip-ups may also have put a ceiling on its sales numbers, but with a sequel incoming, we'll probably see more of the foldable's true potential in 2020.
Still a good flex.
A taste of the future
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is still one of the more interesting smartphones of 2019. It combines a unique form-factor with top of the line specs. It's expensive, no doubt, but it's not boring in the least
$1930 at BestBuy
Plenty to love
These are the best Xiaomi phones you can buy in 2020
Xiaomi has carved out a niche for itself over the last five years for offering phones that redefine value for money. From $100 entry-level phones to true flagships with innovative features, these are the best Xiaomi phones you can buy in 2020.
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How did Ezra pounds work affect society?
Asked in Computers
How does computer effect the society?
Computers affect society because many people need computer skills to get a job. They also affect society because they help people complete their work efficiently.
Asked in Inventions
How did the light-bulb affect people in society?
helped them work at night,see in the dark
Asked in Digital Cameras
How does a webcam affect society?
It has helped society in many ways, the most popular being that it helps more and more long distance relationships work out.
Asked in William Shakespeare, Plays
How the shakespeare's famous work affect the society at that period?
Shakespeare's work did not have a significant effect on the society of his day. The general long-term effects of his work might be said to be changes to the way the English language is used and the creation of a high standard for playwriting.
Asked in History of the United States, China in WW2, North America
How did America affect the Chinese people?
America was an Occidental (Western) society; the Chinese came from an Oriental (Eastern) society...the Chinese had to work & live within their new surroundings.
Asked in Science, Albert Einstein
How did albert Einstein s work affect society?
The greatest contribution of Einstein for the society was to give the theory of relativity and his discovery of mass converting to energy. His findings laid the foundation to explore the atomic power which largely affected the society.
Asked in Science Experiments
How does friction affect work?
friction does affect work.
Asked in Albert Einstein
How does the work of Albert Einstein affect the world today?
Albert Einstein has aided society by his discovery of the theory of relativity, space, time, energy and gravity.
Asked in History, Politics & Society, Inventions, Food Spoilage
How did the refrigerator affect society then?
The refrigerator affected people's lives in the 1800s because it saved people the work of having to preserve food; for example, by salting it.
Asked in Founding Fathers, History of the United States, Declaration of Independence
How does each of the ten amendments work in society and give examples?
how do the ten amendments work in society
Asked in Science
How did the light bulb affect society?
how did the light bulb affect society? It affects dsociety by creating the convenience that we have today is light when we want, not when the sun wants it. Without a light bulb you could only work in the day, never go out late at night or get up earlier to go to school or work. There is no doubt about it, the light bulb has definitely affected the way we live in our society today. Although it does have effects oncultures and traditions it helped us be alive at day and night
Asked in Science, School Subjects, Modification of Old Electrical Work
Factors that affect the work?
Factors that affect work are force, and distance or displacement.
Asked in Alcoholism
How does alcohol affect school-work?
It has no affect on schoolwork unless abused.
Asked in Judaism, Old Testament, Persian Empire
What is the story about Jews rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem?
The rebuilding of the temple was written in the book of Ezra. The work on the temple begun in 536 BCE (Ez 3:8) and completion described in 516 BCE (Ezra 6:15).
Asked in Philosophy and Philosophers
A work that has the freshness that Ezra Pound associated with classics would not contain what?
Tired plots and one-dimensional characters
Asked in Primary and Elementary School
How does legislation affect work in schools?
How does legislation affect affect schools
Asked in Prison Incarceration
How does prison rehabilitation affect prisons and general society?
Prison rehabilitation keeps prisoners occupied and may cut down on violence in the prison. Society may benefit when a truly reformed individual comes out of prison to live and work again.
Asked in Health, Conditions and Diseases, Malaria
How did the discovery of malaria affect society?
it was one of the steps to control that deadly disease. it showed one of the side-effects of stagnant water to make people to work for cleanliness.
Asked in Units of Measure, Weight and Mass
What does 114 kilo work out in pounds?
114 kilograms = 251.327 pounds
Asked in Labor and Employment Law, Workplace Health and Safety
How does the health and safety at work act affect sport?
Since sport is not work, the Health and Safety at Work Act does not affect it.
Asked in Heart
Can you function with no heart?
You can function with no heart. But that will be purely mechanical work. Brain without the heart is useless. You can be nuisance to the society you live in. You can not live without the society. So you must strive hard to work for the welfare of the society. It is immoral to when you work for selfish end and you are botheration to the society.
Asked in History of the United States, Labor and Employment Law, Labor Unions
How did labor unions affect people and society?
Labor unions fought for improved work conditions, pay and benefits, reduced hours, overtime pay, safety, holiday pay.
Asked in Dieting and Weight Loss, Weight and Mass
What is 66kg in stones?
A kilogram is 2.2 pounds and a stone is 14 pounds. Work it out.
Who is the author of Ezra?
Many have held that the so-called "Chronicler" was the final author/editor of Ezra, Nehemiah and the books of Chronicles. These books draw on a number of different sources such as lists, genealogies, letters and memoirs. Parts of Ezra are personal memoirs or reminiscences of Ezra. Some would say that the Chronicler was Ezra himself, while others think he was a later follower of Ezra's circle or a later priest or Levite. Derek Kidner and H.G. M. Williamson hold that linguistic and other differences between the Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah indicate different compilers for those books. The degree of involvement, creativity, and quality of work of the Chronicler or compilers is debated.
Asked in Exercise, Math and Arithmetic
If you lift 300 pounds once or 100 pounds 3 times are you doing the same amount of work?
Yes. Work is measured in foot-pounds, so 300*1 = 100*3 = 300 foot-pounds. ■
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Name: bromodifluoromethane
Formula: CHBrF2
Molar Mass: 130.9198064
Additional Names: methane, bromodifluoro-
Normal boiling temperature (Liquid and Gas)
Critical temperature (Liquid and Gas)
Critical pressure (Liquid and Gas)
Boiling temperature (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Pressure
Pressure from 0.000414458 kPa to 5173.7 kPa
Phase boundary pressure (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Temperature from 128 K to 411.98 K
Critical density (Liquid and Gas)
Density (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Density (Gas in equilibrium with Liquid) as a function of Temperature
Temperature from 353.996 K to 411.98 K
Density (Gas) as a function of Temperature and Pressure
Temperature from 200 K to 410 K
Pressure from 0.002 kPa to 1797.97 kPa
Enthalpy of vaporization or sublimation (Liquid to Gas) as a function of Temperature
Heat capacity at saturation pressure (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Heat capacity at constant pressure (Ideal Gas) as a function of Temperature
Temperature from 100 K to 1500 K
Enthalpy (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Enthalpy (Ideal Gas) as a function of Temperature
Entropy (Ideal Gas) as a function of Temperature and Pressure
Entropy (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Viscosity (Gas) as a function of Temperature and Pressure
Viscosity (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
Thermal conductivity (Gas) as a function of Temperature and Pressure
Thermal conductivity (Liquid in equilibrium with Gas) as a function of Temperature
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Spent a full day in my homeland in the city of New Brunswick, it was like being in the twilight zone so much going on and everything has changed saw ppl I haven't seen in years always good to see people or to eat at 5 star restaurant's like (Veganized) they have really grand food & service and tastes so good. Tell them I sent you 😁 #veganized #newbrunswick #newbrunswicknj #food #j #JA #Heim #jaheim
A post shared by Jaheim (@officialjaheim) on May 26, 2018 at 6:34am PDT
Fans are Worried About Jaheim After Unflattering Photos Surfaced
Remember Jaheim - the R&B singer with the smokey baritone who crooned soulful hits like "Put That Woman First" and "Fabulous"? Well it appears that he’s going through a transformation and it has some fans worried about his health.
If you take a cursory look at Jaheim’s Instagram page, it appears that the R&B singer is now a vegan and is embarking on a holistic journey of clean living and good health. Unfortunately, the “Anything” singer is also posting some unflattering selfies of himself.
In some of the pics, you can see Jaheim’s gaunt face, scraggly beard and chapped lips. The photos have caused some fans to wonder if the singer is doing drugs. But this is not the case.
It appears that Jaheim is simply eating healthy and losing a lot of weight. The New Jersey-born singer is also still making music. In one of his IG posts, the crooner writes, in part:
Traveling thru life looking from the inside vs the outside observing in and I'm enjoying the great adventures of JA-Heim. I'm loving every bit of it yes my ups and downs now watch all my turns arounds trouble don't last always."
"New music is in the air and it's traveling from me to your ears my heart to your heart can you feel the pulse running through your spine all the way to your BiG toe haha well I feel it all in my shoes," he continues.
"Jaheim is gonna make you smile once more," he adds. New single coming soon to mainstream radio. [I] cannot wait till you all get a chance to see the progress and New approach to the music you will be so addictive to so get ready.
So it appears that Jaheim is fine and well. But it looks like he needs to find the right angles when he's taking selfies.
Nevertheless, fans went on Twitter to poke fun at Jaheim's appearance. Check out some of the reactions below.
Watch Jaheim's "Put That Woman First" Video
Watch Jaheim's "Backtight" Video
20 Best R&B Albums of 1997
Source: Fans are Worried About Jaheim After Unflattering Photos Surfaced
Filed Under: Jaheim
Categories: Articles, Artist, Celebrities, Photos
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Ian Healy reveals the trigger that got England batsman Jos Buttler into form
By Ben Glover
England's forgotten x-factor has finally found form and according to Ian Healy that could spell trouble for Australia as they attempt to bowl the hosts out early on day two of the fifth Test at The Oval.
Buttler had a torrid time in the first three Tests of the series, looking horribly out of form as he posted four single digit scores in his first six knocks.
That changed at Old Trafford, where he was one of his side's best contributors in a losing cause, holding the tail together with innings of 41 and 34.
Sloppy errors cruel Australian fielding effort
In both of those digs it was his positive intent at the crease that caught the eye, with the limited overs superstar unlocking his natural hitting power as he regained the confidence that makes him so dangerous.
However it was a set of circumstances put in train by Mitchell Marsh's superb spell of bowling on day one at The Oval that forced Buttler to really unleash.
"He's so dangerous, the game, like a one-day game, is telling him how to play," Healy told Wide World of Sports.
"Leach comes in, it's time to have a swing so off he goes so he got some clarity, like a one-day game.
"Where he's struggled is to decide for himself when to take that on and go like that. He hasn't been in good enough form but he's certainly sprung into form now."
Healy's point is that with only Leach and Stuart Broad left to hang around for England, Buttler has no other option but to stand and deliver or risk quickly being stranded.
And that's exactly what he did, piling into Josh Hazlewood in particular to make it to stumps at 64 not out off just 84 balls, with England on 8/271 and the match evenly poised.
When he returns on day two he'll have the opportunity to play a match shaping innings.
"If England can get another 50 they're well in the game, as it is they're in the game," Healy said.
"They're going to have to make, I think it's a game where you probably need 600 runs batting, so if they make less than 300, they're probably going to have to make that again, England," Healy said.
"And Australia better bank on getting the bulk of their 600 in the first innings, because you try and make 200 in the second innings at The Oval and it's very difficult at times."
Buttler drives England to competitive total
While a further 50 runs would please England if they can frustrate Australia for long enough to top 350 they'll feel confident of their ability to salvage a 2-2 series draw.
Which makes Australia's tactics with the ball crucial in the first hour of play. The most crucial factor could be the field they set to Buttler. Are they brave enough to attack or do they spread the field?
That's a tough call, according to Healy.
"Tactically, I don't know, I haven't really got a problem, he's just so dangerous I'd probably have some protection on the ropes and hope to bowl for a genuine mishit, a bloke like him has to genuinely mishit it or it's a six," Healy said.
"A normal mishit carries the ropes so I don't mind it, it's the modern way.
"We probably didn't bowl perfectly to him, the yorkers just missed their spot, shot balls sometimes weren't perfectly positioned and he got a hook away, so yeah, I don't mind the tactic but we can bowl that tactic better."
Jack Leach
Great slams ugly Australian day one story-line at The Oval
DRS drama mars day two as David Warner gets controversially dismissed
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You Are Here: Home » Choosing Table Tennis Equipment » Yasaka Equipment
The Yasaka Table Tennis Company are located in Tokyo, Japan
and have been selling table tennis equipment since 1947
The Yasaka Table Tennis Company are located in Tokyo, Japan and have been selling table tennis equipment since 1947.
The company was formed by Mr Hiroshi Yaoita and Mr Sakamoto and has become very successful, in part due to their very popular Mark V range of table tennis rubbers.
But sadly, in late 2007 there was the...
Death of their founder
Mr Hiroshi Yaoita, founder of Yasaka table tennis, passed away on 8 December 2007 and around 350 people attended a ceremony at the Tokyo Grand Prince Hotel on 24 January 2008.
But what is the...
History of Yasaka table tennis
Mr Yaoita was a table tennis player himself, and his aim was to offer other players products with high technical quality and superior performance.
In the 1950s Yasaka developed rapidly, in close cooperation with the top Japanese players, and Yasaka supplied several champions all over the world with their original rubbers.
At the end of the 1960s, Yasaka made a break through in rubber development and introduced superior table tennis rubbers to the market.
Players using Yasaka Mark V rubbers won the men's singles in the 1970 European Championships and the 1971 World Championships and since that time, Yasaka Mark V rubbers have become one of the most well known table tennis rubbers in the world.
And in the 1970s, a new era commenced...
World Champions use Yasaka
In the 1990s Yasaka started a new blade factory in Sweden and in 1993 the Gatien EXTRA blade was introduced.
EXTRA is a blade that was created by their wood technicians, in close cooperation with the 1993 men's singles World Champion Jean-Philippe Gatien of France, and since then, Gatien EXTRA has been one of the best selling blades all over the World.
In 2002 Yasaka launched a new rubber, V-STAGE and their own laboratory tests showed that V-STAGE offered more spin and more speed than any previous rubber.
And in the same year, Yasaka also surprised the table tennis world when they produced a 17-layer blade, DYNAMIX.
Since then, Yasaka has successfully entered the biggest single table tennis market in the world, China, where their Yasaka blades are very much in demand.
And in 2010 Yasaka introduced...
RAKZA 7 rubber
In 2010, Yasaka introduced their new rubbers, Rakza 7 and Rakza 7 Soft.
They claim that RAKZA 7 uses mainly natural gum for the top sheet which improves the level of grip and the power of spin drastically. And that the shape/geometry of the pimples are designed to give a good balance between speed and spin.
The topsheet is combined with their newly developed "Power Sponge", enabling huge elasticity. Together they work in perfect synergy, producing the "Hybrid Energy" rubber RAKZA 7.
When a player hits the ball hard, the rubber "grips" the ball and the stroke can be used to place the ball accurately, both in direction and length.
And thanks to the higher proportion of natural gum, they say that the life expectancy of the rubber has increased.
And a former Olympic Gold medallist is sponsored by Yasaka...
China's Ma Lin, a former Olympic Games Gold medallist is sponsored by Yasaka.
After the 2010 World Championships, Ma Lin tested the new RAKZA 7 rubbers from Yasaka.
He chose the softer version, RAKZA 7 SOFT, which gives him the right balance between speed and spin, ideally suiting his playing style.
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© 2016, AP Fine Arts
Allen Peterson: Galleries of work
Northwest Atlanta Globe
cast aluminum, steel bolts, stainless, stained concrete. 8 foot diameter cast aluminum spheroid, roughly 30 x 35 foot plaza, 2015.
This piece was commissioned by Fulton County Arts and Culture for the entry plaza to the Northwest Library at Scotts Crossing.
Photo by Bryan Pearson.
Northwest Atlanta Globe (detail)
I worked with residents of the neighborhoods that are served by the new library – children and adults answered the question "What is important to you about your neighborhood?" in drawings and writings. Some part of each person's response is included in the sculpted metal maps that cover the surfaces of the Globe.
The industrial look of the sculpture, and its railroad imagery, are a response to the character of the various Northwest Atlanta neighborhoods that this library serves.
detail of Northwest Atlanta Globe
This is a closeup of the 30 foot x 30 foot entry plaza to the Northwest Library at Scotts Crossing. These CNC-plasma cut stainless railroad elements are continuations of the metal tracks that crisscross the maps on the surface of the metal globe. They lead off the sculpture, down its concrete base, and across the entryway plaza before converging on the front door to the library, ushering library users in after they have walked across the surface of the artwork plaza.
Atlanta Map Formed Chronologically
cast iron, 38 x 24 x 3½ inches, 2009.
This map of downtown Atlanta was created in the adjacent industrial neighborhood of Castleberry Hills. As molten iron was poured into a sand mold, the roads appeared as lines of fiery light, in a timelapse view of how the city grew across the land.
Map (Terra Cognita)
iron oxide on cast paper. 47 x 24 x ½ inches, 2004. This large-scale cast paper print was made using the components of the Terrain installation. Paper pulp was pressed into every detail of the hexagonal tiles. The resulting paper took its form, contour, and oxide pigmentation from the surface of the hexagons.
Map (Terra Cognita) detail
iron oxide on cast paper. 93x44x ½ inches. This large-scale cast paper print was made using the components of the Terrain installation. Paper pulp was pressed into every detail of the hexagonal tiles. The resulting paper took its form, contour, and oxide pigmentation from the surface of the hexagons.
cast iron. dimensions variable, each hex is 3/8 x4x4 inches. 2003-4
Terrain detail
Each cast iron hexagon is 4 inches across.
Communities are central to my work, both in the creative process and in the themes that I investigate. I enjoy working with communities of people as an integral part of the production of large-scale public art projects. Even in the more private setting of the studio, my work tends to involve the ideas of systems, structure, cooperation, and interdependence that can describe the formation of a community.
Themes of maps and bees in my work are metaphors for the interconnections that make up a community. A map is not a neutral documentation of a location, but forms a portrait of the mapmaker’s priorities through the information about that location that it includes or leaves out. I use map imagery to play with the ideas of how we try to understand our surroundings and our world.
Gallery one: maps
click on any image to expand
Like humans, honeybees form mental maps of their surroundings. They can communicate the precise location of external resources to other bees within the hive in a language that is based on dance and rhythm. Bees are a model of community and cooperation that for me suggests the question of how we humans are like bees, and how we are unlike bees. I use materials and processes that relate to the history of industry, such as steel and cast iron, or mold-making and duplicative casting, to relate human effort to the beehive’s iconic industriousness. Individual elements combine to form structures based on interrelationships. The systematization of my own production becomes part of the piece as the rules of a game or a system of work.
Gallery two: bees
Crosspollination, 2016
Performance still from the presentation of this work at the grand opening of Sculpture Fields in Chattanooga, TN, April 2016. Photograph by Samuel E Burns.
Performance still.
These iron molds were manipulated to produce a succession of hot, glowing, metal bee forms that were "flown" like puppets through the night air by puppeteers in safety gear.
Crosspollination, 2003.
Performance still. These bird-sized iron bee forms were “flown” like puppets by dancers to “pollinate” floral torches with the heat of red-hot metal. The choreography refers to the motion-based language that bees use to direct hive members to external resources.
Hive Consciousness
honeycomb built by bees onto cast beeswax, wood, varnish, latex paint. dimensions variable, 33 x 16½ x 60 inches. 2012
Hive Consciousness detail pp
I sculpted the face and cast it in beeswax; a hive of honeybees then added their contribution by building out their own beeswax honeycomb.
Let’sAllBeBeekeepersWhenWeGrowUp
Cast iron, enamel paint, beeswax, wood, latex paint. Dimensions variable, figures are 6 inches tall. (one hex with figures is 9½ x 13 x 15 inches) 2011-2013.
This piece uses toylike figures to ask for a creative reimagining of agriculture on the scale of the individual.
Beekeepers detail
Let'sAllBeBeekeepersWhenWeGrowUp
Detail, during a Visiting Artist presentation at Turning Sun School.
Urban Bee Platform
Latex paint, wood, paper, fabricated steel. 48x12¾x8 inches. A 1:6 scale concept model of an alternative to the beekeeper’s standard hive. It elevates the hive to a height of 15 to 20 feet above ground, as a feral colony of bees might choose for its habitat in nature, making it possible to establish a hive of bees in a location such as an urban park or nature trail. Elevating the hive allows people to walk close by the site without alarming the bees (or themselves). 2010
Iron Beehive
Cast iron (bees and hexagons), digitally designed and CNC output steel, 2017. 12.5 x 4 x 4 feet. Currently on display on campus at University of West Georgia.
Iron Beehive detail
Cast iron (bees and hexagons), digitally designed and CNC output steel, 2017. Detail -- bees have 8 inch wingspan. Currently on display on campus at University of West Georgia.
Kirkwood Beehive
mural: latex, acrylic, and spray acrylic on primed masonry wall, 2017. Irregular dimensions, approx. 30 x 50 feet. Corner of Rocky Ford Road and College Ave, Atlanta, Georgia.
Kirkwood Beehive mural detail
Kirkwood Beehive composite photo
Kirkwood Beehive (detail)
latex, acrylic-latex, and spray acrylic on primed masonry wall
Coevolution 1
Coevolution 1, 2011. iron oxide and conté on cast paper. 23x17x¼ inches.
Beyond the bees’ unified work within the hive, for various reasons honeybees have become interdependent with humans. In 2007, the emergence of Colony Collapse Disorder gave more urgency to the topic of honeybees. The well-being of honeybees has become a barometer for the environmental health of the planet and the ways in which humans continually impact the global ecosystem. The relatively abstract ideas of system and community in my work sharpened into more specific questions of interdependence, and the problem of pollinating the crops that humans depend on for food. I started to raise honeybee hives as a beekeeper, to gain the knowledge of bees provided only by firsthand experience. I embraced using beekeeping as a sculptural medium, entering the dialogue between the various artists who collaborate with bees.
The work, whether focused on maps or bees or both as subject matter, is an investigation of the nature of the systems and structure that can make a hive-like synergy possible in our own human communities. I see my work as a continued questioning of how well we understand ourselves, each other, and our world. My hope is that the viewer may see the possibilities at play within the structure of the work and accompany me on a journey of inquiry.
flora / fauna gallery:
The "flora/fauna" series is inspired by recent collaborations with my friend and local naturalist Charlie Muise. Conversations with Charlie directed my research into various species of wildlife that live in Georgia. My love of nature and fascination with natural processes fueled a deepening of my knowledge of local ecosystems and species that make this land their habitat. That knowledge informed the metalwork that I made for Charlie, and the resulting imagery has continued to steer a course for the work in this series of artwork.
This work was a pop-up exhibition held at Wonderspace Atlanta during November and December 2017. I designed each of the works in this series digitally, and realized them with a CNC plasma cutter in editions of five.
Click on any work for pricing info, and click here to contact me about purchases.
Allen Peterson, 2017.
digital design, welded steel, enamel stain.
3, 4, and 5 are available
$440 as shadowbox (pictured)
Loggerhead Shrike over Longleaf Pine
4 and 5 are available
$440 as shadowbox
Tiger Swallowtail on Milkweed
Saw-whet Owl
Green Anole
Rattlesnake Master
"Eastern Diamondback in Rattlesnake Master"
Redwings wall
digital design, welded steel, enamel paint.
sizes vary from approximately 2 inches to 8 inches
Small size $10 each, 3 for $25
Medium size $18 each, 3 for $45
Large size $25 each, 3 for $65
Redwings detail
redwings detail 2
approx 3 inches each
Gallery three: public practice
Paying Your Dues / Fame Stage
Paying Your Dues/ Fame Stage 2014
Two musical performers, bicycle, wood, steel, wheels, sound. A bicycle cart as a tiny stage for musical performance, rolling on the Atlanta BeltLine bicycle trails! It takes two musicians to operate, alternating between pedaling the bike and playing onstage – equal time is the deal. This project was ongoing from August - November 2014.
Plectracycle (at a Hambidge event)
A volunteer performance, playing the Plectracycle while roaming the grounds of the Goat Farm art center in midtown Atlanta during the 2012 benefit for the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences.
Site specific installation (concrete park bench), on location of former municipal swimming pool, York, Alabama. 1.5 x2x9 feet. This public work is in Cherokee Park, the main public park in the town of York, Alabama. It marks the site of the former municipal swimming pool, which was unfairly closed by the town’s white officials in 1971 to prevent the facility’s integration.
Cast iron on concrete slab; site-specific installation. 12x 25 feet. This public work is in Cherokee Park, the main public park in the town of York, Alabama. It marks the site of the former municipal swimming pool, which was unfairly closed by the town’s white officials in 1971 to prevent the facility’s integration. Its companion piece, Diving Board, visible to the right, is a functional park bench as well as another site marker.
Peterson worked with neighbors from the surrounding communities that are served by the library to collect the residents’ answers in drawings and words to the question, “What is most important to you about your neighborhood?” Some part of each response was included on the surface details of the sculpture, so that it was the neighbors themselves who got to choose what would be featured on the map of the area.
Public workshop for "Globe"
Over 150 local neighbors, including these youth at the Bankhead Library, provided their own drawings and words to answer the question, “What is most important to you about your neighborhood?” Some part of each response was included on the surface details of the sculpture, so that it was the residents themselves who got to choose what would be featured on the map of the area.
Allen Peterson worked some part of each person's response into the surface details of the sculpture, so that it was the residents themselves who got to choose what would be featured on the map of the area. Visible here on the finished aluminum sculpture are an apartment complex, two elementary schools, and a fish pond, all as drawn by local neighbors.
Over 150 local neighbors, including these youth at the Perry Homes Library, provided their own drawings and words to answer the question, “What is most important to you about your neighborhood?” Some part of each response was included on the surface details of the sculpture, so that it was the residents themselves who got to choose what would be featured on the map of the area. Lisa Tuttle of Fulton County Public Art is working with them here.
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You are watching the movie Undo
A physicist celebrates a breakthrough in reversing the flow of time… until a haunting figure pays him a visit.
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A man with spiritualist powers is told by his mentor that a demonic entity is returning to destroy his daughter’s soul, and that he should take drastic measures to prevent…
Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Teddy Bears Picnic
A mother and daughter, playing games in the forest. Somebody’s watching. Somebody’s waiting. If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a grim surprise.
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Map Maker:
Type: Maps SWITZERLAND
BLAEU, Willem
Alpinae seu Foederatae Rhaetiae Subditarumque ei Terrarum nova descriptio.
Amsterdam: Willem Blaeu, 1662. Map. Engraving. Image measures 15 x 19.5". This detailed map of eastern Switzerland depicts the Graubunden Canton. Includes Chur, Davos, St. Moritz, etc. The region of Graubunden was once part of the Roman Empire's Raetia province. Throughout, the map labels cities, towns, villages with topography beautifully rendered in profile. The four corners of the map include beautifully engraved cartouches with the title cartouche engraved by Philip Cluver featuring soldiers and river gods. Engraved by Simon Hamersveldt..... More
Zurichgow et Basiliensis provincia
Amsterdam. Map. Engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 15" x 19.75". This striking circa 1640 map by Willem Blaeu depicts the regions of Zurich and vicinity, Switzerland. The map covers northern Switzerland and extends from Mullhouse to the Obersee. The important towns of Basel, Lucerne, Zurich, Argow, and several others are noted in profile. The map also labels lakes, rivers and other topographic features with beautifully rendered mountains and forests. Latin text on verso provides interesting history and description of..... More
BUACHE, Philippe and DELISLE, Guillaume
Carte de la Souverainete de Neuchatel et Vallangin
1745. Map. Engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 19 x 25.5". This beautiful map depicts the Neuchatel region of Switzerland, showing the town of Neuchatel as well as Lake Neuchatel. It is based on a 1710 original by David François de Merveilleux redone by Guillaume de L'Isle and published by Philippe Buache. The map is is finely detailed with abbeys and priories, castles, battlefields, mineral springs, and forests. An elegant compass rose is shown in Lake Neuchatel, and a decorative..... More
Sabaudiae descriptio
Augsburg: Johann Praetorius, 1658. Miniature map. Uncolored engraving. Image measures 2.5" x 4.25". Nice early map of Swizterland, showing Basel, Bern, Lake Geneva, part of Burgundy, Grenoble and Lion. North is oriented at the left side of the page. Published in the world atlas section of "Historiae universalis auctarium". Latin text on back, headed by "Hibernia". Page marked "XX" and "g5". Minor stain on left half, overall wear. More
A New Map of Swisserland. Divided into its Cantons and Dependencies, including the Grisons &c&c.
London: John Cary, 1799. Map. Engraving with original hand outline. Image measures 18" x 20". Nicely detailed map of Switzerland including a list of the cantons and their respective religious leanings. Minor aging along edges. More
FINLEY, Anthony
Philadelphia: Finley, Anthony, 1832. Map. Engraving with original hand coloring. Image measures 8.5" x 11". Nice map of Switzerland in excellent condition. Anthony Finley (c. 1790-1840) was a prominent American cartographic publisher in the early 19th century. This map was published in "A New General Atlas", which was well received and praised for its clearness and accuracy. More
Swisserland.
London: Cadell & Davies, 1809. Map. Engraving with hand coloring. Image measures 19.75" x 27.25". Beautiful map of Switzerland with exquisitely rendered mountains. From "Pinkerton's Modern Geography". Small chips at centerfold, minor aging along top edge. More
TSCHUDI, Aegidicus
Helvetiae Descriptio. Aegidio Tschvdo Avct.
1598. Map. Engraving. Image measures 13.5 x 18 inches. Sheet measures 16.5 x 20.5". This map of Switzerland is centered on Lake Lucerne and include much of Northern Italy. Oriented with south to the top, the map extends from Lakes Como and Maggiore down north to Lake Constance. This map marked considerable progress in the mapping of Switzerland, including as it does significant cities and locales. Furthermore, a plinth rendered in three dimensions in the upper right corner of the..... More
Map of the Republic of Switzerland, describing its Twenty-Two Cantons; including those of Le Valais, Geneva and Neuchatel, Exhibiting the Various Objects Interesting to the Traveller.
London: James Wyld, 1840. Map. Engraving with hand outline. Image measures 21.75" x 32.25". Highly accurate map of Switzerland rendered with exquisite detail and subtle colors. Includes a table of cities and their populations as well as altitudes above the Lake of Lucerne. Minor wear and a few tears to edges. More
The books arrived today, and my wife was delighted. They are in better condition than I expected... very impressive!
Thanks for the book, which I am pleased with, and its very prompt delivery, together with the partial refund on the initial postage charge. All in all, I am very satisfied, and grateful for you for having taken the trouble you have gone to in this matter. Best wishes to you and your store. Sincerely,
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Set of 2 cushion drape "expectation"
Gustav Klimt:
https://www.arsmundi.com/en/artwork/expectation-745117.html
Order-nr. IN-745117
Article No: IN-745117
delivery time: ship immediately
German Manufactory Quality | Delivery without filling | Size 48 x 48 cm each
Items of the bundle
Cuddling with Klimt. Exclusive tapestry cushion covers in his own image "Expectation". High-quality German manufacturing quality, made on traditional looms. 70% cotton, 15% viscose, 10% Polyester, 5% Lurex. Delivery without filling. Size 48 x 48 cm each .
Cushion cover beige and brown in a set.
Link to article: https://www.arsmundi.com/en/artwork/expectation-745117.html
https://www.arsmundi.com/
ars mundi
Edition Max Büchner GmbH
Bödekerstraße 13
All prices include VAT, plus shipping.
24h-Info-Hotline +44 207 193 3765
Gustav Klimt: Set of 2 cushion drape "expectation"
More works from Gustav Klimt
Add to Wish List Ask questions about the product Print page
1862-1918, Austrian painter, famous representatives of Viennese Art Nouveau
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) already was a renowned artist, Vienna's Ringstrasse with its Mural Art Nouveau crucial had distinct and was co-founder of the Vienna secession, was his "Golden style". Inspired by Byzantine mosaics, he added ornamental surfaces in a golden bed such as aggregate gems. In his image, Klimt describes the way of life of the people, by the shoots adversely affected that finds his salvation in the kiss. The representations of the body have a subtle erotic, however the figures dissolve into ornamental, geometrical colour surfaces. He does not only apply this principle style for his images of pair, but also the portraits of wealthy ladies and the landscape images. This flat style is today synonymous with the intense colour art of Klimt that characterizes his work but only in 1905.
