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Sunday 12 January 2020 (other days)
Let us adore Christ, the Son, the Beloved, in whom the Father is well pleased.
Year: A(II). Liturgical Colour: White.
Other saints: St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 - 1167)
England: 12 Jan
Hexham & Newcastle: 11 Jan
Aelred was born in Hexham in around 1109. His family was well connected and at an early age he was sent into the service of King David of Scotland. There he rose to the position of Master of the Royal Household. In time he became attracted to the religious life, but he was also much attached to the life he lived at court and to King David himself. It took a considerable personal struggle for him at the age of 24 to give up his secular pursuits and to enter the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire in 1133. At 34 he moved from there and took charge of a new foundation in Lincolnshire. But within four years he had returned to Rievaulx as Abbot where he remained for the rest of his life. He died in 1167.
Aelred is remembered both for his energy and for his gentleness. His writings and his sermons were characterised by a deep love of the Scriptures and by a very personal love of Christ ‘as friend and Saviour’. He was sensitive and understanding in his dealings with his fellow monks and under his direction the monastery at Rievaulx grew to an extraordinary size. He did not enjoy robust health and the last ten years of his life were marked by a long and painful illness. His position as Abbot required him to travel on visitation to monasteries not only in England and Scotland but even in France, and the physical suffering and exhaustion which this incurred seems to have been considerable. A contemporary account of the last year of his life describes him as being left helpless on his bed unable to speak or move for an hour after celebrating his morning Mass.
Aelred was a singularly attractive figure, a man of great spiritual power but also of warm friendliness and humanity. He has been called the St Bernard of the North.
Middlesbrough Ordo
Other saints: St Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620 - 1700)
Born in Troyes in France, she went to Canada at the age of 33, where she taught and devoted herself to works of corporal mercy. She returned to France twice to gather new recruits, and founded the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Montréal, a non-enclosed order which established and ran many schools and is still active today, across the world. She died on 12 January 1700. See the article in Wikipedia.
Other saints: St Benet (Benedict) Biscop (c. 628–690)
Hallam, Hexham & Newcastle
He was born of a noble Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.
While returning from a journey to Rome, he visited Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence, and stayed there for two years, from 665 to 667, during which he took monastic vows and the name of “Benedict”.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Romanesque style, and St Peter’s, at Jarrow, was the first ecclesiastical building in England to be built in stone. Its library became world-famous and it was here that Benedict’s student Bede wrote his famous works.
For the last three years of his life Benedict was bed-ridden. He suffered his affliction with great patience and faith. He died on 12 January 690.
Second Reading: St Gregory Nazianzen (329 - 390)
Gregory Nazianzen, “Gregory of Nazianzus”, was the son of Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, a Christian convert. (Nazianzus is a small town in Cappadocia, now the village of Nenizi in the Turkish province of Aksaray).
The culture of the Hellenic world means that a religion is not merely something to be lived: it also has to make sense. It has to work not only in practice, but in theory as well. Despite the passionate anti-Greek reaction of the Reformation, we are still, in this sense, all Greeks today. Take the doctrine of the Trinity, for example. Some people reject it because it sounds like polytheism. Instead, they make Jesus not God but only a man supremely favoured by God: the Arians believed this, and the Koran reflects this idea. Or they make Jesus not man but only God, and relegate the intense humanity of the Passion to the status of a mere performance, a show put on by God through phantoms and angels rather than something utterly real and of eternal significance. Both these responses show a general feature of heresies, which is that they simplify the richness of orthodoxy and flatten it into a shadow of itself. “Simpler” may well mean “more easily acceptable”, but that is not the same as “true”. One could simplify quantum physics and get rid of its paradoxes until there is no metaphysical weirdness for anyone to object to – that might well make more people happy, but it would not be true.
The three men we call “the Cappadocian Fathers” were active after the Council of Nicaea, working to formulate Trinitarian doctrine precisely and, in particular, to pin down the meaning and role of the least humanly comprehensible member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. St Basil of Caesarea, “St Basil the Great”, was the leader and organizer; Gregory of Nazianzus was the thinker, the orator, the poet, pushed into administrative and episcopal roles by circumstances and by Basil; and Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s younger brother, although not a great stylist, was the most gifted of the three as a philosopher and theologian. Together, the Cappadocian Fathers hammered out the doctrine of the Trinity like blacksmiths forging a piece of metal by hammer-blows into its perfect, destined shape. They were champions – and successful champions – of orthodoxy against Arianism, a battle that had to be conducted as much on the worldly and political plane as on the philosophical and theological one. The sciences ought not to have to work like this, but all of them, at one time or other in their history, do.
It is a relief to us as readers to note, after all this, that St Gregory of Nazianzus, as well as receiving the title of Doctor of the Church, is acknowledged as the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age, and that this “style” does not adopt the over-ripe excesses of some late-imperial rhetoric (Augustine can get carried away in this direction sometimes, and Cassiodorus, in the sixth century, spends altogether too much of his time there). Gregory’s Second Readings do sound almost operatic at times, but the grandeur of the style does not exist for its own sake but comes from the splendour of its subject-matter. It is possible to be carried away by it, and enjoyable, even, to let that happen; but underlying the experience there is always a sense of being carried away in the direction of somewhere definite and somewhere worthwhile.
Isaiah 11:1-3 ©
A shoot springs from the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is his delight.
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations.
It is not enough for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel; I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
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INFORMATION DIGEST OF PRESS OF UZBEKISTAN # 84 April 28, 2016
posted 14 May 2016, 04:49 by Webmaster Ambasciata
Uzbekistan-Russia: new stage in strategic partnership
Uzstroymateriali enterprises produce materials worth 551.7 billion soums
Energy of the Future
As reported earlier, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov paid on official visit on 25-26 April to Moscow at the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
On 25 April an informal meeting of Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin took place. A sincere and detailed talk of the presidents continued longer that planned. The parties extensively exchanged views on Uzbek-Russian relations and events, taking place in different regions of the world.
Main events of the visit took place on 26 April in the Kremlin. During the meeting of Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin the issues of developing cooperation in political, trade, economic, investment, military, technical, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres have been discussed.
Islam Karimov highlighted that the visit will provide a new impulse to develop interactions and is a good opportunity for comprehensive exchange of views on topical issues of regional and international politics.
Vladimir Putin particularly underlined that Uzbekistan is a strategic partner and a trusted ally of Russia and these relations have been evolving dynamically.
The cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia is founded on a solid contractual-legal base. The relations between our countries have been steadily developing within the framework of the Treaty on strategic partnership, signed on 16 June 2004 and the Treaty on allied relations, signed on 14 November 2005.
Intergovernmental and inter-agency ties serve as a main factor in coordinating actions and implementing agreements, reached during the meetings on the highest level. Uzbekistan and Russia have been productively collaborating within the frameworks of such international organizations as the UN, the SCO and the CIS.
Presidents of the two countries exchanged views on the issues of regional and international politics, in particular, the Afghanistan issue, countering terrorism, extremism, narcotics trafficking and organized crime.
During the meeting a particular attention was paid to the activities, carried out within the framework of Uzbekistan’s chairmanship at the SCO. The significance of actions and efforts of Uzbekistan, aimed at further stimulating the activity of the organization, developing regional cooperation, strengthening peace and security, were stressed. Vladimir Putin highlighted that Russia supports new initiatives of Uzbekistan, which are planned for discussion at the SCO Tashkent summit in June.
Trade and economic cooperation has a specific place in Uzbek-Russian relations. In accordance with the Program of economic cooperation for 2013-2017 and the intergovernmental agreement on main directions of developing and deepening economic cooperation for 2015-2019, the relations of our countries in the area have been consistently developing.
Russia is the second largest foreign trade partner of Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan exports transport vehicles, cotton yarn, textiles, fruits and vegetables, non-ferrous and ferrous metals, services to Russia. Russia ships to our country transport vehicles, chemical and cellulose-paper products, food products.
Over 900 joint ventures with Russian partners operate in Uzbekistan. 85 Russian firms and companies have opened their representative offices in our country. The volume of mutual trade turnover has been on the rise. In this first quarter the indicators have risen by 7.9 per cents.
The investment cooperation has also been steadily mounting. In recent years Russian investments to the economy of our country have reached over 6 billion US dollars. Last year this indicator increased for 40% in comparison to 2014.
Both Uzbekistan and Russia possess a huge potential in oil and gas sector, which plays an important role in developing cooperation in this area. Russian oil and gas companies Lukoil and Gazrpom are actively taking part in exploration and development of hydrocarbon fields in our country. On 19 April this year a construction of Kandym Gas processing complex was commenced in Bukhara region by Uzbekneftegaz national holding company in cooperation with Lukoil.
Cars made in Uzbekistan are always in demand in Russia. Such Uzbek cars as Matiz and Nexia have been recognized numerous times as the car of the year in Russia. In the first quarter of this year the sales of Ravon Gentra cars have increased by 7 per cent.
The demand for agricultural products is high in the Russian Federation. Uzbekistan possesses a huge potential in this area. The resolution of the head of our state “On measures to improve the system of procurement and use of fruits and vegetable production, potato and melons” from 12 April this year has created even wider opportunities in this sphere.
During the negotiations, an agreement has been reached to increase the volumes and assortment of exports of fruits and vegetables, grown and processed in our country. The issues of increasing the mutual trade, developing investment cooperation, widening ties in transport and transit spheres have been discussed. It was underlined that Uzbekistan and Russia have non-realized opportunities for further development of cooperation. Their implementation will be mutually advantageous for both parties.
The parties exchanged views on the issues of broadening interactions in culture, science, education, sports and tourism.
Following the negotiations, the documents on cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Russian Federation in cultural-humanitarian sphere, in foreign policy, higher education, sports and others have been signed.
At the meeting with representatives of mass media Islam Karimov and Vladimir Putin emphasised that the negotiations took place in the spirit of openness and mutual trust, the parties extensively exchanged views on the issues of strengthening regional security and further development of cooperation. This has allowed to assess the current state of bilateral relations, determine priority directions of their further development. The similarity or proximity of positions of the parties on considered issues has been underscored.
The official visit of President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has been concluded. During the negotiations, which served as a logical continuation of dialogue on the highest level, the main directions and prospects of developing strategic partnership between our countries have been determined, which will serve the interests of the peoples of Uzbekistan and Russia.
(Source: UzA)
According to the press service of JSC "Uzstroymateriali", following the results of January-March 2016 the enterprises operating within the structure of the company produced commodity output in established prices for the sum of 551.7 billion soums (currency rates of CB RU from 28.04.2016, 1$= 2899.25 soums). The growth rate compared with the corresponding period of 2015 in comparable prices made up 106.1%.
During the period under review, the enterprises produced consumer goods worth 42.8 billion soums or 103.3% to the corresponding period of 2015.
(Source: UzReport.uz)
Tashkent has hosted a big forum on the development of renewable and alternative energy. Green Forum - 2016 has not only provided an opportunity for industry representatives to discuss the state and prospects of the sector, but to come up with specific proposals to contribute to the development of renewable energy sources.
During the forum, Tashkent has turned into a kind of a capital for experts, researchers and businessmen who are engaged in building the environmentally friendly and energy-efficient future.
Effective and rational use of energy resources ranks among the priorities in all sectors of the economy in Uzbekistan. The focus is laid on the replacement of worn-out and outdated production capacities with energy-saving technologies, their exclusive application in new projects, the introduction of electric and gas-saving equipment in the production process, the reasonable use of available raw materials, as well as the promotion of recycling projects, distribution of renewable energy sources (RES) in major and auxiliary production facilities.
Research works in the field of energy generation, transmission and consumption, taking into account the use of renewable energy and exchange of experience with international experts, are seen essential in this context, the more so Uzbekistan has been actively exploring the legislative, technological and innovative experience of Germany, Spain, South Korea, involving experts and practitioners in energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy sources.
Experts predict that the share of renewable energy in the energy balance of Uzbekistan will exceed 7% by 2030. Electricity generation will increase by 5 billion kW/h through the reconstruction and construction of new hydroelectric power stations alone.
“The use of renewable energy on the industrially significant scale would significantly reduce the natural gas consumption in the country for the generation of electric and heat energy, and, consequently, emissions of harmful substances into the environment. Therefore, we need to develop the mechanisms that will help us to strengthen energy independence. This comes to diversification of fuel resources, an increase in the share of coal, water resources and renewables, shift to the path of energy-efficient development and the production, in which the share of intellectual investment exceeds the share of energy intensity,” said the head of laboratory at the Institute of Energy and Automation of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan Romen Zahidov.
Uzbekistan possesses exclusive opportunities for the development of solar energy in terms of geographical location and climatic conditions. The number of sunny days exceeds 320 days per year, which is advantageous to many regions of the world.
According to experts, the gross potential of solar energy in Uzbekistan exceeds 51 billion tons of oil equivalent. These resources can produce electricity that exceeds the volume of annual consumption 40 times. The country has developed a wind map, which suggests that wind energy potential is estimated at more than 520,000 MW of installed capacity.
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“The Lorax” was written by one of the most well-known American children’s book authors. Since its publication in 1971, “The Lorax” has been named as one of “Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children” and one of the “Top 100 Picture Books” by the School Library Journal. In “The Lorax,” that dull and filthy area used to be a beautiful place, filled with fresh air, green grasses, and lots of colorful Truffula Trees. Many animals used to play happily in this earthly paradise. But everything changed after the arrival of one person, Once-ler. With an axe, one swing was all it took for the tree to fall down. On the freshly cut-stump, a man came out. Once-ler couldn’t wait to use the soft tuft, and knitted a Thneed, while talking to this strange man. The Thneeds became more and more popular, and more people came to buy it. Even railroads were built. Tree after tree, Once-ler’s business grew bigger and bigger. The Lorax kept asking Once-ler to stop chopping down trees. “I am going to continue to speak for the trees.” Sadly, Once-ler wouldn’t listen to him. Eventually, there were no more trees left. Along with them, gone were the clean air, fresh water, fruits and plants, and the animals who lived on them. At the end of the story, the Lorax departed the dark and lifeless place in despair; however, he left something behind, a pile of rocks placed to spell out the word “UNLESS,” which puzzled Once-ler for a long time. But he figured it out one day after talking to a boy. “Because UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Once-ler threw a seed at the boy and told him to plant the last Truffula seed. Every one of us can be like that boy, to start caring about the environment, to start growing things, and to be a protector of nature. We can stop eating meat, so that trees wouldn’t need to be cut down for raising animals; we can use recycled paper for crafts, we can use a cloth towel instead of paper towels, so that less trees will be cut down to make them. There are many ways to save, recycle and reuse natural resources. Many children around the world have been taking actions to plant trees and protect the environment. You are welcome to join too!
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Tim Lammers Interviews Robert De Niro On: “The War With Grandpa”
Photo by Tim Lammers
Tim Lammers, our Movie Review Critic, who joins us each Friday on "It Matters with Kelly Cordes" at 10:15 am on WJON, had the opportunity to interview the one, the only, Robert De Niro on his current movie out in theaters, "The War On Grandpa" this weekend; including here at out own Marcus Parkwood Cinemas in Waite Park.
You can also find more about Tim Lammers by clicking HERE now.
De Niro stars in this new family comedy, and plays a grandfather named Ed. Ed, having moved in with his daughter's family, finds himself at odds with his grandson Peter, when his daughter moves him into her sons bedroom, moving her son to a different part of the house.
De Niro's character loses his love for life; and through his Grandson playing tricks on him so he can get his room back; finds a way to communicate that is adorably sweet.
Whenever I think of Robert De Niro, I think of a man who is very bold; someone you don't want to mess around with. When I found out that Robert gave Tim permission to call him Bob; I thought...what? This coming from De Niro? Apparently, Tim must have done something right in this interview to get that honor bestowed upon him.
You can catch Tim Lammers every Friday morning at 1015 on "It Matters with Kelly Cordes" with the latest reviews of what's new in theatres and what to watch at home. You don't have to take his advice; but he gives it freely; and I'd have to say, most of the time, I'm in agreement with Tim.
Maybe it's Tim's Minnesotan perspective, but you'll enjoy his reviews, his perspective and personality as much as you enjoy Bobs.
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KRXP 103.9 FM and KILO 94.3 FM Hires New General Manager
RXP 103.9 Announces New General Manager
Charlotte, NC, December 23, 2020….Bahakel Communications Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Beverly Bahakel announces that media veteran and former KILO/KRXP employee Jason Janc of Colorado Springs to be the new General Manager. Janc will replace long time company employee and four year General Manager, Virginia Swanson, who will retire on December 31, 2020.
Janc started his career in Radio as a college student in 1988 in Minnesota and then in Illinois. His professional career began in 1990 at WJBC and then WWCT in Illinois where he was Assistant Production Director/Announcer. He joined Bahakel Communications in 1998 as an Announcer for KILO and then when Bahakel purchased KYZX “The Eagle” (now KRXP), he took on the role of Program Director/Announcer for KYZX where he remained until 2011. Since then he has been at the Colorado Publishing Company where he currently serves as the Director of Advertising.
Bahakel said she is “thrilled to welcome Jason home to KILO, KRXP and the Bahakel family. It was important to our Company to keep intact the heritage of KILO and KRXP in the music world. For many decades since its inception in 1978 KILO has rocked the world. It is our desire to continue the legacy in a time when keeping consistency and community service must be a real focus. We want to serve the Rockies, and we felt Jason harbored our vision for Colorado Springs and beyond and for a very credible team on air, and would only enhance the dream with his love of the station and its team and the community.”
For additional information contact: Amy Liz Pittenger, Executive Vice President Bahakel Communications Ltd.
apittenger@bahakel.com
Foo Fighters released a new song "No Son Of Mine", the latest from their upcoming album
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Anambra Young Writers Set To Fete Achebe's Bday With Literary Festival
All is now set for the 2019 edition of the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival which will hold this Saturday in Akwa, the Anambra State Capital.
This was contained in a statement issued by the State Coordinator of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers, (Anambra State Chapter), Mr. Izunna Okafor who is also the convener of the event.
He said the event will draw the participation of literary enthusiasts and figures, writers of all class, and intellectuals from different parts of the country, and will feature, among other literay packages: lectures in memory of Achebe, dramatizing of Achebe’s selected books, Open Mic/Spoken Word, Chinua Achebe Essay Writing Competition (for secondary school students, sponsored by the Anambra Newspapers and Printing Corporation), unveiling and presentation of the Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology entitled "Arrows of Words" (which is the association's newest collection of poems and essays published in honour of Achebe), award presentation, and many more...
According to him, the literary festival which holds annually since 2016 is organized by the Society of Young Nigerian Writers, (Anambra State Chapter) in honour of Nigeria's literary legend and father of the African Literature — Late Prof. Chinua Achebe who died in March 2013, in commemoration and celebration of his immense contributions and legacies in the literary field.
While unveiling the 2019 theme of the event — 'Intellectuals And National Development: The Chinua Achebe Approach' Izunna described it as apt, given the rueful position of Nigeria today on the developmental ladder, and the envisaged roles the intellectuals have in fixing it, using Chinua Achebe as a benchmark.
It would be recalled that Late Achebe, until his death, was a die-hard chauvinistic countryman who, with his wealth of knowledge, contributed immensely in propelling the developmental wheel of his country Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. He was also an intellectual with integrity, as evidenced by his two-time rejection of the country's second highest award for intellectual achievement and contribution to National Development —the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic — in 2004 and 2011 respectively, simply because he perceived things were not going the way they should in the country, as under-development, corruption and impunity were the order of the day.
'This auspicious theme,' Izunna says, 'will be further dissected at the literary festival by an international award-winnig actor and author R.C (Reginald Chiedu) Ofodile who will be the lead paper presenter and Guest Lecturer at the event.'
He further disclosed that the literary festival which is done in collaboration with the Anambra State Library Board will be declared open by H. E. Chief Dr. Willie Obiano, the Executive Governor of Anambra State, who will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest of Honour.
The statement reads in part: "Other guests and literary enthusiasts expected at the literary festival include: Senator Uche Ekwunife (Senator, representing Anambra Central); the state's Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Hon. C-Don Adinuba; Chief Oseloka Obaze (author and former guber candidate); Mr. James Ezeh (Chief Press Secretary to the Governor); Sir Chuka Nnabuife, (author of 'Mbize: Rage of Red Earth, and MD/CEO, National Light Newspaper); Chief Uche Nworah (Author of The Long Harmattan Season, and MD/CEO, Anambra Broadcasting Service); Rev. Fr. Ositadimma Amakeze (author of The Last Carver); Okeke Chika Jerry (author of The gods Are Hungry); Odili Ujubuoñu (author of Pregnancy of the gods); Uzor Maxim Uzoatu (author of God of Poetry); Isidore Emeka Uzoatu (author of Vision Impossible)"
Furthermore, it enumerated the Royal Fathers of the day to include:
H R.M Igwe Alex Uzor Onyido
(The raditional Ruler of Ogidi Kingdom)
H.R.M. Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike
(The Traditional Ruler of Ndikelionwu)
H.R.M. Igwe Chidubem Iweka
(The Traditional Ruler of Obosi)
The statement reads: "Participation in the 2019 Chinua Achebe Literary Festival is absolutely FREE and open to all.
Date: 16th November, 2019
Venue: Prof. Kenneth Dike Central E-Library, Awka, (Beside Aroma Junction).
Time: 10.am
Corruption 393 views 3 Followers
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Ballengee Joins PQ Management Team
December 9, 2020 July 9, 2007 by Kraig Becker
Three time Primal Quest Champion Danelle Ballengee has joined the Primal Quest Race Management Team according to this article in the Summit Daily News. She’ll assist in several areas, but mainly focus on refining the course for next year’s event, making it “challenging yet also realistic.” She brings years of experience in the sport and is one of the top adventure racing athletes in the World.
Danelle is still recovering from her horrific ordeal from last Fall when she fell more than 60 feet off an icy ledge while training near Moab, Utah. She broker her pelvis and was stranded for nearly two days until her dog managed to bring help. Since then she’s under gone several surgeries, and has been rehabbing nicely, even winning a race back in May. However, when asked why she isn’t competing in PQ next year, she says she “wasn’t tempted at all”. At this point, she doesn’t feel like she’ll be ready for the event at a level that will allow her to compete for the podium, yet she can still be involved with PQ none the less.
It’s great to see Danelle still taking an active role in the sport, and she continues to be a source of inspiration. I still find it hard to believe that she managed to win a race in May when some early estimates didn’t even have her walking until six months after her accident at the earliest.
Categories News Tags Adventure Racing, Endurance Sports Post navigation
Body of Christine Boskoff Found!
Outside Does The Tour
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Food, Farms and Power in Sudan
Jeffrey Gettleman’s article in today’s New York Times, “Darfur Withers as Sudan Sells a Food Bonanza,” is an excellent overview of the issues surrounding food production and food relief. Excepting solely the current context of high international food prices, it could have been written at any time in the last thirty years.
In the 1970s, Sudan sought to become the “breadbasket of the Middle East” even while it failed to tackle undernutrition in the provinces. The 1984 famine in western Sudan and the Red Sea Hills occurred while the Gedaref grain merchants exported food to the Middle East. Trains taking sorghum to Port Sudan to be shipped abroad passed relief convoys moving in the opposite direction, while the starving Beja””neglected in the early days of the relief effort””lined the roadside. Sudan recorded a record harvest in 1988, just as the Southern famine hit its nadir. And in 1990 there was a reprise of nationwide famine alongside food exports. Especially ironic, given the Islamist colour of the government, was the destination of some of the food exports””pig feed in Spain, Heineken production in Holland. And so it went on during the 1990s, albeit on a less egregious scale.
Of course there is nothing exceptional about countries or provinces exporting food during famines. It happened in Bengal in 1943, in Ethiopia’s Wollo in 1973, and on many other occasions. Hunger amid plenty is frequent and the result of how markets work. Amartya Sen’s Poverty and Famines (1981) begins with the commonplace but nonetheless repeatable observation that “Famine is the phenomenon of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the phenomenon of there being not enough food to eat.” People starve if they don’t have sufficient resources to buy food or haven’t grown enough themselves. Merchants sell to those with money to buy, they don’t give away food to the hungry. If there isn’t enough food in the country, but there is enough purchasing power, traders import food.
Some relief agencies have tried to tackle this issue with cash grants to the poor and purchase of local surpluses. This is also an attempt to remedy the absurdity whereby food aid, tied to agricultural subsidies in wealthy countries, has to travel half way around the world when there are local surpluses available. The European Union moved its food aid programme to market-based purchase a decade ago, allowing it to buy locally. It has regularly bought food in Sudan. Four years ago, USAID tried to do the same for a proportion of its food aid, but was blocked by a combination of vested agricultural and shipping interests and the lobbying of NGOs which have guaranteed incomes from food aid disbursement (CARE was an honorable exception). (It’s an interesting question if the current U.S. embargo on trade relations with Sudan would allow USAID to buy food there if it wanted to.)
There are some good arguments in favour of not using exclusively market-based procurement for food relief. For example, market purchase may be slow in getting moving in response to a rapid-onset emergency, whereas the existing system means that there is usually enough food aid on the high seas for a ship to be in the vicinity of the disaster, ready to be diverted. But more common is the phenomenon of local surpluses remaining unsold, or being exported, while food aid is shipped from the mid-west.
Another set of issues is Sudan’s agricultural strategy and its relationship to land tenure laws, labour market regulation, commercial interests, counterinsurgency strategies, and international food aid. These were explored a decade ago in African Rights’ report, Food and Power in Sudan. Analysis of each of these five elements shows that Sudanese agriculture is subject to systematic distortion, through policy. Day-to-day commercial decisions””such as whether a supplier sells to the EU for local distribution or exports to Saudi Arabia””are based on market criteria. But long-established policy biases provide a huge subsidy to commercial agriculture, at the expense of smallholder farmers and their communities.
Since colonial days, Sudanese land tenure has failed to recognize customary land tenure. The resulting inequities were the focus of a debate on this blog earlier this year. Whatever are the merits and disadvantages of different approaches to addressing the problem of tenure security for smallholder farmers, there is no doubt that land dispossession is both a major reason for famine and an important motive for insurrection. Current land law facilitates expropriation by well-connected elites at the expense of rural people. It is particularly pronounced in Eastern Sudan, Blue Nile, Upper Nile and South Kordofan.
Sudanese commercial agriculture is labour intensive and suffers chronic labour shortages at peak times. Commercial farmers have always relied on a labour force which lacks full citizenship rights and is therefore cheaper to employ. In the colonial era the labourers on the Gezira Scheme were chiefly migrants from West Africa, notably the Nigerian-origin Fellata. In the late colonial period, large numbers of Masalit and Fur also migrated to central and eastern Sudan as agricultural labourers. Under the strict tenancy requirements of the Gezira, few could obtain land rights. It was easier to do so in eastern Sudan, as a result of which some Masalit migrants from Darfur’s far west cleared farmland on Sudan’s furthest eastern border with Ethiopia and Eritrea””and tried to escape the insecure livelihood of a casual farm labourer. In the late-1960s, Eritrean refugees swelled the ranks of farmworkers. And when the civil war resumed in 1983, Southern Sudanese and Nuba migrants replenished the labour force.
Today’s enthusiasm for agricultural investment by Middle Eastern companies is a reprise of the 1970s. Then it generated quick profits for commercial investors but was a social and environmental disaster. In 1986, the World Bank reversed its earlier support for expanding mechanized agriculture. This didn’t stop a continuing expansion of commercial schemes, many of them without formal registration. When backed by money and local policemen, the absence of proper documentation in Khartoum doesn’t matter too much. The CPA envisaged land commissions to examine this and other issues. They are not doing their job.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, counterinsurgency strategies in agriculturally-productive areas, such as the Nuba Mountains and southern Blue Nile, involved forcibly congregating villagers in “peace villages” where they provided a cheap labour force for work on agricultural schemes. Military control converged with land expropriation and the commercial farmers’ interest. This hasn’t happened in Darfur because there are no commercial farms of significance. Although the soils in South Darfur are good enough, the area is simply too remote for commercial farming to be a viable option, at least for the time being. If Nyala city continues to grow and prosper, and the food aid subsidy to its grain market declines, then the incentives for commercial agriculture in South Darfur will certainly change.
Food relief plays an interesting role in this process of political-economic change. This was first analyzed by Mark Duffield (in several reports and two chapters of Global Governance and the New Wars). When large number of war migrants first began to arrive in South Kordofan in 1987 and 1988, the authorities were at first resolutely opposed to giving them any food aid. They saw the displaced as a burden and a threat and would rather that they disappeared. But the alternative of them finding their way to Khartoum was less attractive, so schemes to keep them in South Kordofan in aid-supported peace villages were put forward. For the government and commercial farmers, these served the purposes of maintaining a cheap labour force. For the aid agencies, they were presented as the beginnings of new settlements that would ultimately become self-sufficient. In pursuit of this, people were only given part rations, on the grounds that this would create incentives for self-reliance. Given that the displaced were denied land rights, what it did of course was simply to subsidize their employment as labourers. This arrangement persisted for many years””it still exists””creating what Duffield calls the “permanent emergency” on the frontiers of the areas of consolidated government control.
Thirty years of studies of Sudan’s agricultural sector have consistently recommended major reform in favour of customary tenure and smallholder production. In the commercial farming regions, very little has ever been implemented. (Ironically, Darfur did much better with the Western Savanna and Jebel Marra projects, which were supportive of smallholder agriculture.) If world food prices remain high, we can expect that commercial farmers will be the main beneficiaries of the bonanza, and in turn this will encourage more land allocations for mechanized food production, more expropriation of smallholders, and more rural distress and grievance. It’s time for these studies of Sudanese agriculture to be dusted off and their recommendations examined again.
In Memoriam: Prof. Abdel Rahman Musa Abakar
Hafiz Mohamed 11 August, 2008 at 14:45
That is really useful article; it addresses one of them main issues facing Sudan recently. Sudan is supposed to be the ‘breadbasket of the Middle East’– that is what we learned when we were students, but this ambition never materialised as many Sudanese remain dependent on hand-outs from relief organisations. Many factors have contributed to that one of them is lack of political stability and strategic planning. But the government planners have contributed to that deliberately, as the government economic policies for the last 40 years discourage small farmers by not giving them the support they need and setting official policies to serve traders and exporters.
In the late 70s and early 80s the first Islamic bank opened in Sudan (Faisal Islamic Bank) and then followed by others. Mainly the Islamic banks used to finance traders to buy the agricultural products cheaply from the farmers and store them for some time and then impose very high prices on the market as they had monopoly for the commodity. The only beneficiaries were the traders and their bank.
In the last years the commercial bank start given loans to farmers through a lending mechanism called Agd Al Salam. 70% of the farmers who used this procedure failed to pay back their loans and they lost all their belongings and some ended up in prison. People who used the Agricultural Bank faced the same problem.
I have a farm in the eastern part of South Kordofan. For the last two years it failed to cover its running cost. The main reason behind that is the prices. At the being of the harvest seasons the price of a sack of sorghum was around $17, the time when most of the small farmer sell their products. It jumped to $35 six month later and now is around $70 and the price will start falling from October as the new harvest season will start.
Successive governments in Sudan failed to address this issues and did not put in place the right policies to support the farmers. Sudan use to have 10% share of the cotton market up to 1990 and now it exports less than 4% and we will get less this year. In the Nuba Mountains we used to have the Nuba Mountains Agricultural Organisation based in Kadugli. It used to support small farmers. Taxes levied from the agricultural product use to cover half of the budget of the region. Now it is less than 10%. That was due to the privatisation of the organisation and deliberate destruction of this sector.
Congo after M23: the prophet Mukungubila and the death of Colonel Mamadou – By Kris Berwouts
Africa and the War on Drugs: focus on khat and the fight for legality – By Neil Carrier
Covid-19Top story
Funding for COVID-19 treatments: No one is safe until everyone is
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Nigeria: Opposition APC raises the stakes against PDP behemoth – By Alkasim Abdulkadir
Kano is Nigeria’s second largest city and the biggest in the northern half of the country. Traditionally a PDP stronghold, since its governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso decamped to the All Progressives Congress the ruling party has been struggling to make inroads in the state.
The result of council polls announced on the 18th of May saw the APC sweeping all the votes in the 44 local councils. And it is results like this that have made the PDP court former governor of Kano State and ex-presidential flag bearer Ibrahim Shekarau to try to combat the frenzied following enjoyed by Kwankwaso.
Down in the country’s South West the political scene is abuzz with the upcoming elections in Ekiti and Ondo States – the party’s first major test. The incumbent APC gubernatorial candidates in two states have been involved in a fierce campaign to outshine their PDP co-contenders.
Since the merger of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the PDP behemoth – in power since 1999 – has come to the realisation that the APC is very nearly its equal.
Initially, displaying its characteristic surefootedness, the PDP sent a congratulatory message to the APC on its registration as a political party, before noting in the same message that the new opposition party was in no way a threat to its electoral chances. This was, however, before the events of November 25th, 2013.
On this date, now over 6 months ago, five governors decamped from the ruling PDP and joined the APC camp. In Nigeria’s often fratricidal political space this was a remarkable development, it then led to the announcement that 49 legislators would join the 137 other members in the APC, giving them a slim majority in the Nigerian House of Representatives.
In the Senate, 11 members migrated to the APC fold by virtue of renouncing their political loyalty and thus pushing their numbers to 58. Court cases are however in progress to determine if the new APC members should lose their seats for crossing the floor – the leadership of both houses are yet to respond to incessant calls by members of the PDP and declare the new APC members’ seats as vacant
The merger also brought together two powerful personalities; General Muhammadu Buhari (three times opposition presidential contender) and Bola Tinubu, erstwhile governor of Lagos State and the head of the South Western regional bloc that includes the cities of Lagos and Ibadan. The merger of the political parties and these personalities has without any gainsaying added a new verve to the political spectrum in Nigeria.
Also amongst its ranks is Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President during the government of General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nasir Elrufai former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who is largely credited with reforming the capital city, and wealthy businessman Fola Adeola. The party has also proved to be attractive for tech savvy, vibrant and idealistic young Turks like Rinsola Abiola, Ismaila Bashir and Seun Eggheader Odewale.
No doubt the party is also the coveted bride for upwardly mobile young Nigerians in the Diaspora. One such member, Feyi Fawehinmi, recently took the initiative via the “˜For the Future’ online portal to test the pulse of the voting public by asking people on social media to select their preferred Presidential flag bearers for the party. Within hours the polling platform became the main point of discussion on Nigerian social media platforms. Unsurprisingly, Muhammadu Buhari came out on top, but the revealing feature was not the result but the high level of participation in such an exercise. The APC has clearly caught the imagination.
The merger has also elicited a reaction from PDP stalwarts, which isn’t particularly surprising given the antagonistic traditions of Nigeria’s political space. The party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh, drew the wrath of APC members when he described its manifesto as a “Janjaweed ideology” that could lead Nigeria to anarchy –drawing parallels with the Dafuri Militia. He also made further allusions that the party was familiar with those behind the Boko Haram campaign of violence focused on the north of the country.
Not even the threat of legal action has been able to alter the war of words that continues in the polity. Party chieftain Bola Tinubu came under fire for saying that anyone who rigged the results of the forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun States would be “roasted”. In a country familiar with severe post-electoral violence this phrase was somewhat reckless.
There have also been murmurs over the possibility that the party might field a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Given Nigeria’s multi-diversity, this is seen as the first step to alienating non-Muslim voters and subsequently wasting the chance of electoral success the merger has created. Potentially even more serious is the snail’s pace at which they have moved in presenting a clear picture of who the presidential flag bearer will be with just nine months before the elections.
Whichever way it goes, Nigeria’s politicians all understand that the stakes are perhaps higher than ever before. Whoever emerges winner of next year’s general election will have to contend with a population caught in an extended period of discontent exacerbated by poverty and insecurity.
Alkasim Abdulkadir is an international freelance journalist and editor at www.citizensplatform.net (alkasim.abdulkadir@gmail.com). This article was commissioned via the African Journalism Fund.
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Mali: dragging the west back in to the War on Terror – By Magnus Taylor
Hofrat an Nahas: A Forgotten Case
EconomySouth Africa
Why South Africa should undo Mandela’s economic deals
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By Brian Higgins / December 20, 2020
It didn't take long for someone to turn generative adversarial networks (GAN)--a machine learning technique that at first blush seemed...
By Brian Higgins / November 29, 2020
The year 2020 may be remembered for its pandemic and presidential election. But it also marked a turning point in...
By Brian Higgins / July 24, 2020
As national protests over systemic and structural racism in America continue, community organizers, Black scholars, and others fighting injustice and...
By Brian Higgins / February 24, 2020
On February 19, 2020, the European Union Commission issued a plan for regulating high-risk artificial intelligence (AI) technologies developed or...
By Brian Higgins / January 22, 2020
When Microsoft shared in 2018 that certain "deficiencies" surrounding its artificial intelligence practices could "subject[] us to competitive harm, legal...
Imagine you've spent months developing and deploying a revenue-generating deep neural network model only to discover that an attacker has...
Machine learning enthusiasts have long touted the technology's ability to perform--and sometimes exceed--human mental endeavors, such as identifying objects in...
By Brian Higgins / August 28, 2019
In Patel v. Facebook, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed a decision...
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Developers of artificial intelligence-based video interviewing systems promote their technology as one that helps human resource professionals on-board new talent...
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In WeRide Corp. v. Huang et al., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order...
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have come at a time when the world is becoming more complex and interconnected. Many of the advances have had positive impacts, but the surge in AI use worldwide has also caused problems.
The legal services industry—made up of professionals who can make a big impact on the ways AI affects people—is uniquely positioned to help respond to concerns about AI. The industry’s active lawyers, for example, are representing the interests of individuals and companies who market or have been impacted by AI. The industry’s legal technology vendors are improving data-based algorithmic decision systems to help government agencies make better and more transparent decisions. Software companies are creating novel solutions to help law professionals work more efficiently. And law- and policy-makers are passing measures addressing privacy and other stakeholder concerns about AI.
Even so, many others may not fully appreciate what AI is and is not, and what it can and cannot be. If AI’s benefits are to reach all levels of society, its technological underpinnings and legal impacts should be better understood. That is a challenge embraced by this website.
Thank you for visiting this site.
Brian Higgins, Esq.
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Remake Politics, Not Nature: Tanaka Shozo's Philosophies of 'Poison' and 'Flow' and Japan's Environment
Robert Stolz
Remake Politics, Not Nature: Tanaka Shozo’s Philosophies of “Poison” and “Flow” and Japan’s Environment Japanese translation available
By Robert Stolz
Tanaka Shozo (1841–1913) is widely acknowledged as Japan’s “first conservationist.” A former village headman, in the 1890s he led the fight against the Ashio Copper Mine’s pollution of the Watarase and Tone rivers northwest of Tokyo. Tanaka’s endeavors are frequently cast as a peasant warning to an industrializing Japan, but they can more accurately be seen as the work of a modern environmental thinker who developed a sophisticated ecological theory of society based on the twin processes of nature: “poison” (doku) and “flow” (nagare). From this position he went on to combat the Meiji state’s flood control plans for the Kanto plain: a massive reengineering of the entire watershed and the beginning of the Japanese state’s systematic intervention in nature. In response to the state’s flood control plan, Tanaka’s Fundamental River Law (konponteki kasenho) and philosophies of “poison” and “flow” describe the harm that comes from ignoring the dictates of an active nature in the name of absolute human agency. His law revered flow, “not as a made thing” but as fundamental to nature, indeed, to all life.
Tanaka developed his theory in the fight to save the village of Yanaka from a destruction deemed necessary to make way for a flood control reservoir, and although he was writing before the era of large dam construction, his explicit linking of bad environmental policy to social woes has much to offer the current debate on the relationship between society, economics, and the environment, and not only in Japan. His expansive concept of “poison” seems especially appropriate to new, diffuse forms of environmental degradation such as global warming. A veteran of the 1870’s Popular Rights and Liberty Movement that succeeded in transforming Japan into a constitutional monarchy with a representative National Diet, Tanaka was perhaps the first to see that environmental degradation threatened to erode Japanese citizens’ newly won civil rights. In his struggle against the Ashio mine and the state’s flood control plans, Tanaka’s evolving views on humanity’s relationship to nature linked the ecological and the social to the point where they became inseparable.
FIG. 1: Portrait of Tanaka Shozo. (Source:
Tanaka Shozo to sono jidai: tenno jikiso
hyaku nen shunen, Sano-shi, Tochigikenritsu
hakubutsukan, 2001.)
The Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident
Though an exploited copper mine since the seventeenth century—the copper roofs of the Tokugawa shrine at Nikko are from Ashio—the Ashio mine increased greatly in size and output after being acquired by Meiji success story Furukawa Ichibei (1832–1903) in 1877. In 1882 and 1884 increasingly rich veins of copper were discovered. These discoveries, coupled with Furukawa’s introduction of cutting-edge extraction technologies, meant a rapid increase in the mine’s output. During the 1880s the remote mountain town of Ashio became, in the words of Fred Notehelfer, “one of the most technologically advanced centers of the country,” boasting Japan’s first electric railway, first hydro-electric plant, compressed air rock drills, electric lighting and centrifugal fans for ventilation. [1]
Citing an edict from the governor of Tochigi forbidding the sale or consumption of fish taken from the Watarase, contemporary narratives of the Ashio Incident often date the first hints of trouble to 1880. While this has recently been shown to be a misreading of an anti-cholera edict, not in dispute is that on 12 August 1885 the Choya Shinbun reported sweetfish (ayu) in the Watarase river were so weak children were catching them by hand. The editorial suspected pollution from Ashio as the cause. In autumn 1887 there was a mobilization by local students from afflicted households, and by the time of the fifty-year-flood of 1890 a protest group had already discovered, and arranged for the Utsunomiya hospital and soil scientist Kozai Yoshinau of the National Agricultural College to confirm, the presence of Ashio copper in the degraded fields. (While pre-Ashio floods had brought necessary green fertilizer, the floods of the 1890s brought pollution.) With the unprecedented, damaging floods of 1896, the Ashio Copper Mine Pollution Incident (Ashio Kodoku Jiken) became a national issue. According to Meiji journalist Miyake Setsurei, Ashio and the Great Treason Incident of 1911 were the top two social problems of the Meiji era (1868–1912).
In August and September 1896 floodwaters overwhelmed the Watarase and Tone watershed’s levee system, leaving a layer of poisoned topsoil on the valleys’ rice paddies, mulberry groves, and dry fields. A host of pollutants including arsenic, mercury, chlorine, sulfur, aluminum oxide, magnesia, iron, copper sulphate (blue vitriol), and nitric and phosphoric acids turned the waters eerily blue and left sores on the feet and ankles of anyone exposed to river water for any length of time. Ashio effluent also made the water unusable for the large and celebrated indigo industry downstream from the town of Ashikaga in Tochigi. Through flooding and the use of Watarase water to irrigate rice paddies, these pollutants became embedded in the fields where they then had to be removed by hand in order to have any hope of a harvest. Further, Ashio was located at the headwaters of the Watarase. Toxic smoke from the refinery’s stacks and the clear-cutting of the mountains surrounding Ashio (used for shaft support and smelting fuel) deforested the mountains and exacerbated flooding downstream. With no trees to hold the rainwater or soil, rain on Ashio’s denuded slopes quickly entered the Watarase, not only increasing the volume of water that reached the Watarase-Tone system but also increasing the river’s silt-load. This, in turn, raised the riverbed several feet relative to the levees, thereby ensuring continued and increased flooding.
Former village headman Tanaka Shozo became the voice and public face of Japan’s first protest against industrial-scale pollution. Tanaka was one of many of the pre-Meiji rural elites who participated in the flowering of popular activism in the years immediately following the Meiji Restoration of 1868. In the 1870s Tanaka was active in the Popular Rights and Liberty Movement as a member of the Progressive Party (Kaishinto). As editor of The Tochigi News he called for a representative assembly and a constitution and published other activists’ translations of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. When the National Diet opened in 1890, like many other early Party activists, Tanaka won a seat. In his role as Diet member representing Shimotsuke prefecture (present-day Tochigi), Tanaka worked with activists in the valley to document the extent of the damage to fields, rivers and livelihoods, which he then used as material for his Diet speeches and critical questioning of the government’s response to the emerging pollution problem.
In large part due to this grassroots organization, in 1897 the government formed a Pollution Prevention Committee to investigate the Ashio case; later that year the Committee issued Japan’s first anti-pollution order. Written in the spirit of liberal capitalism and laissez-faire politics characteristic of the mid-Meiji period, the order sought to avoid a “cross contamination” of competing property interests between the mine and the farmers: issued by the government to Furukawa Ichibei as “owner-operator of the Ashio mine,” the order required Furukawa to prevent pollutants from entering the Watarase system. Specifically, Furukawa was required to build settling ponds and retaining walls, and install a “smoke-scrubber” (a mist of lime-water) in the Ashio chimneys, all at his own expense. [2] In this same spirit, the national and prefectural governments endorsed a plan whereby the Furukawa Company would pay “condolence monies” (mimaikin) in exchange for valley residents foregoing legal action against the mine for several years. Promoted as a way to give the 1897 measures time to work, the condolence payment system was fraught with rumor-mongering, intimidation and outright fraud. Despite the 1897 order and the small sums paid out by Furukawa, the pollution problem continued, and a second Pollution Prevention Committee was created in 1902.
Unlike its predecessor, the Second Pollution Prevention Committee put flooding center stage. Gone too was the Liberal emphasis on the inviolability of property rights. In its place was a proactive, massive nature-transforming project of national scope and scale. Invoking the 1896 River Law, the state claimed jurisdiction over any river that “had a strong effect on the benefits or harm to the public good.” The Law also gave the Home Minister control over any project “when such riverine/riparian construction’s harms or benefits do not coincide with any one city (fu) or prefecture’s boundaries…or when the construction is especially urgent.” [3] The Committee’s recommendations announced in March 1903 called for a national project of enormous scale, a moment of ascendancy for the government, especially the Home Ministry’s Civil Engineering Division. The project also marked a major change in Japanese flood control policy; moving from a “low-water levee” policy which sought to soften occasional floods, the Committee adopted a “high-water levee” policy which took a “zero tolerance” approach to flooding of any kind. This project was the beginning of Japan’s now (in)famous wholly controlled, concrete-lined river system. By its completion in 1930 Japan had constructed 186 linear kilometers of high-water levees and displaced 220 million cubic meters of earth—by contrast the contemporary Panama Canal displaced 180 million cubic meters.
The Committee was able to achieve this switch from a focus on pollutants in the river to the river itself by the way it defined pollution. Treating soluble and insoluble copper separately, the Committee found that effluent from Ashio did contain soluble copper that traveled down the Watarase reaching the paddies, irrigation canals, drinking wells, and even the breast milk of local women. But it further held that “the amount was not sufficient to cause harm in humans.” It even added that in small doses copper was a necessary dietary trace metal, the apparent but unspoken conclusion being that the residents of the Watarase and Tone valleys merely had an unorthodox way of receiving their recommended daily allowances.
Huge deposits of insoluble copper in the riverbed were considered the greater threat to public health. In a confusion of agents and causes, the Committee held that insoluble copper from Ashio was only a danger when it was agitated: it was only during a flood that the copper in the riverbed could burst forth and cause harm. In other words, the Committee concluded that it was floods, and not the mine, that “caused” the pollution damage to the farmers’ fields, and this would continue even if Ashio were closed. The river, nature itself, was identified as the problem. To prevent further flooding, the Committee’s proposals sought to completely sever the river from its watershed through the construction of concrete beds and banks, high levees, and engineered “choke-points”. The ultimate goal was to control water levels across the system: “[We must] be able to restrict the flow to only that necessary under ordinary conditions…. New levees will be built wherever there is now nothing to block the flow.” While girding of the river’s banks and bed along its course would achieve much of this, a final piece, a flood-control reservoir at the confluence of the Watarase and Tone Rivers, meant the acquisition of Yanaka village through eminent domain (UK: compulsory purchase) and the forced displacement of its residents. The final recommendation, needless to say, did not call for the closing of the mine but argued that the Kanto plain, historically one of Japan’s most fertile, while compatible with mining, was “completely unsuited to agriculture.” This discovery of the “general poverty” of nature allowed the Committee’s proposal to remake the Kanto plain to be cast as a necessary intervention into nature and even as an improvement of nature itself. [4]
Tanaka’s Philosophies of Poison and Flow
Tanaka’s environmental philosophy and activism existed not only as an environmentalist exaltation of nature but as a historically specific polemic against the Committee’s proposals and the state’s 1896 River Law. While the state saw nature as a passive object to be manipulated by humans, Tanaka’s Law argued for an active nature in motion. Here his thought was grounded in a tradition of Japanese agronomy, scientific farming, a monistic tradition that conceived nature as the constant motion of an infinite material energy. But Tanaka’s encounter with industrial-scale pollution taught him to doubt whether or not nature was indeed infinite. To the more optimistic eighteenth-century belief in the eternal motion of material energy, which Tanaka called “flow” (nagare), he added another category: “poison” (doku). In Tanaka’s thought doku represents the flow of nature’s energy in harmful, destructive ways. As Tanaka theorized nagare and doku they came to take many forms, moving easily from the material and ecological to the social and political.
For Tanaka, because motion was inherent in nature, the state’s policies of control through constriction and manipulation of the rivers’ currents would not have the desired effect of wholly controlling the river. On the contrary, they would result in a harmful “backflow” or “reversal of flow” (gyakuryu) as the river confronted the concrete banks, sluices, and reservoirs and reversed itself, resulting in flooding upstream. (This is precisely what happened.) Whereas human practice based on the state’s policy of stopping and reversing flow would lead to an accumulation of harm in larger and larger artificial and toxic floods—doku—Tanaka’s fostering of flow, nagare, would lead to an accumulation of life. As Tanaka’s thought developed, doku came to describe not only the presence of toxins in the watershed’s fields, but also the horizon of beneficial human intervention in nature. Doku revealed the limit of responsible human agency. This too continued the Agronomy tradition that had said famine was not natural but the result of bad social practices. In dealing with pollution, Tanaka, like agronomists before him, and unlike the 1902 Committee, argued for the need to remake politics, not nature.
To prevent doku and to foster life, humans needed to learn how to organize themselves in a way that lets them take advantage of the benefits of a freely flowing ecosystem. A diary entry from 26 January 1912 shows Tanaka playing with the Japanese characters for mountain (yama) and river (kawa) to illustrate the complementary relationship of the land and water in fostering flow. Tanaka’s own caption read: “These diagrams express the principle of nature. River managers who understand the meaning of these pictures are rare indeed.”
FIG. 2: A Tanaka diary entry from 26
Jan 1912. (Source: Tanaka Shozo zenshu,
Iwanami shoten, 1977–80. Vol. 13, p. 65.)
Even fish had something to teach humanity in dealing with pollution:
Observe. Fish have no [legal] protection and though they live in the dark polluted waters [of the Watarase] do they not avoid total extinction? The reason the polluters, with all their power, are unable to destroy these fish is this: though no law protects them, the fish instinctively rely on nature and follow a path out of danger to unpolluted streams, happily saving themselves. This is the way to use nature. The fish do it. Why should not people do so, all the more? [5]
As he developed his environmental philosophy and social vision, Tanaka increasingly located the source of rights and salvation in the material environment, continuing to the point where the two concepts, the social and the ecological were nearly inseparable. Because they were created in the wholly human world of politics, laws like the 1896 River Law were corruptible, but Tanaka’s Fundamental River Law, based on his philosophy of flow, accommodated itself to what nature would allow, declaring “the essence of water is honest…. Water does not harm people… it has no class distinctions… water is not false…[and though] people may deceive each other, flowing water never deceives.” [6] In this understanding nature was the necessary starting point for all human social practice; Humans must abide by nature’s principles if the result was to foster life.
Doku was not merely a separate substance, a by-product, or unintended waste. Rather, doku was created through a systemic incompatibility—a result of the Way of Humans and the Way of Nature fighting each other. While in Tanaka’s thought nature was the most powerful force known, it was not invincible. In many ways this was the lesson of Ashio. Doku was a new category of thought injected into the Japanese discourse on nature that signaled a historical break in the human-nature relationship. Despite its status as nature’s ultimate principle, nagare could be thwarted by human action forcing it to flow in unintended and harmful ways with serious reverberations in all spheres of life:
The mine-poisoned floods borrow the great power of the land and thus make it all the way into the Home Ministry. The Ministry’s civil engineering division is destroyed by the mine pollution; the pollution dooms it to a cycle of destruction, rebuilding, and further destruction. Poison runs on the lay of the land and rides the river’s currents to the welfare bureau, eventually felling people. The police are powerless to stop death by poisoning….(emphasis added). [7]
The modern aspects of Tanaka’s philosophies of doku and nagare are clear in a position paper he wrote to counter the 1902 Committee’s assumptions on nature. His language is nothing less than the “discovery” of the modern ecological concept of “ecocide”:
If the pollution continues for too long, the river’s headwaters will trickle out from a poisoned mountain of foul rocks and polluted soil that wholly penetrates the water, forming a second [toxic] nature (dai ni no tensei o nashi). Once this happens, it will no longer even be possible to talk of healing flood damage (emphasis added). [8]
In other words, once this toxic second nature is created, the window of salvation open to the Watarase fish will have closed. The world itself will have become fatal to humans as doku will have completely co-opted the processes of a nature in motion: the system would continue to move, but its product would no longer be a life-sustaining flow. In its place would be the movement of a “second, toxic nature” that would produce increasing sickness, poverty, starvation and, ultimately, death.
This emphasis on what is being produced by humans’ manipulation of nature clearly shows Tanaka’s vision is social and ecological, not a paean to rural values or a romantic retreat from modern society. Writing at the beginning of Japan’s modern transformation, Tanaka was worried about what the Ashio and flood control problems signaled for the future, even speculating what kind of national essence (kokutai) this experience would produce. Without a radical examination and transformation of attitudes and policy he feared what was being created:
The degeneration of people’s hearts is of one with the harm caused by Ashio. Both are invisible to the naked eye. Japan is a young country, and so Japan is the same as a child who contracts a disease. Though ill the child may still grow up. Japan too will grow older. [But] once grown it will be impossible to distinguish the disease [from Japan] (miwakegatashi). [9]
Because nature was constantly in motion, human activity must complement and never thwart that motion if doku was to be avoided. In his language the Way of Nature and the Way of Human(ity) must work together. If they did not, which is how he came to see the Ashio Incident and the state’s flood control policies, the result was an accumulation of harm that moved from the environmental to the social realms. The sad fate of the village of Yanaka, destroyed in 1907 to make room for a reservoir, was an example of how bad environmental policy eventually required social oppression. Not just in Yanaka but everywhere he looked, Tanaka saw humans “fighting rather than following” nature.
Tanaka’s move to the doomed village of Yanaka in 1904 should not be seen as a retreat from the progressive politics of the Popular Rights and Liberty Movement or from his dramatic appeal to the emperor in 1901. Tanaka’s universalistic monism also means that it cannot be consigned to the familiar agriculture versus industry debate: nature flows equally in all places, and its thwarting anywhere results in doku. Rather, Tanaka’s identification with Yanaka was the logical move to the place where, more than any other, Japan was poisoning itself. Here too it is clear Yanaka was important in terms of doku and nagare more than its status as a proto-typical village community. Yanaka was a village destroyed by the state in a futile war against the nagare principle of the river. It was in Yanaka, whose sons were being killed in Manchuria fighting the Russians even as their parents were being evicted through eminent domain, that Tanaka and other activists like Shimada Saburo, Kinoshita Naoe, Arahata Kanson, and Ishikawa Sanshiro chose to make their stand on the fundamental questions of Japanese modernity. Many of these activists became Yanaka landholders in a “one-tsubo movement” (one tsubo = 3.31 m2) intended both as aid to the impoverished residents and to complicate the state’s acquisition of the village, a movement eventually defeated by the use of eminent domain.
For Tanaka, Yanaka’s destruction represented the linking of bad environmental policy with political repression: the government’s mistaken faith in the ability of humans to totally manipulate nature was behind its river projects. The project’s failure resulted in escalating costs, required the silencing of the anti-mine petitioners, the use of eminent domain, and the eventual violent destruction of a village. In a preface to Arahata Kanson’s Yanaka mura metsuboshi (The Extermination of Yanaka, 1907), Tanaka made this explicit: “The mine pollution problem has mutated; it has become the theft and destruction of homes.” [10] It is the philosophies of nagare and doku that allow this linking, and Yanaka is the point of convergence of the two systems. In Tanaka’s theory it is no coincidence that it was at precisely the point where the state made the ultimate attempt at control—completely stopping the flow of the river in a reservoir—that the greatest social oppression and human suffering occurred.
In his later years Tanaka tried to develop something he called Yanakagaku (Yanaka studies, or literally Yanaka-ology), a way of living that would not produce doku but foster nagare. Yanakagaku authorized his defiance of the River Laws and the Home Ministry and his rallying villagers to build their own levees according to their own understanding of nature’s flows. These were built, torn down by authorities, and rebuilt repeatedly from 1904–10; even after the state destroyed their homes in 1907, sixteen families built shacks from the pieces of their former homes and continued to try and live according to nagare. Yanakagaku showed how alternative practices of nature contained within them alternative social visions. Importantly, Tanaka believed an adequate idea of the self, and therefore the existence of rights, was impossible in a poisoned environment. This belief that the physical environment must guarantee rights ultimately achieved a subversive universalism in his theory of what he called a “universal constitution” (hiroki kempo, uchuteki kempo). His appeal to nature to justify resisting the mine and the state appears most dramatically in Tanaka’s declaration of 1912 where he claimed, “We have a constitution. Unfortunately this constitution is based on [narrow] Japanese principles, not on universal [natural] principles. As such, even if Japan were to die, we are under no obligation to die with it.” [11]
Tanaka’s Relevance Today
Tanaka’s linking of the ecological and the social had a strong effect on pre-war Japanese anarchists and socialists like Arahata Kanson and especially Ishikawa Sanshiro. The Japanese state’s crackdown on these ideologies in the 1920s and 1930s meant the loss of this vision. One exception was Tanaka’s protégé, a young student named Kurosawa Torizo, who later moved to Hokkaido, became a dairy farmer, and started a producers’ cooperative that became Snow Brand Dairy (Yukijirushi), a company that until its recent merger was Japan’s largest dairy producer. In the post-war period, Tanaka was rediscovered during the citizens’ movements of the 1960s and the outbreak of the methyl mercury poisoning in Minamata Bay, in southern Japan. Today there are groups dedicated to preserving and expanding Tanaka’s vision. The Watarase Study Group (Watarase Kenkyukai) and a citizens’ reading group calling itself “Tanaka Shozo University” (Tanaka Shozo Daigaku) organize “field trips” and publish journals such as Tanaka Shozo to Ashio kodoku jiken kenkyu and Kugen, where they seek to link issues of social inequality, nuclear weapons, pollution, and conservation. In the early 1990s Tanaka Shozo University followed the Furukawa group to the Philippines where the Ashio case had “jumped” and the whole saga of mine pollution was being replayed on the international stage. This last example shows that neither the Ashio Incident nor Tanaka’s thoughts on doku are limited to Japan or dependent on any culturally specific understanding of nature. He himself clearly did not think so as seen in his views on the “universal constitution.”
At Ashio itself, every year hundreds of volunteers from Ashio Green Growing Association (Ashio ni Midori o Sodateiru Kai) assemble near the remains of the Ashio refinery in an attempt to replant the mountainsides. This process is slow and requires much experimentation as the soil still contains large amounts of sulfur left by one hundred years of toxic smoke from Ashio’s stacks.
FIG. 3: Remains of the Ashio Refinery, 2002. (Photo: Robert Stolz.)
FIG. 4: Meeting of the Ashio Green Growing Association, 2002.
(Photo: Robert Stolz.)
FIG. 5: Experimental reforestation at Ashio: The green zone at
the top is a mix of soil, seed and fertilizer sprayed onto the rock
in an attempt to compensate for the lack of topsoil. (Photo: Robert
Stolz, 2002.)
In a great historical irony, the Yanaka reservoir has become a place of “nature recreation” and its brochure features a cartoon windsurfer enjoying the open water. Yet even while the banks of the reservoir today appear natural, their earthen facades are built on a base of hard-engineering and concrete.
FIG. 6: Concrete bank of the Yanaka Reservoir, 2002. (Photo: Robert Stolz.)
Given this history, it is interesting to note the discourse on dams in modern Japan where new construction or removal maps so closely to bureaucratic initiatives, on the one hand, or citizen-led ones, on the other. From former Nagano governor Yasuo Tanaka’s “Dam Removal Declaration” (Datsu damu sengen) to the citizens’ groups forming in opposition to the Arase and Nagara dam projects, the convergence of river policy and political and social movements remains strong. Outside Japan the saga of dams and displacement continues on an even larger scale. Like Tanaka’s warnings nearly one hundred years earlier, Arundhati Roy’s The Cost of Living (1999) takes on the “illusions of India’s progress” in a polemic against the massive dam projects in the Narmada valley as India strives toward Great Power status—which today means not only large nature-transforming projects but also means the risk of unleashing the ultimate doku: nuclear weapons. [12]
Other writers have highlighted the disturbing, but probably not coincidental, connection between large-scale intervention in nature and less democratic government. Both Patrick McCully of International Rivers Network and Michael Goldman have demonstrated that in the wake of growing citizen’s movements against dam displacement, larger projects like China’s Three Gorges Dam (1.9 million displaced) and the World Bank-sponsored Nam Theun 2 in Laos are now only undertaken in more authoritarian states. [13] While the river projects Tanaka was fighting were undertaken in the conscious construction of Japan as a Great Power, today’s dam construction and nature-reforming projects are less often undertaken for imperial glory than attempted in the name of another cause, possibly even more intractable and insatiable than Empire: the cause of growth for its own sake, a process likely just as resistant to democratic politics.
Tanaka’s thoughts on doku and nagare attune us to the possibility that pollution may not look like what we think it is. Or it is much more than we think. To be sure, the presence of certain parts per million of methyl mercury in the bodies of fish in Minamata bay is still clearly pollution. But doku suggests that pollution can be systemic and manifest itself at the social level with reverberations far from any chemically polluted space—many displaced Yanaka villagers were resettled in Saroma, Hokkaido, on the Sea of Okhotsk. Pollution, understood as doku, is not something extra; it is not waste or a by-product of an otherwise healthful process. At its worst doku is a positive production, the result of an affirmative choice, though, unfortunately, it is no less fatal for being intended. Today we can see certain trends and counter-trends. Global warming with its attendant creation of new disasters, poverty, the impending displacement of coastal citizens, and the spread of tropical diseases is for the most part a choice that has been in the affirmative, in the name of economic health. On the other hand, the recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Wangari Maathai for her work in founding the Green Belt Movement in Kenya shows a growing understanding of the inseparability of the ecological and the social. Which view will eventually win out remains unclear—but the stakes are not.
As Gavan McCormack previously has argued on this site, “Minamata disease was above all a disease of the spirit to which Japan succumbed as growth, money, material wealth come to be valued above the natural environment or humanity.” [14] Tanaka warned in 1902 that such attitudes may eventually turn the world itself against us; indeed, this may already be happening. A recent story on water pollution in the Washington Post introduced readers to the startling idea that wildlife waste was a major cause of pollution in the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. From this scientists arrived at “the strange proposition that nature is apparently polluting itself,” creating “a serious conundrum for government officials charged with cleaning up the rivers.” Later, in an even stronger echo, the article proffers the chilling possibility that this could be “the ultimate irony of people’s impact on nature[;] that the entire system has changed so radically that wild animals now degrade their own environment.” [15] Tanaka, McCormack, and the Washington Post article describe a pollution that does not have a technological fix but rather requires a change of attitude, of lifestyle, and most importantly, a change of social organization itself: remake politics, not nature.
Robert Stolz is Assistant Professor of Japanese History and Social Theory in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. He recently received his doctorate from the University of Chicago for a dissertation entitled “‘Yanakagaku’: Pollution and Environmental Protest in Modern Japan.” A longer version of this article was published in Japan Forum 18:3 (2006), 417–37. Stolz can be contacted at rstolz@utk.edu. Posted at Japan Focus on January 23, 2007.
[1] F. G. Notehelfer, “Between Tradition and Modernity. Labor and the Ashio Copper Mine” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 39, No. 1. (Spring, 1984), pp. 11–24.
[2] “Kodoku chosa iinkai chosahokokusho” in Tochigi kenshi shiryohen genkindai 9 (Tokyo: Gyosei, 1980). 635–6.
[3] Kasenho 1896, Horei zensho, Okurasho insatsukyoku.
[4] Kodoku chosa, 992.
[5] Tanaka Shozo, Tanaka Shozo senshu 7 vol., ed. Anzai Kunio, Kano Masanao, Komatsu Hiroshi, Sakaya Junji and Yui Masaomi (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1989). 4: 159.
[6] Tanaka (1989), 5: 333.
[7] Tanaka (1989), 4: 149–50.
[8] Tanaka (1989), 4: 137–8.
[10] Tanaka Shozo, preface to Arahata Kanson, Yanakamura metsuboshi (Tokyo: Iwanami bunko, 1999). 8.
[11] Tanaka (1989), 7: 247.
[12] Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living (New York: Modern Library Paperbacks, 1999).
[13] Patrick McCully, Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (New York: Zed Books, 2001) and Michael Goldman, Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005).
[14] Gavan McCormack, “Minamata: The Irresponsibility of the Japanese State”
[15] David a. Fahrenthold, “Wildlife Waste is Major Water Polluter, Studies Say,” The Washington Post, 29 September 2006.
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If you decide to pick up rugby today and began either watching it or playing it, you would be amazed that there are two forms of the game. That’s right, rugby is not as unique as you might think. There are two forms of it that are generally accepted – the Rugby Union and the Rugby League.
Although very similar, the two are at the same time very much different.
But how actually different are they? We find that out today!
Union vs League
In 1871, the Rugby Football Union was formed in order to regulate the game of rugby. The idea was to establish a set of rules and to help the game become playable and more interesting to others. However, even in establishing how the game needs to be played, the Union never really strived for becoming professional.
Therefore, a number of players decided to make their own code. Most of the teams from Yorkshire had working-class players on their teams. They wanted a way to compensate them when they were missing work. So they formed their own set of rules and created what will eventually be called the Rugby League.
The main on-field difference between the Rugby Union and the Rugby League is the number of players on the field and substitutions allowed. The Rugby Union allows 15 plays from one team to play while the League has 13. The Rugby League allows 10 substitutes during the match while the Union offers only 8.
With more subs allowed it results in the match being played longer. However, it does require higher levels of fitness as well and results in more on-field injuries during the match. Due to fewer players involved, the pitch used for Rugby League games is also smaller.
Different Point Codes
The point system between the Rugby Union and the Rugby League is also different. According to the rules set by the Union, a try will give you 5 points, a conversion score you 2 points, while penalties and drop goals provide you with 3 points.
The system in the Rugby League grants you 4 points for a try, a conversion adds 2 points to the tally, penalties are worth 2 points and drop points score you 1 point.
Another important difference to consider between the Rugby Union and the Rugby League are the tackles. In the Rugby Union, when a player is tackled a ruck will form with each player from the opposing side joining in to contest for the ball. But in the Rugby League, a ruck does not exist. Instead, the player must roll the ball back with his feet and a scrap ensues where every player from both sides tries to get the ball on their own terms.
In the Rugby League, if the ball is kicked off the field and scrum will ensue where 8 players will pack down to give the ones in the back more space to run into. But in the Rugby Union, if the ball is kicked off the field a lineout will be executed from the position where the ball exited the field of play.
In the Rugby League, there is also a tackle limit and 6 are allowed. On the other hand, in the Rugby Union, there is no tackle limit and teams can go as many phases as they want.
The History and Success of Rugby in South Africa
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New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham signs new loan program especially for small business
Stephen Hamway | Albuquerque Journal
PPP Small Business Relief Will Likely Not Help All
If you are a small business owner and have not yet applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan yet... According to Business Insider, you may be out of luck and too late to receive funding.
ALBUQUERQUE - With small businesses in New Mexico still struggling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, a new state loan program is designed to fill in the gaps in existing offerings.
Senate Bill 3, signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday, establishes a low-interest loan program for hard-hit businesses and local governments using funding from the state's Severance Tax Permanent Fund.
The measure allocates $400 million to provide loans for struggling small businesses. Approximately $50 million will be used for loans to local governments.
Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, one of the sponsors of the bill, said the program is designed in part to help smaller, less established businesses, that may have had trouble getting funding through the Payroll Protection Program and other state and federal programs.
"We are a state of small business owners," Candelaria told the Journal.
SB 3, passed by the New Mexico Legislature during the special session last month, allows businesses to apply for loans of up to $75,000.
Unlike the PPP, which converts to a grant if the recipient meets certain terms, borrowers must pay the state loan back in full.
The new program is far from the only option for businesses that have been hurt by the pandemic, but Anne Haines, president and CEO of the Albuquerque-based lender DreamSpring, said some federal programs aren't set up to help very small businesses.
Haines said some lack established banking relationships, and don't have easy access to necessary tax and payroll information required by the PPP.
"That has definitely been a barrier for many micro-businesses," she said.
Marquita Russel, CEO of the New Mexico Finance Authority, which will administer the program, said it has a few benefits for smaller businesses.
The loans are limited to businesses and nonprofits with an annual gross revenue of less than $5 million and they don't require businesses to offer collateral to secure the loan, he said.
Opinion: Add value to your home by fixing it up
Additionally, she said the inclusion of community lenders is designed to make it easier for companies without conventional banking services.
"Their intent was to provide a lifeline to small businesses," Russel said.
Candelaria noted that the loan money can be applied to a wide range of operating costs, including utility bills.
"At the end of the day, this bill trusts more in the ingenuity and in the resilience of our New Mexico businesses," Candelaria said.
Russel said the initial loan period is three years, with the annual interest rate set at half the Wall Street Journal's prime rate on the day the loan is issued. The bill states that recipients must show that their April or May income dropped by 30% or more compared to the same month in 2019.
Russel said there are still details about the program that need to be ironed out, including the benchmark for creditworthiness, but added that a formal list of criteria for businesses looking to apply should be available later this month.
The program is expected to go live in early August, she said.
"We're trying to get this stood up as quickly as possible," Russel said.
New loan flexibility law helps local small businesses
Q&A: Congresswoman Torres Small seeks answers on COVID-19 small business relief
Organ Mountain Outfitters adjusts to life during COVID-19 outbreak
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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic still believes that he can finish his career with the all-time Grand Slam record. Djokovic, seeded at No. 1, was badly beaten in the French Open final as No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal won 6-2 6-0 7-5 to lift his 13th title at the […]
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic still believes that he can finish his career with the all-time Grand Slam record. Djokovic, seeded at No. 1, was badly beaten in the French Open final as No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal won 6-2 6-0 7-5 to lift his 13th title at the French Open.
With his 13th French Open title, Nadal tied Roger Federer on the all-time Grand Slam record list with 20 Majors captured. “If I thought that it was too late, I would have ended my career today. But I do not think it is too late, I will keep on going as long as I have fuel in my legs and love and desire towards the sport,” Djokovic said, per Tennis Majors.
“One defeat, even though it is in a Grand Slam final, cannot destabilise me. I have developed a rather “thick skin”, I do not allow myself to be disturbed by various speculations. Myself and Nadal, and especially Federer – we have been written off many times, people were sending us into retirement, but we keep coming back and proving that we are the best in the world despite all the pressure”.
Nadal and Federer three Grand Slam wins ahead of Djokovic
Djokovic, 34, has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name. After equaling Federer’s record, Nadal admitted he would love to finish his career with the all-time Grand Slam record.
“I never hide that for me, I always say the same, that I would love to finish my career being the player with more Grand Slams. No doubt about that, no? But in the other hand I say, okay, I have to do my way,” Nadal said in his press conference, per Max Gao.
Meanwhile, Federer congratulated Nadal on winning his 20th Major title. “I have always had the utmost respect for my friend Rafa as a person and as a champion. As my greatest rival over many years, I believe we have pushed each other to become better players,” Federer wrote on Twitter.
“Therefore, it is a true honour for me to congratulate him on his 20th Grand Slam victory. It is especially amazing that he has now won Roland Garros an incredible 13 times, which is one of the greatest achievements in sport,” Federer wrote.
“I also congratulate his team, because nobody can do this alone. I hope 20 is just another step on the continuing journey for both of us. Well done, Rafa. You deserve it”.
Posted in CareerTagged #alltime #career #confident #Djokovic #finish #Grand #Novak #Record #slam
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct 9, 2020– Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) launched EA SPORTS ™ FIFA 21, where players can manage every moment of their team’s journey with new additions to Career Mode or immerse themselves in the soul of the streets with groundbreaking updates to VOLTA FOOTBALL, which offers […]
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‘I Never Expected’ It Would Affect Me
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"Places, Please," CBS-TV, 1948-1949
At the close of the summer of 1948, my mother graduated from Syracuse University, and in the fall of that year became a cast member in a Broadway musical revue, Small Wonder (which starred Tom Ewell). Toward the end of the year, while performing in the play, she made a singing appearance on a CBS-TV variety and talent program, Places, Please. It was the first television program on which she appeared. Soon afterwards, she sang on the show again.
Places, Please, a Monday/Wednesday/Friday evening fifteen-minute program, aired in 1948 and 1949.
As New York Times critic Jack Gould noted, in 1948, Places, Please was "devoted to giving youngsters in the entertainment world a chance to be heard and seen." The show's host was Barry Wood, who had had great success as a singer, both on records, and on radio; from 1939 until 1943, he had starred on the radio show Your Hit Parade. He was succeeded on the program by Frank Sinatra.
Until recently, I had never seen a kinescope (or, as would most often be the case, a video made from a kinescope) of Places, Please. In late December I came upon a segment of one of the telecasts, on YouTube, though I do not know its date. The segment features dancer and singer Don Liberto. Liberto, seen in the YouTube image above, had, by this time, appeared in a number of Broadway plays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6des2qYJvIU
I like the simplicity of the segment; it has an appealingly spare quality. Liberto dances and sings in front of a curtain, accompanied only by a pianist. One sees only part of the piano, to one side of the stage (the pianist is not visible). There is not a full audience; rather, there are a handful of people, seated at the other side of the stage, watching Liberto perform. The group (seen in the image above) includes Barry Wood, and three young women wearing sweaters adorned with the letters "CBS."
Here is the Wikipedia page about Barry Wood, who died in 1970:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Wood_(singer)
Performer Don Liberto died in 2010. Here is an obituary, from the show business publication Variety:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118027059/?refCatId=25
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Guest Post by Foz Meadows: Unempathic Bipeds of Failure: The Relationship Between Stories and Politics
by Foz Meadows
This article originally appeared on the Blackgate magazine website. For a full explanation of its journey, please see the notes below.
The Axis trilogy (published in the US as the first three novels of The Wayfarer Redemption)
Owing to recent political developments, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about politics in SFF, not just as a general concept, but in relation to my own history with the genre. So often when we talk about politics in SFF, it’s in the context of authors – rightly or wrongly, consciously or unconsciously, skilfully or unskilfully – conveying their personal views and biases through the text, the whens and hows of doing so and why it matters, depending on the context. As a corollary conversation, we also talk a great deal in personal terms about the importance to readers, and particularly young readers, of representation; the power of seeing yourself, or someone like you, in multiple sorts of narrative. These are all vital conversations to have, and to continue having as both culture and genre evolve. Yet for all its similar importance, I haven’t often seen discussions about the ways that SFF informs our concept of politics in the more institutional sense: the presentation of different systems of government, cultures and social systems within narratives, and the lessons we take from them.
Which is, to me, surprising, because as far back as I can remember, I was always aware of the role of politics in genre stories, even if I couldn’t always articulate that knowledge at the time. At the very start of high school, Sara Douglass’s Axis trilogy became my entry point to the world of adult (as opposed to YA or middle grade) fantasy. In hindsight, there’s a great deal in that series – and in the sequel trilogy, The Wayfarer Redemption – that I now find deeply unsettling, but which, as a tween, I absorbed uncritically. But at the same time, I also recognised the predatory, insular monotheism of Artor the Ploughman as a deliberate analogue to certain toxic expressions of Christianity, its displacement of and propagandising about the Icarii and the Avar reminiscent of lies told about various native populations by white invaders. I wasn’t yet literate enough to identify the racial stereotypes underpinning the Avar in particular – a dark-skinned race who claimed to “abhor” violence, yet were externally said to “exude” it – but something in that description still unsettled me; I remember feeling strongly that it was an unfair characterisation in a way that went beyond the story, but couldn’t explain it any more than that.
[Click the images for bigger versions.]
A few years later, I started reading Raymond E. Feist at the recommendation of my then-group of geeky friends, all of whom were fans. I was still years away from coming to any sort of cogent understanding about tropes and their place in genre; nonetheless, while reading A Darkness at Sethanon, I was struck by one of the most important realizations about narrative of my young life. In the book, the heroes had just encountered a powerful dark army and were rushing to tell their allies of the unprecedented danger – yet when they reached the nearest stronghold, the commander in charge didn’t believe their claims that an ancient evil, long-prophesied and rooted in magic, was on his doorstep. My first reaction to his doubt was a surge of outrage: having just “seen” the army myself through the eyes of the protagonists, I knew the threat – to say nothing of magic itself – was very real. How could anyone doubt them? I thought to myself. It’s so obviously true!
Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga, including A Darkness at Sethanon
And this is when the epiphany struck. Thoughts churning, I realized in the very next breath that, from the commander’s perspective, the truth wasn’t obvious at all, and that if someone in real life ever approached me with a similarly outlandish claim, I’d likely dismiss them, too. I was – and still am – an atheist: I didn’t believe in gods and magic, just like the doubting commander; the only difference between us was that I had an omniscient perspective on the truth of his world that he, as an individual, lacked. I’d started reading the story in large part because I wanted to suspend disbelief in the non-existence of magic, but until that moment, I hadn’t considered that doing so involved a non-superficial shift in my perspective, not just of what was possible, but of people. For the first time, I realized the power of stories to make the reader sympathize with attitudes beyond their own, and the specific ability of SFF as a genre to accomplish this by retelling familiar dilemmas in unfamiliar settings.