Klimt was understood not only to gold and opulence, he was also a great artist. In the course of his life he produced numerous drawings. Most of the time as preparatory studies for larger works.
The son of an engraver learned his craft at the Vienna School of Applied Arts. Still searching for an independent expression, his early work is marked by the historicism Hans Makart, the artist Prince of the Habsburg monarchy in the late 19th century. A community of artists with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch making, the young painters have received numerous orders for the design of new buildings on the Ringstrasse. The staircases of the Vienna Burgtheater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum bear witness to the historicist style of this community studios. Like so many young and open-minded artists of the Fin-de-siècle also Gustav Klimt turned off at the end of the 1890s of the academic tradition. In 1897, he founded the "Vienna secession", which he presided in 1905 until his exit as President with other artists. The own exhibition building of the secession is still place and temple for the new young art.
Gustav Klimt - Bestseller
Painting "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" (1907)
$ 1.230,39 (1.080,00 EUR)
Jugendstil/Art Déco - Bestseller
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Flexi, 11.75 x 11 in. / 92 pgs / illustrated throughout.
Catalog: SPRING 2011 p. 96
Harold Edgerton: The Anatomy of Movement
Text by Gus Kayafas, José Gómez Isla.
An array of hydralike tentacles surround a ragged white ring (the immediate aftermath of a drop of milk falling onto a table); a sensuous red shape being stretched out at one end by a dense black spot (a bullet, in fact, being shot through a candle flame). MIT scientist Harold Edgerton (1903-1990) devoted much of his career to revealing images like these--moments exponentially too brief for the human eye to ever glimpse in real time, which today are a familiar part of our visual lexicon. As an inventor and electrical engineer, "Doc" Edgerton created and patented a series of high-speed electric flash mechanisms that enabled his cameras to capture the tiniest slices of time, and produced a substantial body of work almost as a byproduct of his experiments and researches. In this respect, Edgerton's photographs can be seen as the surprising results of his adventures in mechanics, and as worthy successors to the earlier efforts of Eadweard Muybridge to divide up time and transcend the limits of the human eye. The literally arresting images collected in this survey of his career occupy a fascinating midground status between art and scientific artifact, and reveal Edgerton as a man magnificently obsessed with the paradoxes and wonders of motion.
HAROLD EDGERTON MONOGRAPHS + ARTIST'S BOOKS
FORMAT: Flexi, 11.75 x 11 in. / 92 pgs / illustrated throughout.
LIST PRICE: CANADA $53.95
PUBLISHER: La Fábrica
TERRITORY: NA ASIA ME
D.A.P. CATALOG: SPRING 2011 Page 96
Published by La Fábrica.
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Home About Parliament Parliamentary Departments Department of Parliamentary Services
Department of Parliamentary Services wcag
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Department of Parliamentary Services Annual Report
DPS Annual Report 2018-19
The Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) is one of four parliamentary departments supporting the Australian Parliament. DPS reports to the Presiding Officers of the Parliament (the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives).
DPS supports Australia’s Parliament and parliamentarians through innovative, unified and client focused services. DPS is proud to be the custodian for Australian Parliament House (APH) as the working symbol of Australian democracy and as a significant destination for our citizens and international visitors alike. It is a place where more than 3,500 people work on sitting days and which nearly one million people visit each year.
DPS provides services and products to support the functioning of the Australian Parliament, and the work of parliamentarians. Working in collaboration with the Department of the Senate and the Department of the House of Representatives, DPS provides, or facilitates the following:
library and research services
information and communication technology services
building, ground and design integrity services
audio visual and Hansard services
retail, health, banking, and childcare services, and
corporate, administrative and strategic services for DPS.
In planning its activities, the department has separated the distinct elements it covers into the following four strategic themes:
respond to the changing needs of the Parliament
enhance the Parliament’s engagement with the community
effective stewardship of Australian Parliament House, and
effective delivery of the Australian Parliament House Works Program.
The activities that align to each them are set out in the department’s Corporate Plan.
More Information about the Department
More information about the role and activities of DPS can be found here:
Corporate Plan 2019-20 (PDF, 4.35 MB)
Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20
Annual Report 2018-19 (PDF, 3.1 MB)
DPS Organisational Chart (PDF, 199 KB)
DPS Senior Staff
DPS Executive Remuneration - Financial year 2016-17 (PDF, 42 KB)
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APHLIS
À propos d’APHLIS Comment APHLIS estime les pertes Le projet APHLIS+ Privacy notice (FR)
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Actualités APHLIS Actualités mycotoxines
Actualités Mycotoxines du Europe Media Monitor
Europe Media Monitor (EMM) est un service de monitoring automatisé des médias, permettant de facilement voir, d'explorer et de saisir les actualités émises par les médias en ligne du monde entier. La section Mycotoxines, spécialement développée pour le site APHLIS, recherche dans les médas internationaux toutes sortes d'actualités relatives aux Mycotoxines, leur apparition, la recherche, la législation et d'autres sujets pertinents.
Archive d'articles, autres langues et davantage d'informations sur EMM ›
markets-businessinsider 22 Jan 2020
CytoSorb Treatment Improves Rat Survival Following Lethal Intravenous Dose of Fungal Aflatoxin
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J. Jan. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Â CytoSorbents Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSO), a critical care immunotherapy leader specializing in blood purification, highlights the recent publication entitled, "Hemoadsorption Improves Survival of Rats Exposed to an Acutely Lethal Dose of Aflatoxin....
mdpi 21 Jan 2020
Pathogens, Vol. 9, Pages 75: Enniatin Production Influences Fusarium avenaceum Virulence on Potato Tubers, but not on Durum Wheat or Peas
Fusarium avenaceum is a generalist pathogen responsible for diseases in numerous crop species. The fungus produces a series of mycotoxins including the cyclohexadepsipeptide enniatins. Mycotoxins can be pathogenicity and virulence factors in various plantpathogen interactions, and enniatins have....
IJERPH, Vol. 17, Pages 698: Association Between Mycotoxin Exposure and Dietary Habits in Colorectal Cancer Development Among a Polish Population: A Study Protocol
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common and lethal types of cancer worldwide. The developing of this disease includes many factors such as genetic, socioeconomic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, and nutrition habits. The aim of the study is the determination of zearalenone and its....
IJMS, Vol. 21, Pages 695: Protective Effects of [6]-Gingerol Against Chemical Carcinogens: Mechanistic Insights
[6]-Gingerol from ginger has received considerable attention as a potential cancer therapeutic agent because of its chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects, as well as its safety. In the current study, we examined [6]-gingerol as a natural scavenger of nine ultimate chemical carcinogens to....
Toxins, Vol. 12, Pages 64: TRI Genotyping and Chemotyping: A Balance of Power
Fusarium is among the top 10 most economically important plant pathogens in the world. Trichothecenes are the principal mycotoxins produced as secondary metabolites by select species of Fusarium and cause acute and chronic toxicity in animals and humans upon exposure either through consumption and/or contact.
thepigsite 21 Jan 2020
BMPA investigates the links between meat and climate change
Speaking about the event, Nick Allen, CEO of BMPA said: ‘If we want to make meaningful changes to how we live in order to help the planet, then we need to base our decisions on information that is accurate and specific to our situation here in the UK. "We need to rethink what we know about meat and....
standardmedia 20 Jan 2020
Kiunjuri in more trouble over Sh1.8b maize cash
. 21st Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT +0300 Former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri at a past function in Laikipia County. [File, Standard] Sacked Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri was yesterday grilled by the anti-graft agency in an ongoing investigations into alleged illegal payment of Sh1.
Swine superstars Percy and Rupert immortalised in new book for charity
Author Michael Richards has decided to document the lives of Mangalitzas Percy and Rupert after they gained a global Facebook following while living at his Berkshire home. The tongue-in-cheek autobiography titled Mangalitza Madness documents their 11 years under Michael’s care and is being sold to raise money for an orphanage in the Philippines.
nature-Earth-and-Environmental-Sciences 20 Jan 2020
Impact of fullerol C60(OH)24 nanoparticles on the production of emerging toxins by Aspergillus flavus
. Consequently, only cyclopiazonic acid retained in the mycelia without direct contact with oxygen remains stable and easily detected; this is the most logical reason why these three metabolites were not found in the media. Many ascomycetous fungi belonging to Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp.
Microorganisms, Vol. 8, Pages 141: A Comprehensive Study on the Occurrence of Mycotoxins and Their Producing Fungi during the Maize Production Cycle in Spain
Mycotoxin contamination is one of the main problems affecting corn production, due to its significant risk to human and animal health. The Fusarium and Aspergillus species are the main producers of mycotoxins in maize, infecting both pre-harvest and during storage.
businessdailyafrica 19 Jan 2020
Tanzania maize dims hope for flour price drop
Summary Tanzania and Kenya normally supplement Kenyan grain, which helps to check against higher prices of the staple locally. The Tanzanian maize is now getting to the country at over Sh3,800 for a 90 kilo bag, which is an increase from the Sh2,800 average it was previously landing in Nairobi.
Toxins, Vol. 12, Pages 57: Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Profiling of Volatile Compounds Reveals Metabolic Changes in a Non-Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus Induced by 5-Azacytidine
Aspergillus flavus is one of the most opportunistic pathogens invading many important oilseed crops and foodstuffs with such toxic secondary metabolites as aflatoxin (AF) and Cyclopiazonic acid. We previously used the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine to treat with an AF-producing A. flavus A133 strain, and isolated a mutant (NT) of A.
MaltaIndipendent 17 Jan 2020
Warning: Product containing toxin that can damage DNA ‘must not be consumed’
In accordance with the Food Safety Act and Regulation (EC) No. 178 of 2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, t he Environmental Health Directorate within the Superintendence of Public Health wishes to inform the public that from information received through the Rapid Alert System for....
Toxins, Vol. 12, Pages 56: A Polyphasic Approach to Compare the Genomic Profiles of Aflatoxigenic and Non-Aflatoxigenic Isolates of Aspergillus Section Flavi
Aflatoxins (AF) are highly toxic compounds produced by Aspergillus section Flavi They spoil food crops and present a serious global health hazard to humans and livestock The aim of this study was to examine the phylogenetic relationships among aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic Aspergillus isolates.
Molecules, Vol. 25, Pages 372: Identification and Distribution of Novel Metabolites of Lolitrem B in Mice by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Lolitrem B is the most potent indole-diterpene mycotoxin produced by Epichloë festucae var. lolii (termed Lp TG-1), with severe intoxication cases reported in livestock. To date, there are no in vivo metabolism studies conducted for the mycotoxin. A mouse model assay established for assessing....
Toxins, Vol. 12, Pages 52: Patulin Mycotoxin in Mango and Orange Fruits, Juices, Pulps, and Jams Marketed in Pakistan
The objective of the study was to explore the incidence of patulin (PAT) mycotoxin in mango and orange fruits and derived products marketed in Pakistan. A total of 274 samples, including 70 mango fruits, 63 mango-based products (juices, pulp, and jam), 77 orange fruits, and 64 orange-based products, were collected.
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Haskell 'makes sense' for Nyquist
Horse Racing: Monmouth Park president Bob Kulina said the Haskell is a race that 'makes sense' for Nyquist
Haskell 'makes sense' for Nyquist Horse Racing: Monmouth Park president Bob Kulina said the Haskell is a race that 'makes sense' for Nyquist Check out this story on app.com: http://on.app.com/29pkOiS
Steven Falk, @smfalk Published 6:38 p.m. ET July 3, 2016 | Updated 8:21 p.m. ET July 3, 2016
Monmouth Park president Bob Kulina said Sunday the befair.com Haskell Invitational is a race that 'makes sense' for Kentuicky Derby winner Nyquist. Nyquist is shown working out at Santa Anita on June 25.(Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
OCEANPORT - Monmouth Park president Bob Kulina said Sunday he believes the $1 million Betfair.com Grade I Haskell Invitational, to be run July 31 at Monmouth, is the race that meets all the checkmarks as to where Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist should run next.
"Our race makes a lot of sense (for Nyquist),'' Kulina said. "If the horse is healthy, I think we have an excellent chance of seeing him here. I'm very optimistic.''
Nyquist, who has not run since he finished third in the Preakness on May 21, is scheduled to have his third workout since he resumed training after an illness sidelined him from the Belmont Stakes, today at Santa Anita. His two previous workouts since resuming training were a half-mile in 48.60 or 48.3 at Santa Anita on June 17 and five furlongs in 1:02.07 or 1:02.0 at Santa Anita on June 25.
Kulina said he has spoken to Nyquist's trainer Doug O'Neill twice in recent weeks.
"He told me the first time he wants to work him three, four times" before he makes a decision on where to run the horse next, Kulina said. "From what I read and see, he's doing well.'
The races O'Neill has told reporters in California he is considering for Nyquist's next start are the Grade II $200,000 San Diego at Del Mar on July 23, the Grade II $600,000 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 30 and the Haskell.
Among those expected to run in the San Diego is 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner and 2016 Dubai World Cup winner California Chrome.
The San Diego is a prep race for the $1 million TVG Grade I Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 20. The Jim Dandy is Saratoga's prep race for the $1.25 million Grade I Travers Stakes on Aug. 27.
"I've said this before: There's two remaining Grade I's" for 3-year-olds only, the Haskell and the Travers, Kulina said. "You have three different Triple Crown race winners, and more than likely one of those individuals will be 3-Year-Old of the Year. Voters vote for horses (for the year-end Eclipse Awards) based on what they do. We're a Grade I. I would think we're a good spot for him (Nyquist) or all three of them.''
The other two winners of the Triple Crown races were Exaggerator in the Preakness and Creator in the Belmont.
Kulina said the manager of Big Chief LLC — the stable that owns both Exaggerator and Swipe, the runner-up to Nyquist last year in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile — reached out to him early last week.
"They're very interested in doing something with us with one of them,'' Kulina said.
Kulina also said he has talked with Creator's trainer Steve Asmussen. Asmussen already has one horse being pointed toward the Haskell, Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Gun Runner.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Haskell a record eight times, including last year with Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, will likely run a horse in the Haskell. Arrogate, an impressive winner of an allowance at Santa Anita on June 24, and American Freedom, who won the Grade III Iowa Derby on Friday night and the Sir Barton at Pimlico on Preakness Day, are his two leading candidates.
Trainer Todd Pletcher will also likely run a horse in the Haskell. Donegal Moon, the winner of the Grade III Betfair.com Pegasus at Monmouth on June 19; Belmont runner-up Destin; and Preakness fourth-place finisher Stradivari are his leading candidates. Destin had his first workout since the Belmont on Saturday at Belmont when he went a half-mile in 48.48 or 48.2.
"It's a really deep group of 3-year-olds out there, and that's what I think bodes in our favor,'' Kulina said."I think what we're going to have is an incredibly, great betting race.''
World Approval wins United Nations Stakes
World Approval, even though he did not grab the lead until midway on the far turn, was able to control the $300,000 United Nations Stakes throughout and pick up his first Grade I win before a crowd of 9,547 Sunday at Monmouth Park.
World Approval, who went off at the 5-2 second choice in the field of 10, sat second as the controlling speed behind 75-1 shot Cement Clement through fractions of 24.29 for the quarter, 50.21 for the half, 1:14.72 and 1:39.04 for the mil. He grabbed the lead with less than three furlongs left in the 1⅜ mile turf race.
His final margin was 1¼ lengths over the Chad Brown-trained Money Multiplier. The Brown-trained Wake Forest, who went off as the 9-5 favorite, was third, another 1¾ lengths back. Mr. Maybe, Brown's third horse in the race, was a nonthreatening seventh.
''We sat the perfect trip,'' said jockey Florent Gerous, "On paper, it looked like the two horse (Cement Clement) would be going to the lead so we let him set the pace for us. The only question was whether he could go that far since this was his first time going that much distance, but he showed he can do it, and he did it well. When I asked him at the quarter pole, he responded nicely.”
Geroux picked up the mount because World Approval's regular rider, Julien Leparoux, chose to ride Sir Dudley Digges in the $1,000,000 The Queen's Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, Sunday at Woodbine. Sir Dudley Digges, a 16-1 shot, rallied in the stretch to win that race.
World Approval, who last year won the Grade III American Derby at Arlington and the Grade III Saranac at Saratoga, had run well in prestigious Grade I races in his last two starts.
He was second, beaten by a neck, in the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day and third, beaten by 2¼ lengths, by the outstanding Brown-trained Flintshire in the Manhattan at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes Day. He is trained by Mark Casse.
World Approval defeated the top three finishers from the Grade I Man O'War at Belmont on May 14 in Wake Forest, Money Multiplier and Can'thelpbelieving.
"There wasn't no Flintshire in there, but those were some very nice horses,'' Geroux said.
Steven Falk: 732-643-4267; sfalk@gannettnj.com
World Approval (No. 4), grabs the lead on the far turn on his way to winning the Grade I $300,000 United Nations Stakes Sunday at Monmouth Park (Photo: RYAN DENVER/EQUI-PHOTO, Ryan Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
World Approval, with Florent Geroux riding, leads the field to the wire Sunday in winning the Grade I $300,000 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park (Photo: BILL DENVER/EQUI-PHOTO, Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
World Approval leads Money Multipler to the wire in winning the Grade I $300,000 United Nations Stalkes Sunday at Monmouth Park (Photo: PAIGE KELLY/EQUI-PHOTO, Paige Kelly/EQUI-PHOTO)
World Approval, with Florent Geroux, aboard, wins the Grade I $300,000 United Nations Stakes Sunday at Monmouth Park (Photo: PAIGE KELLY/EQUI-PHOTO, Paige Kelly/EQUI-PHOTO)
Vote: Shore Conference Wrestler of the Week
NJ boys basketball: Vote for Shore Conference Player of the Week
Associated Press Top 25 basketball poll: Historic day for NJ with Seton Hall, Rutgers ranked
Seton Hall basketball: Where did surprise star Romaro Gill come from?
Rutgers basketball: Under-recruited then, extra motivated now
Vote: Shore Conference Girls Basketball Player of the Week
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Improving Base Vacuum with Bakeout Procedures
Sponsored by RBD Instruments, Inc.Nov 26 2019
This article describes how the base vacuum in a PHI 5600 X-ray photoelectron spectrometer can be improved using the bakeout procedure. The bakeout procedure is essentially the same for a majority of the older Physical Electronics (PHI) spherical capacitive analyzer (SCA) XPS surface analysis systems.
Generally, PHI X-ray photoelectron spectrometers have integrated radiant heaters, and also heaters under the magnets in the ion pumps. These pumps heat up the system as high as 200 °C. Once the system is prepared for the bakeout procedure, the vacuum chamber is covered with a heat-insulating blanket to capture the heat produced by the heaters.
Bakeout Procedure
Bakeout times usually take 12 to 20 hours based on the amount of water vapor present in the chamber, which is directly proportional to the duration for which the vacuum chamber has been exposed to air.
Using the ion pumps, the system should be pumped down and the vacuum should be maintained in the low 10−7 Torr range or better prior to initiating a bakeout procedure—except when users are baking out new ion pumps into the turbo pump; this has been illustrated in more detail in the following sections. Users can simply follow these steps and refer to the pictures below:
Samples should be removed from the chamber that should not be baked out. These comprise gas samples and samples that are placed with a silver or carbon tape. Semiconductors and metals can be left in the chamber.
All the valves on the AVC should be closed, and the turbo pump should be turned off.
The card rack power should be turned off.
The X-ray source control, ion gun control, and any other controls that are likely to have high voltage or filament should be turned off. Auto valve control (AVC), Boostivac ion pump control, and the DGC III ion gauge control are the only units that should continue to have power.
All the cables connected to all optics units on the vacuum chamber should be removed, except the ion gauge control cable. This cable can be baked and always remains connected. Only cables meant for the X-ray source, neutralizer, ion gun, and electron gun, if present, should be disconnected.
In case the system contains motors on the stage, they should be removed. If the user’s system happens to be a 5000 series LS (large sample), the stage should be put in the bakeout position before the motors are removed.
The water should be drained out of the typical X-ray source (if present). This can be done by first disconnecting the IN water line from the source while making sure that the OUT water line stays connected, and then removing the IN water coupler. Through gravity, water is drawn out of the X-ray source in approximately 20 seconds. After the water is removed from the source, the OUT water line should be disconnected and the IN water coupler should be reconnected to the source.
The water cooling lines and the HV connection on the typical source, as well as on the second half of the shroud, should be removed. The water swag lock fittings should be covered with an aluminum foil.
If a monochromator is included in the system, the shield aperture should be set to a mid-range. This will prevent any coating from occurring on the monochromator crystals during the bakeout process, and will also reduce the need to direct the radiant heat on the crystals’ surface.
The Teflon block, base (the HV coupler should be removed first), the 10-610 monochromator X-ray source cover, and seals should be removed. The O-ring seals located on the mono anode should be removed, or else they will become dry during the bakeout procedure, which may consequently lead to a host of issues such as water leakage and current leakage on the mono X-ray source. The O-rings should be removed before the bakeout procedure and should be coated with some vacuum grease so that they do not dry out and cause these leaks. This is highly crucial. The following pictures demonstrate how the Teflon block is likely to get burned and lead to electrical leakage when the O-rings are not removed for the bakeout procedure.
Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
If a microscope is included in the system, it should be removed by unscrewing the collar and then lifting it out of the base. The base should never be moved or removed because that will make it relatively harder to realign the microscope to the SCA’s point following the bakeout.
When wearing laboratory gloves, the system should be wiped down with some amount of isopropanol to remove any traces of oils or other contaminants. Isopropanol is recommended because it is readily available and much safer, but any degreasing agent is suitable. After baking out the system, any oils from handprints or fingerprints left on the chamber’s surface may become eternally etched onto the chamber.
All the viewports and exposed connectors and feed-throughs should be covered with an aluminum foil. Through this step, the thermal conductivity can be balanced during the heat-up and cool-down cycles.
The tabletops close to the vacuum chamber should be removed. The 5400, 5300, and 5100 type vacuum consoles are incorporated with the electronics console; hence, only the tabletops close to the vacuum chamber have to be removed. The vacuum console on the 5600 and later systems is separate, and therefore, the tabletops on the vacuum console should be fully removed.
The tabletop interlock switches should be pulled up. These are developed to prevent the bakeout heaters from switching on unless the tabletops have been taken off.
The blanket should be placed over the chamber; users are advised to wear a mask at the time of this process. The blanket could be either one piece or two or more pieces joined with Velcro. Gloves are recommended, as well as a laboratory coat, if possible. This is because the older blankets are aluminized fiberglass and the fibers are bound to itch. Moreover, if users are unable to wear a mask, they should not inhale the fibers while putting the blankets on.
The monochromator crystals, turbo pump (if placed on the load lock), and V1 gate valve should be located outside the blanket. If any gaps exist in the blankets, an aluminum foil should be used to cover them.
In case the system is not fitted with a cooling fan for the V1 gate valve, a floor fan set on low speed should be used to cool the V1 gate valve. While the vacuum chamber will reach temperatures as high as 200 °C, the gate valve can only be baked to 150 °C.
It should be ensured that set point 4 on the DGC III ion gauge control is set to 3 x 10−6 Torr.
The Boostivac ion pump control should be set to the run position. This ensures that the Boostivac turns off if the system’s outgassing becomes greater than the low 10−5 Torr range.
The bakeout timer should be set to 12–20 hours and the bakeout power button should be pressed (on previous 5000 series systems, a bakeout power circuit breaker is provided and not a switch).
Once the bakeout procedure is over, the system should be allowed to cool down to room temperature. Following this, the bakeout blanket(s) should be removed, the tabletops should be replaced, and the cables to the system should be reconnected. The electron multiplier, X-ray source, neutralizer, electron gun, and ion gun all have to be outgassed. Users can refer the manual for each of those components for the outgassing process, or they can contact the technical support at RBD Instruments for further information.
Baking of Turbo Pumps
If users are baking the system into the turbo pump without turning on the ion pumps, they will be pumping on the chamber during the bakeout procedure.
During turbo bakeout, V1 and V3 are open, and the ion pump should be turned off. Also, set-point 1 on the DIG III ion gauge control should be set to 8 x 10−4 Torr, and set-point 4 should be set to 5 x 10−4 Torr. The turbo pump bakeouts are usually set to 4 hours; this time is just sufficient to remove the water vapor from the ion pump elements.
After the turbo pump is baked out, the system should be allowed to cool down and the ion pumps should be started. Then, the V1 and V3 should be closed and the DIG III set-points should be set back to normal (set-point 1 = 5 x 10−5, set-point 4 = 3 x 10−6 Torr), and the chamber should be baked out normally.
The following photos demonstrate the steps of the bakeout process.
If users do not prefer to utilize a bulky bakeout blanket to desorb water vapor, they can check out other options available from RBD Instruments.
5600 XPS system with mono. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Side view of the XPS system. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Drain X-ray source water. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Standard X-ray source housing. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Remove water line couplers. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Standard source ready for bakeout. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Monochromator. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Monochromator shield aperture. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Remove mono block. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Remove mono O-rings. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Remove mono base and rubber insulator. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Mono anode. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
System microscope. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
System microscope removed. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Wipe down the chamber with Isopropanol. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Cover viewports. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
A window covered with aluminum foil. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Covered with aluminum foil. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Mono anode covered with aluminum foil. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Remove tabletops. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Tabletops removed. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Pull up tabletop switches. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Bakeout blankets on the chamber. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
DIG III setpoint 4. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Boostivac set to run. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
Bakeout timer and power switch. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
The cooling fan on the gate valve. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
X-ray source bakeout shortcut. Image Credit: RBD Instruments.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by RBD Instruments, Inc.
For more information on this source, please visit RBD Instruments, Inc.
RBD Instruments, Inc.. (2019, December 05). Improving Base Vacuum with Bakeout Procedures. AZoM. Retrieved on January 22, 2020 from https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18754.
RBD Instruments, Inc.. "Improving Base Vacuum with Bakeout Procedures". AZoM. 22 January 2020. <https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18754>.
RBD Instruments, Inc.. "Improving Base Vacuum with Bakeout Procedures". AZoM. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18754. (accessed January 22, 2020).
RBD Instruments, Inc.. 2019. Improving Base Vacuum with Bakeout Procedures. AZoM, viewed 22 January 2020, https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18754.
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Specialist Pension Law Firm
http://www.sackers.com
Sacker & Partners LLP, 20 Gresham St, City Of London, EC2V 7JE
About Sackers
Sacker & Partners LLP are the UK’s leading specialist law firm for pension scheme trustees, employers, corporate investors and providers.
The firm is exclusively dedicated to advising trustee boards, sponsoring employers, providers and government bodies. With a client roster of more than 450 occupational pension schemes, Sackers goes beyond basic legal guidance; instead, they go the extra mile to provide the most commercial and pragmatic advice for the client’s specific objectives.
To achieve this, staff at all levels of the business strive to be down-to-earth, approachable and reasonable, thinking of themselves as trusted business advisers, rather than simply as lawyers. This has helped Sackers to cultivate client relationships that last for decades.
Sackers have been consistently ranked in the top tier for pensions by both Chambers UK and the Legal 500 for the last twenty years, and continue to evolve their offering to match their clients’ changing requirements.
What is it like to work for Sackers
My work deadlines are unrealistic
Sackers’ health and wellbeing policy includes the provision of fresh fruit and massage sessions for staff in the office, with comprehensive private medical insurance, health advice, subsidised gym memberships and flexible working arrangements also among the perks on offer.
Sackers strive to operate in a way that is respectful, dedicated, influential and collaborative, in line with their corporate values. To engage staff with these efforts, the firm runs a Joy Committee that organises internal and external events, including ice-skating trips and huge Christmas celebrations.
I am happy with the pay and benefits I receive in this job
All Sackers employees are eligible for an annual profit-share bonus scheme that rewards staff for the firm’s success, without any qualifying criteria. An Instant Award programme is also in place, offering gift vouchers to employees who go above and beyond what is expected of them.
Number of responses in region: 69
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Paddock club
Be the first to know about the entertainment program for the 2018 FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
Experience Baku
Old City Group Tour
Meeting Point: Icherisheher metro station entrance
Old City is the historical core of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The Old City is the most ancient part of Baku, which is surrounded by walls were well protected. The Old City of Baku, including the Palace of the Shirvanshah and Maiden Tower, became the first location in Azerbaijan to be classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Highlights:
Walking tour along UNESCO heritage Tower Walls of Old City - Shirvanshah`s palace
Maiden Tower
Oil Boom architecture
Visit souvenir shops
Ateshgah & Yanardag Group Tour
Meeting Point: Port Baku Mall entrance
Ateshgah - The fire-worshipping Zoroastrians left their mark at Ateshgah, where the Fire Temple amazes visitors with its spouts of flame. The present temple only dates from the 19th century, though, as the site was adopted by the Hindu merchants trading in nearby Baku.
You’ll be amazed by Yanar Dag (Burning mountain), which is a hill that has been blazing away with a 10 meter wall of flame since the time of Marco Polo. It’s no wonder people here used to worship fire!
Gobustan Group Tour
Departure time: 9:00
UNESCO heritage Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape covers three areas of a plateau of rocky boulders rising out of the semi-desert of central Azerbaijan, with an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 40,000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages.
Azerbaijan is home to about half of the world’s discovered mud volcanoes, and we can easily visit many of them from Gobustan. These geological oddities bubble and burp constantly, producing endless streams of liquid mud. Volcanic clay and mud are used in the treatment of diseases related to the nervous system, skin and rheumatism.
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The F1 FORMULA1 logo, F1, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing BV, a Formula 1 company. All rights reserved.
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Provider and Supporter
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Exclusive Interview with Nik Wallenda — Soon to Walk Across the Grand Canyon on a Wire
By Roberta Naas / June 21, 2013
To those who follow his amazing feats, he is known as The King of the High Wire, but to his three kids, Nik Wallenda is just Dad. In fact, this seventh generation of the legendary Great Flying Wallendas insists he is not the daredevil people make him out to be. “I am just a regular man…
7 years ago in Interviews/A Moment in Time, JeanRichard, News, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Watch Industry Interviews, Wristwatch Reviews
Get Your Piece of James Dean Now – His Favorite Watch Up at Auction this Weekend
John Lennon once said, “Without James Dean, the Beatles would never have existed.” For all you pop-culture lovers, you have a unique chance to purchase one of the most important possessions this rebel without a cause had in his life – his U.S.-made pocket watch. The American made watch goes up for auction the day after…
7 years ago in Around the World / Watch stops, News, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Watch Industry Interviews, Wristwatch Reviews
Off the Cuff: The new DV One Skeleton from Versace
Yes, that’s right, from Versace. This fashion-forward watch brand has stepped up its watchmaking a few notches—turning to top Swiss movements and classic elegance that befits its namesake. Some of its best-selling collections are truly worthy of a closer look. Being a fan of mechanical watches, I was thrilled to put the new special edition…
7 years ago in Off the Cuff/ watch reviews, Time Capsules: Product, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Versace, Wristwatch Reviews
How to Sell Your Wrist Watch with Confidence — Crown & Caliber
Throughout the entire watch industry, we talk all the time about buying vintage watches at auction and even about buying refurbished watches from retailers. What has never really been discussed is the concept of selling a watch. Too often, collectors and long-time lovers of watches who have amassed many timepieces express the desire to sell…
7 years ago in Features, News, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Wristwatch Reviews
Richard Mille’s Amazing Tourbillon RM26-01 Panda – in Video
One of the first watchmakers ever to introduce the concept of 3D watches to the world, Richard Mille has done it again with the stunning RM 26-01 Panda high-jeweled watch. In three-dimensional beauty, a giant panda, created in gold with black sapphires and white diamonds, rests among bamboo shoots on the dial of the tourbillon…
7 years ago in Richard Mille, Time Capsules: Product, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Videos, Watch Related Videos, Wristwatch Reviews
One of the Best Father’s Day Gifts Yet – Orbita LightHouse™ Flashlight — in Review
We all expect flashlights to be totally utilitarian… and they are. Now, though, Orbita has revolutionized the flashlight for the luxury sect – especially those with an affinity for sailing and lighthouses. The brand unveils its new LightHouse™ series of luxury LED flashlights – which we review herein. By Ryan Walsh I’d seen the picture…
7 years ago in Time Capsules: Product, Timepieces News, Reviews and Articles, Watches/Reviews, Wristwatch Reviews
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Holodomor Victims Memorial
The haunting complex honors the millions of Ukrainians who died in the forced famine under Soviet rule.