Looking back, that moment was when I first started to become a critical reader, and to wonder at the relationship between stories and politics. My conclusions were often flawed or incomplete, and I regularly missed parallels which stand out to me now, but everyone starts that particular lesson somewhere, and for me, it was Raymond E. Feist.
Not long afterwards, on the recommendation of the same, predominantly male group of friends, I started reading Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. Up until that point, most of the fantasy I’d read was female-authored, in large part because I grew up in Australia, and the Australian fantasy market has long been female-dominated in a way that the American and UK markets aren’t. That being so, and unlike many other readers from different traditions, I wasn’t used to SFF stories where women routinely experienced sexism and gender-based violence, not as something clearly rejected by both the narrative and the characters, but for shock value. Even now, I find this a difficult distinction to articulate, and I want to be clear that, in addition to being a choice made by writers of all genders, it’s also frequently a Your Mileage May Vary Issue. Certainly, I’d read stories which featured the rape or sexual assault or women – Anne McCaffrey’s Acorna series springs prominently to mind, while the amount of rape present in some of Sara Douglass’s work appalls me in hindsight – but Goodkind’s was the first series I read where the repeated motif of rape and abuse made me feel alienated by the narrative.
The number of times that Kahlan was almost raped, with frequently graphic nearness, while other women suffered her intended fate without rescue, made me acutely aware of the way that a story could strongly convey a specific idea without ever stating it plainly – in this case, the idea that rape was the single worst, most horrific thing that could ever happen to a woman. The books made me uncomfortable in other ways, too – not just narratively, but politically. Where reading Feist sparked my critical awareness of narrative empathy and the power of stories to show the reader perspectives beyond their own, reading Goodkind taught me that it was possible to question or disagree with ideas that the story – and, by proxy, the author – portrayed as being morally correct.
The first novels in Terry Goodkind’s 17-volume Sword of Truth series
In Goodkind’s setting, a POV character was horrified by the idea that women in a town whose primary institution was devoted to magical study were deliberately falling pregnant to the male mages, so that the institution would, as per long-standing custom, pay them a generous stipend to help raise the subsequent magically-gifted children. This character, on coming to a position of power in the institution, therefore made it his first order of business to cancel the stipend forever: that way, it was argued, the women who’d been mooching financially off the magical institution would have no further incentive to do so, and the cynical practice of breeding for magic would stop. In text, it was presented as a sensible, moral reform for the (sympathetically-portrayed) character to make – a portrayal helped by its pairing with a clearly necessary shift in magical practice, one that changed the yardstick used to prove a mage’s readiness to advance away from “how much pain this person can endure” and towards “how much have they grown as an individual.”
I agreed with the latter decision – the traditional test was clearly horrific – but thought the former decision was deeply flawed. However cynically the stipend system was being abused both the townswomen and the mages alike (though only the women seemed to be censured for it), removing it wholesale meant that the existing children would suffer as their mothers were plunged into poverty. Though the townsfolk protested the change, the character considered this consequence unimportant – and as their opposition was portrayed as being just as backwards as the mages’ rejection of the magical reform, it was clear that the narrative itself endorsed the character’s decision.
Even as a teenager, I recognized the similarity of the argument put forward by Goodkind’s character to that of real-world politicians angry at the supposed abuse of benefits systems by unwed mothers, a claim to which I was actively opposed. Though I’d noticed plenty of similarities between SFF stories and real historical events before then, such as the religious and colonial aspects of Sara Douglass’s work, Goodkind was first time I’d recognized such a direct paralleling of modern politics. Reading Feist, I’d sympathized with the faith of religious characters despite being an atheist: I’d done it before in other books, but Feist was the first time I’d noticed. Realizing this not only helped me rethink some of the preconceptions I’d had about real-world religious beliefs, but gave me a fuller, more nuanced appreciation for a character I’d initially despised. Reading Goodkind, however, was a different experience: yes, the story was still asking me to be sympathetic to a perspective other than my own, but it was doing so in a way that required me to disregard my existing empathy for another group, while casting aspersions about the inherent morality of a group to which I belonged.
Earlier this year, in the course of sharing my love for Dragon Age 2 on Twitter, I ended up in conversation with a UKIP supporter who, to my complete astonishment, was also a fan of the game. I say astonishment, because UKIP, for those unfamiliar with that party’s policies, is avowedly anti-refugee and frequently homophobic, while DA2 is, rather undeniably, a game about a queer refugee who works hard to improve their new city. When I pointed this out, the UKIP supporter suggested I was naïve for seeing any similarity between the politics of the game and those which existed in the real world: to him, Hawke’s flight from Ferelden in the wake of the Blight and subsequent residence in Kirkwall was wholly understandable, while the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing war and turmoil and wanting residence in the UK was not.
We didn’t talk for long, but I’ve often thought about that exchange since, wondering at the sort of cognitive dissonance necessary to enforce that sort of narrative compartmentalization; to fail to even acknowledge the similarities between the real and the fictional. Perhaps he considered Hawke an obviously “good” immigrant, one who made a clear effort to benefit his new home, and therefore felt the character an exception to the rule. Perhaps he thought that Hawke’s blood-ties to Kirkwall nobility meant they weren’t really a refugee or immigrant at all, but a rightful citizen forced into unfair struggle to reclaim their birthright, and was therefore exempt from criticism. Perhaps he felt that the demonic Blight, an unambiguously evil, nation-killing horror, justified fleeing one’s country in a way that unmagical civil war does not. Perhaps it was simply that the default Hawke is a conventionally attractive white man who speaks fluent English, and therefore was not subject to the same automatic censure as foreign brown people with accents. Perhaps it was none of these things, or a combination of all of them; or perhaps he’d simply accepted the game as fiction without considering what that fiction meant. But either way, his lack of awareness of politics in narrative is not unique – and that, to me, is both fascinating and frightening.
Dark lords, demons, genocidal invading aliens and other such unambiguous evils are a narrative staple of SFF: indeed, they’re fundamental to many of our favorite renditions of the hero’s journey. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still political complexity to be found in such stories, to say nothing of ordinary political systems. Even in worlds where an ultimate, inherent morality is exemplified by a struggle between Dark and Light, Good and Bad, the actions of people are seldom cast in such a binary mould – and yet, I suspect, it’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking otherwise, because if the good guys are clearly on the side of the (demonstrably real) angels, then who are we to question their methods? As readers, we’re omniscient: we know, in a way the characters seldom do, exactly why their actions matter, what the outcome is going to be and how few paths there really are to achieving it. From that perspective, it’s comparatively easier to accept that the end justifies the means, because we’re in the best, most objective position possible to weigh motive against execution, intention against consequence, and to view the whole chain of events at a remove. We know the characters better than they know themselves, and that makes us judge them differently than if we were there beside them, working through the same problems with the same set of limitations.
The way we’re otherwise forced to do in life.
Since the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, there’s a particular social media status I’ve seen circulating in various places, though I think this tweet is the original:
If you’ve ever said you would join Dumbledore’s Army; if you’d follow the Mockingjay; if you’d fight back against the Empire: now’s the time.
It’s something I’ve seen treated with eyerolls and irritation by people I know to ultimately support the sentiment – i.e. that dictatorships, imperialism and fascism are worth fighting against – on the basis that it’s somehow a dumbing down of the current political situation; if people can only understand that what’s happening now is bad by relating it to stories, this logic says, then they probably don’t understand it at all. And in one sense, I understand that perspective. For those born with social privilege, reading about oppression and oppressive systems in stories is the only way to “experience” that sort of prejudice. That being so, if your first reaction to the jarring post-election spike in hate crimes (for instance) is to relate it to a story rather than to fear for yourself or others, then you likely don’t belong to an at-risk group. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need stories to act as emotional dry-runs for caring about different types of people, because our empathy would already natively extend to everyone. But we don’t live in that world; because if we did, somewhat paradoxically, we’d have less urgent need of its empathy, as its unequivocal presence would make it much harder for us to discriminate in the first place.
Which is precisely why stories matter; why they’ve always mattered, and will continue to matter for as long as our species exists. Stories can teach us the empathy we otherwise lack, or whose development is railroaded by context, and yeah, it’s frustrating to think that another person can’t just look at you, accept what you are, and think, human, different to me in some respects but fundamentally as whole and as worthy of love, protection and basic rights as I am, but you’ve got to understand: we’re a bunch of bipedal mammals with delusions of morality, a concept we invented and which we perpetuate through culture and manners, faith and history and memory – which is to say, through stories, which change as we change (though we don’t always like to admit that part), and in that context, the value of the impossible – of SFF as a genre – is that it gives us those things in imaginary settings, takes us far enough out of the present that we can view them at a more objective remove than real life ever allows, and so get a better handle on them than our immediate biases might otherwise permit.
Stories reflect us, and we reflect them back at themselves, like one of Terry Pratchett’s witches standing at the heart of a room of mirrors: humanity all the way down. In the midst of real-world politics and their ever-evolving consequences, our narrow individual perspective is that of a character denied the author’s omniscience: we don’t know what to make of the pattern of things – if there even is a pattern – or where events are headed, and yet we still have to choose what to do in the moment. And so we look outside ourselves, to stories where we do really know what’s happening, to characters in whose hopes and fears we recognise our own. We might make jokes and memes about it, buy little rubber bracelets stamped with WWBD (What Would Buffy Do?) and laugh at our preoccupation with people who don’t really exist, but when the hammer falls and our own words fail us, theirs remain.
I must not tell lies.
We are not things.
If we burn, you burn with us.
Right now, we don’t need a Jedi Master to tell us that fear leads to anger, anger to hate, and hate to suffering: that’s not an abstract mystical tenet, but the bedrock of our current political reality. For the past few years, the Sad and Rabid Puppies – guided by an actual neo-Nazi – have campaigned against what they perceive as the recent politicization of SFF as a genre, as though it’s humanly possible to write a story involving people that doesn’t have a political dimension; as though “political narrative” means “I disagreed with the premise or content, which makes it Wrong” and not “a narrative which contains and was written by people.”
And so I think about the UKIP supporter who empathized with a fictional refugee but voted to dehumanize real ones; about the millions of people who grew up on stories about the evils of Nazism, but now turn a blind eye to swastikas being graffitied in the wake of Trump’s election; of Puppies both Sad and Rabid who contend that the presence of politics in genre is a leftist conspiracy while blatantly pushing what even they call a political agenda; about fake news creators and the Ministry of Truth; about every f***ing dystopian novel whose evocation by name feels simultaneously on the nose and frighteningly apropos right now, because we shouldn’t have to cite The Handmaid’s Tale to explain why Mike Pence and Steve Bannon (to say nothing of Trump’s infamous comments) are collectively terrifying, and yet see above re: unempathic bipeds of failure, forever and always; and yet –
Terry Pratchett once wrote: “Humans needs fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.” That line has always felt powerful to me, but moreso now than ever before. I keep finding myself with quotes and fragments stuck in my head, pieces of other people’s writing that remind me of a political reality whose depth and breadth of awfulness I’m struggling to process. Sometimes those fragments fill me with despair, but in others I find strength, and heart, and hope. From their oldest mythological underpinnings to their newest CGI iterations, tales of science fiction and fantasy have always reminded us of our empathy in times when we need it most; have always helped us understand our single solid world through airy worlds adjacent, separated from us only by the tip of Will Parry’s subtle knife or Nakor’s bag of oranges.
In these times, may stories be a light in dark places, when all other lights go out.
Editorial Comment and Addenda
The History of This Article
The article was originally proposed by Ms. Meadows to the editor of BlackGate magazine, John O’Neill. He accepted, Foz wrote, the article was published on 12/7/2016. I read it on the 9th of December, commented positively and was shortly contacted by Mr. O’Neill via email, asking if I would be interested in giving a home to the article, owing to Mr. Beale’s objections. Mr. Beale had previously been a contributor to Blackgate and objected strenuously to Ms. Meadows’ use of the term “neo-Nazi”. Mr. O’Neill offered to ask Ms. Meadows to re-write a portion of the piece or, if she chose not to, to take the article down. Ms. Meadows initially contemplated doing so (her proposed changes are included below) but ultimately decided not to change the wording because, as she stated in an email reprinted on File 770 –
“…he (John O’Neill) asked if I’d consider changing my wording as a personal favour to him. I didn’t want to do that for a number of reasons, not least because we’re at a point in history where refusing to acknowledge the neo-Nazism of the alt-right, with which VD is openly affiliated, is a major contributing factor to its normalisation. To me, this was a statement worth defending.
Owing to Ms. Meadows’ being domiciled in Australia and Amazing Stories being headquartered in the northeastern US, as much as 12 hours transpires before communications back and forth are responded to. I requested a day or so to do some research and failed to contact Mr. O’Neill when Ms. Meadows agreed to the short delay. As a result, Mr. O’Neill truncated the article and placed a link to Amazing Stories, which continues to go “nowhere” until the article is actually published here.
A decent bit of research regarding the Alt-Right, neo-Nazism, definitions and ideologies was conducted over the weekend. That research turned up the following (in summary form):
1. Mr. Beale’s personal definition of Nazism, and by way of derivation, neo-Nazism is strictly limited to the political ideology professed by the National Socialist German Worker’s Party that rose to power in Germany prior to World War II. Since he is not German, not a member of the NSDAP, his claim is that he can not be referred to as a neo-Nazi. Note that Nazism was not limited geographically to Germany and its ideology not limited to one political party in one country at one point in time.
2. Mr.Beale has self-identified as “Alt-West”, owing to his Native American and Mexican heritage.
3. The Alt-Right movement has been identified as being associated with nationalism and white supremacy, of which neo-Nazism is a strain. (At a recent rally in Washington DC, one of the leading proponents of the Alt-Right movement, Richard B. Spencer, referenced Nazi propaganda; reportedly, neo-Nazis and white supremacists have provided security at some of his appearances.)
4. The Alt-Right “movement” professes to have no leaders, no formal philosophies and no formal identification. This is designed as a tactic to shield them from being more closely identified with marginalized political movements, such as white supremacy and neo-nazism. An examination of the movement’s positions on a wide variety of issues find that they are in close alignment with such groups. Changing the name does not change the philosophy. The Alt-Right wants its opponents to have to play whack-a-mole and waste its time arguing over names instead of ideologies.
5. Numerous articles in both the mainstream press and on-line draw a connection between the alt-right and neo-nazism, and the alt-right and white supremacy, sufficient for any reader to come to the conclusion that they they are all one and the same, or nearly so. At best, different branches of the same over-riding philosophy.
6. “Neo” is used to suggest both “new” and “like”: a “neo-conservative” is a person holding modified conservative views. A “neo-fan” is a newly minted fan. It is our understanding that the term “neo-Nazi” refers to both the “new Nazi” movement and to belief’s that are greatly similar to Nazi philosophies; a “neo-Nazi” is an individual professing Nazi-like beliefs.
I have asked Ms. Meadows for permission to publish her modified version here as well. Owing to differences in time zones, we have not heard back at the time this piece was published. If permission is granted, we will publish it here.
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ChoTime December 28, 2016 At 4:27 pm
Based on wikipedia’s definition: “The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements.[2]
Neo-Nazism borrows elements from Nazi doctrine, including ultranationalism, racism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, antiziganism, antisemitism, and initiating the Fourth Reich.”
using “neo-Nazi” is not incorrect.
amazingstoriesmag December 29, 2016 At 11:06 am
ChoTime: that’s what we’re finding all over the place. Hundreds, if not thousands of instances, both casual and professional, using the term in exactly the same way Foz did.
ChoTime December 29, 2016 At 12:54 pm
It’s like the word “fascist” or even “racist.” There’s an ideological fight over the meaning of the word, essentially over how circumscribed it should be. And there has to be, because once the definitions are accepted, the arguments follow clearly. You know?
Thanks for hosting this article, by the way. Bookmarked!
amazingstoriesmag December 30, 2016 At 8:48 am
yes, but the alt-right is trying to define all of these buzz words in a manner that points away from them…and it won’t work because word – meaning broaden over time, they don’t narrow.
What I’ve found is that the fight over the definitions means no dialogue between groups is possible. So no one ever gets the chance to argue things logically.
yes, but, on the other hand, use of that technique – deflection by way of definition – clues one in immediately to the fact that they are dealing with an asshole who is not interested in dialogue
Now that is a great point!
I’m getting ready to close this discussion thread….
Alright, enough.
If you want to discuss male bottoms, or any bottoms belonging to an animated species, why not go visit Chuck Tingle’s Amazon review page…
Well, I see that there’s been a lot of violation of our general comment policies going on during my absence.
I’ll not take anything down or ban anyone over it, but I will remind you ALL that our policy requests that one address the ISSUE not the INDIVIDUAL.
By way of near-perfect example, please read Astrid’s post.
And for the edification for all having this discussion, here’s a bit of interesting info:
The Associated Press issued guidelines for how to treat the subject of “Alt-right” in their articles.
“Alt-right” (quotation marks, hyphen and lower case) may be used in quotes or modified as in the “self-described” or “so-called alt-right” in stories discussing what the movement says about itself.
Avoid using the term generically and without definition, however, because it is not well known and the term may exist primarily as a public-relations device to make its supporters’ actual beliefs less clear and more acceptable to a broader audience. In the past we have called such beliefs racist, neo-Nazi or white supremacist.”
Note that last line: the AP has, in the past, treated the term “neo-Nazi” in exactly the same way Ms. Meadows did in her article – as an interchangeable term for racist, white supremacist beliefs.
The terms “Nazi” and neo-Nazi have come to be used in the same manner as we used to throw around “commie”, a term of derision for beliefs one considers ill-informed at best and nauseating at worst.
demon49r December 13, 2016 At 5:35 pm
From what I understood neo-nazis were associated with skinheads, bikers, and prison gangs. At least in the US. None of them would let a person with poc blood join. Anyway, calling opponents to immigration racists and neo-nazis did not help remainers and democrats.
Finally, there’s obviously a huge difference between one fictional refugee in a game and tens of millions of refugees and economic migrants moving to Europe. The later is causing a lot of backlash that will only get worse.
yamamanama December 13, 2016 At 10:36 am
I’m genuinely surprised Blogspot continues to give him a voice even after all the doxing and stalking.
Paul Weimer December 13, 2016 At 8:02 am
Thank you, Foz. I am so glad that Beale has not silenced the edge in your voice.
I said on twitter the other day that “Man is the animal that tells stories to make sense of the world.” I think your essay suggests we have some agreement on that topic.
msb December 13, 2016 At 2:55 am
Still a very good article, so I’m very glad to see it here. How about people respond to the whole thing, and not just the 5 words that upset some guy in Italy?
SlayerofBodom December 12, 2016 At 8:26 pm
Stellar “research” there, sparky.
1. “If some mainstream Fake News sites call them Nazis, it must be so! And it must be true that Trump is an insane genocidal bigot worse than Hitler, too!”
2. “White nationalism is the same as white supremacy is the same as Nazism!”
One doesn’t even have to be white to be supportive of white nationalism. Personally, I’m Jewish, as are many of Vox’s readers. In fact, being a Russian Jew, I have many ancestors that fought actual Nazis.
Anywho, your shoddy, dishonest “research” won’t save you from a lawsuit, which you have now incurred. Good luck finding a lawyer around Christmas!
Todd December 12, 2016 At 8:57 pm
I’m a mallard, damn you! Not a duck!
If Mr. Beale does file suit against Foz, I will *happily* contribute to her legal fund.
And I don’t understand Beale’s anger. The dark authoritarian white supremacist President Elect of his dreams is going to be elected President. He should be a happy man. He shouldn’t be upset when his Neo-Nazi nature is described accurately.
SlayerofBodom December 13, 2016 At 12:00 pm
You’re free to waste your money supporting observable lies.
After all, think of the $1.2 billion Crooked Hillary wasted on her campaign, many of it extracted from mindless rubes like yourself. I read your pathetic screeds insulting the wonderful John C Wright on the subject.
Paul Weimer December 13, 2016 At 12:19 pm
Well, I’m honored to have you as a reader, Slayer
Maledictorian December 13, 2016 At 9:36 pm
Slayer of Bottoms? That’s…not at all suggestive.
Not my username or the reference. And I’m shocked, absolutely shocked, that you would be fixated on male ass, especially where it doesn’t appear.
Maledictorian December 15, 2016 At 9:13 am
Male ass? You were the one that brought that up, dude.
Stay strong, BottomSlayer.
SlayerofBodom December 16, 2016 At 7:11 am
A wonderful example of the second rule of SJWs; when caught claiming something wrong, in this case insisting that “Bodom” is really “Bottom”, the SJW doubles down.
Whether this is due to dishonesty, idiocy, or an unhealthy fixation on male posteriors is an open question.
Overly pedantic and stilted writing style? Check. Strict adherence to his Dark Lord’s writings? Check. Gay panic when forced to confront the fact that he’s the one who brought up dude booty? Check.
You’re well on your way to VFM status, BottomSlayer! Has VD assigned you a number yet?
SJW? Meh. I just hate Nazis.
It’s truly breath-taking that you continue to lie and double and triple-down when anyone can simply scroll up and read who first brought up “bottoms”.
It’s even funnier that you think you’ve provoked “gay panic”, as opposed to mockery of you being a juvenile idiot with an infantile fixation on male ass.
I read Vox’s blog (some of which I disagree with), but I’ve never been a VFM.
I hate Nazis, too. They were socialists who hated Jews and loved the “Mohammadean faith”.
Ergo why I hate SJWs, who share those three characteristics.
Russian Jews aren’t white? You lied to me, Jessica and Alex! Lied with your appearance!
SlayerofBodom December 13, 2016 At 11:58 am
Most white nationalists, let alone any white supremacist, would make a severe distinction between Europeans who are white versus those that are Jewish.
But you are fooling yourself if you think the only people that support white nationalism are “white supremacists”, “neo-Nazis”, or necessarily even “white”.
yamamanama December 13, 2016 At 12:52 pm
Most white nationalists and their supporters are idiots and I don’t know why I should acknowledge their opinion of whether or not Jews are white with anything but dismissal.
Astrid Nielsch December 12, 2016 At 7:42 pm
One thing the Neofascist alt-Right does extremely well is spend endless amounts of time shutting people – especially female people – up on the internet. Shame, shame and shame on anyone who plays their game. This is a very important article.
stevefah December 12, 2016 At 11:25 am
Black Gate » Articles » Unempathic Bipeds of Failure: The Relationship Between Stories and Politics December 12, 2016 At 11:14 am
[…] Read More at Amazing Stories […]
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Five health systems to collaborate to build workforce
Aurora Health Care is one of five health systems in the Milwaukee area forming the Center for Healthcare Careers of Southeastern Wisconsin, with the goal of encouraging more people to go into health care. Credit: Rick Wood
The five health systems in the Milwaukee area have roughly 4,000 job openings combined, and the shortage of workers is projected to become even more severe as a large chunk of the health care workforce retires.
On Wednesday, the health systems announced an alliance to help lessen the current and projected shortage.
The health systems — working with Employ Milwaukee, which oversees job training programs in Milwaukee County — have formed the Center for Healthcare Careers of Southeastern Wisconsin, with the goal of encouraging more people to go into health care.
"People don't understand health care and the career path that exists," said Amy Rislov, chief human resources officer for Aurora Health Care and vice chairwoman of the new center.
When people think of jobs in health care, they tend to think of doctors and nurses — not pharmacy technicians, sonographers and surgical technicians, she said.
Backing the new center
The five health systems supporting the new center are Froedtert Health, Aurora Health Care, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Columbia St. Mary's. They have contributed a total of $400,000 for the Center for Healthcare Careers.
In addition, JPMorgan Chase, which supports workforce development programs, awarded a $50,000 grant to support the center's work.
The five systems employed 57,000 people in 2014, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association.
The health care workers most in demand are as varied as food service workers, certified nursing assistants, medical assistants, registered nurses and physical therapists.
Some of the jobs are relatively low-paying. Certified nursing assistants, for instance, make $10 to $11 an hour. But many health care jobs offer a clear career path in which people can advance with additional training.
A certified nursing assistant or medical assistant, for instance, can become a registered nurse.
Many jobs in health care also hold the promise of a middle-class wage but don't require a four-year degree.
The goal is to help people understand the ladder — and connect job training to the next rung, said Earl Buford, president and chief executive officer of Employ Milwaukee.
Health systems in the Milwaukee area have had a variety of initiatives in the past. Aurora has trained employees to be nursing assistants, radiology technicians and surgical technicians. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare had a program that helped nurses with associate degrees earn their bachelor's. And Aurora, Wheaton and Froedtert Health received federal grants for a program, known as School at Work, designed to help people in low-wage jobs prepare to go back to school.
The health systems plan to work together on similar initiatives through the new center.
Roughly a dozen schools in the Milwaukee area have programs to train students for jobs in health care. They include the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Alverno College, Concordia University Wisconsin and Cardinal Stritch University.
This still isn't enough to fill the demand.
"Our graduates are getting hired right out of the gate," said William Cullinan, dean of the College of Health Sciences at Marquette University.
The college, which is separate from the College of Nursing, has 1,500 students studying to become physical therapists, speech therapist and physician assistants and to work in other heath care jobs.
Alverno College, which has 700 nursing students, is seeing the same demand for its graduates.
Many people in health care who remained in their jobs after the financial crisis now are retiring, said Peg Rauschenberger, the interim dean of the School of Nursing.
Sixty-eight nursing students will graduate in a few weeks, she said, and three out of four of them already have jobs.
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Yarmuth Calls For Federal Infrastructure Bank
Third District Congressman John Yarmuth says time is critical in the debate over a national infrastructure bank.
Several members of Congress have called for the creation of a fund to hold federal money and private investments. The government would award grants from the fund to infrastructure projects of national or regional importance.
Yarmuth says the bank could help pay for the Ohio River Bridges Project, but legislation creating the bank would likely have to pass Congress by the end of the year for the Bi-State Authority to apply for funds and keep the project on schedule.
“The $4 billion dollars is in the President’s budget for this coming year,” he says. “And, again, that’s for projects of national and regional significance and Secretary LaHood thought we’d have a good chance of qualifying.”
Yarmuth also says the bank could be the only way some crucial projects will be funded.
“I think there’s an understanding that there is no option,” he says. “We have to find a way to do this or we are going to basically undermine our future competitiveness as an economy and as a country.”
Yarmuth met with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in Jeffersonville earlier this year to discuss the bridges project.
Categorized as Local News Tagged Bridges, budget, Federal Issues, infrastructure, Yarmuth
Heiner's Lead Grows, Fischer And King Gain In Latest Poll
Officials Agree To Work Toward Better Education
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The New “Silicon Road”: Armenia’s Emergence as the Silicon Valley of Its Region
Editor’s Note: The Armenian Bar Association, in conjunction with Armenia’s Ministry of High-Tech Industry and Orion Worldwide Innovations, LLC, organized an IP & Corporate Law Summit that took place in Yerevan, Armenia, in October 2019. The following is an article by ArmenBar member Ara Babaian recounting his experience participating in the Summit and in the WCIT2019 event, and visiting Armenia over the years, including the country’s recent rapid progress. At the Summit, the Committee presented its expert conclusions and recommendations that included an analysis of IP protection and corporate law issues in Armenia. Armenian Bar members who participated in person in the Summit included the organizers of the Summit, Emma Arakelyan and Armen Morian, as well as Ara Babaian, Lana Akopyan, Karén Tonoyan, Narek Zohrabyan, Vartan Vartanyan and Ovsanna Takvoryan. Other contributing ArmenBar members who joined the Summit remotely included Ray Aghaian, Mark Kachigian, Tamar Donikyan and Levon Golendukhin. The Summit was attended by Hakob Arshakyan, Minister of High Tech Industry of Armenia; Gayane Serobyan, Advisor to the Minister; Ara Khzmalyan and Hasmik Movsesyan from Adwise Consulting Law Firm; Kristine Hambaryan, AIPA leader; and 80+ Parliament members and other government officials, business, tech representatives and educators.
By Ara Babaian, Esq.
This article originally appeared in Asbarez Newspaper (available at asbarez.com) on January 24, 2020.
For over two millennia, Armenia has served as the gateway between the East and the West along the Silk Road, which stretched from the Chinese Han Dynasty to the Roman Empire and included many countries in between. In more recent years, various governments and corporations have made infrastructure investments into countries along the Silk Road that are increasing the flow of people and goods along this ancient route. On the digital front, Armenia has become a hub between the East and the West through a technology ecosystem that has blossomed in the landlocked country. Having translated eastern and western cultures for thousands of years, Armenia now has become the focal point of a new cultural exchange, this time through innovation. Today, the Republic of Armenia has made technology a strategic area of focus, intending to make itself the Silicon Valley of the region or, as I like to call it, the “Silicon Road,” due to its proximity to other high-tech hubs in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Israel, and Iran.
My First Trip to Armenia in the Dark Ages of the Early 1990s
My first trip to Armenia was in the summer of 1993 when I was a pre-med student at UC Berkeley (prior to shifting my focus to the law). That summer, I volunteered at the Yerevan Medical Center, a hospital in Armenia, while the Nagorno-Karabagh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan was in full gear. Due to the war, the second floor of the hospital was filled with wounded soldiers. I volunteered in the Pediatric Burn Ward on the first floor where children were dying weekly due to electricity-related accidents. A vivid memory for me was the amputation of a 12-year old boy’s arms. He had been trying to bring electricity to his home so that his family could have more light. At that time, residents in the capital were rationed one hour of electricity per day. Many had no running water. The conditions were no different in the hospital, which sometimes had a mere trickle of water in the clinical faucets and electricity that could fail at any time. Doctors and nurses who had not received their official pay for months worked on a barter system directly with patients (sometimes receiving something as simple and precious as a jar of preserved fruit from a villager).
Life in Yerevan was bleak and sobering. The winter before my arrival, the residents had chopped down all the trees for heating, so the city was barren during my hot summer there (not at all like the city’s current lush green state). The streets were empty and desolate. Other than NGO workers, there were very few visitors from other countries. Once the sun set, you had to walk the pocked sidewalks with an old-fashioned, pre-iPhone flashlight. Electricity was a luxury. I shaved by candlelight. Corruption was rampant and so was crime. I recall one occasion on which I was treated to dinner at the old Dvin Hotel, the only other table in the large dining room seemed to be “mafia.”
But even in the dismal state that the population was in, Armenians were still hospitable to me and shared with me their love of art and culture. I remember poignant productions of Armenian opera at the Yerevan Opera Theatre, with singers flanked by too-skinny dancers. I recall art shows all over the city by painters aspiring to be the next Gorky or Sarian. I came into contact with a kindred spirit at the Sergei Parajanov Museum – the term “avant garde” might have been coined for him. Villagers gave me bowls of wild berries to welcome me. Men and women took time out of their work (or time out of looking for work) to grill fresh-caught trout at Lake Sevan with me.
Today’s Optimism Following the 2018 Velvet Revolution
In the intervening years between the early 1990s (after the collapse of the Soviet Union) to April and May 2018 (the two months of the Velvet Revolution), corruption was ever-present and toxic in Armenia. According to the World Bank, in 1993, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia’s population was 3.4 million and its gross domestic product was a mere $1.2 billion. Although during this 30-year period the population fell to under 3 million, and its gross domestic product grew to $12.4 billion,Armenia’s growing wealth was not shared equally. Armenia’s leaders collected billions of dollars from its citizens, built opulent homes, and drove exotic cars while the vast majority of citizens suffered. However, in 2018, when Nikol Pashinyan led the peaceful Velvet Revolution and became the country’s new Prime Minister, things slowly started to change.
October 2019: My Recent Visit and the Many Conferences
In October 2019, I went to Yerevan, Armenia’s ancient-yet-modern capital, to participate in a number of technology and legal conferences – the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), the HIVE Ventures Tech Summit, and the IP & Corporate Law Summit sponsored by the Armenian Bar Association (a North American organization).
During that time, Armenia was hosting even more global, regional, and local events. A few of the events that were happening in Armenia during October included: Global Innovation Forum (regarding artificial intelligence), the Annual Eurasian Food Security Conference, the Teach for All Global Conference (preparing students to change the world), and Digitech 2019 (regional tech exhibit), among many others. Earlier in the summer, there was also the Seaside Startup Summit held at Lake Sevan, Armenia.
A Change Has Come
This visit to Armenia, I could tell there was fantastic progress in the country the minute a young conference volunteer picked me up from Zvartnots International Airport with a driver. She was an eloquent and beautiful recent graduate who spoke “Armenglish” to me. Immediately, I could tell that English had replaced Russian as the dominant language for the locals, especially for the youth.
It turned out that her bright spirit was prevalent throughout Yerevan, something I wasn’t accustomed to during the dark ages. This time, I could feel the optimism and youth virtually everywhere I turned in the capital. During the tech conferences, I saw college students volunteering and recent graduates contributing to the excitement in the air. As a result of the various conferences, but also because of the native energy in the country, like-minded entrepreneurs and professionals were having both formal and chance meetings with each other to discuss groundbreaking technology startup and investment matters.
Scenes from The Conferences
As Armenians, we expend tremendous energy focusing on the past because of Turkey’s continued denial of the Genocide (despite its recent near-unanimous recognition by the U.S. House of Representatives and unanimous recognition by the U.S. Senate). You can imagine how exhilarating it was for me to see a sign at a futurism exhibit at the WCIT that said, “the future is Armenia.” My eyes filled with tears as I took that in, remembering my grandfather who survived the Genocide while looking at the future in front of me.
At the HIVE Ventures Tech Summit (an initiative of the Hirair & Anna Hovnanian Foundation that invests in Armenian entrepreneurs), the tech leaders talked about “Hacking Silicon Valley.” How do tech startups in Armenia access funding and other resources available in Silicon Valley? How can they empower the latent talent and boost the potential of the country? As Armenians have always valued a solid education for their children, it is no surprise that this landlocked Christian country has more engineers and PhDs per capita than you could imagine. These individuals were coming to this conference to learn about how to harness this education and turn their knowledge into a business, creating a new economy for the region.
Finally, at the Armenian Bar’s IP & Corporate Law Summit organized by the Ministry of High-Tech Industry and Orion Worldwide Innovations, LLC, on day one, we focused on finetuning the proposed changes that we were going to propose to the government regarding intellectual property and corporate laws – in other words, how to make the regulatory environment more friendly to both investors and inventors. On day two, we presented our recommendations to members of Parliament and other officials. I was honored to speak at this event about corporate law topics such as changing the law to allow Armenian companies to give stock options to employees, allow for the possibility of non-voting stock, and permit convertible securities.
Some of the best meetings of my trip weren’t made at the conferences, but instead, chance connections made on the street as I bumped into people I knew or got to meet from the American East and West coasts, Europe, and Asia, and locally. I felt that Armenia again was the center on the Silk Road between the East and the West.
There still are many serious issues that Armenia must address. The country has large obstacles to deal with. For example, in the IP & Corporate Law Summit, we explored the following areas to foster innovation and startup investment:
Statutory damages and administrative sanctions under Armenian law for IP violations;
Patenting or otherwise protecting software innovation;
Building the capacity of the Armenian patent office (AIPA);
Making Armenian corporate law suitable for VC/angel investment;
Protecting minority shareholders under Armenian corporate law;
Protecting IP in educational and scientific institutions.
These are huge issues, but if the Velvet Revolution could happen in a span of two months, I am hopeful that Armenia will be able to tackle these challenges in the near future. With a new focus on corporate and intellectual property law within the country, and with the support and involvement of Armenian professionals and businesspeople from the diaspora, I am confident changes will come fast. With Armenia’s sharp focus on its youth, especially at groundbreaking organizations such as the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and the Children of Armenia Fund, I am even more hopeful about the next generation of Armenians.
This time around, Armenia did feel like a homeland for me (partly because sometimes I heard my native Western Armenian dialect being spoken by the Armenian refugees from Syria alongside the local Eastern Armenian dialect). It felt like a place that had gone far and was going to go even farther in a short period of time. We Armenians have century- and millennium-long memories, so our thoughts of the future can be similarly broad. But I predict the positive changes will come into fruition much faster than that. And I look forward to being part of the new Silicon Road.
IT Summit Silk Road WCIT World Congress on Information Technology
The Armenian Bar’s Permanent Presence at Artsakh State University
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The Embassy of the Republic of Texas
An alleyway plaque is all that remains of the independent Texas' envoy that forgot to pay their rent for over a century.
Plaque marking the Texan Embassy Luke J Spencer
Berry Brothers & Rudd wine merchants Luke J Spencer
Alleyway leading to the Texan embassy Luke J Spencer
Bear baiting, duels, and Texans this way! Luke J Spencer
Inside the wine shop Luke J Spencer
Wine merchants to every monarch since King George II. Luke J Spencer
Site of London's last public duel. Luke J Spencer
Top Places in London
Allies Sculpture
Angela Flanders Perfumer
Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine
Berry Brothers & Rudd is one of London’s most venerable wine merchants. Located a few doors down from St. James’s Palace in the City of Westminster, they have been providing wines, ports, and whiskeys to the monarchs of England since King George II, but they were also the onetime landlords for the Embassy of the Republic of Texas.
Built in 1730, the distinguished property at 4 St James’s Street is steeped in history and peculiar secrets. Under the shop floor lies two whole acres of wine cellars and caves which run underneath St. James’s Street. The Georgian rooms had once held a brothel and a notorious gambling den, and the courtyard at the back was also home to bear-baiting, cock-fighting and London’s last ever public duel. Napoleon III even lived here in exile whilst plotting his return to France.
But between 1836 and 1845 it was home to perhaps one its most unusual tenants; for the space above the wine shop was briefly home to the Embassy of the Republic of Texas. At the time of its founding, Texas was an independent sovereign country with its borders under threat from both the United States and Mexico. Then-President-of-Texas Sam Houston sent Dr. Ashbel Smith, the Secretary of State, to be the Texan diplomatic representative in England in an effort to build international sentiment for their country. A second Embassy was also established in France, located in what is now the Hôtel de Vendôme.
Texas finally joined the Union in 1845, despite the Crown’s support of its independence, and the Embassy in London was closed. Taking full advantage of their desirable location above one of London’s best wine shops, the Texan delegation departed the capital leaving a £160 rent bill outstanding.
Today, the historic wine shop is still thriving, but the peculiar chapter of their Texan tenants is long forgotten. Next door is a tiny alleyway called Pickering Place; where a small plaque marks the entrance to the Embassy’s rooms. Still proudly bearing the name of “The Republic Of Texas” it reads,
“Texas Legation in this building was the legation for the ministers from the Republic of Texas to the Court of St. James 1842 - 1845.”
The onetime Republic of Texas, although consigned to history, still lives on in the hearts of Texans; in 1986 to mark the Texas sesquicentennial, 26 members of the Anglo-Texan society visited the wine shop, dressed in full buckskins, to settle the outstanding rent debt still owed by the Republic of Texas.
Luke J Spencer
http://terry-uniqueplaces.blogspot.com/2010/02/embassy-of-texas-in-london.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Legation
4 St James's Street
London, England, SW1A 1EF
The Royal Philatelic Collection
The London Library
Claiming to be the oldest hat store in the world, this historic haberdashery had a hand (and a head) in the creation of the Bowler.
The British monarchy's stamp collection is one of the most impressive in all of Europe revealing generations of royal nerdery.
More than a million titles fill the labyrinthine shelves of this prestigious private library.
A Geological Map of England and Wales and Part of Scotland
William Smith's iconic "map that changed the world" is hidden behind a curtain in the Geological Society building.
The First Amendment Museum
Located in the historic home of a newspaper publisher, this museum is dedicated to the Freedom of Speech.
Grave of Hubert H. Humphrey
Vice President Humphrey's final resting place is tucked away in this cemetery along with a few other notable figures.
Tokyo Metropolitan Building Staff Cafeteria
The tallest city hall in the world offers an excellent bento box.
Recsk, Hungary
Recsk National Memorial Park
For decades, Hungary's Communist Party insisted this gulag had never existed.
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All posts tagged Willem de Sitter
On page three of this book, astrophysicist Pedro G. Ferreira explains that part of what enthralled him as a student studying the theory of relativity was the personalities and people behind the ideas.
I felt that I had entered a completely new universe of ideas populated by the most fascinating characters. (p.xiii)
This is the approach he takes in the 14 chapters and 250 pages of this book which skip lightly over the technicalities of the theory in order to give us an account of the drama behind the discovery of the theory. Ferreira describes relativity’s slow acceptance and spread among the community of theoretical physicists, many of whom went on to unravel unexpected consequences from his equations which Einstein hadn’t anticipated (and often fiercely opposed). He shows how the theory was eclipsed in the middle years of the century by the more fashionable theory of quantum physics, then underwent a resurgence from the 1960s onwards, until Ferreira brings the story right up to date with predictions that we are trembling on the brink of major new, relativity-inspired, discoveries.
This book isn’t about the theory of relativity so much as the story of how it was devised, received, tested, studied and expanded, and by whom. It is ‘the biography of general relativity’ (p.xv).
Thus the narrative eschews maths and scientific formulae to focus on a narrative with plenty of human colour and characters. For example, early explanations of the theory are dovetailed with accounts of Einstein’s opposition to the Great War and the political attitudes of Sir Arthur Eddington, his chief promoter in Britain, who was a Quaker. A typically vivid and grabby opening sentence of a new section reads:
While Einstein was working on his theory of general relativity, Alexander Friedmann was bombing Austria. (p.31)
Some reviews I’ve read say that – following Stephen Hawking’s example in his A Brief History of Time (1988) – there isn’t a single equation in the book, but that isn’t quite true; there’s one on page 72:
is the only equation in the book – which I suspect is a joke. For the most part the ideas are explained through the kind of fairly simple-to-describe thought experiments (Gedankenexperimenten) which led Einstein to his insights in the first place – simple except that they are taking place against an impossibly sophisticated background of astrophysical knowledge, maths theories, weird geometry and complex equations.
In 1905 Albert Einstein wrote a number of short papers based on thought experiments he had been carrying out in his free time at his undemanding day job working in the Berne Patent Office. The key ones aimed to integrate Newtonian mechanics with James Clerk Maxwell’s force of electromagnetism. His breakthrough was ‘seeing’ that space and time are not fixed entities but can, under certain circumstances, bend and curve. (It is fascinating to learn that Einstein’s insights came through thought experiments, thinking through certain, fairly simple, scenarios and working through the consequences – only then trying to find the mathematical formulas which would express essentially mental concepts. Only years later was any of it subjected to experimental proof.)
The book gives a powerful sense of the rivalry and jostling between different specialisms. It’s interesting to learn that pure mathematicians often looked down on physicists; they thought physicists too ready to bodge together solutions, whereas mathematicians always strive for elegance and beauty in the equations. Physicists, for their part, suspect the mathematicians of coming up with evermore exotic and sometimes bizarre formulas, which bear little or no relation to the ‘reality’ which physicists have to work with.
So the short or ‘special’ theory of relativity – focusing on mechanics and electromagnetism – was complete by around 1907. But Einstein was acutely aware that it didn’t integrate gravity into his model of the universe. It would take Einstein another ten years to integrate gravity into his theory which, as a result, is known as the general theory of relativity.
Ferreira explains how he was helped by his friend, the mathematician Marcel Grossman, who introduced him to the realm of non-Euclidean mathematics devised by Bernhard Riemann. This is typical of how the book proceeds: by showing us the importance of personal contacts, exchanges, dialogue between scientists in different specialities.
For example, Ferreira explains that the ‘Hilbert program’ was the attempt by David Hilbert to give an unshakable theoretical foundation to all mathematics. Einstein visited Hilbert at the university of Göttingen in 1915, because his general theory still lacked complete mathematical provenance. He had intuited a way to integrate gravity into his special theory – but didn’t have the maths to prove it. Eventually, by the end of 1915, in a process Ferreira describes as Einstein dropping some of his ‘intuitions’ in order to ‘follow the maths’, Einstein completed his general theory of relativity, expressed as a set of equations which became known as the ‘Einstein field equations’.
In fact the field equations were ‘a mess’. A set of ten equations of ten functions of the geometry of space and time, all nonlinearly tangled and intertwined, so that solving any one function by itself was impossible. The theory argued that what we perceive as gravity is nothing more than objects moving in the geometry of spacetime. Massive objects affect the geometry, curving space and time.
Almost before he had published the theory (in an elegantly compact three-page paper) other physicists, mathematicians, astronomers and scientists had begun to take the equations and work through their implications, sometimes with results which Einstein himself strongly disapproved of. One of the most interesting themes in the book is the way that Einstein himself resisted the implications of his own theory.
For example, Einstein assumed, on the classical model, that matter was spread evenly through the universe; but mathematicians pointed out that, if so, Einstein’s equations suggested that at some point the universe would start to evolve i.e. large clumps of matter would be attracted to each other; nothing would stay still; potentially, the entire universe could end up collapsing in on itself. Einstein bent over backwards to exclude this ‘evolving universe’ scenario from his theory by introducing a ‘cosmological constant’ into it, a notional force which pushed back against gravity’s tendency to collapse everything: between the attraction of gravity and the repellent force of the ‘cosmological constant’, the universe is held in stasis. Or so he claimed.
Ferreira explains how the Dutch astronomer Willem de Sitter was sympathetic to Einstein’s (gratuitous) cosmological constant and worked through the equations, initially to support Einstein’s theory, but in so doing discovered that the universe could be supported by the constant alone – but it would contain very little matter, very little of the stars and planets which we seem to see. Einstein admired the maths but abhorred the resulting picture of a relatively empty universe.
In fact this was just the beginning of Einstein’s theory running away from him. The Russian astronomer and mathematician Alexander Friedmann worked through the field equations to prove that the perfectly static universe Einstein wanted to preserve – and had introduced his ‘cosmological constant’ to save – was in fact only one out of many possible scenarios suggested by the field equations – in all the others, the universe had to evolve.
Friedmann explained his findings in his 1922 paper, ‘On the Curvature of Space’, which effectively did away with the need for a cosmological constant. His work and that of the Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître, working separately, strongly suggested that the universe was in fact evolving and changing. They provided the theoretical underpinning for what astronomers had observed and named the ‘de Sitter effect’, namely the observation, made with growing frequency in the 1920s, that the furthest stars and nebulae from earth were undergoing the deepest ‘red shift’ i.e. the light emanating from them was shifted down the spectrum towards red, because they were moving away from us. Even though Einstein himself disapproved of the idea, his theory and the observations it inspired both showed us that the universe is expanding.
If so – does that mean that the universe must have had a definite beginning? When? How? And could the theory shed light on what were just beginning to be known as ‘dwarf stars’? What about the bizarre new concept of ‘black holes’ (originally developed by the German astronomer Karl Schwarzchild, who sent his results to Einstein in 1916, but died later that year)?
What Einstein called ‘the relativity circus’ was well underway – and the rest of the book continues to introduce us to the leading figures of 20th century physics, astrophysics, cosmology and mathematics, giving pen portraits of their personalities and motivations and describing the meetings, discussions, conferences, seminars, experiments, arguments and debates in which the full implications of Einstein’s theory were worked out, argued over, rejected, revived and generally played with for the past 100 years.
We are introduced:
To Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who proposed a sophisticated solution to the problem of white dwarfs and how stars die – which was rejected out of hand by Eddington and Einstein.
To the Soviet physicist Lev Davidovich Landau who proposed that stars shine and burn as a result of the radioactive fission of tremendously dense neutrons at their core (before he was arrested for anti-Stalin activities in 1938).
To J. Robert Oppenheimer who read Landau’s paper and used its insights to prove Schwarzchild’s wartime idea that stars collapse into such a dense mass that gravity itself cannot escape, and therefore a bizarre barrier is created around the star from which light, energy, radiation or gravity can emerge – the ‘event horizon’ of a ‘black hole’.
These are the main lines of research and investigation which Ferreira outlines in the first quarter or so of the book up to the start of World War Two. At this point, of course, many leading physicists and mathematicians of all nationalities were roped into the massive research projects run in America and Germany into designing a bomb which could harness the energy of nuclear fusion. This had been thoroughly investigated in theory and in observations of distant galactic phenomena – but never created on earth. Not until August 1945, that is, when the two atom bombs dropped on Japan killed about 200,000 people.
Some of the several fascinating things to learn from this mesmerising account are:
How often Einstein was wrong and wrong-headed, obstinately refusing to believe the universe evolved and changed, refusing to believe (therefore) that it had an origin in some ‘big bang’, and his refusal to accept the calculations which proved the possibility of black holes.
That although a great genius may devise a profound theory, in the world of science he doesn’t ‘own’ it – there is literally no limit to the number of other scientists who can probe and poke and work through and analyse and falsify it – and that the strangeness and weirdness of general relativity made it more liable than most theories to produce unexpected and counter-intuitive results, in the hands of its many epigones.
That after early successes, namely:
predicting the movement of the planets more accurately than Newton’s classical mechanical theory
showing that light really is bent by gravity when this phenomenon was observed and measured during a solar eclipse in 1919
inspiring the discovery that the universe is expanding
the theory of relativity was increasingly thought of as a generator of bizarre mathematical exotica which had little or no relevance to the real world. We learn that ambitious physicists from the 1930s onwards preferred to choose careers in the other great theoretical breakthrough of the 20th century, quantum physics. Quantum could be tested, experimented with and promised many more practical breakthroughs.
Almost everyone’s attention was elsewhere now, enthralled by the triumph of quantum physics. Most of the talented young physicists were focusing their efforts on pushing the quantum theory further, looking for more spectacular discoveries and applications. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, with all its odd predictions and exotic results, had been elbowed out of the way and sentenced to a trek in the wilderness. (p.65)
And so that Einstein, now safely ensconced in the rarefied atmosphere of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey, dedicated the last thirty years of his life (he died in 1955) to an ultimately fruitless quest for a ‘Grand Unified Theory’ which would combine all aspects of physics into one set of equations. He was, in the 1940s and 50s, an increasingly marginal figure – yesterday’s man – while the world hurried on without him. He died before the great revival of his theory in the 1960s which the second part of Ferreira’s book chronicles.
Again and again Ferreira shows how the researchers proceeded – or summarises the differences between their approaches and results – in terms of how they visualised the problem. Thus Schwarzchild’s vision of a relativistic universe described a spacetime that was perfectly symmetric about one point; whereas 40 years later, in 1963, New Zealander Roy Kerr modeled a solution for a spacetime that was symmetric about a line (p.121). A different way of visualising and conceiving the problem, which led to a completely different set of equations, and completely different consequences.
Other scientists take an insight like this, a new vision with accompanying new mathematics, and themselves subject it to further experimental modeling. The Soviet physicists Isaak Khalatnikov and Evgeny Lifshitz took Oppenheimer and Snyder’s 1930s model of a star collapsing – which assumed the shape of the star to be a perfect sphere – and modeled what happened if the star-matter was rough and unequal, like the surface of the earth. In this model, different bits collapsed at different rates, creating a churning of space time and never achieving the perfect collapse into a singularity modeled by Schwarzchild 60 years earlier or by Kerr more recently. This Soviet model was itself disproved by Roger Penrose, who had spent years devising his own diagrams and maths to model spacetime, and submitted a paper in 1965 which proved that ‘the issue of the final state’ always ended in singularities (pp.123-125).
And that is how the field progresses, via new ways of seeing and modeling. One revealing anecdote is how, at a conference in the 1990s on the newly hot topic of ‘dark matter’, one presenter put up a slide listing over one hundred different models for how dark matter exists, is created and works (p.192), all theoretical, derived from different sets of equations or observations, all awaiting proof.
It is not only the complexity of the subject matter which makes this such a daunting field of knowledge – it is the sheer number and variety of theories, ancient and modern, which its practitioners are called on to understand and sift and evaluate and which – as the first half makes plain – even the giants in the field, Einstein and Eddington, could get completely wrong.
The 1960s and since
In Ferreira’s account the 1960s saw a great revival of the theory of general relativity to explain the host of new astronomical phenomena which were being discovered and named – joining black holes and dwarf stars were pulsars, quasars and so on – as well as new theoretical micro-particles, like the Higgs boson. Kip Thorne called the 60s and 70s the Golden Age of Relativity, when the theory provided elegant solutions to problems about black holes, dark energy and dark matter, singularities and the Big Bang.
Over the past forty years or so new theories have arisen which take and transcend general relativity, including string theory (which rose to prominence in the 1980s but has since fallen into unpopularity) and supersymmetry (which invokes up to six extra dimensions in its quest for a total theory), loop quantum theory (where reality is comprised of minute loops of quantum gravity which bind together like chainmail), spin networks (frameworks like a children’s climbing frame, devised by Roger Penrose), Modified Newtonian Dynamics (or MOND) or a new theory to rival Einstein’s named the Tensor-Vector-Scalar theory of gravity (TeVeS).
When Ferreira and colleagues undertook a review of theories of quantum mechanics they discovered there are scores of them, ‘a rich bestiary of gravitational theories’ (p.221).
The great ambition is to incorporate quantum gravity into general relativity in order to produce a grand unified theory of everything. Although clever people bet this would happen before the end of the 20th century, it didn’t. 17 years later, we seem as far away as ever.
Thirty years after Stephen Hawking predicted the end of physics and then unleashed his black hole information paradox on an unsuspecting world, there isn’t an agreed-upon theory of quantum gravity, let alone a complete unified theory of all the fundamental forces. (p.205)
Ferreira draws together various developments in theory at the sub-atomic level to conclude that we may be on the brink of moving beyond Einstein’s vision of a curving spacetime: the real stuff of the universe is, depending on various theories, a bubbling foam of intertwining strings or structures or membranes or loops – but certainly not continuous. Newtonian mechanics still work fine at the gross level of our senses; it is only at extremes that Einstein’s theories need to be evoked. Now Ferreira wonders if it’s time to do the same to Einstein’s theories; to go beyond them at the new extremes of physical reality which are being discovered.
The deliberate non-technicality of the text is compensated by 18 pages of excellent notes, which give a chatty overview of each of the chapter topics before recommending up-to-the-minute websites for further reading, including the websites and even Facebook groups for specific projects and experiments. And there is also a detailed bibliography of books and articles.
All in all this is an immensely useful overview of the ideas and debates in this field.
Einstein Wikipedia article
General Relativity Wikipedia article
Einstein’s Revolution pages of the American Museum of Natural History
Tagged 2014, A Brief History of Time, Albert Einstein, Alexander Friedmann, Arthur Eddington, astronomy, Bernhard Riemann, Big Bang, black hole, Cosmology, David Hilbert, Einstein, Evgeny Lifshitz, Georges Lemaître, Grand Unified Theory, Isaak Khalatnikov, J. Robert Oppenheimer, James Clerk Maxwell, Karl Schwarzchild, Kip Thorne, Lev Davidovich Landau, loop quantum theory, Marcel Grossman, Modified Newtonian Dynamics, MOND, Pedro G. Ferreira, pulsar, quasar, Robert Oppenheimer, Roger Penrose, Roy Kerr, spin networks, Stephen Hawking, string theory, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, supersymmetry, TeVeS, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, The Perfect Theory, the Tensor-Vector-Scalar theory of gravity, Willem de Sitter
https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2017/01/11/the-perfect-theory-pedro-g-ferreira/
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*Warning: The following article contains graphic images which some readers may find upsetting* A gay man from California claims he was violently attacked by supporters of Donald Trump on election night. Chris Ball says he was watching the election results unfold at a Santa Monica bar on Tuesday night, when tensions between Clinton and Trump supporters began to rise. "People started launching homophobic slurs at me from afar,” he told the Calgary Metro. “I mean, I kind of got into it, but I didn’t want to provoke them.”
"They were saying things like, ‘We got a new president you f**king faggots." The film producers alleges that when he left the bar later that night, he was set upon by a group of Trump supporters - one of whom hit him over the head with a glass bottle, causing him to fall over, hit his head on the pavement and black out. "When I came to, I remember waking up and wiping the blood from my eyes. I called some friends, they picked me up and I went right to the hospital," he said. According to the Calgary Metro, Santa Monica police were not immediately available to confirm Ball's claims.
A friend of Ball's later shared pictures of his horrific injuries on Facebook. In the accompanying post he said: "My good friend, Chris Ball, was bottled in the face by a celebratory Trump supporter - because he is gay." He added: "This hatred, bigotry, and senseless violence all comes from the same part of America that voted in a demagogue who spits hatred as his rhetoric." Chris, who required five staples in his head following the assault later wrote on Facebook: "Thank you everyone for the support and good vibes. Just wanted to say I’m alive and well. And still very gay." More stories: What will a Trump presidency mean for LGBT people? Lady Gaga isn’t taking Donald Trump’s election victory lying down
Anti-gay attack
Chriss Ball
Donald Trump's niece Mary calls uncle a 'traitor'
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Media Advisory: Freshmen Congressmen Call Thursday News Conference to Discuss Hearings and Investigations of Planned Parenthood Based on Americans United for Life Report
WASHINGTON, D.C. (07-13-11) – Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) have invited Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest, along with other Members of Congress, for a Thursday news event discussing the implications of AUL’s “The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood.”
In a letter to Members, Rep. Ellmers wrote, “I invite my colleagues to review the findings of this Report and to join us on Thursday as we voice our concerns about the issues raised by AUL’s Report and express our renewed commitment to seeking accountability for taxpayers and for investigating whether taxpayers are funding an organization that misuses government funding and violates state laws.
“I will be hosting a press conference on Thursday, July 14, 2011 together with Rep. Randy Hultgren to discuss the AUL Report’s extensive documentation of the systemic fraud and abuse inherent within Planned Parenthood and the need for Congress to investigate how Planned Parenthood is using federal money.”
Who: Rep. Renee Ellmers, Rep. Randy Hultgren, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, and others to be announced.
What: Ellmers/Hultgren News Conference on new Americans United for Life report on “The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood.”
When: Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12pm
Where: 2360 Rayburn – Small Business Committee Hearing Room
TO CONFIRM ATTENDANCE AT THE EVENT, media should contact Thomas Doheny in Rep. Ellmers office at (202)-225-4531.
In her letter, Ellmers discussed the findings in AUL’s ground breaking work.
“The AUL Report is a product of AUL’s legal team reviewing over 20 years of Planned Parenthood’s public reports and promotional material, audit reports and financial statements, as well as primary source material from investigations into and charges made against Planned Parenthood and its affiliates across the nation. Among other offenses, the AUL Report outlines Planned Parenthood’s record of overbilling government health care programs, failing to report the sexual abuse of minor girls, violating state parental involvement laws, and opposing legislation introduced to protect women and young girls. AUL’s Report also found that as government funding of Planned Parenthood has doubled, so has Planned Parenthood’s abortion business.”
For more information about the report, go to: www.aul.org.
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READ the NAFB’s National Ag News for Thursday, July 16th
USDA Posts 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s Final Report
The Department of Agriculture Wednesday posted the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s final scientific report. The report will inform USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services as they co-develop the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines will provide recommendations on what to eat and drink to promote health and prevent chronic disease. Moving into the next stage of development of the guidelines, USDA and HHS will leverage the scientific advice in the committee’s report, as well as comments from the public and other federal agencies to develop the upcoming edition of the dietary guidelines. The departments plan to publish the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines by the end of December 2020. USDA and HHS are accepting written public comments on the committee’s final report through August 13, 2020. The public will also have an opportunity to provide oral comments on the scientific report to the departments at a public meeting on August 11, 2020.
Globally, Farmers Adapting to Pandemic Challenges
A new global survey shows farmers have once again demonstrated their ability to adapt to new challenges. Kynetec, a global market research firm specializing in animal health and agriculture, released the survey results this week. The survey spanned six key countries, the U.S., Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic, and included feedback from 873 farmers. The survey provided a mix of positive and negative insights into the impact COVID-19 has had on their lifestyle and livelihood. The degree of impact varied between countries with country variation ranging from 41 percent to 67 percent of farmers saying the virus has impacted their personal lives. In the short-term, farmers in most countries lack optimism regarding the current outlook for agriculture and the speed of economic post-lockdown recovery. Farmers adapting to the pandemic say planned investments were some of the main challenges across all countries that farmers have faced because of COVID-19.
Graves Introduces 2020 Water Resources Development Act
U.S. Representative Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican, introduced the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 this week. Graves says the legislation plays a key role in any water infrastructure project, including flood control, navigation, ports, locks and dams. The legislation will facilitate commerce through ports and inland waterways, improve flood control infrastructure, and “help develop flood control plans that actually work.” The legislation will give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers new construction authority for communities facing repetitive flooding events. One of the more significant roadblocks to ensuring a project can be done quickly is getting construction authority expeditiously, and this bill will allow those communities to be protected more quickly, according to Graves. The bill also makes an important change in the cost-share for Inland Waterways Trust Fund projects on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River systems. This change will accelerate the timeframe for funding and completion of projects to modernize outdated locks and dams on these rivers.
Senators Seek Textile Industry Assistance
A group of Senators wants the next round of COVID-19 assistance to support the cotton and textile industry. Led by Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the group penned a letter to Senate leadership this week. The Senators say the U.S. cotton and textile industry “is particularly hard hit as the COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented demand destruction for cotton apparel and textiles.” The group says the “viability of the farms and businesses, and the jobs they represent, are at risk of not surviving this crisis.” From March through May, clothing sales are down by $44 billion, or 67 percent, relative to the same three-month period in 2019. U.S. textile mills report a 90 percent drop in orders for the yarn they produce. Cotton prices fell by as much as 30 percent since early this year, and that decline represents a loss in market value of approximately $160 per acre of cotton.
USDA Invests $153 Million in Rural Community Facilities
The Department of Agriculture announced a $153 million investment to build and improve critical community facilities to benefit nearly two million rural residents in 23 states. USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Bette Brand says, “Rural America needs safe, modern infrastructure to help residents and businesses achieve greater prosperity and have access to essential services.” USDA is investing in 94 projects through the Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program. The investments can be used to build or upgrade a wide range of rural community facilities such as schools, libraries, clinics and public safety facilities. More than 100 types of projects are eligible for Community Facilities funding. Eligible applicants include municipalities, public bodies, nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Native American tribes. Projects must be in rural areas with a population of 20,000 or less. Interested parties should contact their USDA Rural Development state office for information about additional funding, application procedures and eligibility details.
American Farmland Trust Sponsors Leopold Conservation Award Program
American Farmland Trust will join forces with the Sand County Foundation to present the Leopold Conservation Award Program through a national sponsorship. Sand County Foundation created and presents the award in 21 states. The award is for farmers, ranchers and foresters who inspire others with their dedication to land, water and wildlife habitat conservation on agricultural land. AFT President and CEO John Piotti calls the Leopold Conservation Award, “an honor bestowed on the best land stewards in this nation,” adding, “It’s a natural fit.” Given in honor of conservationist Aldo Leopold, the award recognizes outstanding achievement in voluntary conservation. Since 2003, the award has been presented to more than 140 dedicated land stewards who are leaders in their industry and communities. Award recipients receive a $10,000 cash award at high profile events attended by their peers. Their conservation success stories are promoted widely to other agricultural landowners and the general public.
07-15-20 Op-Ed from CO Senator Jerry Sonnenberg “Terrible Publicity Stunts”
06-16-20 Animal Agriculture Alliance launches Animal Ag Allies development program
01-14-21 USDA, USTR Name New Agricultural Trade Advisors
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Illegal Wagering of East New Delhi Busted
Illegal Betting of East New Delhi Busted
In a continued crackdown on illegal gambling in India, an online casino has been busted in Delhi’s Krishna Kunj over the weekend. During the raid, six individuals were arrested, Times of India reported. They all argued that they were unemployed, and forced to run the operations to earn income.
Police found 15 PlayStation gaming consoles and computers connected to a server that allowed gamblers to place bets on a game called ‘Game King India.’ Among those arrested was the casino’s manager, Amit Kashyap.
The locale was named Fun Point in the Laxmi Nagar area of Krishan Kunj. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary Internet café, but appearances can be deceiving. A police officer involved in the raid was quoted by the news outlet saying, “Betting racket software was installed in the PlayStation, which was connected with the computer, through which the gambling racket was running.”
Police determined that the real money casino had been operated for the past several months. It wasn’t until a tip last Saturday that they moved in, raiding the operations and making the arrests. Gamblers were enticed with profits of up to $538 (Rs36,000) from wagers of a minimum of about $15 (Rs1,000). According to a statement by the Deputy Commissioner of Police Pankaj Singh, “If the bidders got their number online, the lucky ones were promised Rs36,000. The organizer has been arrested in the past as well for organizing and running a similar gaming house.”
Illegal wagering has been on the rise in India over the course of the past couple of years. In 2016, there were about 1,098 illegal casino games cases reported and last year there were 1,273. So far through March of this year, there have been 300. Arrests have increased, as well, climbing from 3,872 in 2016 to 5,398 in 2017. In 2018, there have already been more than 1,000 arrests.
In April, 39-year-old Shaina Shaikh was arrested for operating an illegal poker room from an abandoned construction site in Kanakia Nagar. At least 18 men were also arrested and two of Shaikh’s partners got away. One of her partners, Sukesh Kothian, had previously been arrested for kidnapping a policeman in 2016.
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Okta is fundamentally weaker than many analysts believe, making its booming stock priced to perfection.
The company was early out of the gate for cloud-subscription IPOs in 2017, and the valuation has reaped the benefits of Wall Street’s enthusiasm for subscription models. However, a reasonable price to initiate Okta as a buy-and-hold investment is now in the rearview mirror, rendering it a momentum play. That will be important for investors when they review its earnings report for the three months through July after the stock market closes Wednesday.
Okta’s stock dropped 10% on weakening guidance for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) in the March earnings report. The stock quickly recovered, as there was little adjustment given for lower EPS guidance.
Investors put that out of their mind, as the stock recovered with renewed momentum within a few days and has not looked back. Last quarter, Okta raised its guidance to expected losses of $0.45 to $0.49 per share, although this “improvement” is relative, as the original expectations of the full-year loss was at $0.22 per share prior to the March earnings report.
This article originally appeared on MarketWatch on August 28th, 2019.
Valuation has been an ongoing worry with Okta, as the company has the highest forward price-to-sales in its category, at 27, with a current price-to-sales of 34. Compare this to Workday at 12 forward price-to-sales, Veeva Systems (which is profitable) at 22, and Twilio at 15.
There is ample evidence that, although Okta is priced to perfection, it does not need to report perfection to continue its momentum. This is one red flag for a buy-and-hold strategy at current prices, but a positive sign for momentum trading. Eventually, the market will want perfection for the price it’s paying when macro conditions warrant more discernment.
For instance, many analysts are touting the stock for positive free cash flow (FCF), although this is from operating cash efficiencies. Okta does not have positive free cash flow from positive net income, which is something financial analysts are writing out of the script entirely.
Free cash flow becomes more indicative of financial health when net income is positive; to separate the two underweights profitability, which is a mistake for buy-and-hold investors (or analysts) when evaluating the stock. Free cash flow positive is much more celebratory when net income is positive.
In fact, Okta suffered a record net loss in the fiscal first quarter that ended in April. Okta’s loss widened nearly 200% year-over-year, to $51.9 million. This led to diluted EPS of negative 46 cents, compared with negative 25 cents in the year-earlier quarter.
Lastly, Okta is no longer a debt-free company and is carrying $275 million in convertible senior notes.
Wall Street is laser-focused on Okta’s top line, and is a little blind-sided to the bottom line as free cash flow and subscription growth were the only touted highlights from last quarter’s earnings report.
Okta posted 53% year-over-year growth in subscription services to $108.5 million, while professional services revenue grew 15% to $7 million. Total calculated billings hit $158.9 million, with trailing 12-month subscriptions jumping 55% to $488.2 million.
The increase in net losses from the most recent quarter was under-reported due to subscriptions driving revenue growth of 50% year-over-year.
In the upcoming earnings report, the bar for revenue is set to less than 40%, which is an easy hurdle for a subscription cloud company that has been posting 50%-plus revenue growth for many consecutive quarters.
Also Read: Microsoft Stock Price: Technical Analysis
In Okta’s case, there are two areas I am watching more closely, as spending is substantial and executive decisions are slightly unusual.
The first is sales and marketing expenses, which are nearly two-thirds of revenue. At Workday, sales and marketing comprise 30% of revenue, Twilio is at about a third and Zoom Video Communications is at about half.
This signifies Okta needs to spend a lot to scale and maintain its footing. Selling, general and administrative (S&GA) expenses were nearly 85%, or $107 million, of $125 million in total revenue in the most recent quarter. Notably, Okta’s S&GA and research and development (R&D) exceed revenue at 114%.
The second clue is a few recent acquisitions that will hurt Okta’s financials. For instance, Okta’s $52.5 million purchase of early-stage startup Azuqua will dent operating expenses. (Early-stage startups tend to have thin margins, although exact numbers from Azuqua weren’t provided.)
There is also a recently announced $50 million venture fund. Creating venture funds is typically a positive, as companies including Twilio and Workday also have created venture funds to help incubate firms that use its product and services. However, in Okta’s case, it’s funding startups to help innovate the core product, which is concerning because Okta is not even profitable yet and is already looking for help to iterate the core product, rather than incubate to increase demand in the market.
Looking deeper, I believe Okta is throwing a lot of weight into product because the mega-cap cloud server companies are in the identity and access management (IAM) market. Okta has to provide a compelling reason to use an add-on service to Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon’s AWS and IBM Cloud rather than use the in-house identity and access management service.
See: Beth Kindig runs a premium service that includes a forum on tech stocks where she answers questions from readers.
Okta does have a competitive advantage due to its superior product, which is confirmed by third-party analysts Gartner and Forrester. The one issue to consider for the long term is that larger rivals are going to protect their turf. Cloud infrastructure is a revenue segment that will determine the world’s most valuable company over the next few years, and Okta has an incredible feat ahead to remain more agile and to iterate faster than opponents that have bottomless amounts of cash. On that note, Okta could make a great acquisition for one of those companies, though any prospective suitor would have to overpay.
Also Read: Roku’s Stock Price: Will There Be Another Pullback?
Okta is unlikely to miss estimates on revenue as the subscription model helps protect growth, yet other line items may continue to miss or weaken. Okta has no choice but to spend heavily on its market position — either through S&GA, R&D or acquisitions — to fend off larger cloud competitors that are a one-stop shop for identity and access management, and are currently engaged in a battle for cloud infrastructure.
Overall, Okta became a fundamentally weaker company in the past two quarters, yet the stock price does not reflect this, which is why it makes a better momentum play than a buy-and-hold. Previous earnings reports prove that although priced to perfection, the company does not need to report perfection in order for the stock to claw at a higher price-to-sales ratio.
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Tag Archive: The Thing from Another World
First look–Body snatchers seize Earth in “The 5th Wave”
The aliens have arrived.
It’s flat-out one of our favorite sci-fi sub-genres. The alien invasion flick.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T, the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Predator (1987), Alien Nation (1988), They Live (1988), Independence Day (1996), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Men in Black (1997), Starship Troopers (1997), Signs (2002), War of the Worlds (2005), Cloverfield (2008), District 9 (2009), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Edge of Tomorrow (2014). These are some of the most exciting and fun sci-fi movies to watch and re-watch.
Kick-Ass and The Equalizer’s Chloë Grace Moretz stars in a new Sony/Columbia Pictures release, The 5th Wave, which looks like it’s mixing the alien invasion film with the disaster movie, the epidemic movie, and the body snatcher movie. The only thing missing is zombies. But body snatchers are close enough.
The 5th Wave co-stars Office Space star Ron Livingston, X-Men Origins and The Sum of All Fears’ Liev Shreiber, and Prime Suspect and Assault on Precinct 13’s Maria Bello. Is Moretz a normal Earthling or one of us taken over by the aliens?
Check out this first trailer for The 5th Wave:
Tags: alien invasion, alien movies, Alien Nation, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chloë Moretz, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cloverfield, Columbia Pictures, Cowboys & Aliens, District 9, E.T., Edge of Tomorrow, Independence Day, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Liev Schreiber, Maria Bello, Men in Black, Predator, Ron Livingston, Signs, Sony Pictures, Star Trek: First Contact, Starship Troopers, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the Extra-Terrestrial, The Thing from Another World, They Live, War of the Worlds
First look–Fishburne and Paxton in icy post-apocalyptic “The Colony”
Filed under: Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
The Thing from Another World (often referred to as The Thing before its 1982 remake), is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1938 novella “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell. The story is about an Air Force crew and scientists trapped at a remote Arctic research outpost forced to defend themselves from a humanoid alien. It was remade in 1982 by John Carpenter and yet another version of The Thing was released in 2011. The “Who Goes There?” archetype has been redone in science fiction more than any other, sometimes with a different location like on an unexplored planet or undersea, sometimes with monsters, sometimes zombies or other beings that defy description. Usually the protagonists are a group of trapped scientists or alternatively a group of stranded working stiffs like miners.
The most recent “Who Goes There?” creation is the Canadian science fiction film The Colony. The Colony stars Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Predators, Man of Steel, Event Horizon, Assault on Precinct 13, Apocalypse Now, M*A*S*H) and Bill Paxton (Aliens, True Lies, Twister, Predator 2, Stripes, Apollo 13, The Terminator). It’s 2045, the world is covered in snow and the few that have survived the changing environment live in colonies. They think their worst enemies are starvation and disease. Their prospects are bleak. And the real enemy this time around? Cannibals. Immediately we think of a sci-fi version of the 1993 film Alive, based on a real-life disaster in the snow-covered mountains… and cannibalism.
Tags: Aliens, Alive movie, Bill Paxton, Doctor Who, Ghosts of Mars, Haven series, John W Campbell, Lawrence Fishburne, Leviathan, Predator, Riddick movies, Sphere movie, Star Trek, The Abyss, The Colony, The Colony first look, The Colony preview, The Colony trailer, The Thing, The Thing from Another World, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, Who Goes There?
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Vitter: Camp Minden Clean-Up to Move Forward Immediately
U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-La.) today announced that the Department of the Army has committed in writing to immediately move forward with the final clean-up agreement to dispose of abandoned munitions at Camp Minden and will pay for 100% of costs associated with the contained burn.
Last week, Vitter urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move forward with the final agreement after the EPA stalled the clean-up process by requiring additional funding to cover undisclosed oversight costs. Following Vitter’s letter, the EPA agreed to move forward pending this commitment from the Army.
“This commitment from the Army will finally allow us to take the next step toward cleaning up Camp Minden once and for all,” Vitter said. “Folks around the Camp Minden community can’t wait any longer to clean up this mess. The explosive material is getting more dangerous the longer it’s neglected, and this process has taken long enough. I’m making sure the Army and the EPA keep to their word, and we’ll keep pushing until the clean-up is finally resolved.”
Earlier this week, Vitter toured Camp Minden and received an update on the clean-up process from General Glenn Curtis. Vitter has been working to address the abandoned explosives and propellant stored on the grounds of Camp Minden since 2013.
Previously Vitter blocked the nomination of Alissa M. Starzak to be General Counsel of the Department of the Army until the Army agreed to work with the Department of Justice and the EPA to provide federal funds to address the abandoned explosives.
Vitter also included language in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015 to ensure that the Camp Minden explosives cleanup agreement moves forward. Vitter has personally raised the issue with the head of the EPA, Administrator Gina McCarthy and the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Ray Odierno.
In 2012, Louisiana State Police discovered abandoned M6 propellant that had been improperly stored by defense contractor Explo Systems. The Department of Defense was reluctant to agree that they had necessary authority to get rid of the explosives.
After intervention from Vitter and Congressman John Fleming (R-La.), the Army sent their Explosives Safety Board to evaluate and provide recommendations. Vitter started working with the relevant Department offices in early 2013 for a solution and has been following up routinely with calls, letters, and meetings.
Vitter originally raised questions over the open-burn method in October 2014 and was involved in bringing involved parties together to ensure that an alternative disposal process was selected to the open burn.
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Working Through Yourself: Kia LaBeija Interviewed by Nina Chanel Abney
The artist, activist, and voguer on her Bauhaus-inspired performance for the Performa 19 Biennial.
Studio Visit: Nina Chanel Abney by Osman Can Yerebakan
Kia LaBeija, Untitled, The Spiral (Self Portrait), 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
I first met Kia LaBeija in November 2016, when the two of us shared the experience of being the odd ones out at a networking event of mostly wealthy, white liberals—a situation made even more untenable by the televised election results that would soon put a well-known bigot and white supremacist into office. If we were already feeling out of place among that legion of influencers, watching the electoral outcome felt like a vice grip tightening on our sense of belonging.
As a fine artist and queer black woman, LaBeija is invested in making space for others, like her, who are constantly searching for genuine belonging and the freedom to be in a world often hostile to social difference. Growing up in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, LaBeija began manifesting that intention as a young performer in the ballroom scene, and in 2017 served as a mentor for other queer and trans artists of color as Mother of the Royal House of LaBeija. Outside of the ballroom scene, she has developed her oeuvre of radical artistry primarily through photography and dance, often using her own body as a tool for expression. This month, LaBeija will premiere her first large-scale performance work Untitled, The Black Act, a piece inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhaus ballet piece Triadisches Ballett (Triadic Ballet) (1922). Co-commissioned by Performa and Performance Space New York, the performance is co-produced by The Josie Club—a social organization founded in 2019 by myself, Jet Toomer, Mickalene Thomas, and Racquel Chevremont, and whose mission is to make space for affirming the lives and accomplishments of queer women of the African diaspora.
I am blown away by LaBeija’s intuitive ability to make work that creates a sense of belonging. Untitled, The Black Act is an intimate glimpse into her personal exploration, inviting you on an intense, beat-driven journey of self-reflection.
— Nina Chanel Abney
Nina Chanel AbneyHow is your artwork healing for you?