The statue of a frail girl is a tribute to the millions of children who perished. Jorge Láscar/CC BY 2.0
A closer look at the statue titled "Bitter Memory of Childhood" Vincent de Groot/CC BY 3.0
The Candle of Memory and underground entrance to Hall of Memory chernobaevlucy (Atlas Obscura User)
Stone Angels of Sorrow guard the entrance to the park. chernobaevlucy (Atlas Obscura User)
A close up of a stork on the Candle of Memory chernobaevlucy (Atlas Obscura User)
interior detail Avoiding Regret
Avoiding Regret
katiestripe (Atlas Obscura User)
Subterranean entrance Avoiding Regret (Creative Commons)
Set on the banks of the Dnieper river in lush parkland is a hauntingly beautiful memorial to a horrific episode in history, the Holodomor. Entering the park past the guardian stone Angels of Sorrow, visitors can hear quiet but clear chimes, and your eye is drawn to the soaring Candle of Memory memorial atop the underground Hall of Memory.
Top Places in Kyiv
Nicolaï Syadristy’s Micro Miniature Museum
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It was not until 2006 that the Holodomor, a devastating famine which took place in the Ukraine region of the Soviet Union, was recognized in the Ukrainian parliament as a deliberate act of genocide against the country’s people. The artificially introduced food shortage created under Stalin was at its peak in June 1933, with nearly 28,000 people starving to death every day. Estimates have put the total number of fatalities at approximately 7 million.
Historians today believe the genocide was planned by Soviet leaders to quash any attempts at Ukrainian independence and prevent uprising from farmers who resisted collectivization (confiscating all private farms and livestock and making them government-owned) under the Soviet regime.
In 2008, 75 years after the famine-genocide, a memorial to the victims was opened in Kyiv, recognized as a national museum two years later. Inside the memorial complex is a striking statue named “The Bitter Memory of Childhood,” showing a young girl holding some wheat, a tribute to the most helpless victims of the famine: children. In the Blackboard Alley, boards list the names of the 14,000 villages and towns in Ukraine that suffered, many of whose residents remain nameless to date.
The museum is situated near the Kyev Pechersk Lavra. The museum is easily accessible by public transport, the closest metro station is Arsenalna Station. The museum is open every day from 10:00 until 18:00. Technical day is the second Tuesday of the month. General admission fee to the underground section of the museum (the Hall of Memory) is 16 hryvnas for adults, 6 hryvnas for children. Free entrance for children under 7 years old, museum workers, veterans, soldiers of ATO, conscripts, persons with disabilities (with certificate). On the First Monday of the month entrance is free.
Visit Ukraine with Atlas Obscura Trips
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On this once-in-a-lifetime tour of Ukraine, Transnistria, and Moldova, we'll delve deep into local cultures and traditions, explore unusual underground spaces, and visit an unrecognized republic.
genocidefaminecommunismsoviet historydeathmemorialsstatuesfood
c chernobaevlucy
http://ukrainegenocide.com/history/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112800658_pf.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_%22Memorial_to_Holodomor_victims%22
4А Lavrska St
Arsenalna Metro Station
The deepest metro station in the world.
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Toilet History Museum
A quirky collection flush with information on commode culture from ancient times to modern day.
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Holodomor Memorial
An easily overlooked memorial to a Ukrainian famine-genocide that killed over 4 million people.
Added by R Stemple
Boston Irish Famine Memorial
Dedicated to one of the darkest moments in Irish history, this memorial has faced its fair share of backlash.
Karl-Marx-Monument
One of the largest busts in the world celebrates the German city's erstwhile namesake.
Added by derWaliser
Kyiv Crematorium
This oddly shaped building is a surprising Soviet-era crematorium.
Added by hrnick
Gastro Obscura Newsletter
Dispatches on the world’s most wondrous food and drink, delivered twice a week.
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Warren Dance
The Complete Radio Series
By: Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt
Narrated by: Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt
Length: 3 hrs
The Mighty Boosh is unlike any show you are ever likely to hear, and one that defies description; the closest you could get to the unique style of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding would be in the early days of Reeves and Mortimer, with their cardboard props and men with sticks.
Beautiful nonsense from my favourite duo
By Tanya K. on 14-03-18
As good as the TV series
Reviewed: 23-07-15
I was sceptical to begin with, being their earliest work on The Boosh and delivered only through audio, I was worried it wouldn't be as good. I was wrong, the quality in banter, bizarreness and catchy songs make it equally as entertaining as the TV series. Lots of reviews state the story closely relates to the series, however to me it felt like the majority of it was unique and fresh, but maybe that's the audio giving a different spin on the experience. I only now wish they'd done more.
Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete Fifth Season
By: Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant, Karl Pilkington
Narrated by: Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant, Karl Pilkington
The record-breaking, chart-topping comedy phenomenon returns for a fifth season - all four episodes are here as a single download. Ricky Gervais, of course, is the award-winning co-creator and star of The Office and Extras. Steve Merchant, who also stars in Extras, is his long-time creative partner. Karl is a pile of protoplasm that mimics the functions of a human being.
Listening to this makes life worth living!
By Karen on 21-12-08
The worst of the 5, still worth every penny!
This strips away all regular features and moves away from just probing Karl's imagination. Ricky and Steve take time to tell their own stories, and while still great, its maybe the least timeless of all 5 series. Still, anything the trio touch is 5-star material, so don't be put off.
The Podfather Trilogy - Season Four of The Ricky Gervais Show
By: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington
Here are three special episodes of The Ricky Gervais Show, featuring those doyens of the medium, the eponymous multi-award winning Ricky Gervais; Steve Merchant ( The Office, Extras); and the round-headed idiot savant, Karl Pilkington.
Packs a punch despite length
By Warren Dance on 17-05-15
One of the shortest series, but in my opinion, one of the funniest and most original yet. Fairly cheap so good value for money so stands its one as one of the best from all 5 series.
Ricky Gervais Show
The Complete Second Season
It's the complete second season of The Ricky Gervais Show - six episodes in one tidy package. It's packed full of all-new drivel, as Ricky and Steve Merchant forage through the long grass of Karl Pilkington's brain.
Five-star Drivel
By J. Shepherd on 30-04-06
Half the episodes, just as much fun!
Although coming in at only half the episodes of season 1, its still well worth the money. Never a dull moment and nonsense that keeps you in a happy mood regardless of how badly your day is going!
Were you one of the several people on Earth who didn't catch every historic episode of the most-downloaded podcast ever? Or maybe you treasured every golden moment and want to preserve it for future generations? Now, all 12 episodes of The Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete First Season are here in one package that's far tidier than Karl Pilkington's thought processes.
By Kimberley on 12-12-06
The podcasts that started it all...
Of all the series (besides maybe the guide to's) this one contains the most content for your money. In terms of what it contains, its fairly consistent across all 5 series. If you're new to Ricky, Karl or Podcasts as a whole, this is where you should start.
The Xfm Vault: The Best of the Ricky Gervais Show with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington
From the Radio Show Where it All Started
Narrated by: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkington
It's the third and final instalment of our best bits of the Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm. More drivel from the Ricky, Stephen, and Karl from the 3rd series.
No rockbusters!
By AudiobookDevotee on 13-07-17
Another priceless hour!
Not as good as Volume 2 in terms of value for money, but still a classic hour of pure genius.
The XFM Vault
The Best of The Ricky Gervais Show with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, Volume 2
By: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkingson
Narrated by: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Karl Pilkingson
The Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm is where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first met Karl Pilkington. The trio, who have been talking drivel ever since, later went on to create one of the most downloaded podcasts in history.
Perfect for lovers of the Podcast
By Rob on 08-11-17
The most value for money of all 3 volumes
Three times the length and much more variety in content than the other 2 volumes, this one would be the best choice if the whole collection wasn't an option. Educating Ricky alone makes this a must buy!
The Ricky Gervais Show on Xfm is where Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant first met Karl Pilkington. The trio have been talking drivel ever since....
Don't be conned
By M on 01-04-09
Not the best but a damn good taste
Obviously not the best of the original XFM shows, consisting of only chatter and none of Karl's game shows. However loses no stars since the content is still amazing.
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Author: Lincoln Child
Abridged: 5 hr 43 min
Genre: Fiction - Suspense
Fasten your seat belts–the white-knuckle thrills at Utopia, the world’s most fantastic theme park, escalate to nightmare proportions in this intricately imagined techno-thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lincoln Child.
Rising out of the stony canyons of Nevada, Utopia is a world on the cutting edge of technology. A theme park attracting 65,000 visitors each day, its dazzling array of robots and futuristic holograms make it a worldwide sensation. But ominous mishaps are beginning to disrupt the once flawless technology. A friendly robot goes haywire, causing panic, and a popular roller coaster malfunctions, nearly killing a teenaged rider. Dr. Andrew Warne, the brilliant computer engineer who designed much of the park’s robotics, is summoned from the East Coast to get things back on track.
On the day Warne arrives, however, Utopia is caught in the grip of something far more sinister. A group of ruthless criminals has infiltrated the park’s computerized infrastructure, giving them complete access to all of Utopia’s attractions and systems. Their communication begins with a simple and dire warning: If their demands are met, none of the 65,000 people in the park that day will ever know they were there; if not, chaos will descend, and every man, woman, and child will become a target. As one of the brains behind Utopia, Warne finds himself thrust into a role he never imagined–trying to save the lives of thousands of innocent people. And as the minutes tick away, Warne’s struggle to outsmart his opponents grows ever more urgent, for his only daughter is among the unsuspecting crowds in the park.
Lincoln Child evokes the technological wonders of Utopia with such skill and precision it is hard to believe the park exists only in the pages of this extraordinary book. Like Jurassic Park, Utopia sweeps readers into a make-believe world of riveting suspense, technology, and adventure.
UTOPIA -- Where technology dazzles–and then turns deadly!
AN HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMY ADAMSFROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GONE GIRLFresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her ti...
Narrator: Ann Marie Lee
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of...
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Deception Point
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno—now a major film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones—comes a lightning-fast thriller about an astonishing NASA ...
Narrator: Richard Poe,Boyd Gaines
The explosive Robert Langdon thriller from Dan Brown, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code and Inferno—now a major film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones.An ancient secret brotherhood. A ...
Narrator: Richard Poe
An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town...
Narrator: Will Patton
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solv...
Now a major motion picture Stephen King’s terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, “a landmark in American literature” (Chicago Sun-Times)—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they ...
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Mercedes-Benz Museum contains world record artificial tornado
The Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany is now home to more than just automobiles. The museum has been recognized by the Guinness Book of Records for creating the "strongest artificially generated tornado in the world." The 34.4 meter high (that is 37.2 yards to those metrically challenged) vortex was not designed as an attraction, but to channel smoke out of the building in the event of a fire. The architecture wonderment that is the museum did not
Merritt Johnson
Auto museum takes different approach to visitors
Chris Shunk
Harley-Davidson museum planned
Motorcycle company Harley-Davidson has announced plans to build a museum in its hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Construction is to commence some time this spring.
Joel Arellano
Zagato: Collectibles and Design since 1919
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
Petersen Automotive Museum exhibit Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory
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Home News HUNGER FOR GLORY: Bradford brings home 19 world championship medals
HUNGER FOR GLORY: Bradford brings home 19 world championship medals
A kickboxing and fitness centre in Bradford achieved a whopping 19 medals at the Iska World Championships held in Ireland last month.
Physical Impact Kickboxing and Fitness Centre, run by Mohammed Shaban, has in the past eight years trained and prepared their students for not only national championships but also the world championships.
At the World Championships in Ireland in 2017 Shaban’s students brought back eight gold medals. Then in 2018 at the World Championships held in Jamaica, his team brought back nine medals including five Gold medals.
Following the Centre’s success, Shaban decided it was time for his young fighters to take the stage again for the Iska World Championships, held in Ireland this year, where 21 countries participated.
In preparation Shaban drew up an intense 12-week training camp.
Shaban prepared his young fighters both mentally and physically for the challenge ahead. His students were subscribed to a gruelling training regime twice-a-day, five-days-a-week. This included early morning rises.
Shaban comments: “At the Iska World Championships I was dealing with a roller coaster of emotions from within as a coach. Over the two full days of competing my task was to keep the fighters balanced and focused on the task. I also had my very first junior fight team.
“It was finally over with an amazing week in Ireland.
“What an unbelievable achievement it was! From all the fighters who battled hard we achieved 19 World championship medals, which included six gold medals, eight silver medals and five bronze medals.
“They’ve done both the club and country proud!
“There were some really tough opponents to beat in order to earn each podium place,”adds a very proud Shaban.
“Our competitors achieved this through their dedication to their training.
“Yes, they achieved their medals through training and coaching, but the parents and friends who supported them played a very crucial part.”
The Kickboxing centre has over 150 students all at different levels with different needs
Shaban ensures that he can provide bespoke training for his students. This includes a range of specific programmes targeted at different age groups, starting from the adorable baby ninjas (for three to six-year-olds), followed by juniors aged between seven and 12.
The Active Teens programme is suitable for youngsters aged between 13 to 17.
The Centre also offers girls and ladies-only sessions in a range of Martial Arts which include, kickboxing, boxing and fitness classes.
And if Shaban wasn’t busy enough, he is also the England Coach and attends national squad training with selected students from the UK.
“I’ve had great feedback from students, parents and also schools about the benefits which children and adults have received having joined my centre,” adds Shaban.
“People have not only benefited by improving their health and well-being, but also fitness improvement, healthy weight loss, and overall body tone up and flexibility, to name a few.
“Children and teens and some adults also benefit from life skills such as developing communication skills, building confidence, team work and leadership.”
Parents have praised the Centre for the improvement in their children’s confidence, discipline, focus and commitment.
The Centre is committed to serving the community and youths to build a better future, working alongside other organisations, within the local area to achieve this.
As a result of the growing interest in the sport and popularity in Physical Impact Shaban has opened a second centre, which is run by a former student and world medallist Kamran Hussain at Khidmat Centre in BD7. This is also proving to be very popular with over 50 students signed up in a few months.
Shaban will continue to coach and support his students and will now look forward to preparing them for the world championships which will be held in Orlando Florida in 2020.
You can find further details on:
Facebook @Physical Impact Kickboxing
Instragram @phyisicalimpactkickboxing
E-mail: physicalimpactkickboxing@hotmail.com
You can telephone Shaban on 07400016416 at Physical Impact Kickboxing and Fitness Centre is based at 182 Harris Street BD1 5JA. You can also call Kamran on 07533561030 at Khidmat Centre, 36 Spencer Road, BD7 2EU for further details.
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The Generations Sponsored by Infinitus Wins Third Place of Its Division in China Cup International Regatta 2017
PR Newswire Asia
SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Generations, a sailing team sponsored by Infinitus (China) Company Ltd., a member of LKK Health Products Group won third place of the HKPN division-Class A in the 11th China Cup International Regatta held from October 26 to 29.
The Generations Wins 3rd Place of Its Division in the China Cup International Regatta
This year, sailboats from 11 racing divisions competed in four race courses around Daya Bay near Shenzhen. The Generations led by Mr. Eddy Lee, a member of the fourth generation of the Lee Kum Kee Family, participated in 8 sailing races during the four-day regatta, including the one-day 13 nautical miles' Simpson Marine passage race from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, and the three-day inshore races with an average distance of 5 nautical miles.
Group Photo of the Sailing Team Generations
The competition was fierce. Some competitive teams in the HKPN division had participated in China Cup for several years. In spite of ranking sixth in the first-day passage race, the Generations didn't give up. After three days of continuous endeavors, it caught up and finally won their prize in their debut in the China Cup.
Mr. Eddy Lee said, the regatta was a positive and healthy sport, and this high-end sporting event could be a great way to showcase the innovative and enterprising brand spirit of Infinitus. He also explained that the name of the sailboat indicated that the Family would be passed down for generations with spirit of constant entrepreneurship preserved in mind. This is also the interpretation of the Family Spirit.
Infinitus Sponsors the Generations
The unpredictability of the regatta is a test of endurance, wisdom and courage of sailors. No matter in the rapidly changing business world or in the regatta full of strong competitors, the spirit of entrepreneurship is always upheld by the Lee Kum Kee Family and its diversified businesses to overcome challenges and discover new possibilities.
About China Cup International Regatta (www.chncup.com)
The China Cup International Regatta was established in 2007. It has been listed on the World Sailing (formerly ISAF) calendar since 2010, and awarded the Asian Regatta of the Year 5 times. As the first international big boat regatta in Chinese history, the China Cup has evolved as the most influential sailing event across the Asia-Pacific region after 11 years' development.
About LKK Health Products Group (www.lkkhpg.com)
LKK Health Products Group, a Hong Kong-based corporation, was established by the Lee Kum Kee Family in 1992. The Group operates diversified businesses in Chinese herbal health products, property investment, Chinese herbs plantation and trading, and venture capital for startups. The trademarks of the Group include "Infinitus", "Tianfangjian", and "Happiness Capital".
Follow us on Facebook by searching for: lkkhpg
Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171030/1977964-1-a
Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171030/1977964-1-b
Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20171030/1977964-1-c
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A Sophisticated Noise
“The critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising.” – Pauline Kael
Before the Age of Exploitation
Nicola Jones March 1, 2017 No Comments
Christine (2017)
D: Antonio Campos. W: Craig Shilowich. DP: Joe Anderson. Starring: Rebecca Hall/Michael C. Hall/Tracey Letts/Maria Dizzia/J. Smith-Cameron/Timothy Simons/Kim Shaw/John Cullum.
Last month saw some sleeper releases. Hidden gems amid the flurry of Oscars season. With heads clearing from Sunday night’s madness we might be finally able to get back into what’s on at the cinema.
Christine premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival then did a festival run with a quiet release in the fall in the U.S. and now in the U.K. A chapter biopic concentrating on the weeks of its subjects life, Christine is the story of Christine Chubbuck. A twenty-nine year old Sarasota, FL based news reporter, Chubbuck committed suicide via gunpoint on air in July 1974.
The event is relatively unknown as the internet, home TV recording or viral news did not exist back then. Chubbuck’s last news report remains hidden and unwatchable, protected by those who cared for her. British actress Rebecca Hall steps in as Chubbuck. A glossy long dark wig and fiercer eyebrows gives Hall a specific 70s look that is complimented by the muted yellowy tones of the film. Hall gives an intense performance swinging between hyper emotionality and deceptive control. The film can only scratch the service of a woman who was clearly at war within herself. A war fueled by her drive, personal inadequacies, love, and health.
Hall is supported by a strong cast in Michael C. Hall as fellow news anchor George and an acting turn from playwright Tracy Letts as station head Michael. Maria Dizzia shines as Chubbuck’s work friend Jean who, along with Chubbuck’s mother, get the brunt of her turmoil. Although she does have a brother, he is not represented in the film. It is a shame Christine did not get a wider release as its success lies in the fact that it grips you even though you know its lead’s fate. It begs its modern audience to rethink sensationalized news, exploitation, and click bait in the age of the digital. In a time where our world, especially the U.S., is attacking its media here is a woman caught in the middle of a previous time trying to assert integrity and human interest into news. If anything a reminder of the great strides we still need to make in the world of mental health.
As the industry seems to love competing projects, also at Sundance last year was a documentary entitled Kate Plays Christine. Unable to get any consent from family members or former TV station colleagues, the documentary deals with access to the real subject and an actress trying to portray her. Yet the fictionalized Christine allows director Antonio Campos greater freedom to explore universities of his subjects pain and takes step to create the context for her story. Chubbuck’s fanatical drive is a clear ironic precursor to the 1976 Sidney Lumet film, Network. A great piece of independent filmmaking, go see Christine if you can.
Category : Feature Film Reviews
Tags: biography, biopic, christine, christine chubbuck, exploitation, media, mental health, michael c. hall, network, rebecca hall, suicide, sundance, sundance festival, sundance film festival, television, television news, tv, tv news
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E0[0 oto
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 | Self Energy
Hence, the S-matrix may be calculated from U'j, which has no vacuum bubbles. The removal of the vacuum bubbles does not change any physics because vacuum bubbles contribute only to an overall phase, which is unobservable.
11.5 VACUUM POLARIZATION
Now consider the fifth term in Eq. (11.30). This contributes to the self-energy of a photon and is referred to as the vacuum polarization. The relevant Feynman diagram is given in Fig. 11.8. From our experience so far, we expect the Feynman diagram to give the following integral:
' d*p 7j.q.e3/ [m+ j>]a,a 7la0t\ [m+ j> -(27r)4 [m - p2 - ie] [m2 - (p - q)2 - ie]
d4p tr
This result is almost correct. The correct result includes an extra minus sign which is associated with every closed fermion loop and gives us another Feynman rule:
Rule 6: for each closed fermion loop, a minus sign.
To derive this result, with the correct sign, compute the matrix element of the fifth term in Eq. (11.30):
P2-ie la0
The photon matrix element gives (q'€f\:AHxl)Ai(x2):\q€i) =
s/2iTI^L3
The two terms come from the two possible pairings of annihilation and creation operators in : A A: . The rest of the integrand is symmetric under i <-> j, x\ <-> x2, and p <-> p', because the trace can be cyclically rearranged. Hence the two terms
11.5 VACUUM POLARIZATION 341
Fig. 11.9 Three diagrams which contribute to the dressed photon propagator.
Hence Z3 removes the infinity contained in 11^(0), and its removal from the theory will eliminate the infinities associated with vacuum polarization.
The constant Z3 is absorbed into the charge, just as was done with Z2 for the electron. There must be one charge at the end of each photon line, and hence sfZl is absorbed into each charge (in this case it is only because only one photon is connected to each charge). Therefore the result [Eq. (11.54)] for charge renormalization gets extended to
However, we have still not finished with charge renormalization!
Finally, external photons must be renormalized in the same way as electrons, giving us an addition to Rule 8:
Rule 8: for each external photon, a factor eM or \fZ~z e'1 * depending on whether or not the photon is incoming or outgoing.
We close this discussion with a final observation. For j<j2 small, after removal of Z3, the dressed photon propagator becomes (see the next section)
For electron scattering, the momentum transfers q2 are negative, and hence we see that the effective force between charged particles which are scattering increases with higher energy (momentum transfer) corresponding to an increase in the force
at shorter distances. This can be restated by saying that the effective charge at short distances (high momentum transfer) grows. To get a quantitative estimate of the importance of this effect on atomic systems, expand ( 11.75) for q2 - -q2,
157Tjn2
Fourier transforming this to momentum space gives the familiar Coulomb potential plus the Uehling term,
-Ze2
Anr 607T27n2
Note that this affects S-states only, and contributes to the Lamb shift which we estimated in Chapter 3. It is of the opposite sign, contributing about -27 MHz to the overall shift of about 1058 MHz. Since the Lamb shift is known to about 0.01 MHz, this effect makes a small but important contribution to the total, and the overall agreement between theory and experiment confirms the correctness of this estimate.
In QCD, other terms due to gluon self-interactions contribute to the gluon self-energy. These terms change the sign of the corresponding n-function, giving the result that the effective coupling constant decreases at short distances (high momentum transfer). This leads to the remarkable property of QCD known as asymptotic freedom, in which the forces go to zero at high energy. It also suggests that the forces will increase at high distances (low energy) and hence suggests onfinement. These very interesting subjects will be taken up in Chapter 17.
We now discuss the evaluation of the loop integral (11.67).
11.6 LOOP INTEGRALS AND DIMENSIONAL REGULARIZARON
In this section we develop a general method which can be used to evaluate any one-loop Feynman integral. The method will be extended in Sec. 16.2 to the evaluation of Feynman integrals with more than one loop, and with these techniques we will be able to evaluate all Feynman diagrams. All of the formulae needed are summarized in Appendix C.
A general one-loop Feynman integral (in four space-time dimensions) is of the following form:
where the Ai are the denominators of Feynman propagators [cf. Eq. (11.36) for the electron self-energy and Eq. (11.67) for the vacuum polarization] and N is a numerator function which is a polynomial in the loop momentum k^. The calculation of this Feynman integral is carried out in two steps.
11.6 LOOP INTEGRALS AND DIMENSIONAL REGULARIZATION 343
• The different denominators are combined into a single denominator, and the combined denominator is reduced to standard form by translating, or shifting, the internal loop momentum.
• The integral is then evaluated using an integral identity. The first step makes use of identities of the form which are easily proved by direct integration. The integration variables Zi are referred to as Feynman parameters. The two identities (11.79) are the only two we will need in this chapter, but a completely general identity which covers any case which might be encountered is proven in Sec. 16.2, and given in Appendix
To complete the reduction to standard form (the first step), it is necessary to observe that the combined denominator D always has the form where k is the internal loop momentum and Q is a vector function of the external momenta and the Feynman parameters. This form follows from the observation that each of the individual propagators in the loop is itself of the form At — m2 + k ■ qi - k2, so that when they are combined as in Eq. (11.80), the k2 term has the coefficient z\ 4- z2 + (1 - Z\ - z2) = 1. This holds for a loop with any number of propagators. Thus the square of the denominator can always be completed by shifting k = k' + Q, which gives
This shift must also be carried out in the numerator N, which assumes the general form
N = No + k'^ + k'^N^+k^k'XNr+k'tik'X^NrX + - ■ ■ . (11-82)
where the N' are tensors which do not depend on k'. Since the denominator is even in k' (in fact, it depends on k'2 only), all of the odd terms reduce to zero and the even ones can be simplified using identities we will introduce shortly.
D - A\z\ + A2z2 + ^3(1 - zi - z2) = B2 + 2k-Q - k2 ,
After step one has been completed, we are confronted with an integral of the following form:
where n is an integer and we will assume for now that the numerator N is independent of k. We will assume that there are no zeros in the denominator for finite fc2, and consider the convergence of the integral at large k. If n > 2, the integral will converge, but we will encounter many cases when n < 2, and the integral is divergent (the vacuum polarization and electron self-energies are examples where n = 2). The general method for treating these divergent integrals is to imagine that we are evaluating them in a number of space-time dimensions d < 4. In this case, the volume integration goes like ddk ~ kd, but the denominator still goes like fc2n, so the integral will converge as long as d < 2n. As d —» 4, the singularity returns, but it is easily identified and isolated into a renormalization constant, as we have already discussed briefly, and the finite part of the integral is then clearly defined. The process of separating the integral into its finite and infinite parts is referred to as regularization and must be done before the infinity can be removed by absorbing it into the coupling constants of the theory, a process referred to as renormalization. The general procedure for renormalizing theories is discussed in some detail in Chapter 16; in this chapter we introduce these ideas using second order QED as an example.
The integral (11.83) can be evaluated using the following identity:
where d is the number of dimensions (as discussed above) and T(a) is the familiar generalization of the factorial function with T(q) = (a - l)r(a - 1) and r(l) = 1. For a = n, an integer, r(n) = (n - 1)!, but T(q) is also defined for noninteger values of a. A convenient integral representation for T which we will use frequently is*
We will use this representation to prove (11.84).
Proof: We begin with the observation that
A good reference for special functions is Abramowitz and Stegun (1964).
11.6 LOOP INTEGRALS AND DIMENSIONAL REGULARIZATION This identity is easily proved by direct integration:
Jo dz e
Note the crucial role played by the "ie" prescription; it defines the integral in (11.86) by providing convergence for large z and plays a similar role by defining the function at any singular points D2 = 0.
The identity (11.86) is now generalized by differentiating both sides n - 1 times with respect to C2:
Next, we integrate (11.87) over k using the following identities, which hold because 2 > 0, dk I
These integrals may be evaluated using well-known methods for integrating functions in the complex plane. Initially, the integrals are along the real axis in the complex k0 (or k\) plane. To evaluate the first integral, rotate the k0 contour through a positive angle 0. Then ko —► re!c?, and k^ = r2 e21^ = r2 (cos 20 + ¿sin20), so that the integral converges as long as 7r/2 > 0 > 0 (and the contribution from the arc at ko — oo is zero). At 0 = 7r/4 = 45° we have optimal convergence:
,ik0z in/4
2TU/Z
For the dfcj integral, convergence requires rotating by 0 = — 7t/4, giving the opposite sign for i.
For an integral with one time dimension and d — 1 space dimensions, the combined effect of the identities (11.88) is stated in the following identity:
ddk (27r)d
Jk z
To prove this identity, note that in d dimensions, k2 — - and ddk =
dk0 nti dki. Hence the integral factors into d terms,
which proves (11.90).
Finally, combining the results (11.87) and (11.90) gives the result
Scaling this integral by substituting t — iz(C2 - it) gives f ** i _ - w1 yd/2 rtfrMf-.
However, the integral over t is just the integral representation for T(n - ci/2), Eq. (11.85), and hence the identity (11.84) has been proved. I
Before returning to our discussion of vacuum polarization, observe that the integral over the vector components of k can be quickly reduced using the results we have previously obtained. We will show that
_ jgV r(n - 1 - d/2) /J_\ n-l~d'2 __2(4tr)d/2 r (n) VC2 J
To prove this, first note that terms with ^ v are zero because they are odd under changing kM —* -fcM (or kv —* -k"). For the ^ = v terms, assume that C2 is real and positive, and note that the singularities in the k0 complex plane are therefore in the second and fourth quadrants:
Hence we may rotate the k0 integration contour as we did above by letting k0 = re1* and changing (j> continuously from 0 to 7t/2. This changes —» -kfi, and the resulting integral is transformed from a d-dimensional Minkowski space* to a
* A Minkowski space is one with an indefinite metric (in our example the diagonal elements of the metric are +1,-1,-1,-1 in d = 4 dimensions). The rotation of the fco contour has the effect of changing the metric to a Euclidean form: -1,-1,—1,-1.
(¿-dimensional Euclidean space, where the integrand is completely symmetric in all components of k, and from this symmetry we can conclude that k^k" —► k2/d. Rotating back to Minkowski space changes the sign of the term on both sides, giving the first line of the identity (11.93).
To get the second, we use the properties of the T-function, as follows
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Pepperdine University - Graziadio Business School - M.S. in Global Business
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BID Leicester
BID Projects
What is a BID?
Voluntary Levy Scheme
Offers & Trails
Six new Give Leicester points launched to help raise money for Winter Night Shelter
People wanting to donate at Give Leicester contactless donation points to help homeless people can now do so at six more locations in the city.
The new contactless donation points were launched on Wednesday 18 December, bringing the total number of giving points in the city to 15.
The new Give Leicester donation points are located at: The Exchange Bar, Baxter’s Bakery on Queens Road, Cocoa Amore, Marks & Spencer and Shires Lane. A sixth point at University of Leicester Charles Wilson Building will be up and running for when students return from their Christmas break.
Give Leicester contactless donation points were first launched in the city in November, thanks to a partnership between BID Leicester, Leicester City Council and Leicester Homelessness Charter to help make giving to people who are homeless easy and secure.
Almost £2,700 has been raised by the public since the contactless donation points were launched, with BID Leicester and Leicester City Council covering all transaction costs to ensure that 100% of the money donated goes to the One Roof Winter Night Shelter.
The Give Leicester donation points are small, contactless terminals, which enable people to make a £3 donation simply by tapping their card or smartphone. Donations go to One Roof Winter Night Shelter, which provides additional emergency accommodation and food during the coldest months of the year.
In addition to the new locations, Give Leicester donation points can be found at Clockwise Credit Union on Jubilee Square, Greggs Gallowtree Gate, St Martin’s Coffee, McDonalds East Gates, McDonalds Market Street, De Montfort University, De Montfort Hall and Knighton Library.
Simon Jenner, BID Leicester Director, said, “We’re really proud of the Give Leicester initiative, which has already raised a significant amount of money to help vulnerable people on the streets of Leicester. Increasing the number of contactless giving points will allow even more people the opportunity to donate whilst being safe in the knowledge that 100% of their money is going to the Winter Night Shelter. I want to thank all the businesses who have agreed to host the contactless donation points – it’s great to see businesses getting involved in a scheme that gives back to the local community.”
McDonalds East Gates has been the most used giving point to date, raising £585. Angus Fraser, Franchise Owner at McDonalds, said, “It’s fantastic to be able to work with BID Leicester and the Leicester Homelessness Charter to be involved in this scheme. The campaign has really resonated with local people and I’m proud that McDonalds customers have given generously in support of this cause.”
As well as money donated by the public, the Give Leicester scheme has received a donation of £945 from Leicester-based company LoyalFree, and £6,408 from visitors to Museum of the Moon at Leicester Cathedral. This brings the campaign total to £10,045.
The public can continue to support the Winter Night Shelter as they shop locally by downloading the LoyalFree app – for every loyalty stamp collected, the company will donate 1p to the cause.
The Give Leicester initiative also supports a website listing over 75 organisations in the city that offer support services for homeless people in a bid to educate both vulnerable people and the wider public on the services already available in the city.
Find out more about the Give Leicester donation points, a directory of services available to people who are homeless and information about the Leicester Homelessness Charter at giveleicester.org
BID Leicester supports extra cleaning for city centre streets
Give Leicester chosen as De Montfort Hall pantomime charity
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BID LEICESTER is led by businesses for businesses and as a result is informed by consultation and feedback from the business community. The proposal will be based on your opinions and therefore information can change.
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How Lean Manufacturing Eliminates Waste in Industrial Environments
By Rob Sullivan, President and CEO, AutoGuide Mobile Robots
The mobile robot proliferation is an extension of lean manufacturing principles. Whether labor savings are from tugger application or with fork attachments, reliable navigation that requires no magnetic tape or RFID tags to guide its way safely through a facility, the growth the automonous environment is unstoppable.
The two primary prongs of lean manufacturing eliminate waste and continuous process improvement are quantified in the manufacturing and distribution sectors by reduced walk time, improved safety, and zero-defect production.
Lean manufacturing or lean production is a systematic method for waste minimization ("Muda") within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity. Lean methodologies consider waste created through overburden ("Muri") and waste created through unevenness in workloads ("Mura"). Working from the perspective of the client who consumes a product or service, "value" is any action or process for which a customer would be willing to pay.
Lean manufacturing makes obvious what adds value, by reducing everything else (which is not adding value). This management philosophy is derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) and identified as "lean" only in the 1990s. TPS is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota seven wastes to improve overall customer value, but there are varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker has focused attention on how it has achieved this success.
A great example of that is highlighted by Toyota Alabama President David Fernandes for transforming a difficult job into a simple automated task.
Flexibility and Reliability Ensures Continuous Process Improvement
For materials handling, whether autonomous mobile robots or Industry 4.0 initiatives, the requirement of flexible programming of AGVs and mobile robots requires a modular design. The design should allow for different vehicle and load handling frame configurations to accommodate specific handling needs including the driver platform trail frame and tiller handle controls, straddle, or counterbalance fork attachments and various unit-load attachments such as conveyors and lift decks.
The SurePath guidance system works in both manufacturing and warehouse environments. Users drive a vehicle through the facility to map the environment and teach it the anticipated routes. The mapping data is automatically uploaded wirelessly to a single PC or server where it can be modified and integrated for the precise operation including pick-drop points, intersection control, and the preferred routing logic.
The system controls traffic and monitors the status and exact location of each vehicle in real-time. It can also be connected to wearables, line-side pushbuttons, sensors and a WMS (Warehouse Management System) for automatic dispatching and order functions. Routes are easily modified by simply drawing a different path on a user interface and sending it to the vehicles. To expand the system into other parts of the facility, users map the new area with one of the vehicles and add the desired path.
The vehicle travels up to 4 MPH and performs precise reversing maneuvers to accommodate automatic trailer hitching and unhitching functions, loads up to 10,000 pounds seamlessly with no magnetic tape or RFID tags required, making installation and modifications more flexible and at a lower cost.
Other standard features include opportunity charging to keep the vehicles running 24/7, and a color touchscreen monitor for operator interface.
Made in the USA and Ready to Deliver
One of the lean principles is deeply challenged among some of the leading contenders in the AGV mobile robot space. Few are “Made in the USA” and few maintain rapid delivery models, causing customers delivery time of vehicles from 90 to 180 days. The lost productivity and throughput data will fall short if the product cannot be delivered in a timely manner, 30 days maximum, and will also delay the ROI realization.
Rob Sullivan, AutoGuide Mobile Robots’ (www.autoguideagvs.com) President and CEO is a robotics and automation leader with a track record of pioneering products. With over thirty years of career advancement in high technology companies ranging from burgeoning start-ups to established multinational corporations, he holds forty-six patents pertaining to robotics and automation utilized in manufacturing, distribution, and logistics. Sullivan can be reached at [email protected].
Advancing Automation using IIoT and Industry 4.0 Concepts, Factory Automation, Manufacturing Operations Management, Plant & Asset Management, Robots & Robot Controllers, Sensors & Industrial I/O, Systems Integration
Automating Competitive Pricing for Small and Medium Manufacturers
By Mike Franz, ManufacturingPower
Every manufacturer must pay attention to costs and competitors’ pricing. For better or worse, purchasing...
How Good Is Your Digital Transformation Peer Group?
By Mike Guilfoyle, ARC Advisory Group
Digitally transformed organizations will be able to transition to and thrive in digital economies, making...
Taking an Incremental, Multi-Stage Approach When Upgrading Aging DCS Systems
By Stephen Armstrong, Freelance Industrial Writer
With some DCS systems now decades old, system users often know they need to upgrade but find the...
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I Really Tried Hard to Avoid This Story
Those who read this blog regularly know I like any story that is out there a bit – I like topics that are off the beaten path of the usual aviation stories we read daily.
Recently, a story broke that was so far out there, I knew I'd have to chain myself to the wall to avoid blogging about it. Well, turns out I couldn't resist...in a nutshell, it goes something like this:
A woman in Texas was trying to board an airplane in Lubbock when her nipple rings lit off the TSA's scanning equipment, and she was pulled from the line. While she says male TSA agents snickered from the other side of the curtain that hid her from view, the woman was forced to use pliers to remove one of the rings, an experience she called "a nightmare." After removal of the metal rings, she was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she is reported to still have been wearing a belly button ring. The TSA is investigating the incident, and the woman has retained California power attorney Gloria Allred to pursue possible legal action.
According to the TSA web site, they do make it pretty clear that body piercings are not allowed:
"Hidden items such as body piercings may result in your being directed to additional screening for a pat-down inspection. If selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to the pat-down search."
But let's be real here. There is a place for hard and fast rules, and a place for common sense and reality:
All that needed to happen here was for the woman to go behind a curtain with a female TSA agent, show the agent her non-lethal nipple rings, and be done with it. I can get on the plane with a key ring after the jagged metal keys have gone through the scanner in the tray, and we all know KEYS can be used as weapons if held between your fingers in just the right way...so says a million self-defense sites like this one. So what did the TSA think this woman was going to do with her firmly-implanted nipple rings anyway? Any speculation here would ruin my blog's PG rating.
Airport security remains a very good idea, but the implementation of it by the notoriously inept TSA keeps shooting the idea in the foot. Our U.S. air travel system has become a laughing stock around the world, and the TSA keeps working overtime to keep that reputation alive. When you look around the Internets at last week's headlines about Nipple Ring-Gate, it is hard not to just see how stupid this incident makes the TSA seem to the public:
It starts with a nice, simple and straight-forward head from the Student Operated Press, via AP:
TSA 'agents' force Woman to Remove Nipple Rings with Pliers
But Wonkette gets a little more in your face:
Terrorists Make Lady Rip Off Nipple Piercings to Board Plane
A Political blog in the L.A. Times asks:
The politics of nipple rings: Where do Clinton and Obama really stand?
CNN heads their story with the obvious:
Nipple ring search procedures faulty, TSA admits
The New York Post SHOUTS this:
'NIP' SNIP AIR TRAUMA
And a site called the LAist, posted an alert more dangerous then the rings themselves:
Alert: Nipple Rings a Danger at Airports
I could go on all night, the heads just get more outrageous with each scroll down The Google's news results page.
Bottom line: This incident was uncalled for, it was shameful, and the TSA needs to be trained to not let this happen again. Because while they were distracted by wasting time embarrassing this poor woman to tears, can they really be absolutely sure someone that actually posed a legitimate threat to the passengers didn't slip by under their snickering noses?
Gulfstream G650:
[Almost] Faster Then
a Speeding Bullet
To the non-aviator eye, it might be true that most bizjets look alike. But for those who troll the tarmac appreciating expensive flying hardware, there's Gulfstream, and then there's everything else. In the world of the uber-elite, nothing shouts "bucks up" quite like an arrival in a Gulfstream.
And in a market sector that is so wildly competitive despite a slumping world economy, the fight for performance supremacy keeps creeping up to higher levels. Recently, Gulfstream announced their latest attempt to raise that bar to scary new heights:
"Gulfstream Aerospace has announced the introduction of an all-new business jet: the Gulfstream G650. The G650 offers the longest range, fastest speed, largest cabin and the most-advanced cockpit in the Gulfstream fleet. It is capable of traveling 7,000 nautical miles at 0.85 Mach or 5,000 nautical miles at 0.90 Mach. Using an advanced aerodynamic design, the G650 has a maximum operating speed of 0.925 Mach, which will make it the fastest civil aircraft flying. It can climb to a maximum altitude of 51,000 feet, allowing it to avoid airline-traffic congestion and adverse weather."
For those of you without a calculator handy, that Maximum Operating Speed of 0.925 Mach works out to be 704.116 MPH, just shy of that magic threshold of 770 MPH, which we know to be the speed of sound. Yes, friends, with a slight tailwind up there at FL510 – and with the throttles firewalled – it is conceivable that a bizjet full of CEOs returning from a golf vacation on Maui might actually POP THE SOUND BARRIER as they blast eastbound over California.
The G650 is some kind of ride, and is priced just north of $58.5 million. That's a lot of cash, but you get a seriously fast machine:
"The G650 is powered by the new Rolls-Royce BR725 engine, which produces 16,100 pounds of thrust at take-off. The BR725, in combination with the new, high-efficiency thrust-reverser system and an all-new aerodynamically optimized wing, means the G650 can meet the latest take-off certification requirements, has excellent “hot and high” performance and offers outstanding intercontinental range. For example, the G650 can travel the 6,370 nautical miles from Dubai to Chicago 88 minutes faster than existing long-range jets. It shaves 31 minutes off the 4,788-nautical-mile trip from Los Angeles to London and 50 minutes off the 5,932-mile trip from New York to Tokyo."
One of the best things I can say about the G650 is that this wonderful jet will have "Made in the USA" stamped on it's data plate:
The G650 will be produced in the recently completed 308,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at Gulfstream in Savannah.
I believe that is reason enough to buy a G650...U.S. jobs. Not that any other major players in the bizjet game are offshoring their jet manufacturing yet...they are not. But in these tricky economic times, it is always reason to celebrate any time a big corporation announces a hefty new project that will be built in the USA.
So now, the only questions remains: How the hell can I convince the CFO that our aviation ad agency can indeed afford $58.5 million? Only two words can get me the G650 of my dreams...
Power. Ball.
A New Skymaster
in Our Future?
I know I'm not the only one on this bus that really wanted Adam Aircraft to succeed. Maybe it was my long-time admiration for the "push me-pull you" concept of the Cessna 337, a great idea with what many feel was a flawed design.
So when Adam Aircraft came along touting their A500, I believed the curse of the 337 had been lifted forever. Then, I watch in horror as they rushed the A700 jet through development, even before their piston model was on store shelves, so to speak. In their haste, I pondered out loud whether Adam Aircraft was biting off more then they could chew...or in this case, finance.
Well, we all know where this story ended...in Chapter 7 bankruptcy court. But if you were one of the few that have been keeping fingers crossed that Adam will somehow scrape theirselves off the court floor and come back to life, then the following is sure going to pop that balloon:
General Capital Partners, LLC (GCP) has been retained as the marketing agent for the trustee for Adam Aircraft Industries, Inc. in its Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation. As a result of the bankruptcy filing, all assets of the Company will be sold at auction on April 4th 2008 at 1:30 PM in Denver, CO. Qualified bidders are required to submit an "asset purchase agreement" with a minimum bid of $10 million, along with a $250,000 deposit of earnest-money into an escrow account.
I couldn't find any information anywhere that tells us if the liquidators are looking to sell the entire lot as one large chunk, or piece-meal the sale to several high bidders. If one Sugar Daddy comes forward and snatches this deal up, from the sound of the GCP "deal summary" below, we might conceivably see the A500 and A700 resurrected.
A look on the GCP site reveals just what assets (pdf) are on sale:
"Customer and vendor contracts, Leases, Intellectual property licenses, patents and agreements, A500 Type Certifications, A700 certification information and flight test progress, Manufacturing equipment including curing ovens, 2 motion masters, laser guidance systems, bonding jigs and self contained carbon-fiber tooling capabilities, a "Significant" order backlog, Four operational A500 aircraft; two additional production A500 aircraft significantly complete, Three operational A700 aircraft (one prototype, two conforming); one additional A700 jet (conforming) significantly complete, Four full-size mock-ups for customer center and trade show display, Five U.S. patents, two for “hybrid composite-metal energy absorbing seats,” two for the twin-boom design of the A500/A700 and one for a “modular spar tunnel”
That sure sounds like lock, stock and barrel to me. So I guess the obvious question has to be this: Since Cessna just picked up Columbia at such "fire sale" prices, they surely must have an extra $10 MIL under the cushions of their sofa, and can now pick up Adam as well?
Then, with the A500 certified and ready for the production line, Cessna could change the name to the A500 Skymaster and finally get that bird right once and for all.
Great idea, or nutzo speculation? You decide...
Kudos Must be
Handed Out for This
The other day, right out of left field, I received a call from a reporter who writes for Eugene's local daily, the Register Guard, with a story idea. I love the paper and scour it daily, so I listened to what he had to say. Anyone who knows me knows that I will put down what I am doing to help the media get a story right about general aviation. Every pilot in the land should do likewise, to offset those many times when they get it wrong.
The reporter, Lewis Taylor, had called to ask what I knew about this:
His editor had heard from the grapevine that a major movie star's Gulfstream was spotted sitting at EUG by someone who called themselves a "planespotter". In trying to determine (a) if the rumor of the star's plane being here was true, and (b) what the heck was a planespotter, Lewis called to ask me what I knew about this "planespotting" stuff. I told him it boiled down to people who are known to hang out by airport fences and snap photos of incoming and departing traffic. You can view many of these photos on sites like airliners.net. But I told him it was a non-story because there were not going to be more then a small handful of true planespotters in the EUG area. Besides, the LAST thing his newspaper needed to do in this post-9/11 world was to encourage strangers to park their cars just off the approach end of 16R and aim a big, black telephoto lens at jetliners.
He took my advice, and called back to tell me he found nothing on the story, and it was indeed dead. In conversation though, I told the reporter that the really big GA story these days was Sport Pilot, which was growing more relevant each year. I told him the public would LOVE to read about this new class of ticket that could be earned for about half of a private ticket. I passed along the name of a CFI I knew who was arranging to put two new Cessna Model 162 Skycatchers on her flight line, and am very happy to report that Lewis followed through and wrote a long and very good story on the topic in this Sunday's RG:
Lewis Taylor's look at Light Sport Aircraft and the pilots who fly them was spot on in almost every detail. He captured the true essence of why people fly, and made it crystal clear that this was a new license that was easily attainable by all. He interviewed the contact I sent him, and she proved to be the reliable source I suspected she'd be. Between Taylor's accuracy and Dorothy Schick's enthusiasm for flying, I believe this article cannot help but inspire someone to get out to the airfield and learn to fly. If that one pilot earns his/her ticket because I hooked Taylor up with Schick, then I will be a very happy pilot.
If you want to see how a mainstream media reporter can research a story on GA and then deliver a well-written piece, go here. But me being me, I would be remiss if I didn't give him a good-natured jab for one little error in the story:
In describing Schick's current Sport Pilot teaching platform, a "curvaceous" German-made Comco Icarus C42, Taylor wrote that the Icarus "weighs just 715 pounds and can hold 1,200 pounds of cargo. It runs on aircraft fuel or premium auto gas and burns four gallons an hour." I can just imagine the elation FedEx's bean counters must be feeling tonight knowing they can now move well over half a ton of cargo on just a 4 GPH fuel burn! This revelation could lead to a future when in place of 767s full of overnight packages, we might see whole fleets of Icarus' inbound to Memphis instead. But at just over 100 KIAS, don't expect that package to "absolutely, positively" get anywhere before, oh, I don't know...next month.
Sorry Lewis, if you know many pilots, then you'd know we have to poke each other in the funny bone once in a while, it's hard-wired into our DNA. Major hat-tip to you...and if you are ever in the vicinity of EUG on a sunny afternoon, ask anyone where to find Katy's hangar...she wants to take you for a ride to thank you for casting such a positive light on general aviation.
Now Anyone Can Travel
Like a Rock Star
A while back, I wrote on this blog about being No. 11 on the overbooked list for my flight from SFO back to EUG. As I fumed about this bizarro system of commercial air travel we have to endure, I began to think of a better way to get around by air.
Of course, the easy answer to this riddle is to just jump in Katy, our 235 and go. But not everyone has a Katy waiting in a hangar just seven short miles from their doorstep. So as I sat at SFO fuming, I thought about all the people out there who must be wanting something better then what we are getting from the airlines.
I began to think about the Hollywood producers and CEOs who blast off midweek to ski in Aspen, before jaunting to Fiji for a weekend of sunbathing and Coladas. With increasing regularity, we see the numbers of these high-end charter customers growing as people get fed up with what the airlines call "service". And on ramps across America, their chartered mega-million-dollar bizjets will soon be joined by "very light" and "personal" jets that are now entering into service as this exodus from the Big Airlines continues.
But realistically, we all cannot afford to fly by expensive aircraft charter. As I sat at SFO waiting for United to figure out how to stuff 11 more humans then there were seats into a Regional Jet, I pondered what would happen if the cost of real private air charter ever dropped to a price point that was affordable to all of us. Crazy concept to be sure...air charter has always been wildly spendy...or so I thought:
Stratus Alliance is a network of independent, FAA-certified charter operators strategically placed around the country that all fly new Cirrus SR-22 GTS aircraft. By capitalizing on the efficiency of the SR-22, Stratus Alliance is able to book what they call "destination direct®" charter flights for up to three passengers per flight to nearly all of the small municipal airports within their service area. Now it is possible to charter an entire airplane flown by a professional pilot for well under $500 per flight hour for up to three passengers.
Whoa. Just think what you could do if you had a slick new Cirrus available with just a click of the mouse:
The use of the smaller airfields surrounding every city in the land is the new secret weapon of Stratus Alliance's business travelers. When the competition is stuck at the gate while the airline tries to decide if they should cancel their flight, the savvy Stratus network traveler will have already launched for a flight to a small airport just a few miles from where they need to be. When the other guys are trapped on the tarmac awaiting push back, the people who arrived via chartered SR-22 will have already closed a couple of morning deals and are making plans to celebrate over lunch. This, my friends, is what productivity is all about!
As more and more people discover the ease and affordability that comes from flying single-engine air charter, I fully expect the Stratus Alliance network to blossom into a nationwide powerhouse. Right now, medium-sized corporations can only afford to fly their upper management via private air charter, while their sales, technical, engineering and support personnel must roll the dice and put up with the undependable schedules that comes with flying commercial. As more of these companies realize they can now get their key personnel on site quickly with a "moment's notice" flight booked through Stratus, we'll begin to see a whole new level of competitiveness evolve.
Believe me, this is the future of air charter. Visit the Stratus Alliance website here or call their 24/7 Call Center at 866.366.0819 to learn more.
Will Not Make You
Any Safer
Hallelujah choruses were rising up from the flying public this day as they read in the MSM that your FAA is responding to the Southwest Airlines inspection oversight debacle by ordering a boatload of new Airworthiness Directive inspections for all U.S. carriers.
Generally, the news out today reads much like this story from Reuters:
"U.S. aviation inspectors were ordered on Tuesday to review maintenance records at all domestic airlines to ensure carriers have complied with safety orders and other directives. The unprecedented but one-time step by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stems from alleged oversight lapses at Southwest Airlines that led the agency to propose a record fine of $10.2 million on March 6. Over the next three months, the FAA wants a snapshot of safety compliance with an array of safety directives issued over the years that required inspections or other maintenance work. Regulators do not suspect there are problems at other carriers similar to the ones uncovered at Southwest, but believe a broader review is merited as a precaution."
Great you say...it's about time. But remember, this is Bushie's FAA, so all bets are off as to whether they'll handle these new inspections with a high level of accuracy, or tell the media one thing while doing quite another:
This is what is being widely reported: "The agency wants an initial report from the field by the end of the month and a more complete set of findings by the end of June. The goal is for inspectors to eventually cover compliance rates for 10 percent of the U.S. fleet."
But in an email letter from FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Nicholas Sabatini – found here on FAA's own web site – this is actually what the FAA has told the carriers:
"To validate the effectiveness of your system, inspectors will audit a sample of AD's that applies to your fleet. By March 28, 2008, they will complete review of 10 AD's per fleet. In total, they will complete a review of 10% of the AD's applicable to your fleet."
Yes, you read that correctly...ten percent. Now I can easily admit to not being a algebra ace, but even I can count these beans. Doesn't 10 percent of ADs inspected mean that ninety percent of the carrier's ADs won't be inspected? Do you feel safer knowing that NINE out of every ten ADs that a carrier might be slipping under the rug is not important enough to actually get inspected by the FAA?
I sure don't.
Again and again, we see this kind of thing out of present-day Washington, D.C. An administration so full of themselves, they think they can blow this kind of hogwash by us. It's the same sort of "heckuva job" Good 'Ol Boy mentality that has ruined their GOP brand, and it is why no matter what comes out of their mouths, it is not to be believed.
So when the FAA says publically "we have asked our Principal Maintenance Inspectors to begin an in-depth review of [air carriers] program for compliance with airworthiness directives (AD's)", their definition of "in depth review" is...
Ten percent.
One Mind Opened Up
Last week, I got to enjoy one of the best thrills a general aviation pilot can have when I introduced someone to the wonderful world of GA flying. These days are few and far between unless you're a Young Eagles pilot, but each time they come around, it is golden.
The subject of this "discovery" flight was my lovely daughter-in-law JJ, who was in town for a trade show. She has never flown in a small private airplane, and had built up the usual laundry list of fears about what would happen to her when my flying machine carried her skyward. It was my job on this flight to prove those fears baseless.
Not that JJ is fearful, she is not. She's just a normal girl that had assumed that small planes fall from the sky with increased frequency when compared with the commercial airliners she had flown in before. I don't think she's all that fond of flying the Bigs either, so when you're a little sketchy about blasting through the sky in a gigantic pressurized tube, it stands to reason one might be able to assume that because a Piper Cherokee 235 is smaller, there must be a better chance of it causing your demise.
Here is a summation of what I did to change one mind about GA safety:
JJ did not act outwardly scared as I invited her to accompany me on the pre-flight inspection. I explained that Katy has four gas tanks, and let her look inside to physically SEE the fuel for herself. I told her about the landing gear struts, and how they were sort of like the shocks on her car. And I carefully explained that for the last 44 years, Katy had undergone – and passed – extensive FAA inspections annually, and anything that was not airworthy HAD to be repaired.
Walkaround complete, I pulled Katy from her house and both she and JJ looked ready to rock and roll. I put her hubby Michael in the back seat, and let JJ experience the right seat. I explained that the BAS twin restraint shoulder harness system is one of the finest made for a private plane, and the way the BAS system snuggled her to the lambskin seat cover made her feel a little safer, I am sure.
I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was a bit wide-eyed staring at the many new and complex things on the panel before her. So I choose to do a full-boat checklist for engine start-up and run-up, and explained everything to her as I went. I explained that GA planes have many redundant systems, like two communications radios, two VORs, in my case two GPSs, two magnetos, two fuel pumps, two spark plugs per cylinder, etc. With strength attained by numbers, I believed the jitters were leaving her body, if only for a moment:
As I ran up, my first "first-timer" in Katy watched my every move. She is a very smart woman, and she does not miss much. As the engine cranked away at 1,800 RPMs, the spinning prop wants as always to pull Katy away from her position locked to the tarmac by the handbrake. The physicality of the argument between the prop and the brakes always makes quite a shudder quake through the airframe, and a quick glance over to the right seat confirmed my suspicions that this powered-up conflict of thrust versus brake lining was again raising her internal threat level to red. But JJ calmed herself when she heard what she called "a nice and friendly" female EUG tower controller clear us to taxi direct to 16L.
The rest of the takeoff, scenic flight, approach and landing was uneventful, JJ handled it with a cool sort of flair only she can pull off. Except for a little bit of stomach jumpiness during a brief patch of light turbs, she really enjoyed the flight, and commented that the Cherokee was far smoother then she had expected.
"Welcome to Katyland," I replied.
As I headed back to the field, I asked JJ if she would go up again. Since this trip was a prelude to longer family flights to come, she confirmed that yes, she's up for trips to California, maybe Canada, maybe the San Juans, or anywhere we may choose.
Yes, two-seven whiskey passed the test, showing off a bit as we returned to EUG. She performed a greased 9.5 landing (O.K., I might have helped a little on that), and in the process she and I changed one mind about general aviation aircraft. My first-timer didn't come away from the experience wanting to get her pilot's license, but she now knows how GA airplanes fly, why they don't fall from the sky, and that even a 44-year-old gal like Katy can still deliver a smooth, safe ride.
But the final outcome I was looking for came after JJ had 24 hours to think about the flight. She told me a day after we flew that "it was like I was out of my body, just floating along up there. I had to tell myself I was in a small plane."
Yes, dear, flying the "flagship" of Dano Airlines is certainly an out of body experience. Welcome to my world!
Flying Lawnchairs
and the Eugene
Theater Scene
People who have visited my hometown of Eugene, Oregon know it is a politically progressive enclave of creative thinkers. We welcome open minds from around the country to join the high number of real live hippies left over from the colorful '60s. If you remember anything about the late Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters – their psychedelic 1964 jaunt around the country in a Day-glo painted school bus named "Furthur" being the subject of Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" – then you will understand why we have a statue of Kesey (a longtime Eugene area resident) downtown on a very prominent corner.
Eugene is known for its lively arts community, which was reason #1 for Julie and I to move our business and life to this peaceful place. But while we have an over abundance of highly talented musicians, and visual artists, there is also no shortage of stage talent. Because of this, I would bet we have per capita the highest number of small, non-profit theaters and large organized thespian groups anywhere.
So about now, I'm sure you are asking what the heck this has to do with flying and aviation. Stay with me here...
This weekend, we enjoyed a performance of "Flight Of The Lawnchair Man" at a small but very cool dinner/show venue downtown called Actors Cabaret. The play was the Northwestern premiere of the story of Jerry Gorman, a dyslexic regular guy from Passaic, New Jersey who just wants to fly. His neighbors and mother thinks he's nuts, but with support from his wife, he straps 400 helium balloons to a Wal-Mart lawn chair and soars to FL160 out over the Atlantic. With the FAA/FBI/TSA guy on the ground ready to shoot Gorman down, Jerry and his chair go off to fly with Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Leonardo da Vinci, who all become integral parts of the second act when Jerry suffers hypoxia while drifting aimlessly along at 16,000 feet.
The play is based rather loosely on the 1982 "flight" of truck driver Larry Walters, who tied 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair and took a 45-min. ride over Los Angeles. There are plenty of similarities between the play and Walter's story, and overall we enjoyed the Actor's Cabaret performance. I found it authentic from an aviation standpoint, and it was highly entertaining. The main point – that some of us long to fly but cannot – was handled perfectly, right down to the 34-year-old Gorman still wanting to play with his toy airplane collection. What, I ask, is wrong with THAT?
There was no mention of another Oregon cluster balloon (the official name of flying via lawn chair) flight last year:
On Saturday, July 7, 2007, Kent Couch, of Bend, attached 105 large helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair, and departed on an unauthorized eastbound flight in an attempt to reach Idaho. Couch carried a global positioning system device, instruments to measure his altitude and speed, four plastic bags holding five gallons of water as a ballast, a two-way radio, a digital camcorder and a cell phone. After nearly nine hours, Couch had covered 193 miles at FL110 or higher, but was short of Idaho. He landed in a farmer's field near Union, OR. This flight went better then Couch's previous attempt when he took a six-hour flying lawn chair ride to FL150. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to shoot the balloons and initiate a smooth descent, but instead went into a rapid descent. After jettisoning his goods, including food, drink and the BB gun, he eventually parachuted to safety.
Yes, Virginia, there are a handful of actual people who are licensed balloonists and regularly fly lawn chairs...or more accurately, just hang from a harness. One of them is John Ninomiya, who has an online logbook available here.
Strange but true, this flying of lawn chairs. But in pondering this topic, I wondered if it wouldn't be slight more practical to launch a La-Z-Boy instead? Sure you would need more balloons to heft the additional weight, but the feel of riding atop the sumptuous leather would be like riding in those precious first-cabin seats most of us always have to walk past when we board a commercial airliner.
Or you can just get your FAA Sport Pilot ticket and do it the legal way. More fun, and you don't need a gun to initiate a descent.
Thanks to Bush's Pals,
"off the truck" 100LL
Tops Eight Bucks!
Back in 2000 – before Bushie and his Big Oil cartel buddies pludgeoned their way into our White House – had someone told you a gallon of highly-refined dead dinosaurs would someday cost over EIGHT BUCKS, you surely would have told them to pound sand. You would have told them there was literally NO WAY a gallon of AvGas could EVER climb that high.
No. Way.
Well, back then, before the oil companies ruled our country, nobody could have predicted this...from Bloomberg:
"Crude oil rose to a record $111 a barrel in New York as the sinking value of the dollar attracted investors to commodity markets. The dollar dropped below 100 yen earlier today for the first time since 1995 and declined to a record low against the euro. Oil surged 90 percent over the past year as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 5.5 percent."
If you fly your own plane, then you already know that the price of fuel is rising. But there isn't a pilot out there who saw this coming:
A recent fuel price search on AirNav for a collection of major metro areas revealed that as of early March, a gallon of 100LL at Teterboro, New Jersey was $8.12 full serve off the truck. Other unbelievable 100LL prices around the country include $6.21 in Santa Monica, $6.45 in Dallas and $6.97 in Miami. But with a little shopping around, you can still find 100LL for under four bucks, that is, if you stop by Thomaston-Upson County Airport (KOPN) in Thomaston, GA where self-serve was listed at $3.95.
So what can be made of such a disparity in pricing for the same product? Sure, I get it that in certain upscale regions like the NYC metro area, there will be a slight premium, but DOUBLE THE PRICE of the lowest fuel in the nation? I am just guessing here, but I believe it did not cost the guy who brewed up that $8.12 gallon of 100LL in New Jersey any more then the guy who distilled the fossils into flammable blue liquid sold in Georgia. The aviation fuel game has few players, it is highly competitive, and their cost of doing business is pretty much the same across the board.
The only word I can come up with to justify raising your full-service prices over eight bucks in this market is greed. There is plenty of blame to go around here, but what it really comes down to is this: The Big Oil companies are raking in record profits as we pay more and more at the pump, doing so as BushCo and the Justice Department, um, look the other way (wink, wink).