Kia LaBeija Everything that I create is autobiographical. I focus on healing because this was my mother’s journey, and I bore witness to that. My art practice is the way that I process my life experiences or things that I’m currently experiencing. I can’t make something unless it’s relevant to current issues or what I’m working through mentally. And when I can get all of that out into tangible, existing work, I feel like I can shift, move on.
NCA So with that, how important is it for you to be the subject of your work?
KLI wasn’t seeing representation of myself, and I felt lonely. Sometimes you feel like you are the only one who’s experiencing XYZ. You search for answers, and when you can’t find them, sometimes you just have to become the answer.
NCA What is your favorite type of music to dance to?
KL I dance to everything. My style is a mixture of different things, like classic forms of voguing and contemporary styles—and by contemporary styles I don’t mean in the way that people define “contemporary dance” as its own genre, but contemporary as in of today, of right now. When I vogue, it’s not always to ballroom music. It could be something completely different, like Kendrick Lamar or Robert Glasper. I love to mix different genres to create something that feels unique to me.
NCA What are your processes for dance and photography? How do you approach them individually?
KL I’m such a Pisces. I just do things when I feel them. In my photo practice I’m always looking at what spaces I’m in, what histories exist in those spaces, and how I’d like to place myself into those histories. And I’m always looking at light, natural light. I grew up in an apartment with big windows. I’ve always paid close attention to how lights would peer into the space during different seasons. It’s magical.
With movement, it’s about the music first. It’s always about what’s moving me. You know when you hear that sound and something in your heart just kind of breaks open? That’s what I’m always searching for in my work.
NCA Shifting toward your upcoming performance, I know that Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet is a source of inspiration. The colors are amazing, and there is something creepy about the dancing that is also kind of seductive. How did you come across this piece, and what about it inspired you?
KL Well, the overarching theme for Performa 2019 is the Bauhaus, which is celebrating its hundred-year anniversary. I was really interested in the sculptural element of the Bauhaus, the shapes. There was already an interesting connection to voguing, because it’s also very architectural, working with clean lines and picturesque poses. Then I came across the film version of Triadic Ballet, and I just saw myself in it. I guess that’s how my process begins; I see myself in something. It has three acts including the black act, the final act, which I found the most interesting. I think what got me first was the spiral-shaped stage. I felt really connected to it. My mother was interested in shapes, especially shape as geography. It also reminded me of life, how there are these moments when we totally spiral out. Losing my mom at a young age, I feel like I have been going through the spiral of grief for a long time.
I noticed that these different parts felt like a narrative. I thought I could use this structure as my reference point and bring in my own journey of figuring out who I am, who I’ve been, and where I’m going. My practice is about creating a dance live, so I wanted to construct a narrative around these different sections, but also give the performers room to put themselves into it. I see the other artists as reflections of myself, but it’s their story too. I placed each of them in particular parts that felt close to where they are in their actual life journey. It opens up so many things beyond the performance; it’s about working through yourself.
Kia LaBeija, Untitled, The Grid, 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
NCA There is also a grid structure in the Triadic Ballet that appears in your performance. What does the grid mean to you in relation to the spiral?
KL I see everything in parts. The grid is part three of four. Part one, the spiral, is the moment of realization, of shifting. Part two is the duet—the “dueling duet,” I call it—when you confront your ego. Part three, the grid, is finding out where you’re going to go, how you are going to arrive on your journey. The grid was the hardest part because I had to figure out how to move three bodies within the geography of this grid without telling the performers exactly where to go. And it really didn’t happen until the very end, when I finally figured out what gift I could give them that allowed them to take this journey on their own.
NCA It sounds like you work intuitively most of the time.
KL Yeah, I work intuitively, and I’ve been working closely with everyone to make sure that each piece fits for them. Choreography can feel like a dictatorship to me. Like, I don’t want to tell you to move your arm like this, in this exact way, because then where are you? Coming from a dance background and learning choreography for so many years, it made me feel like I didn’t know who I was outside of it. So when I found voguing, all of a sudden there was something that unlocked inside me, this freedom. I never wanted to do anything else that felt boxed in.
I wanted to experiment with that on other people. Some performers in the grid are freestyle movement artists, but for others, this is their first time letting themselves go. So it was really interesting to watch folks expand in certain directions while staying attuned to who they are and what feels right for them.
NCA How have you incorporated music in your performance, and why did you choose to work with your family?
KL I always choose to work with my family. My brother and my dad are both incredible artists. For the past six years, I’ve watched my brother work on a synthesizer called RESHI that creates music using particular frequencies with relationships to modalities of healing. I thought it was fucking genius and wanted to be the first person to use it, to incorporate this sound that could penetrate on a whole different level. A lot of the tones and sounds that you’ll hear are created by this synthesizer that my brother made during his journey. I like to bring everyone in from where they’re at currently.
So I wanted to see how I could integrate this music made on a computer with my dad playing live. He’s an amazing drummer and musician; it’s his whole life. When I hear him play and move to his sound, I feel this connection that’s unlike anything else. I knew that I wanted my dad to go off during the finale. I wanted him to also have that moment of freedom. I wanted a specific sound. I wanted that boom-bap. I wanted to feel all the sounds that I love—like funk, jazz, and R&B. I’m working exclusively with artists of color, and I wanted to celebrate us. I want folks to come in and feel that.
Kia LaBeija, Untitled, The Dueling Duet, 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
NCA Was there a back and forth? Were they able to look at what you were doing and make music based on that?
KL Yes, it actually began with my brother and I working on the music. We built it over time during the workshopping and rehearsal process. Once we had a framework, we brought in my dad. We knew we wanted the drums to build so that they crossfade with the synth, until, at the very end, it’s just live drums. That’s also an interesting link to Schlemmer and his thinking about how man and machine were starting to have this symbiosis. It’s funny because as much as I decided to move away from some of his original ideas, I came right back to them. But that’s because we’re both looking at our current moment. It’s 2019, it’s about to be 2020, and everything’s shifting. This digital age is crazy. Humans are evolving with technology. But, I’ve also moved away from Schlemmer in that my piece is more personal.
NCA Where does your activist work meet your artistic career?
KL I think my art practice really came out of my activism. There are so many different types of activism. And my activist work is really about being vocal. I wanted to be a voice in the world, a voice I felt was always missing. As brown and black folks, our narratives are always being erased, or we are left out of the shit we created. I also try to use my gifts as an artist generously with my gay kids. I still feel like I’m just at the beginning, but the things that I can give, the knowledge I do have, I like to share it.
NCA I know you’re a star in the ballroom scene, and clearly it has informed your artwork. Has anything from the art world informed your voguing?
KLI’ve always loved fashion photography. There’s an important connection between voguing and photography in general, but especially fashion photography. Historically, it comes from poses that models were creating on the pages of Vogue. It’s crazy, because if you flip through old magazines from the ’70s and ’80s, you can see the dance, all those classic, iconic, Pop, Dip and Spin poses.
I’ve also always felt connected to old Hollywood glamour. I’ve always loved black-and-white films. I love that lighting in photography, too—the very dramatic, old Hollywood stage lighting. I’ve used a lot of that aesthetic in my photographs and my voguing. I’m not super invested in the fashion world. But I am invested in particular types of looks, glamorous things.
I actually was recently invited to Pyer Moss Fashion Show. It blew me away: its context, its relationship to blackness, the music. I saw many elements that I incorporate in my own work. I love when there’s a conversation between art, theater, and fashion. That was one of the reasons I wanted to work with the designer Kyle Luu. Her costuming and styling are also very current, and very much of the world we live in.
Untitled, The Black Act will be showing at Performance Space on November 7–9, as part of the Performa 19 Biennial and Performance Space New York’s Stages Series.
Nina Chanel Abney’s large-scale paintings create a collision of socio-political commentary and popular culture. The Chicago-born, New York-based artist employs acrylic and spray paint in creating hot-button-themed compositions. Emoji-like symbols, historical references, soul-crushing headlines, iconic faces, and avatars meet in disjointed narratives, addressing themes that range from abuse of power to celebrity worship, sexuality, and race, all rendered in eye-popping palettes and geometric figures. Harnessing the barrage of the information age, Abney paints in a bold, upbeat contemporary pallet.
voguing (dance)
Radical Collectivity: Ephraim Asili Interviewed by Chrissie Iles
On his debut film, The Inheritance, which weaves together histories of the MOVE organization, the Black Arts Movement, and his own time in a Black Marxist collective.
Issue #152: Craig Taborn by Camille Norment
Two sound artists on noise, fractals, Bach, Cecil Taylor, the new 7 PM ritual, and whether we still have use for the word improvisation.
You’re Still Sick by Pato Hebert & Alexandra Juhasz
Two artists and activists share their thoughts on COVID-19 and mutual care.
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Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO)
By Bonfolk Team November 08, 2019
The Innocence Project has been making waves in the media recently with their amazing work in exonerating and releasing innocent prisoners from jail. We were lucky enough to partner for a donation with them for their Fall Fundraiser for those in need.
The Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) is a founding member of the Innocence Network, a group of affiliated organizations dedicated to offering pro bono legal work to individuals seeking to prove their innocence in crimes for which they have been convicted. Not only does IPNO help exonerate those wrongfully convicted, but they continue supporting them in their life post-release.
We were told the story of Elvis Brooks, who was recently released after spending 42 years, 2 months and 27 days in prison for a crime he did not commit before being offered a plea deal by a district attorney. According to Charell Arnold, one of Mr. Brooks' attorneys at IPNO, "Mr. Brooks never sought a plea agreement. It is deeply unfair that an innocent man would be forced to choose between entering a plea to secure his immediate freedom and waiting years more in prison to prove his innocence through litigation."
It is our hope that our donations will be of service to Mr. Brooks and other innocent people looking to transition from prison to the outside world. Thank you, IPNO!
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How E-Type UK Transforms British Icon to modern standards while retaining Heritage
One of the most iconic and beautiful cars of all time, the Jaguar E-Type is a hugely desirable model for classic vehicle enthusiasts and lovers of the British automotive industry.
However, with the first cars being created over half a century ago in 1961, some aren’t the perfect proposition for modern, everyday driving; this is where E-Type UK comes in.
E-Type UK is one of the world’s leading authorities for all things Jaguar E-Type – from restoring and servicing all the way through to selling – and it offers the finest upgrades to bring the legendary Jaguar into the 21st century.
The Kent-based business is renowned for pioneering the E-Type fuel injection system and has been at the forefront of development to bring products to market. It has built considerable knowledge and expertise in both V12 and XK systems and offers both to provide the ultimate driving experience.
Using original Jaguar XJS throttle bodies and manifolds on the V12 and newly designed set-ups on the XK, the systems are fitted to the highest standards with consideration applied to the most intricate of details.
A modern ECU is integrated into the car’s wiring using a bespoke loom; ensuring the unmistakable character of the original V12 and XK E-Types are retained. Not only do E-Type UK’s fuel injection systems provide increased power, they also offer hugely improved drivability, throttle response and reliability.
E-Type UK’s five-speed gearbox upgrade is another that has proved very popular with the company’s passionate clientele, providing that all-important fifth gear and adding more positivity to the gear change.
Built from cast aerospace-grade aluminium, the gearbox fits exactly the same as the original four-speed set-up and uses the existing bell housing, prop shaft, speedo, speedo cable and angle drive.
The engine and original gearbox are removed during the process, and E-Type UK’s talented team inspects all associated parts – including the clutch, master and slave cylinders, bearings and engine hoses – to ensure vehicles are completed to the highest possible standards.
Fuel injection systems and the five-speed gearbox are just two of the upgrade options that E-Type UK offers, with the expert team also able to make braking, suspension, exhaust, cooling, ignition, air filter and alternator upgrades as well as bespoke customisations to cars for clients.
Marcus Holland, Owner/Managing Director of E-Type UK, said:
“At E-Type UK, we pride ourselves on offering the very best service around and providing enthusiasts with the ultimate E-Type driving experience, no matter what they’re looking for. Our incredible team is second to none when it comes to E-Type upgrades and they are known in the E-Type community for delivering the perfect solution for modern driving. Customers come to us wanting their E-Type to improve in a certain area, and our team can always deliver the goods.”
A video outlining exactly what E-Type UK is all about can be viewed here.
Use this link if you cannot view the embedded video above - https://youtu.be/QJKPPc5IljM
About E-Type UK
Founded in 2008, E-Type UK is one of the leading authorities for sales, restoration, maintenance and upgrades for the iconic Jaguar E-Type, earning a stellar reputation for the attention to detail and precision of its work as well as the approachable and professional nature of its team.
E-Type UK was born out of passion for a truly iconic car that it wanted to see return to its former glory. Thanks to its knowledgeable, skilled and committed workforce, the company has moved from strength to strength and now prides itself on providing the ultimate E-Type experience.
Under the control of father and son duo Dominic and Marcus Holland, E-Type UK has single-model expertise – all of E-Type UK’s work is performed on the E-Type alone, allowing it to be innovative and push the boundaries.
The company specialises in E-Type upgrades, including pioneering V12 and XK fuel-injection systems, as well as five-speed gearboxes. These are just two ways E-Type UK is able to add something extra special and completely unique to the driving experience while retaining originality and remaining true to the marque.
Thanks to E-Type UK’s outstanding reputation, it’s been able to build strong global connections all centered around its main priority: the customer. Its 15-strong team is made up of personable and approachable individuals, with the exemplary levels of dedication, knowledge and professionalism you’d expect from E-Type.
Staff members have won countless awards for their restoration work – including at Salon Privé and Villa d’Este concours events – owned the legendary E-Type themselves and are truly passionate about all classic cars. Between them, the team has decades upon decades of experience at the highest level of classic restoration and maintenance.
E-Type UK offers immaculately restored cars with the perfectionist touch the company has become famous for. It’s also among the digital leaders in the classic car world, adding modern content to a vintage world with a series of engaging videos on its cars and processes.
etypeuk.com
Posted by The Door Industry Journal at Sunday, April 22, 2018
Location: Hadlow, Tonbridge TN11, UK
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Amplifying Your Blog’s ROI Through Social [Podcast Episode]
If you write a blog post but no one sees it, does it even exist?
That’s the question posted by Michelle Garrett of Garrett Public Relations. She provides tips on how to get the most out of each piece of on-site content you create to improve your ROI.
How to optimize blog posts for social
How to include other voices and build engagement
Tips for encouraging your greater team to share the content
Advice on amplifying/repurposing everything you create
The Most Common Objections to Content Marketing (And How to Respond)
Todd Cordill
Amanda: Today, I'm very excited to welcome Michelle Garrett. She's a public relations consultant and an award-winning writer with more than 20 years of agency, non-profit start-up and corporate experience. And today, she's here to chat with me about how blogging, paired with other amplification strategies, like social media and repurposing content, can boost your content's ROI. Welcome to the show. Michelle.
Michelle: Thank you so much for having me, Amanda. It's a pleasure.
Amanda: Of course. Yeah, I think this is something that applies to a lot of people. I think anybody in content has at least touched a blog at one point or another, if not now, and, you know, everybody wants to find out how to get their content seen by more people.
Michelle: Absolutely. I mean, if we take time to create a blog, write a blog, and no one reads or looks at it, I mean, does it even exist? You know? So, that's a good question.
Amanda: Yeah, so, I like to start episodes pretty general. So, I think the question for you would be, why blog at all? What is the value it can bring you?
Michelle: Well, there are a lot of statistics about the fact that blogging regularly will drive more traffic to your site. And of course, I think Google has changed, you know, the way it looks at blog content, and now, it's more about quality content versus you know, keyword stuffing, of course, which was never a good idea. So, you know, thank goodness for that change. But I think there are just, I wish I could pull out a couple statistics for you, but I know that for example, in B2B, which is, you know, most of my clients are in that sector, there is a lot more success if they include blogging as part of their inbound marketing strategy.
Amanda: Well, that's a great way to get a lot of that authority on their own site, right too? Because they're driving traffic to their own brand, rather than always talking everywhere else. But that being said, and we'll get to this, but social and some of these other platforms are great places as well to communicate and also promote some of these things.
Michelle: Yes, absolutely.
Amanda: Say, somebody listening, they have a blog, and they spend a lot of time putting their posts together, and they've optimized it for search, but they haven't really actively promoted it in the past. So, they've relied on organic, which is fine. I mean, that gets you a lot of traffic, usually, if you do things right. But there are also ways to elevate that. So, where would someone even begin setting up something like a social promotion strategy for it?
Michelle: Well, of course, there are tools you can use to do that. But I mean, you can do it on your own too. And because I work with a lot of smaller businesses that have a limited budget, and can't always afford a lot of tools, I mean, we set up content calendars, using, you know, a spreadsheet in Excel, for example, or a Google Sheet and we, you know, kind of plot out a month of contents, and, you know, the cadence, how many times a week count, you know, which platforms, I always advise, if you're starting out not to do too many, you know, try to kind of pick, you know, the top, maybe one, two or three that you feel, you know, are going to be most effective or most of your audience might be, and then just really focus on that, and you can do it on your own.
Amanda: How can you optimize the post itself to be better suited for social?
Michelle: Well, I mean, I think visuals are a big part of it. I know that, you know, people are drawn to content that has more visuals, and, again, that doesn't have to be expensive. I think sometimes people hear these ideas and they think, "Oh, you know, that's going to be very, you know, that's not going be very cost effective.". But of course, there are many databases with images like Unsplash that you can use those are, you know, free to go in and of course, you can credit the photographers that contribute to those platforms, but there's no cost to doing that. And they're beautiful images, and they have a searchable database. So, you can just plug in your, you know, keyword and take a look; that's one of the most fun parts, I think blogging is, finding the images and the visuals to go with it. And of course, you could generate your own charts and graphs. I mean, Andy Crestodina does a great job of developing those types of visuals that go with his blog posts, and I think that makes them you know, a lot more eye catching and more shareable and all of that.
Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, social can be so visual, sometimes to at least get people to stop when they're scrolling and captivate them a little bit. And then I see some blogs like Content Marketing Institute, with their click to tweets in their posts. Like, some people are really diligent about those types of things, and have you seen a lot of success with stuff like that?
Michelle: Well, I think that that's another way to try to get you know, folks to share your blogs. I think also, just including, you're making it easy to share with you know, buttons, social sharing buttons on your blog. I've seen blogs that don't have that, and it's, you know, I use Buffer, for example. So, sometimes I can make it work that way. But I mean, it's a lot easier if you just have the buttons right there for people to use.
Amanda: Right, eliminating any steps so, that it is a easy as possible. Totally. So, aside from like, if you're setting up a social promo strategy, is that basically, "Okay, here is what we're going to write for each of those platforms that you selected.", and if that's the case, do you have tips on how to make those messages more visible to people?
Michelle: Well, I mean, I guess the key point of that would be that they should be different. I mean, I know companies and you know, I give them credit, anybody that's on social and is consistent about it. I mean, as long as you know, it's not, you know, filled with errors or just, you know, poorly written worded, you know, posts, I give them credit for that but when they just are blanketing you know, "Let's share this on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.", the same you know, like message, just repost. You know, you just kind of throw your hands up like, "Well, that's not how that works really.", because obviously, you know, Instagram is a completely different platform than LinkedIn, and, you know, Twitter is different than Facebook. And so, I mean, I think you can tweak the content, the post, you know, and perhaps share the same content, but it has to be the message, the post has to be written a little bit differently.
Amanda: Do you have advice on how to best tailor that content for each platform? Like, what are some unique things about each one, do you think?
Michelle: Well, I mean, Instagram is very hashtag heavy. I will say, I don't do as much on that for B2B clients, because I don't know that that's the best platform for them, but I have a personal account there. It's a business account, but I mean, I use it for, you know, for my own brand, so, I use it for both, I guess. But, for example, it's just not, you know, you would never put 20 hashtags in a post on LinkedIn or Twitter, you just-- I don't think that that would be, you know, a very effective way to go with that. And it's very, you know, Instagram is about visuals. So again, B2B sometimes struggle to find the right visuals to use and to share. And so, I think, to me, some of those are a completely different beast than, say, Twitter and LinkedIn, which are the two that I see most often in use by B2B clients.
Amanda: And for Twitter and LinkedIn, what level do people have to be maintaining these social channels for their promotion of their content to work? So, like, if they're just tweeting out the stuff that they do, is that going to be effective?
Michelle: No. That's another thing, but I do have clients that only want to share their own content, you know, so then you have to have that conversation because, you know, to really be effective and grow your followers, you have to engage. I mean, that's what social media is about, it's not just you know, yelling at people, posting at people, shouting at people or whatever; it's the engagement that really gets you, you know, gets you where you want to be, and I think that's where kind of the magic happens, is engagement. And so, if you're just posting your own blog content or your own press releases, or your own news articles, or whatever, it might be, just all about you all the time, I don't think people are as likely to engage with your content. And I think there are some tricks to it too. I mean, with blog posts, a lot of times you can feature influencers in your industry, for example, in the blog post, and then you can tag them when you share it, and you can ask them to share it too. And so, that can be very helpful and getting more people to read and share and draw in more traffic.
Amanda: Right. That's a tactic. I know, you've mentioned Andy Crestodina, but he definitely uses a lot and has promoted in some of his talks, and it certainly does work. You include things from other people, get some different advice, adds more value to the post anyway, to get different perspectives like that.
Michelle: I think so. I mean, you know, you don't want to hear from the same you know, two people, the company, maybe, you know, the executives are writing all the posts or you know, somebody's ghost writing and that's, you know, it's coming from them or whatever, I just think it gets boring and it could, you know, be mixed up a little bit if you, you know, were willing to include and, you know, quote some other folks in the industry or, you know, whoever it might be.
Amanda: How do you recommend balancing brand accounts versus personal accounts? So, I know that some people build up their personal branding within a company, right? And they share things on their own. Do you recommend that versus the company saying things as well? Do you do both and just tweet you know, similar to like you would on different platforms, you just kind of tweak the way it's said? What are your thoughts on that?
Michelle: That's difficult because, especially with executives, because sometimes you know, we ghost you know, ghost write their content, and to capture their voice, because they have an account and then the company, the brand has an account, and so, you know, you don't want it to be exactly the same but you really kind of have to try to get in their head to do it effectively, and it can be a real challenge because I think they expect you to know, you know, like what their tone is, and you can learn over time. But there is, you know, it's not the same as if they're doing it themselves, I will say that because nobody can capture you the way, you know that you would say it, especially right off the bat, you know, again, over time, and, you know, you can effectively go straight for executives, you know, if you have access to the executives, you know, that's another thing. I find, sometimes I don't want to spend time with the writers. I'm like, "Well, now wait a second, you know, how are we going to do this if you want us to sound like you, you have to talk to us or give us access to something that, you know, we can use to capture your tone.". And so, I think that's a challenge. On the corporate side, I feel like that's, you know, it should be different, but that's probably a little bit less pressure, I think, to come up with those posts. Because, you know, ideally, it should be something that, you know, fits in their mission and with their goals and all that. So
Amanda: Yeah. On a related note, when it comes to, like you said, sometimes executives not giving everything you need to succeed at some of these things, do you have tips on how people can get more of their own teams involved in different ways? So, whether that's like you're saying, providing content to use, or helping to promote it and amplify it, liking things, sharing them themselves, do you have tips on that?
Michelle: Well, I think that, first of all, it is an area that needs attention, because I think that's the easiest place to go, you know, to amplify your content is to go to your employees, right? I mean, hopefully your employees are excited to share your content. And if they're not, you might want to be, you know, like thinking about why are they not and then, of course, nobody wants to look like they're forcing people to do it, right? Because that will not come off right but you can help them, maybe they don't have time to think through what to say, you know, and so, maybe you can craft some posts that they could share, you know, with a blog post or something, you could just maybe make three to five, you know, just write a few for them and say, you know, "If you'd be so inclined, you know, here are a couple, LinkedIn, you know, ideas for a LinkedIn post, you could share along with this blog post or something like that.", I think that can help. Because I think a lot of it is time, people are just like, overloaded, and I've had this happen to me in professional organizations, where I've headed up communications, you know, on a board or something, and, you know, you want everybody, and everybody would be on board with sharing it, but they're like, "Well, what do we say?", you know, and, "I don't have time to think about what to say, and I don't know what to say.". So, if you make it easy, that way, I think that can help.
Amanda: Yes, that theme of making it as easy as possible, right? And then, increasing the chances that people will take action. Yeah. So, like, it's across the board in marketing. So, aside from social, right? That's one way you can, like get the most out of a piece of content you write, what about repurposing? So, I guess there's a lot of different ways you could be doing that. Do you have a strategy you employ all the time, across the board, places where you-- either places, I guess let's start there, like channels where you repurpose it?
Michelle: Yes, well for myself, I'll tell you, I mean, what I do, and I just, I kind of use it as a model for clients too. Although, obviously, sometimes clients are not, you know, wanting to buy into a complete, you know, package across the board of everything that you might do for them, but I certainly use myself as a guinea pig in a model. So, for example, okay, so I'm just going to use, and I believe that I included you in this post I wrote, it was a, “Predictions for 2020”, which you know, I wonder how those are going to fare. But in any case, I published that blog post on my own site, and then I pitched it to PR Daily to see if they would like to have it and then they ran it, and then I believe it even ended up on Ragan.com, which is you know, kind of they own PR Daily but sometimes things don't make it to that point, you know, if they're really popular, then they might get there. So, that one did really well, because I started with it just on my own site. And of course, I had, I think I had 20; 20 people for 2020. So, almost everybody shared it, that was quoted in the article too. And then, you know, we were able to leverage it and get it out to those other publications as well. So, that's just an example.
Amanda: What would you recommend other people do when they decide they want to pitch something? So, how did you go-- I mean, you've been in this industry for a while, so, you'd know who the big players are, right? But, you know, how does that process work?
Michelle: Well, I mean, you could take a look at, you know, in your industry, you know, what are the publications where you would like your content to be seen? And, you know, you don't want to start, you know, with maybe the top tier, but there are certainly, you know, no end of publications and industries that accept contributed content, accept contributed articles. You can turn your blog post into contributed article, and a lot of times, they will accept something, even if it's been published on your site, sometimes you want to start and publish it through them first, sometimes they'll have you do it that way. And then, some of them will allow you to republish it afterwards so, then you could even-- you could put it on your site, but you could also even publish it on LinkedIn or publish it on Medium, something like that. So, then you could have a couple of, you know, get a little bit more bang for your buck that way as well.
Amanda: And it kind of ties back to what you were saying about social media where, it's syndicated to Ragan because it was popular, right? And so, at the very least, social media, things get engagement, it's an authority signal; it shows other people like, "Oh, other people like this, so I probably will, too.".
Amanda: That's something to keep in mind when people are trying to get justification for social, right? Like, benefits.
Michelle: Yeah. And if you're not sharing it at all, then you just have no opportunities at all. I mean, you know, like even if you just published a blog post and shared it on your social media and used hashtags that were relevant, somebody could pick it up, and you know, on their own or come to you and say, "May we use this? May we republish this in our newsletter, on our site?", or whatever. So, I think that, you know, that's like the very bare minimum, you know, the bottom that you can start with. So
Amanda: Definitely. So, are there any other methods that you recommend for amplifying content that's already been created?
Michelle: Well, I just think that every time you create a piece of content, you should be thinking, "How can I repurpose this?", and we were just-- I was on a live stream, I will call it, yesterday. It was a podcast with video, and we were discussing how great that is to repurpose because you can take snippets, you know, you could take audio snippets, you can pull quotes, you could take video snippets, you could turn it into a blog post. I mean, just think about all the things you can do, and then of course, all of that can go on social because you need to feed that social media machine, you know, every day. So, you know, there's just a lot you can do, usually. I mean, I think some are probably a little bit more limiting than other types of content but there's usually at least, I’d say a few ways you can probably repurpose it.
Amanda: Yeah, podcasting has been fun for me to experiment with that. I use Libsyn for hosting and they were promoting this tool Headliner, which I had never used and it takes the podcast audio and creates like, not a video, I mean, it kind of is, it shows like the audio fluctuations and stuff and it's just like so much more engaging than the way I've been doing it before. And I'm like, "You really can just repurpose this stuff in so many different ways.", and I think it's just time that keeps people from doing it to its full potential, you know, like, it's not that much time, but it's still added time. And in that line of thought, how do you think people can justify to themselves or to their team or whomever that this is a worthwhile endeavor?
Michelle: Well, one thing is, it's not a short-term reward. I mean, you have to be in it for the long-term, I believe, to really reap the benefits of, like many things, like we were saying, you know, make it easy is one principle, is very important in marketing. But the other is, you know, think about the long game, you know, don't just say, "Okay, we're going to do this for two months, and if it doesn't work...", you know, I see that with PR too. It's like, "Well, you know, we wrote a press release, we called a couple of media outlets, and nothing happens. So, it doesn't work.". Well, you know, you might not be giving it enough time, you might not be putting in enough effort, you know, so I think, think longer term about it. And then also, of course, you can measure, you know, and there are tools you know, you can use to do that, you can also do it by looking at Google Analytics to see where the traffic is being driven to your site, to see which platforms are more successful perhaps. And I had, I don't know if you know, Todd Cordell, but you know, he's kind of an SEO guy and analytics guy, and he just helped me a little bit with my own analysis, and I was surprised to see, you know, where the traffic was really coming from because I spent so much time on Twitter. But some of my traffic is, you know, being driven by Facebook too, which I don't spend nearly as much time on. So, it's just interesting to look at that, and that will give you some clues as to where you might want to increase your activity, decrease your activity, kind of retool a little bit. And, yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, I think it's a great point. There's so much in marketing, where if you don't give it an honest try, you won't see if it's actually going to work. Like, I can't imagine doing social for like, a week or two, and then being like, "Oh, we don't have 1000 followers yet.", you know, like, you have to actually give it a solid effort, otherwise, you'll have no idea if it would work or not.
Michelle: That's absolutely right. And I see people give up way too soon. And, you know, again, with a couple of tweaks, they could be successful. But I mean, I think people that are-- have been doing it a while are way ahead and that gets like, if you're just starting, that can be kind of daunting, but you shouldn't really let that stop you because everybody had to start somewhere, and if you don't start today, you know, you might, in six months be like, "Why didn't we start six months ago?", you know. So, I think that you just need to try a few things, then go back and look at, you know, how they're working, if they're working, and then kind of retool based on, you know, what your findings are.
Amanda: Yeah, absolutely. Checking back in on those analytics so, you don't take something for granted. Like, you said, you can kind of make assumptions or guesses, but the data is there so, you can go take a look. And like, that's interesting that you found out Facebook, you know, was a driver more than you're expected, because how would you know otherwise?
Michelle: No, I don't spend nearly as much time on my Facebook business page as I do on my Twitter or LinkedIn, and so, yeah.
Amanda: So, one of the questions I usually wrap these shows up with is, regarding getting buy-in. I like asking people is, what do you think is the biggest mistake people make when they have these conversations with their higher ups?
Michelle: I think you have to go in prepared, you can't just wing it and say, "Well, you know, I see that, you know, we've got, you know, 50 more followers than we had last month.", or you know, like, I think that the metrics are different now, and I think that execs want real numbers and real data. And I think that, sometimes to get that, you can do it yourself, of course, but I do think the tools can be helpful, you know, you can run a report, and you can take that to the meeting with you and show the results. And you can also see which content is more successful than other content, you know, it helps you understand maybe where you should be focusing more than, you know, on this rather than that, and that kind of thing.
Amanda: Yeah, it sounds like if you're taking careful looks at what channels are working best, you can use that to justify more investment in those channels, if you have those actual numbers.
Michelle: Absolutely. And of course, we haven't talked about paid social but that's another, you know, avenue to pursue once maybe you try some organic and maybe see how your success rate is, and then maybe you want to just try a very limited budget of, you know, trying some paid social to implement, you know, to kind of compliment, I want to say, that's what I wanted to say, compliment that. So
Amanda: What about email? Have you used a lot of email as part of your promo for the blog posts?
Michelle: Well, I personally do not do that; I know clients that do it. I mean, I have clients that will use a blog post in every possible way, and I mean, I applaud that to a degree as long as it's not like, you know, overdone. But I mean, if you have a newsletter, why not, you know, put a link to it or a blurb and a link in the newsletter, that's something else, you know, I think is very valuable, and another way to repurpose your content is, if you don't have one, start a newsletter and start your list, even before you launch the newsletter. Start building your list, you know, again, today, don't wait on that.
Amanda: Yeah, definitely. So, the last question I always ask is, knowing the objective of the show, who would you recommend to be guests on future episodes?
Michelle: Well, I mentioned Todd, I don't know if you knew Todd.
Amanda: That's true, I don't know Todd.
Michelle: I would make that introduction; he would be great. He's a CM world, CMI guy, and he's on the chats a lot, and we've met in person now at the conference as well. But he helps companies with SEO and analytics and marketing strategy, and he has some specific niches that he kind of specializes in. But I think he would be a really fun and valuable guest.
Amanda: Awesome. Yeah, I'd love that intro. I feel like he's one of those people I've seen a lot on social but haven't interacted with. Well, thank you so much for taking the time Michelle, it was a pleasure.
Michelle: Thank you so much for having me, Amanda.
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The Hidden ROI of Podcasting [Podcast Episode]
Podcast analytics...leave a lot to be desired.
But there are still ways to get a ton of value out of podcasting and track that value.
Nicholas Scalice, founder of GrowthMarketer.co and Earnworthy and the host of the Growth Marketing Toolbox podcast, talks about his experience with podcasting and how he’s measured his success.
Why now may be a great time to start podcasting
Why downloads shouldn’t be the only metric to focus on
How to increase the ROI of your show
How to get buy-in to create a podcast
Podrover
50 Growth Marketing Tools
Want more resources on getting content marketing buy-in? Sign up for our podcast newsletter:
Amanda: This week on the show, I am pleased to welcome Nicholas Scalice, the founder of GrowthMarketer.co and Earnworthy and the host of the Growth Marketing Toolbox podcast. Welcome to the show, Nicholas.
Nicholas: Hey, what's up Amanda? Great to be here.
Amanda: I'm really personally excited about this because we're going to talk podcasts which obviously, I am of interest.
Nicholas: It's a very meta episode; a podcast talking about podcasts.
Amanda: Right. Well, hopefully because, you know, a lot of podcast listeners might have their own, I think. I feel like once you're in the podcast world, you're just kind of obsessed with it across the board. So, if you're in content and you either already have a podcast for your company or your brand, or maybe your own personal brand, or you're thinking about starting one, this is going to be a really good episode for you. So, Nicholas, like I mentioned, you have your own podcast, and you've hit-- you've had a lot of episodes. How many episodes total have you had?
Nicholas: Yeah, we just recorded Episode 209 for Growth Marketing Toolbox.
Amanda: Well done. And I think a good way to kick the show off is, just to ask, why did you decide to start the podcast in the first place?
Nicholas: I started it all the way back in 2015. So, it was a different world back then. Because you know, marketing moves so quickly and then, even the podcast industry, it's evolving so quickly. So, back in 2015, as I'm sure many of your listeners, and you can remember, it was a period where everybody was sort of jumping on the podcasting bandwagon and it was this new channel that you know, of course, it's been around for much longer than that, but this is when, at least in my eyes, podcasting started to become much more mainstream. And so, the barrier to entry was low and I said, "Hey, let's give it a shot.". And really, to be really honest, I think it was at the time, I was writing a lot of blog posts, and I got tired of writing. And I said, "Hey, how can I distribute this content in a different channel?", and you know, my blog was doing pretty well at the time. So, I had all these ideas for posts to do on the topic of marketing and I really liked talking about marketing tools, and I just wanted to try this new up and coming channel called podcasting, and I sort of just did it as a whim and got into a consistent pattern with turning out these episodes and it started to grow quite surprisingly.
Amanda: So, and you touch on an interesting point, because there's always that wave of people who are kind of early adopters, right? They see that there's a new channel or a new strategy or something and they jump on at an advantageous time and it works out. And now, we're years into those trends, podcasts included, and you hear this conversation about blogs all the time too. Obviously people wouldn't say like, "Don't start a blog just because they're really popular and everyone does them.", but with that happening with podcasts now where there are so many, when do you think it makes sense, especially for people who maybe are early on in the show or are thinking about starting one, when do you think it makes sense to say, "Yeah, it's worth giving podcasts a try."?
Nicholas: I think you know, now is probably better, it's a better opportunity to start a podcast now, surprisingly, because I think there's more support for podcasts. First of all, people understand what a podcast is a lot better than they did back in 2015, you have a lot more people listening to podcasts now. So, sure, yeah, there's more shows but if you really get down to it, what's most important is the audience or the potential audience. And I remember reading a stat that said, you know, 51% of people in the US have listened to a podcast at least once and that number is up from 44% in 2018. So, it's growing, people are very familiar with podcasts. So, you have this opportunity to reach a very wide audience but even more importantly, when it comes to support, there's this support architecture now for podcasters with, you know, Spotify making huge investments, buying up Gimlet and buying up Anchor, a very popular podcasting tool. And so, I think it's a lot easier to get started now and you have access to a broader audience that is more familiar with podcasting. So, I would say if you're going to do it, this is really the year to do it.
Amanda: Just because you mentioned support and tools, what do you think is a good kind of package to get started with? What sites or tool should people investigate?
Nicholas: Yeah, this is a really good question. It's probably the question I get asked the most when people are asking me about, like getting started with podcasting, and really, I think you shouldn't overcomplicate it. Because I started my podcast in November of 2015 but I originally started thinking about doing a podcast all the way back in July of 2015, and I procrastinated because I wanted everything perfect; I had to have the perfect microphone, the perfect mixer, the perfect software and all this stuff and it never got done. So, eventually November rolls around, I said, you know, "I'm just going to do it.". And so, I got a cheap microphone, it was an ATR 2100 Audio Technica, which is actually a very, very popular microphone, I think I went to a Facebook group and I just asked, you know, what's the best microphone to start with, and it was like 50 bucks at the time, there was like this package deal on Amazon, where it came with a, what's called a pop filter, which helps your sound quality. But I would say, don't obsess over the technology because it's going to-- it's never going to be perfect. So, even to this day, I don't use a mixer. You know, I don't have any complicated technology, I use a software program called Audio Hijack to record the audio, I mean, that's specifically for Mac. So, if you're on PC, you might want to look at something like Audacity, which is free or you can use a service like Zencaster, which is very popular, it's like a web based recording tool, where you can get really high quality recordings, or you could use Zoom, like we're doing right now. So, I would say most importantly though, don't obsess over the technology, just start with something because nobody's going to unsubscribe, or very few people are going to unsubscribe, just based on the quality of your show. Really, what you should focus on, is the content and the consistency of your show.
Amanda: I think that's a great point, I think it goes doubling now, after quarantining, there seems to be more of a tolerance for kind of not super polished content, people are a little more forgiving about that sort of thing now. But also, just adds to the authenticity too, if you're just kind of, you just want to get the content out there. So, when you started the show you did earlier on what? I know, you said that you were kind of tired of writing and you wanted to try a different channel but what were your goals with the podcast? Like, yes, you wanted to get some of the content out there, the ideas you had to run marketing out there, but what did you kind of establish as like, this is what I want to achieve with this podcast?
Nicholas: Yeah, so, I really didn't know what to measure back then, because I was so new to it. I think what we all default to, when we're thinking about podcasts, is the number of downloads, right? Or the number of listeners we would get either per episode or per month. And what I started to realize, though, is there's all these other small benefits of starting a podcast that are more difficult to measure, but in my opinion, are more important. So, these days, like, I'm not really following the total number of downloads as closely as some other folks. Although, you know, we've been pretty consistent, right now we're getting about 10,000 downloads a month, which is great for a small, very focused marketing audience. You know, these are highly engaged listeners, and so, I like having this small, dedicated audience. But things that are more important to me are, the ability to grow our email list, you know? On certain episodes, almost every episode I'll mention some type of lead magnet, whether it be a free download or an opportunity to connect one on one, and this has helped grow our email list for my agency. I've also tried to grow a Facebook group and this has been a really good way to sort of support that podcast listener base, because podcast listeners want to connect with each other, they want to connect with the host. So, growing a Facebook group has been a huge goal of mine and then also, just getting clients. I know we have a lot of listeners out there that are either freelancers or in-house marketers, or they work in an agency, and they're trying to get more clients. And so, I would say that's probably the biggest hidden benefit that I didn't realize, when I started the podcast is that, you will get or you have the potential to get a lot of clients from it because they hear your episodes, they see you as a thought leader, and they want to connect and so, that's probably been the number one benefit if I had to pick just one over the years.
Amanda: And it's funny because I think that just hearing somebody talk does a lot for that authority building that you're talking about and like building trust in a way, that's a little different from reading something, they kind of feel like they know you a little bit more.
Nicholas: Yeah, and it's very authentic. Yeah, I've had people, you know, connect after listening to the show, and then we'll get on like a sales call, and it's like, you know, I don't even have to explain anything to them; they know everything about how our process works and all the techniques and all the tactics, because they've listened to so many episodes.
Amanda: So, I know you said some of this is a little more difficult to measure, do you have a system? You know, how are you measuring the ROI of this channel? Do you have a system where you check in on certain things like tracking leads, you're getting from it? Are there certain analytics you're pulling? I know that podcasts, especially podcast analytics, like you've mentioned, have not been as straightforward as a lot of other channels. Like, for a while you could only see, like I use Libsyn, and they've upgraded certainly over the years, but still, like it's not as granular as you would really like. So, what does kind of your package look like in terms of analytics?
Nicholas: Yeah, so, I'm not too in the weeds with the numbers but I would say that Chartable is a really good tool where you could sign up for free, and it sort of tells you where you rank in certain countries, in certain categories. So, it's really interesting, you know, sometimes to see, "Hey, you're in the top 50 in France for the marketing category.", or, "Oh, you got pushed out of the top 200 in this country.”. So, Chartable is really good. I do keep a close eye on reviews and so, there's a tool called Podrover, I don't know if it's podrover.com, but if you search for Podrover, you should be able to find it, where it sort of aggregates all of the reviews you get on all of the different platforms. Because remember, when someone leaves a review on Apple podcasts in Australia, that's going to be, you're not going to see that if you're in the US, right? Because every store is sort of treated as a separate silo with Apple podcasts. So, you want to be able to see what is the collective reviews that you're getting for your show, because reviews are the fuel that are going to help you rise through the charts on Apple podcast, which is still where over 50% of people are consuming podcast content. So, you need to put a big focus on Apple podcast, whether you like apple or not. So, I'm looking at that, and then all the other stuff, I try to track it as best I can in terms of like using a custom link for a lead magnet so that I can track it back to the show or when someone joins my Facebook Group, trying to ask them, "Hey, how'd you hear about this group?", or if I get a new lead for client services, you know, "Hey, how'd you hear about us?. But a lot of that stuff is not as easily tracked as some of these other things.
Amanda: Yeah, I can completely relate to that. I think we have in our contact form, we just added, you know, the "How did you hear about us?", we added the podcast there because it's not as easy and straightforward to know, as all marketers know, even that sometimes you're only getting the last touch but so often, when people listen to your show, maybe they listen to your show and then they look at your case studies or blog posts or find you elsewhere. So, have you, when you've collected that information, have you ever seen an opportunity to optimize the show or like get any feedback that was helpful to you that you made changes? Or was it all kind of positive and just reinforced what you were doing?
Nicholas: Oh, yeah, over the years, I've changed the show so much. In fact, this is something very few people know, the show was originally called Inbound Unboxed, which is just a terrible name. But the idea was, you know, I loved inbound marketing. Remember, this is 2015 we're talking about so, inbound marketing was a very big thing back then and I wanted to unbox certain tools and tactics. But I realized after looking at the feedback from guests or from, from guests and from listeners, that the name didn't really make a lot of sense. So, I changed it to Growth Marketing Toolbox. So, you have to change things, you have to listen to your audience, you have to listen to your guests, this is another reason why I like having a Facebook group, because it allows me to have those interactions at scale, and just invite people to email you and try to follow up with them as best you can. So, I would say some other things that I've optimized for the show is, I learned that people like shorter episodes, so some of my early episodes, were over an hour, and I shortened that down to between 20 and 40 minutes and that seems to do a lot better, I try to have a call to action in every show where it's either at the start or the end or both where I'm trying to get someone to just do something whether it be to leave a review, hit that subscribe button, download my free e-book, whatever it is, join my Facebook group, that has been something I've added, and then trying to get people to go to the show notes page. Because I think if you can grow an audience in multiple places, you're going to benefit from that. So, having a very good show notes page with links is helpful, not only for SEO, right? But it also is helpful because you can then retarget that audience with Facebook ads if you wanted to. So, trying to get people to go check out the show notes page is very beneficial. And then lastly, just outsourcing whatever you don't like doing so, something that was really slowing me down in the early days was the editing process and thankfully, you know, I got a process in place now where that is completely outsourced. I don't have to worry about it. So, you know, it's very rare to find a podcaster who likes every part of the process. So, find the part that you don't like, whether it be booking or research or editing or distribution, and try to outsource that.
Amanda: Wow, that's a wonderful breakdown and it's nice to see actual examples of what somebody has changed about their show, based on feedback and how many different things you can tweak in order to improve it. Sometimes I don't think all this stuff would occur to you.
Nicholas: Exactly. Yeah, it's a learning process. You just got to hit that record button and learn from every episode.
Amanda: Absolutely. So, we talked a bit at the top of the show about why somebody should kind of set out or go to bat for something like this. But on the show, we focus on helping people get buy-in for their content initiatives and I've actually seen personally in previous companies, it's tough sometimes. You either run in one of two problems. One is, somebody doesn't want to do a podcast because they're like, "This is going to take way too much work and we don't know that it's like, what are we actually going to get out of it that's measurable?", or you run into a situation where they want to do a podcast, like that's all they know that they want to do, and there's no strategy behind it. You've covered a lot of really interesting points already. So, I kinda like to distill it down into kind of a plan for people. So, the different benefits, it sounds like, right? So, we have, A, just building authority, right? Then starting to build an audience but then these other ways, like you said to track leads, and to set up a function for that, and then I really want to dive into also this Facebook group strategy you have, where you're also building community and getting benefits from that aspect of it. What made you decide to go that route? I know you said that people wanted to connect with each other, how did you-- did you, kind of just like intuit that? You figured, you know, these are topics where people would want to discuss further; what made you decide to set up the Facebook group aspect?
Nicholas: Yeah, so, I'm always looking at like, what is the next big trend and I think it was a few years ago, everybody started talking about Facebook groups because, you know, you have to build your audience in multiple spots. You don't want to just have an email list or you know, an SMS list, or a Facebook Messenger list, you want to try to have everything, even a Facebook pixel audience like, we could think of that as an audience of its own. So, Facebook groups were becoming a big thing a few years ago, they're still a really big thing. In fact, I think this is probably the number one opportunity right now for content marketers is to try to build a Facebook group. And so, I wanted to connect everything together. So, I already had some lead magnets that people were opting into, I have a free guide called 50 Growth Marketing Tools, and I realized when people opt in, they're taken to a thank you page, and it usually just says, "Thanks...", you know, "...check your inbox.", something boring. So, I said, what if I leveraged that thank you page to try to have this secondary opportunity to connect. And so, I put, you know, "Join our Facebook group on that thank you page. And so, that was a huge catalyst for getting people into the group initially, and then I said, "Well, why don't I tie this into the podcast?", and I'll mention the lead magnet on the podcast and I got people to opt in that way and then they would go to the thank you page and join the group. So, it's sort of creating this growth flywheel has been really effective and then I started trying to get people to go directly to the group. And so, it's worked both ways. But I think, you know, at a minimum Facebook groups or something, every content marketer should at least look into to see if it's right for your business or your brand. And if it is, it just makes a lot of sense, because it's something that's very popular right now, Facebook is investing a lot of money into supporting groups, and it's very easy to build up a sense of engagement in the groups.
Amanda: You've been really good at spotting these trends early on, and, you know, getting, leveraging the benefit of that. Do you see anything upcoming that you think people should keep an eye on?
Nicholas: Yeah, so I still think Facebook groups are probably the number one thing right now that are underutilized. Another thing I'm hearing a lot about are short casts, which are sort of like, you know, you have a podcast but then you can have a short-cast, which is more for these voice services like the one from Amazon or the one from Google. I'm not going to say their names because I have some in the house here, and they'll get activated if I say the word, but it starts with an A from Amazon. But anyways, so these, if you create a very short five minute or less daily, almost like a podcast, but it's very short, I think that's also going to be a huge opportunity for folks. So, if you're sitting there thinking, "You know, I don't have enough content to do a long format show for 30 minutes or 60 minutes, but I have all these little tactics and tips that I want to share and I want to do it very quickly, on a new platform.", I would look into short-cast or how to create one of these skills basically, for these in home devices.
Amanda: I love that, that's very unique, and I think it is a good idea to think about what has not been completely saturated yet that you can get started in. So, getting back to kind of like making that case like we said, lead generation, building authority, building community, getting your content out there on different channels. But how can you, or what advice do you have for people on differentiating their show from the hundreds that are probably out there in their same industry? So, when they're going to pitch this, it's not like "'This is going to be one of those shows, you know, the hundreds that have no reviews, and nobody ever listens to.", how can they differentiate?
Nicholas: Yeah, that's the key. So, there's a lot of different ways to stand out, you don't have to create something completely new. So, what I would do is look at what's out there and see how can you put a new spin on it. So, remember, there's different formats of podcasts, you have shows that are interview format, like what we're doing now and that's basically what Growth Marketing Toolbox is, but you can also do a solo show where you're just sharing your own insights. And I'm mostly speaking for the business type shows, because I know it's a whole different world when you get into like the purely entertainment type podcast, but for the business shows, you have interview format, you have the solo host, and I've done those types of shows too. I have a podcast that is, it's been sort of an experiment of mine called the Landing Page School podcast, where it's just me for 20 minutes or less, and it's not as consistent as Growth Marketing Toolbox but I just share a tip on how to improve your landing pages and how to convert more of your website visitors into leads and customers, and you would think something as small and niche as landing pages wouldn't have a good following, but it's done pretty well. So, you can do that. And then, you know, there's all these different ways that you can distribute your show. So, you can do daily, you could do weekly, monthly. So, I would look at what's working right now in your space, and try to put a new spin on it, either with a different format, or going more niche than whatever it is, or trying a different distribution strategy where you're publishing maybe more frequently, and those things combined can help you stand out.
Amanda: That's a great point, not just thinking about the content itself but the way it's being delivered. Because you think as a podcast listener, it's not always that you're not interested, it just might be that you don't have an hour and a half.
Nicholas: Right. Yeah, you can take the same topic that other podcasters are covering in 30 minutes and try to do it in 5 or 10 minutes, and you might have better results.
Amanda: I love that. So, I ask the same question at the end of every show, which is, what do you think is the biggest mistake people make when they go to pitch content initiatives like this one? What do you think is something that people kind of slip up?
Nicholas: Oh, man, that's a good question. You know, I think it comes down to a lot of things, but probably above all else is, trying to plan every aspect of it, which is sort of counter-intuitive because in the B2B space or in the agency world, usually you want to have this very detailed plan but as I've experienced first-hand with podcasting, it's such a dynamic medium, and the industry is changing so much, it's very hard to plan every aspect of it. So, you know, don't go in with a 12-month road map of, "This is our episode for day one, and this is our episode for month five.". Like, you just got to go with an idea and have the basics down of how are you going to stand out, what is the show about, what's the format, how often are you going to produce it, how are you going to distribute the show, and then sort of let the feedback guide you. So, I would say just, you know, try to be as flexible as you can, and I think that would actually help in presenting the opportunity to the higher ups or to the stakeholders.
Amanda: I'm glad you said that, because that's basically how I've been doing things for this podcast. Like, I think we've been thinking of it conceptually by quarter, just making sure that I have content for this quarter. But yeah, planning, I feel like in marketing in general, like planning too far ahead, sometimes without any flexibility is disadvantage.
Nicholas: Absolutely. Especially look at what happens with COVID and with everything going on in the world, you know, if you had a rigid plan that you were stuck to following, all that went out the window, so you have to be flexible.
Amanda: Definitely. So, knowing the objective of this show is to help content marketers either calculate the ROI of what they're doing or make the case for what they're doing, who do you recommend to be future guests on the show?
Nicholas: Oh, man. There's so many amazing content marketers that are just doing really incredible things. I don't know if you've ever interviewed Sujan Patel with Mailshake?
Amanda: No, I haven't.
Nicholas: Yeah, he's probably out of all the guests I've had on Growth Marketing Toolbox, he's one of my favorite content marketers, really understands what it means to create, not just content that gets a good reaction, but content that actually gets shared and gets good distribution. I mean, that's a whole nother tangent we could go into, but you know, it's one thing to produce content, it's another to get it out there into the world and get people talking about it. He's done a really good job of sort of blending those two. So, I think he would be a great guest.
Amanda: Yeah, that's an excellent suggestion, and we talk about that at Fractl all the time, that it's not just creating it, the promotion is at least half the work. So, that would be a great episode. Well, thank you so much, Nicholas, for being on the show. I really appreciate you sharing your insights and your experience building a podcast.
Nicholas: It's been a lot of fun.
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Just 675 miles separate Seattle and San Francisco, but for several members of the Seahawks, that distance might feel a lot closer. Take a look at all of Seattle’s connections with the 49ers:
Coach Pete Carroll coached two seasons for the 49ers
Linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. played seven seasons for the 49ers
Special teams assistant Jeff Ulbrich played 10 seasons for the 49ers
Assistant defensive backs coach Kris Richard played one season for the 49ers
Tight ends coach Pat McPherson’s father, Bill, coached 20 seasons for the 49ers
Senior personnel executive Scot McCloughan worked in various personnel capacities for the 49ers for five seasons (2005-09)
Running back Michael Robinson (four seasons) was previously a member of the 49ers
Executive assistant to the head coach Dawn Beres worked for the 49ers for seven years
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Michael Eisen, Professor of molecular and cell biology | May 24, 2010
Last week Berkeley announced a plan, spearheaded by my colleague Jasper Rine, to offer a set of simple genetic tests to incoming freshman as part of this year’s On the Same Page focus on personalized medicine. The idea is to personally engage students in the topic – to get them talking and thinking about human genetics and the ways in which the myriad scientific, medical, social and ethical issues that accompany it may affect their lives.
The program was carefully designed and approved by the independent Institutional Review Board that oversees human subjects research at Berkeley. DNA from each student who chooses to participate (it is voluntary) will be tested for three genetic variants that, respectively, affect their ability to metabolize alcohol, milk and vitamin B9. A barcoding system will ensure that only the student will be able to figure out which results belong to them. The samples will be destroyed as soon as the testing is complete.
I think it’s a great idea. There’s nothing like giving students a personal stake to get them interested in a topic, especially one that has long seemed too complicated and abstract to most people. So it’s extremely dismaying to see the kneejerk response to the plan from the new league of genetic luddites, who seem to emerge any time they hear the word “genetic test” to screech about terrible risks of learning about one’s own DNA and demand that testing be suspended.
There are certainly lots of complicated issues surrounding the coming age of personal genetics (see, for example, the DNA Age series published by the NY Times). But we are not going to deal with them by burying our heads in the sand and pretending that genetic testing is not going to happen. I simply cannot understand how these people – whose greatest fear seems to be exposing a genetically illiterate population to genetic information – could oppose a program whose main goal is to educate the next generation about genetics.
The first salvo came from the Berkeley based Center for Genetics and Society, a self- appointed genetic watchdog group (whose staff includes no geneticists). Here is some of what they had to say about the plan:
The point of this program is not to push genetic tests on students – the point is to educate them about what these tests do and don’t mean. Do they seriously think that the net result of this program is going to be Berkeley genetics faculty telling students that genetics is destiny and they they should run out and act on every snippet of genetic information they receive? Cmon. This is a UNIVERSITY. Apparently these guys need to be reminded that a university is a place where we teach students how to think about things. And we’re actually quite good at it. I can think of no better place, time or manner to have this discussion. They can’t seriously expect us to only engage topics that have been approved by federal regulators?
The Center for Genetics and Society thinks that the only appropriate place to have a genetic test is in a doctor’s office, where you can discuss the results with a doctor or genetic counselor. Yet somehow they think that it’s inappropriate to have this conversation with one of the world’s leading geneticists? Someone who taught genetics to many of the same doctors and genetic counselors the CSG holds in such high esteem. It’s ridiculous.
Another “genetic watchdog” weighed in with a similar complaint:
“To be so cavalier about using genetic testing in this way without appropriate safeguards is really astonishing and a very large disservice to the students they’re supposed to be educating,” said Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, which sent a letter to university officials Thursday criticizing the project.
I wish they would explain how this is a disservice. Do they know (or even care) how Berkeley is going to use this information? What safeguards are they talking about? They haven’t bothered to find out or think about the way in which this information is going to be used in the classroom and in the broader education process. They just assume that geneticists (again, we’re talking about a genetics organization with no geneticists on staff) are evil and are out to shove this information down people’s throats. It’s deeply offensive to the people who designed this program and thought long and hard about how to design this program, and really to all of us who have dedicated our lives to educating people about genetics.
The whole thing is absurdly paternalistic. At the core these people think the public – including our best and brightest students – are incapable of understanding something as complex as human genetics, and that they need to be protected from this information. I’m glad the Berkeley has not backed down and is going ahead with the project. And I hope the Geno-Luddites can put aside their reactionary instincts and recognize that this program is a good thing.
Full disclosure: I am on the scientific advisory board of 23andme, a company that offers the public the opportunity to have their genome analyzed and provides online tools to help them interpret the results.
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Comments to “Geno-Luddites and Berkeley’s On the Same Page program”
Every students needs privacy too for their satisfaction. This is very offensive to students.
Progressive says:
I’m a big fan of Chris Mooney’s thesis in “The Republican War on Science”. For eight years we had know-nothings in charge on stem cells. And now there are people who claim to be of the left who are doing their damnedest to give the Christian right a run for their money. Let me tell you that I am sick of special interests like this “Center for Genetics and Society” (which has no geneticists) telling me as a woman whether I can look at MY OWN BODY. I could give less of a damn about their reflexive fear and hatred and ignorance of science and medicine.
Don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one. Don’t want genetic testing? DON’T GET ONE. It’s that simple and it’s about choice.
Michael Eisen says:
I am not trying to hide anything – I declared in my original post that I have a financial stake in 23andMe (a small one, as I am an advisor and not an investor) and thus it’s conceivable that I stand to indirectly benefit if Berkeley’s plan to use genetic testing in teaching succeeds because of knock-on effects this might have on the genetic testing industry. However, I would like to point out that I routinely turn down lucrative offers to advise biotechnology companies. 23andMe is the only company I advise, and I have done so for years without any compensation. I do not adjust my views on important (or unimportant) issues in light of what is good for the company. Rather I consult for 23andMe because I believe deeply in their mission to democratize genetic testing and to give individuals access to and control over the information in their DNA. I am aware that as a result of this association some people will be inclined to discount anything I say on the subject. However I would hope that instead of viewing me as hopelessly compromised, people would simply engage what I have to say on its merits.
I also want to reiterate I am not a reflexive DNA testing cheerleader. I think there are a whole host of complicated ethical, social and scientific issues surrounding genetic testing, and real perils in the misuse of the data both on an individual and group level. As is evident, I think the potential benefits outweigh the risks. But I also think the biggest danger comes not from misuse of the data, but from misunderstanding it. And it is the potential of the Berkeley program to address this danger that makes me so enthusiastic about it.
Carol Michael says:
This is an offensive invasion of the privacy of these students. What of their constitutional rights. To say they can opt-out is unsatisfactory. A student at this University would most likely feel intimidated to opt out. But maybe not. May we see protests, sit-ins, boycotts, marches and every other peaceful means known to Berkeley students forever. We expect that of them now.
ConflictO'Interest? says:
Like many molecular biologists at UC Berkeley who work and advise in both in the “publicly assisted” and private sector. The question arises: Does Michael Eisen have a personal financial stake in this campaign popularizing genetic testing? I would ask him to reply honestly. Though I agree that thoughtful people should not necessarily turn away from a technology they understood (and they should have done their homework to find out UC protocols were with this program), there is a legitimate concern about how this information is to be used.
engrape financier says:
Yup, big corporations only think about their own wealth. They don’t care about stepping on smaller people.
Anyhow, Berkeley makes a point on this one. The internet is a huge resource acceptable to everyone.
meisen says:
I think the rhetoric was appropriate (although I regret calling them Luddites – the Luddites were trying to defend their way of life, which I can respect – people who are reflexively opposed to genetic testing are generally just being paternalistic). Without even bothering to inquire about what the program’s goals are or how it would be implemented, these groups fired off press releases attacking the plan and demanding that it be stopped. Their entire attitude is antithetical to the way that academia should function, and they should not be taken seriously unless they want to engage the issues more constructively.
That said, it is now incumbent upon Berkeley to prove the skeptics wrong. This could be done well or it could be done poorly. I have great confidence in Jasper Rine to do his part well, but this will require more than just one professor. The risk is not that somehow students will be harmed by finding out if they are lactose intolerant, but rather that a great opportunity to get them to think deeply about genetic testing will have been lost. To do my part, I plan to teach a Freshman seminar on the science, sociology and ethics of genetic testing, and I’d welcome any ideas people have about how to do this and what issues we should address.
Tiddilywinks says:
This is a pretty reactionary post, which employs the same type of rhetoric used by tobacco companies to attack concerned citizens, or oil companies to attack environmentalists (what hippie isn’t self-appointed?), etc.
Calling your opponents Luddites? Often the people most active in technology issues are technologists concerned about implications of their own creations.
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Category: Career research
9th Nov, 2020 9th Nov, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
Dom Walter, Exeter Alumn and current Assistant Producer, BBC Natural History Unit
Dom Walter graduated from the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus in BSC Biological Sciences with Study Abroad 2013, followed by MSC Conservation and Biodiversity 2014. He’s currently an Assistant Producer with the BBC Natural History Unit.
Tell us about your career, and the exciting things you’ve been working on…
Since leaving Exeter I have been working in the film industry, specifically making scientific and natural history documentaries. Scientific documentaries are a great source of knowledge; they have always inspired me to explore and learn more about the complex world we live in. A major reason why I decided to venture into scientific film is that, during my time at University, the dissemination of scientific findings and the challenge of putting them into a relatable context via means of visual presentations was the most enjoyable aspect of my course. Television is a powerful medium for communicating scientific research to the public; it uniquely transports people into a world, which would otherwise be inaccessible. It also captures events at a specific time and space, making them accessible for generations to come.
“I’ve dined on the border of North Korea, hung out with astronauts, flown in helicopters over glaciers in Alaska, and touched a Tyrannosaurus rex as it was being exposed for the first time in sixty six million years!”
Television creates a window through which future generations can witness all the weird and wonderful flora and fauna which, due to the recent elevated extinction rates, they may not have had the opportunity to observe first hand. One of the best things about working in this industry is by far the unparalleled access to places and people you get. Over the last couple of years, I’ve dined on the border of North Korea, hung out with astronauts, flown in helicopters over glaciers in Alaska, and touched a Tyrannosaurus rex as it was being exposed for the first time in sixty six million years!
What advice would you give anyone interested in getting into natural history broadcasting?
Grab a camera, an iPhone will do, and practice visual storytelling. Find something that captures your imagination and run with it – make a film! Could be on anything from understanding the iridescence of neck plumage of a pigeon on campus, to flying out to Borneo and capturing the mellifluous love songs gibbon pairs perform every morning!
Speak to as many people in the industry as possible. Call up and email production companies and try book in some work experience with them. You will get a lot of rejection but don’t worry, it only takes one acceptance to get your foot in the door so be tenacious.
I hope to direct a BBC landmark series with the man himself, Sir DA!
2nd Nov, 2020 2nd Nov, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
Ayesha Tandon Graduated in MSci Natural Sciences, 2019. She’s currently a Climate Science Communicator at the UK Met office. Find out the steps she took to get into this exciting career.
Ayesha Tandon, Exeter Alumn and Climate Science Communicator at the UK Met office
I work as a Climate Science Communicator at the UK Met Office, where my job involves helping members of the government and general public to easily understand important aspects of climate science. I started my career at the Met Office as in intern in the summer of 2018 and loved it! I continued to work part-time at the Met Office throughout my Masters year, and this experience helped me to get an internship at the climate journalism group Carbon Brief during the summer of 2019, where I was focusing on improving my writing. Following this internship, I began to work for the Met Office full-time. Climate change is a hugely pressing issue; human activity is already causing large-scale changes to the climate system that are likely to cause more severe impacts in the coming years.
The Met Office Hadley Centre produces world-leading research on climate science, but this is often highly technical and can be difficult to understand. This is where Climate Science Communicators come in! We write paper summaries, produce briefings for government, draft text for the Met Office website, and design infographics to explain climate research more easily, allowing people without a scientific background to understand important pieces of science. It is very difficult for anyone to care about something that they cannot fully understand it, so this work is crucial for bridging the gap between scientists and policy makers.
“The Met Office produces world-leading research on climate science, but this is often highly technical and can be difficult to understand. This is where Climate Science Communicators come in! We write paper summaries, produce briefings for government, draft text for the Met Office website, and design infographics to explain climate research more easily, allowing people without a scientific background to understand important pieces of science.”
Finding this job was a very happy accident. When I started my degree in Natural Sciences in 2015, I was completely clueless about which area of science I might want to pursue. I was drawn to a range of different topics throughout my degree, but climate science turned my head in third year and that was the one that stuck. I also enjoyed writing and editing for university newspapers and journals throughout my degree, and was always on the lookout for some elusive job that could combine these two interests. My application for an internship at the Met Office in Climate Science Communication was very last minute. Some of my friends were finishing off their applications, and I thought ‘Why not?’ I did not think that it would come to anything, and was torn between which of the multiple internships I should apply for. In hindsight, I feel very lucky that I picked the right internship, because I have loved my work at the Met Office!
My favourite part of the job, as cheesy as it sounds, is that it allows me to share my love of climate science with people! This job allows me to talk to world-leading scientists about cutting-edge research, and then think of creative, informative ways to share their work with the rest of the world. The first thing that I do whenever I start a project is to read whatever I can on the subject, and talk to the scientists leading the research, so my knowledge of climate science has ballooned over the past two years! I am usually working on multiple projects at one time, and a single project can take anywhere from hours to years to complete!
“I feel very fortunate that I chose to study at Exeter because it is such an international hub of climate science research and expertise.”
I feel very fortunate that I chose to study at Exeter because it is such an international hub of climate science research and expertise. I did not have any interest in climate science when I first joined the University, but I was surrounded by so much incredible research at Exeter that climate science quickly became my favourite topic. Plenty of the lecturers at the University have links with the Met Office, and many of the third year group projects were strongly linked to Met Office science and research. I even attended the James Lovelock Climate Science conference “a three day event that attracted people from around the world” on the Exeter University campus!
When I joined the University, I had no idea about which area of science I might be interested in, and so I really appreciated that this course allowed me to take my time to explore my options. The first year was an intensive year studying all sciences, maths, and computer science to get us up to scratch, so that by the time we reached second year, there was a huge choice of modules available to us. Those who knew what they wanted to study were able to specialise straight away, but others (like me) were able to spend a couple of years exploring different options. I started off my degree with an interest in nanotechnology, and came out of it specialising in climate science! I can’t think of many other courses that would have allowed this.
“The most important skills that I learned at University were definitely the soft skills that you pick up without realising, rather than specific facts or equations learned in lectures.”
The most important skills that I learned at University were definitely the soft skills that you pick up without realising, rather than specific facts or equations learned in lectures. For example, every year throughout my degree, we did a group project. I will be the first to admit that I found group projects quite stressful, and that I did not always look forward them. However, they taught me a huge amount about organising a team of people, about adapting my working style to fit with my course mates, and about playing to everyone’s strengths to get the best possible outcome from a project. I now work in a very diverse team of people at the Met Office and really enjoy it!
It is difficult to jump straight into a career; it is much easier to do it in lots of little steps. So keep your eye open for exciting opportunities and get involved in everything that you can at University because these things will give you experience, introduce you to interesting people, and be great stepping stones towards the next stage of your career. I didn’t enjoy every single one of the stepping stones that I took, but each one gave me some experience that I could put towards my next stepping stone. These extra things are great to talk about in interviews, and can really set you apart from everyone else. I think that this advice is probably relevant for the vast majority of careers.
My stepping stones towards my current job were:
Writing for the student newspaper Exepose, and the Exeter Undergraduate STEM Journal in my first two years of University. These were publications that any Exeter student could contribute to, and were a nice easy first step
In my third year of University, I joined the board editors for both publications. Again, this was a fairly easy step because I had experience with the publications
I started a personal blog to develop my writing style a bit more. I didn’t publicise it to anyone, and just used it to explore different topics and writing styles. I now really enjoy writing for this blog.
Internship at the Met Office in the summer of my third year. This was probably the biggest step, but it helped that I had a lot of experience to draw on. This internship was amazing, and it taught me a lot about climate science and its communication. I was then invited to continue working part-time throughout my final year at university.
Internship at Carbon brief in the summer of my graduation. I used a piece from my blog, and my knowledge from the Met Office in my application
Full-time job at the Met Office
I hope that I will be able to stay at the Met Office for at least a few more years! I recently completed media training and have started giving interviews and talks, which I am really enjoying. I also want to do much more outreach at schools to engage children more with climate change, so I have also applied to be a STEM Ambassador! I’m not sure at the moment if I want to pursue communications with government, outreach with the general public or both! That said, I also do miss getting stuck into maths and science, so there definitely is a possibility that I might do a PhD in the future. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do in the future, but I love where I am at right now!
26th Oct, 2020 23rd Oct, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
Becca McAuley Graduated from the University of Exeter BA International Relations, 2018. She’s currently a Sub-editor at the Daily Mail.
Becca McAuley, University of Exeter Graduate and current Sub-editor at the Daily Mail
After I graduated from Exeter I did a MA in Newspaper Journalism at City, University of London. While I was there I did some work experiences at places like The Times, The Telegraph and PA where I learnt more about the different types of journalism which helped me to decide what sort of career I wanted. I applied successfully for the Trainee Sub-Editor Scheme at the Daily Mail and did a placement at Metro as part of my training before starting properly at the Mail.
“There’s a great satisfaction in writing a good headline or caption, and it’s even better when the story you’ve subbed is picked up on the TV or radio when the papers are being reviewed.”
Before doing my MA I didn’t really know what sub-editing was or even that it existed as a job in its own right, but it’s exactly what I’ve always enjoyed most about journalism. I absolutely love being on the front line of getting the paper out each day – the sub-editors are some of the last journalists who read the stories that go into the paper before it is printed. I love the variety of stories I get to read and edit and it’s so cool seeing the paper coming together over a couple of hours. There’s also a great satisfaction in writing a good headline or caption, and it’s even better when the story you’ve subbed is picked up on the TV or radio when the papers are being reviewed. On a typical day I come into the office in the afternoon and read that day’s paper so I know the context if there are any follow-ups to come. In any one shift I could go from subbing a story on Prince Harry to one about a big row at the heart of government – the variation keeps it interesting. Once all the stories have been subbed and the paper has been checked and printed we go again for the second and third edition, when updates to stories and new stories are added.
“In my third year I was co-editor of The Witness, the University’s politics journal, which is where I started to realise my love of sub-editing – before I even realised that was what it was. I was also a member of Xpression, the radio station, which I made news reports for and where I contributed to the Friday evening news hour.”
My favourite thing about my BA at Exeter was the variety of modules I could choose from, which meant I could make my degree exactly what I wanted it to be. I’ve always been really interested in the Middle East so I took advantage of being able to study modules from outside my discipline and took modules from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies – Jonathan Githens-Mazer’s modules on Muslims in Britain and Nationalisms in the Middle East were definitely some of my favourites and the fact these were often smaller classes was hugely beneficial in allowing the class to discuss and debate the topics and learn from each other. The modules offered by the Strategy and Security Institute were brilliant too and it was amazing to be taught by experts from the field – people with experience at the top levels of decision-making including Dr David Blagden and Dr Sergio Catignani. I also really enjoyed studying Contemporary Public Debate in an Age of Anti-Politics, which definitely gave me food for thought at a time I was figuring out how to become a journalist and what sort of journalist I wanted to be. In my third year I was co-editor of The Witness, the University’s politics journal, which is where I started to realise my love of sub-editing – before I even realised that was what it was. I was also a member of Xpression, the radio station, which I made news reports for and where I contributed to the Friday evening news hour.
“For anyone wanting to get into journalism generally, the best thing you can do is get experience and make this experience varied. Write for the student paper or the magazines, have a blog, get work experience at local and national publications.”
My experience in student journalism at Exeter was invaluable – it gave me the skills I needed to be able to do a Masters while also convincing me that journalism was definitely the path I wanted to go down. The fact that my academic interests are also my journalistic interests meant everything I learnt in lectures taught me something that I could take with me in my career.
For anyone wanting to get into journalism generally, the best thing you can do is get experience and make this experience varied. Write for the student paper or the magazines, have a blog, get work experience at local and national publications. This will not only show your commitment but will help you to learn about different types of journalism and will give you an idea of what area you’d like to go into. For sub-editing the best advice I can give is read widely – this will help you to understand the different styles different newspapers or magazines have. Also don’t close yourself off to any types of news – as a sub-editor you can go from subbing a story about Love Island one minute to one about a big policy announcement the next so having at least some knowledge of lots of areas is vital.
I absolutely love sub-editing and in the future I’d like to expand my skill set to include commissioning. I would also be interested in one day working for a publication that focuses more in-depth on politics and policy decisions. I wouldn’t rule out a return to writing about politics in some form, though I definitely want more experience as a sub-editor first and I’m excited to see what the next few years hold.
19th Oct, 2020 16th Oct, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
William Cafferky graduated from Exeter in BA Politics 2015, and MA Conflict Security and Development 2016. He’s currently a Public Policy Consultant at Cordis Bright.
William Cafferky, Exeter Alumn, and Public Policy Consultant at Cordis Bright
Since I left Exeter, I’ve worked across the public sector in a variety of consulting and research roles. I began looking at how technology is used by the Department of Work and Pensions to improve the experience of those on benefits. I now work for a researcher consultancy, working across the public sector, in particular criminal justice, adult social care, and community healthcare. I began as a researcher, working mostly with clients from local government, central government, and charities to understand more about the impact of the work they do.
I have since been promoted, and now project manage a number of evaluations across our sectors. Examples of recent areas of work have included improving support for people who experience a combination of homelessness and substance misuse; encouraging behavioural change among perpetrators domestic abuse; and the benefits of providing more integrated healthcare.
“When I graduated, I was keen to find a job which would allow me to explore a variety of topics and ideas in order to better understand where my interests lay professionally. Consulting offered me that variety.”
When I graduated, I was keen to find a job which would allow me to explore a variety of topics and ideas in order to better understand where my interests lay professionally. Consulting offered me that variety. My first consulting job out of University gave me a robust introduction to domestic public policy. Nevertheless, I was keen to find something which enabled me to explore some of the aspect of the Conflict Security and Development MA which I had enjoyed so much, namely conducting robust research, which was grounded in real world situations, centered on improving people’s quality of life.
Whilst my career is not as internationally focused as my studies were, those aforementioned core elements are still a huge part of why I enjoy what I do. I get to be heavily involved in understanding the latest trends and innovations in policy which are looking to resolve some of the biggest questions we face around the health and wellbeing of our population. In addition to this, the fact that I work on such a diverse range of projects keeps my work interesting and challenging. Through the projects I manage, I get to work with commissioners, policy makers, and key stakeholders in a variety of sectors, whilst also getting the chance to interview and consult with frontline staff, and the people accessing different services.
The research projects I did, especially during my Masters course gave me a real edge in my interviews. I also think taking advantage of the opportunities University presents, in terms of the breadth of experiences on offer, can really help you make more informed decisions when it comes to post-University life.
“If you’re looking for a career in research specifically, don’t underestimate the importance of your dissertation, and the research methods you use as padding out your experience. Finding out what you don’t like can be just as valuable as realizing what you do like when finding a job which works for you.”
If you’re looking for a career in research specifically, don’t underestimate the importance of your dissertation, and the research methods you use as padding out your experience. If, like me, you’re not certain what you want to do, don’t be afraid to try things, and don’t be scared if you don’t enjoy them. Finding out what you don’t like can be just as valuable as realizing what you do like when finding a job which works for you.
I think the most important thing to remember is that you can’t expect yourself to know everything straight away, and you probably know more than you give yourself credit for! Be curious, ask questions, and feel comfortable getting things wrong, as long as you use it as an opportunity to learn.
For now I’m enjoying my time working across such a broad range of public policy sectors. I imagine that as time goes by, I might look to specialise more in an area I’m particularly interested by, for example working with homeless people. This might involve working more at a local council level, or within the civil service. I’ve also recently begun training to become a qualified football coach, so this might present opportunities in the future to balance these two career paths.
12th Oct, 2020 8th Oct, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
Sabine Hoadley, Exeter Graduate and current Clinical Exercise Specialist at CP+R
Sabine Hoadley Graduated from the University of Exeter in Medical Science, 2020. She is currently a Clinical Exercise Specialist at CP+R. She talks about how the Career Zone helped her find her dream job, and how the Career Mentor Scheme was invaluable to her career insight.
I heard about this career through the Career Zone! I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, as Medical Science leaves many doors open for employment. After considering the idea of Medicine, I realised that I am not ready for this huge academic commitment at the moment, and perhaps it will be something to come back to in the future. Then I heard about the role as a Clinical Exercise Specialist at CP+R and it really stood out to me. We will deliver sustained, life-changing healthcare to CP+R athletes through monitored exercise sessions, nutritional guidance and lifestyle advice and support. I am very excited to start this role, and having met with the team via Zoom meetings and visited the workplace on Harley Street, I can’t wait to begin working with some of the athletes.
“I signed up for the Career Mentor Scheme whilst I was in Year 3 which was invaluable to my career insight… I would say take any opportunities that are given to you.”
I signed up for the Career Mentor Scheme whilst I was in Year 3 which was invaluable to my career insight. Chris Moody was an excellent mentor and gave me a lot of help with my CV and cover letters, as well as providing some really fantastic insight into his work life. Also doing my placement year at the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Brisbane, Australia was invaluable to my career – so I would say take any opportunities that are given to you.
Based on the preliminary work of my dissertation project, I was selected as one of four Final Year Exeter students who presented abstracts (online due to Covid-19) at “3D Printing, Advanced Robotics and Automation (3DPARA) in London, United Kingdom, 21st – 22nd May 2020”. My dissertation looked at the possible uses of 3D printing for application in the Medical Field. Under the excellent supervision of Mohammad Akrami and Reza Zamani, they have helped me to pursue this opportunity, and I was excited to present my project at this event.
“Not to be cliché but don’t be afraid of failure! I had applied to quite a few jobs before I got the one I was offered… but it just goes to show that the right thing comes around if you wait for it.”
Not to be cliché but don’t be afraid of failure! I had applied to quite a few jobs before I got the one I was offered… but it just goes to show that the right thing comes around if you wait for it. I also think that applications give you so much experience on how to deal with different situations as well as the opportunity to improve your interview technique and gain confidence with the sort of questions that they might ask.
I have been an active member of the surf club since first year at Exeter. The surf society is fantastic and has been the perfect way to meet friends, as well as go on a number of surf trips abroad, including to France, Portugal and Morocco. I have also been one of the founding members of Friends of the Earth at Exeter, and acted as Treasurer, responsible for sourcing grants for our group. As a group, we focussed on grassroots community action in Exeter, fighting for a better planet (local actions, global effects). We ran a sustainable cooking workshop back in March that tried to encourage people to incorporate seasonal and local produce into their cooking. I also took part in Fight Night this year, which I had always promised myself I would sign up to since first year. Being in my final year of Uni, this was a balance of extreme stress work wise with my dissertation, and training 4 times a week for Fight Night. Funnily enough I found that it was actually one of my favourite terms at Uni – it was the perfect opportunity to stress bust while working out on the punching bags!
28th Sep, 2020 25th Sep, 2020 Jenny Woolacott-Scarr
Apurva Baban Varute graduated from University of Exeter in Engineering and Management in Civil and Environment, 2014. She’s currently Senior Structural Design Engineer at Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited, Mumbai
Apurva Baban Varute, Exeter Graduate and current Senior Structural Design Engineer at Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited, Mumbai
After leaving Exeter, I returned back to India and applied for jobs as a structural design engineer in Mumbai and New Delhi. I was then interviewed by various companies and I got opportunity to work with SYSTRA, New Delhi. While at SYSTRA, I worked in Metro projects, mainly the detailed design of depot buildings and metro stations. After working in SYSTRA for 2 years, I switched to Shirish Patel and Associated Private Limited, Mumbai where I got the opportunity to work under Dr Nori and Mr Shirish Patel for Pune Metro and Kochi Metro Projects. I was exposed to detailed design and drawings of Viaduct /Bridges. Currently I am working for Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Private Limited, Mumbai. I am positioned as Senior Design Engineer for the fully underground metro line MML3. I am involved in the detailed design and drawings of underground stations including permanent and temporary works. I am also involved in a highway project.
“My advice to all the young students is to never give up. We all have dreams and we all work hard to achieve it. But in the process we may feel demotivated or have self-doubt. It is important to stay focused and have patience.”
The reason for me to choose the profile I am into is because I wanted to stay in core technical field. I am good at math and I like solving math related problems. In my current profile, there are various kind of problems that arise everyday due to site conditions which need to be solved quick and with proper decision making. I enjoy facing these problems and finding solution.
At Exeter I enjoyed receiving lectures by the academic staff mainly by Dr Khurram Wadee and Professor Akbar Javadi. All lecturers in all my subjects made tremendous efforts so that we as students could understand the subject and were open to answering questions anytime during college hours. My lecturers were always polite and have helped me grow academically as well as professionally, which I deeply miss. The biggest highlight for me was the course structure. I enjoyed solving assignments and group discussions with my classmates, spending time in the library in search of answers or studying. The course structure gave me enough time to complete my assignments in time and self-study and also have time for myself since the campus was so beautiful. I made many friends from all over the world and it was quite an experience learning about their country, culture, traditions, and education. Even with such a diversity I found harmony within the campus. Everyone I met from my personal tutor to my career adviser have been extremely helpful and understanding. My experience at Exeter turned out to be extraordinary and much more than I expected.
“My future plans are to gain more knowledge in my field and start a company of my own. I aspire to become one of the few woman engineers in India and around the world who can make a difference.”
My advice to all the young students is to never give up. We all have dreams and we all work hard to achieve it. But in the process we may feel demotivated or have self-doubt. It is important to stay focused and have patience. Exeter changed my life hugely and I feel deeply honoured and lucky in a way. It had such positive impact on my life that it helped me grow into a confident and better person.
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Sale Price 7.5
3rd Party 2.2
Review Date January 13th, 2013 by M. Enois Duarte
Overview - From Disney and creative genius Tim Burton (“Alice in Wonderland,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) comes the hilarious and offbeat “Frankenweenie,” a heartwarming tale about a boy and his dog. After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life—with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town learn that getting a new ‘leash on life’ can be monstrous.
Portions of this review also appear in our coverage of 'Frankeweenie - 3D.'
French DTS-HD HR 7.1
Special Features: Featurette
Movie Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
A boy's best friend is his dead dog in Tim Burton's 'Frankenweenie,' an extended remake of the director's 1984's short film which didn't see the light of day until a decade later and cost him his job with the same studio now fronting this lengthier animated version. It's an interesting piece of cosmic irony, particularly since he was fired for making something deemed too scary for younger viewers. Thirty years later, the same could still be said of this longer take, which adds an extra 50-minutes of spooks and frights to the original and sees neighborhood kids bring their beloved pets back from the dead. Yet, the heartwarming story of a boy and his dog is the glue keeping everything together, even when things are at their wildest, mixing the scares with plenty of laughs.
Whereas the original is a live-action short starring Shelley Duvall, Daniel Stern, and a plucky Bull Terrier, this remake is a stop-motion animated feature with a host of voice talents and a lively cartoon Bull Terrier strutting lots more stitches than its predecessor. The time and setting has also changed into the quaint, peaceful town of New Holland — its name prominently displayed like the Hollywood sign on the side of a hill overlooking neighborhoods borrowed directly from Burton's 'Edward Scissorhands.'
The central plot remains the same, however, with little Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) losing his hairy companion while chasing a baseball into the middle of the road. His parents (Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara) do what they can to comfort him, but the intelligent kid with a passion for science is set on reviving his slobbering buddy.
Victor tries to keep his act against nature a secret, and the upcoming school science fair is the perfect guise from which he can work without suspicion. An oddly cute scene has him sneak by his parents, who are watching Hammer Film's classic 'Horror of Dracula' with Christopher Lee, while dragging a burlap sack with the remains of his dog. Shortly after, crabby next-door neighbor Mayor Bergermeister (also voiced by Short) sees Victor on the roof setting off kites and an umbrella during a thunderstorm. The entire sequence echoes the same feel and look of James Whale's two 'Frankenstein' features, awash in dark, ominous shadows and shot in a variety of canted high angles.
It's not long before the town catches wind of the experiment, thanks largely to the hunchbacked Edgar Gore (Atticus Shaffer) who looks a bit like a child-version of Peter Lorre, and the story makes an obvious departure from its source, suddenly growing in size and scope. Writing credits this time around go to John August ('Dark Shadows' and 'Big Fish'), who expands the parody and homage elements of Burton's original into a love letter to classic horror cinema. The aforementioned sequence, which was mostly taken from the short film, is only one of several clever but not very subtle references made throughout. For horror and stop-motion aficionados, 'Frankenweenie' becomes a quirky game of name that movie while younger viewers sit in awe at the amazing hand-crafted artistry that went into making this wonderful animated fantasy.
Mayor Bergermeister shrewdly mimics his ill-tempered, stop-motion counterpart in the classic Christmas special, 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.' Winona Ryder channels her performance from Burton's 'Beettlejuice' to play the Mayor's niece, the melancholic Elsa van Helsing. O'Hara voices the creepy, non-blinking, psychic blonde Weird Girl who escaped from 1960's 'Village of the Damned.' Toshiaki (voiced by James Hiroyuki Liao) is a strange classmate who acts as the story's enemy with eccentrically funny Fu Manchu sensibilities and whose pet hilariously transforms into a Gamera-like behemoth. Short also provides the voice to Nassor, a flat-headed kid who resembles Boris Karloff and whose mummy hamster eventually leads to his being wrapped inside a sarcophagus. Best of all is Martin Landau lending his splendid talent to science teacher Mr. Rzykruski, the inspiration behind Victor's experiment and who is a loving homage to horror icon Vincent Price. (You can read more into that.)
Somewhere in the middle, 'Frankenweenie' loses a bit of its spark and edge, but it never loses much of its amazing charm with its knowing puns and nods to classic horror cinema. The stop-motion film is an enchantingly playful macabre tale which can frighten the youngest in the crowd, but it will fascinate and win over movie lovers who are still young at heart, giving Burton's directing career a much needed jolt of life.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment offers Tim Burton's 'Frankenweenie' in two Blu-ray options: a four-disc 3D package or a two-disc combo pack. For this review, the latter is being discussed. The first disc is a Region Free, BD50 sitting comfortably on the panel opposite a DVD-9 copy of the movie. At startup, the disc commences with a series of skippable trailers for other Disney features, and then switches to a menu screen with full-motion clips and music playing in the background.
Despite being in black and white, which is in keeping to the film's homage of horror classics, the stop-motion family flick dazzles the screen with this reference-quality 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode (1.85:1). From the blades of grass to the stitching and threading of baseball caps, details are razor-sharp. Ultra-fine lines on the face of Mr. Rzykruski, the science teacher, like the wrinkles around his eyes or just over his mouth, are very distinct and defined. Individual hairs, whether on the various animals or atop the heads of characters, are plainly perceptible and seem to move freely with the wind. Close-ups are particularly impressive as they expose minor blemishes made during each figurines making, giving them a great deal of texture and realism.
Contrast is pitch-perfect, with brilliant whites, allowing for some extraordinary moments of visibility of the smallest background objects in the distance. The tiny little lines on the windmill and the lettering of the town's name on the hill are as clear as anything else in the foreground during those extreme wide shots. Black levels are inky rich and true with a penetrating intensity in the darkest portions without sacrificing any of the detailing. Gradations in the grayscale are spot-on and exceptional. The overall 2D image has an appreciable three-dimensional feel of its own, making this a superb high-def transfer of a fun animated feature.
'Frankenweenie' comes to life on Blu-ray with a highly entertaining DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack that surrounds and engages with a variety of classic horror cues. The most prominent effect is the sound of thunder and lightning, which cracks and booms with a deafening roar that spreads to all seven speakers evenly. During the less exciting scenes, such as during school hours, we can still hear a few atmospherics in the rears, creating a subtle but wonderfully engrossing soundfield. Danny Elfman's musical score does a majority of the work, consistently filling the background with its unique mix of circus-like merriment and understated gothic tones.
In the front, imaging feels wide and expansive with other random discrete sounds which are convincing and engaging. Dynamic range is room-penetrating and extensive, allowing the crack of thunder to come in with astonishing clarity and distinctness. The orchestration in Elfman's music is vivid and crystal-clear. Low-frequency effects are responsive and substantial with some surprisingly authoritative moments in a few scenes. Amid all the mayhem, the voices of actors are precise and well-prioritized, giving fans plenty to love in this entertaining family horror feature.
Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit (HD, 5 min) — The exhibit traveled the world showcasing the puppets, props and artwork used in the film.
Music Video (HD) — The Plain White T's perform their cover of The Ramones song "Pet Sematary."
Sneak Peeks (HD) — A set of previews.
An extended and imaginatively expanded remake of Tim Burton's live-action short film, 'Frankenweenie' is a delightfully fun and macabre tale about a boy and his dog. Overflowing with several nods and puns, some more deliciously clever than others, the stop-motion family film charms its way into the hearts of movie lovers as a whimsical love letter to classic horror cinema. The Blu-ray comes to life with a reference-quality video presentation, excellent lossless audio and a strong assortment of bonus material, making the overall package is a recommended purchase.
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Choke: A Movie, a Verb, a Way of Life
In an ongoing effort to educate myself about the roots of the martial art I love, I recently watched the 1999 documentary Choke. In academese, you could say that Choke is a historical document, a primary source that provides insight into an important moment in grappling history and captures the charisma and extraordinary talent of one of grappling’s most famous ambassadors.
Plus, the fight scenes are badass.
Directed by Robert Goodman, Choke chronicles the preparation of three fighters for the 1995 Japan Open, a vale tudo (“anything goes”) event. The featured fighters were Rickson Gracie, who was preparing to defend the freestyle fighting title he had won in 1994 and is one of the best-known figures in Brazilian jiu jitsu, oh, and two other dudes.
Just kidding. The other guys were American Todd Hays, who fought out of Oklahoma, and Japanese contender Koichiro Kimura. The reason I sort of glossed over them is twofold. First, I’m biased toward grapplers in general, and second, there is just something legitimately compelling about Rickson Gracie. You have to watch him, whether he’s training jiu jitsu, coining quotable quotes that capture many practitioners’ beliefs and feelings about it, or demonstrating his other physical abilities (including a really impressive, and somewhat alien-seeming, display of breathing control). I can’t say for sure that non-grapplers would feel the same, but given his eloquence in describing his love of jiu jitsu in terms of what it affords him in life, perhaps they would.
And anyway, the title, coupled with the fact that Rickson’s grappling ability has taken on almost mythic proportions (in grappling circles it is spoken about in hushed tones and behind respectfully lowered eyes), further communicates this movie is Rickson’s, with the vale tudo event and the other competitors simply the backdrop/rationale for a closer look at him. I had heard some of his better-known comments about jiu jitsu (including the much-adored “You pretty much flow with the go”), and the movie combines many of them in one place for easy consumption and further contemplation.
For instance, consider this eloquent encapsulation of the “it” about Brazilian jiu jitsu: “The most interesting aspect of jiu jitsu is the…sensibility of the opponent, the sense of touch, the weight, the momentum, the transition from one movement to another, that’s the amazing thing about it.” And he gets at the ineffable when he says, “I feel myself as an artist. I like to do things because it’s (sic) beautiful, it’s intense, it’s edgy…I like to put my energy in life, in intensity.” The point is every white belt on the planet likely has these thoughts and feelings about BJJ (thoughts and feelings that stay with them through their entire BJJ journey) but perhaps not the insight or the language to express them. This is why Rickson is Rickson and the rest of us are, well, not.
The film weaves together footage of the three competitors as they prepare for the event, including talking head testimony from coaches, family members, and athletes themselves. During a visit to a radio station where Rickson is scheduled to participate in an interview prior to the event, a photographer tells Rickson that he (the photographer) would come to Japan to see the event if he could because, “With you, I’m watching history.”
Still and all, the rest of the bouts in the eight-man event are exciting to watch too. Yuki Nakai, a contender who weighs maybe 130 lbs., bests not one, but two opponents who are virtually twice his size, dispatching Gerard Gordeau with what is referred to in the film as a “knee lock,” and Greg Pittman via armbar. Though he does not escape unscathed, sustaining bruises around his eyes that almost swell them shut, Nakai’s wins secure him a spot in the final against Rickson.
For his part, Rickson survives a guillotine attempt by Yoshihisa Yamamoto before taking him down, mounting him, taking his back and finishing him with a rear naked choke. He then does basically the same thing to Kimura, who breaks down in tears during his post-fight interview, describing the experience of fighting Rickson: “I’ve come to understand the enormous depth of Gracie jiu jitsu. It’s not simply a blend of wrestling and judo. His is an entirely new discipline that I want to understand as much as I can…Please leave me alone now.”
In the end, Rickson, who had decided ahead of time he did not want to punch Nakai due to the damage the latter had already sustained in his earlier fights, took Nakai down, passed his guard, and took the mount in a decidedly authoritative manner before eventually taking his back and executing - you guessed it - a rear naked choke.
In addition to being a fun showcase of vale tudo, Choke remains relevant today in terms of its messages, about fighting and about life. It is a historical artifact, but it can provide present-day grapplers with a bit more understanding of the history of their art and how they might be able to honor and contribute to it. So much of what’s in the movie rings true, even close to twenty years after the event. This is what makes a classic a classic.
Check out "Choke" yourself - you can watch the whole thing on YouTube - and post your reactions to comments below.
See more about: martial arts, brazilian jiu jitsu, BJJ, brazilian jiu jitsu
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Developing Leg Control in Kickboxing With David Breed
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§ 3-5.04 NEIGHBORHOOD ASSISTANCE ACT TAX CREDIT
A. The $125,000 limit on donations for which tax credits may be issued for taxable year 2014 pursuant to § 58.1-439.24 of the Code of Virginia shall not apply if, after an equitable allocation of tax credits for Fiscal Year 2015 under the Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit Program, the total amount of tax credits allocated for all programs approved under the Act was less than $16 million.
The $125,000 limit on donations for which tax credits may be issued for taxable year 2015 pursuant to § 58.1-439.24 of the Code of Virginia shall not apply if, after an equitable allocation of tax credits for Fiscal Year 2016 under the Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit Program, the total amount of tax credits allocated for all programs approved under the Act was less than $17 million. However, in no event shall (i) more than $16 million in tax credits be issued for Fiscal Year 2015 and (ii) more than $17 million in tax credits be issued for Fiscal Year 2016 under the Act.
B. Notwithstanding § 58.1-439.20 or any other provision of law, for Fiscal Year 2015, the amount of the Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit available under § 58.1-439.18 et seq., Code of Virginia, shall be limited to $16 million allocated as follows: $8.5 million for education proposals for approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and $7.5 million for all other proposals for approval by the Commissioner of the State Department of Social Services. For Fiscal Year 2016, the amount of the Neighborhood Assistance Act Tax Credit available under § 58.1-439.18 et seq., Code of Virginia, shall be limited to $17 million allocated as follows: $9 million for education proposals for approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and $8 million for all other proposals for approval by the Commissioner of the State Department of Social Services.
C. For purposes of this section, the term "individual" means the same as that term is defined in § 58.1-302, but excluding any individual included in the definition of a "business firm" as such term is defined in § 58.1-439.18.
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Daily Dawg Thread – 08-June2019 – Class Of 2020 4-Star WR Leonard Manuel
Daily Dawg Thread Sports UGA Football UGA Football Recruiting No Comments
Daily Dawg Thread – 08-June2019 – Class Of 2020 4-Star WR Leonard Manuel – By Matthew Hall
It will come as no surprise to all that the Georgia Football program and the University of Florida have been embattled in a heightened recruiting trail rivalry over the duration of the last few months. Throughout the course of it all, the aforementioned has attracted national media attention and has even elicited talk from both Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen and from UGA Head Coach Kirby Smart alike. Mullen has taken shots at Georgia throughout his booster-club travels this spring and some of his chatter made reference to Georgia losing Justin Fields via transfer to Ohio State as well as a reference to the Gator’s spring game attendance figure being a troll pertaining to Georgia’s length of time since winning its last national championship. In response to Mullen’s mouth and words, Georgia Football Head Coach Kirby Smart candidly responded about it all when inquired about such via the Paul Finebaum Show back in May.
“I just don’t know that there is a lot that we control by the words we say. Football is so much to me is played between the lines and the physicality of the people that play it. We are going to play a brand of football at Georgia that is physical and tough. We do not really want to talk to the opponents.
If I go out and do that as a coach, how do I look to my players? It is not something that I enjoy doing or want to do. I just want to go work really hard and grind and play the game and may the best team win.
I just don’t think you need that. That is not going to make Georgia great. We are not going to move up in the rankings by what I say. We are going to do it by how we play. We want to talk with our helmets. That is what we always talk about – we want to play a physical brand of football and not do it with our mouthpiece.”
Georgia Football Head Coach Kirby Smart In Response And Pertaining To The Smack Talk Of Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen Via The Paul Finebaum Show Of May 10, 2019
Mullen and the Gators’ talk has been quite big when considering the losses that have been dealt in their direction by the Dawgs over the last couple of seasons. All the sidebar chatter has not equated into recruiting victories either with the Florida football program losing multiple committed players and recruits in the recent past. The Bulldogs were further recent winners over the Gators on the recruiting trail when Class of 2020 4-Star DT Warren Brinson committed to Georgia over Florida on June 1, 2019. With the loss of Brinson not even yet out of Florida’s rear view given its recent occurrence, the Gators look to possibly be in jeopardy with losing another commit to the Georgia Football program. Class of 2020 4-Star Wide Receiver Leonard Manuel, who is committed to the Gators, does not appear to be firmly grounded in that decision. The talented Florida Gators wide receiver pledge made it known on Social Media on Thursday that while he remains to be committed to Florida, he does still have a “Top 7” of which he included the Georgia Bulldogs.
https://twitter.com/Begreatliltone2/status/1136798453760221185
Class Of 2020 4-Star WR Leonard Manuel On Twitter – June 6, 2019
Leonard Manuel attends and plays for Vanguard High School in Ocala, Florida. He is currently rated the #13 overall wide receiver and the #7 overall player in the state of Florida for the Class of 2020 per 247Sports Composite Rankings. He is of good size, frame, and stature fitting the prototypical build for the wide receiver position as he stands in at 6-4 and 200 pounds. Manuel is quick and sure-handed with the ability to make the catch on the run via the slant route, to the outside and on the edges, and by way of a straight line deep down the field. Aside from being an elite offensive weapon at the wide receiver position, “The Sunshine State” prospect is also a very capable defender on the field of play as a free safety. As a Junior in 2018, Manuel garnered some 678 receiving yards on 40 receptions and 9 touchdowns in 11 games. He would go on to further post 21 total tackles (15 Solo Tackles, 6 Assisted Tackles) for Vanguard High with his play at the free safety position while on defense.
As previously noted, Manuel is a Florida Gators commit but he seems to be one that is on the fence about that pledge. Along with the Gators and the Dawgs, the elite wide receiver placed LSU, Clemson, Penn State, Texas A&M, and Miami among his “Top 7” programs of choice of where he could eventually end up playing. While the Georgia Football program will have to poach Manuel from the Gators and beat out the other schools he listed among his top programs in play for his services, the Dawgs appear to be in a good position to do so as 247Sports Crystal Ball Predictions currently has the Ocala WR as a 60% lock to play in Athens when it is all said and done. If Georgia could sway him away from its rival Florida it would be another win for the Dawgs over its hated rival in the SEC East. Further than that, Manuel would bolster the Bulldogs’ offense for the future at the wide receiver position and would provide another weapon for the “Red and Black” to utilize in the passing game. Stay tuned for more events and developments regarding this recruitment story as they unfold and come about. Oh, and until then and as always, Go Dawgs!!!
Leonard Manuel | Vanguard Football | Ultimate Junior Highlights
Leonard Manuel UGA Football Chat UGA Football Recruiting
Author / Matthew Hall
Southern born and southern raised, I am a man that bleeds red and black!!! I am a certified educator/coach with Master's Degrees in both History Education from Georgia Southwestern State University (Americus, Georgia) and Sports Management from Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, Georgia). These may be my alma mater institutions of higher learning, but my true home can be found on Saturdays "Between The Hedges". Go Dawgs!!!
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Georgia Men Finish Fourth At NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships next
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Design Commerce Agency to streamline licensing process
Art Libera is playing matchmaker. As founder of Eye For Art, Inc., an agency established in 2000 that linked designers and artisans with manufacturers, he has long been acquainted with the ins and outs of the design and architecture material business. Yet as Libera and two new partners re-launch his company as Design Commerce Agency, a design licensing firm that connects high-end interior designers with retailers and manufacturers in need of innovative, luxury design, he is now aiming to revolutionize—and digitize—the way creatives collaborate.
With new partners Bryan Calkins, who has a background in design as well as technology, ecommerce, and online marketing, and Mark McDonough, who arrives with Internet technology and online marketing experience, the agency offers a suite of tailored digital marketing services, including website and brand refreshes, social media brand-building, content marketing strategy and paid online advertising consultation.
The DCA team
The bedrock below these services is the founding partner’s key relationships. “Licensing and product development are certainly about everybody making money, but first you have to craft the relationship so the designers do their best work, and press the manufacturers to get out of their comfort zone by stretching their capabilities,” explains Libera, who sources clients “the old-fashioned way,” by networking, talking and making introductions, and develops ideas by checking the pulse of product development in design showrooms, marketplaces, retail, trade shows and both print and social media.
In addition to interior designers, Libera counts among the firm’s clients “a compelling mix of talents” including fine artists, decorative artists, textile designers, floral designers and photographers—and while some are famous and others are not, Libera says, each is successful in his or her own right. The time it takes to align a designer or artist and a fitting manufacturer varies, he says, but in general, making a match, creating a licensing and marketing plan and bringing a product to market takes about a year, possibly two.
The agency operates on a performance-based payment system, collecting a percentage on signed licensing contracts, and also provides fee-based social media services and certain fee-based consulting services both for clients and on a case-by-case basis. “We get paid when our clients get paid,” says Libera. “I’m not sure it’s the best way to do things, but it’s worked since I formed my original company, and has really helped our clients trust me because we’re all making an investment of time and energy together to create lasting and lucrative partnerships.”
Libera's collaborators, design team Evans & Brown
Social media is exerting a particularly powerful impact on both design and the transformed agency. “Social media has become so much more visual since platforms like Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram have taken off,” explains partner Calkins. One early sign of social media’s promise at DCA: “After only eight months of social media strategy and execution for Roger [Thomas], he was nominated for three Best of Year Awards by Interior Design magazine. Even though he is a four-time AD 100 winner, he's never been nominated for a BOY Award.” The win is thanks, in part, to “the wonderful design exposure [that] happened naturally through social media.” (View Thomas' Facebook page.)
Roger Thomas; leathers from Thomas' leather new line for Moore & Giles
One of the agency’s success stories, and one of Libera’s long-running licenses, is Koroseal, the commercial wallcovering manufacturer. “About 20 years ago I made the connection that American commercial wallcovering was not very attractive, and designs were created from a more ‘manufacturing’ point of view,” he recalls. “It was really simple: Pair up the best American designers of specialty wallcoverings with the best American manufacturer.”
Fromenal founders; Roacaille by Fromental for Koroseal Digtial Studios
Libera’s pairings included Evans & Brown, Maya Romanoff, Sondra Alexander, Anya Larkin, Tracey Reinberg and Roger Thomas, and he also aided in bringing the Belgian manufacturer Arte’ and Alpha Workshops into the fold. The resulting program, called Koroseal Studios, “changed the entire industry as well as the aesthetic and the marketing ‘story’ of this product category.” Among Libera’s favorite collaborations to date include Roger Thomas and Rocky Mountain Hardware, Samuel & Sons, as well as Mark Pollack, Lori Weitzner and Todd Lenahan; while he can’t yet reveal the agency’s most recent ventures, he does concede collaborations with Vicente Wolf, Clodagh and Preston Bailey.
The re-launched agency, itself founded on a new idea, is banking on the importance of exactly that: new, and often outlier, perspectives. “Sometimes,” shares Libera, “it really does take an outsider artist or designer to bring a new point of view and develop a winning series of designs and products.”
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Carol McGiffin says it's 'insulting and rude' to call someone a 'cougar'
Carol McGiffin hates being branded a "cougar", a term used to describe older women seeking relationships with younger men, as she finds it "insulting and rude".
The 60-year-old has been married to husband Mark Cassidy, who is 22 years her junior, for two years.
Speaking about her dislike for the word on Loose Women on Thursday, McGiffin said: "It's really quite insulting actually, it's insulting and it's rude.
Read more: Linda Robson felt ‘guilt’ after suffering ‘meltdown’ on Loose Women holiday
"Cougar represents something that's really predatory like chasing after, running down the street chasing after young men. I don't do that."
Carol McGiffin is seen arriving at Mash restaurant, Piccadilly on March 27, 2014 in London, England. (FilmMagic)
"I've never done that. Toyboy is even worse actually because it makes him sound like he's a plaything and I think everyone should just stop it. Stop with these stupid labels that everybody has to have," she continued.
It was only last year that the panellist revealed her secret 2018 wedding to Cassidy, to whom she had been engaged since 2008. They tied the knot in Thailand in February 2018 but chose to keep quiet on the lowkey ceremony.
They had planned to marry the previous year but called it off when McGiffin's sister Tracy died of breast cancer a few days prior.
A post shared by Carol McGiffin (@the_mcgiff) on Feb 5, 2020 at 6:52am PST
McGiffin was previously married to DJ Chris Evans for seven years between 1991 to 1998, although they had separated some years before their divorce was finalised.
The media personality recently attracted controversy due to her views on wearing face masks.
She branded them “invasive and uncomfortable” and also said she would “go out of [her] way to not wear one”, to the surprise of her Loose Women colleagues.
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Lavenson v. Wise
Baldie v. Bank of America
There was no testimony that Bullock ever informed plaintiff that he intended to charge more than the $1,000…
Lee v. Gump
52 Cal.App. 438, 450 [ 198 P. 1020].) [2] Inapplicable also is the doctrine of that group of cases holding…
Full title:J.H. LAVENSON, Respondent, v. J.H. WISE, Appellant
Court:Supreme Court of California,Department Two
Supreme Court of California,Department Two
In Lavenson v. Wise the attorney had made an agreement to collect a note for "the sum of $500 as a fee upon collection of the same," both he and the client expecting at that time that there would be no litigation over the matter.
Summary of this case from City of Long Beach v. O'Donnell
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco, and from an order denying a new trial. George H. Bahrs, Judge.
The facts are stated in the opinion.
D.H. Whittemore, for Appellant.
Joseph Rothschild, for Respondent.
CHIPMAN, C.
Action for services as attorney at law rendered defendant by Joseph Rothschild, Esq., plaintiff's assignor. Defendant denied the alleged indebtedness, and as a separate answer alleged that the firm of Christy Wise, composed of John H. Wise (defendant) and Harry E. Wise, was the owner of a promissory note for nine thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars, made by one James Murphy and one E. Smalley; that said Rothschild represented to said firm that he could collect the money due on said note, whereupon it was agreed between Rothschild and Christy Wise that said firm should pay said Rothschild fifty dollars, which was then paid, and "should, when the money due on said note, was collected, and only out of the proceeds of the collection of said note, and not otherwise, further pay said Rothschild the sum of five hundred dollars, as fee in and for the collection of the money due on said note, by suit or otherwise"; that Rothschild commenced suit on said note, but failed to collect the same or any part thereof, and has abandoned all attempt to collect the said note; that said unsuccessful attempt to collect said note was the only service performed by said Rothschild for said firm or for defendant. The cause was tried by a jury and plaintiff had a verdict for one thousand dollars. The appeal is from the judgment and from the order denying motion for new trial.
The evidence of plaintiff tended to show that plaintiff's assignor performed services in relation to the collection of the note referred to in answer, which were of the value of one thousand dollars; also services in relation to an accounting between Wise and Murphy and Smalley, or the "Yellowstone Saloon," as the place is called, the sale of one-half interest in which was the consideration for the note; also services in relation to the sale of certain goods by Wise to Wise and Murphy. Some evidence was given as to the amount of work done by Rothschild in relation to the accounting, and in the matter of the sale of goods by Wise to Murphy and Smalley. Mr. Rothschild testified that his services in each of the two latter matters were reasonably worth two hundred and fifty dollars, and this is undisputed by the evidence, as is also his estimate of the value of his services, to wit, one thousand dollars, for bringing the suit on the note.
The principal question in controversy arises in regard to the agreement to collect the note. The testimony tended to show that when he undertook the business it was with the undestanding that it was an ordinary case on promissory note, to which there was no valid defense, and that Mr. Rothschild was employed because he had information about Murphy's business and property, from which he was assured he could collect the judgment when obtained. I think it fairly inferable from the evidence that when the agreement presently to be stated was entered into, Rothschild understood from what Wise told him, or led him to believe, that the case would not be litigated. With this understanding Rothschild signed and gave to Wise the following paper:
San Francisco, Dec. 9th, 1895.
"Received of Mr. John H. Wise a note for nine thousand seven hundred and sixty ($9,760.00) dollars, dated April 15th, 1895, payable six months after date with interest thereon at the rate of 8 per cent per annum. Said John H. Wise to pay upon demand the sum of fifty ($50.00) dollars for court costs and the sum of five hundred ($500.00) dollars as a fee upon collection of the same.
"(Signed) JOSEPH ROTHSCHILD."
On December 14, 1895, Mr. Rothschild filed a complaint in the action on the note referred to in the receipt, and on January 11, 1896, the defendants in that action filed an answer. The note was payable to D.H. Whittemore or order, indorsed to Christy Wise by Whittemore, and by them indorsed to John H. Wise, who brought the action and is defendant here.
The answer admitted the execution of the note, but alleged that it was without consideration, and that Wise took it with full knowledge of that fact; that the consideration was a half interest in the Yellowstone Saloon, its fixtures and stock of merchandise, which Christy Wise had agreed to sell and transfer to Murphy and Smalley, the makers of the note; that Christy Wise neglected and refused to make the transfer of the saloon, and on November 8, 1895, Murphy and Smalley notified Christy Wise that they had rescinded said contract of purchase and declined to pay said note; that it was agreed between Christy Wise and Murphy and Smalley that the note was to be paid from the income of the saloon, and not otherwise, of which Christy Wise had full knowledge; that John H. and Harry E. Wise falsely represented to the makers of the note at the time of said purchase that the daily receipts of the saloon were one hundred dollars per day, whereas they were but thirty-five dollars per day, and that one McCallum, who they represented was an experienced saloon-keeper, had agreed to buy the other half of the saloon and could bring in much business, etc., all of which was alleged to be false; other false and fraudulent representations were set up in answer, on account of which and the failure on the part of Christy Wise to keep their contract Murphy and Smalley had, in November, 1895, rescinded and notified Christy Wise that they would not pay said note.
The trial of that action commenced on December 10, 1896, and lasted several days, and on February 25, 1897, the court made its findings in favor of defendants in the action and judgment followed for defendants. The evidence is that Wise directed Rothschild to take an appeal to the supreme court, and the latter gave the usual notice and prepared the transcript, comprising three hundred and forty pages of typewritten matter. Wise paid the reporter for this work. Plaintiff testified: "I then made a demand on Mr. Wise for five hundred dollars in that matter and he declined to pay it, and I never received a cent." Rothschild's connection with the case then ceased, and what became of the appeal is not disclosed.
It appears without conflict that upon the filing of the answer to the suit on the promissory note Rothschild had knowledge of the nature of the defense set up; an assistant in his office devoted several days to looking up questions of law likely to arise under the issues presented by the answer; the case was not tried for nearly a year after issue of fact was joined. There is no question but that Rothschild knew, or had reason to know, that the defense set up to the note would defeat payment if it prevailed, and that in any event it meant litigation, which he had not contemplated when he entered into the agreement with Wise. He testified: "I had a conversation with Mr. J.H. Wise about it [the answer] and he told me it was not true. These things could be disproved — they could not prove it." He testified that he received the note "on the terms set out in the receipt" and continued in the case until after the trial; that after the trial "I asked him [Wise] what he proposed to do about it, and he said he would take the case to the supreme court."
"Q. You had not said a word about changing this agreement? A. Not a word at all.
`Q. After you had received that transcript and put him to that expense, that was the first time you suggested that you would not go on with the case? A. I did nothing of the kind. I told him to pay the five hundred dollars.
"Q. Was that the first intimation that you gave that you were not going on? A. After the trial — I never bothered him during the trial because I did not have time.
"Q. You never bothered him during the year 1896? A. Not at all.
"Q. You never bothered him for a month after the trial, did you? A. Oh, I do not know the time. Some time after the trial I asked him for five hundred dollars and he declined to pay it.
"Q. That was the first time there was any change in the terms of the agreement? A. I do not know what you mean by `change.' The first time I ever asked him for money was after the trial. I signed an agreement to do certain things. He never agreed to do anything.
"Q. Didn't you receive the note on these terms? A. I suppose so; yes.
"Q. Well, was not that the agreement? A. I do not know. I do not see how you can pin a man down to an agreement if he [Wise] did not sign it. I was willing to trust him. I did not ask him for any writing. I was willing to take it that way. The receipt merely recites the terms, and Mr. Wise had a doubt about the propriety of turning over a nine thousand dollar note, and I had to satisfy him that I was perfectly responsible."
At another part of his testimony he testified: "I went on because John H. Wise told me these allegations [referring to the answer] were not true — he could prove they were not true."
Again he testified: "Q. Now, Mr. Rothschild, did you inform Mr. Wise in any way that you would not go on with the case on these terms? A. No, sir.
"Q. You never told him that, did you? A. No, sir.
"Q. You went on through the year 1896? A. Yes.
"Q. Under this agreement? A. Yes.
"Q. You tried the case under this agreement? A. No, I did not.
"Q. Did you tell him that you would not continue under the agreement? A. No, sir.
"Q. Did you ask him for any other agreement? A. No, sir.
"Q. Did you ever speak to him on any occasion about another agreement? A. I could not do it, because I was in the middle of a trial. I never knew the true state of the facts."
Mr. Rothschild seems to have been of the impression that his receipt to Wise was not a contract because Wise did not sign it. This is an erroneous view of the receipt. It was an agreement on Mr. Rothschild's part to take the case on the terms proposed by him, and Wise became bound by it when he delivered the note to Rothschild under that agreement. It was not necessary for Wise to sign it. He acted under it and this was sufficient to bind him. The serious question is, Could Mr. Rothschild go forward under his contract and try the case after he knew it was to be seriously litigated, and might be defeated, without informing Mr. Wise that this new phase of the matter would involve labor not previously contemplated, and that he would require a larger contingent fee or would require some fee in the event of failure to obtain judgment? Upon the face of the agreement the fee was contingent; that agreement was not changed by Mr. Rothschild, nor attempted to be changed until after the trial and judgment had gone against his client. Mr. Rothschild did nothing and said nothing which would lead Mr. Wise to suppose that any change was to be made in the contract of employment.
It is true Wise told him the allegations of the answer were untrue and he could prove them to be so, and that the defendants in that action could not prove what they had alleged. Mr. Wise may have so thought and so believed, and whether he did or not it was Mr. Rothschild's duty to inform him that the answer so changed the matter from its original aspect that a new agreement would have to be made as to his compensation. Saying nothing and doing nothing to indicate an unwillingness to continue as he had begun, Mr. Rothschild must be held to have continued under the only agreement then existing between the parties.
Upon this phase of the case there is no conflict in the evidence. By his own testimony we think Mr. Rothschild has shown that he ought not to have recovered for services in the case brought against Murphy and Smalley.
In the conversation which preceded the signing of the receipt there was nothing said about paying any fee in the event the suit was litigated; it was assumed by both parties that it would not be litigated. But there is nothing in the evidence which would warrant the assumption that Wise willfully or fraudulently deceived Rothschild in this regard; and if he did so, still, as soon as the fact came to Rothschild's knowledge (as it did when he was served with the answer), he should have promptly rescinded or demanded some different arrangement. He could not proceed with the case as though the contract was still in force, with a mental reservation that he would repudiate it or rescind it after the trial should his client be cast in the suit. To justify such a course would be to allow fraud to be met by fraud, and this the law will not allow.
Respondent contends with much confidence that he should recover in this action because recovery on the note was prevented by Wise. The facts on which this claim rests were all brought to Mr. Rothschild's attention in the answer of Murphy and Smalley to Wise's suit against them and in the course of the preparation for trial. Even though Wise gave him every assurance that he could overcome this defense, it did not change the fact that the contract of employment still bound Mr. Rothschild and continued to do so until modified, superseded by another, or rescinded. Mr. Rothschild had good cause for rescinding the contract or for refusing to proceed under it, but it was too late to rescind after it had been performed.
Under the facts in the case as they now appear, we are unable to discover any ground upon which the present action on quantum meruit can rest as to the matter of the suit against Murphy and Smalley.
The verdict was general, and we cannot, therefore, determine what part of the one thousand dollars awarded plaintiff was for services other than those in the matter last above mentioned.
The cause should be remanded for a new trial, and we advise that the judgment and order be reversed.
Cooper, C., and Smith, C., concurred.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment and order are reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial. McFarland, J., Henshaw, J., Temple, J.
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Woodbury v. Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Theiss v. Giove Law Office. P.C
It is well within the discretion of the trial court to set aside an entry of default. Woodbury v. Sears.…
Lake James Associates, Inc. v. Summit Technologies
Courts analyze whether the default was excusable neglect or willful, whether setting it aside would prejudice…
Full title:Richard Lee WOODBURY, Plaintiff, v. SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO., Defendant.
Court:United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.
152 F.R.D. 229 (M.D. Fla. 1993)
United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.
finding that the plaintiff failed to serve the defendant corporation by serving its "file maintenance leader," a "clerical staff employee"
Summary of this case from Jones Stephens Corp. v. Coastal Ningbo Hardware Mfg. Co.
Terminated employee brought Title VII action against former employer. On motion to quash service of process and other motions by former employer, the District Court, Kovachevich, J., held that: (1) former employee did not perfect service of process on former employer, and motion to quash service would thus be granted; (2) former employer was entitled to have default judgment set aside; and (3) employer's motion to dismiss complaint would be denied.
Kennan George Dandar, Dandar & Dandar, P.A., Tampa, FL, for plaintiff.
Mark A. Hanley, Gregory Alan Hearing, Thompson, Sizemore & Gonzalez, Tampa, FL, for defendant.
ORDER ON MOTIONS
KOVACHEVICH, District Judge.
This cause is before the Court on the following motions and responses:
1. Plaintiff's motion for clerk to enter an affidavit of amount due upon application for default judgment, filed Oct. 20, 1992. (Dkt. 20)
2. Plaintiff's motion to expedite amount due upon application to clerk for default judgment, filed Nov. 4, 1992. (Dkt. 21)
3. Plaintiff's motion for writ of assistance in obtaining possession of land, bank accounts and tenements in accordance with court's judgment, filed Dec. 28, 1992. (Dkt. 23)
4. Plaintiff's motion for answers to previously filed motions, filed Jan. 21, 1993. (Dkt. 24)
5. Plaintiff's motion for claims for default, filed Feb. 11, 1993. (Dkt. 26-1)
6. Plaintiff's motion for relief in action for libel and prayer for special damages, filed Feb. 11, 1993. (Dkt. 26-2)
7. Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel, filed Mar. 15, 1993. (Dkt. 27)
8. Plaintiff's motion for default judgment against Sears, Roebuck & Co., filed July 29, 1993. (Dkt. 29)
9. Defendant's motion to quash service of process, filed Sept. 21, 1993. (Dkt. 32)
10. Defendant's motion to set aside default entered by clerk on Sept. 30, 1992, filed Sept. 21, 1993. (Dkt. 34)
11. Plaintiff's response in opposition to Defendant's motion to quash service and motion to set aside default, filed Oct. 14, 1993.
12. Defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's complaint, filed Sept. 21, 1993. (Dkt. 36) 13. Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's first amended complaint or for more definite statement, filed Sept. 21, 1993. (Dkt. 37)
14. Defendant's motion for continuance of evidentiary hearing set for Sept. 27, 1993, filed
I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On June 28, 1990, Plaintiff, Richard Lee Woodbury, filed a pro se Complaint alleging that the Defendant, Sears, Roebuck & Company, violated his civil rights under Title VII by terminating his employment with Defendant Company as a result of racial discrimination. (Dkt. 1). On October 10, 1991, this Court ordered Plaintiff to show cause why this case should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute. (Dkt. 6). In response to the Order, Plaintiff wrote this Court advising it that he had sent a summons to the Orange County Sheriff's Office for service of process. This summons was issued by the clerk on October 8, 1991 for Mr. B.J. Boozer, a regional manager with Defendant Company. The return of service, which was filed October 25, 1991, states that process was served on October 16, 1991. (Dkt. 7).
On November 12, 1991 this Court issued an Order directing Plaintiff to perfect service by filing proof of service within twenty days from the date of the Order or the case would be dismissed for failure to prosecute. (Dkt. 8). This Court issued another Order explaining that Plaintiff had attempted to serve Defendant by service on a regional operations manager (Mr. B.J. Boozer) and that Plaintiff must file a response to this order within ten days showing that he has obtained service on the Registered Agent. (Dkt. 10). This Order, dated January 7, 1992, further stated that failure to respond will result in the dismissal of this case. In response to this Order, Plaintiff alleges that Sears' customer service department advised him to send the summons and complaint to its Registered Agent, Mr. B.J. Boozer. (Dkt. 11).
On January 22, 1992, in an attempt to clarify matters, this Court again issued another Order asking Plaintiff to clarify the signature of J.H. Wimberley that appears on the service of process notice. (Dkt. 12). The Court wanted to know in what capacity service was accepted by J.H. Wimberley or what relationship this person had to B.J. Boozer. In his Response, Plaintiff states that J.H. Wimberley is the officer that served the summons and complaint. (Dkt. 13). Further, Plaintiff states that Doris Kelly (the name which appears under the heading " other service" on the notice of service) is the file maintenance leader for Sears. (Dkt. 13). Plaintiff also asserts that Mr. John T. Foley, a regional manager for Sears (apparently working in the same office with Mr. Boozer) mailed a certified letter to Plaintiff stating that his office had received Plaintiff's summons on October 16, 1991. (Dkt. 13). Plaintiff, however, does not directly state that Mr. Boozer did receive service and appears not to know who actually received service at Defendant Company. From his response, it is clear that pro se Plaintiff believes that service was sufficient as long as someone at Defendant Company received the service, no matter who that person was. (Dkt. 13).
Mr. John T. Foley's letter dated October 25, 1991, stated:
Finally, on February 28, 1992, the Court issued an order directing Defendant to show cause within ten days why default should not be entered against it for failure to respond. (Dkt. 14). Defendant never responded to this order and contends that it did not respond because it did not receive this Order nor any of the other pleadings in this matter. On May 6, 1992, Plaintiff moved for an entry of default against Sears and the Court granted this motion on August 18, 1992. (Dkt. 16). The clerk entered default against Defendant on September 30, 1992 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a).
Thereafter, pro se Plaintiff filed an affidavit (Dkt. 19) and several motions ( See Dkts. 20, 21, 23, 26) regarding request for damages pursuant to the default. Subsequently, pro se Plaintiff obtained legal counsel and filed a motion for entry of default judgment against Defendant on July 29, 1993. (Dkt. 29).
Upon Court Order dated August 4, 1993, this Court referred this matter to the United States Magistrate to conduct a Rule 55(b)(2) hearing to determine the amount of damages, and for a report and recommendation. (Dkt. 30). On September 7, 1993 the Magistrate issued a Notice of Hearing for the 55(b)(2) hearing. (Dkt. 31). Defendant alleges that it first received notice of the lawsuit and the hearing after the Court issued this Notice of Hearing. Defendant maintains that upon this notice of the pending lawsuit, it immediately obtained counsel to represent it in this matter. Defendant thereafter filed a motion to quash service of process (Dkt. 32); a motion to set aside default entered by clerk on 9/22/93 (Dkt. 34); a motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint (Dkt. 37); and a motion to dismiss Plaintiff's first amended complaint, or for a more definite statement (Dkt. 37). Plaintiff has filed a motion for extension of time in which to file a response to Defendant's motions. (Dkt. 42). The Court granted that motion allowing Plaintiff until October 15, 1993 to file such responses but as of the date of this Order Plaintiff has not filed such responses. (Dkts. 43).
A. Motion to Quash Service of Process
In support of its motion to quash Plaintiff's service of process, Defendant asserts the following arguments:
1. Plaintiff has failed to meet his burden of proof with respect to showing that anyone from Sears was ever served with process. There is no signature on the return of service of process signifying that any employee of Sears ever received service. There is merely a notation on the notice of service which seems to suggest that service of process was left at Sears with Doris Kelly. However, Ms. Kelly in her affidavit states that if she was served with such process she believes that she would have signed her name to such a document to indicate that she had received service of process.
Furthermore, there is no affidavit by the officer serving process (as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(g)) or notation on the return indicating how service was attempted. Thus, there is a lack of credible evidence to prove that service of process was perfected upon anyone of Defendant's employees.
2. If process was served upon Doris Kelly it was not in accordance with federal or state law. Plaintiff did not perfect service of process under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3) or Florida Statutes §§ 48.091 and 48.081 which provide for service of process on a corporation.
In opposition to Defendant's motion to quash Plaintiff argues:
1. Defendant was effectively served through Ms. Doris Kelly. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3) does not necessarily require that the highest ranking officer of a corporation be served in order for service of process to be sufficient. Service is sufficient if the act gives notice to the Defendant that an action is being commenced against him. Furthermore, Defendant has received sufficient notice as evidenced by a letter mailed to Plaintiff from Defendant Corporation's manager, Mr. John T. Foley, acknowledging the receipt of the summons and complaint.
2. By failing to file a timely responsive pleading after proper service of process, Defendant has waived his right to object to lack of proper service. Even if service was not proper, Defendant has failed to timely move to quash service given that he has submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the Court by making an appearance by way of Mr. Foley's letter. Also, Defendant has failed to respond to the Court's Order to show cause why the clerk should not enter default against Defendant.
Service on a corporation may be made in the manner of service provided under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3). Rule 4(d)(3) provides that service of process shall be made upon a domestic or foreign corporation by:
delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to an officer, a managing or general agent, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process, if the agent is one authorized by statute to receive service and the statute so requires.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(d)(3). Service on a corporation may also be made under local state law as provided for under Rule 4(c)(C)(i). Rule 4(c)(2)(C)(i) states that:
A summons and complaint may be served upon a defendant of any class referred to in paragraph (1) or (3) of subdivision (d) of this rule-
(i) pursuant to the law of the State in which the district court is held for the service of summons or other like process upon such defendant in an action brought in the court of general jurisdiction of the State.
Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(c)(2)(C)(i). In reading these two provisions together, service of process on a defendant corporation can either be executed in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3) or by following the state law in which the district court is located. In this case, the controlling Florida law as to service of process on a corporation are Florida Statutes § 48.091 and § 48.081. Section 48.091 deals with service of process upon a corporation's registered agent. Section 48.081, provides for service of process upon a corporation according to a hierarchy of officers or agents that service must be made upon. Section 48.081 provides:
(1) Process against any private corporation, domestic or foreign, may be served:
(a) On the president or vice-president, or other head of the corporation; and in his absence:
(b) On the cashier, treasurer, secretary or general manager; and in the absence of all the above:
(c) On any director; and in the absence of all the above:
(d) On any officer or business agent residing in the state.
(2) If a foreign corporation has none of the foregoing officers or agents in this state service may be made on any agent transacting business for it in this state.
(3) As an alternative to all of the foregoing, process may be served on the agent designated by the corporation under § 48.091.
(4) this section does not apply to service of process on insurance companies.
(5) Where a corporation has a business office within the state and is actually engaged in the transaction of business therefrom, service upon any officer or business agent, resident in the state, may personally be made, pursuant to this section, and it is not necessary in such cases, that the action, suit or proceeding against the corporation shall have arisen out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the business being transacted within the state.
Given that the aforementioned statutes apply in this case, we must now determine who in Defendant Company received service of process. There has been no persuasive evidence showing that the party named on the summons, Mr. B.J. Boozer, was served. To the contrary, Plaintiff maintains that Defendant's employee Doris Kelly was served. (Dkt. 44). The Court believes that Plaintiff has drawn this conclusion from the fact that under the caption " other service" on the notice of service the name of Doris Kelly appears. (Dkt. 7). In her affidavit, Doris Kelly does not affirmatively state whether or not she actually received service, but states that she would have signed her signature if served with process. (Aff. of Doris Kelly). This statement suggesting that since Ms. Kelly's signature was not on the return, it was then unlikely that she was actually served. Also problematic is the fact that the process server did not make an affidavit or notation on the return explaining how or on whom service was effected.
Nevertheless, this Court is inclined to believe that Defendant did receive the summons as evidenced by the certified letter mailed to Plaintiff by Defendant's manager, Mr. John T. Foley, stating among other things: " Your summons was delivered to this office on October 16, 1991. This letter is in response thereto." This letter merely indicates that Defendant received actual notice of the action. However, if the prescribed statutory method is not followed, the fact that the individual Defendant actually received notice does not necessarily make the service valid. As Defendant has pointed out, " Florida courts have uniformly held that statutes dealing with service of process are to be strictly construed and valid service of process on a domestic corporation may be made only by complying with the statute." Sierra Holding, Inc. v. Inn Keepers Supply Co., 464 So.2d 652 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985).
Assuming that Doris Kelly received service of process as Plaintiff contends, although it is not altogether clear that she actually did, such service was insufficient under the applicable Federal or Florida statutory requirements. It is clear, based on the record and the affidavit of Doris Kelly, that she is neither an officer, a managing or general agent, or other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process. Thus, Ms. Kelly does not fall within the requisite class of persons to be served in order to effect service upon a corporation under Rule 4(d)(3).
Service of Process was not properly perfected under Florida Statutes § 48.081. As stated in her affidavit, Ms. Kelly is not a president, vice president, general manager, cashier, treasurer, secretary, director, business agent, or any other officer or manager in Defendant Company as those terms are used within the statute. " Strict compliance with § 48.081 requires that a return which shows service upon an inferior officer or agent must demonstrate that all members of a superior class could not first be served." Dade Erection Serv., Inc. v. Sims Crane Serv., Inc., 379 So.2d 423, 425 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980). As Defendant points out, Plaintiff has not adequately shown that there had been an attempt to serve any of the superior classes of officers or agents of Defendant Company in accordance with the hierarchy as set out in § 48.081. Furthermore, this Court believes that Doris Kelly, as a clerical staff employee, would not be considered an inferior officer or business agent of the company as the term is used in the statute. Southern Mail Transp. v. Amoco Oil Co., 402 So.2d 522, 529 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Thus, Ms. Kelly would not be included in the next tier of person to be served even if it was shown that members of a superior class were unavailable.
It appears that Plaintiff initially attempted to serve Mr. B.J. Boozer upon the mistaken belief that Mr. Boozer was the registered agent of Sears when in fact Defendant has shown that C.T. Corporation Systems is Defendant's registered agent. Again, there is no evidence in the record which suggests Plaintiff attempted to serve C.T. Corporation Systems; thus Plaintiff has not perfected serves of process under Florida Statutes § 48.09.
In its memorandum of law in opposition to Defendant's motion to quash service of process, Plaintiff cites cases which intimate that persons such as a receptionist or bookkeeper may accept service, although not an officer or authorized to accept process. However, such cases are clearly distinguishable. For example, Plaintiff cites Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. v. Curtiss-Wright Corp., 17 F.R.D. 49, 51 (S.D.N.Y.1995), where the court held that service upon a receptionist was sufficient where the receptionist merely delivered the summons and complaint to the officer of the Defendant to be served while the U.S. Marshal waited in the office. In Curtiss-Wright, the Marshal waited for the receptionist to return and affirm that she had delivered the papers to the corporate officer before leaving.
In the instant case, assuming for argument's sake that Plaintiff was attempting to serve Mr. Boozer in his capacity as regional manager under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3), service was never perfected given that the record indicates that Mr. Boozer never received service of process. There is nothing in the record indicating that Ms. Kelly functioned as a receptionist or secretary for Mr. Boozer, other than the fact that they worked in the same office. More importantly, there is no affidavit or notation on the return made by the process server stating that Ms. Kelly did deliver the summons and complaint to Mr. Boozer while the process server was in the Defendant's office. Further, there is also no evidence that Ms. Kelly promised to re-deliver or " pass on" the summons and complaint to Mr. Boozer upon his return. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence in order to find that the instant case falls under an exception to the strict statutory requirements for service based on a " re-delivery theory." See Seward & Kissel v. Smith Wilson Co., Inc., 814 F.Supp. 370 (S.D.N.Y.1993).
Another case that Plaintiff cites which is clearly distinguishable from the instant case, is Van Hoven Co. v. Stans, 319 F.Supp. 180 (D.Minn.1970). In Van Hoven, the court permitted service of process on a bookkeeper that was neither an officer or authorized to accept service, but who represented to the U.S. Deputy Marshal serving the process that he was the office manager. Further, the bookkeeper appeared to the Deputy to be the person in charge of the company's headquarters in the absence of company officers. This was reflected in the Deputy's affidavit. Moreover, the court found that the Deputy diligently sought to locate and serve an officer of the company first before serving the bookkeeper. Id. at 182.
In the instant case, there is no evidence in the record establishing that Ms. Kelly made any type of representation to the process server which would have led him to believe that it was appropriate to serve process on Ms. Kelly as in Van Hoven.
Based on the record and evidence presented, this Court finds that even if Plaintiff served Doris Kelly, a clerical employee of Defendant, Plaintiff failed to properly perfect service of process on Defendant Corporation in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(3) or Florida Statutes §§ 48.081 and 48.091. Absent strict compliance with statutory requirements for service of process on a domestic corporation, this Court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendant corporation. Sierra Holding, 464 So.2d at 654.
Based on the aforesaid analysis, Defendant's Motion to Quash Service of Process is accordingly GRANTED. Given that pro se Plaintiff has now obtained counsel, the Court will permit Plaintiff ten (10) days from the date of this order to perfect service of process upon Defendant pursuant to either Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (4)(d) or Florida Statutes §§ 48.081 or 48.091. Failure to respond will result in dismissal of this case.
B. Motion to Set Aside Entry of Default.
Defendant moves this Court to set aside the entry of default pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(c). Rule 55(c) provides that " [for] good cause shown the court may set aside entry of default." It is within the discretion of the Court to set aside an entry of default. Robinson v. U.S., 734 F.2d 735, 739 (11th Cir.1984). Furthermore, " [J]udgments by default are not generally favored; hence, as a general proposition, any doubt should be resolved in favor of permitting a hearing on the merits." Rasmussen v. W.E. Hutton & Co., 68 F.R.D. 231, 233 (N.D.Ga.1975) (citing McGrady v. D'Andrea Elec., Inc., 434 F.2d 1000, 1001 (5th Cir.1970).
Before a court will set aside an entry of default it must find that (1) there was excusable neglect on the part of the defaulting party for not answering the complaint; (2) the defaulting party responded promptly after notice of the entry of default; (3) setting aside the default will not prejudice the non-defaulting party; and (4) the defaulting party had a meritorious defense. Boron v. West Texas Exports, Inc., 680 F.Supp. 1532, 1536 (S.D.Fla.1988).
Defendant's reason for being in default and whether it acted promptly is inextricably tied to the issue of sufficient service of process. Defendant has demonstrated to this Court that service of process as to this action was not sufficient, thus depriving them of adequate notice. Although Plaintiff maintains that Defendant did receive notice, by way of Mr. Foley's letter to Plaintiff acknowledging receipt of the summons, this is not persuasive evidence of adequate notice to appropriate officials in Defendant Company. This Court is therefore inclined to believe that Defendant's inaction in this case was due to its lack of notice and not the result of Defendant's inexcusable neglect or willfulness.
Additionally, Defendant has shown that it acted promptly upon hearing of this cause of action when it received this Court's notice of hearing regarding Plaintiff's motion for default judgment. The record establishes that the notice of hearing was filed September 7, 1993 and that Defendant subsequently filed its motion to quash service, motion to set aside default, answer and affirmative defenses as well as three other motions all on September 21, 1993. ( See Dkts. 31-39). Defendant's response within fourteen days after allegedly receiving notice of the action on September 7, 1993 can reasonably be construed as a prompt and diligent response to the entry of default.
As to prejudicing Plaintiff, the Court does not believe that setting aside the default would result in any unfair prejudice to Plaintiff. If anything, setting aside the default would merely result in delay. Plaintiff has not indicated that he would be prejudiced by the entry of default being set aside. Further, Defendant has alleged a meritorious defense and the Court believes that Plaintiff will not be unduly prejudiced by proceeding on the merits.
In opposition to Defendant's 55(c) motion, Plaintiff argues that Mr. Foley's letter to Plaintiff constituted an appearance under 55(b)(2) and thus Defendant has submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the Court. This argument is unavailing. Making a sufficient " appearance" under 55(b)(2) would merely entitle a party against whom a default judgment is sought to be " served with written notice of the application for judgment at least 3 days prior to the hearing on such application" Fed.R.Civ.P. 55(b)(2). Plaintiff cites case law which support this proposition. These cases espouse the policy that the drastic remedy of a default judgment should not be resorted to where a party has made a clear intent to defend. The Court agrees with Defendant, that Plaintiff has confused the " appearance" requirement under Rule 55(b)(2) and a " general" appearance where a party submits his person to the jurisdiction of the court.
It appears that Plaintiff is attempting to make the argument, assuming service of process was sufficient, that Mr. Foley's letter constitutes a general appearance such that Defendant is deemed to have appeared before the Court to defend on the merits. Thus, it could be argued that Defendant had voluntarily consented or submitted to the court's personal jurisdiction over it. After making such an appearance Defendant would then be unable to attack the Court's personal jurisdiction over it on the grounds of defective service of process.
Given that the Court has concluded that Defendant was not duly served process, the Court does not believe that Mr. Foley's letter constituted a general appearance under these facts such that the Court would have had jurisdiction over Defendant at the time of entry of default.
The Court having given due consideration to all the arguments presented by the parties, concludes that Defendant's Motion to Set Aside Entry of Default is hereby GRANTED.
C. Plaintiff's Motion for Default Judgment.
Plaintiff's motion for judgment by default pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 55(b)(2) is hereby rendered MOOT by this Court granting Defendant's motion to set aside default judgment. D. Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint.
Defendant moves this Court to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2), 12(b)(4), 12(b)(5) and 12(b)(6). Given that Rules 12(b)(2) (lack of jurisdiction over the person), 12(b)(4) (insufficiency of process), and 12(b)(5) (sufficiency of service of process) have been dealt with either directly or indirectly in this Court's Order on Motion to Quash Service of Process and Motion to Set Aside Default where Defendant has previously raised such issues, the Court does not believe it is necessary to address such issues again. The Court will address Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6).
Defendant argues that Plaintiff has failed to allege a prima facie case of discrimination under Title VII, in that Plaintiff has failed to allege that he was a member of a protected class or that he was replaced by someone outside the protected class after he was terminated. Also Plaintiff has not set forth a short and plain statement of facts entitling him to any relief.
A complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond a doubt that the Plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), Cook & Nichol, Inc. v. Plimsoll Club, 451 F.2d 505 (5th Cir.1971). Furthermore, in evaluating the sufficiency of a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, the court is required to construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff and to take the allegations contained therein as true. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). Also the Court should construe civil rights complaints " very liberal[ly] rather than technically." Smith v. Olin Chemical Corp., 535 F.2d 862 (5th Cir.1976).
As to pro se complaints, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that such complaints are to be held to less stringent standards than a complaint drafted by lawyers. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). Such complaints, " however inartfully pleaded," may only be dismissed for failure to state a claim if it appears beyond doubt that the Plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of cause of action. Id. at 106, 97 S.Ct. at 292.
Applying this legal standard to the instant case, it does not appear beyond doubt that Plaintiff can prove no set of facts entitling him to relief.
Defendant also argues that Plaintiff's Title VII claim should be barred in that Plaintiff did not file his claim within ninety days after the EEOC gave notice that the claimant may bring a civil action against his employment pursuant to 42 U.C.S. § 2000e-5(f)(1). Defendant points out that Plaintiff stated in paragraph 9 of his Complaint that " [t]he EEOC issued a notice of right-to-sue letter, which I received on March 29, 1990." (Dkt. 1). Defendant asserts that since Plaintiff filed his complaint on June 28, 1990, he filed his complaint ninety-one days after receiving his right-to-sue letter, thus in noncompliance with the statutory requirements.
In support of its argument, Defendant cites Baldwin County Welcome Center v. Brown, 466 U.S. 147, 149, 104 S.Ct. 1723, 1724, 80 L.Ed.2d 196 (1984), where the U.S. Supreme Court found that a pro se litigant's filing of her actual right-to-sue letter with the district court did not satisfy the requirement that a complaint be filed within ninety days of the receipt of the right-to-sue letter. In Brown, the plaintiff did eventually file a complaint (in addition to having filed the right-to-sue letter) but did so 130 days after the receipt of the right-to-sue letter. Id., 466 U.S. at 147, 104 S.Ct. at 1724. Furthermore, The Supreme Court stated: " The simple fact is that Brown was told three times what she must do to preserve her claim and she did not do it. One who fails to act diligently cannot invoke equitable principles to excuse that lack of diligence." Id., 466 U.S. at 149, 104 S.Ct. at 1725.
This Court believes that Brown is distinguishable from the instant case in that pro se Plaintiff allegedly filed his complaint only one day outside the 90 day time limit, and there is no evidence that pro se Plaintiff failed to act diligently in filing his cause of action unlike the plaintiff in Brown.
Accordingly, Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint is DENIED in all respects.
E. Motion to Dismiss Complaint or for More Definite Statement.
Defendant argues that Plaintiff's filing of a " Motion to the Court for Claims for Default and Relief in Action for Libel and Prayer for Special Damages" (Dkt. 26) constitutes an amended complaint. However, the Court is inclined to agree with Plaintiff's counsel that this document was merely a pro se litigant attempting to ask for damages and not an attempt to amend his original complaint with a libel or an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim.
To begin with, the term " libel" is used only in the caption of the motion and is not alleged anywhere else within the body of the motion. Further, the reference to intentional infliction of emotional distress occurs in the following paragraph:
b. Judgment against Defendant, Damages:, in the sum of 2.5 millions [sic] ... and such other relief for RETALIATION for action I took as a consequence of termination/Discriminatory Acts/Humiliation/Intentionac [sic] Infliction of Emotional Distress Where fore [sic] Plaintiff Prays that the Court will order the DEFENDANT, FOR DEFAULT to accord priority to Plaintiff claim pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 191 and make distribution of asset in possession sufficient to satisfy Plaintiff, claim in the total sum $17.5 million ... until paid; and, for such other relief to which Plaintiff may be entitled, including cost.
Dkt. 26 at 2 (emphasis added). Given the context and usage of the term intentional infliction of emotional distress, the court is not convinced that it was Plaintiff's intent to add this as an additional cause of action to his Title VII claim.
Further, Plaintiff, after obtaining counsel has not indicated in any subsequent pleading that it is Plaintiff's intent to pursue a libel or an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. In an abundance of caution, the Court will order that if Plaintiff is attempting to assert such claims then Plaintiff he hereby directed to submit a more definite statement pursuant to 12(e) as to a libel claim or intentional infliction of emotional distress claim. Otherwise, Defendant's motion is hereby DENIED in all other respects.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(e) provides in part:
In the event that it becomes evident that it was Plaintiff's intent to assert a claim for libel and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress the Court will accordingly treat Plaintiff's " Motion to the Court for Claims for Default and for Relief in Action for Libel and Prayer for Special Damages" (Dkt. 26) as an amended complaint.
F. Other Motions.
The following motions are hereby rendered MOOT:
2. Plaintiff's motion to expedite amount due upon application to clerk for default judgement, filed Nov. 4, 1992. (Dkt. 21)
7. Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel, filed Mar. 15, 1993. (Dkt. 27) 8. Defendant's motion for continuance of evidentiary hearing set for September 27, 1993, filed Sept. 21, 1993.
DONE AND ORDERED.
Dear Mr. Woodbury:
Your summons was delivered to this office on October 16, 1991. This letter is in response thereto.
In reviewing your letter and your file, the request you are making are identical to those you previously made to the Florida Commission on Human Relations on April 24, 1985.
The request made in the above summons should have been directed to the Tampa area office of the Equal Employment opportunity Commission, 700 Twiggs, 3rd Floor, Tampa, Florida, 33602. You should refer to charge number 0285551010.
I note that on May 5, 1989, that office determined that your termination of employment was not a violation of the statute under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.
I further noted you have the opportunity to request a review of that determination and you also had the right to file suit within the Federal District Court, a right that expired on September 13, 1989.
I trust this information will be of value to you.
John T. Foley, Manager, Orlando HRC
By submitting to the Court's jurisdiction, a party is deemed to have waived his right to object to the sufficiency of process. Such an argument might be used to oppose Defendant's claim that this Court could not enter a default judgment against Defendant because the Court lacks jurisdiction over it due to ineffective service of process. However, even if Plaintiff had been able to ineptly make such an argument, such an argument would have still been unavailing under the facts of this case.
If a pleading to which a responsive pleading is permitted is so vague or ambiguous that a party cannot reasonably be required to frame a responsive pleading, the party may move for a more definite statement before interposing a responsive pleading.
recognizing validity of same procedures
Summary of this case from Wingert v. Credit Based Asset Servicing Securitization
noting that Florida law requires strict compliance with its service of process statutes, and plaintiff did "not adequately" show that "there had been an attempt to serve any of the superior classes of officers or agents of Defendant in accordance with the hierarchy as set out in § 48.081"
Summary of this case from Zamperla, Inc. v. S.B.F. S.R.L.
stating that absent strict compliance with the requirements of service of process a court lacks personal jurisdiction
Summary of this case from Stewart v. Chase
assuming for purposes of argument the existence of a "re-delivery" doctrine, it cannot apply when the recipient informs the server that she is unauthorized to accept service of process and neither delivers the process to the proper person while the server waits nor promises that she will do so
Summary of this case from Bell v. Integrated Health Services, Inc.
explaining a diligent response for default entry within fourteen days of a motion for default judgment can be "construed as a prompt and diligent response"
Summary of this case from Lake James Associates, Inc. v. Summit Technologies
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Goodness and virtue must not give way to violence and fear
By Bishop Denis J. Madden
Filed Under: Bishop Denis J. Madden - Homilies and Talks, Blog, Guest Commentary, Urban Vicariate
The following remarks were delivered by Bishop Denis J. Madden at the Ecumenical Service of Healing for Baltimore City, held Jan. 7 at Coppin State University in Baltimore.God tells us something very important in the First Book of the Old Testament, that we are made in the image and likeness of God.
In this Christmas season we are reminded that God came among us and shares in our humanity and at the same time we have a share in his divinity, which means we can do “Godly” things – things that are beyond our human inclinations.
In 2015 Pope Francis visited “Ground Zero” in New York where the two towers fell, taking over 2,000 innocent lives. At that site, the pope reflected on the horror of the violence committed on 9/11 – the pain and fear that spread throughout the land. But at the same time he reflected on the goodness and virtue that rose from the ashes of those towers. While hundreds were trying desperately to flee those burning buildings and save their lives, others were fighting their way up the stairs to try and see if they might save lives – the lives of strangers.
Stories also abound of how some who could have saved their own lives stayed behind to comfort and give strength to coworkers and friends trapped in the buildings.
Goodness and virtue would not give way to violence and fear.
Just weeks ago here in Baltimore, a young man was killed in a robbery. The morning of his funeral the parents of this victim of violence sent word to me that they wanted prayers offered at the funeral Mass for those who had taken the life of this, their only child.
At the end of the funeral, as the coffin was placed in the hearse, the parents said their lives now would never be the same without Alex and quickly went on to say that the lives of the parents of those who took their son’s life also would never be the same and for this they were sorry.
Goodness and virtue would not give way to violence in Baltimore that day.
It’s not so much a question of how can we change those who commit violent acts as it is a question of how can I live a virtuous and good and decent life in the midst of daily tragedies.
How can we – not by our words alone but by our actions – let the world know that virtue and goodness are on the rise in Baltimore?
If parents of a murdered son can show such goodness, can we not in our own humble way strive to make Baltimore a light to the nations?
Every loving act, every act of kindness and forgiveness will help demolish those walls of violence. I may not be able to control others but I do have a say over my own thoughts, words, and actions.
We must and we can do this – for my dear dear friends we are made in the image and likeness of God.
Bishop Denis J. Madden
Bishop Denis J. Madden is an auxiliary bishop emeritus for the Archdiocese of Baltimore who currently serves as urban vicar.
Born in Pennsylvania in 1940, Bishop Madden earned his undergraduate degree from St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, before his ordination as a Benedictine priest April 1, 1967. He received a master's degree in psychology from Columbia University in New York and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Notre Dame. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
In 1973, Bishop Madden moved to Baltimore and took a position in the psychology program at the University of Maryland, while also working part-time as a marriage and family counselor for Associated Catholic Charities. Father Madden frequently made time to celebrate Mass at St. Martin's in West Baltimore and to provide long- and short-term counseling to many of the priests and religious sisters in the archdiocese. He left the Benedictines and was incardinated into the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
From 1996-2005, the future bishop served as Associate Secretary General of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. From 1994-1996 Bishop Madden served as the Director of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine office in Jerusalem.
Bishop Madden is the former acting rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.
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Croatian Prime Minister: Tallinn Manual is an Icebreaker
The Tallinn Manual on the applicability of international norms to cyber warfare is essential in developing regulations in the cyber domain, said Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović. He discussed related new challenges at the Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence as part of his visit to Estonia yesterday.
“Tallinn Manual should be the first step in codifying cyber law. It is an icebreaker and fundamental in how we approach cyber incidents,” said the Milanović. The international community is in dire need of new norms to approach the cyber arena, said the prime minister. “As a lawyer myself, I wonder how international courts will approach these cases.”
“A majority of cyber incidents are below the threshold of an armed attack, as defined in international law. Therefore we have focused Tallinn 2.0, the new considerably updated and revised edition of the Tallinn Manual, on how existing international norms would deal with these lesser attacks,” explained Colonel Artur Suzik, Director of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The new manual will be published early next year with consultations being planned through 2015, explained Suzik.
The Tallinn-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is a NATO-accredited multinational organisation dealing with research and development, education, consultation and lessons learned in the field of cyber security. The Centre’s mission is to enhance capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, Allies and Partners in cyber defence. The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare was written at the invitation of the Centre by an independent international group of experts and published by Cambridge University Press.
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Tag Archives: sff
Sydney Film Festival: Tangerine (2015)
The main selling point of Sean Baker’s Tangerine, a day-in-the-life melodrama centring on a small Los Angeles neighbourhood in which a pair of trans sex workers hunt down a cheating boyfriend, is that it was entirely shot on iPhone. While it’s not the first feature to boast this claim – cursory Googling suggests that Uneasy…
Sydney Film Festival: We Are Still Here (2015)
Modern horror is increasingly looking to the past for inspiration. There’re clever, nostalgic takes like You’re Next and It Follows. You’ve also got your remakes: the latest being the widely-derided Poltergeist. We Are Still Here shoots for the former category, but ends up missing the mark. Ted Geoghegan’s emulation of ‘70s haunted house films –…
June 12, 2015 in 200 words, Film.
Sydney Film Festival: Gayby Baby (2015)
Marriage equality in Australia is, at this stage, inevitable – and long overdue. Opponents of same-sex marriage have increasingly found their go-to arguments rendered obsolete or not fit for polite company. Even regressive politicians like Cory Bernardi try to avoid blatant homophobia (not always successfully), while religious dogma’s relevance continues to erode. The one argument…
Sydney Film Festival: The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Dear diary, This afternoon was my first full day at Sydney Film Festival this year. After an early-morning interview and a screening of Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected, I saw The Diary of a Teenage Girl. It was a last minute decision – I was originally going to see Villa Touma, but managed to hunt down a…
Sydney Film Festival: Phoenix (2014)
I spent so long trying to untangle the allegorical and psychological underpinning of Christian Petzold’s post-Holocaust drama, Phoenix, that it took me a while to recognise how profoundly unmoved it left me. It’s not that I couldn’t embrace its implausible premise – where a concentration camp survivor (Nina Hoss) returns to her husband (Ronald Zehrfeld)…
June 9, 2015 in 200 words, Film.
Sydney Film Festival: Sherpa (2015)
On the 18th of April, 2014, an avalanche on the slopes of Mount Everest claimed sixteen lives; the worst accident in Everest history until the recent devastation of the Nepalese earthquake. The sixteen men that died were all Sherpas – underpaid Nepalese who risked and, ultimately, lost their lives on the treacherous Khumbu Icefall so…
June 8, 2015 in Extended Cut, Film.
Sydney Film Festival: Unexpected (2015)
It’s odd that one of the most dramatic, life-changing events of middle-class life – having a baby – tends to be an afterthought at the movies. Babies, more often than not, are presented as incarnations of a successful relationship. Look, they have a child now! Curtain goes down, happily ever after, etcetera. The impact of…
Sydney Film Festival: The Invitation (2015)
The Invitation sets a dinner party within a familiar horror movie setting: an expensive, (relatively) isolated mansion. Conspicuously comprehensive security, no mobile phone coverage, a creeping atmosphere of dread. Said mansion belongs to Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and David (Michiel Huisman), who are hosting a reunion of sorts after a sojourn to a ‘grief group’ in…
Sydney Film Festival: Nasty Baby (2015)
At first glance, Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby appears to slot neatly into the Noah Baumbach/Lena Dunham school of New York indie. You know the type. Loose, naturalistic dramas about trendy people in a trendy city, leavened with a hint of comedy before drifting towards Serious Issues that aren’t taken all that seriously. For most of…
Sydney Film Festival: Breaking a Monster (2015)
Unlocking the Truth are a metal band composed of African-American teenagers – and I’m talking, like, their-voices-haven’t-broken-yet-teenagers – from Brooklyn. After a YouTube video of the group busking at Times Square went viral, they scored a $1.8 million record deal and performed at Coachella. In most documentaries, that would be the story. Check out these…
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Landlords hit with large fines after over-crowding cases
A landlord has been hit with costs of nearly £25,000 after renting out substandard houses to 30 people without a licence.
John Mayer, of Plymouth, pleaded guilty to four cases of failing to apply for an HMO licence.
He also failed to comply with improvement notices, leaving 12 tenants without adequate heating.
Mayer was fined £23,000 in total and ordered to pay court costs of £1,554 at the rate of £2,000 per month. Mayer pleaded guilty on October 16 but was sentenced on October 30.
Plymouth City Council prosecuted Mayer as part of its campaign to tackle rogue landlords.