This means there are only two distinct groups of people now...those who are doing the screwing and those who are getting screwed. So as you head into the voting booth next November, ask yourself which group you belong to. If you like what is going on regarding the price of gasoline and home heating oil, please vote republican. Because if John McCain gets the nod, you can be guaranteed that this deplorable price gouging will continue unabated through at least January 20th, 2013.
Have You Nixxed Today?
There is no disputing the fact that NASA produces the finest space imagery on the planet...or should I say...above the planet? We've all seen their work, it is sheer photographic beauty, captured by the finest equipment out there, from a vantage point only NASA's astronauts can occupy.
With just a few clicks, these wonderful NASA images are everywhere on the Internets. But if you think even a few clicks is too much work accessing these brilliant images, NASA now has you hooked up.
NIX.
In case you – like me until tonight – have never heard of the NASA Image eXchange, or NIX, here are the details:
NIX is a web-based search engine for searching one or more of NASA's many online multimedia collections. NIX searches return thumbnail sized images, textual descriptions, image numbers, links to higher resolution images, and links to the organization that stores each image. The NIX service is an initiative sponsored by the NASA STI Program, meant to link the many existing photo databases in NASA.
A few of the endless categories of images available include Aeronautics, Aircraft, Devices, Education, Facilities, People, Projects, Solar System and beyond, Space Flights and Wind Tunnels. Not much more can be said on this topic, so just go wade through the NIX database yourself. If you see something you'd like to keep for personal use, it is cool, just don't use the images commercially, so suggests the NASA copyright police:
NASA still images, audio files and video generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video and audio material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages. If the NASA material is to be used for commercial purposes, especially including advertisements, it must not explicitly or implicitly convey NASA's endorsement of commercial goods or services.
So go NIX yourself, download some of the coolest desktop images ever, just be smart and don't EVER misuse the photos, period. Stealing photos for commercial use is, well, stealing. 'Nuf said on that.
White Knuckle
"E-Ticket" Approaches
I get lots of story suggestions here at World of Flying, some worth a look, some worthy of routing direct to the round file. And once in a while, one comes in that simply rocks my world. Yes, it seems some of my readers know me too well, and can predict whan Av8rdan thinks will be seriously great blog fodder.
Last week, Dee Barizo, from a site called ProTraveller, sent me a page on their site that lists the "Top 10 Most Dangerous Aircraft Landings in the World" and when I visited, it turned out to be a must read. I will excerpt some of it below, but you HAVE to go there and watch the many videos that accompany the descriptions:
Kai Tak Airport (China): The Kai Tak Airport served as Hong Kong's international airport from 1925 to 1998, and was notoriously hard to land at because of the maze of skyscrapers and mountains in the vicinity. The approach to the world-famous runway 13 at Kai Tak involved grazing skyscrapers and then making a sharp right-handed turn immediately before the runway. The crosswinds made it even more difficult to keep the plane steady during, and after, the final 47° right-handed turn towards the runway.
Funchal Airport (Portugal): This small island was once infamous for the short runway at Madeira Airport, which was surrounded by the ocean and mountains, making it difficult to land a plane. In November, 1977, TAP Portugal Flight 425 – a Boeing 727 – was landing on the relatively short 4,593 ft long airstrip during a heavy rain storm, skidded onto the beach, and burst into flames. The runway was eventually almost doubled in length, and 180 columns, each about 210 feet high, were added to support the runway over the ocean. Today, the runway is still one of the more difficult airstrips to land in the world.
Gustaf III Airport (St, Barts): This small airport on the island of St. Barts is only accessible by small planes because of the short 2,100ft long and narrow landing strip. There is no room for error when landing a plane at this beautiful island. The pilot must navigate a very steep approach down a hill, grazing cars and people at the top, while making sure to get the plane down in time so that it doesn't end-up in the ocean at the end of runway. There are signs posted on the beach at the end of the runway warning people not to lie directly at the end of the runway.
Courchevel Airport (France): This small airport is located high in the French Alps, and thus the runway sits 6,588ft above sea level. It features an extremely short 1,722ft long uphill runway. Not only is the runway short, but you also have to navigate through mountains to get to it. If you're brave enough to actually fly into this airport, you can take advantage of the awesome skiing and snowboarding that the French Alps has to offer.
Princess Juliana International Airport (St. Maarten): This airport features a world-famous landing strip that leads airplanes directly over Maho Beach and all of its sun-bathing tourists. Some planes fly as low as 30-60ft above the beach on their approach! The landing strip is relatively short for larger airplanes at 7,152ft long, so planes must approach the runway at a low angle to compensate.
Wellington International Airport (New Zealand): This airport in the capital of New Zealand can be dangerous for two reasons: a short runway and constant windy conditions. The runway at Wellington is relatively short at 6,647ft, which means that there is little room for error for larger planes. Also a problem are the strong crosswinds caused by nearby Cook Strait.
Paro Airport (Bhutan): Flying through the Himalayan valley to get to the landing strip can be a bit hair-raising, and the airplane's final hard-banking turn to get to the runway is very reminiscent of Kai Tak's approach. It is rather like flying into Happy Valley as far as the foot of Blue Pool Road, doing a u-turn, and then landing on Queen's Road East using a runway about one-quarter as wide as Kai Tak's was." The video shows a view from the cockpit of a plane making its descent into Paro – the last hill that they fly over to get to the landing strip is quite a maneuver to behold!
Narsarsuaq Airport (Greenland): The approach to Narsarsuaq Airport is no easy task to navigate – even for expert pilots. To land a plane at Narsarsuaq you must navigate a 90 degree turn through a U-shaped fjord and land on the 6,004ft long runway. This landing has been described as similar to flying down a city street with high rises on both sides with severe turbulence at all times except on the brightest of days; down-drafts are everywhere. There's even the real risk of icebergs drifting into the flight path.
Saba Island Airport: This small Caribbean island is a somewhat popular honeymoon destination, but flying into the beautiful Island isn't a vacation – to say the least. Landing an aircraft on one of the world's shortest landing strips (1,300ft long), on a peninsula surrounded by 200ft tall sheer cliffs that fall into the ocean, is easier said than done. Needless to say, larger planes aren't able to fly into Saba Island Airport because of the short runway.
Lugano Airport (Switzerland): The landing strip isn't necessarily the toughest part about landing a plane at Lugano Airport. The approach of the landing is what makes landing a plane here so difficult and potentially dangerous. This area of Switzerland is very mountainous, and there's always strong alpine crosswinds for pilots to deal with. On top of that, the approach to Lugano Airport is steeper than it is at most airports. Lugano's approach is 6.65°, whereas most airport approaches are at angles of about 3° over a flat area.
Jeez Louise, when you watch these videos end-to-end, it makes one's heart rate climb like doing the Jitterbug on a Pilates machine! So go over to their site and enjoy.
Christopher Would be
You just HAVE to wonder what one of our most legendary explorers – Christopher Columbus – would think about a flying living room that could cross an ocean in a few hours instead of a few months. He might be equally baffled how this craft could be only two feet longer then his Santa Maria, but not hold ANY "on the hoof" livestock for the crew to devour enroute. And of course, the Sea Captain would want to know how on Earth ANY pilot could control a vehicle that traveled faster then his ship's maxxed out, pedal-to-the-metal speed of...eight knots.
Ol' Chris would have loved the March 2008 issue of Aviation International News. This issue was special because tacked inside was a gorgeous eight-page double gatefold insert advertising Cessna's latest creation, the Citation Columbus. It is being called "The biggest jet news in the history of the world's biggest business jet company," by Cessna, and I dare anyone to dispute that tagline.
The new USD $27M large-cabin class jet is proof positive that the business jet market is as hot as it's ever been. From the smallest PJs like the Piperjet and Cirrus The-Jet, to the Boeing Business Jet, pre-orders and sales are off the charts. So Cessna's entry into the super-huge bizjet market is of no surprise, and they appear to be aiming their sights directly at Gulfstream's G450.
There can be no doubt that Cessna has always built some of the finest bizjets in the air. Most of the early Citations are still out there flying, and their last "big thing", the Citation Mustang, could not be any more popular. So let's sit back and take a quick look at the biggest, baddest Citation on the planet:
The Columbus will carry two crew + 10 pax in supreme luxury about 4,000 nm (w/NBAA IFR reserves) if the pilots maintain somewhere in the neighborhood of 459 KTAS. It can depart from a field as short as 5,400 feet, and will be certified to fly as high as FL450 [full specs here as PDF]. At 77 feet long and 80 feet wingtip to wingtip, this is a big Citation. But you will really feel that size when you step into the 36.3-foot-long cabin, one that has enough headroom to let a fully-evolved six-foot human finally walk upright.
The flight deck of the Columbus ought to be a quite a special place, decked out in the very latest of whiz and bang, so says the Columbus web site:
"Columbus flight crews will be among the most informed in the sky. The new Pro Line Fusion™ system from Rockwell Collins combines the proven success of Pro Line 21® with significant new technological advancements. This fully integrated flight deck will feature four landscape high-resolution LCD displays working in concert with an available Head-up Guidance System (HGS™), graphical flight planning, synthetic and the available enhanced vision, and Rockwell Collins´ award-winning MultiScan™ Hazard Detection system. Pilots can operate the system conventionally or by using the latest voice-recognition technology. The 15-inch (38-centimeter) displays are the largest high-resolution displays available in the industry and allow for high-speed display interfaces that facilitate point-and-click access to flight planning, aircraft performance monitoring and hazard avoidance. The cursor control panel helps reduce pilot workload while increasing flight deck operational efficiency."
Wow. You get lost in this thing, and you don't deserve to fly. And what's up with the voice recognition technology? Man-oh-man, that kind of stuff sure makes my mind race with possibilities!
AIN is reporting that the development program for the Columbis will cost Cessna $775 million, but what is important to note about that figure is this:
"None of the suppliers are risk-sharing partners, said Cessna president and CEO Jack Pelton. “Cessna’s paying all of the development costs, and it gives us the ability to decide what is best for us to build versus what is best for someone else.”
So with the Columbus, it will be Kansas calling the shots, period. AIN reports 70 signed letters of intent which Cessna expects those letters to be converted into firm orders in 2008. It appears the first flight of a prototype will be in 2011, with FAA certification in 2013 and entry-into-service in 2014.
Good work Cessna. Now, how about a nice, modern, all-glass, composite, turbodiesel-powered version of the 310 as next year's "wow" moment? At some point, someone in the small airplane game will need to step up and build a new, state-of-the-art light twin to compete with Diamond Aircraft's DA-42 Twin Star, and as far as I see it, there are only two players in this game who can pull that off. And if Kansas doesn't want that action, I'm sure Duluth will be happy to deliver the Next Generation of light twins.
Please, Alan, please?
One Seriously Ugly Mess
Today, CNN broke a story that could end up being one of the major aviation stories of 2008. You know it isn't going to be good when you see this kind of headline:
Records: Southwest Airlines flew 'unsafe' planes
Without putting any more thought into the matter, Average Joe and Jane could easily assume the wings are about to fall off all those SWA 737s we see at every major regional hub. That presumption isn't terribly off the mark, according to CNN's web site:
"Discount air carrier Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on aircraft that federal inspectors said were "unsafe" as recently as last March, according to detailed congressional documents obtained by CNN. Documents submitted by FAA inspectors to congressional investigators allege the airline flew at least 117 of its planes in violation of mandatory safety checks. In some cases, the documents say, the planes flew for 30 months after government inspection deadlines had passed and should have been grounded until the inspections could be completed. The planes were "not airworthy," according to congressional air safety investigators."
O.K., we get it that SWA flew the planes "in violation of mandatory safety checks", but does anyone else but me wonder how the FAA's inspectors missed this...FOR 30 MONTHS! That, my friends, is George Bush's FAA at work...or not. Two words immediately jump up shouting:
Annual. Inspection.
What is wrong with a system that makes humble little GA planes go through all the inspections needed to chase $100 hamburgers, but misses the really big stuff on commercial airlners? Ponder that while you read what CNN also reported about who knew what and when they knew it:
"The documents were prepared by two FAA safety inspectors who have requested whistle-blower status from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The two inspectors have been subpoenaed to testify before the committee. The whistle-blowers say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines' flight schedule."
CNN has posted some really great comments from some of their readers, which I believe really tells it like it is:
From "Toby": "As a 25-year veteran in aircraft maintenance I can tell you that far more than just the SWA planes that are out of compliance. Does this mean they are actually unsafe to fly? No, it does not. I can tell you that many other airlines are now scrambling to get their paperwork in order. It is too bad that SWA will take an unjust hit for this. They are one of the few that actually make money and spend heavily on maintenance equipment and I would not hesitate to put my own family on their planes. Many carriers outsource their maintenance to other airlines and even to other countries. Although I work for a major carrier, I do not work and have never worked for SWA."
And this from "Diane": "Hey, what about the FAA inspectors?? Don't they need to shoulder some of this? They allowed SWA to fly unsafe planes."
And this from "GLC": "I find it interesting that after all these years of Southwest doing business and not having any crashes, that this article pops up? Or is it a plot by other airlines that aren't as successful to get a piece of the pie by scaring people off Southwest. I would venture to say that this is not the only airline company that has these "statistics" but this is the only one they [CNN] chose to write about."
As is the case in today's Washington – and particularly inside the FAA – we will never, ever know what is really the truth here. The whole affair begs this question: Is this an isolated SWA situation, or are other airlines slipping way past FAA deadlines and missing crucial safety inspections? Again, we will never know, but I can easily see a rough patch ahead for the airlines until we can somehow convince the paying passengers that the planes they are boarding are safe. And this we will never really know for certain, because in today's ethically-void Corporate world, stretching the truth so you can bend the rules is completely accepted...as long as it's done as a means to generate a phat profit.
I guess the only real way I'm going to feel safe flying is on Dano Airlines, because at DanoAir, our Cherokee 235's logs are current, our plane has been meticulously inspected for the last 44 years, and our maintenance is only outsourced as far as Creswell, Oregon.
Mitsu Yearns for Toyota's Yen
Ever since I earned my first driver's license, I've driven a Toyota pick-up as my primary vehicle. Yes, I have also owned a number of other cars and trucks along the way, but none have been able to compare head-to-head to the dependable Hi-Lux and it's newer variants like my current T-100.
So as a Toyota guy, I was overjoyed back in the early part of this century when the Japanese automaker "toyed" with us about the possibility of bringing a general aviation airplane to market. Here is a pull from Aero-News Network to provide a little "color" on that project:
"In the early 1990s, the company experimented with an aviation-tuned version of the 4.0-liter V-8 engine from its Lexus luxury automobile division. Toyota nixed the idea, though, realizing there was more money to be made in putting those engines in LS400s and SC400s. Then, about seven years ago, Toyota made a lot of noise on the general aviation scene about bringing a new, composite-bodied, four-place, single-engine aircraft to market. The company contracted with Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to assemble a demonstration aircraft, dubbed the TAA-1, which first flew in May 2002. Little became of the program, however, following that first flight. The aircraft was rumored to be significantly overweight, and Toyota soon lost interest in the idea."
Well, it now appears they are again interested in the flying machine game, only not with a GA craft, but a commercial one. Reports out of Japan this week show that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is planning to build a 70-to-90 seat regional jet that will compete directly against RJs manufactured by Bombardier and Embraer. To put that project together financially, Mitsubishi has approached Toyota to invest as much as 10 billion yen, or about USD $97 million in the joint venture.
And if you like Mitsu's cars but still have lingering questions about their MU-2, maybe you should have as much confidence in the company as Boeing does:
Mitsubishi Heavy has been chosen as the supplier of the carbon-fiber wings for Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, and has expressed interest in using that same technology on their new RJ, which is reportedly being designed to be as much as 30 percent more fuel efficient than existing regional jets on the market.
I am honestly a little saddened by this news. With Honda due to start delivering their beautiful HondaJet in 2010, I was hoping Toyota would jump into the GA market with something I might one day actually be able to afford. And if they [Toyota] can build such a great car as the Lexus and sell them all day long for about sixty large, is it such a stretch to have them build airplanes?
My nagging question has always been this: If you take the basic cabin/engine layout of your box stock LS or GS model Lexus, weld wings under the doors, hang a three-blade composite prop off the hood and a tail off the trunk, and swap out the panel with a G1000 set-up, wouldn't you have a damned nice AIRPLANE?
Sure, there would be significant certification costs, and yes, the market for Lexus airplanes would not be as high as their automobile line. So let's say they QUADRUPLE the asking price of a LS Hybrid Prestige Luxury Hybrid Sedan, which now commands $104,000 [ouch!] according to lexus.com. That means they rake in $416,000 for the LS/A (for airplane), which is more then enough feta to cover the airworthiness certificate, the wings, the tail and make a serious profit even after giving a chunk to Garmin for the glass cockpit.
And you can almost guarantee that at just over four hundred grand for a Lexus-quality aircraft, they could not make them fast enough. But will it ever happen? Not in a million years.
Why should the Japanese carmakers bother with the start-up costs of making a GA plane when they are having such an easy time beating up on the American companies like GM and Ford? As long as Detroit still thinks gargantuan SUVs and 4x4 Pick-ups are what Average Joe and Jane want to buy and drive, Tokyo is going to keep piling on big time, giving the out-of-touch U.S. makers a lesson in how to keep up with a changing market.
Oh, Those CRAZI Fix Names
I have always heard that the FAA has a bit of a sense of humor when it comes to naming fixes and intersections, so I wasn't all that surprised tonight when I traveled down the "information superhighway" and looked up some of the more colorful ones. Here are a few ripped from a number of forums and discussion groups – mixed with a few of my own, just to keep you on your toes:
There used to be a SEXXY near ORD, but you might think it would be better suited for somewhere just east of Reno, near the Mustang VOR. There, you might fly direct HOOKR before being routed across VIXEN to a hold at DONGS. If you fly over MILLR or LYYTE near Houston, you might get thirsty, and may need some ADVLL in the morning because you flew too long over DRUNK which is located near BOS for obvious reasons. And if you are nearing ITAWT, ITAWA, PUDDY, TAATT, you are nearing Pease International Tradeport in New Hampshire.
The more you dig, the more you find...that, my friends, is how the Internets work:
You might get a hold at SATAN before getting cleared direct via OSAMA. Back inbound to New Jersey, you will fly over HOWYA or DOOIN...a couple of final approach fixes near EWR. Of course, you would expect TWAIN to be near Hannibal Missouri and PICKN, GRNIN and HEHAW to be near Nashville International Airport. You might not know where FUBAR is, but it is a pretty sure bet RIBBS is near Kansas City.
And if you think the FAA has the franchise on these humorous fix identifiers, you'd be wrong. Around the world, there are plenty of ones worthy of note:
It must have been a couple of stooges that named CURLY, LARRY and MOOWE just west of Perth, Australia. And the aeronautical chaps over in Brisbane must have a thing for the sea, clearing their pilots direct to LEAKY, BOATS and SINNK. Oh those Brits, they like their pints, and will fly over GINIS or LAGER outbound towards Scotland where they fly inbound over TARTN or TWEED. And those jolly lads in Gatwick have made their charts look like a forest, with fixes named ACORN, ASPEN, BEECH, CEDAR, ELDER, HOLLY, MAPLE. OLIVE, SHRUB and WILLO.
Yes, my flying friends, this fix naming stuff is mighty fun. Of course, I can almost guarantee that even without spying a chart, you can expect to find BRATS and BEERS near at least one very important Wisconsin city. Betcha can't guess which one...
The Most Insane System Ever Devised
I am sitting tonight not in my home in beautiful Eugene, Oregon, but in a hotel in Millbrae, California. You see, United Express sold 81 seats in their 70-passenger Regional Jet, and yours truly – despite having a bought-and-paid-for seat – was #11 on the flight's "your screwed" list. Yes, my friends, United Express overbooked my flight big time.
I had been in Oakland to judge the Greater San Francisco Ad Club's ADDY Awards competition, and despite riding BART to and from downtown Oakland from SFO, I am still alive to tell this tale. I am not going to mince words...Oakland is a downright scary place. When your hosts tell you "do not walk two blocks from your hotel or you WILL get shot to death," it is best to believe them.
My gracious hosts bought my ticket via Travelocity, using a perfectly good credit card..so I can only assume United Express will be charging that card for the $408 round-trip fare EUG-SFO and back again. Southbound on that trip, it was a sweet flight, but tonight when I tried to get that ticket home, their completely insane system went quickly to hell:
I immediately smelled a rat when the "Easy Check-in" kiosk spit out not a boarding pass, but a boarding pass-like document that did nothing but tell their system that the eleventh sucker to fall into their evil overbooking trap had arrived at the airport. I ran TSA's gauntlet and breezed through security, and hoofed it for gate 77 Alpha. There, I was told I was not on the last flight home to EUG, despite my holding a PAID Travelocity itinerary and a boarding pass-like document spit out from the kiosk. The gate agent tried really hard to piss me off by having absolutely no concern for my situation. I did not have a seat, period, and she wouldn't tell me why...end of conversation. Well...we'll see about THAT!
So off I bolt to the United Customer Service Counter, and explained my situation to a woman who basically told me it was United Express's problem and not United's. When I began to raise my voice a bit, a supervisor-ish woman showed up to help me. She tapped on her keyboard and found the problem...in 10 seconds. The system didn't have my United Frequent Flyer number...a problem easily fixed, she said. She pulled up my profile, tapped again, and BANG, moved me all the way up to No. 8 on the list of customers who will get screwed this night.
She explained to me that yes, United Express had sold eleven more seats on the flight then they could provide. In the real world, one might call this failure to provide a paid service deplorable, but in the bizarro world of Big Airlines, it is called overbooking. So the Customer Service Agentress tells me that – you know what is coming – if I were willing to give up my seat, they would only have to find ten other fools to do the same, and then the full flight would no longer be overbooked. If I could return to EUG Sunday AM, United Express would spot me dinner ($15), breakfast ($10), a ride in a nice shiny shuttle bus to a swank hotel ($60) and a free round-trip ticket anywhere United flies in the lower 48 states (somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 - $2,000 depending on destination).
As if Howie Mandel was looking me in the eyes and asking "Deal, or NO Deal?"...back at gate seventy-seven alpha, I tell the gate agent DEAL, and take the airline's offer. So instead of simply flying me home on the purchased ticket so they could make a few bucks profit, United will now cough up as much as $2,085! And, if the other 10 bumped pax also take the deal, that's 11 passengers who have been screwed out of their seat, costing the airline as much as $22,935! That is if they – like me – choose to retaliate against this ridiculous overbooking garbage by using their "free round-trip voucher" to book a seat on the most expensive R/T that United flies. Someone PLEASE explain to me how this makes ANY business sense whatsoever!
Bottom line: Tonight I am still a VFR private pilot, with a perfect good cross-country airplane sitting home in Eugene that could have easily carried me to San Francisco for this trip. But the WX was slightly below VFR minimums, so I choose to play airline roulette and attempt to fly commercial, which will not happen once I earn my IFR ticket. Then, Dano Airlines will carry me around the West, and I can guarantee you that Dano Airlines will never EVER promise nine people a seat in my four passenger Cherokee 235.
UPDATE 03.02.08 @ 620A: Now that I've had a few hours to think about it while lounging in my free hotel room, I have devised a plan to take this lemon United handed me last night and make some lemonade. That's because I will need something to wash down all those grilled BRATS I will eat this coming summer when United flies me absolutely FREE to Oshkosh for EAA Airventure 2008. Wow, what a deal, a free ticket to airplane heaven....my cup indeedth is half full after all.
UPDATE 03.02.08 @ 1148A: I have finally made it home, even though United Express tried really hard to prevent such a thing from happening. After a push-back delay at SFO this AM, we were told that because of low ceilings and fog, we might be making an unscheduled diversion to Bend/Redmond if we couldn't get into EUG. But I have to give kudos to the pilots for making the ILS 16R approach look like child's play as they snuck in just about an inch above the 200 ft./one-half mile minimums. The ramp guys also tried to lose my carry-on luggage – which would have been a first, even though it was gate checked. But they couldn't pull that ruse off, and I rushed to the carousel to see my gate checked bag going for a ride in circles.
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The Canada Post logo is seen on the outside the company’s Pacific Processing Centre, in Richmond, B.C., on Thursday June 1, 2017. Two weeks after the federal government legislated an end to rotating strikes by Canada Post employees, the federal government has appointed a mediator to bring a final end to the labour dispute. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Minister appoints former CIRB chair to resolve Canada Post labour dispute
Postal workers engaged in weeks of rotating walkouts
Dec. 10, 2018 12:00 a.m.
A former industrial-relations heavyweight has been appointed to bring a conclusion to the Canada Post labour dispute, two weeks after the federal government legislated an end to rotating strikes by postal employees.
Elizabeth MacPherson, a former chair of the Canada Industrial Relations Board, will have up to 14 days to try to reach negotiated contract settlements between the Crown corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
The two sides have not been at the bargaining table since the Trudeau Liberals brought in a back-to-work bill to halt the rotating walkouts — legislation that sparked protests outside a number of Canada Post facilities in support of the postal workers.
READ MORE: B.C. postal worker accuses Canada Post of questionable tactics during strike
Bill C-89, which was passed into law Nov. 27, included provisions for the government to appoint a mediator with a mandate to bring the two sides together.
“Canada Post and CUPW were unable to agree on a mediator-arbitrator as per the process outlined in the legislation,” Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement announcing MacPherson’s appointment. “I remain hopeful that the two parties will be able to negotiate new agreements and continue to monitor the situation closely.”
Failing an agreement between the Crown corporation and CUPW, MacPherson will have the authority to impose a settlement through binding arbitration.
Canada Post said it would “fully participate” in the mediation process. The union didn’t have an immediate response.
The rotating strikes created havoc with the country’s postal system and caused delivery delays that are expected to continue through January.
READ MORE: Canada Post backlog, Greyhound exit creating headaches ahead of the holidays
While it said letter mail should be processed and delivered before Christmas, the Crown agency warned again Monday that parcel delivery dates remain “unpredictable.”
“Significant and uneven parcel backlogs persist across the country and continue to challenge our operations as heavy holiday parcel volumes arrive daily,” Canada Post said in a statement.
“Understanding the central role we play in delivering the holidays for Canadians and Canadian retailers, it is our priority to deliver as much as possible before Christmas. However, existing backlogs, along with other complicating factors such as protest blockades at our facilities and any potential severe winter weather events, means delivery will be hampered.”
Canada Post said Friday it was facing a backlog of about six million parcels but could not provide an accurate updated figure Monday, citing new incoming parcel volumes over the weekend. It said about 750,000 packages had been delivered.
CUPW, which represents 50,000 postal employees, has disputed Canada Post’s claims about the size of the backlog.
Whatever its magnitude, reducing the backlog has been encumbered by protests against the back-to-work order outside some Canada Post facilities since the strikes officially ended.
During the walkouts, Canada Post requested that foreign postal services halt deliveries to Canada.
That embargo has since been lifted, although Canada Post says overseas packages might still take longer to arrive as customs agents sift through their own backlogs of items that were held back.
READ MORE: Canada Post warns of huge losses as postal staff ordered back to work
Canada Post said it expects to receive “roughly half” the daily volumes of international shipments that are normal for this time of year.
MacPherson was recommended as a mediator by the Canada Industrial Relations Board after Canada Post and CUPW submitted their own lists of potential appointees.
When she was the chair at the CIRB, MacPherson was appointed in 2011 by then-Conservative labour minister Lisa Raitt to arbritrate a dispute involving flight attendants at Air Canada.
In her ruling, which the Canadian Union of Public Employees called “profoundly disappointing,” MacPherson sided with Air Canada, imposing an agreement that the carrier’s flight attendants had rejected a month earlier.
Terry Pedwell, The Canadian Press
Impaired driver blows twice the legal limit
Multiple Parksville resorts report stolen Christmas decorations
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17 sneaky — and fairly painless — ways to build a nest egg
Dana Dratch
January 5, 2004 in Credit Cards
If your idea of creating an emergency fund involves scooping up the change that falls between the cushions, you could probably use a little extra green for the lean times. Rainy days are guaranteed. Rainy day funds aren’t. So here are 17 virtually painless ways to put aside some money.
1. Start your stash Get an envelope, cookie jar, coffee can or whatever you like and set aside the same amount every week. Whether it’s $5 or $20, after a couple of weeks you’re going to have a nice start on an emergency fund. The trick: don’t count it, don’t spend it and remember to hide it where no one — including yourself — will be tempted.
2. Tip yourself You go to lunch and tip the waitress 15 to 20 percent. (Ten if you’re a cheapskate.) Put an equal amount aside for yourself, and your “tips” will add up quick, says Gary Foreman, editor of
The Dollar Stretcher, a Web site devoted to living better for less.
“It becomes part of your expenses over time,” he says. “And you don’t realize how quickly it adds up.”
If you’re a big fast-food fan, put a dollar in your savings jar every time you hit a drive-through window.
3. Live one raise behind Rather than spending that 3 percent cost-of-living raise, bank it.
And the next time you get a raise, increase your disposable income by the amount of your last raise.
“You’re always one raise behind,” says Foreman. “And it doesn’t seem like you’re depriving yourself compared to your co-workers or friends in a similar stage of life.”
4. Get cash back Feel virtuous when you refuse “cash back” from your debit card at the check out? Instead, take a small amount — $1, $2, $5 — and slip it into your savings jar. At a buck here and there, you’ll forget about it. But it will quickly grow into a nice emergency fund.
5. Become your own bill collector Just paid off a big debt like a car loan or child’s tuition? Keep making the payments — this time to yourself, suggests Barbara O’Neill, a professor of family and consumer sciences at Rutgers University.
“It’s a chance to ramp up your savings,” she says.
This also works on a smaller scale. If you recently switched phone companies or discovered a flat-rate plan that’s saving you money every month, put that cash aside in your savings jar. Electric or water bill lighter than you expected this month? Ditto!
6. Join Ye Olde Christmas Club
You don’t even have to celebrate Christmas to enjoy the benefits of a Christmas club. On a regular basis you put a certain amount in an account for your future holiday cheer. Many clubs will draft an automatic deposit, and some job-affiliated plans come right out of your check, so you don’t think about spending the money you never see
7. Claim your discount Do you use those shopping membership cards that print your “savings” at the bottom of your receipt? Even if you believe the cards are a gimmick, you can make the system work for you. Set aside that money in your savings envelope, says Michelle Jones, editor of
Betterbudgeting.com, a site that focuses on family money management. Jones estimates she saves an average of $15 on each weekly grocery trip. For a savings account, “that’s a lot of money,” she says.
And coming on the heels of a large grocery purchase, you’re less likely to miss it.
8. Love the IRS Get a refund this year? You’re in good company. Thanks to new tax laws, a lot of people will have a little extra money coming their way after April 15. Either put the check right in your savings account or cash it and stash it. It’s not that you don’t need it. It’s that you’ll probably need it more later.
9. Reward yourself If you have the discipline to use a credit card and pay off the bill every month, use one that promises a cash reward and bank the money. Jones and her family used a card for groceries last year and recouped $150, a nice windfall for anyone’s rainy day fund.
10. Start a change jarChances are your parents or grandparents had one. The concept is simple: When you empty your pockets at the end of the night — or any time you clean out your purse — all the change goes into the jar. Not only will you feel about five pounds lighter, but your spare change adds up a lot faster than you think.
Turbo-charge it by adding at least one paper dollar a day to the pile, says O’Neill. That should add up to at least $50 a month, she says. And who wouldn’t want to have an extra $600 padding in the savings account for a rainy day?
11. Convert a bad habit into a good one Give up cigarettes — or even cut your habit by half — and put that money in the savings drawer, says O’Neill. If you drop a pack-a-day habit by half, you could easily bank well over $100 by spring.
12. Employ the “Dollar Bill Savings Plan” This is a souped-up version of the change jar concept, but this time you’re saving dollar bills.
“It works,” says Neal Boortz, a nationally syndicated radio host, who first heard the idea from a ski buddy more than 15 years ago and has been touting it ever since.
Here’s how it works: When you leave the house in the morning, you don’t carry anything smaller than a $5 bill. When you get change, don’t spend the singles. The only exception would be tips, says Boortz. At the end of the day, any dollar bills go into your cash stash.