The council signed up to a Charter for Private Rented Housing in March. The charter was agreed in partnership with landlords, including the South West Landlords Association.
Commitments in the charter include training for landlords, raising the profile of the best landlords and letting agents, and taking enforcement to protect tenants against rogue landlords.
In a separate case, two landlords have been fined £36,340 after pleading guilty to 30 offences relating to five properties.
Palminder Singh Sanghera and Nirmal Kaur had failed to get HMO licences for the homes in Hounslow, where 30 people lived.
The council which took them to court claims that the couple simply wanted to get in as much rent as possible.
Acting on a tip-off, Hounslow Council’s enforcement team found poor conditions, including dumped rubbish, fire alarms that did not work and a blocked fire escape.
Cllr Steve Curran, leader of Hounslow Council, said: “The council is determined to crack down on rogue landlords.
“These fines are a warning to landlords of the consequences of ignoring their legal obligations relating to HMOs.
“There is no justification for putting people’s lives at risk and making them live in poor conditions.
“That’s why raising the standards of private rented housing and bringing rogue landlords to account is a priority for this council.”
In yet another case of over-crowding, a landlord who converted a terrace north London house into nine flats, raking in £100,000 a year in rent, has been ordered to pay £20,000.
Haringey Council investigators found toilet rooms squeezed into the corners of kitchens, and said that landlord Andreas Stavrou Antoniades had ignored repeated demands to stop using the property as separate flats.
The landlord must now convert the house into three more reasonably size flats.
The council said that he had been convicted of a similar offence three years ago, and given a £13,500 fine.
Blog Post from Property Industry Eye
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Playing chess for money is not very common due to the lack of luck in the game. I’ve witnessed some games been played in bars and amongst chess hustlers but it has not really reached any main stream status. However there are many other ways to make money from chess.
While chess is not often played for money, it is still the dream of many chess players to live from it. Sadly the facts are that only the very top of the chess elite can live from chess by just playing. The top 100 players in the world can easily support themselves from chess. But don’t give up, there are plenty of ways to make money from chess.
Teaching and coaching chess
The best thing about coaching is that there is always someone to teach and you don’t need to be an international grandmaster to become a coach. I’ve heard several times that a coach should only be 200-300 rating points higher than the student. This means that you don’t need to be a high-level player to become a coach, you can always look into organising chess classes in local schools for example and start from the basics. Internet has also made coaching a lot easier than before since you can potentially be coaching anyone in the world. Another great way to earn money is to try setting up chess groups in schools. Organising chess courses and also summer camps can be very lucrative.
Playing chess for clubs
Top players are often hired to play for clubs around the world. Especially in high-level leagues like the German Bundesliga you can see that the top teams have almost no local players – it’s almost like any other sport like football where top players are hired to represent the club.
Chess tournament prizes
While the top tier players can earn hundreds of thousands from important tournaments, it is also possible to make decent money from chess tournaments as a lower tier player. Local tournaments often have prizes not only for the best players, but also for the best youth, women, seniors and sometimes they even present prizes for different rating groups. In bigger tournaments players are divided into groups depending on their playing level which makes your chances of prizes even higher.
Chess Hustlers
While not exactly a money making machine, I felt like chess hustling had to be included in the list. In some parks around the world, most famously in Central Park New York, so called chess hustlers play chess for money against anyone willing. They are famously known for trash talking during the game and having all kinds of tricks up their sleeve to try to confuse you during the game. Here’s a classic example where GM Maurice Ashley plays against a chess hustler in Central Park.
Writing about chess
Self-publishing has become increasingly easy and you don’t need to be a super grandmaster to become a chess writer. You can try to focus on certain chess openings, write about famous players, cover big tournaments, write books for children or even write a novel. There are so many chess enthusiasts out there that you can surely find yourself a good niche to write about.
Writing a book can sound like a huge task, but you can also consider writing for smaller publications. Many cities have had a chess section in their local newspapers and you can also consider starting your own blog where you blog about chess news, tournaments and results and your own progression through the ranks. Writing about chess can be a fun way to make money!
Making a chess Youtube channel
Youtube has grown to become a very popular way to make money online and it is also very possible with chess. There are many different kinds of videos you can publish, for example tutorials, interviews, news, video logs about your progression or even just some of your best games. You can check out our recommendations for the best chess Youtube channels out there.
Streaming chess online
Live streaming games has become hugely popular and while chess is not among the most popular games out there, it still has a healthy fan base. The most popular chess streamers are not necessarily the best players in the world (while many of them are IM/GM level) but they are also often very entertaining and engaging. Often they also take on interesting challenges, like playing with specific strange rules or with a very limited time controls. Streaming through sites like Twitch allows players to get not only ad revenue but also donations from the biggest fans.
VelocityChess
VelocityChess is a website that comes closest to allowing players to play for money. Signing up will give you 1,000 credits or “vChips” (about $0.10 worth) that you can spend to play against other players. You can set a bounty for each game and you can also participate in tournaments, sit&go tournaments and other types of events. There are also daily events and challenges that give you more chips. While the chips can’t directly be cashed out as money, you can exchange them as gift cards on different websites like Amazon, Paypal or iTunes. Velocitychess.com comes closest to allowing playing chess for money online. However the big question about playing chess for money online is how well the service is able to detect cheating.
Chess symbols in Unicode
Chess symbols are part of the Unicode character set. This means that using Unicode you are easily able to include chess...
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Home » Lifestyle » Leslie West, Guitarist Of Rock Band Mountain, Dead At 75
Leslie West, Guitarist Of Rock Band Mountain, Dead At 75
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leslie West, an iconic guitarist-vocalist who was behind several ’70s rock anthems including “Mississippi Queen” with the popular band Mountain, has died. He was 75.
His spokesman Steve Karas said West died Wednesday in Palm Coast, Florida. Karas said West died from cardiac arrest after being rushed to the hospital.
West battled with health issues in the past few years. In 2011, his lower right leg was amputated in a life-saving operation related to his diabetes.
Rockers like Gene Simmons and Slash showed support for West on social media a day before his death when it was clear he was in dire condition. Paul Stanley called West a “gentle man and guitar hero” on Twitter.
West began his music career in the mid-60s with The Vagrants with his brother Larry West Weinstein, who played bass. The band known as a blue-eyed soul group had a minor hit with “I Can’t Make a Friend” and covered Otis Redding’s “Respect” in 1967.
West stepped out on his own with a solo career, releasing the 1969 album “Mountain,” which was produced by Felix Pappalardi. West and Pappalardi ended up starting the hard rock band Mountain, which was named after West’s debut solo album.
In 1969, Mountain performed an 11-song set at Woodstock before the Grateful Dead. A year later, the band released their biggest hit “Mississippi Queen,” which appeared on numerous movie and TV soundtracks along with video games including Guitar Hero. The song was covered by several artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P. and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Mountain’s song “Long Red” became popular among multiple hip-hop artists including Jay-Z, Kanye West and Nas, who sampled the single. “Theme From An Imaginary Western” was another of the band’s notable songs.
During a Mountain hiatus, West formed the group West, Bruce and Laing along with Cream bassist Jack Bruce and Mountain drummer Corky Laing.
West appeared in films such as “Family Honor” and “Money Pit.” He was a regular guest on the Howard Stern Show. The musician was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
West is survived by his wife, Jenni, whom he married on stage after Mountain’s performance at the Woodstock 40th anniversary concert in Bethel, New York in 2009.
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Gospel for Asia President, K.P. Yohannan
K.P. Yohannan & William Cooper
The founder and president for Gospel for Asia, K.P. Yohannan, was born and raised in a small village in South India. At age eight, Yohannan accepted Christ as his personal Savior, and by sixteen, Yohannan was volunteering in North India with Operation Mobilization. Through the next years of serving as a volunteer, a seminary student, and a pastor in Dallas, Texas, Yohannan never forgot the millions of brothers and sisters lost on his native soil, India. With a heart for his homeland, and a great desire to follow God, so began the incredible journey of serving the Lord through Gospel for Asia (GFA).
With a huge presence in Asia, GFA has become one of the most effective missions there today with 54 Bible Colleges and over 8,000 native missionaries in training for church planting. The GFA mission is: "to be devout followers of Christ and fulfill the Great Commission among the unreached in Asia through training, sending and assisting qualified laborers to win the lost and plan local churches in partnership with the Body of Christ." With a big mission and an even bigger heart, Yohannan has set GFA's vision on track with the goal of sending 100,000 native missionaries into areas of Asia that have been unreached. At this time, there are more than 14,000 native missionaries serving, with the incredible feat of planting ten churches per day.
Recently, Bill Cooper, president and CEO of ChristiaNet.com, spent time with K. P. Yohannan and had the opportunity to interview this remarkable man of God. Yohannan discussed with ChristiaNet his ministry, his dependence upon the Lord, and his take on the condition of the North American church today. Candid and convicted to follow the Lord only, Yohannan proves to live out his life demonstrating what he believes.
Yohannan and GFA operate daily with a conviction to depend upon God's leading. He discussed how we are experts in research and structure, and we are experts in getting the job done with excellent execution. But he, Yohannan, explained that he was talking about a different ball game than expertise and manipulation of time and power. "David asked God, "Should I go against the Philistines?" And God said, "Yes," so David wiped them out. But, in the next chapter, you read about how David faced the exact same problem again, and asked God, "Lord, what should I do?" But that time, God said, "Don't do anything." So, even with the same situation and same problem, God did not come to David and say "David, I see your same problem again." No, the Lord waited. The Lord waits."
Yohannan went on to describe his unique ability to understand the apostle Paul's statement about being a "bond slave of Jesus Christ" because of his beginnings in India. "Outside a large office in India, a man sits on a stool. That's all he does. He just sits there. When the boss comes out of the large office, the man on the stool says to the boss, "Sir, what would you like me to do?" The boss says, "Make me a cup of tea." The man takes three steps backward and turns around to go make the tea. He then brings it back. Then he says to the boss, "Anything else, sir?" If the boss says "no," then the servant just sits back down again on the stool. That is all he does. He has no agenda of his own."
Yohannan explained that it is to be the same way in the Christian life. "We are to have no agenda of our own, but to be totally sold out to God." Yohannan has spent time training his mind and emotions to discern God's voice and carry out God's commands through disciplined study of the Word, time in prayer, and fasting. When asked about the amount of time he spent in these disciplines, Yohannan revealed, "Everyday I read the Bible. At least one day of the week, I fast, which is not at all unusual." But, Yohannan also cautioned against the potential to become legalistic about prayer schedules and programmed fasting. "The amount of time we spend praying and the number of days we fast is something we should be private about. Publicizing how much we pray and fast becomes a burden and not an encouragement [to others]."
K. P. Yohannan shared his heart and concerns for the North American Church today in ChristiaNet's interview. "I may be off the wall, but I personally think that the church in North America is going back to the Dark Ages." He explained, "Since the beginning of the 19th century, we have not had sober, serious writings about the holiness of God or the fear of God. Why? Because experience became the measuring rod for spirituality rather than the Word of God."
Seeing the Christian community become involved in fame and fortune has attributed to Yohannan's convictions. "Who are the shepherds or our country today?" Those who write books. But sadly, what are publishing houses all about? Money." He goes on to explain that the messages we are receiving from the pulpit and from the books published by Christian Publishers is all about us, and not God's holiness and truths. "We are in the Dark Ages because the Bible is no longer the book by which people live by nor the book they will be judged by. The Bible has just become the "tool of the trade" by which pastors and writers market their books and make a living."
Ultimately, K.P. Yohannan has a message that inspires all to follow in the footsteps and example of Christ, regardless of the mission field or call upon one's life. "Jesus died to His will to do the Father's will." Yohannan believes that we must make sure that our heart condition is right before the Lord. "It is better to walk with the Lord now than to look back on life and regret having missed what will count for eternity - God's work." K.P. Yohannan, a true follower of God, and an inspiration to all.
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← They Hate Him Whom We Love
The Satanic Unmasking →
By Way of a Preface
When I started these stories I envisioned them as cautionary tales about a horrific future that we, as a people, were facing if the shadows of liberalism were not altered. That future has come upon us sooner than I imagined. The liberals have completely unmasked and are moving toward their final solution, which is the extermination of the non-illuminated whites. Who are the non-illuminated whites? They are the whites who do not accept every single aspect of liberalism: sexual debauchery, legalized abortion, and the worship of Satan through the sacred negro.
The liberals’ end, in their satanic minds, justifies any and all means. The white grazers, white people who cannot accept the entirety of the liberals’ illuminated agenda, are unable to cope with the liberals because they are part liberal themselves. They cannot get away from the soul-killing heresy, which says that God and democracy are one: they believe that God’s way is the democratic way. And in a Demon-cracy, you do not fight evil, you vote against it. We are now, as a people, at the crossroads. If we do not reject non-violence, if we let the liberals get away with the complete disenfranchisement of the white race, the future I depict in these stories will be upon us.
I have refrained from suggesting actual battle plans in my blog posts because I believe that once the European people have the will, once they reclaim that “charity of honor,” they will produce leaders who will know the best way to fight the liberals. I have already seen, in the wake of the election fraud, some very good suggestions as regards the practical measures that we should take once the real war begins. The will to fight, which will come when we are a fully integral Christian people, is all in all.
Roses bloom and cease to be,
but we the Christ child shall see.
-Hans Christian Andersen
Act I. Scene 1.
Susan: (tied to a chair) Mother, may I be untied now?
Mother: No, you may not be untied.
Susan: Please, mother, the cords are hurting my hands.
Mother: I can’t help that, you have been a very naughty little girl. You will remain tied to that chair until two o’clock. Then and only then will I untie you.
Susan: But I’m really and truly sorry.
Mother: You said that last time and then I found you this morning playing with that white boy you were forbidden to play with.
Susan: But I am white, and you said that my father was white, so why is it wrong for me to play with a white boy?
Mother: Now, you really are making me very angry, Susan. I have explained all of this to you before.
Susan: But I don’t understand.
Mother: What is the one great commandant which is the basis of our religion?
Susan: That we should love the black race with all our heart, mind, and soul.
Mother: Yes, that is correct. But you did not follow that commandant when you played with that white boy.
Susan: But my father was…
Mother: Yes, I know, your father was white. But your father was an authorized white man. Do you know what that means?
Susan: You’ve explained it to be before, but I still can’t understand.
Mother: I think you do understand, you’re just being deliberately willful. But I’ll go through it all again. Our black gods are nature gods; they represent all that is beautiful and good. But nature did not make them to fix things and build things; that is the task of white men. Now, white men are very, very evil, so we must not have too many white men in our nation. But we need a few white men to fix things and build things, therefore we don’t kill all white men, we let a few live so that they can fix things and build things.
Susan: Was my father a fixer and a builder?
Mother: Yes.
Susan: Did he die?
Mother: Yes, he did, but I don’t want you to talk about your father. He did some bad things before he died; he was not a good man.
Susan: Maybe Johnny is going to grow up to be a fixer and a builder.
Mother: Whether he grows up and is placed in the science lab or he is placed in the execution chamber should be of no concern of yours. In either case, you are not supposed to play with him. Now, I’ll untie you, but you will be punished severely if you ever play with that boy again.
Later that night Susan hears a tapping at her second story bedroom window. She gets up and opens the window to a small balcony.
Johnny: May I see you?
Susan: I’m not supposed to see you ever again.
Johnny: Why can’t you see me?
Susan: Because you are a white boy.
Johnny: But what is wrong about white skin? I have a storybook that has pictures, and all the people in the pictures are white.
Susan: I’m not supposed to look at storybooks that come from the bad time.
Johnny: How do you know my storybook is from the bad time?
Susan: You said the book had white people in it, so that means it is from the bad time. Any book that doesn’t have black people in it is a bad book.
Johnny: But there are nice stories in this book. There is a story called “Hansel and Gretel.” They were a boy and girl who get lost in the woods and discover a gingerbread house.
Susan: I don’t want to hear anymore… What do you mean by a gingerbread house, you can’t make a house of gingerbread.
Johnny: Well, there is one in the book. And Hansel and Gretel meet a witch and then…
Susan: That is wrong. Witches were invented by white men in order to insult women. It is wrong to read stories about them. My mother says that…
Johnny: I think your mother is a witch.
Susan: (starts screaming) Mother, mother, that white boy is here.
(Susan’s mother runs into the bedroom with a Glock pistol and starts firing at Johnny as he climbs down to the ground. Susan’s mother isn’t sure, but she thinks one of the bullets hits Johnny in the leg.)
Mother: (on the phone) Operator, get me the police. Is this the police? Good, I want to report a white boy who tried to break into my home and assault my daughter. He is about eight years old, blonde, and I think I shot him in the leg.
Police Dispatcher: We will send a squad car around to see if they can pick him up.
Mother: They better find him, I don’t want him bothering my daughter again. (Coming over to the bed to tuck her daughter in.) You did good, Susan.
Susan: What will they do to him if they catch him.
Mother: They will kill him.
Susan: Oh no, I didn’t want that to happen. I just got mad when he called you a witch. (She starts to cry.)
Mother: Stop that this instant, Susan. Women never cry, you know that, it is written in Article II, Section 6, of the Feminist Manifesto. There is nothing soft, nothing sentimental, in women; we are strong, we have nothing called sentiment in us. That was an invention of white males who once ruled this land and enslaved women and blacks. Now, stop crying or I’ll be forced to beat you again.
Susan: It’s only that I feel sorry for…
Mother: You are not to feel sorry for a white boy. You simply must stop this. No more of it, do you hear?
Susan: Yes, mother.
A mountain stronghold of the White Underground.
John Taylor: Have you heard from Britain?
David Morgan: Yes, I have. I have a letter from Father Bontini. Would you like me to read it to you?
Taylor: By all means.
Morgan: (He reads the letter.) “This is not the first time I’ve had to write about Christopher Grey because he hasn’t the time. He seems to have no rest, he is always going about his Lord’s business. This time it was the plague raging through what used to be called Britain that called him away from the new Britain, which, as you know, used to be called Wales. You had the plague over there a year in advance of us, but it has now hit Europe with a vengeance. It is much more deadly than the COVID-19 virus of many years ago. This virus has a 90% kill rate and thus far there is no drug that can cure it.
“King Arthur took the measures necessary to keep us free of the plague. He placed armed guards on the border with orders to shoot and kill any and all invaders, whether they were Islamic soldiers or British-Islamic refugees. What else could he do? His policy, in my view, is in keeping with Christian charity. You can’t allow your own people to be murdered by a virus spawned by your enemies. Arthur has literally launched all sorts of food supplies and experimental drugs over the border in cylinders in order to give some relief to those suffering from the plague, but he will not open up the borders.
“Christopher approved of Arthur’s policy, but he felt called to do something more. He told me, ‘There must be a Christian presence over there, in this crisis.’
“I asked him, ‘Didn’t the white Britons have a choice when they decided to stay in Islamic Britain instead of coming here to Christian Britain? Shouldn’t they have to live with that choice?’
“‘Yes, they did have a choice, and not one single citizen of Christian Britain should have to suffer because of their apostasy. But I am not putting those Christians at risk. I’m going over there alone.’
“’But Christopher, what can you do? We have some drugs that can alleviate the pain, but there is no cure for this disease. You will die from it before you can really do any good.’
“’I’m 106 years old. Do I really have that many months left to live regardless of whether I die of the plague or not?’
“’Those months belong to God, Christopher. I don’t want you to give them away in a hopeless cause.’
“’Bless you, my friend. I know that you are speaking from the heart. But I feel I must do this. Those people, which are still my people, must, at the hour of their deaths, have some human conduit to Christ. If they will accept my love, it will link them to His love. So I must go.’
“What could I say? I knelt and asked for his blessing before he went. I knew I would need that memory for the remaining years of my life without his presence. ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.’
“That was six months ago. For some reason, known only to God, the Reverend Christopher Grey did not come down with the plague. The plague went down before Christopher Grey. He did not administer any drugs, but he was able to heal all those he came in contact with who had contracted the plague. What was his method? It was quite simple. In the case of the adults who came to him, he laid his hand on their foreheads and asked the Lord Jesus to come into their soul in order to heal them. And with the children he did likewise except that he took them into his arms as he asked Jesus Christ to heal them. Did he convert a whole nation because of his efforts? No, of course not. The whites, once they were healed, started talking about psychic forces and psychological factors that harnessed the power of the mind and gave the body assistance in fighting off disease. And many of the coloreds and the Moslems attributed the healing powers of Christopher Grey to the devil. But still, there were more than a few who were cured of the disease who did call on Him who saves for the first time in their lives. Whether that initial awakening will turn into faith is difficult to predict, but the grace of God was present, through Christopher Grey, in that heathen nation.
“Why was Christopher permitted to go about Islamic Britain for six months? Because quite early in his mission of mercy he healed the eight year old son of the High Caliph of London. The High Caliph did not convert, but he did remove all restrictions on Christopher’s movements throughout Islamic Britain. We will not, here in New Britain, relax our vigilance, but for now Christopher’s mission of mercy has made for a more peaceful situation between Christian Britain and Islamic Britain.
“Of course, the larger question is – Why was Christopher able to heal so many people? Certainly it was Jesus Christ who healed them, but why was Christopher able to heal them in Christ’s name, when the rest of us could not? I do not have a definitive answer to that question. There are some things that we simply will not know until we have crossed over to that other shore. But there is one thing I can say about Christopher that might give us a glimmer – a glimmer of God’s grace. I have never known a man less tainted with the pride of intellect than Christopher Grey. No doubt because of the events of his childhood and his young manhood Christopher has looked on knowledge as a revelation from God that comes to the heart that loves. Christopher, throughout his entire life, has rejected the enlightened intellect. He refused to ‘evolve’ away from his ‘childish’ and ‘foolish’ faith in the God-Man, Jesus Christ. I do not have Christopher’s photographic memory, but I have committed Chateaubriand’s comments on the pride of intellect to my memory and my heart:
‘Now, if the primitive constitution of man consisted in accordances such as we find established among other beings, nothing more was necessary for the destruction of this order, or any such harmony in general, than to alter the equilibrium of the forces or qualities. In man this precious equilibrium was formed by the faculties of love and thought. Adam was at the same time the most enlightened and the best of men ; the most powerful in thought and the most powerful in love. But whatever has been created must necessarily have a progressive course. Instead of waiting for new attainments in knowledge to be derived from the revolution of ages, and to be accompanied by an accession of new feelings, Adam wanted to know every thing at once. Observe, too, what is very important : man had it in his power to destroy the harmony of his being in two ways, either by wanting to love too much, or to know too much. He transgressed in the second way; for we are, in fact, far more deeply tinctured with the pride of science than with the pride of love; the latter would have deserved pity rather than punishment, and if Adam had been guilty of desiring to feel rather than to know too much, man himself might, perhaps, have been able to expiate his transgression, and the Son of God would not have been obliged to under-take so painful a sacrifice. But the case was different. Adam sought to embrace the universe, not with the sentiments of his heart, but with the power of thought, and, advancing to the tree of knowledge, he admitted into his mind a ray of light that over-powered it. The equilibrium was instantaneously destroyed, and confusion took possession of man. Instead of that illumination which he had promised himself, a thick darkness overcast his sight, and his guilt, like a veil, spread out between him and the universe. His whole soul was agitated and in commotion ; the passions rose up against the judgment, the judgment strove to annihilate the passions, and in this terrible storm the rock of death witnessed with joy the first of shipwrecks.’
“Christopher, first with his grief for his cherished pet and then later with the death of his beloved wife, loved so much, so deeply, that God vouchsafed him a vision of heaven, a heaven in which those he loved still lived in and through Christ. Christopher has never sought God through an illuminated mind and that is why, in my judgement, God has been able to work miracles by using Christopher’s Christ-imbued heart as a channel of His grace. Does that sound like raving to you? I hope not. In the meantime, Christopher is now back in Christian Britain and is looking forward to another Christmas. I hope this letter finds you well and I hope the White Underground in your area continues to grow. God bless you, and Merry Christmas!”
Taylor: What can I say? I should say I’m surprised, but I’m not. I spent over a year in Christian Britain, which was long enough to get to know the Reverend Grey. He is not like other men.
Morgan: I like the way Father Bontini put it when he said that the plague didn’t bring Christopher down, Christopher brought the plague down. It is true, what Bontini says, that Christopher has more completely purged the rationalist dragon from his soul than the rest of us. That is why he seems to be a man apart from the rest of us.
Taylor: But he doesn’t feel apart from us, isn’t that the key?
Morgan: Yes, it is, he loves much, like his Master.
Taylor: My faith is still in its infancy.
Morgan: So is mine, despite my gray hairs. (They both laugh)
Act II. Scene 1.
Susan’s mother was wrong; she did not hit Johnny with a bullet from her Glock pistol, which is another example of the insufficiency of mere fire power without accuracy. Johnny was dragging his leg when he fled from Susan’s house because he sprained it when he jumped from the balcony. The 20+ bullets were sprayed all around him, but they did not hit him.
Johnny spent the night dodging the police cars. He knew of hideaways in alleys and old burned-out buildings that the police did not know about. In the early morning, after keeping on the move the entire night, Johnny came to an old dilapidated church on the edge of the city. At first he thought the church was abandoned without any inhabitants, but he saw a light in the adjacent rectory. Starved and desperate, he took a chance and entered the church. Needless to say the church was a ‘converted’ church: the sign outside read, ‘The African Church of North America,’ and inside the usual signs of the new religion were present. The former Stations of the Cross had been replaced by various scenes depicting the evolution of the black race from slaves to gods. Now, instead of Christ, a depiction of the Sacred Negro was at the front of the church. When Johnny entered the church, a white priest, about 75 years of age, was at the altar cleaning up the blood that had been spilled when the sacrificial white victim had been killed on the altar at last night’s service. Johnny limped up to the old man with a vague hope that he could get something to eat without becoming a sacrificial offering himself.
Old Priest: What do we have here? A little white boy. I don’t think you are supposed to be here, are you?
Johnny: Please sir, I’m very hungry, could you give me some food?
Old Priest: Certainly, you just wait here and I’ll bring you some toast and jelly. Would you like that?
Johnny: Please, I’d like any food.
Old Priest: Good, I’ll bring it. (The priest briefly leaves the room and brings back the food. He then sits down and waits until Johnny has eaten.) I’ll bet that makes you feel much better. What is your name?
Johnny: Johnny, sir. And yes, it was good.
Old Priest: Now tell me the truth, Johnny, you are a white runaway, aren’t you? You have run away from the white internment camp.
Johnny: I don’t know what an internment camp means. The guards call it the white pigsty.
Old Priest: It amounts to the same thing.
Johnny: You won’t send me back there, will you?
Old Priest: I am a priest in the African Catholic Church of North America, Johnny. Do you know what that means?
Johnny: It means you are going to send me back.
Old Priest: Johnny, you do not understand. You are a white boy. And as a white boy, you are full of evil, racist prejudices. If you are allowed to grow up free and unrestrained, how could we be sure that you wouldn’t become a racist and hurt a black person? You might even become a member of the White Underground.
Johnny: But why do I have to be a prisoner in the white pigsty? You are white, and you are free.
Old Priest: There is where you are wrong, Johnny. I am not a normal white person. I am an illuminated white. By a process that you are too young to understand, I have become illuminated in my mind, which makes me black inside. To put it in terms that you can understand, let me just say that I thought very hard about how bad it was to be white, and I made myself, by thinking so hard, into a black man.
Johnny: But you still look white to me.
Old Priest: That is only on the outside, Johnny, on the inside I am black, and that is why I am free to perform the holy sacrifice at the altar every Sunday.
Johnny: You kill white people on the altar, don’t you?
Old Priest: I wouldn’t use the term ‘kill,’ Johnny, I would use the term ‘sacrifice.’ We sacrifice whites on the altar of the Sacred Negro.
Johnny: Will I be sacrificed on the altars of the Sacred Negro some day?
Old Priest: Yes, Johnny, you will be sacrificed there, as all members of the internment camps, the whites with no scientific aptitudes, are sacrificed. You, because you tried to run away, will be sacrificed on this altar next Sunday. While I was preparing breakfast for you, I called the police.
Johnny: Why do you hate me so?
Old Priest: I don’t hate you, Johnny, it is not a bad thing to die, especially if we die on the altar of the Sacred Negro.
Johnny: But what happens to us when we die?
Old Priest: We become part of nature, we are absorbed by the elements.
Johnny: But I want to go to heaven when I die, me Johnny, I want to personally go to heaven to meet Jesus.
Old Priest: (very harshly) Who told you about heaven and Jesus?
Johnny: No one told me, I read about Jesus and heaven in a storybook.
Old Priest: (even more harshly) Storybooks, especially old storybooks, are forbidden in the African Republic of North America. Who gave it to you?
Johnny: No one, I found it. There were stories from the book, there were good white people in the book, too, white people who spoke of Jesus and heaven.
Old Priest: (slaps Johnny) That is racism, Johnny. You are not to speak of Jesus in such a manner. He is not a god.
Johnny: “Roses bloom and cease to be,
But we shall the Christ child see.”
That was in the book and I believe the book, because there were beautiful stories in the book.
Old Priest: (in a rage) You are not to speak of such things!
Johnny: I will, I will, you are going to kill me anyway!
Old Priest: (leaps upon Johnny and starts strangling him) I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, you little fiend.
(In the midst of strangling Johnny, the priest has a heart attack and dies. As Johnny rolls free, he hears police sirens outside. As the police mount the stairs, he escapes out the window.)
A newly built science compound has been built over the ruins of the restaurant where Sister Jacqueline was taken away by the White Underground. It is dedicated to her. No one is allowed to mention the alleged miracle that happened there. It now houses about 80 white males with scientific aptitudes. They are afforded a little more freedom than the whites in the internment camps; they can get passes to leave the compound on special occasions, and they can receive visitors. Most of their time, however, is spent in the laboratories at the compound. They are not completely free to come and go as the illuminated whites are free to come and go. Susan’s father, Thomas Kent, is one of the scientists living at the compound. He shares a small apartment with another inmate, one Peter Mackenzie, although neither inmate is referred to by name. Kent is Inmate #79 and Mackenzie is Inmate #80. Kent once lived free, but his wife, Susan’s mother, reported him to the feminist branch of the enforcement bureau of the African State Church of North America with a charge of sexism. He was found guilty and sent to the science compound. He would have been executed if not for his scientific expertise. Susan’s mother simply told Susan that her father was dead.
As the scene opens, Kent and Mackenzie are in their apartment after the working day. Kent is reading a scientific journal – all other reading is banned – and Mackenzie is watching a state-sponsored sporting event in which only black athletes are allowed to compete.
Mackenzie: (turning off the set) It isn’t much of a game.
Kent: (looking up from his journal) What’s the matter?
Mackenzie: The game is already over, the Number Two’s got off to too big of a lead.
Kent: That’s a shame.
Mackenzie: I don’t know how you do it.
Kent: Do what?
Mackenzie: Live here without going nuts. I’ve been here 6 months, and already I can’t stand it here. You’ve been here – how long have you been here?
Kent: If you mean how long have I been at this facility, it has only been about 10 months.
Mackenzie: I don’t mean that. How long have you been a laboratory worker?
Kent: Five years. I was once a free worker, but my wife had me sent here.
Mackenzie: That is the downside of getting married.
Kent: Were you ever married?
Mackenzie: No, I was a free white, an illuminated white, but a co-worker reported me for making a racist comment.
Kent: What was it, or shouldn’t I ask?
Mackenzie: I simply wondered why whites, if they were illuminated, shouldn’t be allowed to play in the sporting events.
Kent: And that got you sent here?
Mackenzie: Yes.
Kent: It could have been worse, you could have been executed for such a remark.
Mackenzie: I suppose I was lucky, but still this place is driving me nuts. I’ve only been given two weekend passes since I’ve been here, and those passes are limited to places that are not more than five miles from this laboratory.
Kent: Yes, we are rather confined here.
Mackenzie: What did you do that made your wife report you to the feminist board?
Kent: We had a three-year old daughter named Susan. She would be eight years old now. Well, I don’t know if any man, despite what the feminists say, ever gets rid of a certain feeling that he is dealing with something soft and sweet when he is dealing with the best of the opposite sex. When I thought my wife wasn’t looking or within hearing distance, I hugged my daughter and called her “daddy’s little sweetie pie.” My wife heard me.
Mackenzie: And she reported you?
Kent: Yes, she did. In less than a half-hour, my life as an illuminated white was over, and I became a laboratory worker. It could have been worse if I hadn’t been scientifically inclined.
Mackenzie: Yes, it could have, but still you must get sick of this grind.
Kent: I do, but most of all, I miss my daughter. I’m sure my wife has told her I was an evil man, and has probably told her I am dead.
Mackenzie: Do you hate your wife?
Kent: I suppose I should say I don’t hate her because she was only doing her duty according to the feminist manifesto, but to be honest I must say – Yes, I hate her.
Mackenzie: I don’t think I could ever get up the energy to hate.
Kent: A very wise man once said that we cannot love where we should love, if we do not hate where we should hate.
Mackenzie: Who was that man?
Kent: His name was Edmund Burke.
Mackenzie: Where did you hear of such a man, he isn’t someone we are supposed to know about, I’m sure about that.
Kent: Have you ever heard of Herb Broadhurst?
Mackenzie: Yes, wasn’t he that archivist who joined the White Underground?
Kent: Yes, he was. And it was on this very spot, where this laboratory was built, that Herb joined with the White Underground.
Mackenzie: Did you know him?
Kent: Yes, and he used to tell me about some of the stories of the white people he read about in the Archives.
Mackenzie: He wasn’t supposed to do that, was he?
Kent: No, he wasn’t. Nevertheless, I found his stories from the Archives quite interesting.
Mackenzie: They eliminated the Archives after what happened with Broadhurst, didn’t they?
Kent: Yes, they did.
Mackenzie: Why was what happened at the Inn that used to be here hushed up?
Kent: Many people who were here that Christmas Eve night claimed a miracle occurred. They said a twelve-year-old girl was brought back from the dead.
Mackenzie (laughing) Is that all? She probably just received mouth-to-mouth CPR and recovered from an unconscious state.
Kent: Possibly, but there were some people who insisted that a man brought the girl back to life simply by touching her forehead.
Mackenzie: That is ridiculous. Who was the man?
Kent; No-one is quite sure who he was. He disappeared after the incident. Before the alleged incident occurred he was chained outside in the snow.
Mackenzie: Who had him chained there?
Kent: Sister Jacqueline had him chained there.
Mackenzie: Who released him?
Kent: That’s the problem. Nobody knows how he got rid of his chains. He suddenly appeared at the door without his chains. He then went to the girl, who had been struck dead by one of Sister Jacqueline’s policemen, and brought her back to life. That is how the story goes.
Mackenzie: Pure nonsense.
Kent: Maybe.
Mackenzie: What do you mean by ‘maybe’? Surely you don’t think some mysterious stranger actually brought a young girl back to life?
Kent: No, I can’t say that I think that. But I know that Herb Broadhurst thought so, and I really liked that man.
Mackenzie: I didn’t know him. But he wasn’t a scientist, which is why he saw a miracle in something that was scientific. CPR is a wonderful thing, but it is science-based in its principles.
Kent: You’re probably right, but I’d still like to know more about that night.
Mackenzie: What would you still like to know?
Kent: Well, I’d like to know what happened to the mysterious stranger.
Mackenzie: That is easy – he left with the White Underground.
Kent: No, he was gone before the White Underground arrived.
Mackenzie: He was probably waiting outside for them to arrive and left with them.
Kent: Possibly.
Mackenzie: You seem to want there to be a mystery where there really is none.
Kent: I suppose I do. But didn’t you say you were bored here?
Mackenzie: Yes, I did.
Kent: Why, if science is all and all, are you bored with it?
Mackenzie: It’s not science I’m bored with, it’s the lack of outside diversions that I miss.
Kent: Well, then I still maintain that if science was all, you wouldn’t need outside diversions.
Mackenzie: I don’t see that.
Kent: Then let’s drop the subject. All I know is that I miss my daughter.
Mackenzie: Wait, I hear something on the balcony.
(Kent goes out onto the balcony and finds a boy – it is Johnny – shivering with cold and barely conscious. He brings him into the apartment.)
Act III. Scene 1.
The rectory of the major enforcement bureau of the African Catholic Church of North America. Monsignor McKinney (aged 55) and Father Mandela Johnston (age 34) are in the dining room finishing a late breakfast.
Johnston: I see that boy who killed one of our priests is still at large.
McKinney: Yes, I can’t understand why the police haven’t caught him yet. It’s been three days now since the murder.
Johnston: Is it really that important that he is caught? After all, he is just one boy.
McKinney: I’m surprised at you, Father. It’s of vital importance. Father Nicholas was of no particular importance – he didn’t really have a parish, we had put him out to pasture six years ago – but he turned on the tape, as he was required to, before he spoke to that white boy. And that white boy blasphemed against the Sacred Negro.
He quoted from a forbidden book of stories, and he made reference to Christ, not as a forerunner of the Sacred Negro, but as the son of the living God. We must capture that boy and find out where he got that book. And we must find out who spoke to him about Christ. If that boy was an ordinary murderer, he would not be a concern, but since he is a blasphemer he is our concern. When the police apprehend him, they will turn him over to us.
Johnston: I’m sorry, Monsignor, I didn’t realize the seriousness of the matter.
McKinney: It is easy, living as we do, to get complacent. We only associate with our fellow believers, but there is a white underground out there. We can’t forget that.
Johnston: But aren’t they just a small remnant?
McKinney: Small is a relative term. They have had an impact. Just two years ago they took Sister Jacqueline away to be tortured and killed.
Johnston: Do we know if she was killed?
McKinney: We must assume the worst; the white underground are racists.
Johnston: It’s a terrible thing. And what about Father Taylor and Herb Broadhurst? They were members of the Illuminati and they became racists. It makes me sick to think of the enormity of their treachery.
McKinney: Yes, it’s a terrible thing. To know the true God, the Sacred Negro, and then to descend to idolatry, superstition, and racism is unforgivable. I must preside over the trial of an apostate Illuminati today.
Johnston: I didn’t know. Who is it?
McKinney: I don’t believe you know him, it’s Thomas Davenport; he was a psychologist in the Execution Division of our church.
Johnston: The same position that Father Taylor once held?
McKinney: Yes.
Johnston: What is it about that position that creates apostates?
McKinney: Don’t be too hasty with your judgements, Father. We have hundreds of priest psychologists, and this is only our second case of apostasy.
Johnston: But even one case is too many.
McKinney: True, but we must keep things in perspective. I am going to look into shorter terms for our psychologists in the execution division. I think the pressure of deciding who must die and who will live grates on the psyche of some men.
Johnston: I don’t think a really grounded man should have a problem. If a white man refuses illumination, he should die; it’s that simple.
McKinney: I agree, but some men seem illuminated and then fall for reasons we still don’t understand.
Johnston: Perhaps today at Thomas Davenport’s trial you will be able to get some insight into his psyche that will help you weed out future apostates.
McKinney: He hasn’t been found guilty yet.
Johnston: But isn’t that just a formality? I heard he made an open declaration of his racism – he said that Jesus Christ was the one and only Son of the Living God.
McKinney: Yes, his guilt seems apparent from what I’ve heard, but I will let him explain himself in open court. Perhaps you’d like to attend.
Johnston: Yes, I would. I’d like to see one of these apostates close-up.
The trial of Thomas Davenport, formerly a priest-psychologist in the Execution Division of the African Roman Catholic Church of North America. Monsignor McKinney presiding.
McKinney: State your name.
Davenport: My name is Thomas Davenport.
McKinney: You have been charged with blasphemy against our holy faith. How do you plead?
Davenport: Guilty.
McKinney: What are you saying? Don’t you want to issue a defense?
Davenport: I am guilty of blasphemy as you describe it. I do not believe in the Sacred Negro. I believe that he is a false god. I believe in the God of the white Europeans whom you persecute, I believe that Jesus Christ is the one true God who died on the cross to save us all from sin and death.
McKinney: Guards, have that man gagged. (Two guards tie Davenport’s hands behind his back and then gag him.) Now, I must say a few words before I pass sentence. You have committed an unpardonable sin against our holy faith. When you attack that faith, you attack us all. We have struggled mightily against white racism, and it is only by the grace afforded us by the Sacred Negro that we have been able to conquer, within our own psyches (note that I do not use the word ‘soul’, which is a concept of white racists), the white racism within. Our illumination has been dearly bought. We cannot permit anyone to try and drag us back to racism.
(Monsignor McKinney rises from his seat and raises his arms in the air) I can see the Sacred Negro in my mind’s eye; he calls on me to pass judgement on the racist before me. (He sits down.) I sentence you to torture and death two days hence. So die all racists.
Johnston: (coming up to Monsignor McKinney after the trial) I didn’t get much of a chance to see into his psyche as he was not allowed to talk.
McKinney: Are you suggesting that I should have let him talk any further after he publicly blasphemed?
Johnston: No, of course not, but I would still like to learn a bit more about him, so I could be of some use in stopping such men from attaining any positions in our church again.
McKinney: I could give you a pass to visit him in his cell. Would you like that?
Johnston: Yes, I would.
McKinney: I’ll arrange it.
Davenport’s cell.
Father Johnston: I can’t have your death sentence altered, I haven’t the power. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t alter your death sentence even if I had the power to. I think you deserve to die for your apostasy.
Davenport: Did you come here just to tell me that?
Johnston: No, I came here to tell you that if you cooperate with me, if you answer my questions, I can have the torture you are currently scheduled for remitted.
Davenport: I don’t particularly care to be tortured, but I won’t answer any questions that put my fellow Christians in jeopardy.
Johnston: My questions are not that type of questions.
Davenport: If they won’t compromise anyone else, I’ll answer your questions.
Johnston: Good. I would like to know how you, an illuminated white, made the descent into racism. By what process did you go from light to darkness?
Davenport: Of course, I do not see it as you see it. From my perspective I went from darkness to light. But since you ask me, I’ll try to articulate the reason for what you call ‘my apostasy.’
Like you, like all whites who are allowed to grow up and live in the African Republic of North America, I believed that the negro was sacred. I believed that we, as white men, were called upon to serve the negro with our whole heart, mind, and soul. And for many years, I did just that. All my work in the science lab was holy work to me, because it was done in the name of the sacred negro, it was done to make the sacred negroes’ lives here on earth more pleasant.
I was given permission to marry a white woman, because I had demonstrated my scientific aptitude. The Illuminati on the council felt that my offspring might also be scientifically inclined. I was relieved when my son, at age three, scored very high on the scientific aptitude tests, because I saw there was an excellent chance that he would be allowed to live, that he would not have to be executed. Even though I knew it was in violation of Section III, Article 17 of the African Republic of North American’s constitution, I had formed a very close bond with my son and my wife.
Johnston: Even though you knew such bonds were forbidden? When you knew that the procreation of the species was not supposed, within the bond of white marriage, to be connected with sentiment?
Davenport: Yes, I did form ties of sentiment with my wife and child. I just couldn’t seem to help myself. But I still believed in the sacred negro despite my sentimental attachment to a white child and a white woman.
Johnston: I do not see how the two principles can be reconciled, but please proceed with your story.
Davenport: When Edmund was 6 years old, my wife died tragically in what they told me was a car accident.
Johnston: You don’t believe it was a car accident?
Davenport: I believed it at the time, but now I know differently. I know that she was raped and murdered by your black gods. She got lost – she was always bad with directions – and drove into the rape and murder zone.
Johnston: You know that it is perfectly legal for blacks to rape and murder any white woman without a special pass. Did your wife have her pass?
Davenport: I don’t k now for sure, she might have forgotten it that day. But should that make a difference? Why should the blacks have the right to rape and murder white women even if they don’t have a pass?
Johnston: If you weren’t already scheduled for execution, that statement alone would be your death warrant. But go on — if you tell me your whole story, I will keep my promise and remit your torture.
Davenport: After my wife’s death, I had only my son left to live for.
Johnston: You know that was wrong. You are not to live for what used to be called kith and kin; you are to live solely for the Sacred Negro.
Davenport: I know that is how it is supposed to be, but you asked me to tell my story.
Johnston: Go ahead.
Davenport: Two years after my wife’s death, Edmund was eight; he contracted the plague. It came as quite a shock to me because he got the plague at a time when it had virtually died out in this country. It was still raging in Europe, but we no longer had any active cases. I could only conclude that I had carried it home from the lab. I had been working with the virus in order to develop a vaccine.
Now, before you interrupt me again, let me say that I knew I was supposed to report Edmund’s illness. But I didn’t, because I knew he would be executed. I packed up as many provisions as I could carry in the minivan and took Edmund to the mountains. I wanted him, if he had to die, to die in peaceful surroundings, not in a science lab. My special illuminated status allowed me to pass through the sentries guarding the roads.
Johnston: Did your son die in the mountains, then?
Davenport: No, he did not. The White Underground came upon us. That is all I will say. They came to me, a man who had sent hundreds of white Christians to their deaths for their refusal to worship the Sacred Negro, and they helped my son.
Johnston: How could they help your son? The plague is and was incurable.
Davenport: They told me there was a man in Britain who could cure the plague. He had just returned to Christian Britain after healing thousands of plague victims in Islamic Britain.
Johnston: And who was the man?
Davenport: His name was…
Johnston: Christopher Grey?
Davenport: Yes.
Johnston: He never cured anyone, all that is nonsense.
Davenport: He cured my son.
Johnston: If your son got better, it was a psychic phenomenon, it had nothing to do with Christopher Grey.
Davenport: That’s what Christopher Grey said: he said he had nothing to do with my son’s recovery. Only he did not call it a psychic phenomenon. He said that it was Jesus Christ who healed my son and that he was merely a vehicle for Christ.
Johnston: That is blasphemy. There are no miracles outside of the natural world. The so-called miracles are psychic phenomena. We must look to the Sacred Negro for the real miracles, the miracle of the Natural Savage untainted by the non-illuminated whites.
Davenport: So you say. But I saw a miracle. I had a mask and gloves on, a mask and gloves I had especially designed for myself when the plague had hit our country. The White Underground had us isolated from the rest of their population, but they kept us supplied with food and water. I didn’t believe that my son could be cured, since he had entered the final stages of the disease, but there was a great peace amongst those people that made me glad that I had fled the city with my son. It was — you can make of this what you want — on the third day that I was among the White Underground that he, Christopher Grey, appeared. He simply nodded to me and walked right up to my son and took him in his arms. To me he looked like an enormous angel, like something from another world. He said, “Please, Lord Jesus, come into your child, Edmund Davenport, and cure him.”
He held him for another two or three minutes in his arms and then he laid him back on the bed. And my son was plague free! I wept and I believed. I fell on my knees before Christopher and started to thank him. But he got on his knees beside me and thanked our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And he was right — at that moment, when I saw my son healed through the power of Christ, I believed. Most certainly I am the least of God’s children, because I persecuted His people, and I needed to see before I believed, but still I now belong to Him. I was captured by your police force when I came back to get a few of my things, but I am thankful that my son is with the White Underground. And that is my story. If it will make my death less painful, I am glad I told it to you. If not, it will not change my faith.
Johnston: You truly deserve the death sentence that Monsignor McKinney gave you. As for the torture that is customary in these cases, I’m afraid I lied to you. I do not have the power to remit your torture. And quite frankly I wouldn’t do it if I could. You deserve to be tortured because you have gone over to the racist Europeans, the Christers, and must be punished most severely with torture and death.
Davenport: So be it then. I know He will sustain me.
Johnston: Jailer! It’s time to let me out.
Morgan: (outside the cell) The jailer is temporarily indisposed. I relieved him of his duties. You and Mr. Davenport are coming with me.
Johnston: Who are you?
Morgan: My name is Morgan.
Johnston: The leader of the White Underground?
Morgan: Yes, and you are going to meet many of my friends and some of your former friends such as Sister Jacqueline, who remains our prisoner.
Johnston: Hel… (Morgan muffles his scream and takes him away, accompanied by the newest member of the White Underground, Thomas Davenport.
The apartment of Thomas Kent and Peter Mackenzie. Kent has placed Johnny in his bed, covered him with blankets, and brought him a cup of hot chocolate. Johnny has regained consciousness.
Kent: And where have you come from? Easy on the milk, don’t drink it too quickly.
Johnny: I’m so hungry and thirsty.
Kent: I’ll get you something to eat as well, but take your time with it. (Kent goes into the kitchen to get Johnny some leftovers. Mackenzie speaks to him in the kitchen.)
Mackenzie: I’m sure that is the runaway white kid the police are looking for.
Kent: Probably.
Mackenzie: Then we’ll have to turn him in right now.
Kent: Let’s wait a bit, at least let him eat.
Mackenzie: What’s the use of that, he will be killed as soon as they take him.
Kent: Still, I’d like to give him this chicken.
Mackenzie: Why?
Kent: It would give me pleasure to feed a human being instead of a laboratory rat.
Mackenzie: Don’t be absurd, I’m calling the police. (He walks over to the phone. As he does so Kent goes to his desk drawer and draws out a small semiautomatic pistol.)
Kent: Leave the phone alone.
Mackenzie: Have you gone mad?
Kent: Quite probably I have gone mad. Which is all the more reason why you shouldn’t touch that phone — I will shoot.
Mackenzie: All right, I won’t touch the phone. But if you harbor a white escapee from the internment camp we will both be executed.
Kent: Don’t worry, I’ll see to it that you’re not implicated. Put your hands behind your back. (Kent ties and gags Mackenzie and puts him in the closet. Then he goes into the bedroom, bringing Johnny the chicken. When Johnny finishes eating, Kent speaks to him.)
Kent: You’ve been very busy these last few days, haven’t you?
Johnny: Yes, I have, and I’m very tired.
Kent: Well, in just a little while you can get some sleep. But first I’d like you to tell me your story.
Johnny: Like in the storybooks?
Kent: Yes, if that will make it easier for you.
Johnny: Well, once upon a time I was born in a big prison camp. I don’t know who my father and mother were, because I never, that I can remember, had anyone around me. There were only black men with whips and sticks around me. They always beat me. They told me if I failed the tests, they would kill me and eat me, just like the witch in the Hansel and Gretel story.
Kent: Did they, the guards, tell you about Hansel and Gretel?
Johnny: No, that was a book I found two years ago. I read it many, many times when no-one was paying any attention to me. I had a hiding place for the book just outside the camp. I also had a little tunnel I dug that led outside the camp. That is where I read the book and visited Susan.
Kent: Who was Susan?
Johnny: She was a white girl I used to go and see. I thought she liked me. I still think she does, but when I called her mother a witch, she screamed, and her mother shot at me. That was about five days ago, but I’m not sure exactly how long it has been. A lot has happened to me since that time.
Kent: What was the last name of Susan?
Johnny: I’m not sure what Susan’s last name was. But her mother’s last name was Wagner.
Kent: Johnny, that young girl is my daughter.
Johnny: Then she should be with you. I’m sure she is not happy with her mother, because her mother ties her to a chair when she is bad.
Kent: I don’t think Susan could be so bad as to warrant being tied to a chair.
Johnny: I think that was my fault. When Susan played with me, she was being ‘racist,’ so her mother punished her.
Kent: Yes, she would do that. You were right, Johnny, Susan’s mother is a witch.
Johnny: I thought so. But what can we do? Susan shouldn’t have to live with a witch.
Kent: No, she shouldn’t. I’m going to take care of that. But you haven’t finished telling me your story. How did you end up here, and why are the police chasing you?
Johnny: They say I killed a priest of the African Roman Catholic Church of North America.
Kent: Wait, before you go any further, let me get my roommate out of the closet. I really shouldn’t have put him there. (Kent leaves the room for ten minutes and then comes back with Mackenzie.) Now, Johnny, please go on with your story. My friend here will listen as well. And when you have finished, we will both leave together while my friend calls the police, but not before he has given us a half-hour head start. Isn’t that right, Peter?
Mackenzie: Agreed.
Kent: Go ahead, Johnny.
Johnny: Susan’s mother, the witch, started shooting at me, so of course I had to run away. I couldn’t go back to the prison camp like I used to do because I knew Susan’s mother had called the police. So I ran and hid, and I ran and hid some more until I came to an old African Roman Catholic Church. The priest there started being nice to me. He gave me something to eat, and he seemed kind. But when I said, “Roses bloom and cease to be; But we shall the Christ child see,” he attacked me and started to choke me. I thought I was going to die, but then he suddenly stopped choking me. He rolled over on the floor beside me and stopped breathing. Then I saw the police cars outside the window and I ran away. As I was running away, I heard someone yelling I had murdered the old priest. I didn’t murder him, but I knew they would kill me anyway because of Susan’s mother, so I kept running.
Kent: How did you survive for five days and nights?
Johnny: I grabbed some food off the old priest’s table before I ran from that church. I made that last two days. Since then I haven’t eaten until now. It was on my fifth day of hiding and running that I came upon the big church festival. It was being held outside.
Kent: What were they doing at the festival?
Johnny: They were killing white people, isn’t that what they always do at religious festivals?
Kent: Yes.
Johnny: Well, they had all the white people lined up – there must have been hundreds of them lined up waiting their turn to be killed on the altars of the big outdoor church. The black guards all had those guns that shoot a lot of bullets.
Kent: Were you hidden during the festival?
Johnny: Yes, I was in the bushes on a hill overlooking the festival. But I guess I wasn’t paying attention because a black sentry came up behind me and grabbed me. “How did you escape,” he said. I tried to get away, but he held me tight and started to carry me down to the religious festival where the whites were being killed. But halfway down the hill somebody started shooting at the black guards, and I heard one of them say, “It’s Morgan and the White Underground.” Then the white prisoners started running for cover, and the black guards started shooting back at the White Underground people. But soon all the blacks were dead, and the White Underground people came and started telling the white people they could come with them. I tried to cry out to the White Underground people, but the black man held his hand over my mouth and started running into the hills with me.
Kent: Didn’t anybody from the White Underground see him running away with you?
Johnny: No, I guess we were too far away.
Kent: But you’re here now. Somebody must have helped you get away?
Johnny: Somebody did — his name was Michael.
Kent: Tell me about it.
Johnny: Well, the black guard was quite angry with the White Underground for killing all his friends. That is what he said, but he didn’t really seem as sorry for his friends getting killed as he seemed sorry that all the whites weren’t going to be killed. He kept saying, “Well, at least I’ll kill you, at least I’ll kill you.” And when we came to a clearing, he put handcuffs on me and made me kneel down while he built a fire. He said he planned to roast me alive. When he got the fire nice and hot, he undid my handcuffs, picked me up, and threw me in the fire.
Kent: Johnny, how is that possible – you don’t have any burn marks on your body?
Johnny: I didn’t burn up because he was there in the fire.
Kent: Who was there?
Johnny: Saint Michael the Archangel. That was his name.
Kent: Did he tell you that was his name?
Johnny: Yes, he did, and he said the Christ Child had sent him to watch out for me. He told me that Baby Jesus had heard me calling on Him by name when I told the old priest that, “Roses bloom and cease to be. But we the Christ child shall see.”
Mackenzie: This is too much. The child is lying, he is making all this up.
Kent: Is he?
Mackenzie: Of course he is, you don’t seriously believe in archangels and the baby Jesus?
Kent: People once believed in such things.
Mackenzie: Yes, in the age of superstition people believed in a lot of things, no doubt. But we are men of science.
Kent: You are a man of science. And you can have it.
Mackenzie: You believe his story?
Kent: I want to believe it.
Mackenzie: That’s not what I asked you. I asked you if you believed his story.
Kent: (Looks at Johnny and seems to be studying his face) Yes, I believe his story, more than I believe in that science lab over there.
Mackenzie: You’re insane!
Kent: Perhaps.
Johnny: The angel Michael must have known you would believe me because he took me here after he killed the black man. He told me you would take care of me.
Kent: If the angel told you that, then I will take care of you. We shall join a friend of mine, Herb Broadhurst, in the White Underground. But first I must go rescue my daughter Susan from that witch. Would you like that?
Johnny: Yes, I would, very much!
Kent: (addressing Mackenzie) You’ve promised me one half-hour head start.
Mackenzie: I’ll give you more than that, I won’t phone in a missing person report until the morning.
Kent: Thanks.
Mackenzie: (with a wave of his hand) Get out of here before you have me seeing angels.
Susan’s apartment. Johnny has shown Kent where he can climb up to Susan’s bedroom. Kent climbs up into Susan’s bedroom, but he goes through Susan’s bedroom to the witch’s bedroom. Without waking the witch, he goes to the dresser, opens a drawer, and removes the clip from his wife’s Glock. Then he goes back to Susan’s bedroom and gently wakes her. Johnny has been waiting there in the bedroom as well.
Kent: Do you hear me, Susan?
Susan: Yes, who are you?
Kent: I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I am your father, and I’ve come to take you away from here to a better place. And I’m taking Johnny with me as well.
Susan: My father is dead.
Kent: No, that is not true. I am your father. Look at me, Susan, look very carefully at my face.
Susan: I am looking.
Kent: What do you see?
Susan: (suddenly lighting up) I see love there, you love me! I know you must be my father!
Kent: Then you’ll come with me?
Susan: Yes, oh yes!
(At this point, Susan’s mother, the witch, enters the bedroom.)
The Witch: (pointing the Glock at Kent) I don’t know how you got here, but you’ll never leave here, you disgusting white male. (She pulls the trigger of the Glock, but of course nothing happens.)
Kent: I removed the bullets, my dear. (The witch rushes at Kent, her fists flailing, but Kent knocks her out with a straight right-hand punch. Then he goes over to her to see if she is still alive. She is still breathing.)
Susan: Why does my mother hate everyone?
Kent: Your mother is a liberal, Susan.
Susan: What is a liberal?
Kent: A liberal is someone who hates Jesus Christ, and because liberals hate Jesus Christ, they hate His people.
Susan: I don’t understand. Who is Jesus Christ?
Kent: I don’t understand much myself, Susan, but where we are going, there will be many people who understand about these things. They will tell us about creatures such as your mother who hate everyone, and they will show us other people who love one another as Jesus Christ once told us to do.
(Speaking more to himself now than to the others, Kent looks at his wife.) I thought I loved you. You’re still beautiful, at least on the outside. Maybe that is why I was punished through you. I only looked on the outside, not on the inside.
Johnny: Will we go now?
Kent: Yes, let me tie her up and gag her before we go.
Johnny: Roses bloom and cease to be, but we the Christ child shall see.
Kent: Yes, we will.
Act V. Scene 1.
A room in the mountain headquarters of the White Underground. Herb Broadhurst, Morgan, Kent, and Thomas Davenport are there.
Kent: I’m very grateful to you for taking me, my daughter, and Johnny into your mountain refuge. We certainly were in need of a refuge.
Morgan: We all are. There are many such refuges scattered throughout the continent.
Kent: Are you the leader?
Morgan: Yes, but every refuge has their own, for want of a better word, clan leader. I simply keep all the various clan chapters in touch with each other and ultimately in touch with King Arthur II of Britain.
Kent: Who was crowned by Christopher Grey?
Morgan: Yes.
Kent: Is he actually a real person? I’ve heard so many strange stories about him.
Davenport: He is quite real. He has been here for the past month. He came to heal my son and show the worst of sinners, one Thomas Davenport, the grace of Jesus Christ. He’ll be returning to Britain tomorrow, but tonight he’ll celebrate Christmas with us.
Kent: I’d like to meet him, but I must say this whole Christian thing is a little above and beyond me.
Broadhurst: It’s above and beyond all of us to some extent. We all are infants in our faith.
Morgan: Yes, we are, but we believe.
(Christopher Grey enters the room.)
Grey: Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. That is always our prayer. But it takes faith to make that prayer (looking at Kent and Davenport). Allow me to invoke an ancient privilege. Please kneel.
(They all kneel, while Grey prays.)
Dear God, please bless these, your children; help them to know you in and through their brothers and sisters in Christ, gathered together here in your name. Keep them always in your heart and give them the grace to allow you into their hearts. We ask this, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.
Morgan: Amen.
Grey: I’ll be back before I return to Britain, but right now I have a very important appointment with a young boy.
At the top of the mountain refuge where thousands of white Christians live, there is a huge nativity scene. Christopher Grey takes Johnny by the hand, and together they walk to the top of the mountain and stand before the representation of the Baby Jesus in the manger with the Virgin Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and the Shepherds kneeling before Him.
Johnny: Is this the Baby Jesus?
Grey: No, it’s just a model, a picture in wood of the Baby Jesus.
Johnny: It’s a nice picture, but I want to see the real Baby Jesus.
Grey: Why must you see him, Johnny?
Johnny: Because I love Him. “Roses bloom and cease to be, but we the Christ child shall see.”
Grey: You shall see Him, Johnny. I want you to kneel down. Cup your hands like this (Grey cups his hands in prayer) and listen to what I say. (Grey recites, from memory, the nativity story from the Gospel of Luke:
“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
Grey: Did you see Him, Johnny?
Johnny: Yes, I did, but I saw another person standing with the Baby Jesus. It was a man with a crown of thorns on His head and deep cuts in His hands and His side. And when I saw the crown of thorns and the wounds, I cried inside my heart, because I was sorry for Him. But then He became all shiny and bright, and He was beautiful. He still had marks on Him but they were healed. And I knew He loved me, I just knew it.
Grey: The Baby Jesus is that Man with the crown of thorns and the wounds. And the Baby Jesus is that wonderful Man of light. He is Christ, He is our Savior. Do you believe in Him, Johnny?
Johnny: Yes.
Grey: Let’s go down the mountain. Your young friend Susan is waiting for you down there and so are the rest of your friends.
Johnny: Do they love the Baby Jesus too?
Grey: Yes, they do.
Act V. Scene 3. Finis.
The Rev. Grey reads from Luke, chapter 2, and then he leads the faithful in song:
No crib for his bed
Laid down his sweet head
Looking down where he lay
Asleep on the hay
The cattle are lowing
The poor baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying he makes
I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle
Till morning is nigh
Be near me, Lord Jesus
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me for ever
And love me, I pray
Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And take us to Heaven
To live with Thee there.
This entry was posted in Remembrances. Bookmark the permalink.
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The new logo Burberry, “space” Milla Jovovich and changes in Vogue that have been discussed in fashion this week
Last week everyone talked about Gigi Hadid in the image of the zombie rabbit, the most stylish people and another scandal in the fashion business associated with the abuse of models. What else is going on in the industry — read our digest.
1.From Burberry a new logo
The changes promised Riccardo Tisci, continue to pour in for one of the most traditional British fashion houses. This time changes have been made to the logo of the brand. Recognizable horseman rode away in an unknown direction. The artist Peter Saville, who, incidentally, painted the cover of the album band Joy Division, created a modern interpretation of a classical cage Burberry, which wove a capital letter of the name of the brand. Work with fashion brands for Savills is also not new. He has worked with Jil Sander, Yohji Yamamoto and Calvin Klein.
2. Emily Ratzkowski starred in underwear from DKNY
27-year-old model, who this week graced us with the transformation into Jackie Kennedy, returned to his familiar role of languid semi-Nude beauty in the new company DKNY. Emily presented a collection of underwear, which included how minimalist comfortable white kits and more sensual lace models.
Emily Ratzkowski
3.Changes in American Vogue
The rumors that Anna Wintour will leave the post of editor-in-chief, still not confirmed, but a historical event nonetheless coming. The author of the September cover of the magazine, where you’ll find Beyonce, was the 23-year-old Tyler Mitchell. According to rumors, the singer was granted full creative freedom, and that she asked Mitchell. The young man will be the first black photographer who has got the right to shoot the cover of perhaps the most reputable fashion publications in the world. However, despite her young age, in the industry Tyler is not new. After studying at Tisch School of the Arts at new York University, he worked with Marc Jacob, Givenchy, and Teen Vogue.
4. Milla Jovovich in “the space” campaign for Balmain
42-year-old Hollywood actress became the face of the French brand and is featured in the autumn-winter campaign. The shots connected space and aesthetics of the industrial style. Milla posing in different outfits, which include sparkly dresses and shimmering pink suit, against the raw grey walls of an abandoned building. In the scenery whether alien invasion, or Apocalypse actress to be not the first time — Jovovich became famous primarily for his roles in the films “the Fifth element” and “Resident evil”.
5. A new collaboration between Zara and Stephen Masele
In their autumn / winter campaign Spanish brand once again decided to forget about that relates to the mass-market. The author of the campaign again became legendary fashion photographer Steven Meisel, who has worked with Zara over the autumn-winter campaign last year. Instead of minimalistic images turned out to be true fine art photographs that transports us into the world of Bohemia. The model, which turned out to be Meghan Collison, lexi Bolling, Chris Griceite, Carolyn Walter, faye faye pose in front of the richly decorated interiors, the collection obviously inspired by fashion of the 70-ies and 80-ies: there are a lot of long dresses with prints, kerchiefs, footwear on a platform and chunky jewelry.
6.Gigi Hadid, Adwoa of AAA and Abbey Lee Kershaw in the new campaign of Fendi
Italian brand has introduced a new campaign, faces of which were Gigi Hadid, Adwoa of AAA and Abbey Lee Kershaw. On the entourage of a long thought — decoration became a shop. Well, the attention here is, of course, confined to the models and the clothes and accessories which they present. Central to the collection were a coffee-brown shades and logo Fendi.
Stas Pyekha has a new sexy girlfriend
Fashion Instagram: 7 summer trends from fashion bloggers who need to have time to repeat
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January 12, 2021 | Published in Beatles, Eric Clapton, Extreme, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Guns N' Roses, Heart, Journey, REO Speedwagon, U2
Nancy Wilson and Roger Fisher perform with Heart in 1978. CC by SA 3.0. Credit: Jim Summaria
Whether it’s an epic power ballad or a little more understated, the classic rock genre created some of the greatest love songs of all time. Here’s our list of the top 10 most romantic classic rock love songs.
10 “Crazy on You” by Heart
This debut single from Heart starts off acoustically slow and then builds into a straight ahead rocker. Lead singer Ann Wilson was at the time dating Heart guitarist Mike Fisher, who had fled to Canada to avoid the draft.
09 “More Than Words” by Extreme
Extreme departed from their funk/rock style with this straight ahead ballad extolling that love is “more than words” and simply saying the overused “I love you.” Described as both a “blessing and a curse” by the band when it first was released, it nevertheless catapulted them into international stardom and now is a key part of their live show.
08 “Keep On Loving You” by REO Speedwagon
On their 9th album release, REO Speedwagon finally broke through the radio clutter with their first #1 song. It propelled their album Hi Infidelity to sales of over 10 million, and cemented the band as an MTV staple in the early 80s.
07 “All I Want is You” by U2
Written for singer Bono’s wife Ali, this beautiful ballad features string arrangements from Van Dyke Parks, frequent Beach Boys collaborator. The Edge frames the song at the end, echoing Bono’s final screams.
U2 perform an exclusive version of All I Want Is You for U2 At The BBC
06 “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses
Initially just a “circus” melody that Slash was messing around with in a band warmup, this song became Guns N’ Roses’ first #1 hit from their debut album. A true collaboration between all the members, Axl fashioned the lyrics around his relationship with then-girlfriend Erin Everly. “Where do we go? Where do we go now?”
05 “Something” by The Beatles
This was the first time the Beatles released a George Harrison song as their lead single. The song was a tribute to Harrison’s two loves, his wife Pattie Boyd and God. Boyd was also a muse to Eric Clapton (her future husband) who wrote “Layla” for her. Lucky lady!
Top 10 Easiest Rock Songs to Learn on Guitar
04 “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton
Wait, yet another song about Pattie Boyd? Yes, it’s true. While waiting to attend a party at Paul and Linda McCartney’s house, Clapton said he “knocked this song out” while waiting on Boyd to get ready. After their divorce, Boyd said, “’Wonderful Tonight’ was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it.”
03 “You Make Lovin’ Fun” by Fleetwood Mac
Although Christine and John McVie were married for 8 years while in Fleetwood Mac, this is McVie’s tribute to her new love, Curry Grant, who was the band’s lighting director. Did you know that McVie was also engaged to Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys for 3 years?
02 “Faithfully” by Journey
Lighters up! If you’ve ever experienced Journey performing this song in an arena, it’s a beautiful sight. Written by Jonathan Cain, the song came together in a matter of hours and was about how difficult it is to remain faithful as a touring musician. Ironically, soon after the song’s release, he and his wife divorced.
01 “I Wanna Know What Love Is” by Foreigner
This #1 worldwide hit was written by Foreigner founder Mick Jones and became their biggest hit. Jones said, “I think there was something bigger than me behind it. I’d say it was probably written entirely by a higher force.”
This article was originally published in January 2019.
In this article: Beatles, Eric Clapton, Extreme, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, Guns N' Roses, Heart, Journey, REO Speedwagon, U2
Published in: Lists
Eric Clapton and Van Morrison Release Anti-Lockdown Song
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Same Caller, New Message
Farming out HR has yet to yield the promised savings. So why haven't CFOs hung up on outsourcers?
CFO MagazineIT ValueTechnology
The move to outsource human resources continues to accelerate, despite the fact that the jury is still out on the primary reason to outsource: cost savings.
"If you went to [HR] conferences a few years ago, the message was, 'If you outsource, you'll save lots and lots of money,'" recalls Robert Crow, a San Diego based senior consultant at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, an HR consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Now, says Crow, HR outsourcing (HRO) service-plan vendors actually warn against making that assumption: "They've said, 'Don't make your decision to outsource based on cost alone.'"
Instead, providers are now promoting other advantages, such as greater efficiency, 24/7 employee customer service, the ability to offer more or better benefits, and access to state-of-the-art HR IT systems. They also contend that turning HR functions over to specialists frees companies to concentrate on their own core competencies. "The central argument for outsourcing is that successful companies excel [by] focusing on what they do best," noted Diane Shelgren, COO for North America at service provider Accenture HR Services, in a December 2004 white paper on outsourcing.
Companies are listening to that argument. By year's end, 85 percent of U.S. companies will have outsourced at least one component of HR services, according to research by Gartner Inc., a Stamford, Connecticut-based research and consulting firm. And the global market for HRO services—which now accounts for 30 percent of all outsourcing—is likely to reach $55 billion by 2006, up from about $32 billion in 2000, forecasts Gartner.
Of course, most companies still maintain some kind of internal HR presence. But thanks to HRO, many functions once overseen by the HR office down the hall are now administered from across the country or, increasingly, across the world. The most popular outsourced HR functions include administration of medical and disability insurance, pensions, 401(k) plans, and employee-assistance programs.
Elusive Metrics
Despite the caveats about unrealistic expectations, companies haven't given up hope of cutting expenditures by outsourcing these functions. In fact, HRO generally does deliver some savings, if not as much as early adopters hoped, says David Rhodes, a principal and expert in HR strategy at Towers Perrin, a Stamford, Connecticut-based consulting firm. In 2004, his organization surveyed 32 companies that had undertaken large-scale HRO contracts in the previous four years. The findings: more than three-quarters reported short-term savings.
The problem is, these savings are not easily quantified. In a July 2004 survey, the Bureau of National Affairs Inc. (BNA) asked 940 HR executives to rate their companies' outsourcing-related savings. Nearly half of those that outsourced responded with "undetermined," the Washington, D.C.-based research organization reported. And long-term savings are even more elusive. More than half of those surveyed by Towers Perrin said it was too soon to say whether the arrangements would result in long-term cost reductions. "This is the case even among HR departments that were in the original group of pioneers and have two to three years under their belts," says Rhodes.
Meanwhile, many companies still struggle with transitional issues: reinventing their internal HR operations, maintaining service quality, and training employees to, for example, use self-service HR Web portals (see "Any Storm in a Portal?").
Despite the lack of solid cost data, HRO keeps growing. For one thing, outsourcing deals are almost impossible to unravel. Fewer than 10 percent of the respondents surveyed by the BNA had ever reversed an HRO initiative, even when the results proved disappointing. The Conference Board and Accenture reported similar findings when they surveyed executives from 120 companies in North America and Europe about their HRO experiences and plans in 2004. Among the 76 percent currently outsourcing HRO functions, all planned to renew their contracts, renegotiate them, or put them up for another bid. Not one company expected to move its outsourced services back in-house.
So what's fueling the HRO parade? For starters, there's a larger field of potential customers. HRO—once strictly aimed at the largest corporations—has become more affordable for middle-market companies. Analysts say the highly competitive, fast-changing marketplace—most recently altered by the mid-2004 merger of HRO giants Hewitt Associates Inc. of Lincolnshire, Illinois, and Exult Inc. of Irvine, California—should continue to force prices down. The newly combined company is among the biggest HRO providers in a field that includes Accenture, ACS, ADP, Aon, Fidelity Investments, and Mellon Financial.
Embedded Paper-Pushers
While vendors have largely shifted their outsourcing rationale from cost savings to the promise of a more strategically focused HR department, it would be easy to miss out on the latter as well. "Outsourcing creates the ability for HR to transform itself," says Rhodes of Towers Perrin. "But unless work gets done to determine what [those individuals] are going to do with the time saved by outsourcing, it tends not to effect any change." In other words, if HR staffers aren't specifically assigned to strategy-setting roles, they often simply seek new administrative tasks after outsourcing takes effect. In fact, says Rhodes, that tendency contributes to the lack of cost savings at many companies. "For a $100 million outsourcing deal, the question is whether you really got rid of that much work or whether it's still deeply embedded in the organization," he says.
Making that determination is relatively easy in centralized organizations because managers can identify exactly which HR staffers provide which services, says Rhodes. "It's much harder in highly decentralized companies, where there's no clear shared-services environment," he continues. In these organizations, administratively oriented "paper-pushers" can be harder to identify, even if the tasks they perform have been outsourced. "They have a much harder time getting the economic value that's promised out of these deals," Rhodes says.
Not surprisingly, successful HRO initiatives require extensive in-house change-management campaigns. But the messages must do more than simply reassure workers about benefits continuity, especially when—as is usually the case today—outsourcing involves a large dose of employee self-service. "The message at many companies is, 'We're going to change your world and ask you to spend 30 percent more time than you ever spent before on HR matters,'" says Rhodes. "Instead, it should be, 'We're going to help you reduce the time you spend on HR because you can do it more efficiently now.'"
Complicating matters is the fact that, to date, most companies have contracted with multiple vendors, each specializing in one piece of the benefits package. Managing that network has eaten into potential savings, but that, too, is changing. Eleven percent of the companies surveyed in The Conference Board's 2004 study indicated plans to consolidate HR outsourcing with a single provider—up from just 2 percent in 2002.
Almost All In
Among the companies taking that route is AT&T Corp. In May 2002, AT&T inked a seven-year agreement with Chicago-based Aon Corp., whose Aon Human Capital Services unit now oversees most of the telecom giant's benefits, employment, and payroll services for its domestic employees. "We started with the belief that we would outsource everything," says Christine Morena, AT&T's vice president for HR. "Then we required ourselves to justify everything we kept internally."
Ultimately, the company retained only two categories: HR policy and strategy. Everything else went to Aon.
The result was a virtually seamless transition. "If you asked anybody in the line organizations, most of them would not even know we had outsourced," says Morena. AT&T has met, and in some cases exceeded, its cost-cutting projections. Equally important, in Morena's view, is HR's ability to respond quickly to AT&T's changing needs. Aon and AT&T have a flexible contract that allows them to respond to shifts in demand, some of which were precipitated by a reduction in workforce. (AT&T has reduced head count by about 20 percent since early 2004.) Morena also claims that the deal has required no quality trade-offs: "Our service levels were either maintained or improved in every area."
In early 2004, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. also turned most of its HR functions over to one provider. The Akron-based company signed a 10-year contract with Dallas-based outsourcer ACS Inc. Donald Harper, Goodyear's vice president of HR for North American shared services, says the end-to-end agreement covers all of the company's Akron corporate campus "back-office" transactional HR work, including payroll, benefit processing and claims payment, pension management, staffing, and most of the field classroom training and E-learning processes. He expects the deal to save Goodyear at least $45 million during the life of the agreement.
It's a bit early to gauge whether the deal will hit that target; after all, Goodyear and ACS have barely marked their first anniversary together. But Harper cites one immediate—and significant—area of savings: using ACS's technology eliminated the need for Goodyear to make a multi-million-dollar investment in upgrading its outdated HR system. Goodyear's HR personnel are also among the early beneficiaries, says Harper. Some accepted new jobs with ACS, while others moved into strategic roles at Goodyear. "They do the higher-quality HR work rather than administrative back-office work," he says of the remaining staffers. "Even my own job is a lot more fun these days."
Anne Stuart is a freelance writer based in Boston.
Outsource This!
Most commonly outsourced HR functions
Health and welfare benefits, including medical and dental insurance, claims processing, wellness plans, and flexible spending accounts
Long- and short-term disability insurance
Employee-assistance programs
HR employee-service call centers
Retirement and savings plans
Most commonly kept in-house
Performance reviews and follow-up
HR-related regulatory compliance
Anything involving classified or highly confidential information
Sources: Bureau of National Affairs Inc., The Segal Co., Towers Perin, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, and The Conference Board/Accenture HR Services
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Exposition : « The Credit Suisse Exhibition : MICHELANGELO & SEBASTIANO », Londres – National Gallery, du 15 mars au 25 juin 2017.
The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano
North Galleries
Admission charge
This spring the National Gallery presents the first ever exhibition devoted to the creative partnership between Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Sebastiano del Piombo (1485–1547), featuring exceptional loans, some of which have not left their collections for centuries.
Sebastiano del Piombo, Pietà, c. 1512-16. Museo Civico Viterbo © Comune di Viterbo
Michelangelo & Sebastiano explores the complementary talents, yet divergent personalities, of the two artists. It encompasses approximately seventy works – paintings, drawings, sculptures and letters – produced by Michelangelo and Sebastiano before, during and after their association. Examples of their extensive, intimate correspondence offer us a unique insight into their personal and professional lives; their concerns, frustrations and moments of glory.