“The lesson is that you can save a lot of money, dollar by dollar by dollar,” Boortz says.
Boortz says his daughter always used to laugh at the savings plan — until he presented her “with a brick of 2,000 $1 bills on her graduation day,” he remembers. “She stopped laughing.”
13. Coin-operated laundry Put a jar on top of the washer and put in a quarter — or two — every time you throw a load in the washer or dryer. Get your finances in order while you clean.
14. Stop the (movie) madness! When you return your movies on time, pay yourself the late fee. If you rent a movie or two every week, you’ll be surprised how quickly that $1.50 to $4 can add up.
15. Diet for dollars Trying to lose weight this season? Who isn’t? So every time you go without dessert — or that mid-afternoon candy bar break — put the cost of your forgone goody into your savings jar. You shed weight and gain some green at the same time.
16. Use the pay phone Do you make a lot of calls? Pop a quarter in a jar by the phone every time you dial a long-distance number.
Bonus money: Shop your calling plan and find a better deal. Put the difference into the phone jar each month, too.
17. Bank “extra” paychecks Get paid weekly or bi-weekly? This tip is for you. Most people set up their budgets to accommodate two to four paychecks every month, depending on their pay schedule. But several times a year, you get an extra paycheck in the month. (Hurray!) So instead of heading to the mall, pretend you never saw it. Put it in a savings account or put it in your rainy-day jar.
Having a fund with a few extra checks has really helped over the years, says Jones, also a mother of four, who’s been using the trick for 18 years to pay for everything from unforeseen car repairs to emergency doctor and dental visits.
“Emergencies always come up,” she says. “That’s guaranteed.”
— Dana Dratch is a freelance writer based in Atlanta.
How to avoid late fees
‘Bill of rights’ considered
Keep card, lose high rate
Chasing the balance
Credit card rates March 26
Debtors not all deadbeats
Using credit card for overdraft protection
Written budget separates savvy from clueless
Americans falling deeper in debt
11 ways to jump-start your savings
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2015 tax brackets and other inflation changes
Kay Bell @taxtweet
November 4, 2014 in Taxes
The seven federal tax rates remain the same next year, but the amounts of income that fall into each tax bracket will increase a bit.
The 2015 income tax brackets were among more than 40 tax provisions that will change thanks to inflation, according to an announcement by the Internal Revenue Service.
Same tax rates, wider brackets
The biggie is the annual change to just how much money falls into each income tax bracket.
You can earn a little more next year before being bumped into a higher tax bracket. The increases apply across the board to all the rates, from 10 percent to 39.6 percent.
The top tax rate of 39.6 percent will affect single taxpayers in 2015 when their income exceeds $413,200. The top tax bracket kicks in for married taxpayers filing a joint return when their combined incomes come to more than $464,850.
The complete tax bracket amounts in 2015 are:
Single filers
Married filing jointly or
qualifying widow/widower
Married filing separately
Head of household
Tax rate: 10% Single filers: Up to $9,225 Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: Up to $18,450 Married filing separately: Up to $9,225 Head of household: Up to $13,150
Tax rate: 15% Single filers: $9,226 to $37,450 Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: $18,451 to $74,900 Married filing separately: $9,226 to $37,450 Head of household: $13,151 to $50,200
Tax rate: 25% Single filers: $37,451 to $90,750 Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: $74,901 to $151,200 Married filing separately: $37,451 to $75,600 Head of household: $50,201 to $129,600
Tax rate: 28% Single filers: $90,751 to $189,300 Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: $151,201 to $230,450 Married filing separately: $75,601 to $115,225 Head of household: $129,601 to $209,850
Tax rate: 33% Single filers: $189,301 to $411,500 Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: $230,451 to $411,500 Married filing separately: $115,226 to $205,750 Head of household: $209,851 to $411,500
Tax rate: 39.6% Single filers: $413,201 or more Married filing jointly or qualifying widow/widower: $464,851 or more Married filing separately: $232,426 or more Head of household: $439,001 or more
Exemption tweaks, too
The personal exemption for tax year 2015 rises to $4,000. That’s a $50 increase from the 2014 exemption of $3,950.
Each taxpayer can claim a personal exemption, along with one for a spouse and all eligible dependents.
Note, however, wealthier taxpayers might see a reduction in the exemption amount. It begins phasing out when adjusted gross income reaches $258,250 for single filers, $309,900 for married couples filing jointly. Taxpayers lose the personal exemption completely when their income hits $380,750 if single, $432,400 if married filing jointly.
Larger standard deduction amounts
Most taxpayers claim the standard deduction. They will be pleased to learn that in 2015 that amount, which is different for each filing status, also will increase.
The standard deduction rises to $6,300 for singles and married persons filing separate returns and $12,600 for married couples filing jointly. It increases to $9,250 for heads of household.
Estate exclusion increases
When it comes to the ultimate intersection of death and taxes, inflation helps out, too.
For estates left during 2015, the basic exclusion amount is $5.43 million. If the estate is worth that much or less, then no federal estate tax is owed.
More tax info from Bankrate
Want the latest news on taxes, money-saving tax tips, tax scams and myriad other tax matters? Subscribe to Bankrate’s free Weekly Tax Tip newsletter.
You also can follow me on Twitter: @taxtweet.
Veteran contributing editor Kay Bell is the author of the book “The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes” and co-author of the e-book “Future Millionaires’ Guidebook.”
IRS issues 2014 tax brackets
Inflation adjustments to 2016 tax brackets
2014 larger standard deductions
Are you exempt from ACA coverage?
Obama, Biden 2013 tax bills
Tax laggards can still file for free
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Cezanne's Other: The Portraits of Hortense
by Susan SidlauskasSusan Sidlauskas
| Editorial Reviews
Hardcover(First Edition)
$83.71 $85.00 Save 2% Current price is $83.71, Original price is $85. You Save 2%.
11 New & Used Starting at $10.00
In the voluminous scholarship that's been written on Paul Cézanne, little has been said about the twenty-four portraits in oil that Cézanne made of his wife, Hortense Fiquet Cézanne, over an extended twenty-year period. In Cézanne's Other: The Portraits of Hortense, Susan Sidlauskas breaks new ground, focusing on these paintings as a group and looking particularly at the differences that render many of them unrecognizable as the same person. She argues that Cézanne sidestepped the conventional goals of portraiture-he avoids representing a consistent, identifiable physiognomy or conventional feminine postures and does not portray the subject's inner life-making lack of fixedness itself his subject, which leads him ultimately to a radical reformulation of modern portraiture. Sidlauskas also upends the notion of Mme Cézanne as the irrelevant and absent spouse. Instead she reveals Hortense Fiquet Cézanne as a presence so crucial to the artist that she became the essential “other” to his ever-evolving “self.” Coupling historical texts from philosophy, psychology, and physiology with more recent writings from women's and gender studies, cognitive psychology, and visual culture, Sidlauskas demonstrates that Mme Cézanne offered intimacy at arm's length for the painter who has been dubbed “the lone wolf of Aix.”
Susan Sidlauskas is Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the Department of Art History at Rutgers University. She is the author of Body, Place, and Self in Nineteenth-Century Painting and coauthor of Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture.
Introduction: Seeing Cézanne
1. The Counter-Muse A Brief History
2. The Color of Emotion
3. The Materiality of Vision
4. Toward an Ideal Dissolving Difference
Conclusion: The Woman in Question
Appendix: Paintings of Hortense Fiquet Cézanne
What People are Saying About This
"This rich substantial reading raises Cezanne studies to a new level. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice
"[Sidlauskas's] eloquent and penetrating visual analyses are a pleasure to read. . . . [An] impressive and important book."—Women's Art Journal
"Sidlauskas's observations are detailed, sensitive and sometimes truly poetic."—Burlington Magazine
“Sidlauskas’s observations are detailed, sensitive and sometimes truly poetic.
Burlington Magazine - Karsten Schubert
“This rich substantial reading raises Cezanne studies to a new level. . . . Highly recommended.
[Sidlauskas’s] eloquent and penetrating visual analyses are a pleasure to read. . . . [An] impressive and important book.
Women's Art Journal
"This rich substantial reading raises Cezanne studies to a new level. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"[Sidlauskas's] eloquent and penetrating visual analyses are a pleasure to read. . . . [An] impressive and important book."--Women's Art Journal
"Sidlauskas's observations are detailed, sensitive and sometimes truly poetic."--Burlington Magazine
Women’s Art Journal
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500 Capp Street: David Ireland's House
500 Capp Street tells the story of David Ireland’s house, a rundown Victorian in the ...
500 Capp Street tells the story of David Ireland’s house, a rundown Victorian in the Mission District of San Francisco that the artist transformed into an environmental artwork, taking the detritus of his restoration labors as well as objects left ...
Cane Toad Wars
In 1935, an Australian government agency imported 101 specimens of the Central and South American ...
In 1935, an Australian government agency imported 101 specimens of the Central and South American Cane Toad in an attempt to manage insects that were decimating sugar-cane harvests. In Australia the Cane Toad adapted and evolved with abandon, voraciously consuming ...
Chinese Characters: Profiles of Fast-Changing Lives in a
An artist paints landscapes of faraway places that she cannot identify in order to find ...
An artist paints landscapes of faraway places that she cannot identify in order to find her place in the global economy. A migrant worker sorts recyclables and thinks deeply about the soul of his country, while a Taoist mystic struggles ...
Creative Composites: Modernism, Race, and the Stieglitz Circle
In turn-of-the-century New York, the photographer and modern art impresario Alfred Stieglitz and his allies ...
In turn-of-the-century New York, the photographer and modern art impresario Alfred Stieglitz and his allies embraced a racialized aesthetic discourse in their expressions of identity in the modern era. This book examines the often-neglected role played by immigrant artists and ...
Encyclopedia of Theoretical Ecology
This major reference is an overview of the current state of theoretical ecology through a ...
This major reference is an overview of the current state of theoretical ecology through a series of topical entries centered on both ecological and statistical themes. Coverage ranges across scales-from the physiological, to populations, landscapes, and ecosystems. Entries provide an ...
Everyday Ethics: Voices from the Front Line of
This book explores the moral lives of mental health clinicians serving the most marginalized individuals ...
This book explores the moral lives of mental health clinicians serving the most marginalized individuals in the US healthcare system. Drawing on years of fieldwork in a community psychiatry outreach team, Brodwin traces the ethical dilemmas and everyday struggles of ...
Incorruptible Bodies: Christology, Society, and Authority in Late
In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and Julian of ...
In the early sixth-century eastern Roman empire, anti-Chalcedonian leaders Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus debated the nature of Jesus's body: Was it corruptible prior to its resurrection from the dead? Viewing the controversy in light of late antiquity’s ...
Indispensable and Other Myths: Why the CEO Pay
Prodded by economists in the 1970s, corporate directors began adding stock options and bonuses to ...
Prodded by economists in the 1970s, corporate directors began adding stock options and bonuses to the already-generous salaries of CEOs with hopes of boosting their companies’ fortunes. Guided by largely unproven assumptions, this trend continues today. So what are companies ...
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Report on race shows the South is still ‘divided by design’
by: KEVIN McGILL, Associated Press
Posted: Oct 25, 2019 / 11:35 AM UTC / Updated: Oct 25, 2019 / 11:46 AM UTC
FILE – In this June 16, 2017, file photo, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu speaks in Washington on race in America and his decision to take down Confederate monuments in his city. The former mayor is tackling the race issue, starting with a report called “Divided by Design.” The report released Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, is based on surveys and interviews with people in 28 communities in 13 Southern states. It describes conflicting views on racism among African Americans, Latinos and whites and touts efforts to bridge racial gaps. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is tackling the race issue, starting with a report called “Divided by Design .”
The report released Friday is based on surveys and interviews with people in in 28 communities in 13 Southern states. It touts efforts to bridge racial gaps. But it also says segregation and inequality remain major barriers to advancement for many. And it notes widespread, conflicting views on racism among African Americans, Latinos and whites.
When Landrieu was mayor he removed four Jim Crow-era monuments from the New Orleans landscape, including statues of three Confederate icons.
This report is the first project of the E Pluribus Unum Fund , which Landrieu launched after leaving office in May 2018. It calls for cultivating courageous leaders who can build common ground.
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Home Biotechnology UK Company and Merck Team Up to Develop Vaccines Based on the...
UK Company and Merck Team Up to Develop Vaccines Based on the Microbiome
Merck will pay the microbiome company 4D Pharma up to €316.5M to develop vaccines based on delivering live bacteria to the gut.
The partners will develop vaccines against three undisclosed conditions. As well as an undisclosed upfront fee for each condition, 4D Pharma will be eligible to receive up to €316.5M ($347.5M) in developmental milestones. In addition, 4D Pharma will have the option of receiving a €4.6M ($5M) investment from Merck over the next 12 months.
4D Pharma develops treatments that consist of live bacterial strains taken from fecal samples of healthy donors. The company screens the bacteria’s genomes and their effect on the gut to select those with the potential to develop a therapy. 4D Pharma’s most advanced therapy is in phase II trials for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, with other treatments in the pipeline for cancer and asthma. The vaccine programs in development with Merck concern the use of live bacteria as vaccines, a technology that is still in 4D Pharma’s preclinical pipeline.
“We hope to gain meaningful insights into the role of the host microbiome in modulating the immune response and ultimately protection conferred by vaccines,” Daria Hazuda, CSO of Merck’s Exploratory Science Center, stated.
The human microbiome is widely believed to influence how the immune system reacts to vaccines. Last year, for example, a Dutch research group treated patients with antibiotics before giving them a viral vaccine, and found that the antibiotics boosted the effects of the vaccine.
Images from Shutterstock
4D Pharma
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Comquest receives two ISO certifications
Brunei's biggest customer contact centre receives ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 18295-1 certifications
CEO of DARe Javed (2nd R) visiting Comquest's office and call centre in Kg Jaya Setia after they received ISO certification.
Customer contact centre Comquest has become the first Brunei IT company to receive International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications for both 9001:2015 and 18295-1.
Comquest – a joint venture between TelBru and Oman’s BahwanCyberTek – achieved the certifications last month through Darussalam Enterprise’s (DARe) Standards Consultancy Programme (SCP).
Comquest’s management said undergoing the certification process has helped them shore up their internal processes to better meet and proactively anticipate customer’s needs through increased documentation and planning in their workflow.
Comquest’s contact centre is Brunei’s largest, with its 90 phone operators receiving 3,000 to 4,000 calls a day for hotlines including the National Call Centre (Talian Darussalam) 123, TelBru, Brunei Shell Marketing, Ministry of Health and Jollibee.
“Since starting in 2012 we have to grown to a workforce of a hundred (employees), over 95% which are Bruneians; reaching a critical mass where industry certification and recognition is very important to continuously deliver and improve as we operate,” said Comquest’s General Manager Gauarv Shrotriya.
ISO 9001 is a standard that reflects an organization’s ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. With over one million organizations from 170 countries certified, ISO 9001 is considered one of the most fundamental quality management system standards.
Meanwhile ISO 18295 is a standard for customer contact centres and specifies a framework for them to understand the expectations and perceptions of their customers – and provide the targeted response and customer experience – when addressing inquiries or complaints.
Shortriya added that Comquest is also expanding beyond contact centre operations to provide IT solutions including Human Resources Management Systems (HRMS), AI-driven chat bots and data analytics for government agencies, financial institutions and telco companies.
DARe’s SCP provides fully sponsored consultancy through an appointed expert who will outline the requirements for the certifications as well as guide and review the businesses individually over six months on their respective operations to advise what measures need to be taken to achieve the applied standards.
Participating businesses are expected to follow through by engaging an independent certification body for an audit within six months. Comquest was audited by Bureau Veritas and consulted by Arete Solutions.
comquest
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With conveniently located offices in Reading, Henley-on-Thames and London, and a team of more than 50 lawyers and over 100 staff, Blandy & Blandy LLP is recognised as one of the Thames Valley's leading firms of solicitors.
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Our firm is firmly a part of the region's future, as much as it is of its past, and as both the Thames Valley and our clients’ needs and expectations continue to grow and evolve, so do we.
Listening carefully to your needs and aims, we are committed to providing you with clear, practical and effective legal advice, a responsive and highly personal service and, crucially, value for money.
Our extensive knowledge of the region, combined with our established relationships within the professional community and our experience in working with lenders and other leading firms, can help to minimise the likelihood and impact of any unforeseen issues or costly delays.
We are highly experienced in advising on the full range of legal issues affecting you and your family. Our solicitors are experienced in acting for broad range of clients, from first time buyers to established property investors, high net worth individuals such as business owners or shareholders to families and elderly clients.
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Our solicitors are specialist experts and members of industry leading professional bodies, including Law Society panels. We have also held the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark since 2003 and are among only 10% of solicitors firms in England and Wales to have achieved this.
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We are consistently recognised as a top tier firm of solicitors in the UK's leading guides to law firms, Chambers UK and The Legal 500, and our successful approach is further reflected through a record number of rankings, awards and nominations.
Our solicitors are experienced in acting for broad range of clients, from first time buyers to established property investors, high net worth individuals such as business owners or shareholders to families and elderly clients.
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We are widely acknowledged as one of the Thames Valley’s leading and longest established firms of solicitors, with conveniently located offices in Reading, Henley-on-Thames and London.
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Listening carefully to your needs and aims, we are committed to providing clear, practical and effective legal advice, a responsive and highly personal service and, crucially, value for money.
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Our solicitors are specialist experts and members of industry leading professional bodies including several Law Society panels. We have also held the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark since 2003 and are among only 10% of solicitors firms in England and Wales to have achieved this standard.
We are recognised as a top tier firm of solicitors, in Reading and the Thames Valley, by the UK's leading guides to law firms, Chambers UK and The Legal 500, and are proud to have celebrated a record number of rankings, awards and nominations in recent years.
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Home worldSpainBarcelona As seen on the streets of Barcelona: a street art guide
BarcelonaStreet ArtStreet Art Guide
As seen on the streets of Barcelona: a street art guide
They say street art in Barcelona was a big thing until 10 to 15 years ago. That was before the city council began to ‘clean up’ the city by tightening graffiti laws, imposing big fines and white-washing the most colourful areas in town. Later on, a few street art festivals such as ‘The Influencers’ and ‘OpenWall Conference’ claimed some legal walls around the city, while spontaneous street art is essentially reduced to stencil art and pastel art (as in these cases the fine is lower if you are caught). Nevertheless, I did enjoy my graffiti hunting around Barcelona, especially because –as usually happens with graffiti hunting- it allowed me to explore some of the coolest hoods in the city. Here is my booty:
Barcelona street art guide > top street artists
Keith Haring’s mural at the MACBA museum
No need to say that the first place I wanted to go as soon as I arrived in Barcelona was Keith Haring’s mural. Painted in 1989 on a neglected building in the Raval neighbourhood, this mural was transferred to a new support preserving the original paint, thanks to MACBA (the Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona), and finally recreated on a new wall in February 2014, on the 25th anniversary of the creation of the original mural. Painted in red, the colour of blood, this mural contains all his iconography: children, life, sex, death and his fight against AIDS. Borondo’s mural in Carrer Pallars 297
Invited by OpenWall Conference 2015, Borondo realized this stunning, expressionistic mural in the Poblenou district depicting a castell (human tower), which is something very traditional during Catalonian festivals. Castellers from Barcelona wear a red shirt, together with the traditional white trousers and black sash. The mural is titled “Fer Lenya”, a term used when a castell falls. Here Borondo’s spontaneous, expressive brushstrokes and colours shape the forms of his characters, the dripping paint finishes the magic. And even if the castell is about to fall, the tone is contemplative, as in many other works by Borondo. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada ’s mural in Carrer de la Selva de Mar 215
Born in Cuba, Jorge grew up in USA and then moved to Barcelona 10 years ago, falling in love with the city immediately. He approached street art when he was in college, starting with some works on New York City’s billboards that aimed at changing the semiotics of the city, until he began drawing on walls rather than on paper and creating his signature hyper-realistic portrait murals that look like large-scale pictures. Realized during the OpenWall conference 2015, this mural is a composite portrait that combines the facial traits of ten different women from the neighbourhood: a 29-meter high tribute to the local community foreseeing a future where differences will melt and we will be united, as a planet. Enjoy this interview with the artist at work:
BLU’s mural in Carrer del Santuari
As with all other works by BLU, this enormous shark in El Carmel neighbourhood has a strong political and social meaning. The mural depicts a shark, made out of 100€ bills, swallowing up the faded acronym ‘PSOE’, which stands for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. BLU’s shark is speaking against the financial crisis from a neighbourhood, El Carmel, of workers and immigrants. I’m always impressed by the level of detail in his works, and even if the mural was painted in 2009 and therefore very faded now, it is no less here. Enjoy the making of video, featuring the impressions of passers-by:
Ethos’ mural in Av. Mare de Déu de Monserrat 13
Yet another mural realized during the OpenWall Conference 2015, this mesmerizing work by the Brazilian artist Claudio Ethos refers, like the rest of his artistic production, to both comics and surrealist art. Using a minimal colour palette, Ethos depicts emotional states such as struggle and urban anxiety through his flexible and surreal characters, who are always a bit misshapen and kind of stretched: the twisted protagonists of a dismantled reality.
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Crisa’s mural in Carrer de la Selva de Mar
As usual, the Italian artist Federico Carta a.k.a. Crisa reflects on the balance, or –better- the contrast, between natural and urban landscapes. So here the natural landscape (represented by the colour green) is fighting with the grey shapes: the human constructions. Men are trying to find their own space, an equilibrium that is symbolized by the unstable wooden structure, which attempts to holding everything up, while plants are invading the composition and butterflies are stepping out from their usual habitat. Agostino Iacurci’s works at Urban Outfitters (Plaza de Catalunya)
The Italian artist, Agostino Iacurci, painted a couple of hoardings for the opening of the shop, Urban Outfitters, in downtown Barcelona. Both works depict his iconic, vivid-coloured men hiding behind plants, symbolizing the equilibrium between man and nature, which is actually an apparent quiet that is about to end. Here is a video with an interview with Agostino Iacurci about his work for Urban Outfitters:
Barcelona street art guide > La Escocesa
At the heart of the very hipster neighbourhood of Poblenou, inside a factory that produced chemical products for the textile industry, nowadays there is a cultural centre of 21 ateliers for local and international visual artists, who are selected through a contest and “replaced” every couple of years. La Escocesa is usually closed to the public, except during exhibitions or during the Festival de Murales, a street art festival involving ten street artists a year. Together with my fellow travel blogger, Duncan Rhodes, I went inside the former factory to check out the murals from the latest street art festival;
Partner in crime
here are my favourite ones:
Axel Void’s mural at La Escocesa
Well, you already know how much I love him! Here the Spanish-American artist painted a work that is very different from his usual style inspired by classical paintings. While his portraits are usually so realistic as to look like photos, this time a man’s countenance is wrapped into a cloud of decadence that blurs the details of his head.
Read my interview with Axel Void at Nuart 2016!
JAZ’s mural at La Escocesa Titled “FRANCO arrives to Barcelona”, this huge mural is about the independence movement in Catalonia. Once again the Argentinian artist is suggesting a reflection on modern society and its social and historical themes, and he does so through a play on words (the artist’s real name is Franco Fasoli) that refers to his arrival in Barcelona at the exact same time as Catalonia gaining independence, which was voted through on the day the mural was unveiled. Pastel’s mural at La Escocesa
Yet another Argentinian street artist made his mark inside La Escocesa former factory. On the wall at the bottom of the chimney in the middle of the yard, Pastel painted a circle made up of naturalistic components, like plants, which are typical of the area and whose colours are taken from the palette of the surroundings. Through his traditionally figurative imaginary inspired by the local flora, once again the artist is using symbolism to explore and share stories about the spaces where he paints and the local identities inhabiting it. This is what I like the most about Pastel’s art: it’s never a work sketched somewhere else and imposed on the wall, but rather it develops from the wall itself and its surroundings as the result of a two-way relationship. Skount’s mural at La Escocesa
With this mural, which is titled “Trash in head”, the Spanish artist focuses again on political and social issues. In this mural his iconic characters, who aim at representing our inner worlds, are hiding their faces inside black garbage bags, which are labelled with a word representing a threat of the modern age -racism, tv, authority, dominion- impeding their movements and vision. A few more pictures from my graffiti hunting inside La Escocesa former factory:
Mural by SAN
Barcelona street art guide > top neighbourhoods
Besides these amazing large-scale murals, around the streets of Barcelona there is still plenty of autonomous, non-commissioned street art to be seen as well. Here are the neighbourhoods where you are likely to find it: Graffiti hunting around Poblenou neighbourhood Did I mention that Poblenou is my favourite neighbourhood in Barcelona? ;) With its Brooklyn charm, this post-industrial area of former factories and red brick buildings is the perfect setting for some great street art. Besides La Escocesa factory and some of the murals I have mentioned above, here is what else I found:
Mural by Jupiterfab
Graffiti hunting around Gracia neighbourhood
Another neighbourhood where you can find some great street art is Gracia. Wandering around its villagish, cobbled alleys you will spot many pieces, especially stencil works, by talented and yet not-so-popular artists, especially in the area surrounding the food market, which btw is worth a visit if only for its genuine atmosphere. Graffiti hunting around El Raval neighbourhood
Bordering with La Rambla, El Raval is a very central neighbourhood well known for its nightlife and multiculturalism. Here I spotted several small works lost among graffiti on long walls, colourful hidden gems that are spicing up the streets of this quirky hood.
Bonus track: street art at Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies
For some more old-style graffiti, instead, head towards this post-industrial square at the beginning of Avenida del Parallel. Designed in 1995 by Pere Riera and Josep Maria Gutierrez, this urban garden incorporates part of the former electrical power plant ‘Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company’, whose three chimneys give the name to the park. If you are lucky, you can also stumble upon break-dancers and skaters, as this park is an important spot for Barcelona’s urban culture.
You find some of these murals in my travel video “4 days in Barcelona…in 40 seconds“
You can hover over these (or any image) to quickly pin it!
SalvaSalva
Agostino IacurciAxel VoidBLUBorondoCrisaEl RavalEthosGraciaJardins de les Tres XemeneiesJazJorge Rodriguez-GeradaKeith HaringLa EscocesaPastelPoblenouSkountStreet Art Guide
Giulia Blocal
Hi! I am Giulia and I blog about unconventional destinations, abandoned places, street art, outskirts, urban landscapes, weird spots and basically all the places I happen to visit and become very enthusiastic about.
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Blockchain Revolution
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An Intro to Blockchain
Facebook’s Libra, for all of its promise, faces an uphill battle
Alex Tapscott defines the deployment of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency as a “watershed moment”, one that opens up the possibility of banking the unbanked, but also comes with many challenges for the conglomerate: conflict with big banks who no longer own the only route to payment services, a potential crypto war with other large digital conglomerates such as Amazon, and working with regulators and citizens to rebuild trust in the company. Read More
Q&A: Blockchain expert Alex Tapscott sees coming crypto war as ‘cataclysmic’
In this interview with Computerworld, Alex Tapscott discusses Facebook’s shift into financial services with the new Libra blockchain and what this signals for the banking industry. Read More
It’s Time For Online Voting
In this article for the New York Times, Alex Tapscott (co-author of Blockchain Revolution and co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute), offers some fresh thinking about how new technologies could help eliminate voter suppression and strengthen participation and trust in democracy. Read More
VentureBeat
Taking stock of the blockchain revolution
In May 2016, Don and Alex Tapscott published Blockchain Revolution. Now, two years on and with a new edition under their belt, Alex sits down with VentureBeat to discuss his views on the revolution as it stands in 2018, from Cryptokitties and scalability improvements to the growing global recognition of the software and its impact on society. Read More
Ten cryptocurrency predictions for 2018 from the co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute
A year ago, Alex Tapscott (my co-author of Blockchain Revolution) and I made some predictions for 2017. At the end of the year we compared those predictions to what had actually occurred. Overall they stood up well.Notably we said: “Bitcoin will hit $2,000 (that’s right: one bitcoin will be worth $2,000). Ethereum will not collapse, post-DAO, but will become a dominant platform for new apps and new business models.” Read More
Tencent, Bell Canada join Blockchain Research Institute as founding members
The Toronto-based Blockchain Research Institute announced 16 new organizations have joined as founding members.The organizations include Barrick Gold, Bell Canada, Capgemini Canada, Cimcorp, Deloitte Canada, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), FedEx, Fujitsu, the Institute on Governance, Interac/Acxsys, KPMG LLP, Loblaw Companies Limited, MKS Switzerland, Moog, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, and Tencent. Read More
Estadao
Blockchain Research Institute começa operação no Brasil
O Blockchain Research Institute, criado por Don Tapscott – curador do Fórum Econômico Mundial – começa operação no Brasil. É a primeira promovida fora do Canadá.Mas o que é “blockchain”? Palavra ainda pouco usada, é uma mudança tecnológica que permite que informações não sejam distribuídas em cópias – como já ocorre nas transações financeiras online. Read More
Canadian Government Agencies Join Tapscott-Led Blockchain Research Effort
The government of Canada, along with several provincial and municipal administrations, has joined a prominent blockchain research effort.Announced today, the Blockchain Research Institute, founded in March by “Blockchain Revolution” authors Don and Alex Tapscott, revealed new members including the provincial government of Ontario, the city of Toronto and the Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank. Read More
Gowling supports Blockchain Research Institute and other legal moves and grooves for June 13
As a founding private sector member, Gowling WLG is the first international law firm to support the Blockchain Research Initiative, a multi-million dollar Toronto-based research project aimed at investigating blockchain strategies, implementation challenges and market opportunities.“We’re here to provide [BRI] with the advanced legal guidance they’ll need as they navigate uncharted territory and uncover new and more effective ways to do business,” said Mark Tamminga, leader of innovation initiatives at Gowling WLG. Read More
Blockchain Research Institute announces research partnership with Canadian gov’t, City of Toronto
Father-and-son duo Don and Alex Tapscott, also the co-founders of the Blockchain Research Institute, (BRI) have announced a research partnership with several members of Canada’s public sector.The BRI, which is dedicated to studying the implications of blockchain across various industries, will receive support from a number of public sector members including the Government of Canada, the Ontario government, the City of Toronto, University Health Network, the Bank of Canada, and the Federal Institute on Governance. The Institute is also welcoming support from private sector members including Thomson Reuters, the Institute’s first law firm Gowling WLG, and TMX Group. Read More
ECONTIMES
Blockchain Research Institute welcomes support from public and private sector members
Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) that explores strategic opportunities of the blockchain technology, announced that its initiative is being supported by broad public sector.The initiative, which is a syndicated research program of more than 40 projects working on strategic deployment of blockchain technology, has officially welcomed support from the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto, The University Health Network in Toronto, Bank of Canada, and the Federal Institute on Governance, the release stated. Read More
Don Tapscott Announces International Blockchain Research Institute
The government of Canada, in partnership with other government bodies and private sector companies, is establishing a Blockchain Research Institute in Toronto to bring together the top minds in public and private sector research to build blockchain-based economies around the world.Like the early days of the internet when defense and research agencies worked together to build the internet, the new foundation is hoping to engage researchers and companies that are willing to set aside their organizational biases and personal interests to develop the best possible models to go forward building a blockchain-based economy. Read More
‘Blockchain Revolution’ Authors Launch Enterprise Research Effort
A group of global governments, tech firms and blockchain startups have announced the launch of a new initiative dubbed the Blockchain Research Institute.The syndicated research group said it is committed to the academic analysis of the impacts of blockchain on a wide range of industries, including financial services, retail and manufacturing, along with the impact of the tech on a number of executive level professions. Read More
Don and Alex Tapscott launch Blockchain Research Institute with IBM, Ontario gov’t
A new Blockchain Research Institute has launched in Toronto with $2 million in funding from several companies and the Ontario government. The goal of the Institute is to study blockchain’s effect on various industries.The Toronto Star reported that blockchain experts and father-and-son duo Don and Alex Tapscott co-founded the Institute. Founding members include Accenture, IBM, SAP, Digital Asset, NASDAQ, PepsiCo, Centrica, Liberty Global, the Government of Ontario, and University Health Network. Canadian blockchain pioneers Paycase and Nuco are also involved. Read More
How Blockchain is Changing Finance
Don and Alex Tapscott review the inefficiencies in our financial system and propose a solution to this “innovation logjam”: blockchain. They use the example of venture capital to discuss the challenges and expansive opportunities of blockchain applications in this space, as the industry organizes around use cases, regulations, and innovations.Read More
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POWER. PRODUCED BY ENGINEERING EXPERTISE.
The BMW TwinPower Turbo engines in the BMW 7 Series.
Overwhelming performance and ground-breaking efficiency – every power unit for the BMW 7 Series is an expression of the dedicated development work of the BMW EfficientDynamics engineers. Their function as a team is similarly impressive.
M PERFORMANCE TWIN POWER TURBO 12-CYLINDER PETROL ENGINE.
A milestone in the art of automotive engineering, the 12-cylinder M Performance TwinPower Turbo in the BMW M760Li xDrive and BMW M760Li xDrive Model V12 Excellence provides sophisticated power that guarantees poised and confident driving pleasure. Its incomparably smooth running characteristics and supple power delivery turn every drive into a breathtaking experience for both the driver as well as passengers.
The V12-engine combines two turbochargers with the Double-VANOS variable camshaft control system and High-Precision Injection. The 12-cylinder provides a powerful maximum torque of 800* Nm at engine speeds of between 1,500* and 5,000* rpm as well as a maximum output of 448* kW (610* hp) at engine speeds of between 5,250* and 6,000* rpm thus propelling the vehicle from 0 to 100 km/h in a mere 3.7* seconds. This engine is incredibly fuel-efficient thanks to High-Precision Injection, while the Automatic Start/Stop function further reduces fuel consumption by automatically switching off the engine when the vehicle comes to a temporary standstill. Thanks to these innovative technologies, the engine gets by on a combined rate of 12.6* litres of fuel per 100 km with CO2 emissions of just 299* g/km, even while delivering excellent driving performance.
The intelligent BMW xDrive all-wheel drive system thereby distributes drive power to the front and rear wheels smoothly and variably for maximum traction, directional stability and safety in nearly every driving situation.
BMW TWINPOWER TURBO PETROL ENGINES.
The latest generation BMW TwinPower Turbo petrol engines feature remarkably agile power delivery and excellent responsiveness, even at low engine speeds. At the same time they are more efficient, with fewer emissions and better performance than their predecessors. These innovative engines combine the latest fuel injection technology and fully variable valve control including Double-VANOS with state-of-the-art turbocharger technology and represents a milestone in the BMW EfficientDynamics development strategy. The result is a particularly efficient drive train, which emphasises the renowned BMW engine prowess. The BMW TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder petrol engine has been honoured multiple times with the Engine of the Year Award, bolstering its worldwide reputation for dynamic power delivery, extremely smooth running characteristics and impressive efficiency. The engines from the BMW EfficientDynamics range feature a technology concept that has been proven highly successful and is implemented in nearly all petrol engines.
The figures for fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and power consumption depend on the wheel and tyre sizes selected.
Further information on the official fuel consumption and on the official specific CO2 emissions of new automobiles can be found in the guidelines on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of new automobiles which are available free of charge at all retail outlets and from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, 73760 Ostfildern, Germany.
The maximum speed is electronically limited for the BMW 7 Series models.
All engines meet the EU6 emissions standard. Fuel consumption is determined in accordance with the ECE driving cycle (93/116/EC) made up of approximately one third urban traffic and two thirds extra-urban driving (based on the distance covered). CO2 emissions are measured in addition to fuel consumption as such. Fuel consumption levels are calculated on the basis of vehicles with standard equipment. Special equipment (e.g. wider tyres) can have a significant impact on fuel consumption and driving performance levels.
The technical data specified apply to vehicles in the German market. The models illustrated may, in part, include optional equipment and accessories not fitted as standard. According to the specific requirements of other markets, alterations may occur regarding models, standard and optional equipment as described in the text and illustrations. For precise information, please contact your BMW Partner. Subject to change in design and equipment. Subject to error. Equipment specific to national markets is not represented here.
Unladen weight (EU) in kg: the figure quoted includes a 90 per cent tank filling, 68 kg for the driver and 7 kg for luggage. Unladen weight applies to vehicles with standard equipment. Optional equipment may increase this figure.
Rated output: BMW recommends the use of super unleaded 95 RON fuel. Unleaded RON 91 fuel or higher with a maximum ethanol limit of 10 per cent (E10) is also permitted. The performance and fuel consumption rates listed are based on the use of RON 98 fuel.
Fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for the BMW 7 Series models with petrol engine*:
Fuel consumption in l/100 km (combined): 12.6 to 4.5
CO2 emissions in g/km (combined): 299 to 119
* For individual models, the figures provided are the probable technical specifications.
** The figures provided are the probable technical specifications.
Further information about the official fuel consumption and the official specific CO2 emissions for new passenger automobiles can be found in the 'New Passenger Vehicle Fuel Consumption and CO2 Emission Guidelines', which are available free of charge at all sales outlets and from DAT Deutsche Automobil Treuhand GmbH, Hellmuth-Hirth-Str. 1, 73760 Ostfildern, Germany.
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Home » News » Bollywood News » Randeep Hooda learns ‘Kushti’ for Sarbjit
Randeep Hooda learns ‘Kushti’ for Sarbjit
Created: Mar 14, 2016 - 11:52 am IST
Recently we got a glimpse of Randeep Hooda playing the role of Sarbjit in the upcoming biopic on the Pakistani prisoner by the same name. While his pictures have grabbed a lot of attention, we also hear that he is concentrating on every minute detail to execute a realistic performance. We have also seen Randeep’s avatar as a happy farmer before his life was turned upside down and now, we tell you some inside details about fun ‘akhadaa’ sequence which was shot during his happy phase in the film.
A source from the sets spilled some details and said that while shooting for the akhadda sequence in Punjab, Randeep paid great attention on the exact techniques to be used to make it look real. He spoke to the villagers, who played akhadaa to get knowledge on some of right moves used in Kushti (wrestling) and what would be the correct way to wear the akhadaa lungi. That’s not all. The source added that Randeep used to even talk to villagers who knew Sarbjit and ask them about some unknown facts about him. It was his way of studying his character and getting to know him in depth.
The method actor who has given his immense dedication and hard work for the look of the character didn’t fail to give attention to his body language and dialect too. The actor was giving uttermost attention on delivering the rustic Punjabi dialect which Sarbjit used to have.
A source from the set informed “Randeep was all in for this sequence as it involved performing some ‘Kushti’ moves. He had to learn some moves to do justice to the scene for which he was all prepared and took it as a challenge to master it. The local people themselves tutored him through the moves and were amazed to see him do it in no time for which he was appreciated by them. It was a fun sequence to shoot for the whole cast and crew who were present.”
Sarbjit also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Dalbir Kaur and Richa Chadda as Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet Singh. The film is slated to release on May 20.
Tags : Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda, Sarbjit
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Home » 112th: Maya Popa with Timothy Donnelly
112th: Maya Popa with Timothy Donnelly
Join us at Book Culture on Friday, November 15th at 7pm to celebrate the recent release of American Faith by Maya C. Popa. Timothy Donnelly will join in conversation.
The ultimate subject of Popa’s stunning debut collection is violence. American Faith begins with its manifestation in our country: a destructive administration, a history of cruelty and extermination, and a love of firearms. The violence naturally extends to the personal. What for some is routine can feel like an assault: a TSA agent wipes down a bra tucked in a traveler’s suitcase, adding, “prettiest terrorist I’ve seen all day.” Tentatively, the title poem casts light on the unrevealed future, a solution that includes faith: “the days, impatient, fresh beasts, appeal to me— You are here. You must believe in something.”
Maya C. Popa is a Romanian-American poet and author of two chapbooks, The Bees Have Been Cancelled, named a Poetry Book Society Choice in 2017, and You Always Wished the Animals Would Leave, published in 2018 (DIAGRAM chapbook series). She is the recipient of awards from the Poetry Foundation and the Hippocrates Society, and her writing has appeared in Poetry, Kenyon Review, Poetry London, and Tin House among others. She is the Poetry Reviews Editor at Publishers
Timothy Donnelly is the author of The Problem of the Many (Wave Books, 2019), The Cloud Corporation (Wave Books, 2010), which won the 2012 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and Twenty-seven Props for a Production of Eine Lebenszeit (Grove, 2003). His chapbook Hymn to Life was recently published by Factory Hollow Press and with John Ashbery and Geoffrey G. O’Brien he is the co-author of Three Poets published by Minus A Press in 2012. He is a recipient of The Paris Review’s Bernard F. Conners Prize and the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award as well as fellowships from the New York State Writers Institute and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is Director of Poetry in the Writing Program at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and lives in Brooklyn with his family.
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American Faith (Paperback)
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Thank you Mr Romney, you’re super!
by | | the commonwealth
Over 300,000 Massachusetts residents who previously had no health insurance are now covered, due to the Commonwealth’s new law.
According to the Boston Business Journal:
The state’s new law mandating health insurance coverage has spurred more than 300,000 people to sign up before the end-of-year deadline, officials said on Wednesday.
Of that number, about 160,000 have enrolled in subsidized products known as Commonwealth Care, which is offered through the state’s Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority to people based on federal poverty level.
Another 70,000 people have been signed up for the state’s Medicaid program. And more than 63,000 have obtained coverage in unsubsidized offered by the Connector known as Commonwealth Choice or through private insurers.
There’s plenty to not like about this, and certainly there are plenty of problems with the law, as written. (Also, the numbers of people who have signed up for the unsubsidized plan seems low, in comparison …)
But, I am very happy about this.
Source: New law spurs more than 300K to seek health insurance in Mass. – Boston Business Journal
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Daily News Roundup: Wednesday 13th November 2019
Traditional banks must wake up to non-bank threat
Scott Lanphere, the chairman of fintech firm Omnio, says in a piece for City AM that traditional banks need to up their game in the battle for personalised banking or face losing more customers to non-banks that offer loans and wealth management services. Companies such as Uber, which has launched Uber Money - providing payment and banking services to the company's drivers – have vast amounts of data that allows them to personalise financial services in a way that no traditional bank can compete with” and “also have the tools to package this knowledge into a product using modern, intuitive digital banking systems, which can be tailored to the needs and desires of each of their customers.” Big banks need to act like challengers and build their data capabilities or they’ll be brought down by these non-bank insurgents, warns Lanphere.
Interest rates on credit cards hit record high
Research by Moneyfacts reveals that banks are now charging an average of 25.1% for credit card purchases - the highest-ever figure – leading former pensions minister Baroness Altmann to accuse providers of profiteering. Baroness Altmann says the Bank of England's attempt to stimulate the economy by lowering its base rate will not work if banks don't pass on the cuts.
NatWest accused of forcing people online
NatWest has been accused of forcing people to bank online by refusing to print out statements in branch or permit customers to report a death, leading to speculation the bank wants a drop in footfall to justify more branch closures.
Newcastle BS dims the lights for disabled
Newcastle Building Society is introducing a service to make banking easier for customers with invisible, visible, intellectual or cognitive disabilities. At different times each week its 29 branches will dim the lights and turn off the music.
KKR cashes out from Trainline
KKR along with a group of other Trainline investors have cashed out completely from the online rail bookings company just months after its IPO. The group raised gross proceeds of £279m after selling 68m shares.
Achleitner facing calls to step aside
Deutsche Bank chairman Paul Achleitner is facing calls from some of the lender’s largest shareholders to step down following deepening losses and the bank’s collapsed merger talks with Commerzbank. Cerberus, which is Deutsche’s third-largest shareholder with a 3% stake, joins BlackRock and other large Deutsche shareholders who have an increasingly negative view of Mr Achleitner’s performance.
Italian banks rush to profit from ECB negative rates
The ECB’s use of tiered interest rates has provided Italian banks with the opportunity to borrow at negative rates and deposit the cash at the central bank for free, making a profit on the difference.
Liberty House considers selling supply business to JLR
Liberty House is considering selling its automotive supplier Liberty Pressing Solutions to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Renault. Elsewhere, the Telegraph reports that Tata-owned JLR is looking to team up with a bigger player such as BMW or Geely, but Tata is resisting an outright sale.
Nissan cuts profit forecast as stronger yen hits turnaround plan
Nissan has reported half-year net profits down 73% to 65bn yen (£464m) on revenues 9.6% lower at 5trn yen, with the strong yen exacerbating the company’s problems. Its UK operations are in the spotlight again with sales in Europe falling almost a fifth to 265,000.
Meggitt reports stronger than expected Q3 results
Aerospace engineers Meggitt has reported revenue growth of 11% for the third quarter, prompting the firm to raise full-year guidance from between 4%-6% to between 6%-7%. The defence and energy divisions saw particularly strong growth, with incomes up 20% and 26% respectively.
Experian revenues hit $2.5bn
Revenues at consumer credit firm Experian hit $2.5bn for the first half of this year, up 7% from $2.36bn in 2018. On the back of strong performances in North America, Latin America and global business to business platforms, profit increased from $470m last year to $480m in 2019. The firm also saw users of its website for checking credit scores for free rise 56%, from 45m in 2018 to 70m in 2019.
Arrow sets sights on fund management
Manchester-headquartered debt purchasing group Arrow Global is to develop its fund management capabilities after swallowing a 15.1% rise in costs related to IFRS 16. Despite the group’s profits before tax increasing 65.6% to £42.4m and cashflow increasing 14.7% to £174.4m, underlying profits fell 5.4% to £50.4m in the nine months ending in September.
Vodafone raises profit guidance despite Indian problems
Despite posting a €1.9bn loss for the six months to September, Vodafone has raised its annual profit guidance for next year to between €14.8bn and €15bn, up from €13.8bn to €14.2bn. Part of the forecasts upgrade was due to income from buying rival Liberty’s huge German fibre business. However, CEO Nick Read warned the company could pull out of India over a $4bn tax bill going back to 2003 as he wrote down the value of the Indian business to zero.
DCC posts strong profit growth for first half
Marketing and support services group DCC has reported a 15% growth in profit for the first half of 2019, to £162.6m from £141.9m in 2018. DCC said it expects to deliver year-end results broadly in line with current market expectations.
Write-down pushes Landsec into slump
Land Securities has reported a £147m half-year loss as the "voracious storm" in the retail sector hits property valuations. The landlord, which owns the shopping centres Trinity Leeds and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, was hit by a £368m write-down on its portfolio in the six months to September 30. Nevertheless, the UK's biggest listed property company by portfolio value confirmed it plans to push ahead with four London schemes totalling 1m sq ft of new buildings, part of a £3bn programme of potential developments.
B&M writes off German unit as profits fall short
B&M is undertaking a review of its Jawoll unit in Germany after a persistent weak performance resulted in an impairment charge of £59.5m and half-year results that fell short of expectations. Pre-tax profit in the six months to September 29th fell 70.5% to £32.2m, including an impairment charge of £59.5m relating to Jawoll. The UK business, which generates more than four-fifths of sales, saw revenue rising almost 14% to £1.5bn.
Employment falls as pay growth slows
Figures from the Office for National Statistics yesterday showed that employment had fallen by 58,000 during the third quarter of 2019 – the biggest fall since May 2015. Britons also faced slowing pay growth in the third quarter - average weekly earnings grew by 3.6% in the third quarter, down from 3.8% in the three months to August.
Productivity remains flat
Labour productivity failed to grow in the third quarter after a 0.5% contraction in the second quarter, according to ONS preliminary figures released yesterday. The UK has registered either zero or negative annual productivity growth in each quarter since the three months to June 2018.
Millionaire investors hoard larger cash piles
A survey by UBS reveals that wealthy investors have increased their cash holdings amid concern about global political and economic uncertainty with 60% considering further increases in their cash levels.
Daily News Roundup: Thursday, 14th November 2019
Daily News Roundup: Tuesday, 12th November 2019
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BUSINESS SECTOR ADVOCACY CHALLENGE (BUSAC) FUND
CALL FOR CONCEPT NOTES FOR CALL #2 UNDER BUSAC FUND PHASE III
The BUSAC Fund hereby announces the second call for concept notes under the third phase of the BUSAC Fund Programme. As a component under DANIDA’s Support to Private Sector Development Phase III (SPSD III) programme, the BUSAC Fund III engagement is expected to lead to an “improved business environment through enhanced advocacy capacity of private sector organisations and creation of platforms for private-public dialogue”.
To achieve this outcome, BUSAC Fund III will be supporting private sector business advocacy initiatives aimed at improving the business environment. The Fund is currently inviting concept notes under the following windows from eligible Private Sector Organizations (PSOs) such as Business associations, farmer-based organisations, trade unions and other associations within the labour market:
MAXIMUM GRANT SIZE
WINDOW 1 GHC 80,000.00(90% of total cost) 10%
WINDOW 2 GHC 200,000.00(80% of total cost) 20%
WINDOW 3 To be determined by the BUSAC Fund Not applicable
I. Window 1 - Facility for district and community based advocacy actions
This window aims at supporting district-based PSOs and CBOs to advocate the removal of district and community level business constraints to enhance the business environment. Advocacy issues to be supported under this window include land rights (especially for women), workers’ rights, discriminatory treatment of weak groups, non-delivery of public services and goods etc.
II. Window 2 – Facility for advocacy issues of national /sectoral significance and green growth issues
Grants under window 2 will support PSOs to advocate the need to address business constraints of national /sectoral significance, including green growth issues. The advocacy issues to be considered under this window must have a clear effect on the economic robustness of the PSO and its members. Support under this window will also focus on strengthening the capacity of PSOs to undertake evidence-based advocacy beyond the support of BUSAC Fund III.
III. Window 3 - Facility for the creation of public-private dialogue (PPD) platforms
This facility is aimed at speeding business reform processes and enhancing the business environment through the facilitation of the private sector’s collaboration with relevant government ministries, departments and agencies. The PPD platforms to be created may take the form of permanent or ad hoc platforms centred on sector-specific or economy-wide issues relevant to the Ghanaian business environment.
IV. Window 4 - Post advocacy facility
Advocacy grants under this window will aim at supporting PSOs to dialogue with relevant government agencies on the enforcement of agreed policies, laws and reforms. Applicants to be considered will be PSOs who have successfully advocated the enactment / review of laws, policies, agreements, etc. which need to be implemented by duty bearers.
Priority Areas for Call #2:
For this call, the Fund will give preference to advocacy concepts that focus on:
policies relating to agricultural themes such as agro-processing, non-traditional agricultural commodities and value chain development;
policies and issues pertaining to climate change adaptation and sustainability e.g. green growth, energy conservation, renewable natural resources, recycling and waste management;
policies and regulations relating to the Cost of Doing Business;Proposals focusing on the application of Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to enhance the business environment e.g. Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship, inclusion of marginalized citizens (disabled) into economic activities.
Proposals focusing on the application of Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) to enhance the business environment e.g. Women Empowerment and Entrepreneurship, inclusion of marginalized citizens (disabled) into economic activities.
Applications that are not aligned with the above-mentioned priority areas will not be considered. Applicants applying for support under the above mentioned windows should complete the online concept note forms ‘A’ and ‘B’ available on the Fund’s website via this link: www.busacfund.org. The guidelines for completing the application forms are also available on the same website. Alternatively, applicants can download the concept note forms ‘A’ and ‘B’ and their accompanying guidelines from the BUSAC Fund’s website via this link: http://www.busac.org/downloads.php. Applicants can then submit the completed concept notes for windows 1, 2, 3 and 4 to applications@busac.org. The deadline for the completion of the application forms is 5:30 pm on Monday 4th June, 2018.
Additional information about this call may be obtained from the BUSAC Fund Secretariat between 09:00 and 17:30 hours or by phone at 0302 780 178. You may also contact the Grants Officer, Mr. John Asante via jasante@busac.org or Ms. Edayatu Lamptey via edayatu@busac.org. For more information about the BUSAC Fund's mode of operation and other windows of funding, please visit the Fund's website at: www.busac.org.
**If you are not sure whether your organisation is eligible or not, please send an inquiry to contact@busac.org for clarification.
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'What if China suddenly disappeared?': A top strategist just published a reality check for those freaking out about the rise of China
Gina Heeb
Phil Walter/Getty Images
China runs the largest merchandise trade surplus with the US at $US375 billion.
But some analysts think the data can be misleading.
The US-China trade deficit could be overstated by as much as 20%, one analyst said.
China is the world’s largest trader and is part of almost every supply and value chain. But a team of Macquarie Research analysts led by Viktor Shvets argue in a recent research note that China’s trade importance is “overstated” and “distorted.”
Shvets says the trade balance used to be more relevant. But now, in an era of multinationals and fragmentation of global supply value chains, he says it can be misleading.
China often imports parts from Japan, then assembles a final product and exports it to the US. Shvets sees that as Japan trading with the US, but on paper China has a trade deficit with Japan and a surplus with the US.
“How much value does a country or a company add to the process is what counts,” Shvets writes. “But our current trade statistics do not reflect value but rather flows.”
Deutsche Bank economists Zhiwei Zhang and Yi Xiong came to a similar conclusion earlier this year, writing in a note to clients that the US-China trade balance is “clearly misleading.” They pointed out that it doesn’t account for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales made by US companies run abroad, also known as subsidiaries.
US subsidiaries sold $US223 billion goods and services in China in 2017, according to a Bureau of Economic Analysis survey. Those weren’t counted toward the US’s goods and services trade deficit with China, which was a record $US375 billion last year.
And a lapse in data can also be seen at the company level, Zhang and Xiong said. Apple generated $US48 billion in revenue from China in 2016, mostly from iPhone sales. But, according to trade data, China imported only $US1 million of cell phones from the US that year.
“From an international trade perspective, iPhone sold by Apple’s Chinese subsidiaries are not counted as imports,” Zhang and Xiong wrote. “But from an economic and financial perspective, iPhone is a US product, and the US benefits the most from it.”
Shvets says Trade in Value Added (TiVA), an OECD measurement that tracks domestic value-added in exports and how much it’s reflected in final products of third parties, is a better way of looking at how nations measure up against one another in the global economy. Though, this method has a major timing caveat – the latest numbers are from 2011 and 2012.
“Nevertheless, it is still far better in providing clues of where the ultimate value is generated and explains the changes of relative positioning,” Shvets writes.
He uses the TiVA model to make current estimates, removing balances from products that travel through China but are mostly made in other countries. He says his results suggest the US-China trade deficit is at least 15% to 20% overstated.
“To answer our question, what would happen if China disappeared tomorrow? There clearly would be a massive dislocation,” Shvets added. “However, from a systemic perspective, there are very few things that China produces or trades that are truly unique.”
apple china clusterstock global economy japan moneygame-us oecd politics subsidaries trade us value added
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One of 'El Chapo' Guzman's sons led a dramatic counterattack to rescue his half-brother from Mexican forces
Anthony Esposito and Ana Isabel Martinez,
Cartel gunmen during clashes with federal forces after the detention of Ovidio Guzman, son of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in Culiacan in Mexico's Sinaloa state, October 17, 2019.
Jesus Bustamante / Reuters
Mexican security forces briefly captured one of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's sons this month in the Sinaloa cartel's stronghold in the state of the same name.
The security personnel released the younger Guzman after a furious assault by heavily armed gunmen — a counterattack led by another of Guzman's sons.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, the leader of Los Chapitos wing of the Sinaloa Cartel, was behind the assault on security forces that prompted the release of his half-brother from a house in the city of Culiacan earlier this month, a top Mexican official said.
The men's father is Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most infamous drug kingpin, who himself slipped away from authorities on multiple occasions before being sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States this year.
Younger brother Ovidio Guzman was briefly captured by Mexican security forces on October 17 in an upscale neighborhood of Culiacan, until hundreds of heavily-armed Sinaloa Cartel gunmen forced his release.
Cartel gunmen near a burning truck during clashes with federal forces following the detention of Ovidio Guzman, son of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, October 17, 2019.
REUTERS/Jesus Bustamante
The botched raid has called into question Mexico's security strategy and put pressure on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has insisted that the release was necessary to protect the lives of civilians and security personnel.
Questions have circulated about the role of the older Guzman brother in launching the fierce counterattack led by gunmen in armored vehicles armed with mounted weapons that left parts of the city smoldering.
Late on Thursday, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said Ivan Archivaldo had played a key part.
"He was one of those leading the mobilization of various criminal elements in Culiacan," Durazo said, while denying reports that the elder brother had also been briefly captured.
"Ivan Archivaldo was not at the home that was taken over by (security) personnel who participated in this operation," he said.
A senior security official told Reuters that Ovidio was found in the house with his partner, their two daughters, and two guards. The official asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
A burning bus, set alight by cartel gunmen to block a road, is pictured during clashes with federal forces following the detention of Ovidio Guzman, son of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico October 17, 2019.
The Sinaloa Cartel, along with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, are Mexico's largest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations.
Since El Chapo left the scene, his partner Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada has taken on a coordinating "godfather" role overseeing several factions in the organization, an official at the US Justice Department told Reuters.
Four brothers, led by Ivan Archivaldo, form one group collectively known as Los Chapitos, or "little Chapos." El Chapo's brother heads another unit, and veteran trafficker Rafael Caro-Quintero leads another, the official said. In a 2018 interview with a Mexican magazine, Caro-Quintero denied he was still a drug trafficker.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; editing by Daniel Wallis)
SEE ALSO: Mexico freed 'El Chapo' Guzman's son after a counterattack by his henchmen, but it's not the first time a cartel has taken on the government
NOW WATCH: What El Chapo is really like, according to the wife of one his closest henchman
More: Reuters News Contributor Mexico Joaquin Guzman
El Chapo Guzman
Sinaloa Cartel
Ovidio Guzman
Mexican Drug Cartels
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Breakthrough Start-up Attune Medical Receives 510(k) Clearance from FDA: New Device for Feeding and Medication Administration Using Standardized Connector and EnsoETM
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Medical device firm Attune Medical has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a new EnsoETMTM model capable of administering tube feeds and/or medication while simultaneously cooling or warming patients using the esophageal space.
The newly-cleared model of EnsoETM, which manages patient temperature through the esophagus, allows for enteral fluid administration with the ENFit® connector while managing the important task of temperature management through the patient’s core. With this new extension of the EnsoETM product line, the need for a separate feeding tube is eliminated, and clinicians can leverage the EnsoETM for comprehensive temperature management as well as gain compliance with an increasingly accepted standard of care using the ENFit connector.
“Attune Medical is focused on developing innovative targeted temperature management products with increasingly useful clinical features such as this new capability to administer tube feeds and medication through our device, all while delivering a safe, cost-effective and now more comprehensive alternative to other targeted temperature management options,” commented Attune Medical’s Chief Executive Officer Keith Warner.
Maria Gray, VP of Clinical Services, noted, “The new EnsoETM with EnFit connection will offer customers a seamless way to adhere to increasing worldwide standardization toward a fail-safe approach to interfacing patients with feeding and medicinal support designed to prevent tubal misconnection.”
Formerly known as Advanced Cooling Therapy, Attune Medical has developed proprietary medical device technology that simplifies access to the patient’s core to efficiently control core temperature. Whether warming or cooling, the company’s technology platform optimizes, or “tunes,” patient temperature safely and effectively. Attune’s initial product, the EnsoETM (formerly Esophageal Cooling Device or ECD), is designed to modulate and control patient temperature through a single-use, fully-enclosed system that is inserted into the esophagus. Two lumens attach to an external heat exchange unit while a third, independent, lumen simultaneously allows gastric decompression, drainage, or the administration of enteral fluids such as tube feeds and medications. The EnsoETM can be rapidly placed by most trained healthcare professionals, in similar fashion to a standard gastric tube, and can be used to control patient temperature in the operating room, recovery room, emergency room, and/or intensive care unit. No other products on the market are cleared for use in the esophageal environment for whole-body temperature modulation.
Attune Medical (as Advanced Cooling Therapy) received US FDA de novo clearance for the EnsoETM (Esophageal Cooling Device or ECD) in 2015 for use with the Medi-Therm III by Stryker®. The company received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2016 for use with the Blanketrol® II and III Hyper-Hypothermia systems made by Cincinnati Sub-Zero, a Gentherm Company, and FDA 510(k) clearance for use with the Altrix System by Stryker® in 2017. It received its CE Mark in Europe in 2014, with an expanded indication for use up to 120 hours in 2016 and a CE Mark for use with the Altrix System by Stryker® in 2017. It is also licensed for sale in Canada and Australia.
for Attune Medical
Lisa Owens, 210-601-6647
lisammowens@gmail.com
Attune Medical receives 510(k) clearance from FDA for new device for feeding and medication administration with its EnsoETM.
#temperaturemanagement
#TTM
#EnsoETM
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Brian Naylor
NPR News' Brian Naylor is a correspondent on the Washington Desk. In this role, he covers politics and federal agencies.
With more than 30 years of experience at NPR, Naylor has served as National Desk correspondent, White House correspondent, congressional correspondent, foreign correspondent, and newscaster during All Things Considered. He has filled in as host on many NPR programs, including Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation.
During his NPR career, Naylor has covered many major world events, including political conventions, the Olympics, the White House, Congress, and the mid-Atlantic region. Naylor reported from Tokyo in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, from New Orleans following the BP oil spill, and from West Virginia after the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine.
While covering the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990s, Naylor's reporting contributed to NPR's 1996 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for political reporting.
Before coming to NPR in 1982, Naylor worked at NPR Member Station WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and at a commercial radio station in Maine.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maine.
With The Rules Set, Senate Trial Opening Arguments Begin
By Brian Naylor • 3 hours ago
Opening arguments will be made Wednesday in the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.
The Senate adopted a resolution that calls for 24 hours of opening statements for each side, to be spread over three days, after rejecting efforts by Democrats to subpoena documents the Trump administration has refused to turn over.
The GOP majority also rejected efforts to subpoena current and former Trump administration officials to testify, including former national security adviser John Bolton and current acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
Trump Wants To Move The U.S. Secret Service Back To Treasury
By Brian Naylor • Jan 21, 2020
NOEL KING, HOST:
Senators Swear To Render 'Impartial Justice' In Impeachment Trial
Amid much pomp and circumstance, the Senate took some of its first steps on Thursday to prepare for next week's impeachment trial of President Trump, just the third such trial in Senate history.
Chief Justice John Roberts, having crossed First Street from the Supreme Court building over to the Capitol, joined senators in the chamber and then was sworn in by Senate President pro tempore Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Roberts will preside over the trial.
The House of Representatives has delivered articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, which is expected to begin a trial next week.
Earlier in the day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named seven Democratic members of Congress as the managers who will argue the case for impeachment.
Those managers brought the articles to the Senate on Wednesday evening.
House To Vote Wednesday To Send Impeachment Articles To Senate
By Brian Naylor, Kelsey Snell & Susan Davis • Jan 14, 2020
The House will vote to send two articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate Wednesday, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a trial to determine whether to remove the president from office will probably begin next Tuesday.
In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will also name impeachment managers to lead the prosecution against the president Wednesday but did not say who they would be. "The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial," Pelosi said.
Cory Booker Drops Out Of Presidential Race
Sen. Cory Booker announced Monday he is dropping out of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
In an email to his supporters, Booker cited a number of reasons: most notably, a lack of money to continue.
"Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don't have, and money that is harder to raise because I won't be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington," Booker wrote.
Trump Administration Announces More Economic Sanctions Against Iran
The White House announced Friday it is imposing additional economic sanctions against Iran, including officials in the Iranian government.
The penalties, promised earlier this week by President Trump, "will cut off billions of dollars of support to the Iranian regime," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Bolton Says He Would Testify In Senate Impeachment Trial If Subpoenaed
By Brian Naylor • Jan 6, 2020
Former national security adviser John Bolton in a surprise announcement said Monday he'd be willing to testify in the Senate's impeachment trial of President Trump — if the Senate subpoenas him.