In 1511, Sebastiano, a young, exceptionally talented Venetian painter, arrived in Rome. He was quickly embroiled in the city’s fiercely competitive art scene. He met Michelangelo, who was working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the two quickly became friends and allies against the prodigious Raphael; another recent arrival whose star was rising with the most influential patrons in Rome. As the only oil painter in the city to rival Raphael, Sebastiano was an ideal collaborator for Michelangelo, who did not care for the medium but wanted to marginalise his younger competitor. For his part, Sebastiano profited immensely from Michelangelo’s drawings and conceptual ideas. Together they created several works of great originality and rare beauty.
Their friendship lasted over twenty-five years, far beyond Michelangelo’s long-term relocation to his native Florence (1516) and Raphael’s death (1520). It ended acrimoniously after Michelangelo’s permanent return to Rome to paint the ‘Last Judgement’ in the Sistine Chapel, apparently with an argument over painting technique. Their partnership unfolded during a remarkably dramatic time for Italy – one of revolution, war and theological schism, but also of great intellectual energy and artistic innovation.
A key loan to the exhibition is the ‘Lamentation over the Dead Christ’, also known as the Viterbo ‘Pietà’ (about 1512–16) after the central Italian town where it resides. This painting is Michelangelo and Sebastiano’s first collaboration and eloquently represents their combined vision. Rarely seen outside of Italy, it is also the first large-scale nocturnal landscape in history, iconographically original for its separation of Christ from his mother’s lap.
In its time, the Viterbo ‘Pietà’ was received with widespread praise, and on its merits Sebastiano garnered his next two major commissions, both of which were completed with Michelangelo’s input – the decoration of the Borgherini Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome (1516–24) and The Raising of Lazarus (1517–19). The latter was painted in competition with Raphael’s great ‘Transfiguration’ (now Vatican Museums) for the Cathedral of Narbonne, France, from which it was removed in the 18th century. ‘The Raising of Lazarus’ eventually became part of the foundational group of paintings forming the National Gallery Collection in 1824, where it was given the very first inventory number, NG1.
Recent scientific research conducted at the National Gallery has provided new insights into the two artists’ respective work on ‘The Raising of Lazarus’. Infrared reflectography has revealed Sebastiano’s contribution to be more substantial and independent of Michelangelo’s influence than previously assumed. It is now understood that Michelangelo only intervened at a relatively advanced stage in the painting’s development, revising in drawings the figure of the revived Lazarus, which Sebastiano had already painted.
Among other exhibition highlights is ‘The Risen Christ’ by Michelangelo, a larger-than-life-size marble statue carved by Michelangelo in 1514–15, generously lent by the Church of S. Vincenzo Martire, Bassano Romano (Italy). ‘The Risen Christ’ will be shown with a 19th-century plaster cast after Michelangelo’s second version of the same subject (1519–21), which resides in – and never leaves – the S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. Never attempted before, this juxtaposition presents visitors with the first ever opportunity to see these statues side by side.
Sebastiano’s ‘Visitation’ from the Louvre, Paris, and the ‘Lamentation over the Dead Christ’ from the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, will also leave their collections for the first time to travel to Trafalgar Square. The latter will be united with Sebastiano’s ‘Christ’s Descent into Limbo’ (1516) from the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and Francisco Ribalta’s 17th-century copy of Sebastiano’s lost ‘Christ Appearing to the Apostles’. The three paintings will be presented in their original triptych format for the first time since they were separated in 1646.
To evoke the experience of seeing the works in situ, groundbreaking technology will be used to present a spectacular three-dimensional reproduction of the Borgherini Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome. Using the most advanced digital imaging and reconstruction techniques, the National Gallery will bring the chapel to London for an immersive experience of the structure much as it was created.
“This is the first exhibition of its kind anywhere, and the first to showcase the work of Sebastiano in the UK. Although highly esteemed among collectors in the 19th century, Sebastiano has since slipped from our awareness in large part due to his close association with Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. I hope this will encourage a new look at this tremendously original artist, while highlighting an overlooked aspect of Michelangelo’s activity,”
said Matthias Wivel, curator of ‘The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano’.
Director of the National Gallery, Dr Gabriele Finaldi, says:
“The exhibition introduces us into the very heart of High Renaissance Rome, where a new and heroic art was being forged. Against a background of war and religious conflict Michelangelo and Sebastiano produced works about life, death and resurrection which are among the most powerful and moving ever made. This is a unique opportunity to see an exceptional gathering of masterpieces.”
Since 2008, the National Gallery and Credit Suisse have been working together in a unique partnership, which provides a vital funding platform for the Gallery’s exhibitions and educational programmes. David Mathers, CEO of Credit Suisse International, said:
“We are delighted to be sponsoring this landmark exhibition which allows visitors to study the extraordinary professional alliance and artistic friendship between Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo during the height of the Renaissance in the sixteenth century. The exhibition is particularly special because it features exceptional loans and will give visitors a unique opportunity to enjoy art treasures which have not left their collections for centuries.”
Location: North Galleries
Press view: 14 March 2017 (10.30am – 1.30pm)
Open to public: 15 March 2017
Daily 10am–6pm (last admission 5pm)
Fridays 10am–9pm (last admission 8.15pm)
For advance tickets to Michelangelo & Sebastiano please book online or call 0800 912 6958 (booking fee). You can also book tickets by post and in person from the Gallery. Overseas customers can contact us by dialling +44 020 7126 5573.
Full price: £18
Seniors: £16
National Art Pass (ArtFund) holders: £9
Student/Jobseeker/12–18 years: £9
For further information, please contact the National Gallery Press Office on 020 7747 2865 or email press@ng-london.org.uk
Publicity images can be obtained from http://press.ng-london.org.uk.
Étiquettes : art italienMichel-AngeRenaissance italienneSebastiano del PiomboXVIe siècle
Exposition : « Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance », The Cleveland Museum of Art, du 13 octobre 2019 au 23 février 2020
Article suivant Colloque : « L’eau et le feu dans les représentations du pouvoir dans l’Europe moderne », Paris, E.N.S. et Institut d’Études Avancées de Paris, les 23-24 mars 2017
Article précédent Appel à communication : « Décor et architecture : entre union et séparation des arts (XVIe-XVIIe siècle) », Lausanne, 16-17 novembre 2017.
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Hell & High Water
When homicide detective Dexter J. Daley’s testimony helps send his partner away for murder, the consequences—and the media frenzy—aren’t far behind. He soon finds himself sans boyfriend, sans friends, and, after an unpleasant encounter in a parking garage after the trial, he’s lucky he doesn’t find himself sans teeth. Dex fears he’ll get transferred from the Human Police Force’s Sixth Precinct, or worse, get dismissed. Instead, his adoptive father—a sergeant at the Therian-Human Intelligence Recon Defense Squadron otherwise known as the THIRDS—pulls a few strings, and Dex gets recruited as a Defense Agent.
Dex is determined to get his life back on track and eager to get started in his new job. But his first meeting with Team Leader Sloane Brodie, who also happens to be his new jaguar Therian partner, turns disastrous. When the team is called to investigate the murders of three HumaniTherian activists, it soon becomes clear to Dex that getting his partner and the rest of the tightknit team to accept him will be a lot harder than catching the killer—and every bit as dangerous.
During the Vietnam War, the use of lethal biological warfare led to the spread of the Melanoe virus, infecting millions worldwide and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Although no country would take credit for releasing the virus, the world’s top scientists came together to create a cure. The vaccine known as Eppione.8 used strains from animals found to be immune to the virus, but one year after distribution, the course of human history was forever changed. A dormant mutation within the virus was activated by the vaccine, resulting in the altering of human DNA, and giving birth to a new species: Therians.
When the first infected Humans began changing in the late seventies, some didn’t survive. Their Human bodies were unprepared for the shift. Others died of cancer or infections due to weakened immune systems, while others vanished. Rumors ran rampant about governments trying to clean up…
This is the second edition of Hell & High Water. First edition published 2014.
Dexter J. Daley
Listening Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
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Duck Push Presentation to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin
Last month nearly 40 Poetry students accompanied by Mr Steven Gray, visited Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin to present a cheque for €50,000 to Dr. Michael McDermott and members of the fundraising team at the Children’s Medical Research Foundation building. The funds will go towards the purchase of a 3D xray machine which will help doctors at the hospital treat children particularly children with scoliosis of the spine.
Dr McDermott explained how the equipment will give doctors more accurate information to help improve diagnosis and treatment. In addition the equipment will mean that patients will face fewer x-rays and have less exposure to radiation. Patients simply step into the machine, which will be more comfortable for them to use.
Speaking on our behalf Hugo O’Donnell explained that it was a privilege to be able to help with the purchase of this kind of equipment which will improve the lives of children in Ireland suffering from a treatable condition. Hugo also took the opportunity to thank again all who helped us in this year’s Duck Push including parents and grandparents, family members and friends, teachers, prefects and of course our many sponsors including Dunnes Stores, Mallon Motors, Westwood Trailers, John J Galvin and Son and of course Cistercian College Roscrea and Glenstal Abbey.
Mr. Gray complimented us on our creativity, teamwork and high levels of participation throughout the year. “You put the fun into fundraising”, he said while also expressing the hope that we would continue to prioritise helping others in future. While self praise is no praise we found ourselves agreeing with Mr. Gray on all counts! We wish this year’s Syntax continued success as they commence their fundraising journey with two new low mileage track tested ducks to push!
Ryan McMahon
Clongowes Duck Push
For more than twenty years the Transition Year students in Clongowes Wood College have made raising money to buy a piece of life saving equipment for Crumlin Children’s Hospital an annual goal. Equipment has ranged from portable ultra sound machines (for use with children with limited mobility) to machines to help diagnose cancer patients more quickly. Last June, 30 students accompanied by teachers took to the road once again pushing the Ducks from Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin to Limerick. Over the last 24 years over €1.5 million has been raised and the group was hopeful that things would go well again this year. As well as pushing the Ducks across the country over eight days in June, students also raised money through a whole variety of activities during the preceding year. These ranged from mini companies and pop up cafes to coffee mornings by way of barbecues and washing cars and made use of a host of abilities, talents and skills along the way.
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The annual Maths Modelling project for Syntax and Poetry groups commenced on Tuesday the 8th of October with a presentation and workshop in the Science, Art and Technology building at Clongowes.
The Maths Modelling Project aims to solve ‘real-world problems’ with mathematics. The students work to build mathematical models in a bid to address the problems and present their findings to peers, parents and the faculty at the University of Limerick.
Over 40 young modellers are taking part in the project which takes place over six months and is led by Clongowes physics teacher, Mr Stephen O’Hara and Professor James Gleeson from the University of Limerick (UL). Professor Gleeson will visit the College throughout the project to assist the students with their analysis. Professor Gleeson is Co-Director of the MACSI Consortium, a network of mathematical modellers and scientific computational analysts based in Ireland.
See the gallery for more images
The group of 40 maths modellers were divided into smaller working groups of eight, each choosing one problem to solve. The students will meet in their groups every Friday evening to find viable solutions to three different real-world problems which include:
How to effectively clear up space debris (which is an ongoing issue for orbiting satellites).
The development of an algorithm to ensure the most optimal match between two sets, such as kidney donors and recipients.
Design an optimum electric vehicle charging network.
On Tuesday, the groups got to work straight away, gathering data to construct a formula on which their model could be based. There is no time to waste as the boys are scheduled to present their solutions to UL’s Applied Mathematics Faculty in April. Professor Gleeson gave a fantastic presentation on Mathematical Modelling which helped get the boys started on their projects.
Mr O’Hara, who has been running the project for the past eight years at Clongowes explained that the boys are faced with “real-life problems that don’t appear to lend themselves to mathematical analysis, and yet this is what the boys must engage with”. One of the strengths of the project is that the solutions can make positive changes and help the boys better understand the world around them. Along with stretching their understanding and application of mathematics, the project helps improve the boys’ communication skills as they present their complex models in a clear and understandable manner. Opportunities for Third Level study in the STEM areas (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) have broadened in recent years and are becoming increasingly popular with students and come with the benefit of rewarding career prospects.
The Maths Modelling project gives students their first taste of the application of applied mathematics in a real-world setting and can whet their appetites for further study. Mr O’Hara explained that the narrative around this subject area has changed significantly in the College with a former member of the project completing a PhD in mathematical modelling this year which is a first for the College. The College is extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of Professor Gleeson and Mr O’Hara who’ve been running this project for eight years. This wonderful project opens the boys’ eyes to the power of applied mathematics to solve real-world problems and we wish them well with their projects this year.
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Contract Hampered by Unfair Term
by Justin Wheelahan · November 24, 2016
Edelman J’s decision in ACCC v Chrisco Hampers [2015] FCA 1204 provides guidance on how courts will approach the unfair contract term provsions of the ACL.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Chrisco Hampers Australia Ltd [2015] FCA 1204
Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away.
So sang George Michael. He might well have sung:
Last Christmas you gave me a hamper, but the very next day you direct debited again.
about Edelman J’s decision in ACCC v Chrisco Hampers Australia Ltd [1] — although it doesn’t have the same ring about it.
Edelman J’s decision that an unfair automatic direct debit rollover provision in a pro forma contract was unfair is one of the few decided cases on unfair contract terms under the ACL.[2] On 12 November 2016 The Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015 (Cth) came into effect, extending the scope of the ACL’s unfair contract provisions from consumers to small businesses of 20 employees or less.
Purpose of the Reform
The rationale for the reforms was a perceived lacuna in the ACL. Existing provisions prohibited unconscionable conduct surrounding the formation of an unfair contract, but not substantive unfair terms.
Parties are ordinarily held to agreements freely made. The Explanatory Memorandum to the amendments cited The Cult of the Market — Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents to support the proposition that disparities in bargaining power can mean a party agreeing to an adhesion contract is not really free to negotiate, let alone contest the terms:
The ideology of voluntariness has been seen to provide the more powerful party to a contract a freedom of manipulation and motivation, a freedom from any onus of articulation and a freedom from any other legal duties that cannot be fitted under the rubric of contract as promise. Consequently, there has been a growing reluctance to concede to big business the right to dictate contract terms to less powerful parties — particularly consumers — through standard-form contracts. Equally, there is a problem of deciding to what extent deception and concealment of information in contractual negotiations are also to be regarded as legitimate.[3]
To be unfair a term must:
cause a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations;
not be reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the advantaged party; and
cause financial or other detriment to the business affected if it were applied or relied on.[4]
The onus is on the applicant to prove the elements of imbalance and detriment, and on the respondent to prove the term is reasonably necessary.
Chrisco’s standard form contracts with its customers contained a “HeadStart” term that required customers to allow Chrisco to continue withdrawing funds from the customer’s bank account for next Christmas’s hamper after the customer had fully paid for last Christmas’s hamper, unless the customer opted out.
Edelman J found that the term caused a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations, adopting Lord Bingham’s approach in Director General of Fair Trading v First National Bank plc to significant imbalance:
The requirement of significant imbalance is met if a term is so weighted in favour of the supplier as to tilt the parties’ rights and obligations under the contract significantly in his favour. This may be by the granting to the supplier of a beneficial option or discretion or power, or by the imposing on the consumer of a disadvantageous burden or risk or duty. [5]
The “benefit” conferred on customers in paying lesser instalments over a longer period was negligible given that Chrisco accumulated interest on the payments and there was no corresponding discount on next year’s Christmas hamper.
The court is required to consider the transparency of the particular term. Lack of transparency may be a strong indicator of significant imbalance.[6] A term is transparent if it is:
expressed in reasonably plain language;
legible;
presented clearly; and
readily available to any party affected by the term.
In Director General of Fair Trading v First National Bank plc Lord Bingham held:
Openness requires that the terms should be expressed fully, clearly and legibly, containing no concealed pitfalls or traps. Appropriate prominence should be given to terms which might operate disadvantageously to the customer.[8]
Incomprehensible legalese buried in fine print will most probably be considered opaque. Nonetheless, if a term is opaque, it is not necessarily unfair. Conversely if a term is transparent, it is not necessarily fair.[7] The HeadStart term was not transparent because it did not identify the amount to be debited nor how it would be calculated, and the term was buried in a densely packed page of small print terms and conditions.
The amendments increase the upfront price threshold for a “small business contract” to $300,000 for contracts shorter than a year, and to $1,000,000 for contracts longer than a year. It would be prudent for parties entering into contracts with small businesses to refrain from engaging in “take it or leave it” negotiations about one sided pro forma contracts, and to draft clear, legible, readily accessible terms in light of the amendments. Small businesses now have greater protection under the ACL, and more bargaining power in negotiating the removal of unfair terms that overreach the legitimate interests of the advantaged party.
[1] [2015] FCA 1204.
[2] See also NRM Corporation Pty Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2016] FCAFC 98 [187] –[203] (Flick, Murphy and Griffiths JJ). Cf: Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd v Free [2008] VSC 539 [112] (Cavanough J); Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd [2014] FCA 35 [331] (Gordon J).
[3] Lee Boldeman, The Cult of the Market — Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents (ANU Press, 2007), 254-255 (footnote omitted). Explanatory Memorandum, Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 (Cth), [3.76].
[4] Section 24(1) of the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the ACL)).
[5] [2001] UKHL 52; [2002] 1 AC 481, 494 [17].
[6] Explanatory Memorandum, Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Bill (No 2) 2010 (Cth), [5.38].
[8] At 494 [17]. Note the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994 (UK) Lord Bingham considered are not identical to the unfair contract provisions of the ACL.
Federal Court warns of a ‘free range’ on ACL penalties
by Georgia Douglas
Informed Cooperation Fuels Consumer Harm?
by Dr Richard Scheelings
“Bad call”: Non-disclosure by franchisor of franchisee wage costs
by Glen Pauline
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What You Need to Know About : Co-Cultural Theory
Co-cultural theory is a framework designed to provide insight into the communication behaviors of individuals with little societal power. Generated primarily from the research of Mark Orbe, cocultural theory focuses on how culture and power affect communication. The theory focuses on various segments of society that have traditionally been described as being a part of subcultural or minority groups. This theory prefers the term cocultural group. Initially, the theory focused on people of color; women; persons with disabilities; gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons; and those from a lower socioeconomic status. More recently, researchers have used the theory to study other groups, including the homeless, first-generation college students, immigrants, and international students.
The core concepts of co-cultural theory emerged from a series of qualitative studies designed to study communication processes from the perspective of those historically marginalized in social structures. These foundational studies drew on the ideas of muted group and standpoint theories and used a phenomenological methodology to gather descriptions of everyday communication inductively. In particular, the theory is based on a specific set of assumptions and related factors that help individuals understand how co-cultural group members use different practices (strategies) that are part of a larger communication orientation.
Co-cultural theory is based on five assumptions, each of which reflects a foundational idea found in muted group or standpoint theory. The first assumption states that a hierarchy of power exists in each society whereby certain groups of people have greater access to power than others do. In the United States, dominant group members include men, European Americans, able-bodied persons, heterosexuals, and those in the middle or upper
class. The second assumption is based on the idea that dominant group members occupy most positions of power throughout society; these positions of influence are used to create and maintain societal structures that inherently benefit their interests. The third assumption of co-cultural theory explores how the reality of dominant group power impacts members of nondominant groups. In particular, it states that dominant group members’ societal structures work overtly and covertly against individuals whose cultural realities are different from the cultural realities of those in power. The fourth assumption acknowledges the differences that exist within and between different co-cultural groups; however, it simultaneously recognizes the similarities that also exist within and across groups that occupy similar social positions. The fifth, and final, assumption states that co-cultural group members will be more aware of the importance of strategically adopting communication behaviors that help them negotiate dominant societal structures. Such behaviors will vary within, and across, different co-cultural groups.
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On November 18, 2016, the Staff of the Division of Corporation Finance issued two new C&DIs that address banker fee disclosures for tender offers on Schedule 14D-9. The new C&DIs clarify that disclosure is required of “all” material terms for compensation including the types of fees payable to the financial advisors as well as any contingencies, milestones or triggers relating to the payment of fees, which suggests that the disclosure of alternative fee arrangements would be required. The C&DIs also reinforce the requirement under state law to include disclosure of material banker conflicts and incentives.
Under Rule 14e-2 of the tender offer rules, a company is required to file its position to a tender offer within 10 business days on Schedule 14D-9. Item 5 to Schedule 14D-9 (which refers to Item 1009 of Reg M-A) requires the company to provide a summary of all material terms of employment, retainer or other arrangement for compensation regarding persons that are directly or indirectly employed, retained, or to be compensated to make solicitations or recommendations in connection with the offer.
New Question 159.01 clarifies that this information is required with respect to financial advisor fees even though the financial advisor is only providing a fairness opinion on the underlying transaction and disclaims involvement in the solicitation or recommendation of the offer. New Question 159.02 clarifies that because the tender offer rules are designed to assist security holders in evaluating the merits of the solicitation, the rules require a full summary of all material terms regarding any compensation to be paid to bankers or other advisors, and that generic disclosure (i.e. “customary reasonable fees”) is ordinarily not enough.
Typically, financial advisor fee disclosure includes a brief description of the fees paid and payable in the specific transaction at various stages of the deal (e.g. on engagement, upon delivery of the fairness opinion and upon completion of the transaction). However, a review of recent banker fee disclosure for transactions initiated by an unsolicited bid show that it is not current practice for the financial advisor fee disclosure to include a description of alternative fees payable in other contexts, such as in the context of an activist-initiated sale transaction where the target may have agreed to pay the financial advisor one fee for remaining independent and a different fee if the company is ultimately sold.[1] The new C&DIs appear to require additional transparency in this scenario by requiring narrative disclosure of multiple fee types that would be sufficient to “provide the primary financial incentives for the financial advisors in connection with their analyses and advice.”
Specifically, New Question 159.02 provides that while quantifying the amount of compensation may not be required in all instances, disclosure of the required “summary of all material terms” of the financial advisors’ compensatory arrangements would generally include:
the types of fees payable to the financial advisors (e.g., independence fees, sale transaction or “success” fees, periodic advisory fees, or discretionary fees);
if multiple types of fees are payable to the financial advisors and there is no quantification of these fees, then sufficiently-detailed narrative disclosure to allow security holders to identify the fees that will provide the primary financial incentives for the financial advisors;
any contingencies, milestones, or triggers relating to the payment of the financial advisors’ compensation (e.g., the payment of a fee upon the consummation of a transaction, including with a bidder in an unsolicited tender or exchange offer); and
any other information about the compensatory arrangement that would be material to security holders’ assessment of the financial advisors’ analyses or conclusions, including any material incentives or conflicts that should be considered as part of this assessment.
See a copy of the new C&DIs.
[1] For example, in the engagement letters between CVR Energy, Inc. and its financial advisors that were signed in March 2012 after bidders affiliated with Carl C. Icahn launched an unsolicited tender offer for the company, the company agreed to pay its advisors a schedule of flat rate fees each payable upon different triggering events and dates, including a fee for essentially remaining independent, a “discretionary fee” payable at the discretion of the company, an “announcement fee” upon the announcement of a sale transaction and a “sale transaction fee” upon consummation. CVR’s Schedule 14D-9 disclosed that the company agreed to pay its financial advisors “customary compensation.” The SEC did not appear to comment on the disclosure. After Icahn successfully acquired control of the company, CVR was ordered to pay its financial advisors a sale transaction fee of $36 million, reportedly double the amount of the independence fee. Icahn later sued the company’s law firm for malpractice for failing to advise CVR that it was required to pay the sale transaction fees even if the company was acquired by the hostile bidder. The malpractice claim is currently on-going.
Mutya Harsch
Treatment of M&A Non-solicits and Employee Comp Diligence Under New Antitrust Guidelines
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LiUNA Midwest Region Applauds Approval of House Bill 252
The New Law Will Extend Employment Discrimination Protections to All Illinoisans
Today, the Midwest Region of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) celebrates Governor Pritzker’s approval of House Bill 252, which closes a loophole in Illinois law that left tens of thousands of workers unprotected against employment discrimination.
Previously, the provisions of the Illinois Human Rights Act addressing discrimination in employment only applied to employers with 15 or more workers, with limited exceptions. The new law brings the State of Illinois in line with 17 other states and territories that prohibit discrimination at all workplaces, including fellow Midwestern states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Similar legislation was passed by the General Assembly in 2018, but was vetoed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner.
“The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on a number of factors, such as gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and more, but that protection was limited. It is an embarrassment that, until now, countless Illinoisans who have been discriminated against at work had no way to seek justice, simply because of how many coworkers they have,” said Anna Koeppel, LiUNA Midwest Region Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs. “We thank the Governor and the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Will Guzzardi and Sen. Cristina Castro, for once again standing with working people and righting this wrong. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly and appropriately at work.”
The Laborers’ Union represents more than 500,000 workers and has fought for the rights of working people for more than 100 years.
About LiUNA
https://www.midwestlaborers.org/government-relations/legislative-updates.html
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SOME UNEMPLOYED AFRICAN AMERICANS AT FAULT FOR NOT APPLYING FOR JOB OPPORTUNITIES
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UNEMPLOYED AFRICAN AMERICANS SHOULD UPLOAD THEIR RESUMES TO BLACKJOBS.COM
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Tag Archives: blackrock castle observatory
Cruise Control • Friday 3 August
A Talk with Ex-Scientologist John Duignan
8:00pm • Friday 3rd August • Blackrock Castle Observatory
John Duignan (born 1963) grew up in both Stirling in Scotland and in Carrigaline County Cork. He had a difficult and troubled childhood thanks in part to a mentally ill father, an ill and abused mother and the chaotic home life that resulted.
Following the untimely death of his parents in 1974, he and his siblings were fostered by family members on his mother’s side in both County Cork and Wicklow. He left school at the age of 17 and joined an American Christian Evangelical drama group and spent three years traveling Europe and North America forwarding this unique brand of Christian ministry. In 1983, he was operating a branch of this ministry in Vancouver Canada and came to see that much of the Christian message simply did not add up. He moved to Halifax Nova Scotia to live with a group of atheist humanists and to work on an old North German built schooner. About a year later, he found himself in Stuttgart, Germany and during a period of dark depression was recruited by The Church of Scientology.
In 2008 he wrote and published The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology. In this non-fiction book he describes his 22 years in the organization and his eventual awaking partly as a result of attending an event where actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise was given the award of “Most Dedicated Follower”. Duignan began to examine the organization more closely and had doubts about remaining. He left the organization in 2006, after taking measures to avoid investigation by Scientology’s intelligence agency the Office of Special Affairs.
The Church of Scientology responded to the publication of The Complex by sending legal letters to several bookstore retailers that were selling the book, claiming the book contains libelous statements about a member of the organization. His publisher Merlin Publishing, “emphatically denied” these allegations, and an editorial director at the publishing company called Scientology’s claim “vexatious”. The United Kingdom branch of Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, stopped selling copies of the book after receiving legal letters from the Church of Scientology through internationally feared libel firm, Carter Ruck; booksellers Waterstone’s and W H Smith and Borders Books were “warned off” selling the book as well. However the book remained in broad publication here in Ireland and has been stocked in all Irish retailers for a number of years.
Following the publishing of The Complex, John returned to education completing a BA in Engl ish and Italian Literature and Italian language at University College Cork.
John counts Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell and A.S. Byatt among his most important intellectual influences. He no longer considers himself to be a religious person.
This talk takes place at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork at 8:00pm on Friday 3rd August. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend!
Categories: Books, Events, Psychology, Religion, Skepticism, Skeptics In The Castle, Woo | Tags: blackrock castle observatory, cork, ireland, john duignan, scepticism, science, scientology, SITP, skepticism, Skeptics In The Castle, skeptics in the pub, tom crusie | Permalink.
Rethinking Psychology with Professor Brian Hughes
About the Talk: Attempts to explain the workings of the human mind have persisted as a popular cultural fascination for centuries. This has led to the emergence of scientific psychology, a modern empirical enterprise that uses scientific methods to resolve uncertainties in our understanding of people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
Nonetheless, psychology attracts significant attention from people who hold deeply negative views about science, and is often studied by students and researchers who lack true scientific rigour. This lecture examines psychology’s relationship with science and pseudoscience. It explores the nature of scientific reasoning, the contrasting way fringe scientists study the mind, and the creep of pseudoscientific practices into mainstream psychology.
It also considers the peculiar biases impeding psychologists from being truly rigorous, and argues that pseudoscience not only damages psychology, but threatens the coherence — and dignity — of humanity at large.
About the Speaker: Brian Hughes is Professor in Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He can be found on Twitter and maintains a blog at thesciencebit.net
His book ‘Rethinking Psychology’ is available now.
This talk begins at 8:00pm on Thursday 2 June. The venue is Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork.
Categories: Academia, Books, Events, Health, Psychology, Research, Science, Skepticism, Skeptics In The Castle | Tags: blackrock castle observatory, book, brian hughes, cork, cork skeptics, galway, NUI, pseudoscience, psychology, research, science, SITP, skeptics in the pub | Permalink.
Discovering Humanism with Brian Whiteside | Humanist Association of Ireland
Brian Whiteside is the Director of Ceremonies for the Humanist Association of Ireland.
In this talk, Brian will speak from both a personal and general viewpoint about Humanism in Ireland, its history and its recent growth. He will also detail the different activities of the HAI, under the headings of community, campaigning and ceremonies. He hopes that his talk will lead to questions and answers and a lively discussion afterwards.
Brian “discovered” Humanism in 2002 following a career in business. Over the last 14 years he has been immersed in the Humanist Association of Ireland, both as Director of Ceremonies and leading various campaigns. He was central in achieving the change in legislation to give legal status for Humanist marriage ceremonies.
Brian lives in Dun Laoghaire where he recently started the South Dublin Humanist Community. Although he is from Dublin he is proud of his Cork roots where his grandfather was a Church of Ireland clergyman.
You can find him online @briandwhiteside
This talk begins at 8:00pm on Thursday 11 February. The venue is Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork.
Categories: Events, Religion, Skepticism, Skeptics In The Castle | Tags: blackrock castle observatory, brian whiteside, cork, cork skeptics, hai, humanism, humanist association of ireland, ireland, poster, SITP, skeptics in the pub, talk | Permalink.
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Coronavirus: Further restrictions amid new Sydney cluster | 9 News Australia
A new mystery cluster in Sydney’s inner west has prompted further restrictions in the lead up to New Year’s Eve celebrations, with the shutdown of many restaurants and events. Subscribe: https://bit.ly/2noaGhv Get more breaking news at: https://bit.ly/2nobVgF
Join 9News for the latest in news and events that affect you in your local city, as well as news from across Australia and the world.
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#9News #BreakingNews #NineNewsAustralia #9NewsAUS
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Self-Management Is About More Than Reinventing Structures
Written by lisagill
More and more is being written about self-managing and decentralised ways of working, with organisations like Haier and Buurtzorg capturing the attention of management and business thinkers the world over. However, most (if not all) of the focus in these case studies tends to be on structures and processes. Don’t get me wrong, structures and processes are extremely important. But they are not enough if we truly want our organisations to shift.
Over the last twenty years, my colleague Karin Tenelius has been coaching organisations to become self-managing. Since her first experiment in 1999 supporting staff at a small Swedish hotel to become fully autonomous, she has tested the idea that it is by coaching each other to have different kinds of dialogues and ways of being together that the real shift happens.
In our experience, focusing only on structures and processes is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. However, if we invest our energy in the less tangible things – mindsets, ways of being, culture, and how we relate to each other – two things happen. The first is that we are able to imagine and co-create structures and processes that we couldn’t have conceived of before, and the second is that whatever system we decide on, it’s less likely to be sabotaged by counterproductive behaviours in our collective blindspot.
At Tuff Leadership Training we have tried to distinguish these phenomena in order to spread these ideas and help make them “trainable”. We have come up with three pillars that we believe make up a foundation for effective self-managing teams and organisations:
A coaching leadership mindset and way of being
A focus on working climate; and
A culture of mandate and involvement
Karin likes to say, “If you are the founder, CEO or leader in your team or organisation, you are the biggest obstacle to their success!” Basically, if your colleagues in any way sense that you are still “in charge,” your team will never reach its full potential. This is because how someone relates to you, however unconscious it might be, profoundly influences how you show up. That’s why in the company of some people we can feel clever and funny, and around others we feel totally stupid and dull. Del Close, regarded by many as the godfather of improvisational theatre, said: “Treat others as if they are poets, geniuses and artists, and they will be.”
Treat others as if they are poets, geniuses and artists, and they will be.
Therefore this first pillar is not about “doing coaching” but more about your mindset and way of being. A coaching way of being is both compassionate and tough, one that encourages an adult-to-adult, partnership-style dynamic. It’s about relating to people’s potential, even if it isn’t visible in that precise moment, and at the same time being completely direct and holding them to account.
To develop a coaching leadership mindset and way of being, all of us must unlearn the parent-child paradigm of leadership that we are so often blind to. All of us have been conditioned since childhood to lead in a way that has shades of the parental – either we tend to be overly responsible and critical, showering others with our own solutions and advice; or overly caring, wrapping up everything we say in cotton wool and protecting our team from the harsh reality. This is not our fault, per se – it’s because of the paradigm we are in. To step out of that paradigm is to practice new ways of relating and being, and totally new abilities, like generative listening or asking coaching questions.
So if you are in a leadership role and you’re trying to move towards greater autonomy in your team or organisation, consider that you are totally blind to just how parent-like you are, despite your best intentions. If you operate from that assumption, it will enable you to embody a new sense of humility and curiosity, seeking out feedback from your colleagues about anything you’re doing or being that’s in the way for them to fully step into their new-found authority.
A focus on working climate
The second pillar we’ve found is critical to creating a flourishing self-managing team or organisation is a focus on working climate. Joycelyn Davis describes climate in her book The Art of Quiet Influence:
“Climate is people’s perceptions of the workplace, or what it feels like to work in a place. It is not the same as culture. Climate is malleable and can change quickly, while culture, which is the underlying values and unwritten rules of an organisation, is durable and slow to change. Climate has been shown to affect motivation, performance, and financial results and is, in turn, affected most strongly by managers’ daily actions rather than by anonymous forces such as organisational history, systems, and strategy. Everyone talks about company culture, but company climate is the more powerful tool for improving results.”
In most organisations, there is little to no focus on the working climate. Discussions about team performance tend to be limited to operational, “surface” issues – strategy, process, procedure, tasks and so on. What most of us don’t dare to talk about are the taboo issues, the things beneath the surface. Yet these are so often precisely the things that get in the way for teams to be effective. If we can learn to talk about and shift our working climate, there is enormous energy and creativity to be unlocked.
Here are some tips for focusing on working climate:
Learn to tell the weather – start paying attention to how the climate feels in your team meetings and try to put words to it. Example adjectives are: open, jokey, resigned, frosty, constructive, tense, trusting…
Practice naming the climate – being able to name the climate helps to make it tangible to the group, and then you can do something about it. For example, “I notice the climate in our team today feels heavy. What’s the source of that, do you think?”
A mindset shift from victims to co-producers – in a self-managing team, we all need to see ourselves as co-producers of our working climate. Each one of us is responsible for creating and maintaining the working climate we desire, which means establishing clear team agreements and having the courage to bring up issues or transform conflicts, rather than waiting for someone else to fix them.
As author Chuck Blakeman once told me, it doesn’t work in an organisation to “declare self-management and say: “I’ll be on the golf course” – that’s abdication.” Making the paradigm shift to a more self-managed way of working takes time and practice. Creating and nurturing a culture of mandate and involvement is crucial.
When I say mandate, I’m referring to the given permission or the authority to do something. Again, this isn’t a one-off announcement, so here are two useful habits you can develop, especially as a leader. The first is “getting the mandate”, and the second is “giving the mandate away”.
Getting the mandate
Getting the mandate means asking for explicit consent before doing something. Choice is perhaps the defining feature of an adult-to-adult way of working and being together – it is only when we have the ability to say “no” to something that “yes” has any meaning. With choice comes ownership and accountability. That’s why Spanish consultancy K2K Emocionando doesn’t go ahead with any transformation processes until the whole company (after visiting other companies and talking to employees who have gone through the process themselves) has voted, and at least 80% must say yes.
It is only when we have the ability to say “no” to something that “yes” has any meaning.
At a micro level, a magical question you can use is: “Is it OK if…?” For example, “Is it OK if I give you some feedback?” In traditional companies, most managers vomit feedback on their employees without ever getting consent. It’s no wonder employees end up in a state of learned helplessness! Another example would be in a meeting, saying something like: “I’d like us to do something differently in this meeting because I think it could help us generate a new way of thinking – would it be OK if I facilitate us through a process for twenty minutes and then we see if it was helpful or not?” When we do this, and get an authentic “yes”, it creates an adult-to-adult dynamic where both parties become co-responsible for the experience.
Giving away the mandate
Giving away the mandate is even more important. If you’re a leader, in any sense of the word, you’ll find that individuals and groups are very skilled at, often unconsciously, nudging the responsibility back to you. This is because we’ve been conditioned in schools and workplaces to defer decision-making and answers to someone “above us”. To help us all unlearn this, we can all become skilled at giving away the mandate.
Some ways of doing this are:
Be explicit in stating who has the mandate, for example: “The decision isn’t mine but the team’s – what do you think we should do?”
Embrace silence – often we ask a question or wait for responses, and too quickly fill the silence because we worry “if I don’t fill it, no one will”. When you’re silent, someone will step in
Instead of adding solutions and ideas, develop your listening muscle. Listen to what’s being said as well as what’s “under the surface” (what’s not being said, feelings, climate, what’s in the way) and summarise back to the team or individual – often people become activated just by being listened to and hearing back what you’ve picked up
Ask coaching questions such as: “So what’s needed to move forward here?”, “What could be the next (or first) step?”, “How could you do [their words]?”
When people feel truly involved and accountable, all sorts of ideas, solutions, systems, and structures are created in service of the team and the level of commitment to making them happen is next-level.
For more on this, check out the book Lisa Gill has recently published: ‘Moose Heads on the Table: Stories About Self-Managing Organisations from Sweden', co-authored with Karin Tenelius.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing, Lisa. ”Learn to tell the weather” is the metaphor that resonated the most - practical, easy to understand, relatable.
GREAT piece. I had just messaged my colleague and was feeling really dumb for having given a sort-of-instruction meant to tell them it was OK to choose from a few options today on a particular issue, but which i then realised looked like micro-managing.
So, GREAT piece and for me very timely, except: “I’d like us to do something differently in this meeting because I think it could help us generate a new way of thinking – would it be OK if I facilitate us through a process for twenty minutes and then we see if it was helpful or not?”, which in fact is precisely the kind of management BS which the CR team is trying to eliminate - or am I wrong? People feel they are being handed the answer on a plate, will not say ‘no’, won’t engage, and the old ways are reinforced.
lisagill
Hi Tim, thanks! Yep, it's a good point and this is where the being part makes such a difference. If you ask this question with ANY hint that there's no possibility of saying no, or you have a hidden agenda, or you're going to do it anyway, people will absolutely shut down. However, if you have a way of BEING that is unattached, yet standing for that there might be a potential in trying something, and listening for the reactions - is there any hesitation? If so, what's behind that? What would people need to know in order to feel interested in trying it? etc. So asking the question is just the tip of the ice berg, of course :)
Another possibility would be to say: "I feel like there's a greater potential for our meetings to be creative and more involving. What do you think? Does anyone have any ideas of what we could try?" And again, not pushing it or having an agenda, just being curious and listening under the surface.
Another fun thing is: if people actually say no, this is good news! Now you're having an honest dialogue! Be curious about the no, what's underneath the no... (Can you tell I geek out about these things?!)
s it OK if I give you some feedback?” In traditional companies, most managers vomit feedback on their employees without ever getting consent.
LJ Lekkerkerk
Indeed, self-management is about more than structure ...
However, numerous cases overlooked structure as an enabling factor for teams to be meaningfully self-managing.
E.g. Cordaan (Amsterdam based care organisation) 'ended self-management on request of their employees': their approach to implementing SMT's was (simplified) to fire first line supervisors and leave people to themselves; seems a focus on structure, but quite simple.
Some of my students took a sample of SMT-cases published on www.nieuworganiseren.nu and found that most stories did not mention anything about a structure 'build from autonomous organisational units with as little centralized staff and service/support units as possible' thus enabling self-management of these units.
Yep, structures are definitely essential to think about and not to be overlooked. I like what Miki Kashtan says about reinventing 5 core systems (decision making, resource distribution, information distribution, feedback system (or performance management), conflict transformation)... as well as thinking about the human, mindset shifts.
https://leadermorphosis.co/ep-37-miki-kashtan-on-the-three-shifts-needed-for-self-managing-organisations-to-thrive
Awesome piece.
Providing more choice to be people in institutions is missing from so many people’s vocabulary. I agree that it is critical if we want to treat everyone around us like the educated adults they are.
I am personally writing my own book on what new organizations can be like, and it to was very structure and process oriented, it felt wrong.
Reading Corperate Rebels and a few other books inspired me to do a fairly massive re-write and better connect to the work to mindset and values.
Your article is great as one of the key principles I am writing about is organizing through choice, it’s nice to see others thinking in the same vein.
Vashi Yusuf
Inspiring piece! (bows lowly in gratitude)
As a Rebel sympathizer and guerilla provocateur out there in fly-over America, I love the ideas and progressive push to build business from a different paradigm.
But just as Lisa says, it's such hard work to change practices. Especially if you're a conditioned, pale, male, and stale manager like me. But Dammit - this article inspires me.
I need to re read this at the start of each day!
Day by day, decision by decision, act by act, build the kind of team and place we want to work in and work with to realize our fullest capability and contribution.
Thank you so much for this insightful and inspiring piece. At Mayden we have been on our journey to self-managing for 6 or so years and continue to learn both from our struggles and successes. We find that in almost every hurdle to overcome there's an operational and cultural aspect to it and that the pillars/foundations to successes lie in being able to shift mindset (often supported by our ever growing coaching programme and coaching culture), self-awareness and our no blame culture.
We take heart in hearing others find similar when making these shifts and have decided to tell our story in the hope that we can also inspire others to embark on this sometimes challenging but also exciting journey. Work can be organised in such a way to benefit employees, clients, and business objectives. We just have to uncover current assumptions of the way things are done and challenge ourselves to do it better.
As we pen our story, we will be sure to reflect on structures, processes and mindsets because, of course, it is our mindsets that the create the structures and processes in the first place.
Thank you again for a great article.
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Current (https://current.org/2016/05/whos-taking-your-donation-when-you-call-in-a-pledge/)
Who’s taking your donation when you call in a pledge?
By Mike Janssen, Digital Editor | May 17, 2016
(Photo: rentvine.com)
We recently held a voting round for our Currently Curious series, in which we ask readers to submit their questions about public media. Out of the three questions we selected, the winner was: “What’s it like inside the call centers that handle public media pledge drives? How much do they cost stations?”
The question came to us from Andrea Silenzi. Silenzi works now in the for-profit media world as the senior producer of Mike Pesca’s Slate podcast The Gist. But she’s a veteran of several public media stations, which left her with fond memories of the volunteers who came in during fund drives to answer phones and take donations.
In an email, Andrea wrote:
During pledge drives, I would always chat up volunteers for feedback and ideas. … Every time I work in membership funded media, I’m amazed by how much energy I get from seeing the volunteers every year. I understand logically why some stations hire a call center… but it feels like the end of an era in public media?
So to find out what it’s like inside a call center, we need to find one to visit, right? I envisioned a trip to a nondescript office building in the suburbs, where I’d immerse myself in an environment of cubicles and tedium and emerge with a David Foster Wallace/Pale King–esque chronicle of the life of a call-center employee. Bring it on.
But after a few calls and emails, I learned that, unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The wrinkle is there may not be any actual call centers to visit. A call center can now be completely de-centered.
Employees of these “inbound telemarketing” companies take calls in the comfort of their homes — and they can work anywhere. So when a donor calls to make a pledge, the person who answers could well be a guy in his pajamas thousands of miles away from the local station, not a pastry-chomping good Samaritan in a phone bank set up steps away from the studio. And they’re getting paid in real dollars, not donuts.
I told Andrea what I’d learned. She replied, “I don’t need to know what kind of coffee they serve in the call station cafeteria to have my question answered.” (And I totally would have nailed that detail.) “The names, best practices, reputations and fees of these companies paints an interesting picture for sure.”
We’re on it, and soon we’ll deliver a closer look at these questions. But while we’re getting started, we’d like to hear from you. Do you work at a station that uses a call center, er, “inbound telemarketer”? What are the pros and cons of working with one? Maybe you’ve had an experience as a donor whose gift was handled by one of these call takers, or maybe you’ve even worked an inbound telemarketing gig yourself. If any of these situations apply, email me at mike@current.org and share the details.
You can also submit your own question to Currently Curious in the form below. It could be investigated in a future Current story.
A reader asks: What’s Public Radio International’s future within WGBH?
We’re answering the question for the latest story in our Currently Curious series.
11 thoughts on “Who’s taking your donation when you call in a pledge?”
Ann Alquist on May 17, 2016 at 1:10 pm said:
I think the more interesting question is how stations are addressing the lack of a need of volunteer phone banks anymore (less so in public television, where they perform a visual function and rural stations where volunteers are truly integral to the station’s operations.) When a third or more of a station’s revenue is coming in from monthly donors, it’s hard to justify a phone bank with 12 volunteers, when a better use of staff time might be identifying more meaningful ways to engage the community that involves more than answering phones.
Mike Janssen on May 17, 2016 at 1:48 pm said:
Yes, and the increasing number of online donations is also reducing the need for on-site volunteers. I’m hearing people at stations say that they don’t want to bring in volunteers for shifts when they just won’t have much to do.
The last radio drive I produced at Alaska Public Media was 94% online donations (we hammered avails with calls to contribute for over 2 weeks). We did do a day where people could call in, because those people are still out there and we should accommodate them. And the last drive I helped produce at KDHX was a very similar model and entirely online – not even an option to call in and they crushed their end of year giving goal. For stations that don’t rely on volunteers for programming, I would like to see creative ideas about harnessing community involvement. Actually, I’d love to see community radio stations evolve that concept too!
John Bell on May 18, 2016 at 5:22 pm said:
A great use for phone volunteers is outbound thank you calls. Great engagement and more fun thanking people then taking credit card numbers. And one doesn’t have to start at 6am.
I actually have talked with one station membership director who said that they had trouble getting volunteers who were willing to do that — they were more comfortable being called than having to call out.
Barry Nelson on May 19, 2016 at 9:40 am said:
There are a number of aspects of pledge drive volunteering that require reflection. They include the generational aspect: Greatest Generation volunteers who lined up to give blood or stockings during the war were happy to answer phones when ad-hoc fundraisers began in the 1970s. I don’t see Boomers, GenX or Millennials wanting to engage in that way; they will want a deeper relationship with the organization, and more responsibilities. Donor security: Pledges should no longer be taken on paper by computer-phobic volunteers and entered into your PCI-compliant form. Call centers follow a rigorous compliance regime. Opportunity costs: re-assigning staff members to manage volunteers during Pledge takes them away from the important work they were hired to do, hampers productivity, and pays those staff members their salary or hourly wage to do the work of a temp. We can engage volunteers in more meaningful, safe, and fiscally-responsible ways. Melody Kramer is working on a project called, “Media Public,” which explores innovative ways to engage donors in productive tasks or services, and rewards them with membership. https://current.org/2015/07/new-models-for-public-media-membership-melody-kramers-nieman-report/
Aaron Read on May 19, 2016 at 12:25 pm said:
FWIW, a few years ago at RIPR I implemented a new VoIP/laptop system for taking pledge drive calls. Instead of landline phones managed by our internal PBX, I got four rebuilt Win7 laptops for a couple hundred bucks each (we use them here and there for things besides pledge drive, too) and some USB headsets. I created an account within Callcentric.com that manages incoming calls from our tollfree number and routes it according to which/whether instances of (free) PhonerLite software is running on any of the pledge laptops. To “log out” and stop taking calls, just close PhonerLite.
All pledges are logged through a website interface (we use Springboard from NPR:DS) which is functionally identical to the normal website giving form. The URL is slightly different so we can track if a pledge came from a caller vs the web, though.
The biggest limitation is that Callcentric’s “call treatments” functionally limit your call group to five people, maximum. I could get around this by having incoming calls merely ring all extensions and then having a LOT of extensions. But I can’t do that and have overflow calls go back out to the call center; have to use hunt groups for that…and you can’t hunt to more than five extensions before routing out to an external number. You also need to make sure you purchase enough outbound call routing to handle the theoretical maximum of simultaneous calls going back out to a call center. That can get a little pricey; inboard channels are free but there’s a monthly fee from Callcentric per outbound channel. I think we have 15 at the moment, and we’ve never been above 12. (if we ever did have more than 15 outbound calls at any one time, the 16th would just get an error message…which, of course, is *bad*)
FWIW: In a pinch, we’ve also got PhonerLite installed on several employee’s desktop computer so they can take pledge calls from their desks if needed…but this has been problematic. It’s tricky to manage which extension/account PhonerLite connects to, and you can have two computers logged into the same extension, but it barfs completely when someone actually calls and both instances of the software try to answer one call. This is problematic because I’ve had a lot of employees that wanted to answer calls at their desks and I can’t easily manage that when there’s seven employees but only four or five extensions they can log into.
For a small-ish pledge drive overall schema like RIPR’s, this works pretty well. If you need something bigger it won’t work at all for you, though. I’ve yet to find a system that builds on this, conceptually, that can handle more extensions. Not without running my own PBX (like Asterisk) which can be fearsomely complicated.
Mike Janssen on June 14, 2016 at 3:11 pm said:
Have you considered using an inbound telemarketing company such as ACD Direct?
Aaron Read on June 14, 2016 at 4:32 pm said:
We do use one…I forget which at the moment. We have an outbound telemarketing company, too…I also forget which but it’s a different company.
Aaron Read on May 17, 2016 at 2:48 pm said:
I don’t want to speak too much for our membership crew, and since we start a pledge drive tomorrow they might be unable to respond to this story for another week or two. But I know that in RIPR’s case we have a small cadre of pledge phone volunteers but we’re so “new” (we’ve only been an independent entity since 2007) that the cadre is very small. It’s not easy to organize everyone’s schedules into covering even the major AM/PM drive shifts, never mind mid-days. We make up the gap by having staff answer phones here and there, too.
But the reality is that we also just don’t get all that many calls. I don’t know the ratio of web vs phone donations, but it’s skewed towards web by quite a bit, IIRC. And we typically don’t get more than one or two calls at a time, except maybe during some mornings when we can see a spike of up to 6 to 12 calls at once. That usually only happens when there’s a big challenge grant or sweepstakes prize going on that hour; something like that. It might only happen once during an eight-day drive.
Also, having a call center means we have the ability to take pledge calls after-hours as well. Again, not too many of those, but it’s nice to be able to do it.
So while it’s nice to have local pledge volunteers around and we do try to have the phones staffed by local folks who know the station? There’s DEFINITE advantages to having a call center as well.
Vinko Milić - The NewsHour Fan on June 10, 2016 at 7:02 pm said:
This is for a better programming.
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Jack Elway Provides a Brief History of College Football
When summer ends, it is almost time for the yearly college football season to start. For Jack Elway, this has always been the most exciting time of the year. It is a time for families to come together and to celebrate the new school year. But what is the history of this sport, and where does it stand today?
Jack Elway on the History of College Football
In 1875, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia started to look into developing a college football league. Then, in 1876, the crossbar was added to the game. The field was also a whole lot larger than today’s field. In 1876, however, the size of the field was made smaller, turning it into the size we are familiar with today. Football didn’t become popular very quickly. In fact, it wasn’t until some ten or so years later that the game really started to gather attention. By the start of the 20th century, however, the sport had took off. Indeed, some 250 colleges had signed up to play.
By the 21st century, there were 230 different divisions, being division I, II, and III. Other division also exist, and this means that there are some 1,000 teams in total. Usually, each team plays between 12 and 14 games per season, depending on how well they have done. The industry, meanwhile, is huge. Millions of dollars are raised, but none of the players are paid a salary. Some colleges have come to rely on sponsorship money for the teams so much, that they couldn’t stay open without it.
Naturally, college football wouldn’t be the same without the fans. They are the biggest source of revenue as well. Fan loyalty is huge and they will attend any game they can get to. Fans buy the jerseys, hats, t-shirts, coffee cups, and other merchandise to tell the world who they support. In many cases, fans are ex-players themselves and most are also alumni from that particular college or university. It is a family affair, with many people of the same family supporting the same team.
Some of the top teams in the country bring in about a million dollars a year. This is made up of contributions, sponsorship deals, ticket sales, and merchandise sales. Clearly, therefore, colleges continue to function on this revenue, using it to improve their overall educational attainment as well. One big part of this is travel. College players have to be able to travel in order to play all those games that are not at home. Each year, they are part of the National Football League, and they hope to make it to the top. Players want to travel in comfort and style as well, and this is driving big business.
There is something unique about college football. These are players that genuinely do it for the love of their school, their team, and they community. It is not uncommon to see three generations of people celebrating the winnings of one team together, wearing their various vintage jerseys.
Filed Under: Education Tagged With: America, American football, college football, sport, USA
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Portland Curb Ramp Settlement
Click here to read the Consent Decree in PDF form in English.
Click here to read the Notice in PDF form in Chinese.
Click here to read the Notice in PDF form in Spanish.
Click here to read the Notice in PDF form in Vietnamese.
Click here to read the Notice in PDF form in English.
Click here to read Plaintiffs’ Unopposed Motion for Reasonable Attorneys’ Fees & Costs in English.
Click here to read Linda Dardarian’s Declaration in support of Motion for Fees & Costs in English.
Click here to read Tim Fox’s Declaration in support of Motion for Fees & Costs in English.
Click here to read Zack Duffly’s Declaration in support of Motion for Fees & Costs in English.
ATTENTION: ALL PERSONS WITH A MOBILITY DISABILITY: If you have used, or attempted to use, Portland pedestrian rights-of-way and have encountered corners on sidewalks or other pedestrian walkways that were missing curb ramps, or curb ramps that were damaged, in need of repair, or otherwise in a condition not suitable or sufficient for use (“Non-Compliant Curb Ramps”), you may be a member of the proposed Settlement Class affected by this lawsuit. This is a court-authorized notice.
A “Mobility Disability” means any impairment or medical condition, as defined by the ADA, which limits a person’s ability to walk, ambulate, maneuver around objects, or ascend or descend steps or slopes. A person with a Mobility Disability may or may not use a wheelchair, scooter, electric personal assisted mobility device, crutches, walker, cane, brace, orthopedic device, or similar equipment or device to assist their navigation along a pedestrian walkway, or may be semi-ambulatory.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN THIS CASE.
NOTICE OF CLASS ACTION
The purpose of this notice is to inform you of a proposed settlement in a pending class action lawsuit brought on behalf of persons with Mobility Disabilities against the City of Portland. The class action settlement (“Settlement Agreement”), which must be approved by the United States District Court, was reached in the case entitled Hines, et al. v. City of Portland, No. 3:18 cv-00869-HZ, pending in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
This lawsuit alleges that the City of Portland (“City”) violated federal disability access laws by allegedly failing to ensure that its pedestrian right of way contains curb ramps that are necessary to ensure that the pedestrian right of way is accessible to individuals with Mobility Disabilities. The City denies these allegations and disputes that it has any liability or committed any wrongdoing.
This is a class action. In a class action, one or more people or organizations, called Class Representatives (in this case Allen Hines, Tess Raunig, and CaroleZoom [“Plaintiffs”]), sue on behalf of people who have similar legal claims. All of these people are a Class or Class Members. One court resolves the issues for all Class Members. United States District Judge Marco A. Hernandez is in charge of this class action.
The Court did not decide in favor of either Plaintiffs or the City in this case. Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement. That way, they avoid the cost, delay, and uncertainty of a trial, and settlement benefits go to the Class Members. The Class Representatives and Class Counsel (the attorneys appointed by the Court to represent the Class) think the proposed settlement is in the best interests of the Class Members, taking into account the benefits of the settlement, the risks of continued litigation, and the delay in obtaining relief for the Class if the litigation continues.
THE SETTLEMENT CLASS
The Settlement Class includes all persons (including residents of and/or visitors to the City of Portland) with any Mobility Disability, who, at any time prior to court judgment granting final approval to this Agreement have been denied full and equal access to the City’s pedestrian right of way due to the lack of a curb ramp or a curb ramp that was damaged, in need of repair, or otherwise in a condition not suitable or sufficient for use.
SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
The following is a summary of certain provisions of the Settlement Agreement. The complete Settlement Agreement is available as set forth below.
The Settlement Agreement (which is called a “proposed Consent Decree”) requires the City of Portland to make widespread accessibility improvements by installing and remediating Non-Compliant Curb Ramps, beginning in 2018, and continuing for the next 12 years.
The Agreement commits the City to ensure the Installation or Remediation of an average of 1,500 Accessible curb ramps each calendar year for 12 years, including those curb ramps requested by persons with Mobility Disabilities. Under the Agreement, the City will survey all corners in the pedestrian right of way to determine where curb ramps are missing or are inaccessible and need to be installed or remediated. The City will create a Transition Plan that will include a schedule for Accessible curb ramp Installation and Remediation consistent with the survey results and the
prioritization required by the ADA. The Portland Bureau of Transportation also will have an Americans with Disabilities Act Technical Advisor to assist in developing and implementing the work required by the Agreement.
The Agreement also commits the City to continue to maintain a system through which people with Mobility Disabilities may submit requests for installation of accessible curb ramps and remediation of inaccessible curb ramps. The City will use its best efforts to remediate or install each requested accessible curb ramp within nine months of the request, except in very limited circumstances.
The Agreement also includes provisions for the Class Representatives and Class Counsel (identified below) to monitor the City’s compliance with the terms of the Agreement and requires the City to issue annual reports documenting the installation and remediation of curb ramps under the Agreement.
The Settlement Agreement resolves and releases through the 12-year term of the Settlement Agreement, all claims for injunctive, declaratory, or other non-monetary relief that were brought, could have been brought, or could be brought in the future relating to or arising from any of the City’s alleged actions, omissions, incidents, or conduct related to the installation, remediation, repair, or maintenance of curb ramps in the City’s pedestrian rights-of-way. The Settlement Agreement does not provide for any monetary relief to the Settlement Class, and it does not release any monetary claims that Settlement Class members may have.
REASONABLE ATTORNEYS’ FEES, COSTS AND EXPENSES
The settlement class is represented by Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho and the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (“Class Counsel”). The City will pay Class Counsel their reasonable attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs of $334,666 subject to the approval by the Court. Class Counsel shall also be entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs for monitoring the City’s compliance with the Settlement Agreement as set forth in the Settlement Agreement. Plaintiffs’ fees, expenses, and costs for monitoring will be capped at $480,000 for the entire term of the Agreement, and Plaintiffs will not request reimbursement and the City will not be required to pay more than $40,000 annually for legal work performed in any single year of the Agreement, except in limited and specified circumstances. Notwithstanding the fee provisions of the Settlement Agreement, all fees awarded to Class Counsel must be first approved by the Court.
FAIRNESS OF SETTLEMENT
The Class Representatives and Class Counsel have concluded that the terms and conditions of the proposed Settlement Agreement are fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class. In reaching this conclusion, the Class Representatives and Class Counsel have considered the benefits of the settlement, the possible outcomes of litigation of these issues, the expense and length of litigation, and actual and possible appeals.
THE COURT’S FINAL APPROVAL/FAIRNESS HEARING
The Court has preliminarily approved the Settlement Agreement, and has scheduled a hearing for Monday, September 24, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 14B of the United States Courthouse at 1000 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204 to decide whether the proposed settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate, and should be finally approved. Although you are not required to attend, as a Settlement Class Member, you have the right to attend and be heard at this hearing, as specified in the next section below. At the hearing, the Court will consider any objections to the settlement. Judge Hernandez will listen to people who have asked to speak at the hearing. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the settlement. The Court will also evaluate the agreed upon amount to award Class Counsel as reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs and litigation expenses. We do not know how long this decision will take.
This hearing date is subject to change without further notice. If you wish to be informed of any changes to the schedule, please notify Class Counsel at the addresses listed in the next section below. You may also check www.creeclaw.org/portland-curb-ramp-settlement or the public court records on file in this action at https://www.pacer.gov/ for any updates.
OBJECTIONS TO THE SETTLEMENT
Any Settlement Class Member may object to the terms of the proposed settlement described above by submitting a written or oral objection to Class Counsel via regular or electronic mail, or by leaving a message with their objection via telephone. If you submit an objection, you do not have to come to the Final Approval Hearing to talk about it. If you plan on speaking at the Final Approval Hearing, please indicate in your objection that you plan to do so. If you do not submit an objection prior to the deadline, you might not be provided an opportunity to speak to the District Court about your objection at the Final Approval Hearing.
If you submit an objection, it should include the following information: (a) your name, address, and, if available, your telephone number and e-mail address; (b) if you are being represented by counsel, the name, address, telephone number and e-mail address of your attorney; (c) a statement of your objections; and (d) a statement of whether you are a member of the Settlement Class.
Please note that the Court can only approve or deny the settlement. The Court cannot change
the terms of the settlement.
All objections must be submitted or postmarked on or before August 8, 2018.
All email objections must be sent to the following email address: curbramps@creeclaw.org
All oral objections must be made by leaving a message at the following toll-free number: 1-888-461-9191.
All regular mail objections must be sent to the following address:
Timothy P. Fox
Civil Rights Education and
Enforcement Center
You may, but are not required to, appear at the Final Approval Hearing scheduled for Monday, September 24, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 14B of the United States Courthouse at 1000 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204 to have your objection heard by the Court.
Any Class Member who does not object at or before the Final Approval Hearing will be deemed to have approved the Settlement and to have waived such objections and shall not be able to make any objections (by appeal or otherwise) to the Settlement.
IF YOU DO NOT OPPOSE THIS SETTLEMENT, YOU NEED NOT APPEAR OR FILE ANYTHING IN WRITING.
The proposed Settlement Agreement, if given final approval by the Court, will bind all members of the Settlement Class. This will bar any person who is a member of the Settlement Class from prosecuting or maintaining any claim or action released under the terms of the Settlement Agreement.
The terms of the settlement are only summarized in this notice. For the precise and full terms and conditions of the settlement, please see the Settlement Agreement available at www.creeclaw.org/portland-curb-ramp-settlement or by accessing the Court docket on this case through the Court’s Public Access to Electronic Records (PACER) system at
https://www.pacer.gov/, or by visiting the office of the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for District of Oregon, 1000 S.W. Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays, excluding Court holidays.
You can also obtain more detailed information about the settlement or a copy of the Settlement Agreement from Class Counsel at any of the following addresses:
Linda M. Dardarian
Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho
300 Lakeside Drive, Suite 1000
www.gbdhlegal.com
www.creeclaw.org
Zack Duffly
Portland Civil Rights Law Office
Class Members may also contact Class Counsel at the following toll-free number, 1-888-461-9191, to obtain further information about the settlement or settlement documents.
Please do not direct questions to the District Court.
To obtain copies of this Notice or the Consent Decree in alternative accessible formats, please contact Class Counsel listed above.
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Articles Tagged with broken
Arkansas Church Burglarized by Naked Woman
A nude woman allegedly broke a glass door to get into a locked church, and she is facing felony charges for the reportedly destructive act.
On November 18, the Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Arkansas reportedly experienced a burglary before they opened their doors for the day.
A passerby reportedly spotted a woman who was sans clothing that appeared as if she had thrown an object at the church’s glass door and caused it to shatter.
Tagged: broken, church, commercial burglary, cuts, domestic disturbance, glass, hands, Hot Springs, naked and warrant
Security Guard Attacked While Trying to Enforce Face Mask Rule
Two men reportedly refusing to wear face coverings while vising a Los Angeles Target store allegedly assaulted one of the security guards as they were being ejected from the premises.
On May 1, at a Target in Van Nuys, two men were reported as walking into the store without anything covering their faces, which is against the current store policy put in place in compliance with the mayor’s Safer at Home order.
According to the Los Angeles’ “Safer at Home Emergency Order,” the places that are currently open can refuse service to those without coverings who enter their establishments since the order specifies that all visitors “must wear face coverings over their noses and mouths.”
Posted In: Assaults & Batteries
Tagged: assaulted, battery, broken, face mask, homeless, Los Angeles, punched, security guard, Target and Van Nuys
Tenant Greeted Landlady With Bucket of Human Feces
When the landlady opened the door of one of her tenant’s trailers the renter allegedly hit her in the face with the contents of a bucket of excrement.
On Saturday afternoon, deputies were hailed to a trailer in Osteen, Florida, for reports of a messy altercation between a tenant and her landlord.
When the deputies arrived at the scene, they reported that the inside of the trailer and the landlord were entirely covered with waste that they suspected was human. The suspect, identified as 59-year-old Joanne Mercader, had feces on her face.
Tagged: battery, broken, bucket, excrement, feces, inspect, landlady, Osteen, tenant and trailer
Suspect Blames Horse For Home Burglary
A man suspected of burglarizing a home last Thursday tried to buck the accusation when he said a horse was the actual perpetrator.
Steve Ferguson bought a home in Pasco County, Florida, last year with the intention of repairing and restoring it before listing it as a rental.
Ferguson, who held the belief that the location of his new house was in a neighborhood that was frequently targeted for break-ins, installed a security system on his property since he would not be living there and wanted to keep watch over the home. He also posted “No Trespassing” signs as an additional attempt to deter criminal activity.
Tagged: broken, burglary, criminal-defense, fence, galloping, horse, Pasco County, rent, security and trespassing
Broken Selfie Stick Allegedly Used to Abuse Child
During a visit with his children, a father has been accused of abusing his young daughter by allegedly hitting her and causing injuries with the remnants of a broken selfie stick.
28-year-old Aaron Moore is a father that shares custody of his children, and they were recently visiting with him at his residence.
Moore’s 6-year-old daughter had reportedly found a selfie stick, which is a device that allows one to take pictures of themselves with digital photography equipment at a greater-than-arm-length distance, and she began to play with it. It was reported that while playing with it she damaged the condition of the stick rendering it broken.
Tagged: abusing, broken, Child Abuse, custody, damaged, hitting, injuries, marks, selfie stick and visiting
Teen Who Pushed Friend off Bridge Asserts Her Innocence
A girl was caught on video when she pushed her friend off of a bridge in Washington in August, and she is now facing criminal charges.
On August 7, a group of friends gathered at Moulton Falls at a bridge that people have jumped off for fun for quite some time, though it is not legal to do so. When one of the people in the group decided to jump from the bridge into the water below another one of the people in the party, 16-year-old Jordan Holgerson, said that she would like to jump as well.
Holgerson stated that she felt nervous about jumping from the 60-foot drop into the water and one of her friends, 18-year-old Tay’Lor Smith, offered to assist her with a shove.
Tagged: bridge, broken, Good Morning America, interview, jump, lungs, Moulton Falls, punctured, pushed, reckless endangerment, ribs, video and viral
Driver Pleads Not Guilty to DUI After Car Accident Injures 10
After a collision between two cars took place causing several injuries in early September the woman who has been held responsible for the wreck has pleaded not guilty after being charged with child abuse and driving under the influence of marijuana.
Late in the evening on September 2, 20-year-old Adriana Sabrina Cadena was allegedly under the effects of marijuana when she was involved in a wreck with another vehicle in Orange, CA. With four people traveling in one car and six in the other, a total of ten people were a part of the accident. All of them were injured, though some more than others and four of the victims were children.
All of the people in the wreck reported that they were in pain, and one of them sustained broken bones. The four children who were passengers at the time of the collision were all reported as injured, and some of the victims were treated at the Children’s Hospital of Orange. Orange Police Department’s Sgt. Phil McMullin reported that Cadena would be charged for eight of the victims.
Posted In: Child Abuse, Dui and Orange County
Tagged: bodily, broken, Child Abuse, child endangerment, collision, dui, inflicting, injuries, marijuana, Orange, pain and wreck
Woman Comes Home and Discovers Burglar Snacking in Bathtub
After work on the evening of April 17, a woman entered her home to find a stranger bathing in her tub and eating cheese curls.
29-year-old Evelyn Elaine Washington of Monroe, Louisiana, reportedly entered a home without permission and shed her clothing before drawing herself a bath and climbing in. She also allegedly helped herself to a plate of food that belonged to the person residing in the home.
Around 5:00 p.m. the occupant returned home from work and stumbled upon Washington in the tub in the nude. The woman reportedly witnessed Washington consuming Cheetos while soaking in the water, with a plate of food resting on the toilet in reach of the bath.
Tagged: bathtub, break in, broken, burglary, cooler, damage, food, property, snacking, toilet and window
Teen Dad Charged as Adult for Alleged Assault on Infant
17-year-old Ziaire Davis of Buffalo, NY has been accused of assaulting his 2-month-old daughter by throwing her up against a wall and shaking her, leaving her in critical condition. Though Davis is underage his name has been released as he is being charged as an adult due to the severity of the alleged crime.
Buffalo Police Lt. Jeff Rinaldo stated that the infant was diagnosed with a fractured skull, a brain bleed, broken ribs, and other injuries. She is currently being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit at Women & Children’s Hospital. The amount of time between the assault and the call placed to 911 has yet to be determined and is under investigation by the district attorney.
Detectives from specialized units were dispatched to the crime scene where they interviewed Davis. He was taken into custody and charged with felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He is being held on $50,000 bail.
Tagged: assault, bleed, brain, broken, child, critical, daughter, fractured, infant, ribs, severity, shaking, skull and throwing
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ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2011-415
Ottawa, 8 July 2011
Review of the regulatory framework relating to vertical integration
Continuation of service
1. In light of the issues being considered as part of the public proceeding initiated by Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-783 and in order to better permit the Commission to implement determinations that may result from this proceeding, the Commission determines the following:
A programming undertaking that is in negotiations with a broadcasting distribution undertaking or the operator of an exempt distribution undertaking with respect to the terms of carriage of programming originated by the programming undertaking should continue to provide the distributor or operator with its programming services on the same terms and conditions as contained in the last agreement reached between the concerned undertakings.
A broadcasting distribution undertaking that is in negotiations with a programming undertaking with respect to the terms of carriage of programming originated by that programming undertaking should continue to distribute the programming services of that programming undertaking on the same terms and conditions as contained in the last agreement reached between the concerned undertakings.
2. The preceding determinations shall remain in effect until 30 days following the publication of the Commission’s decision in the above-noted proceeding.
3. The Commission notes that sections 18 and 38 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations (BDU Regulations) specify the programming services that licensed distribution undertakings must distribute.
4. The Commission also notes that under section 7 of the Pay Television Regulations, 1990 and section 11 of the Specialty Services Regulations, 1990, licensees must continue to make their programming services available to distributors during a dispute if the distributor must distribute the programming service under section 18 of the BDU Regulations or as a result of an order issued under section 9(1)(h) or 9(4) of the Broadcasting Act.
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#ncga: What’s a little election LAW between friends?
Posted on April 1, 2018 April 2, 2018 by Brant Clifton
Remember Dallas calling everybody seeking warm bodies to put their names on the May ballots? Who needs actual party-building when you can play the whole Potemkin village,stalking-horse game? *What could go wrong?*
Anyway, it appears the little cartoon character has struck AGAIN:
Sen. Jeff Jackson, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, could be the only state Senate candidate running unopposed after the county’s Board of Elections rejected the candidacy of Republican Nora Trotman.
Trotman says she’ll appeal the decision, which came in response to two complaints claiming she is ineligible to run as a Republican in Senate District 37. One complaint was that she hadn’t been registered as a Republican for at least 90 days prior to filing, while the other complaint took issue with the fact that her filing paperwork wasn’t delivered in person, by mail or by a courier service. Trotman’s paperwork was delivered by NC Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse.[…]
Regarding the whole 90-day thing, here is the relevant piece of election law:
1.1.3 VERIFICATION BY COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS FOR CERTAIN CONTESTS
This certificate, on the second page of the Notice of Candidacy, permits the board of elections to verify that the person seeking candidacy for a non-judicial office is registered to vote in that county, states the party with which the person is affiliated, and has not changed his affiliation from another party or from unaffiliated within 90 days prior to the filing deadline.[…]
I checked with the NC state board of elections regarding Ms. Trotman. She registered to vote — for what appears to be the first time in North Carolina — on February 22, 2018. (The filing period for the May primary started on February 12 and ended on February 28.)
According to her own LinkedIn profile, Ms. Trotman has been living and working in “the Charlotte, NC area” since June 2015.
[…] In the Mecklenburg Board of Elections meeting this week, board members noted that Trotman did not appear in person to defend her eligibility. Trotman promised to appeal to the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement in a statement posted to her Twitter and Facebook pages.
“Despite political consultants and lawyers trying to undermine my candidacy as a conservative millennial woman, I refuse to give up,” she wrote. “I will fight back with the same tenacity that I’d use to fight for my constituents.”[….]
*Buuuuuut — you haven’t fought all that hard yet to defend your legitimacy as a candidate on the May primary ballot.* (Showing up is HALF the battle.)
[…] Woodhouse said he expects Trotman to prevail. He said her paperwork was delivered in line with long-accepted practices and that the NCGOP has records showing she has been affiliated with the party, including dues paid to a Young Republicans group.[…]
North Carolina is one of 28 states that requires voters to classify themselves when they register to vote. Here’s the relevant piece of the statutes:
[…] Party Affiliation or Unaffiliated Status. – The application form described in G.S. 163-82.3(a) shall provide a place for the applicant to state a preference to be affiliated with one of the political parties in G.S. 163-96, or a preference to be an “unaffiliated” voter. Every person who applies to register shall state his preference. If the applicant fails to declare a preference for a party or for unaffiliated status, that person shall be listed as “unaffiliated”, except that if the person is already registered to vote in the county and that person’s registration already contains a party affiliation, the county board shall not change the registrant’s status to “unaffiliated” unless the registrant clearly indicates a desire in accordance with G.S. 163-82.17 for such a change. An unaffiliated registrant shall not be eligible to vote in any political party primary, except as provided in G.S. 163-119, but may vote in any other primary or general election. The application form shall so state. […]
Here’s the relevant piece of the NCGOP Plan of Organization, which governs the state party AND Dallas:
[…] ARTICLE I – MEMBERSHIP
A. MEMBERS
All citizens of North Carolina who are registered Republicans are Members of the Republican Party of North Carolina and shall have the right to participate in the official affairs of the Republican Party in accordance with these rules. All reference herein to Delegates, Alternates, Officers and Members shall, in all cases, mean persons identified and registered with the Republican Party in the Precinct of their residence. Any person running for Party Office within the North Carolina Republican Party, at any level, shall be a resident of the jurisdiction in which he seeks office.[…]
The party’s own rules say you are NOT a Republican unless you are registered with the party. (Paying dues to a “young Republican group” apparently doesn’t count.)
You do that by registering to vote. According to the state board of elections, Ms. Trotman didn’t register to vote in North Carolina until February 22, 2018. State law says you have to be a registered member of the party whose primary you are trying to file for NINETY DAYS prior to filing. State records indicate she didn’t become a Republican or an eligible voter until SIX DAYS BEFORE THE END OF THE PRIMARY FILING PERIOD.
It appears the Mecklenburg board has a point. Looks a little open-and-shut.
(*Thanks, Dallas.*)
Media, NC legislature, NCGOP, Politics, Uncategorized
campaign 2018, NCGA, NCGOP
*WWJD?* (Give ALL his cash to Dallas!)
#ncga: Steinburg’s windmills under-performing, hurting Navy ops
4 thoughts on “#ncga: What’s a little election LAW between friends?”
This is a good example of why it is better to have local parties doing the candidate recruitment instead of trying to micromanage it out of Raleigh.
I live in the 4th District represented by David Price. The GOP has not fielded a respectable candidate in the last election. It seems they can’t get anyone willing or qualified to run. The last GOP candidate Sue Googe was invisible.
Thanks DallASS
lynn wheeler says:
When will the NC BOE address and make a determination on the Trotman qualifications to run for NC Senate against Jeff Jackson?
Dallas Woofhouse says:
The challenge to Nora in Senate 37 was reversed today and she will be on the ballot vs Jeff Jackson
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NewsVentureLifeTravel Deals
WestJet announces new daily flights from Vancouver to Mexico City
A historic area of Mexico City. (Shutterstock)
There will be even more ways to get to Mexican sun destinations starting next spring.
WestJet has announced a new non-stop, year-round flight route from Vancouver to Mexico City.
Flights will initially operate three times weekly beginning on March 14, 2018, departing Vancouver International Airport at 8:30 am and landing at Mexico City International Airport at 2:40 pm. For return trips, flights leave at 3:45 pm and land at YVR at 8:30 pm.
Then starting on April 29, the route will evolve into a daily service.
“We are proud of our continued investments in connecting the economies of Canada and Mexico and providing choice and competition for Canada’s business and leisure travellers,” said Ed Sims, WestJet Executive Vice-President Commercial, in a statement. “These flights will also enable Mexican visitors an affordable option to discover our country and Mexican businesses to increase commercial ties.”
The new service complements Aeromexico and WestJet’s existing and planned routes to Mexican destinations, including WestJet’s new weekly service to Huatulco starting on October 29, 2017.
Additionally, Mexican low-cost airline Interjet will be launching two new daily routes on October 26 of this year – routes to Cancun and Mexico City.
Passenger traffic growth between Mexico and YVR has been in the double digits over the past year following the removal of the visa requirements for Mexican visitors to Canada. Mexico is currently the top growth market for international visitation to BC.
New and improved major YVR routes 2016-18
January 1, 2016: Orlando International Airport – WestJet to begin twice weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
January 20, 2016: Orlando-Sanford International Airport – National Airlines to begin two times weekly seasonal flight service.
February 15, 2016: Cancun, Mexico – Air Canada to begin weekly, non-stop seasonal service.
May 1, 2016: London Heathrow Airport – British Airways to use an AirBus A380 superjumbo jet for its existing daily non-stop London Heathrow Airport service. The A380 will only be used during the summer months.
May 6, 2016: London Gatwick Airport – WestJet to begin six times weekly non-stop flight service.
May 9, 2016: Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport – Air Canada to begin twice daily, non-stop service to San Jose.
June 1, 2016: Brisbane, Australia – Air Canada to begin daily non-stop flight service.
June 2, 2016: San Diego International Airport – Air Canada to begin daily, non-stop seasonal service.
June 4, 2016: Chicago O’Hare International Airport – Air Canada to begin daily, non-stop service.
June 10, 2016: Dublin Airport – Air Canada to begin seasonal, three times weekly non-stop flight service.
June 29, 2016: London, Ontario – WestJet to begin four times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
June 29, 2016: Halifax, Nova Scotia – WestJet to begin four times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
June 30, 2016: Hamilton, Ontario – WestJet to begin three times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
July 25, 2016: Xiamen, China – Xiamen Airlines to begin three times weekly non-stop flight service.
October 20, 2016: Delhi, India – Air Canada to begin three times weekly non-stop flight service.
December 1, 2016: Mexico City, Mexico – Aeromexico increases weekly flights from 14 to 20.
December 20, 2016: Nanjing, China – China Eastern Airlines to begin three times weekly non-stop flight service.
December 30, 2016: Hangzhou, China via Qingdao, China – Beijing Capital Airlines to begin three times weekly service.
February 5, 2017: Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas – Air Canada to begin daily service.
March 28, 2017: Hong Kong, China – Cathay Pacific increases weekly flights from 14 to 17.
May 1, 2017: Phoenix, Arizona – Air Canada to begin daily service.
May 18, 2017: Denver, Colorado – Air Canada to begin twice daily service.
June 1, 2017: Nagoya, Japan – Air Canada to begin seasonal three times weekly service.
June 1, 2017: Frankfurt, Germany – Air Canada to begin daily service.
June 8, 2017: Taipei, Taiwan – Air Canada to begin daily service.
June 8, 2017: London, UK (Gatwick Airport) – Air Canada to begin three times weekly service.
June 23, 2017: Boston, Massachusetts – Air Canada to begin daily summer seasonal service.
June 30, 2017: Hong Kong, China – Hong Kong Airlines to begin daily non-stop flight service.
October 14, 2017: Delhi, India – Air Canada’s service to be upgraded to up to five times weekly.
October 26, 2017: Cancun, Mexico – Interjet to begin year-round, non-stop flight service running four times weekly.
October 26, 2017: Mexico City, Mexico – Interjet to begin year-round, non-stop flight service running four times weekly.
October 29, 2017: Huatulco, Mexico – WestJet to begin weekly non-stop flight service.
October 29, 2017: Kona and Kauai, Hawaii – WestJet to start seasonal service earlier than usual.
December 1, 2017: Melbourne, Australia – Air Canada to begin four times weekly non-stop seasonal service.
December 15, 2017: Yellowknife, Northern Territories – Air Canada to begin daily non-stop service.
December 20, 2017: Orlando International Airport – Air Canada to begin twice weekly non-stop seasonal service.
January 1, 2018: Reykjavík, Iceland – Icelandair to upgrade existing seasonal service to three times weekly year-round service.
March 18, 2018: Mexico City, Mexico – WestJet launches three times weekly year-round service.
April 29, 2018: Mexico City, Mexico – WestJet service to be upgraded into daily year-round service.
June 1, 2018: Melbourne, Australia – Air Canada service to be upgraded into three times weekly year-round.
June 7, 2018: Zurich, Switzerland – Air Canada to begin three times weekly seasonal service.
June 8, 2018: Paris, France – Air Canada to begin four times weekly seasonal service.
Tourism dips in BC after record-breaking wildfire season
Vancouver International Airport ranked 9th most connected in North America
New non-stop Vancouver to Huatulco flights starting at $289
New non-stop flights from Vancouver to Paris and Zurich
New year-round, non-stop flights from Vancouver to Cancun and Mexico City
WestJet confirms it will start Vancouver to China flights
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Missed opportunities in writers' room lower ratings for Late Night
Aftermath of severe storm dominates week's most-read Dallas stories
Despite killer cast, The Dead Don't Die is as lifeless as its zombies
Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny, and Adam Driver in The Dead Don't Die. Photo by Abbot Genser / Focus Features
Tilda Swinton in The Dead Don't Die. Photo by Frederick Elmes / Focus Features
Tom Waits in The Dead Don't Die. Photo by Abbot Genser / Focus Features
The films of Jim Jarmusch are most definitely an acquired taste. The stories he tells can be slow to unfold and often feature actors turning in performances that are understated, to say the least. But he always attracts interesting and notable actors to his projects, making his films appealing for anyone who is a fan of those stars.
His latest, The Dead Don’t Die, is his most star-filled movie since 2003’s Coffee and Cigarettes. In a small town called Centerville, residents suddenly start noticing strange things happening. The local police force — Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray), Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver), and Mindy Morrison (Chloë Sevigny) — is the first to discover the awful truth that a shift in the Earth’s rotation has caused the dead to be reanimated as zombies.
But if you were expecting the typical war between zombies and living humans, think again. There are a few relatively gruesome zombie attack scenes, and there are a multitude of beheadings and point-blank gunshots to kill zombies, but the film is about as slow as you can get. Jarmusch has no interest in making an action movie; instead, the plot moves at a languid pace, providing plenty of time for the characters to make dry quips and prepare for the zombie invasion at their own speed.
You could call it a character study, but that would mean that it contains actual noteworthy characters. Jarmusch seems to want all of his characters to speak in monotones, keeping almost all inflection out of their speech. This trick works for a while but gets old about 20 minutes in. The only truly interesting character is Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton), the local mortician who also happens to know how to wield a katana sword.
It all feels like an exercise in Jarmusch seeing how much he can get away with before someone calls him on his navel-gazing. The film contains a couple of moments that break the fourth wall that are chuckle-worthy at best. Pop star Selena Gomez pops up in a cameo that delivers almost nothing, not because of her skills but because there’s nothing of interest in her character.
Other wasted actors include Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Rosie Perez, Caleb Landry Jones, Carol Kane, Iggy Pop, RZA, and more. Country singer Sturgill Simpson is arguably the star of the film, as the titular song he recorded for the film is played over and over again in a running joke that would’ve been a lot funnier had the film’s humor level been higher.
The Dead Don’t Die is only for a very specific type of filmgoer, and even those with a predilection toward liking Jarmusch’s films may find their patience tested by its lack of entertainment value.
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City College-Miami
City College-Miami is a higher education institution located in N/A. In 2016, the most popular Bachelor's Degree concentrations at City College-Miami were N/A.
In N/A, N/A degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs at City College-Miami. N/A of these degrees were awarded to women, and N/A awarded men. The majority of degree recipients were N/A (N/A degrees), N/A times N/A then the next closest race/ethnicity group, N/A (N/A degrees).
The median undergraduate tuition at City College-Miami is $11,880, which is $N/A N/A the national average for N/A ($N/A).
Baccalaureate/Associates Colleges: Mixed Baccalaureate/AssociatesBaccalaureate/Associates Colleges
In 2017, the cost of tuition at City College-Miami was $11,880. The cost of tuition at City College-Miami is $N/A N/A than the overall (public and private) national average for N/A ($N/A).
This chart compares the tuition costs of City College-Miami (in red) with those of other similar universities.
In 2017 City College-Miami had an average net price — the price paid after factoring in grants and loans — of $17,424. Between 2016 and 2017, the average net price of City College-Miami grew by 10%.
This chart compares the average net price of City College-Miami (in red) with that of other similar universities.
The average yearly cost of room and board at City College-Miami was of $9,806 in 2017. During the same period, the average yearly cost of books and supplies was $1,231. The cost of room and board increased by 0.698% between 2016 and 2017. The cost of books and supplies decreased by 4.13% during the same period.
This chart compares the average student costs at City College-Miami (in red) with that of similar universities.
80% of undergraduate students at City College-Miami received grants or loans in 2017. This represents a decline of 13% with respect to 2016, when 92% of undergraduate students received financial aid.
This chart compares the average award discount at City College-Miami (in red) with that of other similar universities.
In 2016 the default rate for borrower's at City College-Miami was 4.86%, which represents 46 out of the 946 total borrowers.
City College-Miami has a total enrollment of 186 students. The full-time enrollment at City College-Miami is 126 students and the part-time enrollment is 60. This means that 67.7% of students enrolled at City College-Miami are enrolled full-time.
The enrolled student population at City College-Miami, both undergraduate and graduate, is 65.6% Hispanic or Latino, 28% Black or African American, 3.76% White, 1.61% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.538% Two or More Races, 0% Asian, and 0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders.
Students enrolled at City College-Miami in full-time Undergraduate programs are majority Hispanic or Latino Female (39.7%), followed by Hispanic or Latino Male (25.4%) and Black or African American Female (19.8%). Students enrolled in full-time Graduate programs are majority N/A, followed by N/A and N/A.
The total enrollment at City College-Miami, both undergraduate and graduate, is 186 students. The full-time enrollment at City College-Miami is 126 and the part-time enrollment is 60. This means that 67.7% of students enrolled at City College-Miami are enrolled full-time compared with N/A% at similar N/A.
This chart shows the full-time vs part-time enrollment status at City College-Miami (in red) compares to similar universities.
Retention rate measures the number of first-time students who began their studies the previous fall and returned to school the following fall. The retention rate for full-time undergraduates at City College-Miami was N/A%. Compared with the full-time retention rate at similar N/A (N/A%), City College-Miami had a retention rate N/A its peers.
This chart shows the retention rate over time at City College-Miami (highlighted in red) compares to similar universities.
The enrolled student population at City College-Miami is 65.6% Hispanic or Latino, 28% Black or African American, 3.76% White, 1.61% American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.538% Two or More Races, 0% Asian, and 0% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders. This includes both full-time and part-time students as well as graduate and undergraduates. By comparison, enrollment for all N/A is .
In N/A, N/A N/A women than men received degrees from City College-Miami. The majority of degree recipients at City College-Miami are N/A (N/A degrees awarded). There were N/A times more N/A graduates than the next closest race/ethnicity group, N/A (N/A degrees).
The most common Bachelor's Degree concentration at City College-Miami is N/A, followed by N/A and N/A.
The most specialized majors across all degree types at City College-Miami, meaning they have significantly more degrees awarded in that concentration than the national average across all institutions, are N/A.
The most common jobs for people who hold a degree in one of the 5 most specialized majors at City College-Miami are N/A.
The most specialized majors at City College-Miami are N/A.
The highest paying jobs for people who hold a degree in one of the 5 most specialized majors at City College-Miami are N/A
The most common industries for people who hold a degree in one of the 5 most specialized majors at City College-Miami are N/A.
IPEDS uses the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) standard, so the categories may not match the exact concentrations offered by City College-Miami.
In N/A, the most common bachelors degree concentration at City College-Miami was N/A with N/A degree-majorss awarded.
This visualization illustrates the percentage of degree-majors recipients from bachelors degree programs at City College-Miami according to their major.
In N/A, N/A degrees were awarded to men at City College-Miami, which is N/A times N/A the number of degrees awarded to females (N/A).
This chart displays the gender disparity between the top 5 majors at City College-Miami by degrees awarded.
In N/A, N/A degrees were awarded to men at City College-Miami in N/A, which is N/A times N/A the N/A female recipients with that same degree.
In N/A, N/A degrees were awarded to women at City College-Miami in N/A, which is N/A times N/A the N/A male recipients with that same degree.
The student demographic with the highest graduation rate at City College-Miami is N/A and N/A (N/A% graduation rate). Across all N/A, Asian Female students have the highest graduation rate (68.1%).
The most common race/ethnicity at City College-Miami is N/A (N/A degrees awarded). There were N/A times N/A N/A recipients than the next closest race/ethnicity group, N/A (N/A degrees).
The most common race/ethnicity and gender grouping at City College-Miami is N/A (N/A degrees awarded). There were N/A times N/A N/A recipients than the next closest race/ethnicity group, N/A (N/A degrees).
City College-Miami has an endowment valued at nearly $N/A, as of the end of the 2017 fiscal year. The return on its endowment was of $169k (NaNk%), compared to the N/A% average return ($N/A on $N/A) across all N/A.
In 2017, City College-Miami had a total salary expenditure of $N/A. City College-Miami employs 4 Instructors, 0 N/A, and 0 N/A. Most academics at City College-Miami are Female Instructors (3), Male Instructors(1), and N/A (0).
The most common positions for non-instructional staff at City College-Miami are: Management, with 8 employees, Community, Social Service, Legal, Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media, with 6 employees, and Office and Administrative Support with 4 employees.
City College-Miami has an endowment valued at about $N/A, as of the end of the 2017 fiscal year. The endowment of City College-Miami stayed 0% from the previous year. The value of their endowment was $N/A N/A than the median endowment of N/A according to the Carnegie Classification grouping.
This line chart shows how the endowment at City College-Miami (in red) compares to that of some similar universities.
As of 2017, City College-Miami received $0 in grants and contracts from the federal government, $0 from state grants and contracts, and $0 from local grants and contracts.
In 2017, City College-Miami paid a median of $2.29M in salaries, which represents NaNM% of their overall expenditure ($N/A) and a 2.71% decline from the previous year. This is compared to a 8.59% growth from 2015 and a NaNM% growth from N/A.
In 2017, City College-Miami paid a total of $236k to 4 employees working as instructors, which represents 10.3% of all salaries paid.
In 2017, the most common positions for instructional staff at City College-Miami were Instructor with 4 employees; false with 0 employees; and false with 0 employees.
In 2017, the most common positions for non-instructional staff at City College-Miami were Management with 8 employees; Community, Social Service, Legal, Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media with 6 employees; and Office and Administrative Support with 4 employees.
In 2017, the most common demographic for instructional staff at City College-Miami was Female Instructor with 3 employees, Male Instructor with 1 employees, and false with 0 employees.
This chart shows the gender split between each academic rank present at City College-Miami.
Santa Barbara Business College-Ventura
National American University-Sioux Falls
Vista College-Online
National American University-Wichita West
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Things to Do in New York on a Sunday
New York is a dynamic city that seemingly never sleeps. Sundays are no exception. Visitors will be pleased to discover Sundays in the city offer a wide range of activities from the very relaxed to the most invigorating. Whether your preference is for indoor activities of outdoor events, New York City offers something for everyone’s taste.
Sunday Brunch Cruise
World Yacht presents a two-hour Sunday brunch (from April to December) complete with scrumptious food, stunning views of the city and live music. For an additional cost, customers can receive caviar and champagne service. The required dress code for the cruise is casual attire; sneakers, jeans, and shorts are not allowed. The cruise begins by traveling down the Hudson River. It includes views of the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations and the Statue of Liberty, returning to Pier 81.
World Yacht
New York Sunday Brunch Cruise
West 43rd Street and 12th Avenue
http://www.nyc.com
Harlem Meer Performance Festival
Visitors to New York City can enjoy fun, music-filled Sundays in the city. The Central Park Conservancy presents free Sunday concerts featuring diverse established and up and coming artists in performing music in genres such as Gospel, Jazz, World and Latin. The concert series runs from June 21st through September 6th, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
110th Street and Fifth Avenue
http://www.centralparknyc.org
The Frick Collection is a small museum located in the vicinity of Central Park. The facility houses precious works of art by some of the greatest European artists. Visitors can expect to see sculptures, Oriental rugs, French furnishings, paintings, porcelains, bronzes and much more. The Frick allows visitors to pay what they want on Sundays, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The Frick Collection offers audio tours included in the admission price. Children under 10 years old are not admitted into the museum galleries, to help maintain the reserve of Mr. Frick’s private home. Patrons and visitors are invited to sketch in the galleries with charcoal or lead pencils only on paper no larger than 12-by-18 inches. The Frick Collection Museum Shop is open on Sundays from 11 a.m. until 4:45 p.m.
Email: info@frick.org
Planning a Vacation
Give Back To The Environment With The Help Of Car Rental Services
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Do Leg Length Discrepancies Actually Matter?
Over the years I’ve had a lot of clients with various ailments say they have been diagnosed by different medical practitioners as having a leg length discrepancy, where one leg is longer than the other, and that this difference is a causative or contributing factor to their problems.
Image credit: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases–conditions/limb-length-discrepancy/
In many cases, the leg length isn’t notably different like the pic above. They’re more minor, usually within 10-15 mm, which seems like a pretty small difference to be causing so many issues.
Usually the recommendation to correct this is to use various shoe inserts, from heel pads to insoles, and even custom-made shoes to help relieve some of the difference between the legs.
In today’s post, I wanted to delve into this topic with some specific questions:
How accurate are the assessments for leg length?
Is there evidence in the research to show this difference actually causes or contributes to mechanical dysfunction?
Do shoe inserts actually provide any benefit to treating this condition?
But first, let’s talk about what leg length discrepancies actually are.
True Leg Length Discrepancy: This is where the bones are longer on one side than the other. Some studies have found that up to 90% of the population has a measurable difference in leg length, with 20% showing a difference in length larger than 9mm, or almost half an inch.
Functional Leg Length Discrepancy: This is when the joint on one side don’t line up in the same way as the other, like with a flat foot, valgus collapse on one knee, torsioned pelvis, etc, which causes the impression of a short leg.
Kamis. J Orthop. 2017 Jun; 14(2): 276–280.
How Accurate are Assessments?
Common approaches to measuring leg length differences are to use wooden blocks to achieve a “neutral” pelvic position, as shown above, as well as tape measurements to measure the length of femurs and tibias on both sides of the body. While these are cost-effective and easy to administer, the accuracy and reliability may be considerably low.
Hanada et al (2001) showed that while tape measurements could be easily reproduced with a high degree of agreement, but only moderate validity compared to radiographic measurements, and only in normal pelvii without gross asymmetry. As I’ve shown previously, you can have a significant difference between left and right hips, within what would be classified as “normal” ranges.
Frieberg et al (Int Disabit Stud. 1988;10(2):49–53) found the error of tape measures was plus/minus 8.4 mm compared to radiologic measurements. They also found the indirect method of using wood blocks to level the pelvis lead to a 53% erroneous measurement rate when leg length differences were greater than 5 mm.
To compound the measurement issues, Gurney showed that clinicians have trouble determining what constitutes a discrepancy requiring intervention, with some citing differences of 5mm or less, and others not worrying until the difference is greater than 20-30mm. With common clinical measurements listed above having relative error rates of 5-10mm, and no specific agreement as to a cut-off point as to when to intervene, it’s tough to say what quantified measured difference is important, especially at lower differences.
Interestingly, few studies compare leg length differences as a factor relative to the individuals’ height, which is strange as a 5 mm difference would be a larger relative difference to someone who is only 5 foot tall compared to someone who is 6’6″.
Error in clinical measurements can be anywhere from 5-10 mm plus or minus
no established cut off as to what would be significant enough to warrant intervention
most measures don’t take into account the individuals height,
Evidence It Contributes To Dysfunction?
The existing body of research has done a rough job at determining if leg length differences are a challenge, how much of a difference is required to affect the individual, what interventions would be most appropriate, and what those interventions success rates actually are.
A metanalysis from Azizan et al showed that while kinematic differences did exist in both gait and balance considerations with increasing leg length differences, there were no discernable differences in those who had symptoms associated with their leg length differences and asymptomatic test subjects, when matched for discrepancy size. The biggest differences came in those with leg length discrepancies following knee and hip replacement surgeries.
Interestingly, the type of approach used for a total hip replacement could affect the size of the post-operative discrepancy, but not very often. Debi et al showed that direct anterior approaches could have a range of discrepancy of -6 to +5mm, lateral approaches had a range of -22 to +14 mm, however the occurrence of a discrepancy greater than 10 mm was only 2.1%
Further in total hip replacement categories, many studies have found that complete reduction of discrepancy realistically can’t happen, even through precise surgical measurements. Some studies have shown there is no correlation to post-operative outcomes and any leg length discrepancies. Others showed that with relatively large differences, patients who were made aware of a leg length difference were less satisfied and required more mobility assistance following their surgery.
in lumbar disc herniation patients (L4-5 and L5S1 predominantly), ten Brinke et al showed pain affecting the short side leg (measured as greater than 1mm. Wait what??) was essentially a coin flip, with 43.8% of men having symptoms into their shorter leg, and 55.9% of women having their shorter leg affected.
Betsch et al simulated difference with various height wood blocks and observed some mild pelvic torsion and repositioning as simulated discrepancies increased, but did not observe any more than minor spinal positional changes with these increasing differences.
So in people going through a total hip replacement, there’s no consensus as to whether a leg length difference is a factor in mobility issues, pain, or other functions, and there’s no clearly defined cut-off as to a difference that would be considered clinically significant.
Even more interesting, comparing trans-femoral amputees with back pain and without back pain, Morgenroth et al found there was no statistical association with limb length and back pain prevalence. Esposito & Russell compared amputees with and without back pain to able-bodied controls, and found pelvic and trunk coordination in amputees with back pain and able-bodied controls with back pain were similar, and the only notable difference between gait patterns of asymptomatic amputees and back pain amputees was in the transverse plane.
No specific discrepancy shown to affect symptoms, gait mechanics, etc
no agreement following total hip replacement as to whether leg length discrepancy is impactful on quality of life, or even what the size of that discrepancy would be that could affect quality of life
no specific difference in back pain prevalence among amputees with various differences in measured and prosthetic-aided leg length discrepancies, and only small differences in gait mechanics in continuous relative phase measurements between asymptomatic amputees and non-pained able-bodied controls
Do Insoles Actually Provide Any Benefit?
The main purpose to using an insole or insert is to minimize the leg length difference, so if it’s an effective treatment for this condition, the research should show that fairly consistently, or at least give some success rates of this application.
There are a number of studies that show use of inserts are very beneficial, however it should be noted these studies showed the greatest outcomes at differences of 10 mm or less, and as mentioned earlier, most clinical assessments have an error rate of 5-10 mm, and many researchers caution against providing treatments for differences of under 10 mm, or less than 1/2 inch.
In distance runners, Gross et al showed inserts were beneficial for reducing or greatly improving symptoms associated with running, of which leg length discrepancy was a factor in the subjects self-reported responses of injuries (13.5% of conditions reported).
A systematic review of all literature by Campbell et al showed there was low quality evidence, but evidence nonetheless, that orthotics could positively affect low back pain. However the author noted that many of the studies with a very broad effect size through studies.
inserts used for less than 10 mm discrepancies seem beneficial, but errors in measurement may reduce this benefit to simple placebo.
Runners with a higher impact and mileage, who are symptomatic for various lower leg issues, can benefit from inserts, but much of the data for other participants needs to be carried out with higher quality studies.
There’s no agreement as to whether inserts relieve symptoms based on the breadth of the available research
In general, there doesn’t seem to be much of a consensus on the role of a leg length issue in injuries, tissue tolerances, stressors through the knees, hips or low back. There’s also significant measurement issues, especially for any diagnosis of discrepancies of less than 10 mm.
Amputees, who could be said to have the most extreme case of leg length discrepancies, don’t show consistency when it comes to symptoms relative to the length and fit of prosthesis, and when compared to able-bodied controls, symptomatic and asymptomatic amputees don’t seem to present differently relative to their impacted leg length discrepancy.
Inserts don’t seem to have definitive success rate when it comes to relieving symptoms believed to be related to leg length discrepancies, other than a possible placebo effect.
So what do you do if you have a leg length discrepancy that you feel is causing you issues? There’s a few options you could go through for conservative treatments and training.
Physio or manual therapy to help with any overworked tissues, retrain joint alignment as much as possible, and improve balance. These seem have big effects on managing symptoms with as much success as anything.
Try inserts if you have a medical plan that will pay for them. If not, they can be a few hundred bucks, so weigh the pro with the cons on that one. Just note that semi-solid or soft inserts will wear out within a couple years, so you’ll have to buy new ones down the road if you do notice a benefit. If you don’t feel a significant benefit within a few weeks, it’s probably not benefitting you much at all. Before you shell out though, go to a drug store and get a cheap set of Dr. Scholls inserts and see if they make any tangible difference. They go for only a couple of dollars.
Do more unilateral leg training to avoid getting stuck in a bilateral stance, especially under loading. Alternatively, if you want to do bilateral stuff like squats or deadlifts, play with your stance to see if an asymmetric stance makes you feel more stable and strong.split squats, single leg deadlifts, and lunges are all awesome variations that should be in your program already.
Walk on varied surfaces as much as possible. We have a huge variability in our bodies and we can adapt to a lot of stuff, so putting your body in a position where it doesn’t have to conform to a constantly flat and level footing can go a long way to avoiding potential movement pattern overload, which may contribute to symptoms associated with leg length issues.
Train in a variety of movements, directions, and loading scenarios. Variety helps break up monotony, and bodies seem to enjoy a little spice on occasion.
One thing that’s also worth noting is that it’s really difficult to connect the dots between a potential biomechanical feature and pain. Pain is a multifactorial concept, and often biomechanics are simply a small part of that. The body is great at compensating to find the least energetically expensive and least painful way of doing things, so if that means the longer leg winds up with a flatter arch, a rotated knee, or slightly asymmetrical stance, it will find a way. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a connection with biomechanics, but that only chasing a treatment of reducing the potential discrepancy likely won’t fix all of the problems that may be contributing to pain, symptoms, or side effects of treatment.
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Puerto Rico, post-Maria mental health crisis
Puerto Rico’s mental health crisis is an American disaster
Around 1 in 4 people affected by a wind- or water-based environmental disaster develops a diagnosable mental disorder. Three months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory is still struggling to recover. As the island works to restore its infrastructure, disaster and mental health experts show growing concerns over a burgeoning mental health crisis. Click play to learn about how “natural disasters” affect the mind.
By Ali Abu Elhassan:
Mental health crisis descends on Puerto Rico’s working class
As the six-month anniversary of Hurricane María approaches, a deadly mental health crisis has emerged on the island of Puerto Rico. Health officials are reporting endemic levels of trauma related emotional disorders. Many Puerto Ricans are showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), experiencing extreme anxiety and depression for the first time in their lives. The severity of the crisis is most sharply expressed in the rise in suicides, which has seen a disturbing 30 percent spike since the storm made landfall.
The reports of PTSD are a testament to the reality of life for the working class in Puerto Rico as the disorder is most popularly associated with soldiers who experience trauma in war zones. The sudden and long-term loss of access to basic necessities of life such as running water and electricity, homes left destroyed and roofless with residents still occupying the structures, the covering up of a massive death toll, the destruction of public utilities, school buildings, education and jobs, as well as an increase in policing has had a traumatic impact on the island’s population.
Thousands of people with preexisting mental health problems have been unable to obtain their needed medications and therapy, causing marked deteriorations in their conditions, especially among the elderly who are particularly vulnerable. Storms and rain produce anxiety and paranoia in children and adults who become worried that there will be more flooding.
Symptoms of PTSD include irritability, mood swings, anxiety, depression, repeated and vivid memories of the event, which lead to physical reactions, confusion or difficulty making decisions, sleep or eating disorders, fear of the event being repeated, an increase in conflict or a more withdrawn and avoidant personality, and physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and chest pain. These responses can vary widely depending on the individual, the environment, and the event.
The only suicide hotline in Puerto Rico, Linea PAS, has been dealing with a surge in calls, up nearly 70 percent, from people contemplating suicide.
In an interview with Univision Noticias, the director of Linea PAS, Monserrate Allende Santos, relayed that between the months of October and December 2017 the program received 9,000 suicidal phone calls; 6,733 calls were from callers with suicidal thoughts, while 2,206 were from people who had actually attempted suicide.
A member of the hotline’s call-taking staff told the New York Times, “Sometimes I cannot find the words. Because how can I tell someone to keep calm when they don’t have a place to sleep.”
Linea PAS’ staff, many of whom have experienced their own hardships, patiently try to console, reassure, and talk suicidal hurricane survivors who have lost all hope out of ending their lives. Another staff member is heard in a Times video telling a caller, “the situation of not having light in your house, the situation of being dark, of not having resources, this is temporary.” For some, however, it is not certain that this assertion is true.
In an interview with Newsweek, Kenira Thompson, who heads mental health services at the Ponce Health Sciences University, stated that for the people in rural areas, “It’s as if the storm hit last week.”
“Mental health issues will not stop”m Thompson explained, “if you think about the next hurricane season will start again [soon]. We will have chaos when the first storm is announced on the news. Hopefully, it’s not another storm like María.”
When María made landfall on the island in September, it descended upon a population already in the grip of extreme poverty and depressed living standards. Having been in recession since 2006, half the population stood below the official poverty rate while the official unemployment rate stood at 16 percent. A staggering 60 percent of eligible workers did not participate in the labor force, instead relying on food stamps or working in the “underground economy.”
In the wake of the hurricane this already precarious situation dramatically worsened. Hundreds of people perished or died in the aftermath from lack of basic necessities. Hundreds of thousands of homes and basic infrastructure have been destroyed, leaving, to this day, 150,000 homes and businesses without electricity and much of the island in ruin.
While it’s common for people to experience stress in the immediate aftermath of such an event, the American Psychological Association (APA) stresses that recovery is dependent on one’s ability to resume functioning as they did prior to the disaster and to engage in healthy behaviors, such as a healthy diet, establishing routines, and seeking getting help from a licensed mental health professional.
Healthy behaviors cannot develop when countless homes remain destroyed, when people are trying to live without roofs or are forced to join relatives in overcrowded, unsafe conditions. The establishment of routines is not a possibility in circumstances where people are chronically living without electricity, are struggling to find food and clean water and are unable to travel on closed roads to frequent, or work, in closed businesses and attend closed schools.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided a paltry $3 million for the mental health division of the Puerto Rican Health Department. The failures and crimes of FEMA, and the US government more generally, against the working class of Puerto Rico are innumerable.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, ports that import about 85 percent of the island’s food supply were shut down under the draconian hundred-year-old Jones Act, which the government only reluctantly lifted weeks later. Another outrageous episode was when Tribute Contracting LLC, awarded a $156 million contract to deliver 30 million meals, only managed to deliver 50,000. The criminality of the US government is best exemplified, however, by the efforts to undermine and ultimately privatize the island’s resources and infrastructure, currently the education system and the public electric power company.
This inadequate provision of social and psychological services by the government has compelled universities to send teams of students, social workers and other volunteers out in a piecemeal effort to meet the needs of the population. These students and workers have made their way to the worst hit areas inland, which have become isolated and hard to reach due to the poor recovery efforts. They go door to door and visit emergency shelters where the newly homeless are crowded in order to conduct physical and psychological screenings and deliver food and water.
Observers and health experts have drawn parallels between the aftermaths of hurricanes Katrina and María: From the physical and social devastation they visited upon New Orleans and Puerto Rico, respectively, to the inadequate governmental response marked by gross negligence and arrogance, the long term physical and psychological trauma their victims are suffering, and the fact that these are both climate-change related catastrophes.
In a report published last year titled, “Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance”, psychologists with the APA found that 12 years after Hurricane Katrina, survivors developed mood disorders, saw rates of suicide and suicidal thoughts double, and one in six met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Psychiatrists have since stressed the importance of immediate access to mental health care for the victims of natural disasters to help mitigate these types of outbreaks.
At the 10-year mark of Hurricane Katrina, the WSWS published an analysis of the source of the catastrophe that is no less apt at describing the one facing Puerto Rico today: “The sudden shock of Hurricane Katrina exposed the rot at the heart of American capitalism. Decades of social neglect, the staggering growth of social inequality, the putrefaction of American democracy, and the domination of every facet of social life by a narrow and parasitic layer of financial speculators was laid bare before a shocked American and world public. For millions of people around the world, already horrified by American imperialism’s criminal adventure in Iraq, Katrina demonstrated that the American ruling class was no less hostile towards its own working class.
“This rot has spread geometrically in the years since then. Since the onset of the 2008 recession, the attitude of the ruling elite towards Katrina, which saw it as an opportunity to open up further opportunities for profit, has been replicated in every facet of American life. Instead of responding to the recession with a public works program or other measures to alleviate the distress of the working class, American, and, indeed, world capitalism … has responded with a fundamental restructuring of class relations, aimed at nothing less than the dismantling of every gain made by the working class in over a century of bitter struggle.”
How Do You Help Children Recover From Natural Disasters?
Puerto Rico hurricane deaths, how many?
Harvey flood disaster in Houston, USA
This entry was posted in Disasters, Medicine, health and tagged Puerto Rico by petrel41. Bookmark the permalink.
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Iran Human Rights (IHR); January 9, 2020: Two prisoners on death row for “drug-related” charges, have been executed in Qom Central Prison. A third prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was returned from the gallows after being granted a delay by the complainants in his case.
According to Iran Human Rights, two male prisoners were executed in Qom Central Prison in the early hours of this morning, 9 January.
Their identities have been established as Farzad Mohammad-Noureh and Mehdi Joushani. In a joint case, they had been sentenced to death on “drug-related” charges.
A third prisoner, known only as Sasan, who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and behind bars for eight years, was returned to his cell after the complainants in his case agreed to a delay.
The three men had been transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions last week and had visited their families for the last time at noon on Thursday, January 7.
Speaking to IHR about the executed men’s case, an informed source said: “Farzad Mohammad-Noureh and Mehdi Joushani were accused of carrying 135 kilograms of methamphetamine.”
At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.
According to Iran Human Rights’ annual report, at least 225 of the 280 of those executed in 2019 were charged with "premeditated murder."
Location: Qom, Qom Province, Iran
Related content: Drug offenders Drug trafficking Iran Islamic Law Qisas sharia
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What Happens After Jurors Get It Wrong?
Oct 24, 2012 | Abuses of Power
About 300 people have been wrongfully convicted and exonerated in the U.S. thanks to DNA evidence. But overlooked in those stories are the accounts of jurors who unwittingly played a role in the injustice.
One of those stories is playing out in Washington, D.C., where two jurors who helped convict a teenager of murder in 1981 are now persuaded that they were wrong. They’re dealing with their sense of responsibility by leading the fight to declare him legally innocent.
Santae Tribble, now 51, is already out of prison, but he’s asking a judge to sign a certificate of actual innocence that would help him get compensation for more than 25 years he spent behind bars.
Bad Evidence And Faulty Facts
In January 1981, a jury took only a few hours to convict Tribble for shooting a cabbie dead in a botched robbery. There was only one witness, the cabbie’s wife, who couldn’t make a positive identification. The key evidence was a woman’s stocking, which the murderer wore over his face. That stocking contained hair the FBI said it had matched to Tribble.
“They admitted that they didn’t know with certainty, but the numbers they threw out were so steep as to make it virtually certain that it was his hair,” juror Susan Dankoff said.
In fact, prosecutors told the jury in the closing argument there was only a 1 in 10 million chance it could be someone else’s hair.
EnlargeCarrie Johnson/NPRJuror Anita Woodruff is haunted by her decision to help convict Santae Tribble of murder.
But Tribble, his family members and his girlfriend all testified that he was home, sleeping at his mother’s apartment in Maryland at the time of the murder.
Dankoff remembers she considered the alibi — and rejected it.
“Then you start to think, OK, maybe they’re covering for him. And I think that that was really what it came down to,” she said.
So the jury voted to convict — except that the hair analysis that proved so persuasive has been completely discredited. Even the Justice Department says Santae Tribble didn’t do it. Dankoff said she got a call from Tribble’s lawyer not too long ago letting her know.
“And that really, really left a mark,” she said. “I was just devastated. I think I walked around feeling numb for a week after hearing that.”
Anita Woodruff also served on that jury. She said she went home and cried after voting to convict. The case never really left her. So when Tribble’s lawyer Sandra Levick, of the Public Defender Service, called to say new DNA tests on that hair did not match, Woodruff recalled, “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I said, ‘He spent all that time in jail, for nothing.’ ”
Starting Over After Decades In Prison
Woodruff was only 20 years old at the time of the trial, close in age and experience to Tribble. She said she started thinking about how their lives diverged.
“You know, and I’m thinking about all the things that … I did,” Woodruff said. “I got married, you know, got a divorce, but I had kids, you get to raise your kids, and I did see them get their license and go to proms and high school graduations.”
Santae Tribble had none of that.
“I did have a son that was born soon after I was incarcerated,” Tribble said. “I missed his entire life growing up.”
Tribble said he understands the jury and the justice system made a mistake. But now, he said, is the time to make amends.
“Like, they went the extra mile to, when the pieces didn’t fit, to make them fit,” Tribble said. “Now that it’s clear that the pieces don’t fit, make it right.”
Under the law, Tribble can collect as much as $50,000 a year for each year he was wrongfully incarcerated, if a judge signs off and formally declares him innocent.
The two jurors from his trial so long ago have written to urge the court to support that idea. They say they’re haunted by Tribble’s circumstances. He has no job, no money and no real home. He’s living with his older brother. No big dreams, but maybe a landscaping business, he says, since he spent too many years indoors.
“Well, in landscaping they call it beautification,” Tribble said. “You know, to make it pretty, the flowers and arranging the grass and stuff like that.”
He says he only wants a chance, another chance, at a normal life.
New Speech-Jamming Gun Hints at Dystopian Big Brother Future Police Brutality | Police Misconduct | Accountability Map of US Police Departments’ Policies on Tracking Cell-Phone Use Without a Warrant First Man Arrested With Drone Evidence Vows to Fight Case
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EHAHRD-Net statement to end impunity in the sub-region at the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission
African Human Rights System & African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, News, Press Releases & Statements
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia/Somaliland
Abuja: EHAHRD-Net calls for an end to impunity in the sub-region in its statement to the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) will today be making a public intervention at the 44th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), in which it will offer an overview of the current human rights situation in its sub-region of concern highlighting in particular the reality facing human rights defenders.
EHAHRD-Net’s statement will focus on Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya and Eritrea, countries which have experienced significant violations of the rights of human rights defenders over the course of the last six months.
In its recommendations to the ACHPR, EHAHRD-Net will stress the importance of establishing independent and impartial accountability mechanisms throughout the sub-region as a key step on the road to ending human rights violations and ensuring the protection of human rights defenders.
The statement also places specific emphasis on the need for the ACHPR to use its influence in order to guarantee that current restrictions on freedom of the media and expression are brought to an immediate end.
Please find the statement below.
Ms. Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Officer at +256-775-141756 or call Mr. Hassan
Shire Sheikh, EHAHRD-Net Chairperson at +234 8060797477.
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State to test mobile driver license use
Mar 14th, 2018 · by Delaware State News · Comments:
DOVER — The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles has launched a mobile driver license pilot study that will run for six months.
The pilot, which includes approximately 200 state employees and stakeholders, is designed to test user acceptance and new innovative features that can only be achieved with an mDL.
“Delaware is among the first states to test a mobile driver’s license, and we’re excited to help move this new technology forward,” said Gov. John Carney.
“Across state government, we remain focused on innovation, to connecting Delawareans with new technology, and finding new, more efficient ways to deliver services to Delaware taxpayers. This program is a great demonstration of that effort. Thank you to Secretary Cohan, her team at DelDOT and IDEMIA for making this pilot a possibility.”
According to Secretary of Transportation Jennifer Cohan, “This six month pilot will help us see what mDLs look like in real-world scenarios and address any issues that arise as a result before we decide to fully adopt and implement this application for our more than 800,000 licensed drivers and ID card holders.”
Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles Director Scott Vien said, “It is exciting for us to be one of the first states to test this innovative technology that can both protect the privacy of our customers and enhance safety in ways that can’t be achieved with a traditional driver license or identification card.
“It is our responsibility to always bring the best-in-class offerings to our State and an mDL holds the promise of offering an always-updated, secure credential that will be easy-to-use by our consumers, businesses and law enforcement.”
The pilot is being run by both the Delaware DMV and IDEMIA, the company that produces the State’s physical driver licenses and identification cards.
Features of the mDL that will be tested include:
• Enhanced privacy for age verification – No need to show a person’s address, license number and birthdate, the mDL will verify if the person is over 18 or 21 and display a photo.
• Law enforcement use during a traffic stop – The mDL will allow law enforcement officers to ping a driver’s smartphone to request their driver’s license information prior to walking to the vehicle.
• Business acceptance – Understanding how businesses that require identification or age verification interact with the mDL will be advantageous throughout pilot.
• Ease of Use – Ensuring the mDL is able to be presented to any organization without difficulty
• Secure access – The mDL is only unlocked and accessible by the mDL holder. The mDL is accessed through an app on the owner’s smartphone and is opened/unlocked by entering a user-created pin number or facial recognition.
“We are pleased to be working with our long-standing partner, the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, on this innovative mobile driver’s license,” said Ed Casey, Chief Executive Officer, IDEMIA Identity & Security Business.
“As the leader in driver’s license solutions in the United States, it is our responsibility to take the lead in bringing secure IDs to people’s smart phones. The variety of value-added features that protect and offer safety to all that interact with the digital ID is something we are excited about and pleased to be making a reality.”
Tags:DelDOT
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Parliament House c1900
Charles Kerry
[85/1284-230]
(Tyrrell Photographic Collection)
Public building State government
Kerry, Charles
Established in 1879, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences' venues include the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Observatory and Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill.
Although built as part of Sydney hospital, the northern wing that became Parliament House was never used only for medical purposes, being put to work as a temporary court and judges' chambers. From 1829 it was used for Executive Council meetings, and with responsible government, the building needed extensions. Many additions followed, with a major modern building added to the back of the building in the 1970s.
Building housing the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, built as the northern wing of Sydney Hospital, and much added to over nearly 200 years.
Street at the eastern edge of Sydney's central business district, designed as a ceremonial thoroughfare by Lachlan Macquarie and containing many of Sydney's public buildings. It was later the best address in the colony, and became a prestigious medical precinct in the twentieth century.
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The Vassar College Libraries Digital Initiatives Program provides guidance and makes available the framework to preserve and disseminate, in digital format, selected resources held by the Libraries or created by members of the Vassar community. Furthermore, the Program creates and enriches digital collections to be used for instruction. Learn more »
Digital Window is Vassar College's institutional repository, reflecting the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community. It provides access to collections such as student capstone projects and theses as well as faculty papers from varying disciplines.
Overview | Browse (You will leave this site.)
Newspaper & Magazine Archive
The Vassar College Digital Newspaper Archives provides access to a wide range of newspapers and magazines that were published by Vassar College students from 1872-present.
Albert Einstein Digital Collection
A gift of Morris and Adele Bergreen in 2003, Vassar College Libraries' Albert Einstein collection documents a lesser-known aspect of Albert Einstein’s career: his social and political work in the United States and abroad, with special attention to Jewish affairs.
Dr. Antonio Márquez (b. 1923 - d. 2010), poet, painter and academic, was born in Arriate, Malaga, Spain. As a young man he studied in Spain under the Jesuit order, and went on to study in Ecuador (1951- 1953) as a member of that order, then went on to to study in the U.S. at the Seminary of St. Andrew’s in Hyde Park, NY. Márquez completed his Doctorate in Philosophy of Religion from Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain in 1970.
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The Associated Emeritae/i of Vassar College (AEVC) Oral History
The Associated Emeritae/i of Vassar College (AEVC) was founded in the fall of 2007 with the principal goal of representing the interests and concerns of more than eighty retired members of the Vassar Faculty. In support of this goal, the AEVC began compiling oral histories from its members in 2018. Additional interviews are available on-site only in VCL Archives and Special Collections spcoll@vassar.edu
Bidloo's Anatomia humani corporis (Vassar's Millionth Volume)
Bound in Moroccan leather, Anatomia humani corporis by Govard Bidloo comprises 105 engraved plates of anatomical drawings by Gerard de Lairesse. In 2011, the 150th anniversary of the college's founding, the Vassar Libraries acquired the college's millionth volume — Anatomia humani corporis by Govard Bidloo, a 17th-century anatomy atlas.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton Papers
Papers include correspondence with Susan B. Anthony, Paulina Wright Davis, Elizabeth Smith Miller, Gerrit Smith, and others relating to family matters, her children, the woman's movement, her lectures and travels, publication of her books and articles, women and religion, abolition, temperance, and other social causes.
The Glass Plate Negatives Collection contains materials from 1904-1935, depicting events, students, and buildings at Vassar College. Most photographs were taken by E.L. (Edmund L.) Wolven. Funding note: the digitization of the glass plate negative collection from 1904-1935 was made possible by the Vassar Class of 1950.
The Images of Early Vassar collection consists of materials relating to the early history of Vassar College, from its founding in 1861 to the early years of the 20th century.
Jasper Parrish Papers
The collection includes correspondence of Jasper Parrish, 1790-1829, and others, 1757-1869, relating to the Painted Post treaty, payments to Indians, supplies to the Seneca mission, conduct of the St. Regis Indians, and work of the Quakers among the Indians.
John Burroughs Journals
John Burroughs (1837-1921) was a noted naturalist, essayist and a significant figure in the history of environmentalism.
The Landauer Longfellow Collection consists of approximately 300 pieces of sheet music and some bound volumes (totaling more than 6500 pages) featuring the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The Library Cafe Archive
The Library Café is a weekly program of table talk with scholars, artists, publishers and librarians about books, scholarship, and the formation and circulation of knowledge. It is hosted by Thomas Hill, Vassar College Art Librarian. http://library-cafe.org
Mathew Vassar Papers
Matthew Vassar, founder of Vassar College, was born in the County of Norfolk, England, emigrated with his parents and other family members to Dutchess County, N.Y., in 1796. Vassar College was chartered in 1861 and opened its doors to students in 1865.
Memorial Minutes
The Memorial Minutes collection consists of short biographical pieces from Vassar faculty members, read in their honor at faculty meetings from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
One of the oldest continuous collections of concert programs in an academic institution, the Music Programs Digital Collection documents Vassar College Department of Music events from 1866 to the present.
Printer's Marks
This collection provides images of, and information about, all of the extant printer's marks in the windows of the Vassar College Library. Printer's marks are visual emblems that identify the printer of a particular book.
The Student Diaries collection provides access to more than fifty diaries from Vassar students from the nineteenth century.
The Student Letters collection contains letters from Vassar students primarily during the nineteenth century.
Student Photo Albums
The Student Photo Album collection contains material from Vassar students primarily during the nineteenth century.
Student Scrapbooks
The Student Scrapbooks collection provides access to scrapbooks from Vassar students from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Susan B. Anthony Collection
Most letters are hand-written and have an accompanying transcript. Digitization of the collection was made possible by a generous grant from Dr. Georgette Bennett in honor of Dr. Leonard Polonsky CBE.
Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars (ARAS)
This collection houses the complete set of the bilingual almanacs published by the Association of Russian-American Scholars in the USA (ARAS) titled – in two languages – Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars in the USA / Записки Русской Академической Группы в США.
Vassar College ANTH-AFRS 386 Interview Project
The interviews in this collection are a result of the projects by students in Vassar College's "ANTH/AFRS 386: Situating Blackness" course in Spring 2015. The course encouraged students to explore the meanings of blackness (and raced identity categories) as lived experience at Vassar College and beyond.
Vassar College Costume Collection
A collection of authentic historic clothing from the nineteenth century to today.
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Vassar College LGBTQ Oral History Project
The Vassar LGBTQ Oral History Project is a partnership between the LGBTQ Center, the Women’s Studies Program and the Vassar College Archives that began in the fall of 2012. The goal of the project is to capture the experiences, stories, and reflections of LGBTQ and ally alumnae/i as well as former and current LGBTQA staff members.
Vassar College Library Gargoyles and Grotesques
Vassar College Library was built in 1905, the architecture and the style of the building is perpendicular Gothic, with many embellishments. Among those embellishments are approximately thirty-six gargoyles and grotesques.
Vassar Songs
The Vassar Songs collection features volumes from 1881-1915, and a special seventy-fifth anniversary book from 1940.
Vintage Vassar (Videos)
A collection of Vassar films depicting life at Vassar over the course of the 20th century, including the earliest films from the 1930s.
Overview | Browse (You will be taken to YouTube.com)
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Glyphosate Residue Free Certification Market Reaches USD $ 204 Million as Clean Food Booms
The Detox Project released the first ever data on the Glyphosate Residue Free certification market on Tuesday, after reviewing Q2 2020 data provided by their exclusive data partners SPINS.
SPINS, which is the leading provider of data and insights for the natural, organic and specialty products industry, revealed through their data that the Glyphosate Residue Free certification market has reached USD $204 Million, an increase of 58.2% year on year.
Glyphosate Residue Free certification is a relatively new seal, having been launched by The Detox Project in 2017. Since its introduction it has caught the attention of brands and consumers alike, with a concentration of interest in the U.S. and more recently also internationally.
Linkage Research & Consulting also recently revealed, in a large-scale Internet-based study, that consumer recognition of Glyphosate Residue Free certification has surged. It is now one of the fastest growing certifications in North America.
Brands such as Oatly, MegaFood, Chosen Foods, Puris and Once Upon a Farm are amongst the 70+ brands that have certified some or all of their products as Glyphosate Residue Free. The American e-commerce membership-based retailer Thrive Market has also thrown its support behind the certification.
“Six years ago, Thrive Market became the first national retailer to go entirely non-GMO in our food catalog due to the health and environmental risks of round-up resistant crops. We vet every product on Thrive Market to ensure they meet the highest standards in the industry,” said Nick Green, Thrive Market CEO.
“In September of 2019, we were proud to go one step further by supporting a new gold standard to ensure that our members and our planet are safe from glyphosate contamination. We’re proudly positioned as a leader in providing affordable, easy access to healthy groceries and the highest quality, sustainably and ethically sourced products. We’re thrilled to watch the industry evolve, offering more transparency for the consumer, something we’ve valued since inception”, Green concluded.
Clean Food Booms as Covid-19 Changes Consumer Choices
“While COVID-19 concerns mean some consumers are now buying less fresh, unpackaged food, the pandemic is fueling demand for more healthful choices,” said Jeannette O’Brien, vice president of GNT USA, Tarrytown, New York, to Food Business News recently. “Clean and clear labels are a vital part of that. The recent 2020 Food & Health Survey showed consumers see food products as healthier when they’re free from artificial ingredients, non-GMO, plant-based and have shorter ingredient lists.”
Greg Stucky, chief research officer for InsightsNow, Inc., Chicago, a research consultancy, called the clean label trend a “phenomenon” and said it is continuing to grow. Mr. Stucky’s comments were made during a webinar presentation that was part of the Institute of Food Technologists’ SHIFT20 virtual meeting that replaced the canceled live event scheduled to take place in mid-July.
Citing data from Mordor Intelligence, Mr. Stucky said sales of clean label ingredients are projected to grow 6.75% annually to $51.1 billion by 2024. He added that the impact of COVID-19 on consumer purchasing patterns may push the ingredient sales figure higher.
The Detox Project Predicts More Transparency
The Detox Project, a research and certification platform that supports transparency in the food and supplement industries on the subject of toxic chemicals, set up Glyphosate Residue Free certification with the hope of educating more people about the dangers of the world’s most used weedkiller entering the food supply.
Henry Rowlands, Director of The Detox Project, stated Tuesday that “it is encouraging to see that consumers are becoming more aware of the harm that environmental toxins such as glyphosate can cause to themselves and their families. We support a toxic free future for our children and this can only be reached through mass public awareness.
“Food and supplement brands play a vital role in keeping consumers safe from toxic chemicals. The unsustainable industrial agricultural system, which has been poisoning the planet for so many decades, is based on one single chemical – glyphosate. It is about time that we move towards a more regenerative future with glyphosate-based weedkillers left in the past, where they belong.”
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Home National Presidential poll results: Kukah, Abdusalami meet Atiku, Obi, others
Presidential poll results: Kukah, Abdusalami meet Atiku, Obi, others
A former military Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Aboubakar (retd.); the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, and other members of the National Peace Committee met with the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, in Abuja on Thursday night.
Others at the meeting included Cardinal John Onaiyekan and Rev. Fr Atta Barkindo of the NPC Secretariat.
Atiku’s running mate, Mr Peter Obi; President of the Senate, who was also the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council of the party, Dr Bukola Saraki; PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus; Speaker,House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and other PDP leaders also attended the meeting.
The meeting, it was learnt, was convened following Atiku’s decision to go to court to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory.
The meeting, which, started around 6pm, lasted for about one and half hours.
A source, who was at the meeting, told one of our correspondents that the committee asked for the grievances of Atiku and his team over the outcome of the election, which was won by Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.
The Atiku group was said to have narrated alleged intimidation of its supporters in some states and alleged inflation of votes in favour of President Buhari in some states.
The PDP was also said to have told the Abdusalami panel that the party was in possession of documentary evidence to show that the election was characterised with irregularities that were too weighty to ignore.
The source said, “The committee came to meet with us and asked us how we felt about the outcome of the election. We explained our disappointment to the committee and they agreed with us on some of the issues we raised.
“The committee members pleaded with us to accept the outcome and probably forget the issue of going to court and all that.
“But we let them know the danger of ignoring such calamity as it would send dangerous signal to both the international community and future generations in the country.
“We have to lay a good example that we cannot build on nothing. It will be dangerous to forget the massive rigging and dangerous things that happened in many parts of the country.”
The leadership of the PDP is expected to address a press conference on the meeting on Friday (today).
The PDP team and Atiku, it was learnt, demanded that the military should not be deployed in subsequent elections, while INEC should open back-end servers to all participating parties.
They also called for the release of all politicians allegedly detained illegally by the Federal Government and the unfreezing of accounts of those whose accounts were blocked as part of the government’s clampdown on the opposition.
They also demanded that accreditation must come before voting in the March 9 elections.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that the Abdusalami panel was on its way to meet with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo as of the time of filing this report last night.
The meeting, it was learnt, was aimed at encouraging politicians to tone down the war of words between the APC and the PDP following the announcement of the result of the Presidential election.
While Atiku has rejected the result describing it as a sham, the APC, most especially its National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has been lambasting Atiku, describing him as a sore loser.
The peace committee, it was learnt, was asking both parties to abide by the spirit and the letter of the peace pact they signed before the elections.
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An Engineering Blockchain Cryptocurrency
The revolutionary aspect of the blockchain is starting serious discussions in the Professional Engineering community. Indications are that there are some fundamental problems in Engineering may be solved by the issuance of a token, in this case called Quant (1) and is currently in the “sand-box” phase of development.
The plan, in part, involves mining Quant to create a public key, or data-base called Engipedia. There is also a “proof-of-stake” (2) aspect, which forms an engineer’s private key summarizing by algorithm the engineer’s personal data such as education, qualifications, projects, and other contributions or related works.
The Quant token, which is proposed to have inherent smart contract capabilities will be mined by engineers in a variety of ways, most of which are intended to establish an expanding knowledge base, one such enterprise is called Engipedia. This is a knowledge base which has a formidable upside for democratic technological advancement and dissemination of workable knowledge worldwide.
As a virtual currency, the Quant token may provide a necessary bridge to financing that was previously inaccessible to engineers. Often pools of capital are controlled by vested interests or politically minded parties. Economic opportunities, which previously were unavailable due to lack of funding, may now have a financial vehicle for entrepreneurial Engineers.
The Design is the Contract
Engineering is different than finance and insurance. Finance and Insurance merely need to represent a physical object in a party / counter-party transaction script. There is no design involved. Engineering represents a physical object – the engineering design and specification IS the smart contract. Then, what happens in construction, operations, maintenance, renovation, and replacement is far too complex to be scripted in a single smart contract. Engineering outcomes involve enormous mass, forces, and real-life consequences. (3)
The Market for QUANT
QUANT Proof of Stake
A Warning to Engineering Firms Concerning Blockchain Technology
Posted in Banks and Financial Institutions, Bitcoin, Finance, Government & Regulatory Bodies, Social Media, Standards and Codes, Sustainable Development | Tagged Blockchain, cryptocurrency, Engineering, Technology | Leave a reply
An Engineer’s Take On Major Climate Change
1. Climate science is very complicated and very far from being settled.
2. Earth’s climate is overwhelmingly dominated by negative-feedbacks that are currently poorly represented in our Modeling efforts and not sufficiently part of ongoing investigations.
3. Climate warming drives atmospheric CO2 upward as it stimulates all natural sources of CO2 emission. Climate cooling drives atmospheric CO2 downward.
4. Massive yet delayed thermal modulations to the dissolved CO2 content of the oceans is what ultimately drives and dominates the modulations to atmospheric CO2.
5. The current spike in atmospheric CO2 is largely natural (~98%). i.e. Of the 100ppm increase we have seen recently (going from 280 to 380ppm), the move from 280 to 378ppm is natural while the last bit from 378 to 380ppm is rightfully anthropogenic.
6. The current spike in atmospheric CO2 would most likely be larger than now observed if human beings had never evolved. The additional CO2 contribution from insects and microbes (and mammalia for that matter) would most likely have produced a greater current spike in atmospheric CO2.
7. Atmospheric CO2 has a tertiary to non-existent impact on the instigation and amplification of climate change. CO2 is not pivotal. Modulations to atmospheric CO2 are the effect of climate change and not the cause.
Guest essay by Ronald D. Voisin
Let’s examine, at a high and salient level, the positive-feedback Anthropogenic Global Warming, Green-House-Gas Heating Effect (AGW-GHGHE) with its supposed pivotal role for CO2. The thinking is that a small increase in atmospheric CO2 will trigger a large increase in atmospheric Green-House-Gas water vapor. And then the combination of these two enhanced atmospheric constituents will lead to run-away, or at least appreciable and unprecedented – often characterized as catastrophic – global warming.
This theory relies entirely on a powerful positive-feedback and overriding (pivotal) role for CO2. It further assumes that rising atmospheric CO2 is largely or even entirely anthropogenic. Both of these points are individually and fundamentally required at the basis of alarm. Yet neither of them is in evidence whatsoever. And neither of them is even remotely true. CO2 is not only “not pivotal” but it…
Posted in Climate Change, Environmental, Global Warming, Sustainability, Thermodynamics & Power Plants | Tagged Engineering, Geophysics | Leave a reply
Entrepreneurial Value and Energy Conservation
Photo of Arbutus Mall, Vancouver
As an engineer and self-proclaimed entrepreneur I find myself value driven when seeking opportunities. Usually value is something which can measured, whether it be in profit, market share, response rate, efficiency in operations and resource management, or other metric. It may be to date unrecognized or otherwise under-utilized or untapped resource which can be subject to improvements or other opportunities.
Education of the market can be a daunting task, and getting recognition may be challenging. However, perseverance and targeted marketing can eventually lead to opportunities where value can be recognized in a structured manner where a service contract may be offered to complete the scope of the determined project. Here are some personal thoughts that I am putting down in a Q/A format:
Q. Why do I write a blog?
A. Writing a blog on energy in our built and constructed world has multiple benefits. I get to practice my writing and research skills, learn new and emerging technology, meet new people, continue my growth as an individual and professional, and publish my research.
Q. Why do I write about energy?
A. One of the reasons I choose energy conservation and efficiency is my own understanding of how we can rationalize construction projects and work by building operations savings. In the past with failing mechanical systems in buildings I have specified upgrades to the building plant to improve operations and partially pay for the repairs and upgrades by operational savings.
Q. What kind of professional services are needed in buildings?
A. To start we must to perform baseline measurements of the building. Before changes are made so as to establish existing consumption rates of energy and water, as well as waste streams. By doing this we can examine methods of reducing consumption rates and establish priorities for improvements and budget proposals for improvements in building equipment, the building envelope, electrical and lighting, as well as fixing ongoing problems or other deficiencies. Generally speaking, a building energy audit and report is proposed start to this process, where an informal meeting with building staff, obtaining existing plans and doing an initial onsite inspection of operations and systems.
Q. How can we achieve energy savings and be more green?
A. Small and local things can add up, this is a fundamental tenet of conservation. Every act gets examined, where is the waste, what can be reduced, is it needed, how can we do this differently. All questions need to be asked and answered where an environment is occupied, and can be quite intensive where industry or other energy intensive commercial enterprise may be involved.
Q. Why do I need an outside consultant or professional to perform this work?
A. There are many tools a consultant can use and bring to the table with a client. Knowledge and understanding of systems are important and how they fit together, someone who has experience in systems design, has worked in the field and can provide a service to either establish an initial plan to overseeing the entire project, including design, execution and final occupancy.
Q. What else is important besides an energy audit?
A. After an energy audit, building condition review and report may follow a request for proposal if it is determined by the client that repairs are required and a budget for these may be established prior to commencing work. Within the proposal will be a preliminary scope or statement of work.
Posted in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Uncategorized | Tagged Blogging, Consulting, Engineering, Sustainability | Leave a reply
Measuring and Monitoring Energy Efficiency
Defining Energy Efficiency
To begin, let us ask what is energy efficiency, what are it’s components and how is it measured. To make comparisons we need to gather data using measures relevant to the industry in question, also to the input forms of energy, waste streams and the useful work performed. In the case of a building we may use meters to measure consumption or utility bills and compare changes in consumption rates over time.
To an engineer, energy efficiency is the ratio of useful work over total energy input. For example, a room air conditioner’s efficiency is measured by the energy efficiency ratio (EER). The EER is the ratio of the cooling capacity (in British thermal units [Btu] per hour) to the power input (in watts).
On a grander scale we may be looking improvements over an industry or sector, changing fuel types in a utility such as the conversion of a coal plant to the production of power fueled by natural gas to reduce the carbon load on the environment. Efficiency may be measured by different metrics depending on the result sought and may include the environmental impact of waste streams.
Figure 1: Historical Energy Use Graph (1)
Whatever the exact yearly investment figure, the historical economic impact of efficiency is quite clear. As the graph () shows, efficiency has provided three times more of the economic services than new production since 1970:
The blue line illustrates demand for energy services (the economic activity associated with energy use) since 1970; the solid red line shows energy use; and the green line illustrates the gain in energy efficiency. While demand for energy services has tripled in the last four decades, actual energy consumption has only grown by 40 percent. Meanwhile, the energy intensity of our economy has fallen by half.
The area between the solid red line and the blue line represents the amount of energy we did not need to consume since 1970; the area between the dashed red line and the solid red line indicates how much energy we consumed since 1970.
The chart shows that energy efficiency met nearly three quarters of the demand for services, while energy supply met only one quarter.
“One immediate conclusion from this assessment is that the productivity of our economy may be more directly tied to greater levels of energy efficiency rather than a continued mining and drilling for new energy resources,” wrote Laitner. (1)
As noted in an article by the EIA; The central question in the measurement of energy efficiency may really be “efficient with respect to what?” (2) In general terms when discussing energy efficiency improvements we mean to perform more of a function with the same or less energy or material input.
Energy efficiency measures are those improvement opportunities which exist in a system which when taken will achieve the goals of achieving greater performance. For example refer to Table 1 of Energy Efficiency Measures which can be effectively reduce energy consumption and provide an ROI of 5 or less years when applied to the commercial refrigeration industry.
Table 1: Commercial Refrigeration Energy Efficiency Measures (3)
Government Action on Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency has been put forward as one of the most effective methods in efforts to address the issue of Climate Change. Recently, on February 19, 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order (EO) 13693.
“Since the Federal Government is the single largest consumer of energy in the Nation, Federal emissions reductions will have broad impacts. The goals of EO 13693 build on the strong progress made by Federal agencies during the first six years of the Administration under President Obama’s 2009 Executive Order on Federal Leadership on Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, including reducing Federal GHG emissions by 17 percent — which helped Federal agencies avoid $1.8 billion in cumulative energy costs — and increasing the share of renewable energy consumption to 9 percent.
With a footprint that includes 360,000 buildings, 650,000 fleet vehicles, and $445 billion spent annually on goods and services, the Federal Government’s actions to reduce pollution, support renewable energy, and operate more efficiently can make a significant impact on national emissions. This EO builds on the Federal Government’s significant progress in reducing emissions to drive further sustainability actions through the next decade. In addition to cutting emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy, the Executive Order outlines a number of additional measures to make the Federal Government’s operations more sustainable, efficient and energy-secure while saving taxpayer dollars. Specifically, the Executive Order directs Federal agencies to:
– Ensure 25 percent of their total energy (electric and thermal) consumption is from clean energy sources by 2025.
– Reduce energy use in Federal buildings by 2.5 percent per year between 2015 and 2025.
– Reduce per-mile GHG emissions from Federal fleets by 30 percent from 2014 levels by 2025, and increase the percentage of zero emission and plug in hybrid vehicles in Federal fleets.
– Reduce water intensity in Federal buildings by 2 percent per year through 2025. ” (4)
Energy efficiency has gained recognition as a leading method to reduce the emissions of GHG’s seen to be the cause of climate change. Under scrutiny, we find that there are different measures of efficiency across different industry, fuel types and levels. For example on a micro-level, the functioning of a system may be improved by including higher efficiency components in it’s design, such as motors and pumps.
However, there are other changes which can improve efficiency. Adding automated computer controls can improve a system level efficiency. Utilities may change from coal burning to natural gas fired power plants, or industry may convert to a process to include for co-generation. Battery storage and other technological improvements may come along to fill in the gap.
Historically Energy Efficiency measures have proven to be gaining ground by employing people with the savings earned when applying measures to reduce consumption. These savings reverberate through the economy in a meaningful way, by reducing the need for the construction of more power plants as one example as we on an individual level. We consume less energy, and using higher efficiency electronic equipment, and other energy savings measures at a consumer level, our communities are capable of more growth with existing energy supplies.
jEnergy production and consumption, as well as population growths also arise to other issues related to energy consumption, such as water consumption, water waste, and solid material waste. Building with sustainable materials which promote healthy living environments is gaining importance as we understand the health impacts of a building’s environment on the health and well-being of the occupants. Energy efficiency in the modern era, as we see from recent government mandates and sustainability programs, such as LEED’s for one, also includes for reductions in water intensity and incorporation of renewable energy programs as an alternative to increasing demand on existing utilities.
https://duanetilden.com/2015/01/08/energy-efficiency-development-and-adoption-in-the-united-states-for-2015/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/01/19/energy-efficiency-the-invisible-fuel/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/03/06/college-led-lighting-retrofit-for-energy-efficiency-savings/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/03/16/commission-targets-energy-efficiency-standards-for-computers-and-monitors/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/05/07/idle-load-reduction-strategies-for-energy-efficiency-gains-and-clean-air/
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/report-u.s.-energy-efficiency-is-a-bigger-industry-than-energy-supply
http://www.eia.gov/emeu/efficiency/measure_discussion.htm
http://www.nwfpa.org/nwfpa.info/component/content/article/52-refrigeration/284-energy-efficient-refrigeration-systems
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/sustainability
Posted in Climate Change, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Waste, Sustainable Development, Uncategorized | Tagged Energy Efficiency, Engineering, Green Energy, Power Production, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Sustainability, Utilities | 1 Reply
The Smart Grid – Modern Electrical Infrastructure
When we talk about the emerging Smart Grid there comes with the topic an array of exciting and new technologies; Micro-Grids, Distributed Generation, Smart Meters, Load Shifting, Demand Response, Electric Vehicles with Battery Storage for Demand Response, and more. Recent development in Renewable Energy sources has been driven by concerns over Climate Change, allowing for unprecedented growth in residential and commercial PV Solar Panel installations.
Figure 1: Redwood High School in Larkspur, CA installed a 705kW SunPower system that’s projected to save $250,000 annually. The carports include EV charging stations for four cars. (1)
Climate Change and burning of fossil fuels are hot topics in the world. Most recently the city of San Francisco has mandated the installation of solar panels on all new buildings constructed under 10 storeys, which will come into effect in 2017 as a measure to reduce carbon emissions. Currently all new buildings in California are required to set aside 15% of roof area for solar. (2)
“Under existing state law, California’s Title 24 Energy Standards require 15% of roof area on new small and mid-sized buildings to be “solar ready,” which means the roof is unshaded by the proposed building itself, and free of obtrusions. This state law applies to all new residential and commercial buildings of 10 floors or less.
Supervisor Wiener’s ordinance builds on this state law by requiring this 15% of “solar ready” roof area to have solar actually installed. This can take the form of either solar photovoltaic or solar water panels, both of which supply 100% renewable energy.” (3)
Weather and Aging Infrastructure:
Despite an increasing abundance of energy-efficient buildings and other measures, electricity demand has risen by around 10% over the last decade, partly driven by the massive growth of digital device usage and the expanding demand for air conditioning, as summers continue to get hotter in many states.
According to 2013 data from the Department of Energy (DOE), US power grid outages have risen by 285% since records on blackouts began in 1984, for the most part driven by the grid’s vulnerability to unusual and extreme weather events – such as the devastating Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that caused extensive power outages across the East Coast – which are becoming less unusual as the years roll on.
“We used to have two to five major weather events per year from the 50s to the 80s,” said University of Minnesota Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Massoud Amin in a 2014 interview with the International Business Times.
“Between 2008 and 2012, major outages caused by weather increased to 70 to 130 outages per year. Weather used to account for about 17% to 21% of all root causes. Now, in the last five years, it’s accounting for 68% to 73% of all major outages.” (4)
How is the Smart Grid so different from the traditional electrical grid?
The established model of providing power to consumers involves the supply of electricity generated from a distant source and transmitted at high voltage to sub-stations local to the consumer, refer to Figure 2. The power plants that generate the electricity are mostly thermo-electric (coal, gas and nuclear power), with some hydro-electric sources (dams and reservoirs) and most recently wind farms and large solar installations.
“The national power grid that keeps America’s lights on is a massive and immensely valuable asset. Built in the decades after the Second World War and valued today at around $876bn, the country’s grid system as a whole connects electricity from thousands of power plants to 150 million customers through more than five million miles of power lines and around 3,300 utility companies.” (4)
Figure 2: Existing Transmission and Distribution Grid Structure within the Power Industry (5)
The (Transmission & Distribution) market supplies equipment, services and production systems for energy markets. The initial stage in the process is converting power from a generation source (coal, nuclear, wind, etc.) into a high voltage electrical format that can be transported using the power grid, either overhead or underground. This “transformation” occurs very close to the source of the power generation.
The second stage occurs when this high-voltage power is “stepped-down” by the use of switching gears and then controlled by using circuit breakers and arresters to protect against surges. This medium voltage electrical power can then be safely distributed to urban or populated areas.
The final stage involves stepping the power down to useable voltage for the commercial or residential customer. In short, while power generation relates to the installed capacity to produce energy from an organic or natural resource, the T&D space involves the follow up “post-power generation production” as systems and grids are put in place to transport this power to end users. (5)
The Smart Grid is an evolution in multiple technologies which in cases is overlaying or emerging from the existing grid. New generating facilities such as wind power or solar installations which may be small or local to a municipal or industrial user are being tied into the existing grid infra-structure. In some cases residential PV Solar systems are being tied into the Grid with some form of agreement to purchase excess energy, in some cases at rates favorable to the installer, depending on the utility and region.
Another characteristic of the evolving Smart Grid is in communication technology and scalability. Use of wifi protocols for communication between parts of the system allow for new processes and access to resources which were previously unavailable. Ability to control systems to defer demand to non-peak hours within a building as one example.
Microgrids, smaller autonomous systems servicing a campus of buildings or larger industry, may plug into a larger City-wide Smart Grid in a modular manner. In the event of a catastrophic event such as a hurricane or earthquake the Smart Grid offers users resiliency through multiple sources of energy supply.
Distributed Generation includes a number of different and smaller scale energy sources into the mix. The newer, small scale Renewable Energy projects which are being tied to the electrical grid as well as other technologies such as Co-Generation, Waste To Energy facilities, Landfill Gas Systems, Geothermal and the like. As growth continues there needs to be ways to control and manage these multiple energy sources into the grid. Also increased needs to maintain privacy, isolate and control systems, and prevent unauthorized access and control. This is leading to growth in Energy Management and Security Systems.
Figure 3: An artist’s rendering of the massive rail used in the ARES power storage project to store renewable energy as gravitational potential energy. Source: ARES North America (6)
Energy Storage is emerging as necessary in the Smart Grid due to fluctuations in source supply of energy, especially Solar and Wind Power, and the intermittent and cyclical nature of user demand. The existing grid does not have the need for energy storage systems as energy sources were traditionally large power stations which generally responded to anticipated need during the course of the day.
As more Renewable Energy systems go online the need for storage will grow. Energy Storage in its various forms will also enable Load Shifting or Peak Shaving strategies for economic gains in user operations. These strategies are already becoming commercially available for buildings to save the facility operators rate charges by limiting demand during peak periods at higher utility rates.
Figure 4: Effect of Peak Shaving using Energy Storage (6)
Peak-load shifting is the process of mitigating the effects of large energy load blocks during a period of time by advancing or delaying their effects until the power supply system can readily accept additional load. The traditional intent behind this process is to minimize generation capacity requirements by regulating load flow. If the loads themselves cannot be regulated, this must be accomplished by implementing energy storage systems (ESSs) to shift the load profile as seen by the generators (see Figure 4).
Depending on the application, peak-load shifting can be referred to as “peak shaving” or “peak smoothing.” The ESS is charged while the electrical supply system is powering minimal load and the cost of electric usage is reduced, such as at night. It is then discharged to provide additional power during periods of increased loading, while costs for using electricity are increased. This technique can be employed to mitigate utility bills. It also effectively shifts the impact of the load on the system, minimizing the generation capacity required. (6)
Challenges with chemical storage systems such as batteries are scale and cost. Currently pumped hydro is the predominant method of storing energy from intermittent sources providing 99% of global energy storage. (7)
Figure 5: Actual Savings accrued due to Demand Response Program (8)
Demand Response (DR) is another technology getting traction in the Smart Grid economy. As previously mentioned Energy Management and Security Systems are “…converging with Energy Storage technology to make DR a hot topic. First, the tools necessary to determine where energy is being stored, where it is needed and when to deliver it is have developed over decades in the telecommunications sector. Secondly, the more recent rush of advanced battery research is making it possible to store energy and provide the flexibility necessary for demand response to really work. Mix that with the growing ability to generate energy on premises through solar, wind and other methods (Distributed Generation) and a potent new distributed structure is created.” (9)
Demand response programs provide financial incentives to reduce energy consumption during peak periods of energy demand. As utilities and independent system operators (ISOs) are pressured to keep costs down and find ways to get as many miles as they can out of every kilowatt, demand response programs have gained popularity. (8)
Figure 6: The Demonstration Project 2’s Virtual Power Plant (10)
Virtual Power Plant: When an increasing share of energy is produced by renewable sources such as solar and wind, electricity production can fluctuate significantly. In the future there will be a need for services which can help balance power systems in excess of what conventional assets will be able to provide. Virtual power plants (VPPs) are one of the most promising new technologies that can deliver the necessary stabilising services. (11)
In the VPP model an energy aggregator gathers a portfolio of smaller generators and operates them as a unified and flexible resource on the energy market or sells their power as system reserve.
VPPs are designed to maximize asset owners’ profits while also balancing the grid. They can match load fluctuations through forecasting, advance metering and computerized control, and can perform real-time optimization of energy resources.
“Virtual power plants essentially represent an ‘Internet of Energy,’ tapping existing grid networks to tailor electricity supply and demand services for a customer,” said Navigant senior analyst Peter Asmus in a market report. The VPP market will grow from less than US $1 billion per year in 2013 to $3.6 billion per year by 2020, according to Navigant’s research — and one reason is that with more variable renewables on the grid flexibility and demand response are becoming more crucial. (12)
Figure 7: Example of a Microgrid System With Loads, Generation, Storage and Coupling to a Utility Grid (13)
Microgrids: Microgrids are localized grids that can disconnect from the traditional grid to operate autonomously and help mitigate grid disturbances to strengthen grid resilience (14). The structure of a microgrid is a smaller version of the smart grid formed in a recursive hierarchy where multiple local microgrids may interconnect to form the larger smart grid which services a region or community.
The convergence of aging existing infrastructure, continued growth in populations and electrical demand and concerns over climate change have lead to the emerging smart grid and it’s array of new technologies. This trend is expected to continue as new growth and replacement will be necessary for an aging electrical grid system, from the larger scope transmission systems and utilities, to smaller scale microgrids. These systems will become integrated and modular, almost plug-and-play, with inter-connectivity and control through wireless internet protocols.
https://cleanpowermarketinggroup.com/category/blog/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/474969107/san-francisco-requires-new-buildings-to-install-solar-panels
https://medium.com/@Scott_Wiener/press-release-board-of-supervisors-unanimously-passes-supervisor-wiener-s-legislation-to-require-693deb9c2369#.3913ug8ph
http://www.power-technology.com/features/featureupgrading-the-us-power-grid-for-the-21st-century-4866973/
http://www.incontext.indiana.edu/2010/july-aug/article3.asp
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/implementing-energy-storage-for-peak-load-shifting/95b3d2a5db6725428142c5a605ac6d89.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/05/26/batteries-or-train-pumped-energy-for-grid-scale-power-storage/#30b5b497de55
http://www.summitenergygps.com/optimize-rebates-incentives-credits.html
https://duanetilden.com/2015/12/26/demand-response-energy-distribution-a-technological-revolution/
https://hub.globalccsinstitute.com/publications/twenties-project-final-report-short-version/demonstration-project-2-large-scale-virtual-power-plant-integration-derint
http://energy.gov/oe/services/technology-development/smart-grid/role-microgrids-helping-advance-nation-s-energy-system
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/print/volume-16/issue-5/solar-energy/virtual-power-plants-a-new-model-for-renewables-integration.html
http://w3.usa.siemens.com/smartgrid/us/en/microgrid/pages/microgrids.aspx
https://duanetilden.com/2015/05/19/the-smart-city/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/03/31/behind-the-meter-energy-storage-solution-manages-peak-demand-charges-for-buildings/
https://duanetilden.com/2015/08/22/solar-energy-and-battery-storage-coupled-provide-demand-response-utility-peak-shaving/
Other Related Articles and Websites:
http://www.gridwiseac.org/pdfs/forum_papers12/considine_paper_gi12.pdf
http://www.dg.history.vt.edu/ch1/introduction.html
http://nist-takingmeasure.blogs.govdelivery.com/a-certified-stamp-for-the-smart-grid/
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Hybrid-Energy-Storage-Systems-Get-Best-of-Both-Worlds
http://www.ibtimes.com/aging-us-power-grid-blacks-out-more-any-other-developed-nation-1631086
http://www.whatissmartgrid.org/smart-grid-101/smart-grid-glossary
Posted in Climate Change, Energy, Grid Technology, Power Plants, Renewable Energy, Smart Cities, Thermodynamics & Power Plants | Tagged Engineering, Green Energy, Power Production, Smart Grid, Sustainability, Utilities | 1 Reply
Solar Energy on Reservoirs, Brownfields and Landfills
One of the downsides to large-scale solar power is finding space suitable for the installation of a large area of PV panels or mirrors for CSP. These are long-term installations, and will have impact on the land and it’s uses. There are potential objections to committing areas of undeveloped or pristine land to solar power.