"I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify," Bolton said in a statement posted on his website.
House To Vote On Measure Limiting Trump's Military Actions In Iran
Congressional Democrats are promising to act this week to limit President Trump's ability to unilaterally order military action against Iran.
In a letter to House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called last week's drone airstrike against Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani "provocative and disproportionate," saying the strike "endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran."
3 Months After Heart Attack, Sanders' Doctors Say He's 'Fit' To Be President
By Brian Naylor • Dec 30, 2019
Three months after suffering a heart attack, Bernie Sanders is "fit and ready to serve as president," according to his campaign, which on Monday released letters from three doctors.
Sanders, 78, had a heart attack on Oct. 1. His cardiologist, Martin LeWinter of the University of Vermont, revealed in his letter that Sanders "did suffer modest heart muscle damage" but said he "has been doing very well since."
A Look At The Moments And Events That Led Congress To Trump's Impeachment
After Hours Of Fiery Speeches In Protest And Support, House Impeaches Trump
President Trump is now just the third president in American history to be impeached.
Lawmakers passed two articles of impeachment against Trump. The first article, which charges Trump with abuse of power, was approved largely along a party-line vote, 230-197-1. The second article, on obstructing Congress, passed 229-198-1.
Impeachment Timeline: From Early Calls To A Full House Vote
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against President Trump. A handful of congressional Democrats have been calling for Trump to be impeached even before they won control of the House in the 2018 election. But the majority of the caucus didn't back Trump's removal until this fall. Here's a look at how we got here:
Earliest calls
DOJ Inspector General Tells Congress His Report Does Not 'Vindicate Anybody'
The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about his report on the origins of the FBI's probe into the 2016 Trump campaign's possible ties with Russia.
The 400-plus page report, released Monday, found that the FBI had ample evidence to open its investigation — despite allegations of political bias.
President Clinton Was Impeached 21 Years Ago. Some Parallels Run Deep
By Brian Naylor • Dec 6, 2019
The impeachment process now underway against President Trump comes 21 years to the month after the last presidential impeachment, when the House approved two articles against then-President Bill Clinton.
And there are many parallels in the two procedures.
Pelosi Says House Democrats Will Draft Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump
By Brian Naylor & Arnie Seipel • Dec 5, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Thursday morning that House Democrats will move ahead with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump, though she did not define the scope of those articles.
"His wrongdoing strikes at the very heart of our Constitution," Pelosi said, referring to Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rivals while hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid were on hold earlier this year.
Impeachment Hearings Illustrate Longstanding Conflict Throughout Trump's Presidency
By Brian Naylor • Nov 18, 2019
Who Are The Staff Attorneys Questioning Impeachment Witnesses?
While rank-and-file members of the House Intelligence Committee will get their opportunity to question witnesses at the House impeachment inquiry, relatively anonymous staff attorneys are also playing a part in the questioning.
In an unusual but not unprecedented format for congressional hearings, Chairman Adam Schiff and ranking member Devin Nunes will each get 45 minutes to question the witnesses — and can cede any of that extended time to their respective staff counsels. Other lawmakers on the committee will get five-minute rounds.
Former U.N. Ambassador Haley: Trump Actions 'Not A Good Practice' But Not Impeachable
By Brian Naylor & Mary Louise Kelly • Nov 11, 2019
A onetime member of the Trump administration has some mildly critical words for her old boss but disagrees with Congress' efforts to impeach him.
Former Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said in an interview with NPR on Friday that "it is not a good practice for us ever to ask a foreign country to investigate an American" — referring to President Trump's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, his potential 2020 opponent.
But, she added, "I don't see it as impeachable."
Public Impeachment Inquiry Hearings To Begin Next Week
By Brian Naylor • Nov 6, 2019
House Democrats have announced they will begin public hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump next week.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced two days of hearings. The first will be with acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent on Wednesday, Nov. 13. On Nov. 15, the committee will hear from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Appeals Court Rules Trump's Accountants Must Turn Over Tax Records
President Trump has lost another legal fight in his efforts to keep his tax returns private. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Trump's accounting firm must turn over the returns to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
The president will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, said Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's outside attorneys.
FACT CHECK: Is The Trump Impeachment Process Different From Nixon And Clinton?
For the third time in almost 46 years, the House of Representatives has voted to begin a formal impeachment inquiry into the actions of the sitting president.
White House To Name Chad Wolf As Acting Homeland Security Secretary
The White House will name Chad Wolf as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to sources briefed on the decision, and confirmed by a White House spokesperson. Wolf is a top DHS official currently serving as the department's undersecretary.
President Trump Is A New Yorker No Longer
President Trump, a born and bred New Yorker whose brash and boisterous persona has reflected the popular image of his native city, is pulling up stakes.
House Democrats Unveil Impeachment Process Resolution; White House Remains Defiant
By Brian Naylor • Oct 29, 2019
Updated 4:30 p.m. ET
House Democrats unveiled a resolution Tuesday reaffirming their impeachment inquiry and setting out the process for it to continue examining whether the president improperly tried to pressure Ukraine into launching an investigation into a potential political rival.
The measure will enable public hearings and a release of the witness interviews already taken by House committees and will allow the president and his attorneys to cross-examine witnesses.
Trump Calls Impeachment Inquiry A 'Lynching'
President Trump lashed out about the House impeachment inquiry in a tweet Tuesday morning, calling it "a lynching," a choice of words that drew sharp rebukes from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
In his post, Trump wrote, "So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here - a lynching. But we will WIN!"
Trump's Former VA Secretary Describes 'Toxic' Washington Culture In New Book
By some measures, David Shulkin had a fairly typical experience for members of the Trump administration. He learned he was nominated to become secretary of veterans affairs while watching TV — and found out he was fired on Twitter.
Trump Gave Giuliani The Ukraine Portfolio And Boxed Out Diplomats, Sondland Says
By Dana Farrington & Brian Naylor • Oct 17, 2019
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged several substantial facts about the Ukraine affair on Thursday — but disputed that it was inappropriate or that the administration even was trying to hide what it had done.
Mulvaney acknowledged that President Trump expected concessions from his Ukrainian counterpart in exchange for engagement and also that Trump had empowered his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to run what has been called a parallel foreign policy for Ukraine on his own.
House Democrats Walk Out Of White House Syria Meeting, Accusing Trump Of 'Meltdown'
Congressional Democrats walked out of a bipartisan White House meeting with President Trump about his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, a meeting in which Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "a third-rate politician" according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway Wednesday after the meeting, Pelosi said the president had a "meltdown" inside, looked shaken, "and was not relating to reality."
2 Giuliani Associates Arrested On Campaign Finance Violations
By Brian Naylor & Ryan Lucas • Oct 10, 2019
Two Florida-based businessmen who helped President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in his efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine have been arrested and charged with campaign finance violations in a separate matter.
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09 March 2019 Venue Northern Commercials Stadium Attendance
Updated at (UK)
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English Football League - League One
BOWYER'S BANTAMS SECURE IMPRESSIVE PETERBOROUGH VICTORY
Gary Bowyer enjoyed a dream debut as Bantams boss following an impressive 3-1 home victory by City over play-off contenders Peterborough United at the Northern Commercials Stadium.
Goals from Jacob Butterfield, Eoin Doyle and Lewis O'Brien in the final twenty minutes or so of a highly-entertaining encounter saw Bowyer's Bantams run out 3-1 winners over Peterborough in his first game in charge.
Peterborough's Marcus Maddison netted a consolation goal late on following a debatable penalty award, but City weren't to be denied a deserved success after a hard-working display.
Bowyer's first starting XI as City manager saw him bring Kelvin Mellor, Calum Woods and former Peterborough man Jermaine Anderson into the team.
As a result of the changes, Jack Payne and Paul Caddis moved down to the bench; Connor Wood missing out altogether.
As you would expect with a new man in charge, City made a strong start to the contest.
Butterfield, who caught the eye with his skillful play all afternoon, struck the woodwork in just the eighth minute when his free-kick from outside the area hit the bar.
Despite their positive start, though, City had been given a let-off shortly before Butterfield's effort when Matt Godden was flagged offside after heading in from a Maddison cross.
On first glance, it looked a tight call, but the Bantams were clearly relieved to see the decision go their way.
Later in the half, David Ball - who, like strike-partner Doyle, never stopped running all game - nearly got a shot away deep inside the box following O'Brien's low cross into the area.
Ball had a couple of bites at the cherry, but Peterborough were eventually able to clear.
As the half progressed, it must be said that Peterborough slowly began to take control of possession and the flow of the match.
Peterborough probed away for the remainder of the half - looking for a way through - but City stuck to their task and kept themselves in the game.
Just over twenty minutes in, Jason Naismith got free on the byline by City's left flank, but Anthony O'Connor was on hand to make a vital block in the middle inside the six yard box.
A teasing cross from the ever-dangerous Maddison half an hour in was helped across the box by Joe Ward, but Nathaniel Knight-Percival was able to block Godden's goal-bound close range strike.
At the other end, Butterfield - who was seemingly at the heart of most of City's bright attacking moments in the match - tried his luck from just outside the box but the low strike was held by O'Malley.
As the half moved towards the interval, Peterborough remained on the front foot and looked the more likely to make the break-through.
Both Maddison and Tomlin went for goal with efforts from inside the area from separate attacks, but blocks from O'Connor and Knight-Percival respectively quickly followed to repel those strikes.
Skipper-for-the-day Hope Akpan gave Peterborough something to think about defensively with a rising drive just over ten minutes before the break, but the Bantams would then be dealt a double injury blow before the half was out.
Firstly, Mellor had to be replaced by Caddis shortly before the interval after appearing to fall awkwardly and damaging his knee.
With City then lining up to defend a corner in first half injury time following a Knight-Percival block from a Godden strike in the area, Woods went down himself with an injury.
The defender, who was only just returning from injury in this match, had to be replaced by Adam Chicksen on the stroke of half time.
If Peterborough had enjoyed the better of the opening half, especially in the latter stages, City certainly stepped it up after the break to really take the game to their visitors.
After half chances for both sides in the opening exchanges following the restart, Ball was given a sniff of goal due to a slack pass in the Peterborough defence.
Ball picked up possession midway into Peterborough territory before driving towards O'Malley's area.
Closing Peterborough defenders meant Ball had to shoot before he made it into the box, however, and the striker's side-footed effort was held low to his left by O'Malley.
Attacking to the Kop in the second period, City's efforts after the interval certainly saw the volume levels rise up and up at Valley Parade.
City looked on the up as the game moved towards the hour point, and O'Malley had to be on hand to push a Butterfield free-kick from just outside the box around the post.
Soon after, Ball then had a shot held by O'Malley following Caddis' cross into the box from the right.
Despite City's strong play in the second period, however, Peterborough were always a threat going forward with the likes of Tomlin and Maddison in their attacking ranks.
Peterborough actually nearly snuck their way in front via a teasing cross from the latter towards the far post, but Daniel Lafferty's close range header was blocked by O'Donnell.
Maddison then went for goal himself from a free-kick from distance; the effort flicked off the City wall and O'Donnell had to turn the ball over.
With twenty minutes or normal time remaining though, it was City who earned the all-important break-through goal via Man of the Match Butterfield.
The on-loan Derby County midfielder took aim from just outside the box and the low drive rattled into the bottom corner by O'Malley's near post.
The goal understandably sparked joyous scenes in the home stands, and it vitally gave Bowyer's men something to hang on to in the final quarter of the match.
Peterborough responded to going a goal behind by instantly bringing on attackers Ivan Toney and George Cooper.
City had to deal with a fair amount of defensive work following Peterborough's offensive alterations, but they were actually able to double their lead six minutes before the end of normal time.
With Peterborough pushing men forward, Akpan's clearance over the top gave Ball something to chase onto.
Ball managed to take possession towards the edge of the box before Doyle took over.
The Irishman drove into the area and then fired low into the corner with a left-footed strike that wrong-footed O'Malley.
Incredibly, two became three for City shortly afterwards.
As O'Brien picked up the ball just outside the area, the midfielder played a neat one-two with Doyle before moving into the box.
O'Brien seemed to scuff a shot into the ground and the effort bounced past O'Malley via a touch off Lafferty and into the corner of the net.
The goal put the icing the cake for Bantams, but sadly City weren't able to claim a clean sheet their hard-working efforts deserved.
In the final stages ahead of injury time, referee Mr Donohue awarded a spot-kick for Peterborough following a challenge by Caddis in the box on Maddison.
Caddis seemed to cleanly win the ball from Maddison, but the match official stuck with his decision to give the penalty despite home protests.
O'Donnell guessed right from the resulting penalty kick, but the pace and precision of Maddison's strike meant the effort still found the corner.
The manner of the goal was a slight disappointment for the Bantams on the day, but it was still no reason at all for it to take the shine off a morale-boosting success for Bowyer's side.
Match line-ups, updates and stats from the Peterborough fixture can be found via the Match Centre - HERE.
EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS: Bradford City 3-1 Peterborough United
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: Bradford City 3-1 Peterborough United
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We fund continuous and sustainable life-saving research at each of our centres
Our Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth is one of Europe’s leading research institutes for low-grade brain tumours
The Plymouth team, led by Prof Oliver Hanemann, has a world-leading track record in researching low-grade brain tumours occurring in teenagers and adults. By identifying and understanding the mechanism that makes a cell become cancerous, the team are exploring ways to halt or reverse them.
Personalised medicine for low-grade brain tumours
The Brain Tumour Research Centre in Plymouth focuses on the emerging area of personalised medicine in order to provide new understanding of specific groups of common, low-grade brain tumours. The pioneering research team is looking at astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, schwannoma, meningioma and ependymoma brain tumours. The research at Plymouth also has the potential to inform work on other brain tumour types, including high-grade tumours such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), but in fact meningioma alone accounts for over 30% of brain tumour patients diagnosed worldwide with a primary brain tumour.
Low-grade brain tumours: the underfunded of the underfunded
Research into brain tumours has historically been underfunded, and with much of that investment focused on high-grade brain tumours, it is vital that we keep the supply of funds channelled into Plymouth to support Professor Hanemann and his visionary team who are determined to change the lives of all those affected by these devastating low-grade tumour types.
This includes the children and teenagers who have a condition called neurofibromatosis 2. Meningiomas and schwannomas are two common brain tumours that form both spontaneously and also when associated with this incredibly challenging disease. The NF2 gene at the heart of both is a particular area of focus for our researchers.
Working collaboratively with neurosciences
Collaboration is key and it is something that we and our Member Charities value and promote. It is also an important element of the network of experts in brain tumour research that they too collaborate to increase the knowledge and bring us faster to a cure.
All the Brain Tumour Research teams at the University of Plymouth share laboratory space with researchers working on other forms of cancer, infection, immunity, and clinical neuroscience projects, thereby ensuring knowledge sharing across the disciplines so that advances in one area can potentially move others forward. They collaborate with other research teams both within the UK and internationally, and are active members of both the International Consortium of Meningioma (ICOM) and the British Irish Meningioma Society, regularly presenting their work at global conferences.
Low-grade research projects at Plymouth
Our Low-Grade Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence provides a vibrant hub for teams of dedicated researchers who have been attracted from across the globe to work at this innovative institution. Each team investigates different types of low-grade brain tumours, or different aspects of their neurobiology.
Building strong foundations for research:
Specialised tissue bank for low-grade brain tumours
Research can only happen if there are tumour samples for the researchers to study. The University of Plymouth Brain Tissue Biobank has grown significantly to over 300 samples, 98.7% of which are low-grade. The focus is on meningioma and schwannoma, with some astrocytoma and ependymoma.
In order to support their current research, they are also collaborating with the the virtual tissue bank, BRAIN UK, and are receiving further glioma/astrocytoma samples from neuropathology departments across the UK.
With more funds for extra staff and resources, they could expand their vital biobank even further.
The future of low-grade brain tumour tissue banking
The researchers at Plymouth need to expand their tissue bank to include more tissue samples. This would enable them to define further subgroups of meningioma, and also to include low-grade astrocytoma, ependymoma and oligodendroglioma tumours.
Classifying meningioma for personalised medicine treatments
Tissue samples within the University of Plymouth Brain Tissue Biobank have enabled Professor Hanemann’s team to contribute to the development of new ways of classifying meningioma that have now been adopted worldwide. They have undertaken the genotyping of meningioma samples covering the main mutations in this tumour type, enabling the stratification of meningiomas that provides the basic requirement for research into precision medicine approaches, helping to move forward the global understanding of this new approach to brain tumour treatment.
Developing a blood test for meningioma
Professor Oliver Hanemann is developing a test on tissue or blood that can be used instead of a biopsy to identify markers that predict how meningiomas are likely to behave. The immediate benefit for some patients is avoiding invasive surgery. For other patients, a biopsy may be impossible due to the position of the tumour and the risks that this surgical procedure would bring, so this test will be able to provide crucial information that their medical team would otherwise not be able to obtain.
Finding new drug targets for meningioma
Thanks to information gleaned from the innovative blood tests and extensive tumour tissue bank that has been established at University of Plymouth, the team are already finding new biomarkers that differentiate lower and higher-grade tumours, or indicate progression from lower to higher grade. These biomarkers are molecules found in brain tumour tissue or the patient’s blood and can be measured to indicate the progression of the disease, or identify what type of process has gone wrong to cause that disease. Biomarkers can also potentially be targeted by reformulated, repurposed or new drugs in order to influence the way that tumours develop, potentially holding tumours at the low-grade stage, shrinking them or ideally curing them altogether.
Identifying drugs to treat meningioma
The team at Plymouth are busy testing reformulated and repurposed drugs on meningiomas in the laboratory, ready to move the most promising ones into clinical trials. They have already completed one phase 0 clinical trial that ruled out one potential compound, and are now focused on another promising formulation. The advantage of repurposing existing drugs in this way is that if they already have a proven safety track record in humans, they can be moved more quickly into clinical trials than a new drug. The team will also be considering reformulations of such drugs, as it may be that a slight change to an existing drug may enhance effectiveness in this new situation.
The future of meningioma research
There are currently no chemotherapy drugs that are routinely offered to patients due to their lack of effectiveness, yet existing regimes of surgery and radiotherapy often bring with them lifelong side effects. Researchers at the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence in Plymouth are developing blood tests and biomarkers that will enable each subtype of meningioma to be treated with a personalised drug treatment that ensures maximum benefit with minimal side effects. New, reformulated or repurposed drugs that target only the cancer cells are being designed to avoid the damage currently done to healthy cells by standard chemotherapy regimes, hence reducing or avoiding side effects. They desperately need to expand their teams in order to speed up their vital research and bring us closer to a cure as quickly as possible.
Professor Hanemann and Dr Silwia Ammoun’s teams are determined to find a cure that benefits not just those with a primary brain tumour, but also the children and teenagers who are diagnosed with neurofibromatosis 2. They are leading the way in research into a mutation on a gene called NF2 (a “tumour suppressor” gene) found in most paediatric and adult schwannomas, meningiomas and spinal ependymomas that can give rise to this genetic disease called neurofibromatosis 2. This research is partly supported by a grant given by Sparks and Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity National Funding.
Children with neurofibromatosis 2 will have developed multiple brain, spinal and nervous system tumours by the time they are teenagers, with the average prognosis being just 15 years from when the disease is first discovered. The team believe that finding a cure for low-grade brain tumours will also unblock the path to finding a cure for Neurofibromatosis 2.
Inflammation in meningioma and schwannoma brain tumours
Professor David Parkinson’s team are focused on the role that macrophages (a type of immune cell) play in fuelling inflammation, and hence the growth of both meningioma and schwannoma tumours. They have discovered some similarities with signalling pathways currently being investigated in glioblastome multiforme (GBM) and are exploring whether they may be some beneficial cross-fertilisation of knowledge across these different tumour types.
The Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence at Plymouth need to expand their work to explore these pathways in more detail, and to clarify the role of a wider range of substances produced by macrophages that may be key factors in driving tumour cell proliferation. With your help, they could expand their research across the boundaries between low and high-grade brain tumours.
New drugs for low-grade gliomas
Professor Ji-Liang Li leads the team who are working towards a combination therapy of temozolomide plus drugs that target the tumour micro-environment in low-grade astrocytomas. For example, they are investigating drugs that affect the blood vessels that develop in the environment directly around the tumour, which can then carry nutrients in the blood to help the tumour grow: by blocking the growth of these vessels, the tumour can potentially be starved of the fuel that drives progression to a higher grade.
These low-grade brain tumour experts need to expand their team working on new drug combinations for low-grade gliomas, enabling research to move more quickly towards clinical trials and hence provide a desperately needed opportunity for patients to explore such novel combination therapies.
They also want to build on their understanding of meningioma by screening drugs currently used for other diseases that may be effective against other low-grade tumour types, so that research on all of them moves forward together.
Low-Grade to High-Grade: Tumour Genesis and Transformation
Dr. Claudia Barros and her team are using a brain tumour model in Drosophila fruit flies to study tumour-initiating cells. The team has identified genes that trigger the development of all grades of glioma brain tumours: astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). By understanding how normal cells develop into tumour-initiating cells and then keep on fuelling those tumours, new treatments to target these cells can be developed.
The team need to deepen their focus on one particular gene and the pathway that it controls to help trigger the development of all grades of glioma brain tumours: astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), whilst continuing to explore other promising avenues of research.
Dong N, Shi X, Wang S, Gao Y, Huang Z, Xie Q, Li Y, Deng H, Wu Y, Li M, Li JL. (2019): M2 macrophages mediate sorafenib resistance by secreting HGF in a feed-forward manner in hepatocellular carcinoma. Br J Cancer. 2019 Jul;121(1):22-33. doi: 10.1038/s41416-019-0482-x.
Gil-Ranedo J, Gonzaga E, Jaworek KJ, Berger C, Bossing T, Barros CS. (2019) STRIPAK Members Orchestrate Hippo and Insulin Receptor Signaling to Promote Neural Stem Cell Reactivation. Cell Rep. 2019 Jun 4;27(10):2921-2933.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.023.
Dun XP, Carr L, Woodley PK, Barry RW, Drake LK, Mindos T, Roberts SL, Lloyd AC, Parkinson DB.(2019) Macrophage-Derived Slit3 Controls Cell Migration and Axon Pathfinding in the Peripheral Nerve Bridge. Cell Rep. 2019 Feb 5;26(6):1458-1472.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.12.081.
Dunn J, Ferluga S, Sharma V, Futschik M, Hilton DA, Adams CL, Lasonder E, Hanemann CO. (2019) Proteomic analysis discovers the differential expression of novel proteins and phosphoproteins in meningioma including NEK9, HK2 and SET and deregulation of RNA metabolism. EBioMedicine. 2019 Feb; 40:77-91. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2018.12.048.
Ammoun S, Evans DG, Hilton DA, Streeter A, Hayward C, Hanemann OC (2019) Phase 0 trial investigating the intratumoural concentration and activity of Sorafenib in neurofibromatosis type 2 Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Published Online First: 04 February 2019. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2018-319713
Suppiah S, Nassiri F, Bi WL, Dunn IF, Hanemann CO, Horbinski CM, Hashizume R, James CD, Mawrin C, Noushmehr H, Perry A, Sahm F, Sloan A, Von Deimling A, Wen PY, Aldape K, Zadeh G (2019) International Consortium on Meningiomas. Molecular and translational advances in meningiomas. Neuro-Oncology. Volume 21, Issue Supplement_1, January 2019:i4-i17. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noy178
Nassiri F, Price B, Shehab A et al. (2019) Life after surgical resection of a meningioma: a prospective cross-sectional study evaluating health-related quality of life. Neuro-Oncology. 2019 Jan 14;21(Supplement_1):i32-i43. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noy152.
Huang RY, Bi WL, Griffith B, Kaufmann TJ et al.(2019) Imaging and diagnostic adavances for intracranial meningioma. Neuro-Oncology. 2019 Jan 14;21(Supplement_1):i44-i61. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noy143
Brastianos PK, Galanis E, Butowski N et al. (2019) Advances in multidisciplinary therapy for meningiomas. Neuro-Oncology. 2019 Jan 14;21(Supplement_1):i18-i31. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noy136
Emmanouil B, Houston R, May A, Ramsden JD, Hanemann CO, Halliday D, Parry A, Mackeith S (2018) Progression of hearing loss in Neurofibromatosis type 2 according to genetic severity. Laryngoscope. 2018 Nov 19 doi: 10.1002/lary.27586
Collord G, Tarpey P, Kurbatova N, Martincorena I, Moran S, Castro M, Nagy T, Bignell G, Maura F, Young MD, Berna J, Tubio JMC, McMurran CE, Young AMH, Sanders M, Noorani I, Price SJ, Watts C, Leipnitz E, Kirsch M, Schackert G, Pearson D, Devadass A, Ram Z, Collins VP, Allinson K, Jenkinson MD, Zakaria R, Syed K, Hanemann CO, Dunn J, McDermott MW, Kirollos RW, Vassiliou GS, Esteller M, Behjati S, Brazma A, Santarius T, McDermott U. (2018) An integrated genomic analysis of anaplastic meningioma identifies prognostic molecular signatures. Sci Rep. 2018 Sep 10;8(1):13537. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31659-0.
Raghu SV, Mohammad F, Chua JY, Lam JSW, Loberas M, Sahani S, Barros CS, Claridge-Chang A. (2018) A zinc-finger fusion protein refines Gal4-defined neural circuits. Mol Brain. 2018 Aug 20;11(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s13041-018-0390-7.
Button RW, Roberts SL, Willis TL, Hanemann CO, Luo S (2017) Accumulation of autophagosomes confers cytotoxicity. J Biol Chem. 2017 Aug 18;292(33):13599-13614. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.782276.
Oon CE, Bridges E, Sheldon H, Sainson RCA, Jubb A, Turley H, Leek R, Buffa F, Harris AL, Li JL (2017) Role of Delta-like 4 in Jagged1-induced tumour angiogenesis and tumour growth. Oncotarget. 2017 Jun 20;8(25):40115-40131. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.16969.
Bassiri K, Ferluga S, Sharma V, Syed N, Adams CL, Lasonder E, Hanemann CO (2017) Global Proteome and Phospho-proteome Analysis of Merlin-deficient Meningioma and Schwannoma Identifies PDLIM2 as a Novel Therapeutic Target. EBioMedicine. 2017 Feb;16:76-86. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2017.01.020.
Stepanova DS, Semenova G, Kuo YM, Andrews AJ, Ammoun S, Hanemann CO, Chernoff J. (2017). An Essential Role for the Tumour-Suppressor Merlin in Regulating Fatty Acid Synthesis. Cancer Res. 77(18):5026-5038. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-2834.
Provenzano L, Ryan Y, Hilton DA, Lyons-Rimmer J, Dave F, Maze EA, Adams CL, Rigby-Jones R, Ammoun S & Hanemann CO (2017). Cellular prion protein (PrPC) in the development of Merlin-deficient tumours. Oncogene 36(44):6132-6142. doi:10.1038/onc.2017.200
Cooper J, Xu Q, Zhou L, Pavlovic M, Ojeda V, Moulick K, de Stanchina E, Poirier JT. Zauderer M, Rudin CM, Karajannis MA, Hanemann CO, Giancotti FG. (2017). Combined inhibition of NEDD8-activating enzyme and mTOR suppresses NF2 loss–driven tumorigenesis. Mol Cancer Ther 16(8):1693-1704. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-16-0821
Bassiri K, Ferluga S, Sharma V, Syed N, Adams CL, Lasonder E, Hanemann CO (2017). Global proteome and phospho-proteome analysis of Merlin-deficient meningioma and schwannoma Identifies PDLIM2 as a Novel Therapeutic Target. EBioMedicine. 2017 Feb;16:76-86.
Zhou L, Lyons-Rimmer J, Ammoun S, Müller J, Lasonder J, Sharma V, Ercolano E, Hilton D, Taiwo I, Barczyk M Hanemann CO (2016) The scaffold protein KSR1, a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of merlin deficient tumours, Oncogene, 35(26):3443-53.
Schulz A, Buettner R, Hagel C, Baader SL, Kluwe L, Salamon J, Mautner VF, Mindos T, Parkinson DB, Gehlhausen JR, Clapp DW, Morrison H (2016) The importance of nerve microenvironment for schwannoma development, Acta Neuropathologica 132,(2), 289–307
Hanemann CO, Blakeley JO, Nunes FP, Robertson K, Stemmer-Rachamimov A, Mautner V, Kurtz A, Ferguson M, Widemann BC, Plotkin SR, Evans DG, Ferner R, Carroll SL, Korf B, Wolkenstein P, Knight P (2016). Current status and recommendations for biomarkers in Neurofibromatosis 1, Neurofibromatosis 2 and schwannomatosis, Neurology, 87(7 Suppl 1):S40-8.
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Cory Booker: Democrats Who Oppose Nuclear Energy Are Like Climate Deniers
Joel Pollak / Breitbart News
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told HuffPost in an interview published Thursday that Democrats who reject the use of nuclear power are like Republicans who deny the theory of human-caused climate change.
Booker reiterated his support for nuclear energy, which he highlighted in CNN’s special climate town hall Sep. 4, saying that the emissions-free technology was the only realistic way for the country to achieve the goals of the “Green New Deal.”
HuffPost reported:
In a wide-ranging interview with HuffPost, the Democratic presidential hopeful said he once shared progressives’ skepticism of nuclear power but became convinced that reaching net-zero emissions from the utility sector by 2030 was impossible without the source that generates more power than all forms of renewables combined.
“As much as we say the Republicans when it comes to climate change must listen to science, our party has the same obligation to listen to scientists,” Booker said. “The data speaks for itself.”
“If we had a president who was going to pull us out of nuclear, we’d be more reliant on fossil fuels,” Booker said. “It’s as simple as that.”
As Breitbart News reported, Booker told the CNN town hall that “people who think we can get” to zero emissions by 2030 “without nuclear being part of the blend just aren’t looking at the facts.”
Of the frontrunners for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, only former vice president Joe Biden has not ruled out nuclear energy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both reject it. Businessman Andrew Yang is the only other Democratic candidate, aside from Booker, who has fully embraced nuclear energy.
2020 ElectionEnvironmentPoliticsAndrew YangBernie Sandersclimate change deniersCory BookerElizabeth WarrenGreen New DealHuffPostJoe Bidennuclear energy
Chelsea Clinton Announces ‘She Persisted’ Book About Female Athletes
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Facebook Chief Marketing Officer Leaves Company to Advise Democratic Party for 2020 Elections
Lucas Nolan
Former Facebook Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Gary Briggs has left the company to advise the Democratic party in the US midterms and 2020 elections.
Recode reports that Gary Briggs, who joined the company as CMO in 2013 after leaving Google, announced his plans to leave his job at Facebook to advise the Democratic party for the 2020 elections. Briggs will be staying on at Facebook to help his manager, Chris Cox, find his replacement. Briggs, who already advises companies such as Lending Club and Lagunitas, stated that he plans to act in an advisory capacity to a number of other company’s but will also be taking steps into the political world.
Briggs announced the move in a Facebook post:
Briggs discussed his time at Facebook saying, “I am so grateful for my 4 1/2 years as CMO at Facebook and will work now on hiring my successor. It’s an amazing job at an amazing time with the best marketing team. While I’m getting ready for my next chapter, I’m not done yet. I’ll be here at Facebook fully committed until we hire someone great and they ramp up.”
He then outlined his future plans saying, “I’m going to pursue some advisory work for a few companies and hopefully join a few boards. I’ll explore teaching a bit. We’re going to travel some and start to split our time in and out of the Bay Area and Seattle. And I plan to help the Democratic Party on some efforts leading up to the US midterms this year through to 2020.”
Briggs move into politics adds credence to the rumors that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be considering a run for the U.S. presidency. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was also revealed to be highly partisan, offering help to Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta, saying in an email to Podesta “I still want HRC [Hillary Rodham Clinton] to win badly. I am still here to help as I can. She came over and was magical with my kids.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
TechDemocratic PartyFacebookSilicon Valley
President Trump on Elon Musk: ‘One of Our Great Geniuses’
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