Solar Energy on Reservoirs:
Floating arrays have been installed on surfaces such as water reservoirs as these “land areas” are already committed to a long-term purpose. Solar power is considered a good synchronistic fit, and most recently work was completed in England seeing “23,000 solar panels on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir at Walton-on-Thames”. (1)
Water utilities are the first to see the benefit of solar panel installations as the power generated is generally consumed by the utilities operations for water treatment and pumping. This of course offsets demand requirements from the electrical utility and reduces operating costs with a ROI from the installation. Possible government or other industry incentives and subsidies may enhance benefits. Last year a 12,000 panel system was installed on a reservoir near Manchester (UK) and was the second of it’s kind in Britain, dwarfing the original installation of 800 panels. (2) (3)
Image #1: World’s largest floating array of PV Solar Panels in Japan (4)
Currently Japan has the most aggressive expansion plans for reservoir installations, with the most recent being the world’s largest of it’s kind. Recent changes in energy policies and the ongoing problems associated with Nuclear Power has propelled Japan into aggressively seeking alternative forms of energy.
“The 13.7-megawatt power station, being built for Chiba Prefecture’s Public Enterprise Agency, is located on the Yamakura Dam reservoir, 75 kilometers east of the capital. It will consist of some 51,000 Kyocera solar modules covering an area of 180,000 square meters, and will generate an estimated 16,170 megawatt-hours annually. That is “enough electricity to power approximately 4,970 typical households,” says Kyocera. That capacity is sufficient to offset 8,170 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the amount put into the atmosphere by consuming 19,000 barrels of oil.”
“[…]“Due to the rapid implementation of solar power in Japan, securing tracts of land suitable for utility-scale solar power plants is becoming difficult,” Toshihide Koyano, executive officer and general manager of Kyocera’s solar energy group told IEEE Spectrum. “On the other hand, because there are many reservoirs for agricultural use and flood-control, we believe there’s great potential for floating solar-power generation business.”
He added that Kyocera is currently working on developing at least 10 more projects and is also considering installing floating installations overseas.” (4)
Solar Energy on Brownfields:
A Brownfield is defined generally by the EPA (5)
A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties increases local tax bases, facilitates job growth, utilizes existing infrastructure, takes development pressures off of undeveloped, open land, and both improves and protects the environment.
Image #2: 6-MW solar PV array on the site of the former Palmer Metropolitan Airfield (6)
Traditionally most solar projects have been built on “Greenfields”, however, on further analysis it makes far more sense to install solar on “Brownfields”.
The U.S. is home to more than 450,000 brownfields – unused property that poses potential environmental hazards. Eyesores as well as potential health and safety threats, brownfield sites reduce urban property values. Rehabilitating them pays off, and in more ways than one, according to a July, 2014 National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper entitled, ¨The Value of Brownfield Remediation.¨ […]
NBER researchers determined that remediation increased the value of individual brownfield sites $3,917,192, with a median value of $2,117,982. That compares to an estimated per-site cost of $602,000. In percentage terms across the study’s nationally representative sample, EPA-supported clean-ups resulted in property price increases of between 4.9% and 32.2%. (6)
In another example where a Brownfield remediation effort has payed off utilizing a Solar Power upgrade is at the Philadelphia Navy Yard according to a June 2011 report by Dave Levitan (7) where it says:
“The Navy Yard solar array is just one of a growing number of projects across the U.S. that fall into the small category of energy ideas that appear to have little to no downside: turning brownfields — or sites contaminated
Every solar project that rises from an industrial wasteland is one that won’t be built on pristine land.
or disturbed by previous industrial activity — into green energy facilities. Among the successfully completed brown-to-green projects are a wind farm at the former Bethlehem Steel Mill in Lackawanna, New York; a concentrating solar photovoltaic array on the tailings pile of a former molybdenum mine in Questa, New Mexico; solar panels powering the cleanup systems at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Superfund site in northern California; and the U.S. Army’s largest solar array atop a former landfill in Fort Carson, Colorado.”
Solar Energy on Landfills:
Building solar power projects on top of closed off landfills appears to be a good idea, however, there are additional considerations and requirements which must be met which would exceed those of a normal type of undisturbed geology.
“Construction and ongoing operation of the plant must never break, erode or otherwise impair the functioning integrity of the landfill final closure system (including any methane gas management system) already in place.” (8) […]
Image #3: Prescriptive Landfill Capping System
In general, the features of a conventional “Subtitle D” final protection barrier cover system on USA waste sites are shown in the illustration above and include the following layers added on top of a waste pile:
First, a foundation Layer – usually soil—covers the trash to fill and grade the area and protect the liner.
Then typically a geomembrane liner or a compacted clay layer .is spread over the site to entomb the waste mass in a water impermeable enclosure.
A drainage layer (i.e. highly transmissive sands or gravels or a manufactured “Geonet”) is next added– especially in areas with heavy rainfall and steeper slopes. This is to prevent the sodden top layers of dirt from slipping off the impermeable barrier (a.k.a. a landslide).
Next, typically 18 inches of soil is added as a “protection layer.”
Finally, an “erosion layer” of soil – typically 6 inches of dirt of sufficient quality to support plant growth (grasses, etc., etc.) which the waste industry calls a “vegetative layer.”
Image #4: Established Solar Energy Projects on Closed Landfills (9)
As of 2013 we can see that there already have been a number of solar installations and that this number is still growing through to the present as more municipalities seek ways to convert their closed landfills into a renewable resource and asset.
Summary of Solar Energy Project Types by Site
A greenfield site is defined as an area of agricultural or forest land, or some other undeveloped site earmarked for commercial development or industrial projects. This is compared to a brownfield site which is generally unsuitable for commercial development or industrial projects due to the presence of some hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.
While a water reservoir is not a contaminated site, it is generally rendered useless for most purposes, however provides an ideal site for locating solar panels as they provide relatively large areas of unobstructed sun. Also reservoirs provide water cooling which enhances energy efficiency and PV performance. Uncovered reservoirs can be partially covered by floating arrays of PV panels, of modest to large sizes in the 16 MW range. Installations can be found throughout the world, including England and most recently Japan where interest in alternative energy sources is growing rapidly.
A brownfield site is considered ideal for the location of a solar plant as a cost-effective method of an otherwise useless body of land, such as a decommissioned mine, quarry, or contaminated site. A landfill is one form of brownfield site which could be suitable for the installation of solar power where provision has been made to protect the cap on the landfill. Municipalities have been showing growing interest in landfill solar as a means to offset operational costs.
PV – Photo Voltaic
CSP – Concentrated Solar Power
ROI – Return On Investment
UK – United Kingdom
NBER – National Bureau of Economic Research
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/29/worlds-biggest-floating-solar-farm-power-up-outside-london
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11954334/United-Utilities-floats-3.5m-of-solar-panels-on-reservoir.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/solarpower/11110547/Britains-first-floating-solar-panel-project-installed.html
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/japan-building-worlds-largest-floating-solar-power-plant
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfield-overview-and-definition
http://microgridmedia.com/massachusetts-pv-project-highlights-benefits-of-solar-brownfields/
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/brown_to_green_a_new_use_for_blighted_industrial_sites/2419/
http://solarflexrack.com/a-simple-guide-to-building-photovoltaic-projects-on-landfills-and-other-waste-heaps/
http://www.crra.org/pages/Press_releases/2013/6-3-2013_CRRA_solar_cells_on_Hartford_landfill.htm
Posted in Brownfield Sites & Urban Renewal, Energy, Landfills, Renewable Energy, Sustainability, Water | Tagged Engineering, Green Energy, Power Production, Reservoirs, Solar Power, Utilities | 3 Replies
Increasing Heat Island Effect’s Influence on Urban Temperature Records Introduces Bias in Climate Studies
When it comes to human-caused climate change, urban warming is a big player.
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.cato.org
>”Perhaps no other climatic variable receives more attention in the debate over CO2-induced global warming than temperature. Its forecast change over time in response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations is the typical measure by which climate models are compared. It is also the standard by which the climate model projections tend to be judged; right or wrong, the correctness of global warming theory is most often adjudicated by comparing model projections of temperature against real-world measurements. And in such comparisons, it is critical to have a proper baseline of good data; but that is easier acknowledged than accomplished, as multiple problems and potential inaccuracies have been identified in even the best of temperature data sets.
One particular issue in this regard is the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon by which urban structures artificially warm background air temperatures above what they normally would be in a non-urbanized environment. The urban influence on a given station’s temperature record can be quite profound. In large cities, for example, urban-induced heating can be as great as Tokyo’s 10°C, making it all the more difficult to detect and discern a CO2-induced global warming signal in the temperature record, especially since the putative warming of non-urbanized areas of the planet over the past century is believed to be less than 1°C. Yet, because nearly all long-term temperature records have been obtained from sensors initially located in towns and cities that have experienced significant growth over the past century, it is extremely important that urbanization-induced warming – which can be a full order of magnitude greater than the background trend being sought – be removed from the original temperature records when attempting to accurately assess the true warming (or cooling!) of the natural non-urban environment. A new study by Founda et al. (2015) suggests this may not be so simple or straightforward a task.
Working with temperature records in and around the metropolitan area of Athens, Greece, Founda et al. set out to examine the interdecadal variability of the urban heat island (UHI) effect, since “few studies focus on the temporal variability of UHI intensity over long periods.” Yet, as they note, “knowledge of the temporal variability and trends of UHI intensity is very important in climate change studies, since [the] urban effect has an additive effect on long term air temperature trends.”
Such findings as these are of significant relevance in climate change studies, for they clearly indicate the UHI influence on a temperature record is not static. It changes over time and is likely inducing an ever-increasing warming bias on the temperature record, a bias that will only increase as the world’s population continues to urbanize in the years and decades ahead. Consequently, unless researchers routinely identify and remove this growing UHI influence from the various temperature data bases used in global change studies, there will likely be a progressive overestimation of the influence of the radiative effects of rising CO2 on the temperature record. “<
Posted in Climate Change, Sustainability | Tagged Architecture, Engineering, Global Warming, Green Building, Green Roofing, Heat Island Effect | 3 Replies
Transparent Solar Cells Could Turn Office Tower Windows and Mobile Devices Into Power Sources
“It’s a whole new way of thinking about solar energy,” says startup CEO about using transparent solar cells on buildings and electronics.
Sourced through Scoop.it from: news.nationalgeographic.com
>” […] With the help of organic chemistry, transparent solar pioneers have set out to tackle one of solar energy’s greatest frustrations. Although the sun has by far the largest potential of any energy resource available to civilization, our ability to harness that power is limited. Photovoltaic panels mounted on rooftops are at best 20 percent efficient at turning sunlight to electricity.
Research has boosted solar panel efficiency over time. But some scientists argue that to truly take advantage of the sun’s power, we also need to expand the amount of real estate that can be outfitted with solar, by making cells that are nearly or entirely see-through.
“It’s a whole new way of thinking about solar energy, because now you have a lot of potential surface area,” says Miles Barr, chief executive and co-founder of Silicon Valley startup Ubiquitous Energy, a company spun off by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michigan State University. “You can let your imagination run wild. We see this eventually going virtually everywhere.”
Invisible Spectrum Power
Transparent solar is based on a fact about light that is taught in elementary school: The sun transmits energy in the form of invisible ultraviolet and infrared light, as well as visible light. A solar cell that is engineered only to capture light from the invisible ends of the spectrum will allow all other light to pass through; in other words, it will appear transparent.
Organic chemistry is the secret to creating such material. Using just the simple building blocks of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and a few other elements found in all life on Earth, scientists since at least the early 1990s have been working on designing arrays of molecules that are able to transport electrons—in other words, to transmit electric current. […]
Harvesting only the sun’s invisible rays, however, means sacrificing efficiency. That’s why Kopidakis says his team mainly focuses on creating opaque organic solar cells that also capture visible light, though they have worked on transparent solar with a small private company in Maryland called Solar Window Technologies that hopes to market the idea for buildings.
Ubiquitous Energy’s team believes it has hit on an optimal formulation that builds on U.S. government-supported research published by the MIT scientists in 2011.
“There is generally a direct tradeoff between transparency and efficiency levels,” says Barr. “With the approach we’re taking, you can still get a significant amount of energy at high transparency levels.”
Barr says that Ubiquitous is on track to achieve efficiency of more than 10 percent—less than silicon, but able to be installed more widely. “There are millions and millions of square meters of glass surfaces around us,” says Barr. […]”<
Posted in Building Science & Construction, Renewable Energy, Renovations and Retrofits | Tagged Energy, Engineering, Innovation, Photovoltaics, Solar Power, Sustainability | 3 Replies
California Resort Hotel First to Upgrade to Energy Storage + EV Charging
Shore Hotel in Santa Monica, California, is a luxury establishment with an energy storage system and fast DC electric vehicle (EV) charging — reportedly, the first one in the US to have this setup. It is expected that the lithium-ion energy storage system will help it reduce electricity demand charges by 50%. Over time, that savings
Source: cleantechnica.com
>” […] So what is the connection between energy storage and EV charging? When an EV is plugged into a charger, electricity demand increases, so the hotel could be on the hook for a high rate for the electricity, depending on the time of day. Demand charges are based on the highest rate for 15 minutes in a billing cycle. So, obviously, a business would want to avoid spikes in electricity usage so it would not have to pay that rate.
That’s where the energy storage comes in. When there is a spike, electricity can be used from the energy storage system, instead of from a utility’s electricity. Avoiding demand charges in this way, as noted above, can thus help businesses save money. […]”<
Posted in Electric Vehicles, Renovations and Retrofits | Tagged Charging Stations, Demand Response, Economics, Energy Storage, Engineering, Green Building, Green Energy, Micro Grid, Smart Grid, Transportation | 1 Reply
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The Myle Hy Club
The Myle Hy Club are a four piece band from Dublin, named after its lead singer and bass player Myles Hyland. After playing as the bass player with 'The Robbie Walsh Blues Band', Myles was encouraged to set up the Myle Hy Club after Robbie's retirement. Over the years the band has enjoyed the company of Don Baker (Harmonica), Richie Buckley and Carl Gerathy (sax) and basically a who's who of drummers, guitar players and pianists in Dublin. The current line up of the band sees Anto Morelli on Guitar, Kevin Malone on Drums and Mark Penny on Piano and Organ.
Doors Open at 9:00 pm. Admission €10.
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Writing Their Own Stories, Enriching the American Narrative
Apr 3, 2017 by Brooke Haycock
“When I was growing up, the only artists I knew about were White guys from Europe,” said Nakia, a promising, young playwright speaking to the crowd of adults gathered at the Young Playwrights’ Theater annual gala in Washington, D.C. But that, she shared, was before YPT came to her sophomore English class. She described her path through early high school up to that moment as “coasting through” and disengaged. “For a long time, I didn’t have a dream,” she shared, and had no clear vision about what — or who — she wanted to be. But all of that changed when she became involved with YPT and encountered playwrights and storytellers who looked like her, and through her writing, she began to see herself as a powerful storyteller herself.
“I found what I want to be. And what I want to be — is an artist.”
Jorge reluctantly attended his first YPT workshop four years ago, coaxed along by his cousin. Now, he commanded the crowd with an infectious gregariousness as he described his former self, a shy young man who avoided after-school activities out of fear of being judged. But his involvement with YPT allowed him and his unique voice to blossom. “The staff and instructors made me feel like my words mattered.”
Today, he coaches younger students on their writing and expression, urging them not to be afraid to write the untold stories inside them.
YPT Executive Director Brigitte Winter spoke passionately to the power of the experiences YPT creates for D.C. youth: “They come to see themselves as the heroes of their own stories — and the endings are theirs to write.” Nakia’s and Jorge’s were just two of those stories, in one city and one program. But behind those stories are thousands of stories of young people across the country whose voices are unlocked and set free each year through programs like YPT and other powerful arts offerings in schools.
And at a time of real threat to our civic vibrancy and imagination, when school and arts funding exist in the jagged crosshairs of draconian budget cuts, their voices sound powerful testimony to the real value of — and need for — continued investment in the arts in our schools for our young people.
That’s the message Ed Trust President John B. King Jr. had for the room full of adults gathered in support of Nakia, Jorge, and other young storytellers. King challenged them to fight: to fight for the arts for our young people, for opportunities to grow and sound their voices and stories powerfully; to fight for rich opportunities for young people to experience a world beyond their neighborhoods and to tell the stories of where they come from and where they are going; to fight for rich public education and robust, well-rounded learning, including the arts.
As I listened from the back of the room, looking out over the sea of supporters as diverse as D.C. itself — eyes settling on those two young people at the podium — I thought of the words of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from her TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”:
The value of robust arts education and programs like YPT in contributing to skill-building in literacy, writing, critical thinking, and creativity has long been evidenced in research. But as was clear in the words of those two students, their involvement in the arts also gave them something beyond simple skills; it gave them power over their own stories and a vehicle for powerfully voicing those stories.
We must fight to create space within (and outside of) our classrooms and schools for young people to tell their own stories and the stories of their families and communities — to write and give voice to the stories too often swept up from the print floors of textbook publishing companies and discarded.
As King challenged the room of young storytellers and adult allies: Write — and fight — on.
Photo Credit: Jeff Gilliland
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So I’ve been working from home this past week and it looks like I’ll be there for a while longer. I don’t mind—I’ve worked from home before and I know how to pace myself and structure my day. I’m not going to lie and say that it’s been an easy transition—changes in routine have always posed a challenge to me. In fact, any kind of change can throw me into a tizzy—take, for example, Daylight Savings Time:
Ken: So I went around the house and changed all the clocks…
Me: What do you mean, ALL the clocks?!
Ken: I set all the clocks to the right time. It took me ages to fix the ones in the downstairs bathroom. There’s like fifteen of them.
Me: YOU CHANGED ALL THE TIMES ON MY VINTAGE CLOCK COLLECTION?
Ken: Hahaha. Just kidding.
Me: If only that was even remotely funny, KEN.
Because the whole point of the collection is that each clock presents the time when it finally stopped for good—it’s PERFORMANCE ART, KEN. And then the other day, Ken decided that he wanted to fix the ceiling in one of our guest bedrooms because there had been a leak a couple of years ago that caused a seam to bulge. I insisted that he cover everything with drop sheets because of the plaster and whatnot, assuming that he would leave everything just the way it was underneath. BUT NO. It turned out that he took everything off every surface and put things randomly in drawers, and when it came time to put it all back, I just about lost my mind until I remembered that I had photographs of the room and could recreate it exactly as it was.
As you may remember, I’ve written extensively, maybe even obsessively, about the bathroom stalls at work and which one is my current favourite at any given time. So, in honour of working from home, and being able to keep things as normal as possible, I present to you the bathrooms in my house in order of least to most favourite. (You’ll notice that they all have toilet paper. I was at the grocery store yesterday, and there was a skid of bulk TP that came 30 rolls to the pack. The limit per customer was 2, and there were actually people carrying 60 f*cking rolls of toilet paper home. How much do you sh*t, anyway? I stood there for a moment, contemplating the skid, but didn’t buy any because I currently have lots, and I really hope I’m not going to be pissed off at myself in a month. Anyway).
This bathroom is nice, but it’s narrow and far away from my current office space. Also, like Stall 1 at work, a ghost lives in it. This is the same ghost that opens the cupboard doors in the adjacent bedrooms. Also, you can see there’s a small sliding door in the wall—there was a vent pipe inside that led into the closet in the bedroom directly behind the bathroom. Last year, we were cleaning out the bedroom closet and realized the pipe just went directly from the bathroom into the closet floor and stopped there, so we pulled it out and discovered the most bizarre collection of things under the floor of the closet that someone in the past had thrown down the pipe in the bathroom, obviously not realizing that it wasn’t a MAGICAL pipe. There was a pair of boy’s underwear, a love letter written to the son of the previous occupant (“Hi Jordan, If you lik me, rite back” with a heart drawn in crayon. I guess he didn’t “lik” her since he threw the letter into the magic pipe) and a couple of condom wrappers, so maybe he changed his mind at some point? The weirdest thing was about 9 pairs of old panty hose, and I can’t even begin to explain THAT, having not owned a pair of panty hose for over twenty years, long before we bought this house.
This bathroom is very utilitarian, housing the laundry facilities as well. However, the knee-to cabinet ratio is a little tight for me. This is “Ken’s bathroom”. It has a nice shower, but I’m a bath girl. The last time I used the shower was the day I ran a gas-powered pressure sprayer over my foot. Ken carried me screaming into the shower to get the dirt out of my flayed toes because it was the closest bathroom to the incident. So it’s very handy in a medical emergency.
This is the bathroom where I keep the infamous vintage clock collection. I wrote a while ago about clocks, so you’ll remember that I have a lot of old clocks that don’t work scattered around the house, but this bathroom is where space and time converge. Also, I made that toilet paper holder out of an old piano stool base and a curtain rod, and at the time, people thought it was very ostentatious, but given the fact that toilet paper is currently as rare as rhodium, I think it’s a fitting tribute. I like this bathroom well enough, and it’s close to the back family room where we watch movies. You can dash to the toilet and still hear the dialogue if you keep the door slightly open. Much better acoustics than a movie theatre bathroom and much cleaner.
This is MY bathroom, and it’s the best one in the house as far as I’m concerned. It’s like Stall 5 at work, if Stall 5 was never used by anyone but me. It’s technically an ensuite for the master bedroom but it belongs to ME. It also has a balcony that you can sit out on in the summer, which is random for a bathroom, but this whole house has been reconfigured several times over the last 114 years, and apparently the bathroom used to be a kitchen when the upstairs of the house was 2 apartments. Ken and I just renovated it a couple of months ago. Originally, the walls were covered with giant damask roses, which I loved but which Ken CONSTANTLY complained about, so I finally gave in when we found all those doors for free at the side of the road and he proposed that we create a wall of doors. My favourite thing is the stained glass window panel we just installed, and which I promised to take a picture of, because last week when I introduced you all to Captain John Crapper, my friend Bryntin from O4FS wondered why the toilet was in the corner, and a couple of people asked to see the whole room. So here you are. In my favourite bathroom. A constant in a sea of change.
Also, if you’re wondering why on earth we have FOUR bathrooms for two people, let me just say that our house is in a very small town far from the city, and when we bought it over 15 years ago (when Kate was still at home), the price was incredibly low compared to what we could have gotten for the same money in town. Once we both retire, we’re hoping to turn it into a bed and breakfast, or a writing/photography retreat. As long as nobody moves my stuff or changes my clocks, it’ll be great.
March 22, 2020 mydangblog Bathrooms, funny, Humour, OCD, Renovations, Work 78 Comments
My Week 179: Keynotes, Plants Vs. Babies, and Dog Olympics
This past week, I went to an educational conference. Overall, it was pretty good, but there were a couple of things that stood out. First, the opening keynote speaker was a Canadian actress who is fairly well-known here as a TV personality. But she’d just written a book, so the conference organizers must have thought that she would have the appropriate gravitas for such an occasion. Apparently, no one vetted her speech ahead of time, and frankly, it was bizarre. I’ve never actually been to a conference of any kind where the keynote said “F*ck”, “pussy”, or “blowjob”, let alone had to sit through a 5 minute rant about Donald Trump, the relevance of which, at a conference for Canadian professionals at 8:30 in the morning seemed a tad out of place. But she DID come up with some creative new nicknames for the American president, aside from the “Pussy Grabber in Chief”, including “Cheeto Benito” and “Orangini Mussolini”. Then things got REALLY uncomfortable when she started referencing the “goddamned patriarchy”, the #MeToo movement, and how badly men oppress women, like the younger man she was dating who broke up with her because she was losing her eyesight. It was pretty intense—half the audience was guys, and I’m sure most of them were looking around like “I didn’t sign up for this, but if I walk out now, someone might lob a stiletto at me”. It really was the strangest experience, and had virtually nothing to do with the topic of the conference. Luckily, the luncheon keynote on the last day was Indigenous activist/broadcaster/author, Candy Palmater, who was incredibly inspiring, and didn’t reference either Trump OR blowjobs.
Second, there were a LOT of people at the conference, and while that might seem self-evident, the trouble was that many of them had no idea of either personal space or how to navigate any space at all. People would stop suddenly in the middle of hallways, stand in huddled groups in the centre of doorways, and walk like snowplows on the highway. If you know me at all, you are aware that I am just a titch OCD. And when I say “just a titch”, I’m understating it just a titch. And while I’m not sure what a “titch” actually is, it must be a real word because Spellcheck is not underlining it in that passive/aggressive way that Spellcheck has. Anyway, I don’t like being touched by strangers in the same way that other people don’t like being punched in the face, so in the line-up for lunch, I thought I was going to lose my sh*t, thanks to the number of people who bumped into me because space was so tight.
Third, while waiting for a session to start, I was stuck behind a woman who was the most melodramatic person I’ve ever eavesdropped on. She was freaking out about several things, including her new house (“It’s SOOO unfair that we have to put all our money into the house when we could be spending it on other things”), her hair (“I just don’t know what to DOOO! Should I let it grow or cut it short?!”), and finally, this gem:
Dramatic Lady: Babies are TERRIFYING!!
Sympathetic Companion: *makes soothing noises*
Dramatic Lady: I mean, I’m TERRIFIED of having a baby! It’s not a plant or a dog—it’s a CHILD! You give birth to it, and then you’re expected to TAKE CARE of it!! And NOBODY tells you how to DO THAT!!
I actually snickered out loud, but she was so caught up in her own hysteria that she didn’t hear me. But I was like, Seriously? Thank GOD babies aren’t plants, because I’ve killed so many plants over the years it’s not even funny. I even killed a cactus once (I overwatered it). But I did pretty OK with the baby I had. And if you can take care of a dog, you can take care of a baby—it’s not much different. Well, the underlying philosophy of love, nutrition, and hygiene is comparable. Also, we teach dogs to do tricks, and we do the same thing with our kids. Like teaching your dog how to give a high five isn’t technically much different from saying, “Oh look, Grandma—we taught the baby how to clap!” But the icing on the self-absorption cake was really when she finished with, “I just THANK GOD that my husband was in foster care for so many years. He’s diapered so many babies that he’s not worried about it AT ALL!” And then she got up, and I realized that she was pregnant. I wish I’d gotten her name so that I could send her a plant to practice on.
Luckily, I’m better with babies.
Titus (leaping onto the bed): Watcha watching?
Me: The Olympics.
Titus: Oh yeah, we have those too.
Me: You mean, like agility trials or something?
Titus: Ha! No—agility trials are like the Commonwealth Games of the canine world. No, I mean Dog Olympics.
Me: What are some of the events?
Titus: Well, there’s the Barking—
Me: Dogs bark all the time. How is THAT an Olympic event?
Titus: People WALK all the time, but you still have medals for it. Besides, there’s a real technique to barking. You’re judged on volume, pitch, and sustained howling. There was a huge scandal last year when the Borzois were caught doping with Vick’s VapoDrops.
Me: Wow. OK, what are some other events?
Titus: Well, there’s Staying Upright on Ice, Find the Toy, The Butt-Sniffing Challenge, and my favourite, Moguls.
Me: Dogs can ski?!
Titus: Well, technically it’s just dogs falling down hills. But it’s fun to watch.
Me: Are there any team events?
Titus: There’s the Steeplechase. I wouldn’t want to be THAT cat. Oh, and there’s Curling, but the rocks are made out of Milkbones so the games don’t last long.
Me: That’s an improvement. High five! Ow—you hit me in the face.
Titus: Sorry. You should have taught me to clap.
Getting psyched for Barking.
February 25, 2018 mydangblog Books, Dogs, Humour, OCD, Publishing, Titus, Writing 27 Comments
My Week 154: Driverless Cars, The “Good” Tea Towel
Last week, I was crossing the street at Yonge and College, trying simultaneously to avoid the taxi that wanted to run over my toes and the screaming man in the pink mini-kilt with the pigtails, when I heard a loud voice behind me say, “You know, I feel really sorry for kids these days.”
“Why’s that?” his companion replied.
I looked behind me. They were two guys in their mid-30s, wearing business suits. I braced myself for the usual bullsh*t about how today’s youth have a) no work ethic b) no social skills c) are entitled b) don’t respect their elders and so on, and got ready to roll my eyes hard enough to make that taxi back off. But I had totally misjudged the savvy pundit, who continued with “It’s a shame that, with the invention of driverless cars, most young kids today will never know the real pleasure of driving.” He continued on, reminiscing about his first car and the thrill of getting his licence until we had parted ways, me into the Tim Horton’s across the corner, he into parts unknown (but probably a very tall office tower).
I thought about it for a minute, and I was like, “Yeah, he’s so right.” Kids who are born today will never know the joy of being the ‘captain of their own ships’, in the same way that they will never know a world without the internet, or without the threat of global environmental disaster hanging over their heads in the same way that nuclear disaster hung over mine (although thanks to the assholes who are currently in charge of both the US and North Korea, kids today have to worry about THAT too. Well done.) But then I thought about it some more and started to wonder if driverless cars weren’t such a bad thing after all, and that kids really wouldn’t be missing that much. I mean, face facts—driving is a pretty dangerous business. Hurtling along at over 100 kilometres an hour (60 miles an hour for my US readers) inside a thin metal box within a few feet of other people in the same situation, it’s sometimes unbelievable that any of us survive it at all. Airplanes, which are basically flying cars, aren’t allowed to be within 3 miles of each other horizontally, and 1000 feet vertically, but I’ve got some d-bag riding my bumper on the 401 despite the signs telling you to keep at least 2 chevrons between you and the next car. When you actually think about it, driving is scary AF, and the fact that we actively encourage our children to learn how to do it and get their licences is pretty bad parenting, like “Hey Jimmy, it’s that wonderful time for you to learn how to battle the forces of humanity, nature, and fate. Hope you remember how to parallel park!”
Personally, I can’t believe the driverless car wasn’t invented sooner. I mean, cars are a necessity in Canada, where there’s a LOT of land and you have to travel pretty far to find people and jobs, and such, but where there just aren’t enough roads, so we spend A LOT of time trying to calculate the fastest route to go anywhere, and watching Google maps closely for that red line that tells you that you’re not going anywhere anytime soon. I’ve written plenty about the ludicrous nature of driving back and forth to Toronto, and I could totally appreciate being able to read or surf the internet while I was stuck on the four lane parking lot known as the 401,or more affectionately, the “stupid f*cking 401”. But what I really want to know is this: will driverless cars obey the rules of the road, or will you be able to override them so that you can drive as stupidly as you do when you’re actually behind the wheel yourself? Because there’s always going to be that one guy who drives on the shoulder to pass, or cuts you off, or tailgates you, and if he can still do it while he’s watching a Youtube video, then what’s the point?
The only real requirement I have for a driverless car, aside from obeying the rules of the road, is something I like to call “Roadkill Alert”. The car should be able to sense whether there’s an animal about to cross the road in front of you and stop you, or shoot out a firecracker or something as warning. Last year, K left the house about 10 pm to drive back to her university residence. Less than five minutes later, she called the house. I answered the phone to hear her say, “I just got hit by a deer.” Her voice was shaking. Ken had just taken Titus out for a walk, so I stood on the porch and screamed at the top of my lungs, “Ken! Come home! K’s had an accident!” From a few blocks over, I heard him yell, “I’m coming!” and he was back at the house in under 30 seconds. K was only a couple of kilometres away, but it felt like forever until we got there. When we arrived, there were two pickups trucks who had stopped to help, and the police were already there. I grabbed K and hugged her—thank god she wasn’t hurt—but there was a deer shaped dent in her buckled hood, and the deer itself was lying at the side of the road. It was a buck with huge horns, and all I could think was 6 inches higher and it would have gone through the windshield. I won’t go into details, but the police took care of the situation, and the local guys offered to take it away. The car was a write-off, but whatever—it’s only a thing.
Bottom line, the deer came hurtling out of the dark and K couldn’t avoid it. So yeah—make sure those driverless cars have long-range sensors on them. And I don’t want to hear any of that sh*t about “When I was a kid, we drove into deer all the time and LIKED it. These kids today are just sheltered wussies.” Personally, I’m waiting for someone to finally invent the Star Trek transporter. Then we can say, “These poor kids today will never know the real pleasure of travelling at warp speed…”
The Good Tea Towel
I have a problem. It’s not a big problem, but it’s a problem nonetheless for someone like me who’s just a little OCD. Here’s the back story: Because the new owner of my previous condo was a total dick and illegally evicted me, I had to find a new place to live. Toronto is hideously expensive, and the only place I could find close to work in the timeframe I had was a 2 bedroom place. The rent on this 800 square foot box in the sky is $2400 a month, so the only way I could afford it was to get a roommate. I did, and she was lovely, but there was one problem. She kept using the good tea towel, you know, the one that’s for show. It was white and black, in a ‘Paris’ motif, and it hung from a hook in a spot that was obviously chosen for its display properties. There was another tea towel, a plainer one, that was close to the stove and sink, and simply screamed out, “Use ME!” Yet my roommate kept using the good tea towel, until it was no longer ‘good’. I would come back after a weekend at home to find it hanging all crumply and stained. I would wash it and then replace it, and put the other tea towel in a more convenient spot, but my roommate had a penchant for using the good tea towel and I didn’t know what to do. Why didn’t you just tell her, you ask? Because that would be the most ridiculous conversation in the world, like “Can you not use this tea towel? It’s for show.” How do you say that without coming off like some weird kitchen textiles fanatic? And while this may seem like a first-world problem, imagine if I had two goats. The first goat was really stylish and it was the one that I kept to impress people about my taste in goats, and thereby advertise my savvy in the goat business. The other, less attractive goat was the one I used for milk and whatnot. Imagine now, if someone slaughtered my display goat. Am I now supposed to use the milk and meat goat to make my kitchen look pretty?
And why is this a problem NOW, you ask? Because my previous roommate has gone back to school, and I have a new roommate, who also seems very nice. But I just bought new display tea towels, and I still don’t know how to have that conversation with a stranger. At home, it’s no issue:
Me: See that new tea towel I just bought? It’s for show. Don’t use it.
Ken: OK.
Titus: If it doesn’t involve food, I’m pretty laissez-faire. You know me…
After 27 years of marriage, Ken understands that a) I’m weird and that b) the tea towels we actually use can just be put in the cupboard or drawer or whatever, and he can complain all he wants about the possibility of it getting “moldy”, but we both know that won’t happen, Ken. Yet I don’t know this new girl very well, and the last thing I want is for her to tell her friends, “I can use anything in the kitchen that I want, except for this one particular tea towel. Also there are five cutting boards—one for vegetables, one for meat, one for cheese…you know what? F*ck this—I’m moving out.”
Sigh. Kids today will never know the pleasure of a fancy, just for show, tea towel.
September 3, 2017 mydangblog Cars, Dogs, Driving, Humour, OCD, Technology, Titus 17 Comments
My Weeks 150/151: Travelling Dangerously on the Queen Mary 2 and Throughout the U.K.
Well, I WAS on a boat. Then in a car, then on a plane, and now I’m back. I hope you didn’t miss me too much—it’s the first time in years that I haven’t made my weekly journey into the absurd. Even when I had surgery last year, I wrote something ahead of time, and had Ken post it for me. This past week though, anyone who could have figured out my computer and hit “upload” was actually with me. Plus, I didn’t have anything new to tell you until I got back. Which is now. So fasten your seatbelts and secure the overhead bins—things are going to get slightly humorous.
So, as you know, I like to live life on the edge. And while maybe it’s usually the edge of sanity, or reason, the fact is that I’m pretty much a daredevil when it comes to travel, which I will get to in a minute. As you may or may not know, I’ve been away the last two weeks, having taken the Queen Mary 2 over to the United Kingdom with my whole family, parents, siblings, and children included. Then we all split up and went our separate ways, with me, Ken, and K going first to Wales and then to Scotland. It was an excellent trip—let me break it down for you. First, the boat (which my dad keeps telling me is a “ship” not a “boat”, so if you’re extremely old and extremely rich, the Queen Mary is definitely the “ship” for you. Unfortunately, I am NEITHER, so it was an interesting experience to be on that particular BOAT, DAD, haha.)
Things I liked about the Queen Mary 2:
a) Like most cruise ships, it was decorated like an upscale brothel, which made me feel very risqué.
b) The beds were comfortable and you could stay in them all day if you wanted to.
c) You could get breakfast brought to your cabin instead of having to get dressed, and it didn’t cost anything extra.
d) The food was OK. There was always bacon, and I mean real bacon, not those weird-ass slabs of pan-fried ham that the Brits think is bacon. Silly Brits.
e) There were two guys who played the piano and told jokes, and they were so funny that I saw them twice.
Things I didn’t like about the Queen Mary 2:
a) You could stay in your bed all day because there was literally nothing much else to do that was interesting or didn’t cost you a lot of extra money. The lectures were either on war, politics, or Broadway musicals, and the other “seminars” were sponsored by the Spa, as in ‘Come to our session on Botox and hear an expert talk about why it’s so great and then you can get a discount on a costly Botox treatment’, or by the Art Gallery, as in ‘Come to our session on this unknown artist and then you can buy his extremely expensive painting of emoji-faced lollipops for a significant discount’. The other activities all had costs associated with them, like the red wine tasting entitled, “Syrah, Shiraz? What’s the difference? Find out for a nominal fee of $120”. 120 bucks for a flight of 6 small glasses of wine? For that price, I can wait until I get home, buy 10 full bottles and find out for myself, so Que Syrah Shiraz to you. There were also art classes for a fee, and a variety of other things you could do that all cost extra. Why is that a problem? Because whenever there was any activity for free, it was a MOB SCENE. For example, there was a free rum tasting at the duty-free liquor shop one day, and people were rioting like it was the only Red Cross water truck in the middle of the desert. And yes, obviously I was there because it was FREE RUM. Just as I was about to get my tiny plastic cup, a guy beside me whined that he’d been waiting for twenty minutes and still hadn’t gotten any. I was like, “Here’s the line-up, mate. Try standing in it.” Because I’m CANADIAN, and we are extremely OCD about line-up protocols, which a lot of other countries aren’t and it makes me crazy. I firmly believe that the inherent understanding of how to line up in an orderly fashion is what makes a culture civilized, and the Fall of the Roman Empire can be directly traced back to their inability to queue properly.
b) The ship’s House Band was a group known as “Purple Haze.” Mostly because they covered the whole ship with a fog of Motown and cover songs. They weren’t actually bad if you like a reggae version of Justin Beiber’s ‘Love Yourself’—they were just EVERYWHERE. In the lounge after breakfast—Purple Haze. Poolside at lunch—Purple Haze. In the ballroom during afternoon tea—Purple Haze. In the very sad little disco that no one ever went to because most of the passengers went to bed at 10 pm—Purple Haze. I swear if the ship was ever sinking, it would be to the “fine musical stylings of Purple Haze”.
Overall, the good outweighed the bad. It was a very relaxing crossing, and the best part was that our whole family was together for the journey. And seeing K all dressed up for dinner was pretty cool.
I am a total f*cking badass when I’m travelling and here’s why:
1) Despite the fact that I’m severely allergic to shellfish, I wandered the beaches of Wales and collected seashells. This doesn’t sound dangerous, but the last time I did that in British Columbia, I picked up some shells then accidentally chewed on my cuticle (not so much an accident as part of an OCD thing), and then my lips swelled up. So now, if I want to collect seashells, I’m literally TAKING MY LIFE IN MY OWN HANDS, and have to consciously avoid putting my fingers in my mouth until I can wash with soap and water, or else risk having to use my epipen. I live my life on the edge, folks.
2) I am deathly afraid of heights, but I still climbed up ruined castle towers and stood on ramparts that were 100 feet in the air. Did I have a full-blown panic attack at Harlech Castle when I realized that I was on the top of a stone wall with no guardrails and at any moment some unruly British child could run past me, causing me to lose my balance and fall to my death? I may or may not have. (I did). But I still crawled back to the stairs like the daredevil I am instead of crying like a big baby.
3) I defied the tide and clambered over jagged rocks to make my way to a private little alcove half a kilometre from the main beach at our bed and breakfast in Wales (which is called Kilsaran House and it was amazing). I had no choice really—K and Ken announced they were doing it, and I had to go along or be left behind to worry about them dying. I figured if I was with them, I could scout out the worst case scenarios before one of them fell off a tippy rock or poked a jellyfish with their fingers. I spent the whole time with one eye on the ocean and one eye on the rocks that threatened to break my ankles. But we made it there, and I was glad I went with them, because who else besides me was going to shout “I forbid you to climb that cliff!” or “That crab might not be dead so don’t pick it up!”
4) I made an old man give me a chair, all by my bad-ass self. In fairness, I HAD the chair, and he tried to take it away, but I was like “Out of my cold, dead hands, elderly English dude!” I should probably provide a little context—on the “ship” (there you go, Dad), they had trivia competitions 4 times a day, and because it was one of the few activities onboard that was actually free, EVERYBODY went. Except it was held in a small pub with limited seating, so people got pretty testy about the chairs, especially since you could play in teams of 6 and the tables and chairs were arranged in groupings of 4. So this particular time, I asked a guy if he was using one of his chairs, and he said no. I was in the process of moving it when this big old man came over and pulled it out of my hands. Seriously. He was like, “Oh, I have this chair,” and I was like, “Um, I asked for it first, but whatever” and I let go. Because I’m Canadian, and a chair isn’t worth being a dick over. But my sacrificial, and slightly sarcastic attitude made him feel bad, so he gave it back to me. Score one for the good guys.
5) Driving in the UK is enough to earn anyone the moniker of ‘madcap heroine’. Of course, I wasn’t actually driving—I was the navigator, having never learned to drive a stick shift. I mean, why have a dog and bark, am I right? But the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road (yes it is, don’t argue), and the bulk of my job was yelling at Ken “Stay to the left!” Also, the “roads” in the UK, especially in Wales aren’t really roads at all, at least not by Canadian standards. What they call a major roadway in Wales is what we call a “tractor path” here. For example, the so-called road to our first bed and breakfast went through a gravel parking lot and out the other side, then became a one-lane walking path with little spots to pull over in case someone was coming in the other direction. The directions we were given said “go past Hunter’s Fleece Cottage, then follow the track downhill for 100 yards” where there was an almost sheer vertical drop. Getting back up was a treat, with Ken gunning it in third gear and hoping to hell that no one was coming the other way. The best part was when the GPS would announce, “Take the next left onto A725” and it would SOUND like a real road, but it would be one lane, pinned in on both sides by rock walls, and suddenly there would be sheep.
I was a kick-ass navigator until the day that Ken decided to defy the GPS and plot his own route:
Ken: I took a screenshot of the way I want to go. Where do I turn next?
Me: How do I turn the Ipad on?
Ken: Push that button. Where do I turn?! I need to know now!
Me: Where’s the ‘You are here’ arrow? How do I know where to turn if I don’t know where I am?
Ken: We started from New Steddon Road. Where do I go next?
Me: The map goes sideways if I try to figure out which way is North.
Ken: I don’t need North! I just need to know where to turn! God, I forgot how bad you are with maps!
Me: I’m not bad with maps! You can’t just give someone a screen shot of some streets, not tell them where they’re starting from, and expect them to calculate your route! I’m not a GPS, you know.
Ken: Fine, just program the GPS then.
Me: OK. Where are we going again?
Ken: Sigh.
K: What’s going on?
Me: Just go back to sleep. I’ve got this covered.
Two other minor proofs of my bad-assedness: I walked through the haunted corridor of a castle. It wasn’t—I have plenty of experiences with ghosts (see My Week 69: Ghost Stories) and there wasn’t one there, despite the place being featured on some reality show where a woman swore there was electromagnetic energy and an angry ghost who wanted to strangle people. Also, I ate haggis. If you’re Scottish, you have to. I just love being descended from a culture whose national dish is so disgusting that you have to force yourself to eat it, but you’re so stoic that you do it anyway. My Scottish cousin Lynn put it this way: “I keep trying it because I want to like it, but it’s so gross”. So there you go. I’m a devil-may-care, throw caution to the winds kind of gal who’s happy to be home where I can use a hair dryer in my own bathroom and eat the best national dish of all–poutine.
Next week, I’ll tell you about some of my favourite places from the trip, but for right now, I’m still kind of jet-lagged. Plus, my head thinks it’s 5 o’clock instead of noon, so time for a nice glass of wine–maybe a Syrah…
August 13, 2017 mydangblog Badass, Haggis, Humour, OCD, Queen Mary, Scotland, Travel, Wine 7 Comments
My Week 141: OCD Much?
Wednesday: OCD much?
Last week, I was looking at Facebook, and someone had posted an article about one of the many Kardashian creatures and her apparent OCD. The Kardashian in question is “Kloe”, and maybe she thinks she has OCD, but I took one look at her refrigerator and freezer, and I was like “No. Just no.” Because her refrigerator and freezer made MY OCD flare up like fireworks on Victoria Day. First, her refrigerator was JAM-PACKED full of stuff. And maybe it was organized by type, but the pickle jars were all squished up against each other (who the hell needs 6 jars of pickles anyway), the salad dressing was nestled up against the mustard, and there was no satisfying equi-distance between ANYTHING. But the worst part was that there were 6 butter sticks which were NOT stacked evenly, and the margarine tubs were on a tippy, nay, haphazard angle. Lady, just because you have six cans of Red Bull lined up in a row doesn’t mean anything other than you’re probably more wired than most people. Also, the sheer amount of stuff in that refrigerator mostly proves you’re some kind of self-indulgent shopaholic with more money than brains. Then I read on about how she takes several boxes of Oreos and tosses them into jars. Jars! You’re taking Oreos out of their neat straight rows and dumping them willy-nilly into glass containers, where the cookie dust gets all over everything. And what if some of them break in the process? Now you can’t even eat them.
So I was irked. My own OCD isn’t even that bad on most days—in fact, you might not even notice it, unless you look around my house and realize that all objects of décor are organized in patterns of fives (and sometimes threes or sevens), or you’ve watched me put groceries on the conveyer belt in a symmetrical fashion according to size and shape and with one inch of space between all items, or you’ve seen me in the bathroom washing my hands simply because doing that fills me with a sense of profound relief, or you’ve noticed that my thumbs are bleeding because my dermatophagia (which thank goodness is limited to my cuticles) is out of control right now and I’m not sure why.
Ken barely notices my own ‘quirks’, but a couple of weeks ago, it became VERY apparent, when I came home from Toronto and went into my bathroom:
Me: WHAT THE F*CK?!
Ken: What’s wrong?!
Me: The little clock goes on the right! The RIGHT!! Why can’t she remember that? It’s not difficult! There are only two directions—right and left. The little clock always goes on the right!! At a certain point, you’ve got to think she’s doing it on purpose!
The “she” in question was our new house cleaner. Now, before you start lumping me in with the Kardashians, like I have so much money that I can afford a maid, let me clarify that she only comes in once every two weeks, just to do the basics. With me in Toronto all week, and only seeing Ken on the weekends, the last thing we wanted to do was spend all day Saturday cleaning the house. Plus, I have to write, and dusting gets in the way of that. Obviously, a dirty house is a problem for me, hence hiring someone to help out. The cleaner is young and relatively inexpensive, but also apparently oblivious to the order of things. The first week that she came, she had left the cupboard in the kitchen in total disarray, causing me to have a small breakdown. “She moved EVERYTHING!!” I cried to Ken. He kindly suggested I get out the photographs so that I could put everything back. Yes, photographs. I take photographs of the way I’ve arranged things so that I know how to put them back, just in case. It’s especially helpful at Christmas, when I want to place ornaments in the exact same position as the year previous. So I spent a good hour putting things back where they were supposed to be. Now, of course, I’m used to the fact that every other weekend, I’ll come home to subtle disarray, but there’s also some stress-relief involved as I re-order my world and then stand back and admire the renewed symmetry.
I think a big part of the problem is that I don’t like strangers touching my stuff, so hiring a stranger whose sole job is to touch my stuff was bound to be a problem. One that I’m slowly getting used to. But this past weekend, Ken and I had a garage sale, so you can only imagine how high my stress level shot up, as stranger after stranger wandered around my yard, picking up things and putting them down in different places than the ones I’d assigned to them. It took all I had not to follow people around, re-arranging behind them, or not yelling, “If you don’t want to buy that, can you please put it back where you found it?!”
Plus I hate how judge-y people are at yard sales:
Woman: Will you do better than $20 dollars for this table?
Me: It’s from the late 1800s, so no, I’m sorry.
Woman: But the legs are a little rickety. Will you go $15?
Me: No, sorry.
Woman: Hmph. Then I’ll pass.
Me: No problem. Can you please put it back where you found it?
Seriously. An antique side table worth 5 times the price and she passed at $20 because the legs were a little “rickety”. What, was she planning to sit on it? Otherwise, it was just fine as a table. But we did sell a lot of stuff, including Frank the stuffed fish whose story you can read about in My Week 34. A woman came very early, and bought a lot of things for exactly the price we were asking and never haggled once. She admired Frank, who we’d pulled out of the shed to put by the side of the road on the grounds that neither of us REALLY wanted a dead fish in the house, so I told her she could have him for free. She loaded all of her purchases into her car, then suddenly she came back to the house. “Here,” she said, holding out a $10 bill. “That’s for the fish. I know he’s worth a lot more.” When we protested that no, she could just have him, she insisted, and tucked the bill into a glass on the table. “Don’t argue,” she laughed, and then drove away.
The other best part of the morning was when my aunts came for a visit. After looking around for a while, one of them asked if she could dig up a little bit of Solomon’s Seal from my garden for hers. They both disappeared for a minute, then my other aunt came around the corner of the house with the plant hanging out of a bag.
“Hey,” I yelled. “That crazy woman is taking plants from the garden!! Lady! Those aren’t for sale!!”
Then I realized that some of my prospective customers were looking at her, as she blithely made her way to the car. “Do you want me to stop her?” one man asked, concerned.
“No,” I laughed. “She’s family. It’s all good.” Because family is ALLOWED to touch my stuff.
June 4, 2017 mydangblog Antiques, Garage Sales, Humour, Kardashian, OCD 16 Comments
My Week 104: Some Stories Should Never Be Told, A Mysterious Visitor
Wednesday: There are some stories you should never tell.
On Thursday afternoon, one of my coworkers came over to my department. “Do you want to hear a funny story?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” I said. “I love a good story.”
“OK,” he started. “So I had this graph—“
“I’m stopping you right there,” I said. “There is NO funny story that starts with ‘I had a graph’.”
But he persisted, and it turned out that the story WAS pretty funny, involving him and an editor who disagreed on the information in the graph to the point where my colleague removed the original of the item in question and sent it back to edit. 5 minutes later, the editor came to his desk to ask him if he knew what had happened to the first copy. When he feigned innocence and said, “No”, the editor pointed to the recycling bin under his desk and asked, “Isn’t that it right there?” because he had tossed in the blue box FACE UP. His only resort was to say, in mock surprise, “How did THAT get there?!” I don’t think the editor was fooled for a second—they’re a wily bunch.
I realize that you’re probably not laughing as hard as I was when he told me the story, mostly because there’s a lot that gets lost in translation between a story that you try to write down after someone tells it to you. My colleague DOES tell a good story, graphs notwithstanding, unlike other people I’ve known, including myself, who is renowned for being “just not that funny in person” as I am when I’m writing. It put me in mind of the end-of-year staff breakfasts we used to have in my previous workplace, where one of the VPs was always invited up to give his “Top 10 Funniest Moments” of the school year. They were always, without exception, anti-climactic and often lacking any discernible punchline.
VP: So we caught the young couple in the throes of amorous foreplay in the middle of the football field. The girl’s mother, naturally, was furious. So much so that we had to call Child and Family Services. I hope that group home they sent her to was nice…
VP: The young man was so high that he couldn’t stop laughing. At least until the police showed up. Then it was just tears, tears, tears…
Yep. The guy did NOT know how to tell a story.
But it occurred to me after all the weird storytelling this week, that there are other storystarters that really can’t ever be funny. Here are my top 5 things which, from my personal experience, will never lead to a good laugh:
1) Here’s a funny story—you know the sound a cat makes right before it vomits…?
A long time ago, we had a cat named Chaucer who would puke on an almost daily basis. We had him tested for all kinds of things, but there was nothing discernible wrong with him. Yet almost every day, he would announce the upcoming projectile with an unearthly yowling. Then we had to race around the house looking for him, trying to put something under him before he ruined yet another carpet. We were having a dinner party once, and we were just in the middle of appetizers when the conversation was interrupted by “OWLLLLL, MEOWWWWWLLLLLL, MRONNNNNNGGGGGG !” Everyone looked terrified. Ken leapt up and ran out of the room with his napkin. I took another bite of salad and said, “It’s just the cat. He’s going to throw up. Sigh.” This went on for years, until our dog died (the same dog I wrote about last week who used to leave his food in his bowl all day). After a few weeks, we got another dog who ate every piece of kibble in under 10 seconds, and miraculously, the pukefest stopped. Then one day, we heard Chaucer sounding the alarm and found him next to a piece of dog kibble that had rolled under the counter. Turns out that he had been eating the dog’s food every day for years, and it made him sick every time he did it. Cats are stupid in general, but Chaucer was dumber than most.
2) Here’s a funny story—so there was no wine left…
This is always a tragedy. The only way this story will ever be funny is if it ended with you finding more wine. I was at a wedding yesterday, and there was an open bar, which sounds fantastic, but all they had was hard liquor and tropical coolers. It would have been tragic, but then I realized that there were wine glasses on the table. And at dinner, the servers all came around with multiple bottles of wine and I was overjoyed. But the white wine was a Muscat, which is supersweet and almost undrinkable, and then I was sad again. It was an emotional rollercoaster, let me tell you.
3) Here’s a funny story—I was at this strip club last night…
No. The only time I was ever at a strip club was when I went, ironically, to a Chippendales show for a friend’s stag-ette party. The guys came out, all sweaty and gyrating, and the women went wild. But then the guys starting shoving T-shirts down their sweaty pants and throwing them to women in the crowd. My OCD hygiene issues kicked in full force and I literally had to leave, running and dodging as I went. The ONLY good thing about that night was that the doorman asked me for ID. (I related this story to my tattoo artist/former Chippendales dancer and he responded with “I know. We used to be so much more classy.)
4) Here’s a funny story—it occurred to me when I was reading the Bible…
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never found anything about the Bible, New or Old Testament, remotely funny. Maybe because of all the smiting and death and sh*t. And that’s a total lie, because I can find humour in everything, but people who are very Bible-y don’t have the same light-hearted attitude. I remember once writing about how I saw a billboard that said “Take Jesus on vacation with you”, and I wrote what I thought was a very funny post about what would happen if you DID take Jesus on vacation with you, like to Great Wolf Lodge. But I had a couple of readers who were devout Catholics (like there’s any other kind, haha) who were like “That’s not funny. Jesus would never go down a waterslide.” And I was like, “But all the water would be holy”, and they were like, “Just stop.” Luckily, they unfollowed me BEFORE I wrote about the high diving Jesus on the church door across the road (see My Week 63 for reference—or irreverence).
5) Here’s a funny story—I was looking at the roof and a squirrel came out…
This is the stuff that nightmares are made of. This actually happened to me when we owned a cottage. This entitled squirrel decided that she owned the place and she was super-intimidating. I started calling her “Charles Manson” until Ken pointed out that she had two rows of squirrel boobs, so I changed her name to “Squeaky Fromme”. One day I looked up at the roof, and saw her halfway in and halfway out of a little hole under the eaves. I started screaming, and she took off. Later, Ken and I were sitting on the porch—I had my back to the driveway. Suddenly, I heard a noise, like a demon muttering, and I turned around—Squeaky was actually sneaking up on me. She had taken up residence in our attic, where she had some babies who were also little dicks. We finally live-trapped them all and drove them out to the country (this, unfortunately, is not a euphemism—Ken was all like “Oh, we can’t just kill them…” and normally I would agree, but that squirrel had devil-eyes, to borrow a phrase from the great Tracy Morgan).
I’m sure you all have story starters that will never be funny—I have a lot more but Ken wants to go shopping so I have to wrap this up. As a side note, I asked Ken to think of a story starter that would never be funny:
Ken: Ummm…
Me: You can’t say ‘death’.
Ken: Oh. OK, what about “So I was in the hospital waiting room…”
Me: What did I just say?
Thursday: Mysterious visitors in my condo
When I came back to Toronto after my extended vacation/recovery from surgery, I found a rolled up piece of tinfoil on my coffeetable. I didn’t know where it had come from, but Ken had been there with me for a couple of days in August, so I asked him if he’d left it there. “Maybe,” he said. “Did it look like a chocolate wrapper?” It kind of did, so I didn’t give it more thought. Then, a couple of weeks ago, when I went back for the week, it was really hot. I’d had the air conditioning on the night before, but I shut it off before I went to work. When I came back, the air conditioning was on full force, and I got a little worried. After searching my condo, which took about 20 seconds since it’s only 600 square feet, I was still worried. But then I realized that I was probably being ridiculous—what kind of intruder waits inside your condo all day for you to come home and at some point is like. “Gosh, it’s hot under this bed—I should turn the air conditioning on while I wait”? When I told Ken, he was like, “Come on—you probably just forgot to turn it off. Don’t worry—just keep the chain lock on when you’re home.”
But then the other night, I got ready for bed. I turned off all the lights and put the fan on. I fell asleep, but a couple of hours later, I woke up like a shot for some reason. Then I realized that the hall light was on, and the FAN WAS OFF. I freaked out and did what any reasonable person would do—I called Ken. But he didn’t answer, being that I thought the clock said 5 minutes to 11, but it really said 5 minutes after 1. I searched the condo again, even more worried because, thanks to Ken, my chain lock WAS on, which meant that I was potentially LOCKED IN with someone nefarious who hated both the dark and cool breezes. So there I was, phone to my ear, ringing and ringing, while I flung open closet doors and threw aside bed skirts. Nothing. Finally, I just went back to sleep, still a little freaked out. Ken messaged me in the morning to ask why I’d tried calling him at 1 in the morning and I answered, “Here’s a funny story—”
September 25, 2016 mydangblog Cats, Humour, OCD, Religion, Squirrels, Wine 6 Comments
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Rania Hafez
Rania Hafez is an academic and writer with a long career in further and higher education. Currently at the University of Greenwich where she is programme leader for the MA in Education, Rania also co-chairs the London Learning & Skills Research Network (LLSRN) and is a member of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers’ (UCET) CPD Committee. Previously Rania was Director of Post Compulsory Education at the University of East London, and non-executive Director of the Institute for Learning.
In 2008 Rania founded ‘Muslim Women in Education’ a professional network for educationalists and researchers. In addition to her academic work Rania is a regular political and cultural commentator whose media credits include the BBC, Levant TV, and the Islam Channel.
Rania Hafez has published on the philosophy of education, educational leadership, cultural identity, and religion and education. She is a Fellow of the higher Education Academy and the Muslim Institute.
Hafez, R. (2017) ‘Inside the Trojan horse: Educating teachers for leadership’ in Daley, M., Orr, K., and Petrie, J. (eds) The Principal: Power & Professionalism in FE, IOE Press
Hafez, R. (2016) ‘Faith in the Academy’ (2016) in Hudson, C. & Williams, J. (eds) Why Academic Freedom Matters, Civitas
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Michael J. Jackson – Executive Chairman of AutoNation Inc. – Email Address
Michael J. Jackson, also known as Mike has been the Chief Executive Officer of AutoNation Inc. since September 1999 and its President since February 4, 2015. From October 1998 to September 1999, Mr. Jackson served as the Chief Executive Officer of Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, a North American operating unit of DaimlerChrysler AG. From April 1997 to September 1999, he served as the President of Mercedes-Benz USA. From July 1990 to March 1997, Mr. Jackson served in various capacities at Mercedes-Benz USA, including as Executive Vice President. Mr. Jackson served as the Managing Partner from March 1979 to July 1990 of Euro Motorcars of Bethesda, Maryland, a regional group that owned and operated eleven automotive dealership franchises, including Mercedes-Benz and other brands of automobiles. He has been the Chairman of Autonation Inc. since January 1, 2003 and has been its Director since September 1999. He has been Deputy Chair of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He serves as Miami Branch Director of Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He is a four-time member of the Automotive News "All-Star Team" of automotive executives and a four-time member of Advertising Age's "Marketing 100." In 2003, Mr. Jackson was named "Industry Leader Of the Year", by the Automotive Hall of Fame. Mr. Jackson is a 1971 graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
AutoNation is the largest automotive retailer in the United States and is the leading provider of new and pre-owned vehicles.[3] AutoNation owns and operates over 310 franchises throughout the United States. The current Chairman, CEO, and President is Mike Jackson, former CEO of Mercedes-Benz North America. The Chief Operations Officer is Bill Berman. It was founded in 1996 by entrepreneur H. Wayne Huizenga.[4] Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Written by rowenadiciembre@gmail.com
View all posts by: rowenadiciembre@gmail.com
@ceomikejackson – Michael Jackson – Sir, I purchased a new vehicle from Autonation Ford in Katy Texas. I drove from
@ceomikejackson – Michael Jackson – Mr. Jackson, my wife and I have had the most humiliating experience at your Weston
@ceomikejackson – Michael J Jackson – I sent a fax to your corporate office line. I have attempted to leave a
@ceomikejackson – Michael J Jackson – I'm having a horrible experience with one of your dealership in North Richland Hill TX
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Hüseyin Özkan, née Huseyn Bisultanov (born January 20, 1972), is a Turkish judoka. At the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia, he won the gold medal in the men's Half Lightweight (60–66 kg) category. He became so the first sportsman to win an Olympics gold medal for Turkey in judo. He is member of the İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K..[1]
Huseyn Bisultanov
Chechnya, USSR
Event(s)
İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K.
Men's Judo
Representing Russia
1993 Athens -60 kg
Representing Turkey
2000 Sydney -66 kg
1999 Birmingham -66 kg
1997 Ostende -65 kg
1999 Bratislava -66 kg
2003 Düsseldorf -66 kg
1997 Bari -66 kg
He was born in Chechnya, in the northern Caucasus of the former USSR, and grew up with his 9 siblings. He began judo in his hometown and continued in Turkey, where he moved at the age of 20.
1993 European Judo Championships -
1997 Mediterranean Games -
1999 World Judo Championships -
2000 Summer Olympics -
2002 European Judo Championships - 7th
2003 World Judo Championships - 7th
^ "Olimpiyatlar ve İstanbul BB" (in Turkish). İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. 2012-02-20. Archived from the original on 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
Olympics Database
Newspaper Milliyet (in Turkish)
This biographical article related to Turkish judo is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
This article about a Turkish Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hüseyin_Özkan&oldid=936544326"
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John I, Lord of Mecklenburg
Find sources: "John I, Lord of Mecklenburg" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
John I, Lord of Mecklenburg, nicknamed the Theologian (c. 1211 – 1 August 1264) was Lord of Mecklenburg from 1234 until his death.
Mecklenburg coats of arms
c. 1211
(1264-08-01)1 August 1264
Doberan Minster
Liutgart of Henneberg
Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg
Christina of Sweden
He was the eldest son of Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg.
He ruled Mecklenburg jointly with his brothers, until they decided to divide the territory in 1234. As the eldest son, he received the ancestral homeland. In 1227, he defeated the Danish in the Battle of Bornhöved, thereby relieving Mecklenburg from Danish suzerainty. However, Saxe-Lauenburg and Holstein then began claiming suzerainty over Mecklenburg and he had to wage war against them to retain his sovereignty. In 1255, his brother Pribislaw I lost his Lordship of Parchim-Richenberg after a conflict with Bishop Rudolph I of Schwerin. Pribislaw was taken prisoner by the bishop and his brothers divided his territory between themselves, with John I receiving Sternberg.
John I supported the Church and the settlement of ethnic Germans in Mecklenburg, which was still predominantly Slavic during his reign. In 1262, he concluded an alliance with the Guelphs against Denmark.
He died in 1264 was buried in the Doberan Minster.
Marriage and issueEdit
John I married Luitgard of Henneberg (1210-1267), the daughter of Count Poppo VII of Henneberg. With her he had the following children:
Henry I, nicknamed "the Pilgrim"
Albert I, co-ruler from 1264 or 1265
Herman, Dean of Schwerin
Elizabeth, married to Gerhard I, Count of Holstein-Itzehoe
Nicholas III, canon in Lübeck, was co-regent from 1275 to 1283, when Henry I was in captivity in Egypt
Poppo, died before 1264
John II, co-regent from 1264 to 1283
396571425 Literature about John I, Lord of Mecklenburg in the State Bibliography (Landesbibliographie) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern[dead link]
Genealogical table of the House of Mecklenburg
Born: c. 1211 Died: 1 August 1264
Henry Borwin II Lord of Mecklenburg
Henry I and
This article about a member of the German nobility is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_I,_Lord_of_Mecklenburg&oldid=864459326"
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Coconut shell mosaic depicts famed victory
A giant coconut shell mosaic depicting General Vo Nguyen Giap and his victory at Dien Bien Phu has been placed on display in time to celebrate the hero’s upcoming 99 th birthday on August 25.
After a two-day exhibition at the Ho Chi Minh City Exhibition Hall on Le Thanh Ton street , the painting will be brought to Quang Binh, Gen. Giap’s native province, for an official exhibition in co-ordination with several other events in the province next month.
The 2.4m by 10.8m artwork, made from 9,000 coconut shells, 100 litres of glue and some other parts from coconut trees, was finished over a forty-day period by a group of ten people under the supervision of artist Vo Quy Quoc.
The work Anh Hung Dien Bien (Heros of Dien Bien) features the battle at Dien Bien Phu which liberated the Vietnamese from the French in 1954, and an image of General Giap, the brilliant commander-in-chief in the battle.
The 26-year-old artist, who hails from the same village in Quang Binh province as Giap, said the work was a way to express his respect for the hero as well as celebrate the spirit of the Vietnamese people in the cause of their struggle for national independence.
The mosaic tells the story of Giap and the battle in mural form. Quoc spent more than a year researching and collecting materials for the giant artwork.
He said that he spent around 1 billion VND on materials and wages to his team and has donated the finished mosaic to Quang Binh province.
When it is displayed in the province next month, it will join a collection of around 40 coconut shell paintings to be displayed. The new work is being proposed as the record-holder for the longest coconut shell painting in Vietnam . Quoc has two previous works listed in the Vietnam Book of Records.
The first, Vietnam Que Huong Toi (Vietnam My Motherland), made in 2007, and 2008’s Bai Ca Ket Doan (Song of Solidarity), feature President Ho Chi Minh conducting a choir representing all 54 of the nation’s ethnic groups.
Quoc has been making coconut shell art since he was a kid, with his first public installation, a mosaic of Hoi An town, completed in 2002. He has studied at the Hue Fine Arts College./.
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FRIDAY, April 24, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -- Helping other people is a way of life for Chris Hagan. He volunteered as a fireman for more than three decades and still does community outreach for the station.
But 22 years ago, Hagan was the one who needed help, as he worried about how to pay bills while waiting for a heart transplant.
"It was horrible sitting at home feeling helpless," he said. "But my family and friends were there for me."
The symptoms seemed to come out of nowhere.
Hagan was working on a home carpentry project when he began to have trouble catching his breath. He drove himself to the firehouse to test his oxygen level.
Figuring the abnormally low result was a mistake, Hagan changed the batteries and tested again. The reading was the same.
He went to the emergency room, where an X-ray revealed his heart muscle was enlarged as a result of cardiomyopathy.
"I figured they would just tell me to quit smoking, but that wasn't the case," he said. "I needed a heart transplant."
Hagan went by ambulance to the University of Pennsylvania, where doctors conducted a number of tests. Eight days later, he went home and waited for a new heart.
He never smoked another cigarette.
"The urge was gone," he said.
Life had changed. Struggling to breath and with intense fatigue and nausea, the then-33-year-old father of two young children couldn't work for nearly a year.
Knowing Hagan faced huge medical bills, the community stepped up. His fellow firefighters, friends and family dropped off lunches and dinners, mowed his lawn and drove him to his medical appointments.
And when a family friend told Philadelphia Phillies players Curt Schilling and Wayne Gomes about Hagan's condition, they offered to help. The players signed baseballs and other memorabilia for more than 1,500 fans at an all-day event that raised about $90,000.
"I used that to pay the bills, medicine, copays and all that kind of stuff," Hagan said. "It was awesome."
About seven months later, Hagan was listening to the fire department scanner at home when he heard about a motorcycle accident just around the corner from his house.
Later, his wife told him the victim was her co-worker's son. When he was declared brain dead, the young man's mother asked doctors to give Hagan his heart. This is known as a directed donation. The heart still had to clear medical hurdles to ensure it matched. It did.
After receiving the call he'd been waiting for, Hagan checked into the hospital and received a new heart early the next morning.
"I could feel that heart pumping," he said. "I was so relieved that I had woken up."
Just a few hours later, the hospital staff got Hagan out of bed and into a chair. The next day, with the help of physical therapists, he walked down the hallway. Less than a week later, his donor's mother and sister visited him.
"I walked down to the guest waiting room and gave them a hug," Hagan said. "We were all crying."
Three months later, after six weeks of cardiac rehabilitation, Hagan returned to his day job and to his role as a volunteer firefighter. Later, he accepted a job at Chester County Hospital, where he is director of plant operations.
It hasn't been an easy road. Three years ago, Hagan was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy followed by 30 days of radiation. Last year, he experienced intense chest pains. His new heart suffered a heart attack.
"People who have had a heart transplant have more complications," said Dr. Mian Jan, an interventional cardiologist and chairman of the department of medicine at Penn Medicine's Chester County Hospital.
Jan said the nerves in transplanted hearts have been cut off, sometimes resulting in different symptoms than those in a typical heart attack patient.
"Most people start having chest pain months before they have a heart attack, but he only had symptoms when one of his arteries was 100% blocked," Jan said.
Jan opened the artery with a balloon and inserted a stent, opening the blockage. Afterward, he prescribed a medication to lower Hagan's high cholesterol.
"His heart function is normal, so that's a very positive development," Jan said.
After another stint in cardiac rehab, Hagan recommitted to a healthier diet, cooking at home instead of eating fast food and replacing old favorites like steak and pizza with chicken.
"You really have to take care of yourself if you want to stick around," he said.
The nurses at his job know his story and often pull him in to talk with other people with cardiovascular disease. He has spent hours sitting with patients over the years.
"It's rewarding," he said. "When you need support, it's important to take it."
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What is Reparative Justice? The Aquinas Lecture 2010
The Aquinas Lecture is given annually at Marquette University under the auspices of the Philosophy Department. It was initiated in 1933 by the Rev. George H. Mahowald, S.J., head of the department of Philosophy at that time, for the purpose of bringing to Milwaukee and to the university outstanding leaders in Thomistic thought in both its historical and its theoretical aspects. Customarily, the lecture is delivered in late February or early March.
Marquette University Press
Half title: What Is Reparative Justice?;
The Aquinas Lecture, 2010
What Is Reparative Justice? Margaret Urban Walker;
Prefatory; What is Reparative Justice? by Margaret Urban Walker;
NOTES; The Aquinas Lectures
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Home » Culture » BRITISH AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY LITERARY PRIZE
BRITISH AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY LITERARY PRIZE
This Award is for an 800 word essay on the theme of “the positive heritage of British culture in Australia.” The prize is $1,000. The closing date each year is the 30th of September.
Please print off this entry form, complete the details required, and sign the declaration below.
ENTRY FEE enclosed for Cheque ….. Money Order ….. Credit Card …..
AUS $10.00 per entry
CREDIT CARD DETAILS (please circle one):
Visacard / Bankcard / Mastercard
Card number: __________________________________________
Expiry Date: ___________________________________________
Cardholder Name:_______________________________________
Date: _________________________________________________
ENTRY FEE includes GST
Internet Banking payments can be made to: Westpac BSB 033 127 240635. Please include your full name.
This document will be a tax invoice for GST when you make a payment.
DECLARATION: I have read and understood the Conditions of Entry to the British Australian Community Literary Prize and agree to abide by them. My entry conforms to all the Conditions of the Prize as specified. I have made the appropriate Entry Fee payment.
THE BRITISH AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY LITERARY PRIZE
P O Box 1044 Ascot Vale Vic 3032
The British Australian Community Literary Prize is open to all Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia.
The Prize will be awarded to an original, unpublished essay not exceeding 800 words, on the theme of the positive heritage of British culture in Australia.
Entries will not be under offer to any publication, or offered for publication, until the adjudication is finalised and the winner is notified.
The Prize will normally be awarded to a single winner, but up to three additional entries may be commended. The winner will be notified personally, and announced on the BAC website in early November. The essay will be published on this website and in any other relevant BAC publication.
Entrants may submit no more than two essays for consideration.
Each single entry must be accompanied by a non-refundable fee of $10.00 for administration expenses. Personal cheques, bank cheques, postal/money orders should be made payable to the British Australian Community.
As a copy of the Entry Form can be kept for tax purposes, receipts will not be issued unless requested.
If sent by post, entries should be typed, one side only, on A4 paper. Entries are assessed in their original submitted versions only. No subsequent editorial amendment or resubmission is permitted.
Personal details should not appear on any manuscript, to ensure discretion and fair-dealing in the adjudication process. Please supply full details as required on the separate Entry Form.
Do not submit original manuscripts. Please submit copies only as entries will not be returned.
The British Australian Community accepts no liability for loss or damage of manuscripts.
The decision of the BAC’s adjudication panel is final. No subsequent correspondence will be entered into.
The judging panel does not provide feedback or critical comment on individual entries, except at its discretion.
The judges reserve the right not to confer the Prize in any given year.
The value of the Prize will be AUD $1,000, until further notice.
The competition closes on 30th of September each year
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Edward Kosior
Nextek
Edward Kosior received a Bachelor of Applied Chemistry and Diploma of Education from Melbourne University and Masters of Engineering Science in Polymer Engineering from Monash University Australia.
Edward is an Honorary Professor at Brunel University London, at the Wolfson Materials Processing Centre; also Fellow of The Society of Plastics Engineers; Fellow of Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce ;.
Edward Kosior has been active as an innovator in polymer technology for the past 40 years both within universities, recycling enterprises and as Founder and Managing Director of Nextek Ltd, which has offices in UK, Australia and India.
He holds several patents for the recycling plastics and been instrumental in the introduction of recycled plastics into food packaging in Europe and Australia (PET, HDPE and PP).
His goals are to help preserve and improve the natural environment through novel technologies that reduce waste generation and increase the closed loop economy that promotes high efficiencies in the use of limited resources and truly sustainable materials.
He is also working on mitigating plastics in oceans and encouraging adoption of science and best practices in avoiding the environmental problems facing developing countries.
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Monika Marija joins Eurovizijos Atranka with ‘The Truth’
Nathan Stella Jan 30, 2018
Today it was announced that Monika Marija, who won the Lithuanian version of The Voice earlier this year (where she was coached by none other than Donatas Montvydas, better known as Donny Montell), will be joining this year's line up of …
Erica Jennings withdraws from Lithuania’s Eurovision selection!
Lithuania's Eurovision marathon Eurovizijos Atranka started last weekend. It was won by Ieva Zasimauskaitė and the song "When We're Old", and apart from her, five other acts have made it to the next stage of the show. However, after seeing…
LRT announces line-up for the Lithuanian National final with two familiar faces
Matthew Grocott Dec 20, 2017
Lithuanian channel LRT has today announced who will be in the line up for next years' National final, with two familiar faces taking part. Starting on January 6th, more than 50 performers and groups will compete in the National final. …
LIVE: Lithuania – Eurovizija 2016
Melissa Bayly Mar 12, 2016
The most epic selection process out of all the competing countries will choose who they want to represent Lithuania tonight! After ten shows that started with 28 contestants, some new to Eurofans, some we all might recognise, the final 6…
LIVE: Lithuania – Semi Final
Mikael Nahabedian Mar 5, 2016
Good evening everyone! Welcome to our live blog of the Semi-Final of "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka, the Lithuanian national selection for Eurovision 2016. Tonight, 8 acts will compete, with the hope of qualifying for the…
Eight songs qualified to the semifinal in Lithuania
Maciej Błażewicz Feb 27, 2016
Show number 8th in Lithuania has finished and we know the results of the voting. The winner is (again) Donny Montell with "I've Been Waiting for This Night", Aiste Pilvelyte came second and Erica Jennings third. All together eight out of…
Donny Montell wins Lithuanian jury voting in the last episode before the semifinal
The eighth episode of Lithuanian show has been recorded on 23rd February and will be aired this Saturday, 27th February at 20:00 CET. For the first time, artists from both groups (acts with their own songs and acts with songs selected from…
Ruta Sciogolevaite wins sixth episode in Lithuania
34-years old singer from Siauliai - Ruta Sciogolevaite - wins sixth part of Lithuanian Selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with her entry "United". She received 12 points from Lithuanian jury, only 8 points from International jury…
Another episode with a tie between Ruta and Donny
Maciej Błażewicz Feb 9, 2016
The sixth episode of the Lithuanian national selection has been recorded on Tuesday in Vilnius and this time eight participants who applied with their own songs performed on stage again. Eurovision fans will watch this episode on the 13th…
Donny vs. Ruta – the battle is still ongoing
Maciej Błażewicz Jan 30, 2016
Donny Montell wins fourth episode of Lithuanian show with his song "I've been waiting for this night" but his main rival - Ruta Sciogolevaite - could feel as a winner too. They both finished on first place with 22 points each. As they both…
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